What is the reconciliation between the two hadiths: (Let none of you call a grapevine a karam) and the hadith

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Al-Halabi : It is mentioned in a hadith:

Do not call the grape *karam*, for indeed *karam* is the believing man.

لا تسموا العنب كرما فإنما الكرم الرجل المؤمن

And in another hadith:

Let none of you fast on the day of Saturday, but if he finds nothing but a branch of a *karam* or the bark of a tree, let him break his fast with it.

لا يصومن أحدكم يوم السبت فإن لم يجد إلا عود كرم أو لحاء شجرة فليفطر عليه

So what is the reconciliation between them?

The Shaykh : The reconciliation between them is easy, if the mention of the word *karam* in this hadith is authentic. I do not have it memorized, but there are hadiths in which the grape is called *karam*. So the answer in any case is that the prohibition of calling the grape *karam* is from the category of cutting off the roots of the minds that had been fermented by drinking intoxicants. It is cutting off the connection of these minds, even if only through words, to that tree from which that forbidden substance is extracted, as explicitly stated in the Book and the Sunnah, which is intoxicants. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), in the context of refining words and reminding hearts of what is not permissible, said:

Let none of you call the grape *karam*, for indeed *karam*—as in an authentic narration—is the heart of the believing man.

لا يسمين أحدكم العنب كرما فإنما الكرم ـ كما في رواية صحيحة ـ قلب الرجل المؤمن

The *karam*, which is the plant of generosity and nobility, is actually the heart of the believing man, and it is not that tree which the addicts of its juice, the intoxicants, believed and still believe, that it stamps its harvester and drinker with the traits of generosity and nobility. Therefore, they called it *karam* in ancient times. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited, for this wisdom, that the Muslim man should call the grape a *karam*.
As for if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called the grape *karam*, then that has two aspects. The first aspect: It may have been before the revelation of this Shari'ah, because we know that the legal rulings, especially those from the category of refining words, did not come all at once, but came gradually, as we mentioned earlier in the commentary on the saying of Allah the Exalted:

So know that there is no deity except Allah.

فاعلم أنه لا إله إلا الله

The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) continued in the Meccan period to teach people the oneness of Allah and call them to it. In the Blessed City of Madinah, the rulings and their explanations increased. Among them is this hadith:

Let none of you call the grape *karam*.

لا يسمين أحدكم العنب كرما

and so on. So if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called the grape *karam* in some hadiths, then that is understood, as we said, in two ways. The first way: It was before he was commanded to prohibit the Muslims from calling the grape *karam*.
The other matter: It is permissible for him (peace and blessings be upon him) what is not permissible for the general Muslims, and he is exempted from rulings that the general Muslims are not exempted from. This is a very obvious matter. If the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called the grape *karam*, it does not occur to the mind of any Muslim that he is calling the grape *karam* and meaning that pre-Islamic meaning. Whereas any other Muslim might be suspected of having that suspicion. Therefore, he was prohibited from hovering around the sanctuary, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

An-Nu’man bin Bashir (RAA) narrated, I heard Allah‘s Messenger (ﷺ) saying, (Nu'man pointed with his two fingers to his ears) ‘Both lawful (Halal) and unlawful things (Haram) are evident but in between them there are doubtful things·and most people have no knowledge about them. So he, who saves himself from these doubtful things, saves his religion and his honor (i.e. keeps them blameless). And he who indulges in these doubtful things is like a shepherd who pastures (his animals) near the Hima (private pasture) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it. (O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the Hima of Allah on the earth is what He declared unlawful (Haram). Beware In the body there is a piece of flesh if it becomes sound and healthy, the whole body becomes sound and healthy but if it gets spoilt, the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart.” Agreed upon.

فمن حام حول الحمى يوشك أن يقع فيه

Bulugh al-Maram 16:32

This is my opinion in answering the question.The questioner .
Al-Halabi: May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : In the hadith of prohibition, its wording is explicit:

Do not call the grape *karam*.

لا تسموا العنب كرم

And in another hadith in Sahih al-Jami' as well:

Let him break his fast with a branch of a *karam*.

فليفطر على عود كرم

Here, the meaning of *karam* that comes to mind from the context of the hadith of prohibition and the hadith of permissibility is that he intended by *karam* the grape?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt we have answered this, may Allah bless you. We answered it just now. So I said, and I repeat, I say, and in any case, you have brought us back to a strong chain. I said that if it is established that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called the grape *karam*, then the answer is from two aspects. Did you not follow us?

The questioner : In the hadith of fasting, when he called the grape *karam*.

The Shaykh : It is no problem, my brother. It does not matter to us. What matters is that we said something general. If it is established that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called the grape *karam*, then the answer is from two aspects. And what is the answer for any hadith in which the word *karam* is established? One of the two answers mentioned earlier. Yes.

Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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