Tuesday, August 24, 2010

In defence of Hadith

Today, I received a call from a dear friend that there are some “muslims” arguing that menstruating muslim women can fast in the month of Ramadan, merely referring to the Quran, and rejecting all narrations from the prophet with the notion that prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) was only a postman, and did not teach anything other than the Quran.

The real problem to solve is not the correct ruling regarding menstruating women fasting in Ramadan or not. Although, that can be answered using the Quran itself, since Allah said: “Whoever is ill and on a journey then (replace the missed day) on other days.” [2:185] The verse covers the menstruating women with their menses (illness). In another verse in [2:222] mentions “They ask you concerning the menstruation. Say: It is harm so stay away from them during menstruation.” Logically, if being ill is an excuse for not fasting, then menstruation where women lose lots of blood is more befitting of this ruling. Note that there is no verse preventing intercourse with an ill woman.

Of course, if the hadith is referred to, we will get the correct understanding straight away on this issue.

But, they are not in need of this answer since their real “sickness” is rejection of hadith! They failed to understand Quran correctly because they have omitted the guidelines to understanding the Quran, and the example, ie. the prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam).

Because Allah said: “And We have sent down to you (O Muhammad) a reminder that you may explain clearly to the people that which was sent down to them.” [16:44]

The reminder is the explanation of the Quran through the prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam).

The following are some proofs that muslims must take from the hadith to understand Islam fully:

Many verses commanding obedience to Allah and His Messenger.

Example:

“O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those of you with authority. And if you differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger if you (truly) believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is better and most suitable for final determination.” [4:59]

  • If we accept that prophet Muhammad was merely a postman, that there is no reason to mention “obey the Messenger” since a postman has no authority!
  • Allah repeated the word “obey” for “the Messenger” but not “those of you with authority” for a reason, and that is to ascertain that obedience is obligatory to Allah (Quran) and the Messenger (Hadith) while obedience to “those of you with authority” are subject to their obedience to Allah and His Messenger.
  • This verse is binding till the end of time since no time limit was set! Hence, to implement this verse, one has no choice but to believe that the hadith is binding and preserved!
  • If anyone claims that this verse is only binding during the lifetime of the prophet, and after his death only the Quran is our reference, then surely this is mockery towards Allah, whose verses are “perfected and then expounded” [11:1]

Many verses cannot be understood without hadith

Example:

“And We appointed the direction (qiblah) to which you were upon only to test those who followed the Messenger from those who would turn on their heels.” [2:143]

  • Notice that the appointment of the previous qiblah was referred to as being in the past. But there is no verse in the Quran which commands the prophet to face Jerusalem at the beginning! This shows that there is another mode of conveyance of revelation to the prophet, which is not in the form of the Quran.
  • The only way to know what was the previous qiblah is through the hadith


“When the prophet disclosed a matter in secret to one of his wives, and she then divulged it, and Allah made it known to him, he confirmed a part of it and repudiated a part. Then when he told her of it, she said, ‘Who told you this?’ He said, ‘He told me the All-Knowing All-Acquainted.” [66:3]

  • “Allah made it known to him” – how was this done since there is no verse on it in the Quran?
  • Hence, there is another type of revelation besides the Quran.
  • And what’s this verse about? This can only be known through the hadith.


“Whether you cut down the tender palm-trees or you left them standing on their roots, it was by the permission of Allah, and in order that He might cover the rebellious transgressors with shame.” [59:5]

  • “it was by the permission of Allah” – The action was attributed to the permission of Allah, but nowhere in the Quran is such permission found?!
  • Hence, the permission was conveyed through other means of revelation.
  • Hence, the hadith must, by necessity, be preserved

The prophet also gave additional instructions, not found in the Quran

Example:

“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 prohibits 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]

  • The prophet’s duty was to tell the believers what is halal and what is haram.
  • Following the light (Quran) was also mentioned separately, hence Quran and prophet's instructions (preserve in the form of hadith) are not the same thing, but they complement each other.

Of course, there are many more verses and proofs, but what I’ve mentioned above is sufficient.


The main reason for this group’s rejection of hadith is that they find inconsistencies in the hadith, ignorant of the fact that not all hadiths are authentic! And to know what is authentic and what is not, one has to refer back to scholars of hadith who have written many works, past and present, to explain the authenticity of hadiths in the Islamic literature. The science of hadith is a very important science, but unfortunately, many muslims are ignorant of it or have failed to benefit from it. This science is so detail and meticulous that no other nation in the world, past and present, has such a method. The system of chain of narration has been the method to check the authenticity of hadith, with biographies of narrators all throughout the ages from the time of the prophet up to the collectors of hadith, like Imam al-Bukhari, Imam Muslim and others. Even history books are not as reliable as hadith books.


The many scientific truths, prophesies and accurate facts mentioned in the authentic hadiths proves that the science of hadith is absolutely reliable!


If the Quran is true, surely it needs correct understanding! Without correct understanding, the purpose of sending the Quran is not fulfilled! Hence, by necessity, the hadith needs to also be preserved and available till the end of time!


Look at Islam as a whole system, and Quran is its manual. Just like a Quality Management System of a company, it must have a Quality Manual. But, Quality Manual only highlights the outline of the system, whereas its detail procedures (SOP – Standard Operating Procedures) are a different set of documents, with greater details and guidelines!


So, in the case of the religion of Islam, the Quran is its manual. And the detail procedures are the SOP (Sunnah Of Prophet Muhammad), in other words, the hadith!

3 comments:

  1. Some people who think that the Kor'an alone is not enough for the Muslims but that they must also follow the hadith I have this to say: Please do not refer to our Prophet as the postman!! He was not like the postman of today and this is a kind of insult to our Prophet.

    Allah says 'Muhammad was not the father of any man among you. He was the Messenger of Allah and the last Prophet......'33.40. Please know Muhammad was given a very heavy duty as a Messenger of God.He is reffered to as 'a mercy to the worlds'.

    Throughout the Kor'an Allah steresed the point that Kor'an alone is enough. You must first believe this!! If you do then a light will come to you and you will start to follow it.

    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. 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.

    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).

    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. 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'. 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. 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!!

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  2. 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).

    This is not the contention between the Kor'an and the hadiths this is between Iman and Kufur. 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.

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

    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.

    There are many, many ayats in the Kor'an where Allah tells us to obey the Messenger. And also other ayats to tell us to obey Allah. So how do you obey Allah since you do not see Him or heard from Him. Thus the obeying the Messenger is obeying Allah! Please do not deviate from the truth. 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!!!

    Infact, Muhammad was asked to 'obey the Messenger' also. Muhammad as a person was asked to obey Muhammad the Messenger!! The Messenger (Muhammad)has believe in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and so did the blelievers. They believe in God, His angels, His scripture and His messengers: "We make no distinction among of his messengers." They say ,"we hear and we obey. Forgive us our Lord. To You is our ultimate destiny."2:285

    Muhammad (as a person)was warned not to obey the strayers. O you prophet, you shall reverence God and do not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites. God is Omniscient, Most Wise. Follow what is revealed to you (Muhammad the Messenger)from your Lord. God is fully Cognizant of everything you all do. 33:1-2

    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).

    May Allah Bless us all.

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