Objection 12: Houses of
Of all the doubts, which are spread by Wahabism and regretfully
by some people who do not have the necessary knowledge of history it is repeated
that originally during the early period of Islam, houses in Mecca and Medina
did not have wooden doors like today and people used only curtains or mats in
order to screen the house from strangers and unrelated persons. Some of them,
in order to prove their claim, use reasoning through traditional reports:
“It is narrated from Ali (r) that he said: And we are Ahle Bayt
of Muhammad. Our houses neither have roof nor door…”[1]
So they conclude: How it is possible for Fatima
to come between the door and the wall? Thus, the issue of burning of the door
of Fatima and crushing her between the wall
and the half-burnt door is false.
By study of the reports present in books of Shia and Sunni it can
be concluded that during the period of the Messenger of Allah (s) houses in Medina were having wooden
doors.
To prove the point, it is possible to reason through numerous
evidences and those interested in details may refer to detailed books on this
subject.[2]
While numerous verses of the Holy Quran have clarified the
existence of doors for houses, how can we deny the existence of doors in the
early period of Islam? For example the following verse:
وَلَيْسَ
الْبِرُّ بِأَنْ تَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنِ
اتَّقَىٰ
وَأْتُوا
الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِهَا
“…and it is not righteousness that you should enter the
houses at their backs, but righteousness is this that one should guard (against
evil); and go into the houses by their doors.” (Surah Baqarah 2:189)
In the above verse, the existence of door in the house is
clarified.
Or the following verse of the Holy Quran, in which it says:
…مِنْ بُيُوتِكُمْ أَوْ بُيُوتِ
آبَائِكُمْ…أَوْ مَا مَلَكْتُمْ
مَفَاتِحَهُ أَوْ صَدِيقِكُمْ ۚ لَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ
جُنَاحٌ أَنْ تَأْكُلُوا جَمِيعًا أَوْ أَشْتَاتًا
“…from your houses, or your fathers’ houses… or what you
possess the keys of, or your friends’ (houses). It is no sin in you that you
eat together or separately.” (Surah Nur 24:61)
In the above verse, Allah, the Mighty and the High allows persons
having keys to houses to enter those houses and eat from there; without any
doubt, how can houses not having wooden or iron doors, on the contrary, according
to the claim of objection maker, having only a curtain or mat screen, have
keys?
Some traditions, like the one mentioned below, talk of unlocking
the door with keys and this shows that houses and rooms of that period were
having doors:
It is narrated from Dukain bin Saeed Muzni: I went to the Holy
Prophet (s) and requested him for food. The Prophet said to Umar: Go and give
food to them. Umar took us to the room upstairs; then he removed the key from
his waist band and opened the door.[3]
Albani in the book, Sahih wa Zaeef Sunan Abi Dawood, no.
5238 has corrected this report.
In the same way, the report, which Muslim has narrated in his Sahih
is also proof that house had doors during the early period of Islam.
Abu Hamid says: The Prophet commanded us to place containers of
water in a corner and latch the doors at night.[4]
Ibne Kathir Damishqi, quoting from Hasan Basri, says regarding
the door of the Prophet’s house:
Rooms of the Messenger of Allah (s) were constructed by fastening
branches of juniper tree together with thick hair. It is mentioned in Tarikh
Bukhari that the door of the Prophet was knocked with finger tips and nails
and this proves that there was no ring for knocking.[5]
The above text is evidence that houses of that period were having
doors.
In numerous Shia and Sunni traditional reports there is mention
of the door of the house of Amirul Momineen (a). For example, in the
description of the marriage of Lady Fatima Zahra (s) with Amirul Momineen (a),
it is mentioned as follows:
The Messenger of Allah (s) summoned Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a) and recited
the same rituals and supplications for Ali (a), which he had recited for Lady
Fatima (s)…after these supplications the Messenger of Allah (s) stood up and
closed the door.[6]
Bukhari, in the book of Abadbul Mufarrad, has written
about the door of Ayesha’s house:
It is narrated from Muhammad bin Hilal that he saw that the
chambers of the wives of the Prophet (s) were having knitted fur coverings. I
asked him about the door of Ayesha’s house. He said: Her door opens to Shaam. I
asked: Did it have single or double flap? He replied: It did not have more than
a single flap. I said: What was it made of? He replied: It was made from wood
of juniper or teak.[7]
Muhammad bin Ismail Bukhari has written in his Sahih:
It is narrated from Ayesha that: When report of martyrdom of Ja’far
bin Abu Talib and Abdullah bin Rawaha arrived; the Prophet sat on the ground
and signs of grief became apparent from his face and I watched him from the
crack in the door.[8]
Crack or hole in the door proves our claim that houses were not
without doors, on the contrary, doors were made from wooden planks of trees or
trunks of date trees.
As for the traditional report attributed to Amirul Momineen (a)
that: ‘Our houses do not have either roof or door’, it is necessary to mention
the following points:
Firstly: Ahmad bin Husain bin Saeed is included in the chain of
reporters of this traditional report and that person is unreliable and this
makes the report defective (Mursal) and unreliable.
More important than this is the fact that the objection maker has
mentioned the report in a defective manner; in such way that the reader feels
that the houses of Ahle Bayt (a) were not having doors or imagines that their
houses did not have the usual form. While the fact is that basically it is impossible
to imagine houses sans doors, ceiling and walls?!
The complete text of the tradition, without this distortion is as
follows: We are the Ahle Bayt of Muhammad, there are no roofs for our houses
and neither there are doors and curtains, except palm leaves and branches. From
this report, it is not concluded that the house of Ahle Bayt (a) do not have
doors, on the contrary, it can be concluded from the last words of this report that
the roof, doors and walls of our houses are made of date trunks. This report in
fact says: “Roof and door of house of us Ahle Bayt (a) is made of date trunks.”
[1] Al-Khisaal,
Shaykh Saduq, Pg. 382; Sharh al-Akhbar, Qadi Noman Maghribi, Vol. 1, Pg.
362; Al-Ikhtisaas, Shaykh Mufeed, Pg. 163 and Biharul Anwar,
Allamah Majlisi, Vol. 38, Pg. 167.
[2]
Those interested in details can refer to two books: Masaatuz Zahra and Khalfiyaat
Masaatuz Zahra by the great Allamah, Sayyid Ja’far Murtaza Jabal Amili.
[3] Sunan
Abi Dawood, Vol. 2, Pg. 527, Tr. 5240, Sulaiman bin Ashath Abu Dawood
Sajistani Azdi (d. 275 A.H.), Edited: Muhammad Mohiuddin Abdul Hamid, Darul
Fikr.
[4] Sahih
Muslim, Vol. 3, Pg. 1593, Tr. 2010, Kitabul Ashraba (wal Ata-ama), Baab fee
Sharb Nabidh wa Takhmiril Anaa, Muslim bin Hajjaj Abul Husain Qashiri Nishapuri
(d. 261 A.H.), Edited: Muhammad Fawad Abdul Baqi, Darul Ahya Turath Arabi,
Beirut.
[5] Al-Bidaya
wan Nihaya, Vol. 3, Pg. 221, Ismail bin Umar bin Kathir Abul Fida Qarashi
Damishqi (d. 774 A.H.), Maktabul Marif – Beirut .
[6] Al-Musannaf,
Vol. 5, Pg. 489, Abu Bakr Abdur Razzaq bin Hamam Sanani (d. 211), Darul Nashr
al-Maktabul Islami, Beirut
– 1403, Second edition, Edited: Habibur Rahman Azmi
[7] Al-Adabul
Mufarrad, Vol. 1, Pg. 272, Muhammad bin Ismail Abu Abdullah Bukhari Jofi
(d. 256 A.H.), Edited: Muhammad Fawad Abdul Baqi, Darul Bashairul Islamiya, Beirut , 3rd
edition 1409 (1989).
[8] Al-Jami
as-Sahih al-Mukhtasar (Sahih Bukhari), Vol. 1, Pg. 440, Tr. no. 1243, Baab
Maa Yanha An Nuh wal baka wa Zajari An Dhaalik, Muhammad bin Ismail Abu
Abdullah Bukhari Jofi (d. 256 A.H.), Edited: Dr. Mustafa Dibul Bagha, Daar Ibne
Kathir, Yamama, Beirut, 3rd edition, 1407 – 1987.