False ahaadeeth about calligraphers and tailors

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

As for the
first hadeeth, we could not find it in any of the reliable books of hadeeth,
and we could not find any report that conveyed a similar meaning. It seems
that it is a fabrication of the masses who attribute everything to the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) without paying any
attention to the warning issued to those who tell lies about him (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

The meaning
may be correct, for calligraphy and tailoring are skills that rely on good
eyesight and involve extensive use of one’s eyes; hence the livelihood of
calligraphers and tailors comes from their eyes that they depend upon.

But the fact
that the meaning is correct does not make it permissible for anyone to
attribute to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
something that he did not say. Fabricators have attributed a great deal to
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), especially
with regard to trades and professions, so as to market their wares and boast
about what they do well. Imam Ibn al-Jawzi even wrote a chapter in his book
al-Mawdoo’aat (2/251) about tailoring, in which he quoted some of the
ahaadeeth that have been fabricated about this topic.

Secondly:

As for the
hadeeth, “You should learn how to write well, for it is one of the keys to
provision”, it is also a false and fabricated hadeeth which has no basis in
the books of sound ahaadeeth. It was quoted by al-San’aani in
al-Mawdoo’aat (39), al-Fatani in Tadhkirat al-Mawdoo’aat (135),
al-‘Ajlooni in Kashf al-Khafa’ (2/71) and al-Shawkaani in
al-Fawaa’id al-Majmoo’ah (147).

The poor style
is obvious in the wording of the two hadeeths, and there is no sign of
wisdom or the light of guidance in them; they do not resemble the speech of
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as it usually
appears in his hadeeth.

Ibn al-Qayyim
(may Allaah have mercy on him) said concerning the signs of a fabricated
hadeeth:

Its wording
does not resemble the speech of the Prophets, let alone the speech of the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) which
is Revelation (Wahy) which was revealed to him, as Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning): “Nor does he speak of (his own) desire.
It is only a Revelation revealed” [al-Najm 53:3-4], i.e., he only spoke
Revelation that was revealed. So this hadeeth is something that does not
resemble the Revelation and does not even resemble the speech of the
Sahaabah, like the hadeeth “Three things improve the eyesight: looking at
greenery, flowing water and a handsome face.”

Al-Manaar
al-Muneef,
p. 61, 62

Then he
mentioned some other signs:

The poor style
of the wording of the hadeeth, and the way it sounds silly to the ear, like
the hadeeth: “Four things never have their fill of four things: the female
of the male, the earth of rain, the eye of looking and the ear of news.”

Al-Manaar
al-Muneef
(p. 99).

Thirdly:

Although we
have stated above that these two hadeeth cannot be attributed to the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), we have found in the words
of the scholars and writers of literature something which indicates that
they regarded it as good to be able to write well and they regarded good
handwriting as a sign of refinement and good taste. We will quote some of
their words here:

Al-Maawardi
(may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

Because good
handwriting is so important, it is obligatory for the one who wants to
acquire knowledge to pay attention to two things:

1.

Forming the letters properly

2.

Writing the vowel points correctly

Anything more
than that, such as writing beautifully is something extra and is not a
condition of its being correct.

‘Ali ibn
‘Ubaydah said; Good handwriting is the eloquence of the hand and the delight
of the heart. Abu’l-‘Abbaas al-Mubarrid said: Poor handwriting is bad
manners.

Writing
beautifully in addition to writing legibly is like speaking eloquently in
addition to speaking clearly. Hence the Arabs said: Good handwriting is one
of the two forms of eloquence. If the one who wants to be eloquent in speech
cannot ignore grammar and style, even if he understands and makes others
understand, the one who wants to write well must also write the letters
correctly and give them a nice shape, even if he understands and makes
others understand. There are people who developed fine handwriting and it
became one of their main characteristics, until some of them became known
scholars and masters of that field. But you find that scholars did not put
too much effort into improving their handwriting because they are
preoccupied with seeking knowledge, therefore you find that the handwriting
of scholars is usually poor.

al-Fadl ibn
Sahl said: It is a sign of a man’s being blessed that his handwriting is
poor, because the time that he spends in improving his handwriting distracts
him from memorizing and studying. Poor handwriting itself is not a blessing,
rather the blessing is that he does not have something to distract him from
seeking knowledge. Usually the one who has good handwriting is distracted
from seeking knowledge by trying beautify his handwriting. In this sense,
his poor handwriting means that he is blessed, even though poor handwriting
is not itself a blessing.

And Allaah
knows best.