The Islamic has consensus that there are some persons in this Ummah, like
in the previous nations, who are Muhaddath and on the basis of what is
mentioned in Saheeh and Musnad books of both sects, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.)
has informed about this matter.
Muhaddath is a person to whom the angels speak, without him or her being
a prophet and without that person seeing the angel.
Or it is one to whom Almighty Allah inspires knowledge or intuition directly
into his being.
Or the realities, which are concealed for others, are made known to his heart.
So, all Muslims have consensus that persons exist with this quality in this
Ummah, the difference is in identifying them. Shia regard Ameerul Momineen
(a.s.) and the Holy Imams (a.s.) as Muhaddath; and Ahle Sunnat regard Umar bin
Khattab as Muhaddath.
Following are some examples of the traditional reports of the two sects:
Ahle Sunnat reports
In his Saheeh, Bukhari has mentioned in the chapter of excellence of Umar
bin Khattab1 from Abu Huraira from the Prophet that:
“Indeed, in Bani Israel there were people, who were not prophets, but angels
spoke to them. If there is someone like that in my Ummah, it is Umar.”
Qastalani says:2
Statement of the Prophet: “If there is someone…” is not by way of
hesitation, on the contrary, it is for emphasis. Like your saying: If I had a friend,
it would be so and so; because your implication is that that persons is perfect for friendship and not that you want to say: I don’t have any friend. And if it is
proved that these persons existed in previous nations, whose excellence is lesser
than that of this Ummah, then the existence of these persons in this Ummah is
worthier.
Bukhari, after the tradition of the cave3 , has directly narrated from Abu
Huraira that indeed there were in the past nations, persons, who were Muhaddath,
and if there is someone like this from my Ummah, it is Umar bin Khattab.
Qastalani says in the explanation of this tradition:4
The author says: [Muhaddath] is someone who, without being a prophet,
expresses the right point of view through his/her tongue. Khattabi has said that it
is someone, whose existence is immersed in knowledge; as if he is spoken to. He
supposes and his supposition is correct; and he thinks of something and it comes
to pass, and this rank is higher than that of the saints (Awliya).
Qastalani says regarding the statement of His Eminence: If there was
someone in my Ummah…:
And His Eminence has mentioned this in form of expectation; as if he is not
aware5 that this matter is imminent, but it occurred and the story of: “O Sariya,
the mountain!”6 And other instances are famous.
Muslim, in his Saheeh7, in the chapter of the excellence of Umar, has
narrated from Ayesha from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) that: there were
Muhaddath persons in the nations before you and if there was someone in my
Ummah from them, Umar bin Khattab is from them.
Ibne Wahab says: Muhaddath means one, who gets divine inspiration.
If someone searches in books of biography, he would come across quite a
number of people with whom angels had spoken; among them being:
- Imran bin Husain Khuzai (d. 52 A.H.).8
- Abul Maali Salih (d. 427 A.H.).9
- Abu Uthman Maghribi.10
- In the same way is the speaking of Hauriya to Abu Yahya Naqid.11