al-Difa an al-Sahabi Abi Bakra wa Marwiyyatihi wa al-Istidlal li Man Wilayat al-Nisa ala al-Rijal
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- Editions
- Without publisher (Cataloging of King Fahd National Library - Riyadh)
al-Difa an al-Sahabi Abi Bakra wa Marwiyyatihi wa al-Istidlal li Man Wilayat al-Nisa ala al-Rijal (Defending the Companion Abu Bakra and His Narrations, and Presenting Evidence Prohibiting Women's Authority over Men) is a polemical treatise by the Hadith scholar Abd al-Muhsin al-Abbad . It defends the Companion Abu Bakrah, upholds the integrity of his narrations in Sahih al-Bukhari, and argues against the permissibility of women holding public governance over men .
Background and Purpose
Al-Abbad authored the treatise in response to an article written by Muhammad Sulayman al-Ashqar, published in the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Watan on May 29, 2004, under the title "Nathrah fi al-Adillah al-Shar'iyyah hawla Musharakat al-Mar'ah fi al-Waza'if al-Ri'asiyyah wa al-Majalis al-Niyabiyyah wa Nahwiha" ("A Look into the Legal Evidences Concerning Women's Participation in Presidential Positions, Parliamentary Councils, and the Like") .
In that article, al-Ashqar criticized Abu Bakrah's solitary narrations in Sahih al-Bukhari, primarily the Prophetic report: لن يفلح قوم ولوا أمرهم امرأة ("A people who entrust their affairs to a woman will never succeed") . Al-Ashqar argued for the rejection of the narration in order to allow women's appointment to high offices of governance, claiming that Sahih al-Bukhari contained fabricated reports . Al-Abbad composed the work to refute al-Ashqar's methodological and legal claims .
Structure and Contents
The treatise begins with an introduction outlining the occasion for its writing and reproduces the full text of al-Ashqar's article . It is subsequently organized into five main discussions followed by a concluding section :
- The virtues of Abu Bakrah and scholars' praise of him: Presenting scholarly commendations of the Companion's character and religious standing .
- The acceptance of Abu Bakrah's narrations: Demonstrating the consensus of scholars on accepting his transmissions and establishing that the historical incident of slander allegations and judicial punishment during Umar ibn al-Khattab's caliphate did not impair his trustworthiness as a narrator .
- The integrity of Sahih al-Bukhari: Defending the collection from assertions that it contains fabricated hadiths .
- Legal evidence regarding authority: Citing textual proofs from the Quran, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus that women are disqualified from general public authority (al-wilayah al-ammah) and other positions of authority over men .
- Detailed commentary on al-Ashqar's article: Point-by-point refutations of specific assertions, including arguments concerning female political participation and parliamentary involvement .
- Contrasting inconsistencies between men and women: A closing chapter addressing social transformations in contemporary Muslim societies, focusing on issues of modesty, clothing guidelines, and imitation between the sexes .
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