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Hadith Where Prophet Burnt The Ants
There is a hadith that is in sahih muslim as well as bukhari that goes like this ; https://sunnah.com/muslim:2241b
The Prophetﷺ said, “An ant bit a Prophet of Allah once, and he ordered that the place of the ants be burnt. So, Allah, Exalted is He, inspired to him, ‘It is because one ant bit you that you burnt a nation amongst the nations that glorify Allah?
My q is ; how should this hadith be taken? Because how can a prophet of Allah ; they are the highest examples to follow morally ; just by an ant bite kill or burn entire ant place to be burn? Or is the hadith perhaps being misquoted ? Because prophets forgive even their worst enemies this is an ant!
How should we take this hadith? Because it may be that narrators perhaps forgot to mention details or perhaps not the entire picture?
Kindly elaborate, jazakumullah khair!
sunnah.com
Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) in English and Arabic
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Hadith Where Prophet Burnt The Ants
updated 2 days, 2 hours ago
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This Hadith is also narrated from Abu Huraira ra by Hassan Basri and he did not mention the Prophet pbuh in the chain. Imam Nasai said that chain is mawquf and not marfu.
It might be possible that Abu Huraira ra heard it from Kab and it could be from the israeliyaat, but this is unlikely as many other narrators narrate Marfu from Abu Huraira ra.
Well it could be because of state of mind, to Err is Human. God forbade the Prophet afterwards.
Also, it is narrated from the same Abu Huraira ra that the prophet pbuh forbade killing the ants.
It is similar to the incident mentioned in the Quran when a Prophet killed horses because those horses distracted that prophet pbuh from praying (although people differ in interpretation).
It is clear that Prophets were also humans with humanly attributes such as Anger, rage etc.
Often times it occurs that even minor things bother one so much that one cannot control.
Ibn Hajar has described the context of this Hadith in his commentary on Bukhari, take a look at that too.
Will appreciate a deeper look by our dear scholars.
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I don’t know about the veracity of the chain of narration of this hadith, but prophets of God, whilst morally superior than the general population, have emotions and use their intellect as well. Not all of their actions and utterances are divinely guided.
When the ant bit incident took place, it could be that prophet ordered the nuisance to be eliminated, similar to how we suggest eliminating the bee hive, which sometimes harms the passerby or those who accidentally comes in contact with the territorial bees. In spirit, the bees are following God’s command of making honey, but Human intellect exhort us to remove any undue nuisance.
Similarly, it is possible that the ant had a colony near the place where they bit Prophet Muhammad, and as a result, prophet Muhammad asked to uproot the problem. Here is where the wisdom and unparalleled guidance was probably revealed, where Allah imparted that the whole colony had some other errands too (worshipping) apart from just biting.
Surah Abasa, is another similar example, frowning upon a genuine seeker of truth is not what people will regard prophet Muhammad with, it was a momentary happening and natural, but Allah guided him and told him about viewing things from a different perspective.
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It was not prophet Muhamamd [saw] that got bitten by ant , the hadith says he was mentioning it about another prophet.
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We know of instances where prophets have shown such emotional responses in the context of a bigger cause (جانب حق). Prophet Suleman (sws) used sword on his horses when he missed his Asr Salah while watching his horses. Similalrly, Prophet Muhammad (sws) had dogs killed in Medina when he consecutively missed several meetings with Angel Gabriel because of the filth caused by those dogs. These emotional responses erupted when they saw an animal causing hindrance towards a bigger cause. These are one off instances and should not be used as a basis for any religious directive. It is possible that there could be a wider context in the case of the Prophet mentioned in this Hadith, which is unfortunately missing. Prophets are human beings with the aim to spread the message of Allah, and in that capacity we should try to understand their emotional responses when someting causes a hindrance in that message or in fulfillment of their duty.
Please also note that while Prophets are the most pious people of their times, and they show mercy and soft heartedness wherever possible, but it is not right to say that they forgave their worst enemies all the time. While they may forgive their enemies at a personal level, but they themselves ordered to kill the worst enemies of Islam. Prophet Muhammad (sws) had also ordered several of the people to be killed because of their extreme enmity towards Islam. Showing mercy at every moment is neither possible nor logical.
Please also refer to the video below from 1:06:33 to 1:09:22
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Please also refer to the video below from 30:32 to 40:47 (specifically from 37:32 onwards)
https://www.youtube.com/live/Dt_3CVKVueo?si=X3aLj1AK7Xx2K8FW&t=1832
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