In defence of Hadith (3)

The following are my comments on the comments by “anonymous” to my previous article "In defense of Hadith":

“Regarding some verses in the Kor'an that tell us about the direction of the original kiblat (Jerusalem) it is true that the city is not mention in the Kor'an but this does not change anything regarding our akidah. You can say that this is an ayat Mutashabiha.”

This is a grave mistake! How can you say it is “ayat Mutashbiha” when the companions knew exactly what the verse means and refers to?

The main point of the verse is that there was another mode of revelation, which is through the prophet’s words hence Allah did not mention it.

“It does not make any difference to you but to know it is also very useful as a historical event, thus as you said the need for the hadith. Actually this is historical and there are many more historical things during the time of the Prophet and others before him are not mention in the hadiths.”

It is true that not all details of historical events are available, but the relevant and important details must have been preserved in hadith! Why? Because these details help muslims to understand Quran and Islam! Don’t you trust in Allah that He will do so?

“Again you said about the news that was given to our Prophet that was not mentioned in the Kor'an. This is just because Allah intentionally do not want us to know and maybe this is not important to our akidah or amal or our salvation to Allah, again it does not change a thing. But if you subtitute the ayat in the Kor'an or try to understand them through the light of other than Kor'an itself then you might easily get duped by Satan who 'Inspire fancy words inorder to deceive'-(Kor'an).”

This is your assumption. Knowledge of fine details will help in understand the teachings of Islam, hence in Aqidah and/or Amal. If you notice, there are many verses in the Quran giving the impression it is in response to an event, and the event is not mentioned in the Quran. How can you understand these verses without knowing the events behind the revelation of the verses?

Example:

“And they asked you concerning menstruation? Say: It is harm so stay away from women during menstruation. And don’t go near to them until they are become pure. So when they purify themselves so approach them from whence Allah has commanded. Verily Allah loves those who are repentant and purifies themselves.” [2:222]

What does this verse means? When the women have menstruation, stay away from them? Or it means one of them has to move out of the house for a while? Or it means don’t have sexual intercourse with them only? If you specify it to sexual intercourse, someone might tell you that you have specified a general verse of the Quran, and specifying it requires proof!

“First of all you must trust in Allah. Allah loves those who trust Him. When He says through His Messenger that this Kor'an is 'fully datailed' that just means so!! it must be fully detailed. But many people question the Words of Allah. Ofcourse you do not find many many things in the Kor'an but when Allah says that it is fully detailed that means regarding our amal and our salvation. They are fully detailed and you do not need someone to add anything any more.”

Trust in Allah we do, but I do not trust your understanding! The Quran is fully detailed because it considers the example of the prophet and his instructions as part of the details for Quran! Think about it!

Allah says “Quran is fully detailed”.

Allah says: “Obey Allah.”

Allah also says: “Obeying the Prophet is like obeying Allah.”

Allah also says: “Verily in the Messenger is a good example…”

Allah also says: “Those who follow the Messenger, the illiterate Prophet whom they find written in the Taurat and Injil he commands them to the good and forbids them from the evil, he MAKES LAWFUL the good (food and others) and MAKES UNLAWFUL the evil (food and others), he releases them from their heavy burdens and bindings that were upon them. So those who believe in him, honour him, help him, and follow the light (Quran) which has been sent down with him, it is they who will be successful.” [7:157]

"Just like that the rituals of the salat are not mentioned in the Kor'an in detailed but they are mentioned in general like ,standing, bowing, postrating. But also you cannot find the same in the hadith book!! In the hadith you can find something like someone comes to the Prophet and asked him how to pray and the Prophet asked him to 'pray like I pray'."

Anyone in a right frame of mind will realize that the Quranic verses that mention standing, bowing and prostrating just to mention certain characteristics of salat, and not to detail the act of worship called “salat”.

The reader will expect an explanation of how its done, and sure enough it can be found in the books of hadith!

Try reading the book “Prophet’s prayer described from takbir to taslim” (Sifat Salat an-Nabi) by Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani and you will find details for every movement, position and order taken from all the books of hadith, AND VERIFIED as authentic by this leading scholar of hadith.

“But how? Infact the Kor'an tells us that Islam is the religion Ibrahim 'millat Ibrahim' and that Muhammad was the follower of Ibrahim and that when Ibrahim together with Ismail set the foundation of the Kaabah they prayed to God to 'teach us the rituals of our religion'. Thus Ibrahim taught his children and other believers regarding the practice of the religion of Islam.”

Here, in fact, you are arguing to confirm that hadith is true! This is precisely what the companions of the prophet did! They learnt the details, some by observation, some by the statements of the prophet, some by the corrections done by the prophet, etc. These trustworthy companions then taught their students through quoting, describing, or other means, just like how the prophet did it! Then these trustworthy students of the companions taught their students from the next generation. And this continued generation after generation. Allah, in fulfilling His promise, inspired some brilliantly intelligent muslims to gather these narrations as they heard them, and recorded the hadiths in their compilation of hadith. Some decided to only record authentic narrations, while others simply collected and compiled. No doubt many narrations can be fabricated or mistaken, as humans, so Allah inspired some of these intelligent scholars on how to differentiate between them. The result is the science of hadith!

'Abdullah b. al-Mubarak (d. 181 AH), one of the illustrious teachers of Imam al-Bukhari, said:
"The isnad (chain of narration) is part of the religion: had it not been for the isnad, whoever wished to would have said whatever he liked." [Sahih Muslim]

Example: “Hadith Sahih” has four conditions:

1. Narrated by trustworthy narrators all throughout the chain of narrations
2. Narrated by narrators with strong memory all throughout the chain of narrations
3. Does not contradict the Quran or other more authentic narrations
4. There is no hidden defect

And there are numerous books containing the status of all narrators of hadith. If anyone unknown is found in a hadith, it will be considered weak.

Anyone known to be a liar, then the hadith will be considered fabricated. And so on.

And this science is one of the most difficult science of Islamic knowledge! And it is, by far, more stringent then the books of history, sirah and anything in this world, past and present! One who goes deep into this knowledge will realize that this is one of the miracles of Islam.

“Infact during the space or gap between the time of our Prophet to the time of Muslim or Bukhari there were not written hadiths and how do the Muslims pray? The comapanions of the Prophet how did they pray? They must have followed the Prophet!! It does not need someone to tell us that the Prophet teach you how to pray in the hadiths!! There were no hadiths only the Kor'an at that time!! Then the 'falsifiers' will tell you that although there were not written but they were there somewhere!!”

On the contrary, what you just described is what’s called hadith. There existed many falsifiers of hadith, but all praises to Allah, He has raised in this ummah great scholars who were able to methodically filter the false hadiths. I admit, we have a problem of muslims who are stubborn and want to stick to the hadiths which have been proven to be false by the scholars. But, there are muslims who are aware of this problem, and have continuously, over the years, striven to educate the ummah regarding this problems.

“The trouble with most of the Muslims today is that we take the explanations of some ulamas as a source of law not the Kor'an. This the computer age and we can learn so much from the Kor'an. Offcourse to start with, you must have someone who 'knows' to show you the way forward and then you 'choose the best'(KOr'an).”

I agree with you about this problem. The scholars (ulama) are not the source of law! Source of Islamic law is the Quran and Sunnah, according to the correct understanding based on the best generations of muslims, and the scholars who follow their method!

"We all want Allah to admit us into His Paradise!! I believe that we are all sincere and striving for the TRUTH. But just when you 'deserted the Koran'25:30 then you will miss out from the Grace of Allah and if you fail to follow His Words and nourish your souls through worshipping Him alone with any shirik you fall out from His Kingdom just as Satan did."

No doubt, we are sincere! As I explained earlier, the reference to Quran includes its explanation, the hadith!

"The Kor'an teaches us that trusting other than the Words of Allah is a form of idol-worship."

Yes! But the assumption that hadith is also not to be trusted is also wrong, because to understand the Quran, prophet’s explanation, example must be preserved, ie. hadith!

"The trouble here is again you say that the words of the Prophet (other than the Kor'an) are also the words of God!! This is the greatest misunderstanding among the Muslim Ummah today."

Did I say words of the prophet as the words of God? Does anyone muslim say so? Words of the prophet and his actions are all based on revelation revealed to him. But the words are not words of God like the Quran. Prophet’s words are his own words but inspired by revelation, and not from his own desires. In other words, nothing false comes out of the prophet’s mouth, and his actions are in compliance with revelation or inspiration from Allah. If one denies this, then prophet has no duty except to “handover” the Quran to mankind, because any of his words and actions cannot be trusted. No, the prophet’s actions, words were inspired hence part of the guidance of the Quran, to demonstrate the Quran as well as to instruct details, even those not mentioned in the Quran!

"We see throughout the Kor'an that Allah tell the Messenger that his duty is ONLY TO DELIVER THE KORAN. This is not like a postman as you said. Muhammad was the Messenger of Allah...Allahu Akbar!!!"

I beg to differ with you! The duty of the Messenger is not only to deliver, because that is precisely the duty of a “postman”. Think about it! Rather, among the duties of the Messenger are to deliver the Quran, to explain the Quran through his words, actions and tacit approval, and he had the duty to lead the muslim nation as a leader, and also “he commands them to the good and forbids them from the evil, he MAKES LAWFUL the good (food and others) and MAKES UNLAWFUL the evil (food and others), he releases them from their heavy burdens and bindings that were upon them.” [7:157]

"Please use your own judgment and not others. If they fail the test it is not your responsibility. You are responsible for your own fate (Kor'an)."

I advise you to hear your own advice. You have misunderstood the Quran. You have understood the Quran not as it was revealed. You will not be able to understand the Quran without the authentic hadith and the understanding of the best of generations.

I’ll give you an final example:

“Verily Allah and His Angels perform salat upon the prophet. O you who believe! Perform Salat upon the prophet and send salams to him.” [33:56]

The word used in this verse is “Salat”. What is meant by salat in this verse? Does it mean the normal salat that muslims do 5 times a day? Does it mean the original Arabic word “salat” meaning making doa, hence the meaning will be Allah and Angel perform doa on the prophet? Does it mean saying the salutations like the prophet taught us (and you don’t know this because you don’t believe in hadith), even then how can Allah does that to the prophet? So, do you then say this verse is ayat mutashabiha? Then we have a book of guidance we can hardly understand, if we deny the role of hadith.