The Reliability of the “Jang-nama Muhammad Hanif”

Question

Question: Is there any sin in reading books such as “Jang-nama Muhammad Hanif” (“The Book of Battles of Muhammad Hanif”), “Nama-e Babil” (“The Book of Babylon”), “Jang-nama Hazrat ‘Ali” (“The Book of Battles of Hazrat ‘Ali”) and the like? And they contain stories of the “imprisonment of the demon” and “Pir-e ‘Alam” (“The Master of the World”) — are these true or false? And in what era were these books written? For Zayd has not come across these stories in any history book.

Answer

All three of these books are unreliable; their accounts are false. They should never be read. It appears that these books were written by the Rawafid (Shi‘i extremists).

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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