Israr Ahmad on Imam Ali (as)

Israr Ahmad a wahabi scholar quoted a hadith from Tirmizi which actually ended up attacking Imam Ali's (as) personality. The hadith taken from Sunan al Tirmizi claims that Imam Ali (as) drank wine before it was prohibited. This is similar to the Bible claiming that some Prophets drank wine since there is no prohibition against it. Here is the version of hadith which is quoted in the clip above.


Ibn Abi Hatim narrated that `Ali bin Abi Talib said, "Abdur-Rahman bin `Awf made some food to which he invited us and served some alcohol to drink. When we became intoxicated, and the time for prayer came, they asked someone to lead us in prayer. He recited `Say, "O disbelievers! I do not worship that which you worship, but we worship that which you worship [misreading Surah 109]."' Allah then revealed [the verse] "(O you who believe! Do not approach Salah when you are in a drunken state until you know what you are saying."(Sunan, Tirmizi)

Of course this is not the only version available for this incident. The Hanafi Imam Abu BakrJassaas under this ayah reports in his classic jurisprudence book 'ahkam al-Quran' another version of this hadith which includes Ata bin Saib, but in that report it says that a man from Ansaar invited people, they drank, and the prayer was lead by Abd Ar-Rehman bin Awf . When Abd Ar-Rehman bin Awf read the surah under the influence of wine the verse of prohibition was revealed. As for Imam Ali (as), he is only the reporter and not as participant in Tirmizi's report.

Al-Wahabi Response
Israr Ahmad here has decided to take the report which attacked Imam Ali (as) character. Also the supporters of Israr Ahmad responded that this report is possible for two reasons. One reason is this incident occurred before the prohibition of alcohol and the other reason is that Imam Ali (as) was not infallible so its possible for him to be involved in this incident. Again I have posted another version which shows a contradiction to that report which attacks Imam Ali (as).



12r Shia Response
When this video of Israr was released the 12r shias were among the first ones to post a response. Then we had Tahir ul Qadri and a few Ahle sunnah scholar giving a response. A 12r shia friend of mine fowarded a clip which responded to the allegation made against Imam Ali (as). Now the problem with the 12r response was that it spent 1 1/2 hours bashing hadiths which are narrated in Bukhari. Then it focused on how the shia sect was a more rational sect to follow. When I saw these clip I was unsatisfied. The reason is the hadith quoted by Dr Israr isn't even taken from Bukhari. So why was the shia scholars wasting his time ? As for errors in hadith transmission let me post a shia hadith which attacks a son of Imam Zain Ul Abideen (as).

Sa`id b. al-Mansur, one of the leaders of the Zaydiya circle, asked him:
"What is your opinion about nabidh, for I have seen Zayd
drinking it?" Al-Baqir replied: "I do not believe that Zayd
would drink it, but even if he did, he is neither a Prophet nor
a Trustee of a Prophet, only an ordinary person from the
Family of Muhammad, and he is sometimes right and
sometimes may commit an error." (Kashshi, Rijal, p.232)

Now Israr Ahmad's supporters believed Imam Ali (as) was not infallible so it was possible for him to drink when the prohibition of wine was not enforced. Likewise, the 12r shia books here say its possible for Imam Zayd bin Ali (as) to drink nabidh since they believe he is capable of sinning.