Hadith

Someone asked:

Dear Sister in Islam
assalamu alikum...
This ...   is a committed die hard munkir hadith...
I hope you are not his fold  but in line with the Ijma'a (continuous unanimity ) of the ummah in this regard!!! 
Thanks
Sincerely 


My response: 

Walaikumsalam and thank you for your concern.
I'm not persuaded either ways. I acknowledge our dear Prophet (May peace be upon him) and the prophets before him as the greatest teachers of mankind.
However, I also distinguish between primary scriptures (revelations) and secondary sources (as collected and recorded by humans) of guidance that all religions have.
I also distinguish between Sunnah ( living traditions transmitted continuously through practice) and Hadith ( recorded statements in books), which sometimes contradict with the Quran or each other).
I am still studying the Quran and have not yet studied the secondary sources, so I cannot take a position either ways.
Regards,
Samiya 

Principles of Quranic Study

Some people think that Quran is for the aalim (religious scholar) only, and ordinary humans cannot take guidance from it. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The Quran is a guidance for all humans (2:2, 2:185, 10:57, 39:41)
Sometimes we find verses which appear to be contradicting each other, and it does get confusing, but there are certain principles that I've learned from some very learned scholars which all of us can apply to our studies.
1. Allah is arRehman and RabulAalameen
2. There is no contradiction in Allah's message. If things appear contradictory, delve deeper to try and understand
3. Since Allah exhorts us to use our intelligence (aql), it is a religious obligation to use this precious gift
4. Collect all verses related to a particular issue and then try to understand it in the light of them
5. The Quran is a message and a guidance for all humans till the end of our world. It is simple, general and applicable to all situations, as well as easily adoptable, and highly compatible with conscience
6. The direct addressee of the Quran were the people of Arabia at the time of Prophet Muhammad
7.The Quran is replete with warnings that those who deny the message are destroyed in the lifetime of the prophet. The Arabs, specifically the Meccans who denied and opposed Prophet Muhammad were wiped out in the wars, starting with Ghazwa-e-Badar where a substantial number of Quraish leadership was wiped out. Hence, we cannot generalize verses given in specific situations such as call of war and apply them out of context in our human conflicts
8. Hadith is a great historical resource, we highly appreciate the efforts of those who compiled it, but its a human compilation based upon human memory
9. Hadith which appear to contradict the Quranic verses cannot be authentic, no matter which book they are from
10. Till about 200 years after Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.), the hadith was scattered and with very few people. The masses were still practicing Islam then. How were they if Hadith is an intrinsic part of guidance?
11. Where people could not make any changes in the Quran, they found other means, such that we find certain tafsirs and hadiths quoting and attributing immoral conduct to the prophets and other holy personages... things we cannot imagine or dare to attribute to our fathers, how can we tolerate when such nonsense is spoken of about those highly revered pious people and/or accept it as part of our deen? Can we begin to imagine that they could have indulged in anything prohibited? Most of such stories and licences originate from other sources, and we need to guard our beliefs against such corruption

Stoning to death

Question: Samiya, I beg to differ. The Quran (as well as the Bible) both prescribe STONING TO DEATH as a solution to certain undesirable behaviors. Just follow the links in that article that SHOW you the places in the Quran that prescribe this.
The question is not that scriptures prescribe barbaric behavior, but why do some cultures FOLLOW these barbaric behaviors and others don't. Jews and Christians have scripture support for stoning people to death but we don't hear of them do that any more. Why then do the Muslims still embrace this. And I will add that as this article pointed out we don't hear much or any from Muslims AGAINST this behavior. If there was a public uproar against this type of behavior in the MUSLIM community then I would see a movement toward change, but there is none that I have ever heard of.
My question is WHY? And why, Samiya, do you stick your head in the sand and ignore the fact that the Quran supports this behavior?
Answer: Quran DOES NOT prescribe stoning to death. All the sources quoted are from hadith compilation according to Bukhari. Hadith are historical compilation of oral traditions and stories and are subject to many human limitations. Records in it may be wrong or may be right, each has to be evaluated and cross-checked with the Quran.
Unfortunately, some people still think it is divine law. The reasons are:
-Lack of knowledge of the Quran
-Belief in Hadith books as divine source of guidance
-Illiteracy
-Feudal mindset
There was an era when muslims were highly educated and progressive and Islamic countries were the centre of learning. During those times, much of Europe was in its infamous Dark Ages and many terrible things were done in the name of religion. For various reasons, free thinking and enquiry came to a halt in Muslim countries, and along with sciences and other disciplines, religion also suffered and the door to development of fiqh and sharia work (interpretation of religious edicts to formulate laws consistent with divine guidance and the needs of the time) was also closed.
You, on the outside, find such things reprehensive. Imagine how difficult it is for a muslim to believe in such things and maintain faith. The religion of Islam has suffered much at the hands of those who have misrepresented religion and prevented people from studying and understanding the original texts and taking guidance from it.
As we muslim nations progress and develop our people, it is hoped that more open thought and objectivity will replace the old mindset and thus such practices will be eradited.
What is perhaps central to interfaith discussion is that we evaluate each religion for its merit/demerit based upon its core beliefs and book, rather than take the practices of certain groups and label that as the real religion.
My earlier response to a video posted:
Quran does not prescribe STONING TO DEATH though certain groups do think its a divine law, based upon other books.
I do not believe in those books, and the scholars I know also DO NOT BELIEVE it to be a divine law nor do they think that the Prophet would have ordered it.
The reason I do not believe it: http://islam-qna.blogspot.com/2008/11/which-hadith-should-we-follow.html
http://islam-qna.blogspot.com/2008/11/sects-in-islam.html
I had answered the issue of punishment for adultery earlier. The following are the links
http://islam-qna.blogspot.com/2009/06/shariah-law-and-flogging-as-form-of.html
http://islam-qna.blogspot.com/2010/09/punishment-for-adultery-according-to.html
http://islam-qna.blogspot.com/2008/11/theft-and-adultery.html
http://islam-qna.blogspot.com/2008/11/to-be-or-not-to-be-equal-comments-on.html
You may also find this of some interest: http://islam-qna.blogspot.com/2010/05/status-of-women-in-islam.html

Hadith

Question:If my recall is correct, there are over 40 volumes of hadith. how does one know which are inspired and which are not?
Answer: Difficult, if not impossible, indeed. Even the Sahih Hadith collection (that which scholars narrow down as the only reliable ones) contain contradictions.
The best thing to do is perhaps check it with the Quran, if it is consistent with the message, then its probably reliable.
I don't know... scholars do attach a lot of importance to it, as they say that it is compulsory to obey the Prophet. My position is that the Prophet brought the Quran and asked us to follow it. Why not concentrate on that? The breadth and scope of the Quran is quite extensive, and every re-read adds to understanding. Besides, if we can just folllow the edicts in it, won't we be following the Prophet as he was the ideal and exemplary follower of the Quran?
The Prophet Muhammad has been directed in the Quran to follow the 'hadith' of Prophet Abraham. There was no written record of that. I understand that the concept is to follow the essence of their purity of faith, worshipping solely the only God, and submitting willingly and completely. The Quran contains many broad guidelines and just following them would make anyone an ideal human being.
Moreover, we have been directed to not to try and make religion difficult. There are examples of the Bani Israel (Jews) in the Quran where they asked so many unneccessary questions that they made practice of their religion more and more difficult for themselves. If my religion is good and easy and based upon common sense and a healthy conscience, why complicate it? After all, religion is for all human beings in all sorts of situations all over the globe, not just for a privileged few.
May Allah guide me and correct me where I may be wrong,

Scientific accuracy of the hadith

Question: http://www.quran.org/science/origin.htm Well done! A fascinating exposition. Do the Hadith also contain examples?

Answer: Hadith are books written by humans........ they are prone to a lot of errors and memory lapses; scholars try to sift out the authentic, but even then, again its human work and subject to errors. Can't take it as an article of faith. I personally feel that since we have the Quran in its original form, why not concentrate on getting all spiritual information from it first, and then diversify to other books. Having been born in a muslim family, I've been blessed to have the Quran in my life all along, and I still find it to be an inexhaustible source of knowledge; as I age, and hopefully grow 'wiser', I continue to keep learning more and more from the same verses....... its just amazing how this book addresses all mental levels, and continues to fascinate and educate. Thus, I choose not to diversify yet. I do keep hearing different hadiths, I do read up books about the Prophet and his times, but I do know that all these are works of history, and just that.

Holy Quran: Text and Context

Question: I agree with you about the unreliability of hadiths. The problem with relying on a Qur'an-alone approach, though, is that it is very difficult to know the context of what is written in the Qur'an. And I'm not sure you can understand a text if you don't know the context.

Answer: Knowing the context, and actually following the text are two different things. For example, if we are being told to not to lie, to be just, to take care of orphans, to speak in the best manner, to measure properly, to abstain from eating or drinking certain things, to establish prayers, what beliefs and deeds will lead to salvation, what will lead us to hell, we do not need to know the context. Such things transcend time, and are applicable to all people in all ages. Also, there are verses speaking of the nature and the signs in it, such things come under the domain of scientific thought and inquiry, and need no background regarding the context. Also, verses dealing with the unseen, those that we can only know of by what He has revealed also need no context…. If we believe the author to be the true God, then we must believe in what we are being told, that there is only one God, that there is heaven and hell, that we will be made to account for our deeds and actions, and that we will then live there eternally.
Then there are certain verses which deal specifically with a certain event, like Allah speaking about the battle of Uhud, and what actually happened. Okay, if one knows the history, that’s a plus, but even if one doesn’t know, the essential elements and the lessons to be learnt from it have been mentioned in the verses. Similarly, there is a lot of mention of other nations, especially the Children of Israel, how they were the favoured nation, how prophets kept coming to them, and what were the reasons [deeds] which led them ‘out of favour’. There is a strong message and reminder for all people, and especially muslims, as to what good deeds are, how important they are, and how important it is to continue being good. Also, the Quran presents the essentials of all such histories, such that the point is not missed or lost, and the irrelevant details of the story are omitted. Besides, a reading of other books tends to present a very distorted/immoral/strange picture of some prophets, something which to my mind just cannot be possible. Prophets are specifically hand-picked by God, and as such are the best of us. It is thus difficult to believe the picture presented in those books, which makes the rest of the content also questionable.
And since Allah says that this book is a guidance for mankind, and I believe Allah to be the true God, why should I consult other books. He tells me that this book contains guidance, and that I must believe that He has sent prophets and books to earlier generations, and I must respect all of them, then I must. He does not ask us to take guidance from books written by humans, thus I don’t.

Which Hadith should we follow?

Q: Which Hadith should we follow? Does Quran say anything about this? Does it say we have to follow Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidi etc? If not then why are we following these books?

A: In the Quran, our dear Prophet Muhammad is ordered to follow the hadith of Hazrat Ibrahim. There neither was nor is any written hadith of Hazrat Ibrahim. As mentioned in the Quran, Hazrat Ibrahim was a 'hanif' and submitted totally to Allah's commands, so did Hazrat Muhammad. And as Hazrat Muhammad's life was complete obedience of the Quran, so his hadith for us to follow is complete obedience of the Quran. Quran itself begins with Alif Lam Meem The book in which there is no doubt. It is a guidance for Muttaqieen. Those who….
Then how can we take a doubtful book(s) [ ie the hadith books] for guidance?
Oh Allah,ehdinas sirat al mustaqeem. Amen.

Sects in Islam

Question: Does the whole of Islam agree on the contents and meaning of the Qur'an, or are there different groups who claim that only they are true and that all others Muslims fall short of the standard set by God? Western News coverage tends to suggest that Islam is not one big happy global family, and that even in Islam, experts disagree.

Answer: Alas, no, like all followers of all other religions, Muslims too are divided into sects, each believing what they have is right. But let me explain. Firstly, you may have noticed when I quote the Quran, at times I post translations by more than one translators of the same verse. Arabic language has great depth, and the same word can have different shades of meaning. When there is a difference of opinion, I usually tend to compare what others have understood, and try to pick the meaning I feel is the most appropriate. But this happens in very few verses, and it is, I believe, a kind of test for us. The major part is very clear and easy to understand and follow. Also, no matter how many times a person has studied the Quran, each new reading takes the reader to a new depth of meaning, so it is continuously instructing and spiritually elevating the indivisual……….. it is like a course book right from the pre-school to the PhD level! And beyond!Secondly, the major source of disagreements comes from sources other than the Quran. For instance, the books of hadith, the sayings of the Prophet, based on the memory of generations, compiled a 150 to 300 years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, are the main source of confusion. As I do not have any evidence of ‘purported ill intentions’, I like to believe that these were all good people like you and me, who tried to find and preserve whatever they could find attributed to the Prophet. But, as this was a human effort, based on memory of people who had heard from other people, this body of work definitely contains many many contradictions, with the Quran as well as within itself, and there are many sayings which the scholars say are falsely attributed to the Prophet. Treating the Hadith books as works of history would have been a great source for scholarly research, but treating them as articles of faith, with different sects believing in different sets of Hadith, has led to so much sectarian division.Also, some of the divisions started essentially as political divisions, such as the Shia-Sunni divide, and later on religious differences also germinated. The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad and the Roots of the Shia-Sunni Schism by Barnaby Rogerson traces an interesting account.
Allah does not like sectarianism:
Chapter 6: 159 As for those who divide their religion and break up into sects, thou hast no part in them in the least: their affair is with Allah. He will in the end tell them the truth of all that they did.
Scholars from different sects have lately started sitting together, and are glad to report that there are few differences, and mostly minor in nature, amongst many sects. But, yes, there are some major differences also, but one hopes, with better education and easy access to research material, people will come more and more to common ground, and start treating differences in interpretation as human limitations, and not as reasons to part ways.
May Allah guide us all.