Islamica

Shaqq al-Sadr

Summary

Shaqq al-Sadr is a story which has been mentioned in the Sunni narration and history books and talks about the opening of the Holy Prophet’s chest and the angels washing his heart. Even though many Sunni historians and exegetes have accepted the apparent occurrence of this story, there are signs which indicate that this story is fabricated including the references to the temptation of the Holy Prophet by Satan and contradiction with his infallibility, and there are also differences in the narrations and different historical reports.

The meaning of Shaqq al-Sadr

Shaqq al-Sadr wa Ghasl al-Qalb or Shaqq al-Batn wa Ghasl al-Qalb means the opening of the chest and washing of the heart, and refers to a story in the Sunni sources regarding the Holy Prophet according to which the angels removed the Holy Prophet’s heart from his chest, cleansed it from all pollution and put it back into its place. In addition to this story which the Sunnis say happened in his childhood, there are two other resembling stories which were narrated, one happening during Mabath (the election of the Prophet) and one during the Miraj (the Holy Prophet’s ascension to the heavens), and also, some Sunni scholars have raised great doubts about this narration and the occurrence of this story is incompatible with the other sources and Islamic beliefs.

Description of the story

The Sunni sources have narrated that when the Holy Prophet was with Halimah, his wet-nurse, and was living with the Bani Sad tribe, a strange event occurred. One day when he had taken the sheep to the desert, suddenly, some angels in the form of humans and white clothes, opened his chest and removed his heart. Then, they washed his heart in a white bowl, washed off the black spots and put his heart back into his chest. Thus, the angels cleansed the Holy Prophet from any bad attributes. The son of Halimah (the Holy Prophet’s foster brother) who witnessed this event rushed to inform Halimah. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] Halimah became extremely worried and took her child to a priest to ask him about what happened. After hearing the child’s words, the priest warned them that in the future, he would change everybody’s religion. Halimah became even more nervous and decided to take him back to his mother in Makkah to protect him from the enemies. [6], [7], [8] According to the Sunni sources, this happened three times over the Holy Prophet’s life including during his election as a prophet and the first time when he was four years old. The Sunnis have explained the wisdom behind each cleansing. The Holy Prophet had to attain the ability to receive the revelation and during the Miraj, for the Holy Prophet’s heart to be able to supplicate more.

View of the Islamic sects

Sunnis

Most of the Sunni religious scholars believe that Shaqq al-Sadr was one of the miracles of the Holy Prophet and one mustn’t doubt its occurrence as many narrations have confirmed it and the narrators are trustworthy. Also, according to their beliefs, it is impermissible to interpret the narration which relates the story of Shaqq al-Sadr and interpret it that it happened in the other world and to keep it that they opened his chest, removed and washed his heart in this world. [9] Some Sunni exegetes believe that the expansion of the chest referred to in Surah Inshirah and the verse, “Have We not expanded for you your breast?” [10] Despite this, some Sunni scholars have deemed the story of Shaqq al-Sadr as fabricated and have said that the narration is from the Israiliyyat (the narrations fabricated by the Jews).

Shias

Some Shia scholars like Allamah Tabatabai have made justifications for the occurrence of the story of Shaqq al-Sadr. Allamah Tabatabai believes that this occurrence has many narrations and rejecting all of these is impossible and it is not needed but rather, we must interpret the meaning of the narrations. Thus, we can say that Shaqq al-Sadr and washing the Holy Prophet’s heart occurred in another world and it was a re-enactment in this world. [11] He believes that the occurrence of such re-enactments in the book and the tradition are many and there is no way to deny them. [12] Despite this, most Shia scholars believe that the occurrence of such an event is unlikely and they have brought reasons for this denial.

Weakness, discrepancy and conflict in the text of narrations

The narrations in which the story of Shaqq al-Sadr conflict with each other. In addition to this, they also contradict and conflict with narrations in other regards which adds to its weakness. Some narrations are also incompatible with theological principles and historical reports. These doubts include:

  • The time when Shaqq al-Sadr occurred differs in the narrations: two or four years old [13], ten years old [14], twenty years old [15] and forty years old during Miraj [15]. In another narration, this occurred in Alam al-Dharr (a place in which God took an oath from us to worship him). [16]
  • In some of the Shaqq al-Sadr narrations, it is mentioned that Halimah, the Holy Prophet’s wet-nurse, returned him to his mother because of this, but according to another narration, the reason she returned him was because some Abyssinian Christians saw the Holy Prophet and said, “Let’s kidnap this child and take him to our homeland as he will be very important in the future.” [17]
  • The Holy Prophet was guarded against sins and theological and ethical pollution. Therefore, washing his heart in order to guard him against sin would be meaningless. [18]
  • Calling the event of Shaqq al-Sadr one of the Holy Prophet’s miracle is incompatible with the verbal definition of a miracle, as miracles are to confirm a prophet’s claim and the Holy Prophet didn’t claim prophethood as a child.
  • In the narrations of Shaqq al-Sadr, it has been mentioned that this was done to remove Satan’s power over the Holy Prophet but according to the verses of the Quran, Satan has no power over the Holy Prophet including, “Indeed, as for My servants you do not have any authority over them,” [19] and, “Indeed he does not have any authority over those who have faith and put their trust in their Lord.” [20]
  • It appears that the content of the narrations and the story of Shaqq al-Sadr are very similar to the stories of the Era of Ignorance in the Hejaz province which were common among the people. Thus, some researchers of Islamic history believe that this has been taken from one of the stories of the Era of Ignorance. For example, in the book al-Aghani, it is mentioned that Umayyah ibn Abi Salt saw that two birds had come in his dream. One sat on the door to the house and the other came in, opened his chest and withdrew his heart. The other bird asked, “Has his heart been purified?” The first bird answered, “No!” He then put his heart back in his chest. This repeated for four times. [21], [22]


References

  1. ↑ Sīrat Rasūl ‘Allāh, p. 27
  2. ↑ ‘al-Sīraḧ ‘al-Nabawiyyaḧ (‘Ibn Hishām), vol. 1, p. 173-4
  3. ↑ ‘al-Ṭabaqāt (‘Ibn Sa`d), vol. 1, p. 139
  4. ↑ ‘al-Tārīkh (‘al-Ya`qūbī), vol. 2, p. 10
  5. ↑ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, vol. 1, p. 101-2
  6. ↑ ‘al-Tārīkh (Ṭabarī), vol. 2, p. 163
  7. ↑ ‘al-Muntaẓam fī Tārīkh ‘al-‘Umam wa ‘al-Mulūk, vol. 2, p. 267
  8. ↑ ‘al-Kāmil fī ‘al-Tārīkh, vol. 1, p. 464-5
  9. ↑ Fatḥ ‘al-Bārī, vol. 7, p. 204-5
  10. ↑ Mafātīḥ ‘al-Ghayb, vol. 32, p. 2
  11. ↑ ‘al-Mīzān, vol. 13, p. 33 and vol. 20, p. 452
  12. ↑ ‘al-Mīzān, vol. 13, p. 34
  13. ↑ ‘Amtā` ‘al-‘Asmā’, vol. 1, p. 13
  14. ↑ Rūḥ ‘al-Ma`ānī, vol. 30, p. 167
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 ‘al-Durr ‘al-Manthūr, vol. 6, p. 363
  16. ↑ Subul ‘al-Hudá wa ‘al-Rishād, vol. 2, p. 59
  17. ↑ ‘al-Sīrāḧ ‘al-Nabawiyyaḧ, vol. 1, p. 16
  18. ↑ Majma` ‘al-Bayān, vol. 3, p. 395
  19. ↑ Ḥijr: 42
  20. ↑ Naḥl: 99
  21. ↑ ‘al-‘Aghānī, vol. 3, p. 188-190
  22. ↑ ‘al-Ṣaḥīḥ min ‘al-Sīraḧ ‘al-Nabī ‘al-‘A`ẓam, vol. 2, p. 89-90
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