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Is prophet Mohamed slave of Hamza forefathers?

Q:

Assalamu alaikum brother,

Is prophet Mohamed slave of Hamza forefathers? Why prophet Mohammad did not give any refute to Hamza words? I ask this question from below hadees. This hadees used by Christians against prophets Mohamed. Pls give me detailed answer.

Narrated Husain bin `Ali:

`Ali bin Abi Talib said: “I got a she-camel as my share of the war booty on the day (of the battle) of Badr, and Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) gave me another she-camel. I let both of them kneel at the door of one of the Ansar, intending to carry Idhkhir on them to sell it and use its price for my wedding banquet on marrying Fatima. A goldsmith from Bani Qainqa’ was with me. Hamza bin `Abdul-Muttalib was in that house drinking wine and a lady singer was reciting: “O Hamza! (Kill) the (two) fat old she camels (and serve them to your guests). So Hamza took his sword and went towards the two she-camels and cut off their humps and opened their flanks and took a part of their livers.” (I said to Ibn Shihab, “Did he take part of the humps?” He replied, “He cut off their humps and carried them away.”) `Ali further said, “When I saw that dreadful sight, I went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and told him the news. The Prophet (ﷺ) came out in the company of Zaid bin Haritha who was with him then, and I too went with them. He went to Hamza and spoke harshly to him. Hamza looked up and said, ‘Aren’t you only the slaves of my forefathers?’ The Prophet (ﷺ) retreated and went out. This incident happened before the prohibition of drinking.”
Sahih al-Bukhari 2375

A:

Wa Alaykumussalam brother

Thank you for your query. I would like to mention few points here.

 

  1. Sahih Bukhari and other books contain some fake or Dha’if ahadith and can never be accepted if they go against our ideology and beliefs. As Hamza the uncle of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) was following the Abrahamic religion, and we know that wine had been prohibited in the Abrahamic religion and none of the Prophets of Allah(swt) ever drank. This is our firm belief.
    Suppose if Prophet drinks and then invites people towards the oneness of Allah, how would people accept it? Therefore, we believe Prophets are infallible and neither commit sin nor errors.
  2. This hadith is narrated by Zohri, who was the narrator of the Bani Umayyad(Umayyad dynasty). Zohri used to fabricate hadith which is Haram in Islam. And the above hadith quoted regarding Hazrat Hamza is narrated by Zohri which is problematic in accepting the authenticity while he used to fabricate many hadith.

 

3. Unfortunately this is one of those fake hadith by which the personality of Hazrat Hamza can be destroyed. Whereas we know the personality of Hamza who was the uncle of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) and a strong defender of the Prophet.
4. If we believe Prophet Muhammad was his uncle Hamzas’ forefathers slave then this conflicts with the argument itself, because Hamza was the uncle of Prophet Muhammad and Prophet’s father Abdullah was the brother of Hamza. Therefore, Abdullah and Hamza being the brothers would be slave of their forefathers.

5. Suppose Prophet  Muhammad(s.a.w.w) was the slave of his uncle Hamza, then why was Hamza showing a lot of respect to his nephew, why always protecting and defending his nephew?

 

So we conclude that these sort of Ahadith aren’t authentic from the Shi’a point of view and according to some of the Ahlus Sunnah as well. Therefore, Prophet Muhammad(s.a.w.w) was not the slave of his uncle Hamza’s forefathers.

 

You have also gotten the answer from our dear Sunni scholars: https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/424399/a-misconception-about-hamzah-may-allah-be-pleased-with-him

 

May Allah (swt) make us the lovers of our beloved Prophet, his progeny, and his supporters like Hazrat Hamza.

 

Wassalam,

Syed Haider