What is your opinion about the book Hayatus Sahabah by Muhammad Yusuf Kandhlawi?
The book Hayaat-us-Sahaabah is filled with a mixture of authentic and weak hadeeths, and even extremely weak and forged ones many of which promote false beliefs and principles.
Examples of such rejected hadeeths which it includes are:
- ‘Addaas prostrating to the Prophet (ﷺ) without him objecting in the least!
- The Prophet (ﷺ) complaining to Allaah: “To whom shall you hand me over?! To an enemy who will treat me harshly or to a near one to whom You shall give control over me?!”
- “My companions are like stars whichever of them you follow you will be rightly guided.”
- ...and others.
Consequently, many scholars of Ahl-us-Sunnah such as al-Albaanee (Silsilat-ul-Hudaa wan-Noor #524), Hamood at-Tuwaijiree (Al-Qawl-ul-Baleegh fit-Tahdheer ‘an Jamaa’at-it-Tableegh), Muhammad Jameel Zaino (Kaifa Ihtadaitu) and others (C.f. Al-Jamaa‘aat-ul-Islaamiyyah) warned against giving this book to laymen for reading.
Moreover, the author Muhammad Yusuf Kandhalawi, is one of the major sheikhs of the Deobandi/Sufi movement, Jamaat Tableegh. In fact, his father Ilyaas was its founder and this book, among a few others, is one of those which the Jamaat has prescribed on its members to read.
Unfortunately, a detailed analysis of this book and its hadeeths is not possible at this time. For more information, please refer to the book Jamaat Tableegh and the Deobandis: A Critical Analysis of their Beliefs, Books and Da‘wah by Sajid Abdul-Kayum.
Instead of such untrustworthy books, there exists more than enough reliable books in English about the Sahaabah which should be read, such as:
- Men and Women Around the Messenger, by Sa‘d Yusuf Abu Aziz
- Child Companions Around the Prophet, by Darussalam Research Division
- Heroes of Islam, by Dr. Mahmoud Esma’il Sieny
- Great Women of Islam Who were given the Good News of Paradise, by Mahmood Ghadanfar
- Commanders of the Muslim Army among the Companions, by Mahmood Ghadanfar
- The History of Islam, by Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi
- Books on Islamic History compiled by Dr. Ali. M. Sallabi
And Allaah knows best.
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