4 of 5 · 35–60s AH · the civil strife · Madinah and Makkah
'Abdullah ibn 'Umar رضي الله عنه
Staying Out of the Fitnah
After 'Uthman was killed, some people urged 'Abdullah to accept the caliphate, and later urged him to take a side in the conflicts between 'Ali and Mu'awiyah. He refused to fight Muslims, in the belief that he could not shed the blood of a fellow believer for worldly leadership.
A man once challenged him: why did he not fight, as Allah commands, ﴿حَتَّىٰ لَا تَكُونَ فِتْنَةٌ﴾ (“until there is no fitnah”)? Ibn 'Umar answered that they had done that in the Prophet's time, when Islam was weak and a person was persecuted for his religion; now the fighting was over rule (Sahih al-Bukhari 4513).
Sunni scholars regard his stance as one of caution, not indifference: he later pledged loyalty to those who held authority when the community was united and urged unity. Some people criticised his stepping aside, but he was respected by all sides, and later generations often cited him as an example of avoiding bloodshed.
In times of conflict, protecting life and unity can be the more difficult and nobler course.
When people around you are choosing sides, what protects your integrity and your relationships?
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4513 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-KubraHistorical report
- al-Dhahabi, Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'Historical report
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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