Is Harith ibn Harrath Usama bin Laden?
Question:
salams sheikh,
1) Can you shed some light on this person called sayyid qutb. Is he a teacher of authentic islamic knowledge that one can accept?
2) this hadith and meaning was found on http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?295854-Osama-bin-Laden-mentioned-in-QURAN-hadith-and-bible
(Please explain the true meaning of it sheikh)
Sunan Abu- Dawud Book 36, Number 4277: Narrated Ali ibn Abu Talib: The Prophet (saAllaahu alayhi wa salam) said: “A man called al-Harith ibn Harrath will come forth from Ma Wara an- Nahr. His army will be led by a man called Mansur who will establish or consolidate things for Muhammad’s family as Quraysh consolidated them for the Apostle of Allah. Every believer must help him, or he said: respond to his sermons.”
: [1]“A man called al- Harith ibn Harrath will come forth from Ma Wara an- Nahr.” One of the meanings of “al-Haarith” is “a young lion“, and “Harraath” means a man who prepares the field for planting crops. So “al- Haarith ibn Harraath” would translate as: “the young lion, the son of one who prepares the ground for planting crops”. Do you know that this is the exact same meaning of the name “Usaamah ibn Laadin”? “Usaamah” means: a young lion. And“Laadin” in the Yemeni dialect means: one who prepares the ground for planting crops.
[2]“His army will be led by a man called Mansoor.” Mansoor = one who is victorious/ one who is given victory over his enemies. Ayman adh- Dhawaahiree: “adh- Dhawaahiree ”comes from “adh- Dhawaahir” which is the plural of “Dhaahir”. One of the meanings of “Dhaahir” is: THE ONE WHO IS VICTORIOUS!!!
Answer:
Assalaamu Alaikum,
I do not have much knowledge of Sayyid Qutb except that he was a scholar of Egypt.
This hadith cannot be used for the understanding which has been deduced.
If one wishes to use the hadith for the explaination given, then the question is why didn’t the Prophet (SAS) say a man by the name of ‘Usamah bin Ladin’ will come.
If one has to translate and retranslate a name to identify a person who came later, why did the Prophet (SAS) say that a man called Al Harith (ibn) Harath will come, instead of saying Usama bin Ladin will come (if this is the meaning the person wants to arrive at ).
The truth is that this explaination which has been given is unacceptable. The Prophet (SAS) predicted many things in the future and his predictions were true, because they were based on the knowledge bestowed to him by Allah. Hence, seeing that the Prophet (SAS) used a specific name (and not an attribute or nickname), it means that a person bearing such a name will come. There is no need to translate Harith (ibn) Harath into synonymous Arabic names (or words) in order to identify the person.
Similarly, the hadith goes further to state that ‘his army will be led by a man called Mansoor’. This means that the person’s name will be Mansoor who will lead the army.
The hadith also states that the man by the name of Mansoor will prepare things for the family of Muhammad’. On this, the commentators have stated that ‘the family of Muhammad’ mentioned above, refers to the Mahdi who will come at the time of Isa (AS). Mansur will make all the arrangements of wealth, treasures and arms for the Mahdi, and will help him with his army until he establishes Khilafah for him (the Mahdi). (Bazlool Majhood, commentary on Abu Dawood vol.12 pg. 333). The above explaination shows that Harith and Mansoor will be at the time of the Mahdi, which has not come as yet. Hence, inferring that Usama is Harith (as mentioned in the hadith) is not acceptable.
Further to this, the hadith does not mention that the person’s name is Harith ibn Harrath,(that is, Harith the son of Harrath). Instead, it states that the person’s name will be Harith Harrath, (that is Harith, the Harath (Harrath means one who prepares the earth for planting crops) ). This is exactly what is mentioned in the Sunan of Abu Dawood. (Abu Dawood Chapter on the Mahdi) given as Hadith no. 4290 ).
And Allah knows best,
Mufti Waseem Khan
20/11/2011