The Hadith About Dhatu Anwat

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At-Tirmidhi reports the following hadith from Abu Waqid al-Laythi:

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَمَّا خَرَجَ إِلَى حُنَيْنٍ مَرَّ بِشَجَرَةٍ لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ يُقَالُ لَهَا ذَاتُ أَنْوَاطٍ يُعَلِّقُونَ عَلَيْهَا أَسْلِحَتَهُمْ فَقَالُوا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ اجْعَلْ لَنَا ذَاتَ أَنْوَاطٍ كَمَا لَهُمْ ذَاتُ أَنْوَاطٍ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ هَذَا كَمَا قَالَ قَوْمُ مُوسَى اجْعَلْ لَنَا إِلَهًا كَمَا لَهُمْ آلِهَةٌ وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَتَرْكَبُنَّ سُنَّةَ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ وَأَبُو وَاقِدٍ اللَّيْثِيُّ اسْمُهُ الْحَارِثُ بْنُ عَوْفٍ وَفِي الْبَاب عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ وَأَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ

When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم set out for Hunayn, he passed by a tree of the mushrikin, which was called dhatu anwat, upon which they would hang their weapons¹²⁷. They said¹²⁸: “O Messenger of Allah, make for us a dhatu anwat, just as they have a dhatu anwat.”

So the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “Subhanallah! This is like what the people of Musa said: 'Make for us an ilah just as they have alihah.'¹²⁹

By the One in whose hand my soul is, you will surely follow the way of those who came before you.”

Abu 'Isa (at-Tirmidhi) said: “This hadith is hasan sahih…”¹³⁰

According to the previous explanations regarding the foundation of Islam and the faulty method of understanding ambiguous statements, it is absolutely clear how this hadith should not be understood.

It is inconceivable that the Prophet's companions رضي الله عنهم mentioned in this incident did not understand Islam and therefore requested clear shirk, yet at the same time remained Muslims.

Only someone who does not properly understand the foundation of Islam or deliberately wants to contradict it would make such a claim. Nevertheless, this hadith is sometimes used as a counterargument by certain individuals. They attempt to argue: “A polytheist today can certainly still be a Muslim, because even among the Prophet's companions, there were those who worshiped something else, yet they remained Muslims.”

According to this notion, any idolater could essentially be considered a Muslim, regardless of how much polytheism he practices or what kind of polytheism he engages in. The only important condition would be that he identifies as a Muslim and is ignorant of his actions.

Such an absurd claim about this hadith was, of course, never narrated by the early scholars.

Those Companions of the Prophet Requested an Action That Is Not Classified as Major Shirk

Based on what has already been stated, it is self-evident that this hadith must only be interpreted in accordance with other revelation texts, especially with the fundamental principles of Islam.

In reality, it is highly implausible to claim that these companions of the Prophet رضي الله عنهم requested something that would be classified as major shirk. It is entirely possible to understand their request differently – as something that falls under what has already been explained as minor shirk (shirkun asghar).

Since this hadith can, through this explanation, be harmonized with countless other source texts and the principles of Islam, it would be theologically absurd to simply dismiss this understanding. Only someone who deliberately intends to interpret this hadith in a manner contrary to Islamic beliefs would do so.

In reality, those companions intended for the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to ask his Lord to bless a tree – similar to the tree they themselves knew from their pre-Islamic times. Through Allah's blessing, their weapons would also be blessed.

That Allah سبحانه وتعالى grants blessings to a specific place or object is not something objectionable according to Islamic teachings. After all, there are well-known places such as the mosques of Makkah, Madinah, and Jerusalem, upon which this exact concept applies – so for Muslims, this matter is not unusual.

Why the Prophet Firmly Rejected This Request

Even though the blessings itself is a possible matter, this specific request made by the companions of the Prophet was erroneous for several reasons. For this reason, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم firmly rejected it. The reasons for this can be summarized as follows:

1. Their request was an imitation of the idolaters, and the theological principle states that such imitation (at-tashabbuhu bi-l-kafirin) is reprehensible and must be rejected.
2. Furthermore, this was an imitation of the mushrikin in their polytheistic actions. Even though the sahabah/companions رضي الله عنهم did not actually intend or request to worship anything else, they still sought Allah's blessing in the same place and manner as the idolaters. However, it was inappropriate to ask Allah to be worshiped in the same way as the idolaters.
3. Due to the circumstances described and the external similarity of the actions, there was also the risk that this could easily lead to major shirk (shirkun akbar) in the end. This is because people – especially later generations – could very easily fall into the worship of the tree itself. The resulting situation strongly resembles the previously cited account of Ibnu 'Abbas رضي الله عنهما regarding how the first polytheism emerged among the people of Nuh/Noah.

For these reasons, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم vehemently rejected this request and compared it to the request of the Israelites to Musa/Moses, which is mentioned in the Qur'an.

Points That Clarify and Reinforce What Has Been Said

That the sahabah رضي الله عنهم mentioned in the hadith did not actually request polytheism can also be clarified by the following points:

• The comparison with banu isra'il does not imply absolute equality in every aspect. This is because, in the Arabic language, a linguistic comparison made using the particle “kaf” (kafu t-tashbih) does not necessarily mean that the compared things are identical in all respects.

The similarity in this style of speech may only apply to certain aspects. The purpose of this partial comparison made by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was to demonstrate to those companions – who had only recently converted to Islam – the severity of their mistake and to dissuade them from the act.

• In the reason for the prohibition mentioned in the hadith, there is no mention of shirk akbar. As previously explained, the Muslims wanted to hang their weapons on the tree in imitation of the mushrikin, but merely hanging something does not constitute worship of the tree, idols, or any other beings – even if it could eventually lead to that.

Therefore, it cannot be claimed that those sahabah intended to worship the tree, especially since their request can be understood differently, and shirk akbar is not mentioned at all in the hadith.

• Even if these sahabah رضي الله عنهم were new to Islam, it is highly unlikely that they did not understand the foundation of Islam and the meaning of the testimony of faith.

After all, even the mushrikin of that time in general clearly understood what Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was calling them to. They knew very well that the shahadah in Islam – “There is no one worthy of worship except Allah” – undoubtedly required the complete rejection of everything that was worshiped besides Allah. The idolaters of Quraysh were hostile to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم precisely because he condemned their worship of others alongside Allah.

Thus, after the da'wah (call) of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم became known, the majority of the Arabs certainly understood the meaning of Islam. For example, in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, it is narrated that the Prophet's companion Jabir رضي الله عنه said:

مَكَثَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم بِمَكَّةَ عَشْرَ سِنِينَ يَتْبَعُ النَّاسَ فِى مَنَازِلِهِمْ بِعُكَاظٍ وَمَجَنَّةَ وَفِى الْمَوَاسِمِ بِمِنًى يَقُولُ: مَنْ يُئْوِينِى مَنْ يَنْصُرُنِى حَتَّى أُبَلِّغَ رِسَالَةَ رَبِّى وَلَهُ الْجَنَّةُ حَتَّى إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ لَيَخْرُجُ مِنَ الْيَمَنِ أَوْ مِنْ مُضَرَ كَذَا قَالَ فَيَأْتِيهِ قَوْمُهُ فَيَقُولُونَ احْذَرْ غُلامَ قُرَيْشٍ لاَ يَفْتِنُكَ وَيَمْشِى بَيْنَ رِحَالِهِمْ وَهُمْ يُشِيرُونَ إِلَيْهِ بِالأَصَابِعِ

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم remained in Makkah for ten years, seeking out people in their homes, in 'Ukadh and Majannah¹³¹, and during the pilgrimage season in Mina. There, he would say (to the people): “Who will grant me refuge? Who will support me so that I can convey the message of my Lord, for which he shall be granted Paradise?”

This continued until even those traveling from Yemen or Mudar for pilgrimage were warned by their own tribes: “Beware of the young man from Quraysh, lest he lead you astray (from your religion).”

And he would walk among their riding animals, while they pointed at him with their fingers.

There is no doubt that people generally, even before entering Islam, clearly knew that monotheism in worship was the first and most important thing that Islam required of them.

Therefore, after entering Islam, this must have been even clearer to them. It is highly unlikely that those companions of the Prophet were unaware of this, especially since they were surrounded by other Muslims who had been in Islam for a longer time. Not to mention that, since their conversion to Islam, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم himself was among them.

From what has been stated, it has become clear that there is no reason to assume that these companions of the Prophet were requesting actual polytheism.

If one were to find statements from later authors claiming that this hadith refers to a request for major shirk, the following must be considered:

1. The statement of a later scholar and his interpretation of a text are not an authoritative standard. Such statements have no binding evidentiary weight in the religion and must therefore always be examined and measured against the original source texts of the shari'ah. In the end, the statement of such a scholar can always be a clear mistake.
2. Even if one were to assume that those companions of the Prophet had requested major shirk, this would in no way serve as an argument to invalidate the fundamental message of Islam.

In such a case, it would be evident that these individuals mentioned in the hadith had not yet understood Islam internally at that time. Since this lack of understanding would not have been outwardly visible, no one would have known about their ignorance. As the hadith shows, they themselves were unaware of their own ignorance, which is why they formulated their request openly.

In such a case, there would have been no actual apostasy from Islam, as these individuals committed the mistake due to ignorance and, after being corrected, immediately acknowledged their error and repented from their request.

According to this understanding of the hadith, these people identified as Muslims and were therefore legally considered Muslims before making the statement mentioned in the hadith. Thus, they had not yet entered iman internally, even though they were outwardly regarded as Muslims. They also had to be treated as such, since no one had ever seen them perform polytheistic acts before, nor had they previously made any statement that would indicate ignorance about Islam. Had such an incident occurred beforehand, the event described would never have taken place.

Regarding the hadith, the following aspects are also noteworthy:

• The individuals mentioned in the hadith who made this request were by no means all the Muslims who had set out with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. It could only have been a minority among them.
• The individuals mentioned in the hadith had previously accepted Islam and had set out with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to defend the Muslim community. This clearly shows that their statement was not made out of disdain for Islam or hypocrisy. If they had been munafiqin/hypocrites, they certainly would not have made such a request publicly.