History was for them a fertile ground for intrigue and slander. For those misguiders inserted into Islamic history baseless events and tales produced by their imagination. In doing so, they sought to sully the lives of the caliphs and Muslim sultans. For example, they attributed to Hārūn al-Rashīd, God forbid, strange stories that were wholly inappropriate. We find such fabricated tales in storybooks like "Alf Layla wa-Layla" (The Thousand and One Nights).
It is no secret that heretical Crusaders, Orientalists, and those who follow their path have inserted slander, bāṭil (false) reports, and manifestly false heresies into Islamic history. Their aim in this is to undermine Islam and sow doubt within it.
However, diligent Muslim historians—such as al-Dhahabī, al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, Ibn al-Athīr, Ibn Hishām, and others—compiled and wrote Islamic history. They purified it from slanders, removed lies and things foreign to the religion, and presented it in a pure form. Those who seek the truth must refer to these authentic sources, distinguishing the impure from the pure, the weak from the sound.
Notes
- In the Sahih of al-Bukhārī, in the Book of Knowledge, from Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him); also extracted by Muslim in the Book of Iman, by al-Tirmidhī in the Book of Knowledge, and by Ibn Mājah in the Chapters on the Sunnah.
- Indeed, some individuals and diligent scholars wrote books on the Prophetic hadiths, clarifying fabricated hadiths. Among them are Suyūṭī (may Allah have mercy on him) with "al-La'ālī al-Maṣnūʿa fī al-Aḥādīth al-Mawḍūʿa", ʿAjjūlūnī (may Allah have mercy on him) with "Kashf al-Khafāʾ", and Khut al-Bayrūtī (may Allah have mercy on him) with "Asnā al-Maṭālib".