Chapter 3.9.
The importance of the Hadith in Islam?
1. What is the Hadith and the influence of the Hadith in understanding the Quran?
Its is very important to distinguish between these two sources: The Quran and the Hadiths, to understand the Islam-religion as a whole.
What is the Hadiths?
The Hadith are the records of the actions of Muhammad and the companions of the Prophet. To Muslims, they are the second most important source of authority for their beliefs and practices. The Hadith interpret the Qur'an.
Samuel Green calls it "The Other Essential Books in Islam"
2. THE HADITH AND THE SUNNA
In a book from Dr. William Campbell - The Qur'an and the Bible in the light of history and science (Reference: https://answering-islam.org/Campbell/contents.html the following Chapter gives interesting information explain more about THE HADITH AND THE SUNNA
In a question "WHY CONSIDER THE HADITHS IN THIS BOOK?" the answer given is... It is because, as we have just seen, the Qur'an is only half of the basis of faith for many Muslims.
Any book on the subject "The Bible, The Qur'an, and Science"? should thus rather be called The Bible, The Qur'an-Hadiths, and Science.
It is a fact that Muslims have another source of information and doctrine called the Hadith.
The word Hadith could be translated as a speech or a saying or even small talk. But in Islamic theology the term refers to a narrative concerning a deed or utterance of the Prophet Muhammad reported by his companions. These are broken down into various classes such as the Hadith Qudsi in which God Himself speaks, and the Hadith Nabawi in which the words, and the custom or practice (Sunna) of Muhammad are recorded.
At one time the words "sunna" and "hadith" were almost synonymous, but later the word "sunna" came to have a special religious meaning. The sayings and practices of Muhammad, in addition to being repeated for the spiritual edification of the believer, were codified as legally binding precedents. Called the "Sunna", it thus became a second source of law in addition to the law found in the Qur'an, and the following story will help us understand its importance.
After having lived in Tunisia for some time, I met a Mu'addib. A Mu'addib is a person who helps the families of the dead in their mourning by reciting the Qur'an over the graves of the dead relatives. This man, though poorly dressed, was very well informed. Not only did he know his own religion, but he was knowledgeable about many subjects - quoting Abraham Lincoln and other men of history.
As we talked, the conversation turned to religion, and when he spoke about Islam he made the following statement,
"Our religion is based on the Qur'an and the Hadith, 50-50."
To give another example of the importance of the Hadith (also called "traditions" in English) it has recently been reported that 200,000 volumes of the Qur'an and the Hadith of Al-Bukhari have now been printed in the Uygur language in China. We would expect that after many years of persecution under atheism and the Red Guard, the Muslims would want to reprint the Qur'an just as the Chinese Christians want to reprint the Bible. But we see that in addition they wished to print a collection of the Hadith.[1] (Al-Bukhari, along with Muslim, is one of the most respected of those who collected the traditions of Muhammad.)
When in conversation, Muslims quote Hadith almost as often as the Qur'an to prove a doctrine under discussion. One friend explained it this way, "The Qur'an gives the basic doctrine. The Hadith shows the things which are not clear in the Qur'an and makes plain the decrees of the Qur'an".
The Editor of the book Quarante Hadiths de Imam Nawawi[2] says in his preface, "The Qur'an, the word of God revealed to Muhammad; and the Hadith, the teachings of the Prophet, are the two sources of Islam. The knowledge of this religion would be impossible apart from these two texts."
Poetically, it is of course very beautiful to speak of the Hadith as a text, and there is every reason for a believer to do that. However to speak of the Hadith as a text also gives the impression that it has set boundaries and that everyone agrees as to the contents. Unfortunately this is not the case; and it is at this point that there is a very important and difficult problem with the Hadith. It is the problem of knowing which Hadiths are authentic, and which ones are not.
Over the years many stories were told about Muhammad. Then people began to realize that not all of the Hadith were authentic so they made special studies and searched out the oldest collections. E. K. Ahamed Kutty of the University of Calicut, India, in speaking of the collection made by Bukhari, says,
"He took into consideration 600,000 Traditions out of which he accepted only 7,397, or according to some authorities, 7,295. The same tradition is often repeated more than once under different chapters. Disregarding these repetitions, the number of distinct Hadith is reduced to 2,762."[3]
From this we understand that only 3000 or 4000 Hadith were judged to be authentic or "strong". The others were thrown out as "weak", or to use a Christian word, "apocryphal". (Read more about this subject here)
3. Collections of Hadith
The word "hadith" means an account or news about something. A hadith can vary in length from a sentence to a full page. In Islam the main subject of the Hadith is what Muhammad did and said, that is, the Hadith contain the Sunnah. There are many large collections of Hadith. Prof. Masud-ul-Hasan explains main collections:
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The recognised collection of Hadith on the "Musannaf"[1] pattern are the collections of:
- Al-Bukhari (d. 870 C.E.) [A collection of 7658 hadiths (ahadith).]
- Muslim (d. 875 C.E.) [A collection of 7748 hadiths.]
- Abu Daud (d. 875 C.E.) [A collection of 5276 hadiths.]
- Al-Tirmizi (d. 892 C.E.) [A collection of 4415 hadiths.]
- Al-Nasai (d. 915 C.E.) [A collection of 5776 hadiths.]
- Ibn Maja (d. 886 C.E.) [A collection of 4485 hadiths.]
... The collections of Al-Bukhari and Muslim rank high and are known as "Al-Sahihain" i.e. authentic and authoritative.
The best known collection on the "Musnad"[2] pattern is the collection of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855 C.E.).
The Shia works on "Hadith", do not merely refer to what the Holy Prophet said or did, they also refer to what the Shia Imams said or did. The Shia works on Hadith are the collections of:
- Muhammad ibn Yakub Al-Kulluni (d. 939 C.E.)
- Muhammad Al-Hummi (d. 991 C.E.)
- Tahir Al-Sharif Al-Murtaza (d. 1004 C.E.)
- Muhammad Al-Tusi (d. 1067 C.E.) (Prof. Masud-ul-Hasan, History of Islam, vol. 1, p. 613)
There is also the important collection of the Muwatta of Malik.
The Hadith are part of the Islamic canon, yet Sunni and Shia disagree dramatically over which hadith to accept, and some Muslims do not accept the Hadith at all. This means that within Islam Muslims do not agree about their canon.
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The Sira. The Sira are the biographies of Muhammad's life. They provide the context and chronology of his life, and thus the context and chronology of the Qur'an. The two oldest Sira are:
- Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. 773 C.E.) via ibn Hisham's (d. 840 C.E.) recension, Sirat Rasul Allah. (English translation 798 pages[3].)
- Muhammad ibn Sa'd (d. 852 C.E.), Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, (English translation, 1097 pages[4].)
Summary. As you can see, there are a lot of other essential books in Islam than just the Qur'an, and they are all much bigger than the Qur'an. Both Bukhari and Muslim contain more hadiths than the Qur'an has verses. I have been told by an ex-Muslim Islamic scholar that Islam is 10% Quran and 90% traditions (Hadith and Sira). The Quran is like the frame of a picture. It sets some boundaries, but the details of the picture are provided by the traditions.
A More Accurate Comparison
It should be clear now that to compare the Bible to the Qur'an is misleading because while the Bible is the foundation of Christianity, the Qur'an is not the foundation of Islam, rather Islam is founded on the Qur'an, Hadith and Sira. If you want an honest and accurate comparison between the books of Christianity and Islam then you must compare the essential books of both religions.
Some Application
1. Do not assume that the Qur'an and Bible are basically the same. The Bible contains the writings of many prophets from Moses to Jesus. The Qur'an however, only has what Muhammad, one man, recited.
2. If Christians and Muslims want to compare books on any subject then the Hadith and Sira must be included in this comparison for it to be accurate and meaningful. The Hadith and Sira are an essential part of the Islamic canon. If you see an Islamic leader comparing the Bible to just the Qur'an then have the courage to explain why this is inadequate and misleading.
3. In the media, Islamic leaders, and others, often say that certain practices, like female circumcision, are not authentic Islam because they are not in the Qur'an. However, statements like these are either ill-informed or deliberately misleading because authentic Islam is not based on the Qur'an but on the Qur'an and Hadith. It is true that the Qur'an does not mention female circumcision, but neither does it mention male circumcision, and this does not stop circumcision being an authentic Islamic practice because it comes from the Hadith.
4. I have been told by Muslims that the Qur'an is complete because it directs you to Muhammad's example. Yes, the Qur'an does direct Muslims to follow Muhammad's example, but the fact remains that you have to go outside of the Qur'an to obtain this, and Muslims disagree strongly as to where this information is to be found and what is authentic.
5. Islam is a complex religion because it is based on so many books, each of which have their own method of study and critical issues. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for most Muslims to be familiar with all these essential books. This means that Muslims must depend upon their leaders to make the complex simple. However, it is possible for a Christian to read and be familiar with the whole Bible. When we invite you to become a Christian we are only asking you to accept the Bible.
Endnotes
[1] Where the hadiths are ordered according to topic.
[2] Where the hadiths are ordered according to narrator.
[3] Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, translated as, The Life of Muhammad, (tr. A. Guillaume), Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1998.
[4] Ibn Sa'ad, Kitab Al-Tabaqat Al-Kabir, (tr. S Moinul Haq) New Delhi: Kitab Bhavan, 2 volumes, no date.
4. The influence of the Hadith in understanding the Quran?
Can one go so far as to say, without the hadith the Quran can’t stand on its own? Problem is that the Hadiths were compared more than 200 years after the dates that the Quran was bringing together as a book.
* It is important to note the dates here... a 200-300 years time gap after the Prophet’s death untill when the Hadiths were compiled...!?
* Just think about it: How much can one really believe about a tradition of 200 years ago even it those that told it to you two centuries later assure you that was what happened and that was what was said by whom and when?
There are so many questions about the Hadith and unfortunately one can’t discuss all this in a book like these. Further its not so save to question any Muslim tradition despite Islam being “a Religion of Peace”. Recently a bold Malaysian scholar Kassim Ahmad was met with controversy and some scholars declared him an apostate for suggesting that "the Hadith are sectarian, anti-science, anti-reason and anti-women." Why could he say this thing if... You can read this very interesting article further and decide for yourself.
5.The tradition about the origin of the Hadith
According to Fawad Ahmed the traditional history of the Hadith is as follows: Muslim historians claim that shortly after Prophet Muhammad's death, hundreds of thousands of narrations attributed to him and his companions began to circulate in the Islamic world causing mass confusion as to how to follow the Prophet's example.
The six most prominent Hadith scholars (already mentioned above) were all 200-300 years after the Prophet's death: Imams Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, ibn Majah, Tirmizi, and Nisai (Note: These are Sunni hadith scholars.
The Shias have their own separate scholars and books!?
The traditions claim that they independently sifted through tens of thousands of reports. In the case of Bukhari, we are told he sifted through 600,000 (!) narrations (of 200 years ago?), settling on a little over 7,000 as "sahih" or authentic. The rest? They are all ‘false’ or ‘lies?
*Who decided on this? Must one just except it? Do you just except it without any question? - O, I remember, Muslims are not allowed to criticize their Religion and their scholars...!?
6. A Shi`ite's perspective of the hadith:
(Reference: https://www.answering-islam.org/Index/H/hadith.html)
"Careful examination of the chains of transmission of the traditions leaves one in doubt as to the extent of the deceitful additions and false testimonies. Many conflicting traditions can be traced to one companion or follower and many traditions, which are complete fabrications, may be found amongst this body of narrations.Some of the most often quoted and much loved hadiths are falsely attributed to Muhammad. See, for example,Thus reasons for the revelation of a particular verse, including the abrogating and abrogated verses [in the Quran], do not seem to accord with the actual order of the verses. No more than one or two of the traditions are found to be acceptable when submitted to such an examination.
It is for this reason that Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who himself was born before this generation of narrators, said, "Three things have no sound base: military virtues, bloody battles and the traditions pertaining to Qur'anic commentary." Imam al-Shafi'i relates that only about one hundred traditions from Ibn 'Abbas have been confirmed as valid." (Allamah Sayyid M.H. Tabataba'i, The Qur'an in Islam, London: Curzon Press, 1987, 47, quoted by William VanDoodewaard, Hadith and Authenticy: A survey of Perspective, unpublished article, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada, 1996).
Narrated Abu Huraira:
I said: "O Allah's Apostle! Who will be the luckiest person, who will gain your intercession on the Day of Resurrection?" Allah's Apostle said: O Abu Huraira! "I have thought that none will ask me about it before you as I know your longing for the (learning of) Hadiths. The luckiest person who will have my intercession on the Day of Resurrection will be the one who said sincerely from the bottom of his heart "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah."And 'Umar bin 'Abdul 'Aziz wrote to Abu Bakr bin Hazm, "Look for the knowledge of Hadith and get it written, as I am afraid that religious knowledge will vanish and the religious learned men will pass away (die). Do not accept anything save the Hadiths of the Prophet. Circulate knowledge and teach the ignorant, for knowledge does not vanish except when it is kept secretly (to oneself)." (Sahih Bukhari 1.98)
CAN ONE JUST BELIEVE SUCH TRADITIONS?
TRUE OR FALSE? Facts or Myths? Yes, if one is very very naïve!
The methodology used by these scholars to authenticate Hadith was "isnad", or chain of narration of the reports, from generation to generation. The isnad methodology emphasized verification of the character and memory of the narrator, rather than using the Quran or reason as guides.
In any case, the six Sunni Hadith collections, as they stand today, are considered unquestionable by traditional religious authorities, and have become the basis of Islamic jurisprudence. There are to many questions for any Muslim that truly search for the truth.
I few examples: We are told that Prophet Muhammad will intercede for his ummah on judgement day. His intercession will even happen for sinners and so, he is effectively overruling Allah himself with this privilege. This is because Allah has deemed that it is our acts which will save our souls.
It is ironic that according to the Quran, there is no intercession at all on judgement day. This assertion is repeated three times in chapter 2 of the Quran (in verses 48, 123 and 254). Prophet Muhammad is to disclaim any knowledge of what would happen to his people (46/9). Therefore, once again, hadith is at odds with the Quran in terms of religious philosophy, this time in terms of the personal nature of salvation.
When one look at the issue of rituals and dogma, in mainstream Islam, if you ask anyone about the five pillars of Islam, you are very likely to get a set of dogmas which are said to define the religion. In other words, if you do not subscribe to these pillars, you are said to be “outside the fold of Islam”. These five pillars of Islam and six pillars of faith are clearly defined in a hadith where the archangel Gabriel visited the Prophet in human form to test his knowledge of them. If we notice, all these so-called pillars of Islam are ritual oriented and not social activism. Also, this “confessional style Islam” is not to be found in the Quran at all.
An article that will help a lot in your valuation and final decision about this question: The Hadith Must Be Re-Examined by Fawad Ahmed
7. Did you saw the latest: MBS eliminated the Hadith Traditions?
MBS or Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, is a Saudi Arabian politician who has been the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia since 21 June 2017. He has begun a reformation whether he meant to or not.
By stating that the Qur'an is the only constitution that Islam will be held to, he eliminated 90% of Islamic traditions (included the hadiths!). How will his statement be interpreted? What will the scholarly reaction be?
The prince is forcing the Muslim world to take a critical look at their traditions, and the consequences are yet to be known. Watch as Al Fadi and Dr. Jay discuss the possible reactions that could come from this brave prince’s bold vision for his people.
Also look to this discussion about What will the future hold for Islam and the Quran
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