The ‘Dot under the Ba’ Hadith: What’s its spiritual meaning and is this authentic Hadith?
There is hadith that is attributed to Imam Ali (AS), wherein he states:
“Know that all the wisdom of the Heavenly Scriptures are in The Qur’an and whatever is in The Qur’an is in the Fatiha (Suratul Hamd) and whatever is in Fatiha is in Bismillah and whatever is in Bismillah is in the ‘Ba’ of Bismillah and whatever is in the ‘Ba’ of Bismillah is encapsulated in the dot under ‘Ba’; and I am that dot under ‘Ba’.” (Yanabee’ Al Mawadda)
For an Irfan or Sufi, this verse signifies that Imam Ali possesses all the wisdom of the heavenly scriptures and that the pathway to this wisdom goes through the words, letters, and dots in the Quran. In other words, one can begin to unlock the secrets of the heavenly wisdom through preparing yourself by relating with the letters, words, and dots found in the Quran. The theology here of course contradicts the rest of what Imam Ali (AS), prophet Muhammed (SAS), and the Quran states, as will be discussed below. First, we will look at whether this hadith is authentic.
There may be lay people that claim it is authentic because they read it in a book. When asking scholars, they indicate that this source cannot be found in any authentic hadith. The short answer is this verse is a fabrication by Sufi scholars around the 12th century and never had any chain of narrations or source.[1]
The first location of this quote can be found in a book written by Sūfī, al-Ghazālī (a famous Sufi) around the 12th century in his book called Iḥyā’ `Ulūm al-Dīn (Rebirth of the Sciences of Religion). In there, the ‘dot under the ba’ quote was first attributed to Sūfī Abū Bakr al-Shiblī.
وجاء رجل إلى الشبلي رحمه الله فقال له ما أنت وكان هذا دأبه وعادته فقال أنا النقطة التي تحت الباء
“A man came to al-Shiblī, may Allāh have mercy on him, and he said to him, ‘Who are you?’ and this was his habit and custom. So he (al-Shiblī) said: ‘I am the dot (nuqṭah) which is under the bā’’[2]
This quote is given no sources whatsoever.
The next time this phrase was used was by the famous Sufi Ibn Arabi (b. 558.1164-d. 638/1240). In his al-Fatūḥāt al-Makiyyah writing, he related the same story that al-Ghazali did (in reference to al-Shibli).[3]
The first time this phrase was attributed to Imam Ali (AS), was in al-Durr al-Mandham fī al-Surr al-A`dham[4] written by Sūfī Sunnī scholar Muḥammad b. Talḥah al-Shāfi`ī’s (b. 582/1186-d.652/1254).[5] He does not give a chain of narrators of this phrase, nor does he give a source of where he got it from.[6]
Muḥammad b. Talḥah al-Shāfi`ī’s is said to be a sunni scholar with Sufi learnings. He is said to have discovered his findings from delirium and misguidance and he acted on the circles. Further, he claimed he derived his knowledge from the unseen (al-ghayb) of knowledge and the Day of Judgement.[7]
When reading through his book called al-Durr al-Mandham fī al-Surr al-A`dham, you can see that he “occupied himself with the knowledge of the letters”. Throughout the book he goes on and on about different letters in the Qur’an and what they mean. He even tries to do tafsir on the hurūf al-Muqaṭi`ah.[8]
Thanks to Reviving Islam’s work done by Nader Zaveri, we have a scan of that original book and the quote here.
و اعلم أن جميع أسرار الله تعالى في الكتب السماوية و جميع أسرار الكتب السماوية في القرآن ، وجميع ما في القرآن في الفاتحة ، وجميع ما في الفاتحة في بسم الله، وجميع ما في بسم الله في باء بسم الله، وجميع ما في باء بسم الله في النقطة التي هي تحت الباء . قال الإمام علي : أنا النقطة التي تحت الباء
And know that all of Allāh’s (تعالى) secrets are in the heavenly books, and all of the secrets of the heavenly books are in the Qur’ān. And all of which is in the Qur’ān is in al-Fātiḥah, and all of which is in al-Fātiḥah is in bismillah, and all of which is in bismillah is in the bā’ of bismillah, and all of which is in the bā’ in bismillah is the dot (nuqṭah) which is under the bā’. Imām `Alī (عليه السلام) said: “I am the dot which is under the bā’”
al-Durr al-Mandham fī al-Surr al-A`dham
This is the first time in history that this phrase “I am the dot which is under the ba” has been attributed to Imam Ali (AS) – a book written about 600 years after the death of Imam Ali. As you can see, the author never gives a source or a chain of narrators to allow us to see how he got this phrase. This is common in his book.
The first Shia source that mentions this phrase is from the Sufi Shia scholar Rajab al-Bursi (d. 813) in Mashariq Al-Anwar. Al-Bursī does not also give a source, nor does he give a chain of narrators to this phrase. As can be seen here:
It should also be noted, that Rajab al-Bursi was also into the ‘knowledge of letters’ (‘ilm al-Huruf), and has been linked with ghulat (exaggerators).[9]
Al-Majlisī’s Bihār al-Anwār does not include this particular hadith, and so its safe to assume that al-Majlisi though this phrase was weak.
All the scholars that mention this phrase quote from either Ibn Ṭalḥah’s al-Durr al-Mandham or al-Bursī’s Mashāriq al-Anwār. For example, Sulaymān b. Ibrāhīm al-Qundūzī (d. 1294) quotes this phrase from al-Durr al-Mandham. Or, al-Sayyid al-Mar`ashī al-Najafī (d. 1411) quotes this phrase attributed to Imām `Alī (عليه السلام) from al-Durr al-Mandham. [10]
After personally looking into it, and finding the evidence related above, Nader Zaveri concludes this phrase is “fabricated and misattributed to Imam Ali”. He further concludes this is not so surprising “since Sufis have been known to attribute false things to our A’immah especially Imam Ali”.
Here a scholar named Nami Farhat, further dispelling this fake hadith.
Credit: Thanks to Reviving Islam’s work done by Nader Zaveri. This blog takes everything (except the video) from there. http://www.revivingalislam.com/2012/04/i-am-dot-under-ba_21.html
[1] http://www.revivingalislam.com/2012/04/i-am-dot-under-ba_21.html
[2] al-Ghazālī, Iḥyā’ `Ulūm al-Dīn, 4 vols., (Beirut: Dār al-Ma`rifah), vol. 3, pg. 342
[3] Ibn `Arabī, al-Fatūḥāt al-Makiyyah, 4 vols., (Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir), vol. 1, pg. 102
[4] الدر المنظم في السر الأعظم
[5] Abū Sālim, Muḥammad b. Ṭalḥah b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan, known as Kamāl al-Dīn, al-Shāfi`ī.
[6] See Nader Zaveri (http://www.revivingalislam.com/2012/04/i-am-dot-under-ba_21.html).
[7] See Nader Zaveri’s post supra, (as al-Dhahabī, Tārīkh al-Islām, ed. `Umar `Abd al-Salām Tudmirī, (Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-`Arabī, 1st ed., 1407), vol. 11, pg. 44-45 (ARABIC TEXT):
وقد دخل في شيءٍ من الهَذَيَان والضّلال ، وعمل دائرةً وادّعى أنّه يستخرج منْها علِم الغيب وعلْم السّاعة) and (see Ibn Kathīr, Ṭabaqāt al-Fuquhā’ al-Shāfī`īn, 2 vols, 2004, Tenth Class of Shāfi`ī Scholars (ARABIC TEXT)
وقد نسب إلى الاشتغال بعلم الحروف والأوقاف ، وأنه يستخرج من ذلك أشياء من المغيبات ، وقيل : إنه رجع عنه ، فالله أعلم)
[8] Lit. ‘The Segmented Letters’ – These are the letters that Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) has put in the beginning of some sūrahs (i.e. Alif-Lam-Mīm; Kaf-Ha-Ya-`Ayn-Sād) (also see Nader Zaveri’s post supra).
[9] al-Hurr al-`Āmulī, Amal al-Āmul, vol. 2, pg. 117, person # 329
و في كتابه إفراط و ربما نسب إلى الغلو
“And in his book is excessiveness and it maybe that he is linked to ghuluww” (as cited by revivingislam.com)
[10] See (http://www.revivingalislam.com/2012/04/i-am-dot-under-ba_21.html) for more details, and (al-Qundūzī, Yanābī` al-Muwaddah, 3 vols., (Beirut: Mu’assasah al-`Alamī lil-Maṭbū`āt, 1st ed., 1418), vol. 1, pg. 81-82) and (al-Mar`ashī al-Najafī, Sharḥ Iḥqāq al-Haqq, 33 vols., (Qum: Maktabah Mar`ashī al-Najafī), vol. 7, pg. 208)
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