'A Bag of Meat': A Study of an Early Ḥadīth

Bag_Of_Meat.pdf 'A BAG OF MEAT': A STUDY OF AN EARLY h a d i t h By M. J. KISTER The manuscript Qarawiyiin 727 in Fez contains on folios 37b-38a a tradition reported by Yunus b. Bukayr on the authority of Ibn Ishaq The tradition tells of a meeting between the Prophet and Zayd b. 'Amr b. Nufayl, one of the h u n a f a in Mecca. During the meeting Zayd b. 'Amr was offered meat which he, however, refused to eat, arguing that he never ate meat sacrificed before idols. This tradition was published and translated by A. Guillaume in his New light on the life of m u h a m m a d It runs in his translation as follows: ' I was told that the apostle of God while speaking of Zayd ibn 'Amr ibn Nufayl said, h e was the first to blame me for worshipping idols and forbade me to do so. I had come from al ta'ifwith Zayd ibn haritha when I passed by Zayd ibn 'Amr on the high ground above Mecca, for Quraysh had made a public example of him (shaharathu) for abandoning their religion, so that he went forth from among them and (stayed) in the high ground of Mecca. I went and sat with him. I had with me a bag of meat from our sacrifices to our idols which Zayd ibn h a r i t h a was carrying, and I offered it to him. I was a young lad at the time. I said' Eat some of this food, 0 my uncle'. He replied' Nephew, it is a part of those sacrifices of yours which you offer to your idols, isn't it ' When I answered that it was he said ' If you were to ask the daughters of 'Abdu'l-Muttalib they would tell you that I never eat of these sacrifices and I want nothing to do with them '. Then he blamed me and those who worship idols and sacrifice to them saying ' They are futile : they can do neither good nor harm ', or words to that effect The apostle added" After that with that knowledge I never stroked an idol of theirs nor did I sacrifice to them until God honoured me with His apostleship"'. Guillaume considers this report as' a tradition of outstanding importance'. 'It is the only extant evidence', he says, 'of the influence of a monotheist on Muhammad by way of admonition.' 2 Guillaume remarks that 'this tradition has been expunged from Ibn hishamss recension altogether, but there are traces of it inS. [al-suhaylis a l r a u d al-unuf] (p. 146) and Bukhari (K. p. 63, bab 24) where there is an imposing isnad going back to 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar to the effect that the Prophet met bag was brought Zayd in the lower part of baldah before his apostleship. to the prophet o r the prophet brought it to him and he refused to eat of it saying ' I never eat what you sacrifice before your idols. I eat only that over which the name of God has been mentioned '. He blamed Quraysh for their sacrifices '. (Journal of Semitic Studies. Monograph No.1), Manchester University Press, 27-8; text, 59. 2 ibid., 27; see L. c a e t a n i a n n a l idell' i s l a m Milano, I, § 186: tra.dizione dovremmo ritenere che egli conoscesse Maometto dell'inizio della missione, e condotta di questo originale e i disoorsi del medesimo possono forse aver influitto sull' animo di Maometto'; T. noldeke, geschichte des qorans bearbeitet von F. Schwally, Leipzig, I, 18. 1 268 M. J. KISTER Guillaume surveys the discussion of the tradition in Suhayli's raud and remarks that Ibn Kathir ' (p. 239) also retains part of the original tradition which our contains. He says : "Zayd ibn 'Amr came to the apostle who was with Zayd ibn h a r i t h a as they were eating from a bag they had with them. nephew, I never eat from When they invited him to eat with them he said, what has been offered to idols'" '. 3 The different versions of the tradition concerning the meeting of the Prophet with Zayd b. 'Amr deserve to be surveyed. The tradition of al-Bukhari 4 (with the isnad musa (b. 'Uqba) >Salim b. 'Abdallah> 'Abdallah b. 'Umar) is recorded by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, 5 Ibn s a ' d al-Bakri, 7 Ibn Kathir, 8 a h m a d b. h a n b a l Ibn ' a s a k i r i r a l - D h a h a b i and a h a l a b i a b i A tradition recorded by Ibn Durayd 13 has a quite different setting: the Prophet was made to cherish solitude before he received the revelation and he sojourned in the folds of the mountains of Mecca. He said (i.e. the Prophet): 'I saw Zayd b. 'Amr in one of the folds when he too secluded himself from the world. I sat down in his company and I offered him a meal containing meat. He then said nephew, I do not eat from these sacrifices (inni l a akulu min hadhihi ' l d h a n b a ' i h i '. In this tradition the Prophet was alone; Zayd b. h a r i t h a is not mentioned. One may only deduce from the expression hadhihi ' l d h a b a ' i h that meat of sacrifices slaughtered before idols is intended. A similar tradition is recorded by al-khargushi.14 The Prophet said 'Zayd b. 'Amr came to me when I was pasturing; with me was cooked meat. I invited him to (eat) it and adjured him to do it (i.e. to eat). He a n s w e r e d nephew, if you were to ask your aunts they would tell you that I do not eat meat offered to any god other than God, who is Exalted '. The difference between the tradition recorded by Ibn Durayd and the tradition of al-khargushi is noteworthy: the tradition of Ibn Durayd refers to the story of the solitude of the Prophet before he received the apostleship; the tradition of al-khargushi refers to the story that the Prophet pastured the cattle of some people of Mecca. op. cit., 28. 'With the version fa quddimad ilii 'l-nabiyyi s u f r a t u n v, Cairo, n. d. m u h 'Ali s u b a y h and Sons printers). a l i s t i ' a b ed. 'Ali m u h al-Bijawi, Cairo, 1960, 617, with the version: fa qaddama ilayhi rasulu 'llahi s a l l a 'lliihu 'alayhi wa sallama aufratan f i h a l a h m u n Tabaqiit, Beirut, 1957, III, 7 mu'jam m a stajam, ed. al-Saqa, Cairo, 1945, I, 273. 8 Al-Bidiiya wa 'l-nihaya, Beirut and a l r i y a d 1966, II, 240 (quoted from a l b u k h a r i Al-Musnad, ed. a h m a d , u h a m m a d Shakir, Cairo, 1949, vii, 225-6, no. 5369. 10 tahdhib ta'rikh d i m a s h q VI, 32. 11 Ta'rikh a l i s l a m Cairo, 1367/1947-8, I, 52; Siyar a'liim al-nubala', ed. s a l a h al-Din al-Munajjid, Cairo, 1956, I, 90; and see A. Sprenger, Daa Leben und die Lehre des m o h a m m a d zweite Aujlage, Berlin, 1869, I, 119. 12 'Ali b. b u r h a n al-Din a k h a l a b i i n s a n n al-'uyun fi sirat al-amin al,a'mun = a l s i r a al halabiyya Cairo, 1932, I, 147. 1a Al-Iahtiqiiq, ed. 'Abd al-Salam Hariin, Cairo, 1958, 134. "Sharaf a l m u s t a f a BM MS Or. 3014, fol. 28a. 3 'A BAG OF m e a t A STUDY OF AN EARLY h a d i t h 269 Significant is the phrase ' if you were to ask your aunts ... ' which is ahnost identical with that in the tradition of Yiinus b. Bukayr. A certain divergence is seen in a tradition recorded on the authority of 'A'isha (with an isniid: Hisham b. 'Urwa > 'Urwa > 'A'isha who heard the Prophet say' I heard Zayd b. 'Amr b. Nufayl condemning the eating of meat of sacrifices offered to someone other than God. So I did not taste anything (slaughtered) on the nusub b b b 15 until God honoured me by the Call '. 16 In this tradition there is no mention of a bag of meat, nor that the Prophet invited Zayd b. 'Amr to eat meat. The Prophet merely heard Zayd b. 'Amr condemn the eating of such meat. The person of Zayd b. haritha is mentioned in a tradition recorded by a h m a d b / h a n b a l with the following i s n a d Yazid > al-Mas'iidi > Nufayl b. Hisham b. Sa'id b. Zayd b. 'Amr b. Nufayl > Hisham b. Sa'id > Sa'id b. Zayd. 18 'When the Prophet and Zayd b. haritha ',says the tradition, 'stayed in Mecca, Zayd b. 'Amr passed by. They invited him to (share) a bag of theirs. Zayd b. 'Amr answered" 0 nephew, I do not eat what has been sacrificed on the n u s u b The transmitter (i.e. Sa'id b. Zayd b. 'Amr) said: 'the Prophet was after this never seen eating something sacrificed on the n u s u b b '. This tradition with the same isnad is recorded by a l t a y a l i s i s i It contains, however, a slight variant. Zayd b. 'Amr passed by the Prophet who was in the company of Zayd h a r i t h a they both (i.e. the Prophet and Zayd h a r i t h a ate from a bag of theirs They invited him, etc .... This is, of course, the source of the tradition of Ibn kathir {II, 239) mentioned above. An almost identical tradition is recorded by Ibn 'Abd al-barr. 20 It is in fact a combined tradition containing details about the search for a true religion by Zayd b. 'Amr and Waraqa b. Naufal; the report concerning the invitation to Zayd b. 'Amr to eat meat from a bag is only a part of the tradition. The important difference is that the Prophet was in the company of a b u Sufyan b. al harith 21 (not Zayd b. h a r i t h a The tradition recorded in MS Fez, qarawiyun 727, and translated by Guillaume, is not an isolated one. The tradition is recorded in the Musnad of al-Rabi' b. h a b i b 22 on the authority of a b u 'Ubayda. The variants are few: For the explanation of the word see a l t a b a r i t a s f i r ed. m a h m u dand a h m a d m u h a m m a d Shakir, Cairo, 1957, 18 AJ.Khargiishi, op. cit., fol. 27b ; a l s u y u t i a l k h a s a ' i s al kubra Hyderabad, 1319/ I, 89; 'Ali b. burhan a l d i n a l h a l a b i op. cit., I, almuttaqii al-Hindi, Kanz 68, no. 387. al-'ummiil, Hyderabad, 1965, 17 a l m u s n a d III, 116-17, no. 1648; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidiiya, II, 239; Ibn h a j a r f a t h al bari Cairo, 1325/1907-8, vn, 98; al-Dhahabi, Siyar a'lam al-nubala', I, 87 (on the authority of yunus b. Bukayr). 18 the editor's remarks on the men of the isnad, al-Musnad, Joe. cit., m, 116-17, no. 1648. Abu d a ' u d a l t a y a l i s i i Musnad, Hyderabad, p. 32, no. 234. a l i s t i ' a b 616; al muhibb a l t a b a r i al riyad al nadira fi manaqib al 'ashara Cairo, 1953, II, on him Ibn h a j a r al isaba Cairo, VII, 86, no. 535; Ibn 'Abd. al-Barr, op. cit., p. 1673, no. a l j a m i ' a l s a h i h Musnad al-Rabi' b. Ifabib b. 'Umar al-Azdi a l b a s r i i'ala tarlib al-8haykh Abi Ya'qub y u s u f b. Ibrahim al- Wurjilani, Cairo, 1349/1930-1, I, 18. M. J. the phrase ' if you were to ask the daughters of 'Abd al-Muttalib they would tell you that I never eat of these sacrifices ... 'is missing. The question of Zayd b. 'Amr here was quite frank: '0 nephew, do you indeed sacrifice before these idols of yours y a bna akhi antum t a d h b a h u n a 'ala a s n a m i k u m hadhihi?) '. The Prophet answered' Yes'. Then Zayd b. 'Amr said' I shall not eat it (i.e. the meat from the bag) '. He condemned the idols (thumma 'aba ' l a s n a m a a wa 'l authana and those who fed and approached them with reverence. The Prophet said' By God, I did not draw near the idols at all until God granted me prophethood '. A significant tradition, lengthy and detailed, is recorded by a l - K h a r g u s h i It is reported by Usama b. Zayd on the authority of his father Zayd b. h a r i t h a ' The Prophet ', says the report, ' slaughtered a ewe for a n u s u b of the a n s a b d h a b a h a rasulu 'llahi s a l l a 'llahu 'alayhi wa-sallama shatan l i n u s u b i n min a l a n s a b i ; then he roasted it and carried it with him qala : thumma shawaha f a h t a m a l a h a ma'ahu). Then Zayd b. 'Amr b. Nufayl met us in the upper part of the valley; (it was) on one of the hot days of Mecca. When we met, we greeted each other with the greeting of the jahiliyya, in'am s a b a h a n n The Prophet said He This do I see you, son of 'Amr, hated by your people (happened) without me being the cause of their hatred (qiila: dhaka li-ghayri tha'ra ntha'iratin minni f i h i m 25 ; but I found them associating divinities with God and I was reluctant to do the same. I wanted (to worship God according to) the religion of i b r a h i m I came to the learned men a a h b a r r r of Yatbrib and I found them worshipping God, but associating other divinities with Him. Then I said (in my soul): this is not the religion that I seek and I travelled till I came to the learned men of the Jews in Syria. Then a man from among them said 'You are asking about a religion which no one we know of follows, except an old man in the jazira '. I came to him and he asked me ' Which people do you belong to ' I said' I am from the people of thorns and acacia trees (al-shauk wa ' l q a r a z a z from the people of the haram of God'. He told me 'Return, as God who is blessed and exalted caused to rise the star of a prophet who has already appeared, or is about to appear; follow him, because he will worship God according to the religion about which yon are inquiring'." He (i.e. Zayd b. 'Amr) said "So I came, but-by God- I do not notice 27 anything". The Prophet said "Would you like some food 1" He (i.e. Zayd b. 'Amr) said "Yes". Then he (i.e. the Prophet) put before him the (meat of the) ewe. He said (i.e. Zayd b. 'Amr) " What did you sacrifice it to, 0 muhammad (li-ayyi 23 Sharaf al mustafa fols. 27b-28a. "'In MS, shaqaqaka in other parallels shanifu l a k a and see lisan, s.v., sh n f: wa-fi hadithi Zaydi bni 'Amri bni Nufaylin: qala li rasuli'llahi salla 'llahu 'alayhi wa-sallama: ma li ara qaumaka qad shanifuka. In our MS, correctly: qala lahu 'l-nabiyyu salla 'llahu 'alayhi wa sallama ma liaraka ya bna 'Amrin . .. etc. In MS, ttha'iratinr parallels : na'ilatina'latin'iratina'ratin In MS, min ahli bayti 'l shirki wa ' l q a r a z i in Siyar a'lam al-nubala', I, 161, min ahli bayti ' l l a h i in Majma' al-zawa'id rx, 418, ahl al-shauk wa 'l qaraz In u h s i n u in Siyar a'lam, correctly u h i s s u al-Mustadrak, like our MS, u h s i n u 'A BAG OF MEAT': A STUDY OF AN EARLY h a d i t h 271 shay' in dhabahta ya m u h a m m a d u He (i.e. the Prophet) said" To one of the ansab q a l a li nusuninmin al ansabi He (i.e. Zayd b. 'Amr) I am not the one to eat anything slaughtered for a divinity other than God The Prophet went on his way and after a short time he was given the prophethood. He (i.e. Zayd b. h a r i t h a said" Zayd b. 'Amr was mentioned to the Prophet and he (i.e. the Prophet) said' He (i.e. Zayd b. 'Amr) will rise in the Resurrection as a 2s people by himself ' This tradition with slight variants is recorded in al hakim's Mustadrak, 29 in al-Haythami's z a w a ' i d and in al-Dhahabi's Siyar 31 and his Ta'rikh al-Isliim. 32 In the Mustadrak, Siyar, and Ta'rikh the tradition is traced back to Usama b. Zayd, told on the authority of his father, Zayd b. haritha and is followed by an appended tradition that the Prophet went afterwards to the Ka'ba and performed the circumambulation accompanied by Zayd b. h a r i t h a He forbade Zayd b. haritha to stroke the idols of Isaf and Na'ila. 33 The slight variants may be of some importance. In some of the sources, instead of the learned men of Yathrib a h b a r the scholars of Fadak are mentioned. In some sources, the scholars of Khaybar are mentioned ; others mention the scholars of Ayla. All the sources, except al-Khargiishi, tell the tradition in the first person plural : ' and we slaughtered a ewe ... and he (i.e. Zayd b. 'Amr) asked What We It is a ewe which we slaughtered far this nusub ... is By examining these traditions, one can discern the diverging details. Some of the traditions report that the Prophet heard from Zayd and refrained from eating meat offered to the n u s u b other traditions state that the Prophet met Zayd and offered him the meat ; some traditions state that the Prophet was alone ; other traditions report that he was in the company of Zayd b. haritha or in the company of a b u Sufyan b. al haritha Some of the traditions state that Zayd b. h a r i t h a slaughtered the animal, others claim that both he and the Prophet slaughtered it. The only tradition stating frankly that the Prophet himself offered the ewe to a nusub is the tradition of al-Khargiishi. The slight variants of the traditions were closely examined by Muslim scholars. Guillaume quotes al-Suhayli discussing the question as to 'how it could be thought that God allowed Zayd to give up meat offered to idols when the apostle had the better right to such a privilege. He says that the hadith does not say that the apostle actually ate of it; merely that Zayd refused to do so. 28 For the expression ummatan wahidatan and ummatan wahdahu see Ahmad b. h a n b a l l op. cit., III, 117, no. 1648, note; l i s a n n s.v. umm; Ibn K.athir, op. cit., II, 241 ; aJ.Dhahabi, Siyar a'lam, I, 88 ; and see a!-Muttaqi al-Hindi, op. cit., xm, 67-8, nos. 384-6. Hyderabad, 1334/1915-16---1342/1923-4, m, 216-17. Majma' al zawa'idwa-manba' al fawa'id Cairo, 1353/1934-5, IX, 417-18. I, 53. This tradition is recorded an independent report in a l s u y u t i ' sal khasa'isal kubra I, 89. In al-Dhahabi's Ta'rikh: shatun dhubihat li 'l nusubii against thumma qaddamna ilayhi 'l sufrata in al-mustadrakk; al-Dhahabi's Siyar a'lam, I, 161, has fa-qarraba ilayhi 'l sufraiaa (i.e. Muhammad). 32 31 I, 38 272 M. J. KISTER Secondly Zayd was simply following his own opinion, and not obeying an earlier law, for the law of Abraham forbade the eating of the flesh of animals that had died, not the flesh of animals that had been sacrificed to idols. Before Islam came to forbid the practice there was nothing against it, so that if the apostle did eat of such meat he did what was permissible, and if he did not, there is no difficulty. The truth is that it was neither expressly permitted nor forbidden '. 35 The arguments of Suhayli were not unanimously accepted by the scholars. The opinion that 'the law of Abraham (shar'u Ibrahim) forbade the eating of the flesh of animals that had died, not the flesh of animals that had been sacrificed to idols' was refuted by some scholars, who argued that the law of Abraham forbade the eating of the flesh of animals sacrificed to a divinity other than God (i.e. to the idols) as he was an enemy of the idols. 36 Three hundred years before al-Suhayli (d. 581/1285) the tradition was discussed by Ibrahim al harbi (d. 285/898) 37 as reported by a l d h a h a b i The expression discussed is ' and we slaughtered for him ' f a d h a b a h n a lahu) in the first person plural. a l h a r b i argues: 'in the slaughter (of the ewe) on the n u s u b there are two possibilities: (I) either Zayd (b. h a r i t h a performed it (i.e. the slaughter) without being ordered by the Prophet, but as he was in his company the deed (of slaughter) was attributed to him (which is indicated by the usage of the plural first p e r s o n d h a b a h n a Zayd h a r i t h a had not the immunity from sin ' i s m a and God's guidance (taufiq), granted to the Prophet by God. How would it be possible (to think that the Prophet ordered him to do so) as the Prophet forbade Zayd to touch an idol and (indeed) he (i.e. the Prophet) did not touch it before he received prophethood? So how could he acquiesce in the thought that he may slaughter for an i d o l That is impossible. (2) (It may be that) he slaughtered for God and it happened that it was done in front of an idol before which they (i.e. Quraysh) used to slaughter'. Ibn m a n z u r r records the opinion of Ibrahim al harbi 39 as quoted by Ibn al-Athir; in this record the second possibility is more plainly discussed: he Zayd h a r i t h a slaughtered the ewe in front of an idol (at a spot) at which they (i.e. Quraysh) used to slaughter; but he did not slaughter for the idol. This is the explanation of the phrase, if n u s u b denotes an idol. If, however, nusub denotes a stone, there was a semantic misunderstanding : when the Prophet was asked by Zayd b. 'Amr about the bag of meat he answered that the ewe was slaughtered on a n u s u b on a stone, but Zayd b. 'Amr understood that it had been slaughtered for a n u s u b an idol, and refused to eat it, remarking that he did not eat the meat of animals slaughtered for idols. It is evident that we face here attempts of the commentators to interpret Guillaume, op. cit., 27-8; 'Ali b. Burhan a.l-Din, op. cit., I, 147 (quoting al-Suha.yli). a l q a s t a l l a n i irshadal sari Cairo, 1326/1908, 427. 37 On whom, see a.l-Dha.habi, tadhkirat al huffaz Hyderaba.d, 1956, II, 584, no. 609; a.l-Khatib 27; a.l-Subki, tabaqat al sha'iyyaa ed. a l h i l w a l b a g h d a d i Ta'rikh baghdad Cairo, 1931, and a l t a n a h iCairo, 1964, II, 256 (see the additional references supplied by the editors, ibid.). Siyar a ' l a m 1, 91. l i s a n s.v. n b; and see ibid., s.v. sf r. 35 38 'A BAG OF MEAT': A STUDY OF AN EARLY h a d i t h 273 these h a d i t h s in a way showing that the Prophet did not slaughter for idols, nor did he eat meat slaughtered for idols. This path is followed by al-dhahabi who endeavours to interpret the opening phrases of this tradition. ' Zayd b. h a r i t h a said I went out with the Prophet, mounted behind him (on the riding beast) to one of the ansab and we slaughtered for him a kharajtu ma'a rasuli 'llahi s a l l a 'llahu 'alayki wa-sallama, wa-huwa murdifi, i l anusubinmin al ansabif a d h a b a h n a a lahu shatan). The crucial problem is, of course, the slaughter. The key for the interpretation of the sentence is the suffixed pronoun hu in lahu. If lahu is referred to n u s u b it would mean that the Prophet and Zayd b. h a r i t h a offered the ewe to the idol. This is evaded by the attribution of the suffixed pronoun to the Prophet. ' The suffixed pronoun in lahu refers to the Prophet', says al-Dhahabi d a m i r u lahu raji'un i l a rasuli 'llahi salla 'llahu 'alayhi wa-sallama). Zayd used the first person plural, 'we slaughtered for him (i.e. for the Prophet) a ewe', but it was Zayd who slaughtered it. Consequently when Zayd b. 'Amr asks during the conversation about the contents of the bag, ' What is it ', the phrase qulnashatan d h a b a h n a h ewe which we slaughtered for a a li 'l nusubi kadha 'we said certain nusub ' may form the answer of Zayd b. h a r i t h a or the answer of the Prophet on behalf of Zayd b. h a r i t h a who actually slaughtered the ewe, not being guided by God to refrain from sacrificing before the n u s u b The reading quddimat lahu sufratun (another version: fa-quddimat i l a 'l-nabiyyi salla 'llahu 'alayhi wa-sallama sufratun) in the tradition of al-Bukhari gave the opportunity for a peculiar interpretation recorded by Ibn h a j a r a l ' a s q a l a n i Ibn b a t t a l (d. 449/1057) said that the bag was offered (quddimat) to the Prophet by Quraysh but he refused to eat it and offered it to Zayd b. 'Amr, who refused to eat it too. Ibn h a j a r remarks : ' That is possible, but I do not know whence he could determine it, because I did not find it (i.e. this form of the tradition) in the transmission of anyone '. Ibn h a j a r r prefers the explanation given by al-Khattabi (d. 388/998): 'the Prophet did not eat meat of sacrifices slaughtered on the nusubfor the idols, but he ate everything else, even if the name of God was not mentioned (during the slaughter), because the law had not been revealed then. The law prohibiting consumption of the meat of animals (over which during the slaughter the name of God was not mentioned) was not revealed until a long time after the Ibn h a j a r r interprets nusub as 'stone' and concludes that Zayd b. h a r i t h a slaughtered the ewe on a stone, not intending to sacrifice for an idol. He accepts further the opinion of Suhayli that Zayd b. 'Amr was 'following his own opinion' and refutes the assumption that he adopted the opinion of the Ahl a l k i t a b Of some interest is the interpretation of the expression about the bag in the Siyar a ' l a m I, f a t h a l b a r i VII, 98; , a l - q a s t a l l a n i op. cit., vn, 427; al-'Ayni, 'Umdat a l q a r i ' VIII, 36. f a t h a l b a r i VII, 98; a!- 'Ayni, op. cit., VIII, 36. M. J. KISTER tradition of al-Bukhari given by al-Kirmani (d. 786/1384). The fact that the meat was in the bag does not indicate that the Prophet did eat of it, argues al-Kirmani. In many cases food from a traveller's bag is not consumed by the traveller but by his companions. The Prophet did not forbid the persons in his company to consume it because he had not received the revelation at that time and had not been told to make known anything of order or prohibition. 43 Shi'i scholars strongly rejected the tradition of the bag of meat. Ibn t a w u s in his t a r a ' i f f 'Abd a l m a h m u d '0 you, may God have mercy upon you, look at this story the validity of which they attested, (alleging) that their Prophet was among those who slaughtered on the a n s a b and ate (the meat) and at the same time recording in their books that God undertook to educate and instruct him and Jibril undertook to see to his formation 45 (and stating further) that he did not follow (the customs of) the Jahiliyya and did not accept anything of their manners. How did they bespeak themselves in this matter and in (the records of) the praise of God and their praise for His First and His Last, His Inward and His Outward, and with all this they attest that Zayd b. 'Amr knew God more than he and was more strict in keeping the observances of God k a n a a'rafabi 'llahi minhu wa-atamma h i f z a n li-jiinibi ' l l a h i How can I and others among the wise imitate people who record things like this and consider them sound I asked scholars of the family of the Prophet 'ulama'a ahli 'l-'itrati) about it, from their Shi'a, and they totally refused to accept the soundness of the tradition '. The same arguments are put forth against this tradition by al-l:Iasan b. y u s u f al hilli in his Nahj al haqq wa-kashf a l s i d q q 46 a l f a d l b. r u z b a h a n in a polemic against al hilli in his Nahj al ta'til claims that al hilli deleted the final part of the saying of the Prophet (as recorded by a l b u k h a r i 'When Zayd (b. 'Amr) said" I do not eat from the meat of the sacrifices offered to the idols the Prophet said I also do not eat from their sacrifices nor from that upon which God's name was not mentioned So they both ate (sc. the meat).' m u h a m m a d h a s a n a l m u z a f f a r denies the claim of a l f a d l b. ruzbahan and states that this addition (recorded by a l f a d l could not be found in the s a h i h h of al-Bukhari. In conclusion, it may be said that the discussion in connexion with the tradition concerning the conversation of the Prophet with Zayd b. 'Amr and the offer of the bag of meat was concerned with the essential problem of the of the Prophet before he was granted prophethood. The main effort of the Muslim scholars was to prove that the Prophet did not eat meat slaughtered for a l ' a y n i op. cit., 36. Ibn t a w u s s t a r a ' i f'Abd al mahmud Tehran, n. d., llO. tahdhibahu glossed in the text by khidmatahu muhammad a l h a s a n al muzaffar d a l a ' i l al sidq no place of publication given, 1389/1969{?), I, 409. 7 ' ibid. 'A BAG OF MEAT': A STUDY OF AN EARLY h a d i t h 275 idols, nor did he slaughter it, as he was granted immunity from sin before he received prophethood. The tradition of Ibn i s h a q in the recension of Yiinus b. Bukayr discussed by Guillaume ' is given us ', as stated by Guillaume, ' in what must have been its original form '. It is not unique tradition, but it is undoubtedly an early one. The lengthy tradition recorded by al-Khargiishi belongs to the same category: it plainly states that the Prophet offered the ewe to the idol and he admitted it in his talk with Zayd b. 'Amr. The phrases mentioning that the Prophet and Zayd greeted each other with the greeting of the Jahiliyya are significant. The tradition explicitly points to the fact that the Prophet followed, before his prophethood, the practices of his people and corroborates the tradition of Ibn al-Kalbi that the Prophet' offered a white ewe to al-'Uzza following the religious practices of his people' (laqad ahdaytu li 'l-'uzza shatan 'afra'a wa ana 'ala d i n i qaumi). The tradition of al-Khargiishi based on the idea that the Prophet had no ' i s m a 51 before his Call belongs to the earliest layer of hadith traditions which fell later into oblivion or were re-shaped or expunged. New light on the life of Muhammad, 7. I. Goldziher, m u s l i m studies ed. S.M. Stern, London, 1967, 239. Ibn al-Kalbi, Kitab a l a s n a m m ed. a h m a d z a k i Pasha, Cairo, 1914, 19; J. Wellhausen, Reate arabischen Heidentums, Berlin, 1887, 30. 61 See Ibn Taymiyya, m i n h a j al-sunna al-nabawiyya, ed.. Muhammad r a s h a d Salim, Cairo, 1964, n, 308, 311 ; H. Birkeland, The Lord guideth, Oslo, 1956, 40-1.