And what has Allah revealed? Qur'an 4:105 "Indeed, We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth so you may judge between the people by that which Allah has shown you. And do not be for the deceitful an advocate."
One would think that would settle the matter but, over the years, hadith were still transmitted among a small portion of people. However, it was never a widespread practice. The same goes for following the Sunnah of the Prophet. According to the scholars Harald Motzki and Daniel W. Brown the earliest Islamic legal reasonings that have come down to us were "virtually hadith-free", but gradually, over the course of second century A.H. "the infiltration and incorporation of Prophetic hadiths into Islamic jurisprudence" took place. 1
Although, the Qur’an mentions 'Sunna' fourteen times it never uses the term “sunna” in the sense of the way or practice of Prophet Muhammad. The phrases `the prophet's hadith' or the `the prophet's sunna' are never used in the Quran. This shows that these concepts did not exist in Arab society at the time of the Prophet. On the other hand, the phrases `tribal sunna' or `the sunna of the people' to mean `customs', were in vogue. It is this concept of 'sunna' that was later transformed to mean the Prophet's practice.
In pre-Islamic Arabia, the term sunnah referred to precedents established by tribal ancestors, accepted as normative and practiced by the entire community.
It is important to note that what later orthodox Sunnis would take or assume to be divine law or practices of Muhammad were simply the local customs of the people of his time whether they were Jewish, Christian, Pagan or even enemies of the faithful during Muhammad's time.
As noted by Ali Asghar Engineer, the adaat (customs and traditions) of Arabs were used in the development of the sharia, and form an important part of it. They are very much not divine or immutable, and have no more legal justification to be part of the sharia than the adaat of Muslims living beyond the home of the original Muslims in the Arab Hejaz.
This was pointed out by author, Kassim Ahmad:
"It is unreasonable and unthinkable that Allah would ask the Muslims to follow the prophet's personal mode of behavior, because a person's mode of behavior is determined by many different factors, such as customs, his education, personal upbringing and personal inclinations. The prophet's mode of eating, of dress and indeed of general behavior cannot be different from that of other Arabs, including Jews and Christians, of that time, except regarding matters which Islam prohibited. If the Prophet had been born a Malay, he would have dressed and eaten like a Malay. This is a cultural and a personal trait which has nothing to do with one's religion. So were the methods of the Prophet's wars and his administration of the Medina city-state. The weapons he used, such as swords, spears, arrows and shields, were in accordance with the prevailing technology. Today, with the development of modern weapons, the Muslims obviously cannot fight with the medieval weapons used by the Prophet, although they must emulate his staunch faith in God and complete adherence to God's teachings."
The early Muslims did not immediately concur on what constituted their Sunnah. Some looked to the people of Medina for an example, and others followed the behavior of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad.
In al-Ṭabarī's history of early Islam, the term "Sunnah of the Prophet" is not only used "surprisingly infrequently", but used to refer to "political oaths or slogans used by rebels", or "a general standard of justice and right conduct", and not "to specific precedents set by Muhammad", let alone hadith.
And one can see in the practice of the early Qadis, that the widespread use of hadith as a source of law was not in practice. (A qadi is a judge responsible for the application of Islamic positive law (fiqh). The office originated under the rule of the first Umayyad caliphs (AH 40–85/661–705 CE), when the provincial governors of the newly created Islamic empire, unable to adjudicate the many disputes that arose among Muslims living within their territories, began to delegate this function to others.)
In this early period of Islamic history, no body of Islamic positive law had yet come into existence, and the first qadis therefore decided cases on the basis of the only guidelines available to them: Arab customary law, the laws of the conquered territories, the general precepts of the Qurʾān, and their own sense of equity. This is exactly what the Qur'an advises.
[Qur'an 57:25] "Certainly We sent Our apostles with clear arguments, and sent down with them the Book and the balance that men may conduct themselves with equity."
The early Islamic empire expanded into the heart of civilization itself. Islamic civilization is actually the civilization of all the peoples who became part of the new society. It had its roots in all the pre-Islamic civilizations of the same area. Islam and Arabic, Syriac, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Greek cultural elements, formed the ancestral traditions of most of the Muslim population. The Umayyad rulers did not disrupt daily life in the conquered areas. The civil administration was maintained, the crafts, trades, industries and agriculture continued as before.
During this early period, the interest of the early rational scientists and their patrons, the Caliphs, was partly practical; medical skill was in demand, and control of the natural forces could bring power and success. There was also a wide intellectual curiosity.
There are around 750 verses in the Quran dealing with natural phenomena. Many verses of the Quran ask mankind to study nature, and this has been interpreted to mean an encouragement for scientific inquiry, and the investigation of the truth.
Historical Islamic scientists like Al-Biruni and Al-Battani derived their inspiration from verses of the Quran. Mohammad Hashim Kamali has stated that "scientific observation, experimental knowledge and rationality" are the primary tools with which humanity can achieve the goals laid out for it in the Quran.
The Qur'an urges muslims to use their intellect and reason to understand Allah and his creation.
Qur'an 13:4 "And within the land are neighboring plots and gardens of grapevines and crops and palm trees, [growing] several from a root or otherwise, watered with one water; but We make some of them exceed others in [quality of] fruit. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason."
Qur'an 57:17 "Know that Allah gives life to the earth after its lifelessness. We have made clear to you the signs; perhaps you will understand."
Qur'an 29:20 "Say: Travel in the earth and see how He makes the first creation, then Allah creates the latter creation; surely Allah has power over all things."
Qur'an 3:190 “Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand."
This inspired intellectuals in the 8th century to apply their knowledge of Greek logic and philosophy to build a system of Islamic principles based on a rational foundation."
A broad collective of intellectuals and scholars developed called Mutazilites (those who stand apart). They were descended ideologically from the Qadirite movement who advocated the importance of free will in human affairs.
Qur'an 5:101 "Oh you who believe! You have charge of your own souls. He who errs cannot injure you if you are rightly guided. Unto Allah you will all return; and then He will inform you of what ye used to do."
The Mutazilites insisted on a primary role for reason and logic in the pursuit of spiritual principles. They were more properly called Ahl Tawhiyd, the upholders of the Oneness of Allah. The Mutazilites believed the truth could be reached by using reason on what is given in the Qur'an. As scientific knowledge and learning began to show it's fruits in Islamic Civilization, the Mutazilite movement became universal with widespread support from the Abbasid Caliphs.
Even the early hadith collectors, jusists and scholars like Imam Malik of Medina and Abu Hanifa in Kufa and their followers applied the concept of ra'y ('common sense' or 'rational discretion'.)
They advocated the use of reasoning to arrive at legal decisions. They also followed the Sunnah or the traditions and customs of the people in their respective locations. Imam Malik tried to adhere to the customs and practices of the people of Medina because that's where the prophet Muhammad lived and he assumed Muhammad's influence was a source of these practices. Abu Hanifa respected the customs and practices in Kufa because that's where many of the original companions lived and he reasoned that they picked up their traditions from Muhammad himself. There were many other Ulema scholars throughout the Islamic territories and their decisions differed based on the sources of 'authority they used - be it the Qur'an, a few accepted hadith, and local custom.
This was fine with the Umayyad rulers (661-750AD) because they allowed the people in their conquered territories to maintain their customs as long as they payed taxes. But the Abbasids who also claimed some spiritual authority set up a more centralized state and the rulings of the Qadis judges and their practices needed to be more uniform.
Imam Abu Abd'allah Ibn Idris Al -Shafi came along and tried to solve this problem, and with his solution he formulated a new doctrine of Islam.
Hailing from Gaza, Palestine, Imam Shafi was a prodigy and a student of Imam Malik in Medina. According to tradition, he had memorized the Qur'an at a very young age as well as Imam Malik's book the Muwatta. He then became obsessed with hadith and took to writing them anywhere and in any way he could. He said, he dedicated himself to hadith.2 He served as a jurist and a governor in Najran, Yemen. He also traveled to Baghad and Egpyt. During his travels Shafi experienced first hand that although reasonable decisions were being made by judges', the decisions very often disagreed with each other.
Shafi's solution was this: only the prophet Muhammad's Sunna (as opposed the sunnah of local customs and the "sunnah" of earlier Companions) had any authority. Nothing could supersede or set aside a tradition properly authenticated, which could be traced back to the prophet himself.
According to Shafi the traditions of the prophet have to be accepted without questioning and reasoning: If a tradition is authenticated as coming from the prophet, we have to resign ourselves to it, and your talk and the talk of others about "why and how" is a mistake."3
By his assertion of the supremacy of hadith, Shafi placed it on par with the Qur'an itself, and when he made it the authoritative interpretation of the Holy, Qur'an he, in effect, gave it a higher authority. Shafi emphasized the final authority of a hadith of Muhammad, so that even the Quran was "to be interpreted in the light of traditions (i.e. hadith), and not vice versa."4
This was the core doctrine of a new conservative group identified with Shafi calling themselves Ahl al Sunna wa'l Jama'a, the People of the Sunna and the Collective. These earliest Sunnis held that, "the Sunnah rules over the Book of Allah, the Book of Allah does not rule over the Sunna."5
According to this new set of principles formulated by Shafi, the only way to be Muslim was to adhere, exclusively to the Qur'an and Sunnah. Shafi's former student, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, who later developed his own school of thought, best exemplified this belief. He considered human reason to be a dangerous innovation, a bid`a. For him, the Koran and the Hadith must be taken literally. He refused to eat watermelons because there is no hadith showing that the Prophet had eaten them. For him, it was that simple.6 (It's worth noting that his Hanbali School of thought is still followed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today.)
As noted by Anjouar Majid, "after Muhammad ibn Idriss al-Shafi`i (d. 820) succeeded in elevating the Prophet’s life to a status of sacredness comparable to that of the Koran, everyone rushed to come up with a hadith to support his views or lifestyle and to criminalize difference of opinion."
Historian Alfred Guillaume pointed out, [i]f an individual or a group or sect wanted to establish its right to its beliefs or practices, it had to furnish proof that the prophet had authorized its course of action or attitude. In consequence, an enormous number of hadith soon found their way into circulation, and it soon became apparent that forgery on a large scale was at work everywhere."7
Qur'an 6:50 -"Say, [O Muhammad], "I do not tell you that I have the treasures of Allah or that I know the unseen, nor do I tell you that I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me."
Before and especially after Shafi, the forgery of hadith grew exponentially. According one source, Ibn Hanbal reported that there were over 7 million `authentic' hadiths and that he had writtien at least a million of them.8 If this were true, then working for 23 years at a pace of 18 hours a day, seven days a week, the Prophet would have had to produce one hadith every 77 seconds. There would definitely have been no time left at all for the Prophet to have done anything like living his life and carrying out his mission as a Prophet.
To compound this problem, the rulers at that time depended very much on these scholars to advise them. More often than not, the opinions of a particular scholar who was eminent under a particular ruler became the established rule in that territory. Instead of being testimony to the dynamism of the Quran which allowed such diverse opinions to exist and thus serve as a catalyst for Muslims to continuously exercise their intellect, these differences of opinion gave birth to the rise of the likes of Imam Shafi`i (d. 820) who found it difficult to handle the freedom of thought and opinion that is allowed by the Quran. Imam Shafi`i came to view differences of opinion as a problem.
"Shafi's doctrine never accounted for the historic past of various regions sanctioned by Muhammad's silence on matters which that wise statesman left to his countrymen to settle by pursuing the customs of their forefathers and leaving their posterity to formulate laws to deal with problems as they arose.
The process of stiffening and hardening the legal system of was carried through. The old comparatively elastic regime of the Umayyads, which...faithfully represented the mild reasonableness of Muhammad's rule, was replaced by a rigid unbending code of law which in spirit was opposed to the whole tenor of his life and thought, yet claimed, by the theft of his name, the authority of Allah himself." ~ Alfred Guillaume.
But mainstream Orthodox Sunni Islam still asserts this position that the Sunnah (hadith) are on par with the Qur'an.
One may wonder, 'why'?? In light of what's written in the Qur'an and Muhammad's own banning of hadith himself (as recorded in the very hadith they supposedly adhere to), how can they justify this? We will go through all of the arguments Sunni's use to uphold hadith below. Many are the exact same arguments Imam Shafi made 1,200 years ago. These arguments were weak then and they prove to be even more patently weak and fallacious now. Here they are:
1. The Lifted Prohibition
Considering the Qur'an asserts itself as the only revelation to be followed- "These are the verses of Allah which We recite to you in truth; Then in what hadith after Allah and His verses will they believe?" Qur'an 45:6 And considering according to the hadith itself, Muhammad actually ordered that people not write down any hadith: “Do not write down anything from me except the holy Quran and those who have written must erase it,” 9
What could Sunnis come along and say after this? They assert that Muhammad didn't want anything written down because he didn't want anything to get mixed up with the Qur'an. And that once most of the Qur'an was written he lifted the ban and allowed hadith to be written. They point out that the full hadith goes on to say, "narrate to others what you hear from me, and whoever deliberately attributes a lie to me; he should prepare his seat in the fire."10
So they focus on the part where Muhammad instructs to "narrate from me" as evidence that the prohibition on writing the hadith does not negate their authority. Then they go on to explain that the ban was lifted later followed by a few hadith indicating Muhammad commanded people to write hadith. (These hadith will show Muhammad commanding people to write, but 1) we don't have those writings 2) there is no chronology to any of these random commands to write, which means there is nothing to say they aren't simply forged hadith intended to support hadith and contradict the commands prohibiting the writing of narrative traditions. Ultimately it shows limitless contradictions and forgeries that are inherent to hadith literature.)
The problem with this argument is first, the additional part about "narrate to others what you hear from me" was not included in any of the earlier texts regarding this hadith. They all say, "do not write down anything from me except Quran and whoever has written down from me must erase it" and they stop there. The latter part only appears in modern hadith books which is clear evidence that it has been forged by hadith scholars along the way. 11
Also, it does clearly show that Muhammad didn't revere the authority of these traditions because obviously he would have known that any sayings he made that weren't written down would get lost or distorted over time - as has happened anyway. Further, there are reports from Abu Huraira that the Prophet Muhammad forbade the writing of hadith and Abu Huraira had only been a companion of the Prophet during the last two years of his life when most of Qur'an had already been revealed 21 years earlier.
It is narrated from abu Hurayrah who has said, “The holy Prophet (S) came to us when we were writing down Hadith. He asked us, ‘ what is this you are writing?’ We replied, “These are the matters that we have heard from you.” He then said, ‘Do you want a book other than the book of Allah? The nations before you were destroyed only for what they had written along with the book of Allah."12
We also see in history that all of the so-called rightly guided Caliphs from Abu Bakr to Ali Ibn Talib prohibited or restricted the writing of hadith. This goes to show the prohibition was never lifted or that if it was his closest companions never heard of it. Abu Bakr burned them; Umar burned them and actually jailed three men for spreading hadith.13
Most importantly, you can ask any Sunni Muslim to point to a narration where the ban is lifted and it is guaranteed they will no be able to produce a single one. This is just a fabricated history scholars made up with no evidence to support it.
History bears this prohibition out. Hadith historian Joseph Schacht has pointed out: “There is not any evidence of legal traditions (Hadith and Sunna) before Year 722 A.D. in Islam and we can conclude that the Sunna or hadiths of the Prophet is not the words and deeds of the Prophet, but apocryphal material dating from later."14
2. The Good Example
The question is, how are the hadith revealed scripture or how is the Sunnah of Muhammad binding to the point where they define what Islam is or isn't? The defenders of hadith will use Qur'an 33:21 as proof we are supposed to follow the Sunnah of Muhammad, as recorded in hadith.
H.Q. 33:21 "Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah a good example for him who hopes in Allah and the last day and remembers Allah much."
However, if we look at the context of verse 33:21 quoted above, it is clear that it does not refer to every detail of the Prophet's behavior, such as his eating, dress, sleeping and other personal habits. Actually, it refers to the Prophet's faith in Allah's help and victory. The verse is put in the middle of the account of the Battle of the Allies when the believers were really shaken and thought that the cause of Islam was lost. The Prophet Muhammad's example was his strong faith in Allah and adherence to the Quran.
We know it isn't requiring us to follow Muhammad's personal habits as described in hadith because the same quote is used for Ibrahim as well as those with him.
Qur'an 60:4 "Indeed, there is for you a good example in Ibrahim and those with him when they said to their people: Surely we are clear of you and of what you serve besides Allah..."
Qur'an 60:6 "Certainly there is for you in them a good example, for him who fears Allah and the last day; and whoever turns back, then surely Allah is the Self-sufficient, the Praised."
The question here is if the good example in 33:21 means we have to find out how Muhammad entered the toilet and how he grew his beard and what position he slept in, should we also inquire about and follow the way Abraham entered the toilet, how he ate, if he had a beard, and in what position he urinated? The words in 60:4 mentions not only Abraham, but also those with him, they all set a good example for us. Should we thus inquire about and follow the individual habits of those who were with Abraham?15
The bottom line is that this verse is talking about Muhammad's faith, steadfastness and courage. The Qur'an helps us develop those qualities and Muhammad, again, proves to be a great example because he only followed the Qur'an.
Qur'an 46:9
"Say: I am not the first of the apostles, and I do not know what will be done with me or with you: I do not follow anything but that which is revealed to me, and I am nothing but a plain warner."
3. Obey Allah and Obey the Messenger
The next argument asserted by Sunni hadith supporters is found in some form twenty five times in the Qur'an. Qur'an 4:59 "O you who believe! obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the last day; this is better and very good in the end."
The assumption here is that to obey Allah is to follow the Qur'an and to obey the messenger is to follow his words and instructions as found (of course) in the hadith traditions. So they say this verse in the Qur'an makes hadith binding. But all that would do is present additional contradictions. If the Qur'an says it is the only source to follow, how could it then say (or imply) that we follow or use hadith as a source?
Qur'an 6:114
"Shall I seek other than Allah for judge, when He it is Who hath revealed unto you (this) Scripture, fully explained? Those unto whom We gave the Scripture (aforetime) know that it is revealed from thy Lord in truth. So be not thou (O Muhammad) of the waverers."
Muhammad was to be obeyed here along with Allah because he was delivering a message (the Qur'an). It's important to note that in the 25 times this phrase is mentioned it always refers to the messenger, never Muhammad by name.
Qur'an 64:12 "Obey Allah and obey His messenger; but if ye turn away, then the duty of Our messenger is only to convey (the message) plainly."
Qur'an 5:99 " The duty of the messenger is only to convey (the message). Allah knoweth what ye proclaim and what ye hide."
Also, to think that Muhammad's every word and deed is supposed to be a divine sacred part of Islam that we are obligated to follow goes against what we read in the Qur'an. He was not infallible.
Qur'an 18:110 "Say: I am only a mortal like you; it is revealed to me that your Creator is one, Allah, therefore whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and not join any one in the service of his Lord."
Qur'an 34:50 "Say: If I err, I err only against my own soul, and if I follow a right direction, it ?s because of what my Lord reveals to me; surely He is Hearing, Nigh."
Muhammad made mistakes but was corrected by Allah in the Qur'an see 80:1-10; also in 66:1, 8:67; 9:42. This shows his every word and deed wasn't perfect or to be followed. No such distinctions are made in the hadith literature.
Finally, we know the Qur'an didn't intend the phrase "Obey Allah and Obey the Messenger" as the foundation of the Qur'an and Sunnah of Muhammad doctrine, because the Qur'an says in 4:65 ""We sent not a messenger but to be obeyed, in accordance with the will of Allah."
Orthodox Sunni Muslims never mention obeying other Messengers besides Muhammad, although a major tenet of Qur'anic Islam is that we make no distinctions between any of the prophets.
Qur'an 2:136 "Say, "We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to him we are Muslims."
4. The Qur'an and the Wisdom
Qur'an 62:2 "He it is Who raised among the inhabitants of Mecca an Apostle from among themselves, who recites to them His communications and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom, although they were before certainly in clear error."
Qur'an 2:231 (in part) "And remember the favor of Allah upon you and what has been revealed to you of the Book and the Wisdom by which He instructs you."
This argument comes directly from Imam Shafi. He interpreted the Arabic word hikmah (Wisdom) in above verse, and in similar verses, as meaning `sunna' or `hadith.' "In his major work, al-Risala, he stated:
So, God mentions His scripture, that is the Quran, and wisdom, and I have heard from those who are knowledgeable in the Quran — those whom I agree with — say that wisdom is the traditions of the Prophet. This is the same as the Word [of God Himself]; but God knows better! Because the Quran is mentioned, followed by Wisdom; then God mentions His blessing to mankind by teaching the Quran and wisdom. So, it is not possible that wisdom means other things than the traditions of the Prophet ... (Emphasis added).
Shafi`i's interpretation of the word hikmah as meaning the Prophet's tradition cannot but give rise to grave doubts. Was he justified in doing so? He did not produce any support from the Quran for such an interpretation. He merely reported the view of "experts" whom he concurred with. Who these "experts" were and what their reasons for advancing such a view Shafi`i did not say. In the quotation above, we notice that Shafi`i jumped from a statement of the status of 'probability' to a statement of the status of certainty without giving proper proofs to enable the probable view to achieve the status of certainty. This is unacceptable in any scientific discourse." 16
Imam Shafi is saying that the Quran (Book) and the Wisdom are two different entities. However, if you look at the Arabic in 2:231 after mentioning the Book and the Wisdom it says, "...with it (bihi) he instructs you." This is in the singular pronoun form. If this verse were referring to two separate items it would have said "with them he instructs you."
In the style of the Qur'an there are other times where 'wa' ('and') is used to highlight a particular aspect of the whole. Not only is 'wa' used in the Quran to denote something separate or additional, it is also used to elucidate an existing statement by defining it or clarifying it.
For example, we note in Holy Qur'an 55:68
"In them both are fruits, and date-palms and pomegranates."
Here the conjunction 'wa' (and) when used with date-palms and pomegranates only clarifies the 'fruits' and is not read as separate from the category of fruits (fakihatun). Another good example is in Qur'an 15:87 where we read,
The seven oft repeated verses are verses from Surah Fatiha which are repeated with each rakah during each of the prayers. However, by Shafi's logic these would be two different things although we know that Al Fatiha is not a separate entity from the Qur'an but is contained within the Qur'an - just as Wisdom is contained in the Qur'an.
Qur'an 31:2 "These are verses of the Book of Wisdom"
So wisdom means, just that wisdom; not the Sunnah or the hadith.
It is also important to note that as mentioned in the Qur'an, other prophets received wisdom as well and it is referring to wisdom. Or else, by Shafi 's reasoning we would be obligated to follow the hadith of other prophets as well.
Qur'an 3:48 "And He will teach him (Jesus) the Book and the wisdom and the Taurat and the Injiyl."
Qur'an 46:16 "And certainly We gave the Book and the wisdom and the prophecy to the children of Israel, and We gave them of the goodly things, and We made them excel the nations."
This is the same wisdom mentioned here:
Qur'an 2: 269 "He gives the Wisdom to whomsoever He will, and whoso is given the Wisdom, has been given much good; yet none remembers but men possessed of minds."
5. Without Hadith How Would We Know How To Pray?
The answer to this question is direct and simple: the same way prayer had been maintained before the compilation of hadith; by tradition and custom. It is not as though all prayer stopped after Muhammad died in 632 A.D.
People learn prayer from their, parents, their relatives and from the communities in which they live. Human history is a testament to the fact that in cultures across the globe, customs and practices are passed down for centuries and millennia this way - and most often without the aid of writings.
There is a misconception prevalent in Orthodox Islam that prayer came from the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad as a brand new practice. Many throughout the West have echoed the belief that the prayer made by the faithful is a Muslim prayer, that Qiyam (standing), ruku (bowing) and sajdah (prostration) are exclusive to Islamic prayer .However, there is much evidence that the same positions and forms of prayer practiced during Muhammad's time are a continuation of prayers going all the way back to Abraham's time.
Qur'an 14:35, 40 "(And when Abraham said)...My Lord! make me keep up salat (prayer) and from my offspring (too), O our Lord, and accept my prayer."
Qur'an 2:135 "[In part] Say: Nay! (we follow) the religion of Abraham, the upright, and he was not one of the polytheists."
Genesis 17:3 "And Abram fell on his face (prostration) and God talked with him, saying..."
Numbers 14:5 "Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel."
Nehemiah 8:5-6
"And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:
And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground."
Matthew 26:39 - "And he (Jesus) went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed..."
The prayer kept up to Muhammad's time before his call to prophecy. The Hanif (the upright ones who refused to worship idols) during the early Sixth Century A.D., performed ritual prayer (salat). According to Ibn Habib and Muslim, Abu Zar and Qus Saida were among those who prayed during the 'Age of Ignorance.'17
One of the hanif, Zayd Ibn Amr was well known among the Quraysh. He died in 607AD, just before Muhammad began his mission. There are several traditions indicating Zayd prayed facing the Kaaba. He used to say, "I follow the religion of Abraham and I prostrate myself towards the Kaaba which Abraham built."18.
Qur'an 3:95 "Say: Allah has spoken the truth, therefore follow the religion of Ibrahim, the upright one; and he was not one of the polytheists."
Other aspects of salat had been in existence for centuries before Muhammad's arrival. The Sabeans (of Yemen) have five prayers similar to the five prayers of the Muslims. Others say they have seven prayers, five of which are comparable to the prayers of the Muslims with regard to time [that is, morning, noon, afternoon, evening and night; the sixth is at midnight and the seventh is at forenoon]. " Ziyad ‘ibn ‘Abihi (d. 672 AD) who was the governor of Iraq during the first Umayyad caliph Mur awiyah wrote:
The Sabians believed in prophets and prayed five times daily. 19
The Falasha tribe of Ethiopia or Beta Israel with traditions going back to at least 586 BC, have always held their service in the masgid (from the Ge'ez language meaning place of prostration) which consists primarily of the recitation of prayers ( Ge'ez: salot) and reading of the Torah. In the traditional Islamic prayer, muslims send peace (salaam) to the angels the right and left of each shoulder.
According to the Falasha's 'Book of Angels' ...
"There are two angels (at our side), one on the right and one
on the left. They record all the good and the bad deeds we do.
The Angel of Light records the good deeds, the Angel of Darkness records the [bad] deeds; they vie with one another until[our] death. When the time arrives for the departure of man from this world, they bring the books before God. Michael and Berna’el place the books (that record) the good and the bad actions which man has done on the scales before God.” 20
History demonstrates that the traditional 'Muslim prayer' has been in existence for at least one thousand years before Muhammad's arrival. Of course small changes in form take place cumulatively over time and in different regions, as well as the worship of idols. And while the hadith literature seems concerned with form and specific body movements that nullify the prayer, the Qur'an appears to be concerned with making sure Allah alone is worshipped, without partners. The idea is that prayer assists in removing negative energy and for opening the heart to the remembrance of Allah.
So based on the Qur'an's teachings, the answer to the question "how do we pray?" is simply - to Allah alone.
Qur'an 72:18, 20: "And that the mosques are Allah's, therefore call not upon any one with Allah:
Say: I only call upon my Lord, and I do not associate any one with Him."
Qur'an 29:45: "Recite that which has been revealed to you of the Book and keep up prayer; surely prayer keeps (one) away from indecency and evil, and certainly the remembrance of Allah is the greatest, and Allah knows what you do."
Here's the dilemma, the Qur'an states that it is complete and explains everything.
Qur'an 6:38 "...We did not leave anything out of the Book..."
We brought the Book down to you providing explanations for all things, guidance, mercy, and good news for those who submit. 16:89
However, orthodox, mainstream muslims look at all of the details currently involved in making salat (prayer) the way Muhammad did- from the times of prayer, to when and how to takbir, to where to place one's hands in qiyam (standing position) to ruku (bowing) to what to say in sadjah (prostration) and jalsah (sitting), and they say by following the Qur'an alone without the hadith, its impossible to know how to pray properly. Muslims are also proud of the fact that because of the Sunnah (found in the hadith) wherever they are in the world, they can pray uniformly in congregation.
It must be acknowledged that there are a tangle of assumptions going on here. The first is that people actually read the hadith in order to find out how to pray, another is that the uniformity in prayer naturally comes from hadith, there is a related assumption that the prayer is exactly how Muhammad prayed and finally, mixed in with all these is the assumption that anyone if they chose would be able to follow the hadith and get a coherent understanding of prayer. Let's deal with that aspect first. Here are two sahih quotes from Bukhari concerning washing (ablution) before prayer.
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
The Prophet performed ablution by washing the body parts only once.
Narrated 'Abdullah bin Zaid:
The Prophet performed ablution by washing the body parts twice.
"Narrated Humran: (the slave of 'Uthman) I saw 'Uthman bin 'Affan asking for a tumbler of water (and when it was brought) he poured water over his hands and washed them thrice...then he washed his face and forearms up to the elbows thrice, passed his wet hands over his head and washed his feet up to the ankles thrice."
Which one do we follow? These are all graded Sahih (good, authentic).
Malik b. Huwairith reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) raised his hands apposite his ears at the time of reciting the takbir (i.e. at the time of beginning the prayer) and then again raised his hands apposite the ears at the time of bowing and when he lifted his head after bowing he said: Allah listened to him who praised Him, and did like it (raised his hands up to the ears).
Yet, Bra Ibn Aazib narrates that: when the messenger of Allah (pbuh) would begin the prayer, he would raise his hands up to his ears, then not do so again.
One version of this narration adds: “only once” (i.e. he would raise them only once), and another adds: “then he would not raise them again until completing the prayer”
(Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba 1:159, Sunnan Abi Dawud 1:109,Sunan Kubra Bahqi, Darqatni, Tahawi, Musnad-e-Hamidi, Musannaf Abdur Razzaq, Nissbur raiyh).
As noted by one writer: Bukhari does not give the methods of prayer in a coherent form. It is only after searching through a large number of hadiths that we can find what perhaps we are meant to say while performing the set of postures from standing to bending and then in prostration but only, it should be emphasized, after a wide search, and not without variations and contradictions. So one can quite clearly see that Hadith does not give any organized or co-ordinated methods of prayer that can be followed universally.
Bukhari does not give the format of the prayers that we perform today and that the format of all our prayers underwent substantial changes before it was finally established in its overall present form, and that most of these changes took place well after the death of the Prophet. 21
“Do they not ponder on The Qur’ān? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy.” (Qur’ān 4:82)
Here's another example, regarding where to place one's hands during Qiyam (standing positon).
The Third Hadith of Wail Ibn Hajar, he says, “I saw Nabi (Sallallahu Aalaihi Wasallam) placing his right hand over his left hand, below the navel.”
(Ibn Abi Shaiba Vol. 1 Pg. 390 The chain of narrators is authentic, Atharus Sunan)
Narrated that Waa’il ibn Hajar, said: I prayed with the Messenger of Allah and he placed his right hand over his left hand on his chest.
Ash-Shawkani said, there is nothing in this chapter thats more authentic than the Hadith of Waa’il ibn Hajar. Classed as Sahih by al-Albaani in Tahqiyq Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah (479) also in Al-Bayhaqi.
Do the hands go on the chest or below the navel? It may not make a difference because it is likely that practice was added after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.
As far as the children and the grandchildren of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) are concerned, the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.) never held his hands on his belly/chest while praying.22
Before the hadith were the main source of Sunnah, Imam Malik of Medina would base his Sunnah on the practices of the people of Medina where Muhammad lived. Imam Malik, regarding the clasping of hands, “I don’t know of that in the obligatory prayer”.23
The student of al Muhaddith Shah Waliyullah, Allamah Muhammad Muiyn Lahori writes in Dhursuth al Beeb, p. 34 (Lahore edition 1868) writes:
“In my opinion the acts of the people of Medina are a major proof, and Imam Malik deemed the ijmaa of the people of Medina to be proof, which is why the Maliki scholars would pray with open hands by relying on the action of the people of Medina.
It's important to note there are historical narratives that this tradition of folding hands on the chest actually began later with Umar.
Al-‘Allamah Muhammad Hassan Najafi says in Jawahir al-Kalam: “It was said about ‘Umar that when they brought him the prisoners from the non-Arabs (‘Ajam), they did Takkatuf (placing right over left) in front of him, so he asked about it and they told him that they did this as a sign of submission in front of their Kings, so he saw that it was good to do it for Allah in prayer.
Al-‘Allamah Najm-ul-Deen al-Tibsi says in Al-Irsaal wal-Takkatuf bayn al-Sunnah wal-Bid’ah pg.18-19:
“It was said that it Takkatuf was innovated by the Caliph ‘Umar bin al-Khattab, he took it from the non-Arab prisoners.”
When Anas ibn Malik, a companion of the Prophet (s.a.w.), went to Syria, he wept and said: "I do not see here anything which I used to see in the days of the Prophet (s.a.w.), except this prayer and that too is disfigured."
- Sahih al- Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 10, Number 507
There is evidence that this position of holding hands on the chest in prayer is a very ancient Persian tradition. Many statues of priests standing in that position have been discovered in the area of Mesopotamia. It was a sign of respect.
So what did scholars did when faced with of all of the variations and contradictions in the supposed sunnah and Sahih "authentic" hadith literature, is say that all of these (contradictory) practices are 'permissible.' This distracts from the original question as to whether the Prophet Muhammad actually prayed one particular way or another.
The overwhelming majority of Sunni Muslims say "Amiyn" during the prayer at the end of the recital of the Qur'anic verse. There is no hadith on that records this practice, yet all Muslims do this uniformly. How did muslims all learn this part of the prayer since we need hadith to know how to pray correctly? The same is true for the fact that muslims pray with their eyes open rather than closed. Where does that practice come from? It's not in any of the hadith. Yet, according to Sunni muslims we wouldn't know how to pray without hadith.
Finally, the argument that "we need the hadith to know how to pray" is really a non-issue. If the question is are the hadith revelation with the same authority as the Qu'ran (or more) saying we need them to know how to pray doesn't make them anymore authentic or authoritative. 24
The bottom line is that if Muslims wanted to record how to pray for future believers, they would have simply had to pen a prayer book so the practice wouldn't be forgotten and then ask muslims to follow it, not because the instructions come from the heavens, with divine authority but rather for the sake of uniformity and common practice. (Essentially all Muslims learn prayer from personal instruction or from prayerbooks anyway). Further, even if hadith were 'needed' for prayer how does that validate all the other nonsense, the impossible prophecies, fantasy and irrelevant rules and minutiae contained in the hadith?
Ridiculous hadith example: Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said "If a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease."
Sahih Bukari, Volume 4, Book 54, Number 447:
Example 2:
Reference : Sahih Muslim 2767 a
In-book reference : Book 50, Hadith 57
USC-MSA web (English) reference : Book 37, Hadith 6665
Burda narrated that his father said the Messenger of God said; "Every time a Muslim man dies, God puts in hell fire a Jew or a Christian."
Compare with:
Quran 5:69 "Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah and the last day and does good-- they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve."
How does the single "need" to know the details on how to pray open the door and authorize all hadith as something Muhammad wanted us to consider part of Islam? Did he want us to follow him to the bathroom to imitate how he relieved himself? That certainly doesn't appear likely.
The Prophet ﷺ would take so much care to seclude himself that Al-Mughīrah ibn Shu’bah said, “I was travelling with the Prophet. When he needed to relieve himself, he went far away from me." Tirmidhi 20.
But this never stopped the hadith narrators.;..and the contradictions continue...
· The Prophet never urinated in a standing position.(Masnad Hanbal, 6/136, 192, 213)
· The Prophet urinated in a standing position. (Bukhari, 4/60, 62)
Also even if all of this can be explained, none of the scholars can give a spiritual, psychological or moral reason any of these positions, and arm and hand movements are done in the first place. Besides (allegedly) mimicking the prophet Muhammad, why are they done? Why is it so important to get each movement and position exactly right? Do they increase the remembrance of Allah or has all of this bickering over minute details, argument, and discussion over the past 1,300 years been a huge distraction taking away from the remembrance of Allah?
Qur'an 12:111: "This is not a fabricated hadith but a confirmation of what exists. It (the Quran) is a detailed account of everything and a guide and mercy for those who have faith."
6. The misinterpretation of Qur'an 4:65
Qur'an 4:65
"But no! by your Lord! they do not believe (in truth) until they make you a judge of that which has become a matter of disagreement among them, and then do not find any straitness in their hearts as to what you have decided and submit with entire submission."
This is a primary verse presented by Sunnis (Ahl Hadith - People of Hadith) as evidence that the Qur'an asserts we must use Sunnah and hadith associated with the Prophet as guidance in Islam.
But this one is simple. The meaning comes from reading the verse in context beginning at 4:60 and determining who "they" are. 'They' refers to a specific group of people Muhammad was dealing with at that time. It wasn't referring to "all believers." Verses 4:60 - 4:68 indicate that “they” are not good people and “they” are not people who believe and obey what Allah gave them to use; “they” worshiped deities; “they” lied to and deceived the Prophet Muhammad.
And why will they not believe unless the Prophet intercedes?
Because “they” are a people who accept no responsibility for their actions “they” want a scapegoat, someone or something to be able to blame every decision made that goes bad or wrong. “they” want an intercessor. 25
And again there is a big assumption made by those who argue that this as a mandate to follow hadith. The assumption is that referring issue to Muhammad for his judgment while he was alive is similar to referring to the hearsay of hadith, and the other assumption is that the hadith actually reflect his words and his judgments.
Qur'an 4:105 "Surely We have revealed the Book to you with the truth that you may judge between people by means of that which Allah has taught you; and be not an advocate on behalf of the treacherous."
7. Muhammad's Final Sermon: "I leave you the Qur'an and My Sunnah."
This is one of the most popular quotes in Sunni Islam.
The full wording is here: "I have left with you two things which, if you follow them, you will never go astray: the Book of God and the sunna of His Prophet" (Muw., 2:899).
The problem is that by the Sunni's own standards this quote is far more weak than the quote referring to the Quran and the Ahl Bayt that it was most likely substituted for.
"Indeed I am leaving two things among you, to which if you hold yourself, you will never astray: the book of Allah and my ahl al-bayt (household), my 'itra (family). [Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, hadith:3876]
The Qur'an and Sunnah quote came from Imam Malik who's reference was..."I heard" with no isnad - no sources. All of the other Qur'an and Sunnah narrations go back to him or are weak for additional reasons.[see note].25
It is also difficult to justify the authority of hadith with a hadith (especially one so characteristically contradictory).
8. The Misinterpretation of Qur'an 53:3.
Qur'an 53: 2-4
"Your companion [Muhammad] has not strayed, nor has he erred. Nor doth he speak of (his own) desire. It is naught but revelation that is revealed. "
Promoters of hadith try to suggest that the words "It is but a revelation that is revealed" refer to words spoken by the prophet Muhammad besides the Qur'an, from the time he started receiving the revelation until his death, as being divine revelation! As a result they preach that all Muslims must obey every word spoken by the prophet, whether it is Quran or his personal sayings (hadith).
We read in 53:4 the words: "Inn huwa ila wahyun yuha" 53:4. Which is translated as "It is but a revelation that is revealed" or "it is but an inspiration being inspired." The word "huwa" (it) is a key word in this verse. The word 'it' in English does denote a gender. The word 'it' could refer to a masculine or a feminine noun equally. However, in Arabic the word "huwa" refers to the masculine, while the word 'hiya' refers to the feminine. The word "huwa" in this verse refers to the Quran which is masculine in gender.
What this means is that in this verse, Allah is specifically speaking about the inspiration of the Quran to Muhammad not every word spoken by him. Also the hadith, his sayings would be plural, they hadn't been collected into one body of work at that time. And "huwa"can't be talking about 'his sunnah' because the Sunna is feminine, while the verse is referring to a masculine noun [revelation] which is precisely the Qur'an.
9. "Take what the Messenger Gives You And Abstain From What He Forbids You."
This is a quote from Qur'an 59:7 used by Imam Shafi as authorization to follow hadith and put it on par with Qur'an. The problem is, this is completely taken out of context and authorizes no such thing. Here's the whole quote:
"Whatever gains Allah has turned over to His messenger from the inhabitants of the villages belong to Allah, the messenger, kinsfolk, orphans, the needy, and the traveler. This is explained so that you do not just circulate it among those of you who are rich, take what the messenger gives you and abstain from what he forbids you. Be mindful of Allah, Allah is severe in punishment." (Qur'an 59:7)
It is clear that the portion:
"take what the messenger gives you and abstain from what he forbids you-"
is referring to the booty of war recovered which the messenger was to distribute to those in need. It's not referring to a book of his alleged sayings and actions. We also know this is true because he didn't give us the hadith. They weren't mentioned in the Qur'an except to say the Qur'an was the best of hadith or that after the Qur'an what hadith would we believe? There is not a single hadith in current existence that anyone can point to which was clearly authorized by Muhammad.
There's no need to continue further. This was a patently weak argument. It does make one wonder however, how much appreciation and respect for the meaning of the Qur'an many of the Ahl Hadith actually have. And to what extent they will twist and distort the truth in order to support the doctrines to which they've stubbornly attached themselves.
Final Thoughts
Finally, Sunnis will argue that all the Hadith have been thoroughly criticized, analyzed and graded in terms of reliability using Hadith "Science." (The science is based on assessing the truthfulness and character of the person narrating the hadith, which is subjective, the complete opposite of science which is based on objective measurements and facts.) But if there is no clear evidence that either Allah or Muhammad authorized or required the adherence to the hadith as part of Islam, trying to make sense out of the hundreds of thousands of fabricated, contradictory hadith isn't going to change that. Equally it makes very little sense to believe that the hadith which are full of contradictions are going to "help" explain the Qur'an which has no contradictions at all.
"One difference between history and imaginative literature ... is that history neither anticipates nor satisfies our curiosity, whereas literature does." [Guy Davenport, "Wheel Ruts," 1996]
So if this is so clear and obvious, why do so many muslims and the overwhelming number of Islamic Scholars adhere to the Sunni doctrines and dogma?
The answer to this question is rooted in the political dynamics in which Sunni Islam arose. This dates back to the period of the Early Abbasid Empire (9th Century) around two hundred years after Muhammad's death. As with many empires, explorations into nature and science yielded many incredible technological advances beneficial to the ruling administration. The Haruwn Al- Rashid, the fifth Abbasid Caliph employed scholars to translate Greek, Chinese, Sanskrit and Persian works in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Astronomy, Philosophy, Geography, and other disciplines into Arabic. With these works, Al Rashid built his imperial library. Over time the center of the empire, Baghdad, became a haven for scholars from all over the world. The quest for scientific achievements accelerated during the reign of Al Ma'mun, the seventh Abbasid ruler. He converted Baghdad's imperial library into 'The House of Wisdom", and thus established a formal center of learning. Well educated and with a considerable interest in scholarship, al-Ma'mun promoted the 'Translation Movement', the flowering of learning and the sciences in Baghdad, and the publishing of al-Khwarizmi's book now known as "Algebra". As time passed the accumulation of knowledge flourished greatly throughout the realm.
As mentioned above the Mu'tazilites were the primary collective school of thought during this early period of Abbasid rule. They were influenced by Greek rationalism and the philosophy of Aristotle in particular in terms of using logic to discover truth. The Mu'tazilites maintaned the importance of man's creative free will, the unity of Allah and the rational understanding of the Qur'an.
In the year 833AD, Al Ma'mun, a scholar himself, impressed by the Mu'tazila doctrine and intending to centralize religious authority in the caliphate, tried to impose Mutazilism as the official creed of his realm. To this end, he imposed minha (an inquisition), under which those who refused to profess their allegiance to Mu’tazilism were punished by flogging and imprisonment.
One of the scholars who refused to change his beliefs was the traditionalist Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. He was part of a small but growing group of jurists and their followers called the Ahl al Sunnah wa'l Jama'a, who asserted that all a believer needed to know about faith was in the literal reading of the Qur'an and Hadith. Ibn Hanbal was tortured and imprisoned and some other scholars were killed for refusing to adhere to Mutazilism.
Although being banished, beaten, imprisoned, and tortured for years, Ibn Hanbal outlasted three khalifs, eventually becoming a popular folk hero because of the strength of his convictions. The minha caused upheaval in Baghdad, and in 847, the new Caliph, Al Mutawakkil seeking popular support for his rule, let Ibn Hanbal out of prison and supported increasingly popular Sunni doctrines. As noted by Jonathan Brown,
"[Mutawakkil] brought the leading Sunni scholars out of prison and sent them to the great cathedral mosques of Baghdad. There they narrated hadiths to the crowds, reciting their full isnads back in time through the chains of great scholars to the Messenger of Allah...Although they began as a small conservative and ideologically xenophobic network of scholars obsessed with collecting and evaluating Hadith, the Sunni mantra of the primacy of 'revealed text' over reason would attain a paramount place among the populations of cities like Baghdad.---Seated in sprawling mosques in Baghdad, Isfahan and Samarkand, narrating the words of the prophet to their enraptured audiences, the Sunni scholars had terrifying popularity among the masses." 27
Ultimately, there was a backlash against Mutazilism which was now associated with the cruelties of the minha. Yet, over time though the Abbasid Empire began to destabilize. But this did not hinder the intellectual process. Since education and art had become part of the fabric of Islam, many of the powerful regional dynasties continued their patronage of scholars. As a result, brilliant intellectuals emerged all over the Islamic world. Among them was Al Farabi, a scientist,philosopher, cosmologist, mathematician, music scholar and jurist who wrote in the fields of political philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, and logic. Ibn Haytham, the father of optics and the modern scientific method who was also a philosopher, theologian, physicist, astronomer, and mathematician. Many of the great minds of the islamic golden age were also fierce critics of the literal interpretation of the Qur'an. For example Al Biruni, who calculated that the earth revolved around the sun and rotated on its axis, challenged the literal creed by Ibn Hanbal by insisting that it was essential to question everything including from religion to philosophy.
The debates between the literalists and the rationalists or free thinkers went on for decades. In the tenth century Al Ashari found a middle ground between Mu'tazilite rationalsim and Hanbalite literalism, using rationalist methods championed by the Mu'tazilites to defend the tenets of the traditionalist doctrine.
In 1011, the twenty fifth Abbasid Caliph, Al Qadir condemned critical thought and ordered his subjects to distance themselves from the philosophers and free thinkers of the Mutazila. Al Qadir outlawed the Mutazila creed and endorsed the theology of the Ashari as well as the jurisprudence of Ibn Hanbal. This is despite the fact that Allah through Muhammad in the Quran requires the faithful to think and reflect. Historians believe that the decree by Qadir was based on the unstable political situation. He believed that the Ashari predestination would stabilize the realm and make the common folk more content with the injustices, famine and corrupt authorities because these were supposedly part of "Allah's plan." Whereas the Mutazilites asserted of the primacy of human free will which inspires critical thought, which Al Qadir believed tended to incite rebellions and political unrest. To enforce his policy Al Qadir passed a law of apostasy, making it easier to condemn and punish dissidents, skeptics and minorities. Muslim rulers altered the curricula of state regulated (Madrassas) schools. Under these circumstances the Mutazila teachings gradually disappeared from the educational system while the Ashari sources focusing on Shariah law, Fiqh, Arabic, Hadith scholarship, grammar, Quranic recitation, etc., became the basis of mainstream Sunni Islam. Al Qadir's reign lasted fifty years.
The Mutazila had been banned for political reasons, but pockets of Mutazila still existed all over the muslim world. This was a time of confusion and political fragmentation in the Muslim world.
People were in need of divine revelation. And Asharite Al Ghazali stepped up to the forefront. He believed that violence could not subdue the rival Mutazila school. It required the battle of intellect. As such in one of his most acclaimed works, "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" Al Ghazali argued that rational thought was incompatible with Islamic teachings. Scientific study useful as long as it was pursued for religious purposes. Religious studies he considered paramount because the brought people closer to Allah. He supported reason only to the extent he could use it as an instrument to undermine his opponents. His work sealed the attitudes the attitudes towards science in the Islamic world. Academics considered him the most influential figure in Islam after Muhammad. He further fostered conservative, literal Ashari beliefs into the mainstream culture of Islam.
Although Ghazali emphasized intellect and denounced violence, his supporters singled out and condemned great thinkers such as Al Farabi, Bitoni, Al Rawandi, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Sina. Their studies and properties were confiscated, their teachings were deemed heresy, their achievements were twisted and their books were burned. Anyone who expressed sympathy with the Mu'tazila was either imprisoned, tortured or banished.
Centuries earlier the Mu'tazila had lit the flame of enlightenment and had paved the way for a vibrant and innovative community of scholars. Some of the greatest minds in the world came from this movement. They demonstrated the potential for the seemingly boundless capacity of the human mind for learning, ingenuity, growth and creativity. But following Ghazali, in the Islamic world, the human mind was stifled and only the literal words of the Qur'an were to be studied ...but not their implications. It is key to note that this outcome was largely the result of political considerations.
The relationship between state and religious authority can sometimes be obscure. The political authorities supported traditionalist thought in order to subdue the population and keep them from thinking, while the conservative scholars in alliance with the authorities increasingly regulated almost every aspect of their behavior through the Sunnah.
"We should not be ashamed to acknowledge truth from whatever source it comes to us, even if it is brought to us by former generations and foreign peoples. For him who seeks the truth there is nothing of higher value than the truth itself."
~ Islamic Philosopher, Al Kindi 28
So, instead of studying the whole of earth and nature (Allah's creation), these traditionalists began to limit their focus to the words of the Qur'an and Muhammad's (alleged) sayings and actions...(even though the words of the Qur'an encourage the investigation of nature and the universe.) It is similar to someone choosing to ignore what a guides' finger is pointing to, and instead focused only on the finger itself. In other words, they are valuing the signposts over the divinity and the reality of the natural world to which the signposts are pointing.
In fact the Qur'an is saying the real signs are in nature.
Qur'an 2:164
"Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, and the ships that run in the sea with that which profits men, and the water that Allah sends down from the cloud, then gives life with it to the earth after its death and spreads in it all (kinds of) animals, and the changing of the winds and the clouds made subservient between the heaven and the earth, there are signs for a people who understand."
Qur'an 20:53,54
"(Allah is) the One Who has made for you the earth like a cradle and inserted roads into it for you. He sent water down from the sky and thereby We brought forth pairs of plants, each separate from the other. Eat! Pasture your cattle! Verily in this are Signs for people endued with intelligence."
From this point on (ca.1200), students of these traditionalist orthodox schools were taught "mainstream" Islam without ever being taught how this version became mainstream. As pointed out by Albert Hourani in The History of the Arabs:
"Those who studied fiqh in the Madrassa also studied the basic tenets of religious belief, although the process by which they had evolved and the ways in which they could be defended do not seem to have played a large part in the curriculum. By the time the system of schools was fully grown, the great discussions through which the Sunni creed has been defined had largely come to an end." 29
So over time it was assumed that Sunni Islam was the official standard of Islam, although for over 300 years after the death of Muhammad it had not been.
Limiting Human Thought
Sunni Muslims are responsible for closing the minds of a large segment of humanity for over 1000 years. They have done this through a number of means. Besides effectively limiting study and investigation among muslims to so-called "religious" matters as noted above, I will point out four additional doctrines (among many others) that stifle the thought of those who follow the way of Sunni Muslims, all of which are far off base from anything Muhammad taught in the Qur'an. Keep in mind this is all part of Sharia or a legal system that has become an essential component of orthodox Islam although there is no mention of such a legal system of Sharia in the Qur'an or during Muhammad's time. These doctrines came about two hundred years or so after the Islam in the Qur'an had been completed.
Qur'an 5:3
"This day have I perfected for you your diyn ('religion') and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a diyn."
Keep in mind most of Sunni Islam was invented by jurists who were working with the caliphate to uniformly apply a legal system on the populace of its dynastic territory. Somehow this body of law became identified as synonymous with the 'religion' (diyn) or with 'Islam' itself.
Ijma - Ijma is a term referring to the consensus or agreement of Ulama scholars on a point of doctrine. Various schools of thought within Islamic jurisprudence may define this consensus to be that of the first generation of Muslims only; or the consensus of the first three generations of Muslims; or the consensus of the jurists and scholars of the Muslim world, or scholarly consensus. As noted in one Sunni article: "It will surprise many to know that the most definitive proof in Islamic law is NOT the Quran [emphasis in original] , nor is it the Sunnah (the prophetic tradition), it is the consensus (ijma) of the body (or Ummah) of Muslims." 30 "Whenever the Ijma on an issue is made certain, then it is obligatory to turn to it and it is not lawful to oppose." 31 ῾
In Arab culture, in pre-Islamic practices and in the developments that followed the birth of Islam during the first century AH., 'Ijma῾ was in fact a widespread tribal custom in pre-Islamic Arab society, a “living tradition,” to which clan leaders referred to in order to ensure approval of their decisions and to determine collective action. Over the course of that period, ijma῾ was admitted first of all as a practice that had no real legal formulation: As observed by George Hourani “It is probable that neither the Qur᾽ân nor any genuine Tradition contains such a formulation.” It is only in the second century AH (eighth century CE), with the development of the legal theory of fîqh (the science of Islamic jurisprudence), that the fûqaha established a legitimate and legal foundation for ijma῾ as the third source of law. 32
So basically Ijma is saying that whatever the scholars say is law is, in fact, law and Muslims must follow it. But where do they get the authority to say this?
Imam Shafi was once asked this question. He was asked for a quote from the Qur'an to support this doctrine. His response was that he needed three days time to think. After three days all he could come up with was Qur'an 4:115 "And whoever opposes (acts hostilely toward) the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows other than the way of the believers - We will give him what he has taken and drive him into Hell, and evil it is as a destination." This usage is hardly adequate or pertinent on it's face and there's no need (for sake of brevity) to explain why. But of course the hadith can come to the rescue! And thus, the most used quote is below.
“Verily Allah will not make my Community — or Muhammad’s Community — agree on error, and Allah’s hand is with the largest Congregation.” 33
"My Community shall never agree upon misguidance, therefore, if you see divergences, you must follow the greater mass or larger group.” 34
It is important to highlight that for most Sunnis once scholars of the earlier generations have decided on a matter the average believer has no authority to read the material and come up with his own understanding on anything in the Qur'an. One is obligated to follow the majority. But what does Allah say clearly in the Qur'an about following the majority?
Qur'an 6:116 "And if you obey most of those in the earth, they will lead you astray from Allah's way; they follow but conjecture and they only lie."
It is one thing to make legal decisions on the basis of custom, tradition or reasoning- that's part of human governance. But it's another to pass those decisions off as divine or an obligatory part of the diyn or of Islam. Modern Scholar Dr. Naim Abdallah has pointed this out in relation to helping the Muslim community free itself from medieval rulings in the face of obvious human rights violations. He explains how no matter how hard scholars try to make it divine, Shariah Law is the product of human effort and human conceptual development which is always subject to change with time. 35.
The Closing of Ijtihad - Ijtihad is the use of discretion, reasoning or creative thought in circumstances not directly addressed by the Qur'an [or the Sunnah]. During the early period, ijtihad referred to the exercise of one's discretionary opinion (ra'y) on the basis of the knowledge of the precedent (‘ilm). As the practice of ijtihad transformed over time, it became the religious duty of a mujtahid to conduct legal rulings for the Muslim society. Mujtahid is defined as a Muslim scholar that has met certain requirements including a strong knowledge of the Qur'an, Sunna, and Arabic, as well as a deep understanding of legal theory and the precedent; all of which allows them to be considered fully qualified to practice ijtihad. Around the beginning of the 10th century, most Sunni jurists argued that all major matters of religious law had been settled, allowing for taqlid (تقليد), "blindly following the established legal precedents and traditions," to take priority over ijtihād (اجتهاد). Over time, individuals’ qualifications to exercise ijtihād were organized into ranks ranging from the absolute mujtahid, who was bound by no precedent and free to develop his own interpretive principles, to the absolute muqallid (“follower,” “layperson”), who was required to follow authoriative jurists unquestioningly.
This was part of the Jurisprudence created by Imam Shafi. Thus, as observed by Kassim Ahmad,
"To solve this problem Shafi came up with his neat little idea to freeze everything as it were. In other words, he came to the view that all opinions existing at that time would be acceptable, but nothing more than that – no new thinking could be allowed. The status quo would be set in stone with no possibility of new participants. Thus the idea of ijma' first and ijtihad later was crystallized and given an official authority. Conformity became the norm. This was followed by the passivity and blind obedience that had to be fostered to maintain this conformity. The conformity and the passivity soon fused together to breed the pessimism and the fatalism which is a natural result of dead intellect."
With the victory and general acceptance of Shafi`i's jurisprudential theory where the hadith was given a position of almost equal importance with the Quran (the formula is "second primary source"), the use of creative thought or ijtihad for all practical purposes was abolished. This came to be known later as `the closing of the door of ijtihad' and the beginning of the regime of taqlid or blind imitation of the great masters, a period beginning from about the fourteenth century till the end of the nineteenth or beginning of the twentieth centuries AD.
Finally, it shouldn't be lost on anyone that these matters are not about what the Qur'an and Sunnah does address which would plausibly be the jurisdiction of religious scholars. But now they are saying that they have the authority to make decisions for people relating to matters the Qur'an (or "sunnah") doesn't even address.
Taqlid -
Taqlid literally means "to follow (someone)", "to imitate". In Islamic legal terminology it means to follow a mujtahid in religious laws and commandment as he has derived them. The person who performs taqlid is termed muqallid. It is the the unquestioning acceptance of the legal decisions of another without knowing the basis of those decisions. Many Sunnis believe they are obligated to forgo their own thinking for that of another. In the third Islamic century (9th century CE) and subsequent centuries, with the emergence of legal schools formed around some of the most significant scholars, it came to be widely believed that all important questions of law had been dealt with and that the right of independent interpretation had been withdrawn for future generations. Henceforward, all were to accept the decisions of the early authorities—i.e., to exercise taqlīd toward them. This doctrine is usually expressed as “the closing of the gates of ijtihād.” 37 So under this scheme lay people (muqalid) were not allowed to engage the sources of Islamic doctrine at all and the scholars transitioned from engaging with the sources of Islamic thought directly, to engaging solely with the opinions and standard texts of their respective schools of thought madhabs (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi, Hanbali).
They basically took the Qur'an, its interpretation and its meaning from the hands of the faithful and also tried to replace it with hadith.
As further noted by Kassim Ahmad:
"Any careful reading of the Quran and any serious discussion would definitely point out the errors of the hadith. So, how did the ulama handle this potential threat to their hadith? Very simple. They sought to cut off all intellectual discussion and inquiry in Islam. They came up with the not-too-original but effective idea that only the ulama, the priestly class, would be allowed to handle all matters pertaining to the religion. They would teach people that they were the inheritors of the Prophet's mission.38 Despite the fact that Islam never allowed any priesthood, the ulama would go on to successfully set up not only a priestly class but a whole hierarchy of priests."
Any sincere muslim who grows up in 'Islam' or converts to 'Islam' is told the Qur'an is the most revered book on earth, that it is the absolute word of Allah, and that it is sacred. Then they are told they can never understand the Qur'an without the hadith. Then they are told they will never understand the hadith without the scholars interpretation. So now, instead of having a scripture which leads Muslims to the remembrance, awe and power of Allah, the scholarly system of jurisprudence (fiqh) has used the Qur'an to usurp Allah's power for themselves. Now people are in awe of the scholars and follow them. The shift is subtle but no less profound.
Sufyan on Fiqh: Hadith cause misguidance, except for scholars of Fiqh
Al-Qayrawani reported: Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah (d. 814 AD), may Allah have mercy on him, said, “The prophetic Hadith cause misguidance, except for the scholars of Fiqh.” [Source] al-Jāmi’ fī al-Sunan wal-Ādāb 1/118
The scholars may wish to guard the Qu'ran for their own use, but the Qur'an is for the people.
Qur'an 7:52
"And certainly We have brought them a Book which We have made clear with knowledge, a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe."
Bi la Kayf - Bi la kayf (literally "without asking how", or "without how") is the doctrine articulated by the Ashari's in response to the rational thought of the Mutaliza. (The Mutazila believed the attributes and names in the Qur'an were allegorical, i.e., references to Allah were not literal such as Allah having, hands eyes a face, or his rising above the throne. Bi la kayf is the rejection of speculative and even critical thinking, captured in their slogan "don't ask how." For Sunnis, we are to believe Allah rose over the thrown - without questioning or asking how or even worrying about the underlying meanings.
The doctrine began with Hadith scholar, Imam Malik's view that all anthropomorphic expressions of the Qur'an i.e., references to Allah must be believed without questioning how (bi la kayf). And it has progressed into current times.
This is from a current Sunni website: The way of Ahlus Sunnah is to never question the Kayfiyyah [Howness] of how Allah does things. 40
The idea was to cut off all rational thought and reason as was being advocated by the natural philosophers and science minded of the time.
But the actual Qur'an is a book of science, deep wisdom and nature.
What does it say about investigation into the how-ness of Allah's creation? Any plain reading of the Qur'an flatly contradicts what the Sunni Hadith Scholars have been trying to get their followers to believe. The contention of the Hadith scholars was that scientific investigations would never reveal theological truth or insight into the nature of Allah. But the Qur'an is asking us to do just that. We, of course, will never have complete understanding and grasp of Allah, but every investigation into the wonders of the universe reveal even more about his majesty, expansiveness and infinite wisdom than written words could ever inspire.
Qu'ran 50.6 -"Do they not then look up to heaven above them how We have made it and adorned it and it has no gaps?"
Qur'an 71.15 -"Do you not see how Allah has created the seven heavens ,~ one above another."
Qur'an 88.17 - "Will they not then consider the camels, how they are created?"
Qur'an 88.18 - "And the heaven, how it is reared aloft."
Qur'an 88.19,20 - "And the mountains, how they are firmly fixed, And the earth, how it is made a vast expanse?"
Qur'an 25:45 -"Have you not considered (the work of) your Lord, how He extends the shade? And if He had pleased He would certainly have made it stationary; then We have made the sun an indication of it."
Qur'an 26.7 - "Do they not see the earth, how many of every noble kind We have caused to grow in it?"
Qur'an 29.19 - "What! do they not consider how Allah originates the creation, then reproduces it? Surely that is easy to Allah."
Qur'an 29.20- "Say: Travel in the earth and see how He makes the first creation, then Allah creates the latter creation; surely Allah has power over all things."
Qur'an 16.48- "Do they not consider every thing that Allah has created? Its (very) shadows return from right and left, making obeisance to Allah while they are in utter abasement."
Conclusion
The question has been whether Orthodox Islam is true Islam. First, let's be clear. Orthodox means correct opinion. An opinion is an opinion. Some may be more informed than others but if the Qur'an is the divine guide and the criteria and it's available for all people, beyond the Qur'an, who has the authority to say their opinion of Islam more correct than others? It's an opinion.
So, there is also the notion of 'true Islam'. Well, what is the Sunni version of Islam true to? The problem is the scholars tried to codify, legislate and give solid form to something divine and natural which cannot be crystalized. Muhammad's legacy is that he left a book of wisdom and guidance meant to inspire the heart and fill it with a pure, simple but firm faith. Muhammad wasn't trying to create a structure of hard and fast authoritative rules, he was more interested in trying to create a shift in consciousness.
That's the contradiction. As much as the scholars tried to establish hard, tangible rules, the more they made a simple faith unnecessarily complex, complicated and authoritarian.
And this has had devastating, dangerous effects. Let's look at the punishment for Apostasy (commonly defined as the conscious abandonment of Islam by a Muslim in word or in deed.")
For example, in Islamic law (sharia), the view among the majority of classical jurists was that a male apostate must be put to death A female apostate must be either executed, according to Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), or imprisoned until she reverts to Islam as advocated by the Sunni Hanafi school and by Shi'a scholars." It is largely based on this hadith: "A man embraced Islam and then reverted back to Judaism. Mu'adh bin Jabal came and saw the man with Abu Musa. Mu'adh asked, "What is wrong with this (man)?" Abu Musa replied, "He embraced Islam and then reverted back to Judaism." Mu'adh said, "I will not sit down unless you kill him (as it is) the verdict of Allah and His Apostle." — Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:89:271
(Of course there are also contradictory hadith where there no was carried out punishment for apostasy.)
However, the Qur'an doesn't require anyone to be punished for apostasy at all.
Rather, it says.
Qur'an 2:256 "There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error."
Qur'an 5:54 "O you who believe! whoever from among you turns back from his religion, then Allah will bring a people, He shall love them and they shall love Him, lowly before the believers, mighty against the unbelievers, they shall strive hard in Allah's way and shall not fear the censure of any censurer; this is Allah's Face, He gives it to whom He pleases, and Allah is Ample-giving, Knowing."
Yet, to this day in Saudi Arabia and a few other countries, the law by consensus of the jurists is that 'Islam' imposes the death penalty on apostates. And apostasy law and the death penalty are actively enforced in Saudi Arabia.
The phenomenon of priests and scholars taking the simple and pure commandments of Allah and building immense, detailed structures of additional traditions, customs and formal laws has a history. The scriptures record prophets continually warning against the inclination of men inventing their own concepts and over-pious traditions on top of the clear, simple guidance and wisdom given by the prophets.
Isaiah 29:13 "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men."
Isa (Jesus) addressed the same problem in his encounter with the Pharisees and scribes.
Mark 7:5-9
"Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
Muhammad was fully aware of this problem as well and clearly warned about it in the Qur'an.
Qur'an 9:31, 34
"They have taken their doctors of law (scholars) and their monks as Lords besides Allah...
They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and Allah will not consent save to perfect His light, though the unbelievers are averse....
O you who believe! most surely many of the doctors of law and the monks eat away the property of men falsely, and turn (them) from Allah's way; and (as for) those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in Allah's way, announce to them a painful chastisement."
It is clear that Muhammad never intended Islam to be an enterprise under the authority of scholars and doctors of law. But that nevertheless is exactly what happened. That is, if one calls the religion of the Jurists ...Islam. True Islam however appears to be something quite different. What is true Islam? It is not defined by five pillars. The Qur'an doesn't mention any structure with five pillars called Islam. In fact the only mention of pillars relates the structure of the universe which functions without any pillars that can be seen.
Quran 13:2
"Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that you see, and He is firm in power and He made the sun and the moon subservient (to you); each one pursues its course to an appointed time; He regulates the affair, making clear the signs that you may be certain of meeting your Lord."
Muhammad was trying to express the principle of Tawhiyd (Oneness). This was the overwhelming understanding he received in his enlightenment. This has been mistakenly translated as monotheism, but rather Muhammad was trying to relate an ancient understanding, that 'all is one.' All the gods are actually One, there is unity in the diversity in nature, and we as human beings are all one with each other. All is bound together. He called this oneness 'Allah'; the ultimate reality.
Qur'an 38:5
"Has he made all the gods a single, One (Allah)? Indeed, this is a curious thing."
The most cutting edge discoveries and observations in physics realize the same conclusion.
"A careful analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent measurement. Quantum theory thus reveals a basic Oneness of the universe." (Erwin Schrodinger/Fritjof Capra, 1975)
With this understanding of Oneness he saw all the prophets and all of the scriptures as teaching this same basic principle and naturally in teaching the same truth- no distinctions should be made between any of them. Islam was not meant to be a faith based on Muhammad. However, with the addition of the Sunnah as a mandatory part of Islam (in the Sunni Version) this is exactly what happened. Some Sunni Muslims will actually say Muhammad was the best of the prophets (basing that claim on hadith.) 40
Qur'an 2:136
"Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto us and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered."
Muhammad made it clear that he was not to be the focal point of Islam. Students have a natural tendency to focus their devotion on their spiritual teacher. The mark of a true teacher is that he will redirect that devotion to its source. Allah is mentioned in the Qur'an 2,584 and Muhammad is mentioned by name in the Qur'an 4 times. Islam is about the the oneness of Allah; the infinite and the indivisible.
Human beings are an aspect of the indivisible nature of Allah. We are part of the oneness.
The servant has a tendency to set himself up as a 'Self' apart from the 'Divine Self'. But ultimately, we are not separate entities or even working 'parts' of Allah, we may better be thought of as features of Allah himself.
This is why prayer is important.
Qur'an 20:14
"... [A]nd keep up prayer for My remembrance."
Prayer or Spiritual meditation is the pathway to Divinity. It is the mystic ladder that begins to dissolve the sense of separation between the person and the Divine whole. Allah is not simply the Oneness we see externally. Allah is within as well.
Qur'an 50:17
"And certainly We created man, and We know what his mind suggests to him, and We are nearer to him than his life-vein."
Qur'an 57:4 "...[A]nd He is with you wherever you are."
The Qur'an makes it clear that Allah is not a separate entity in the sky.
Qur'an 6:3
"And He is Allah in the heavens and in the earth; He knows your secret (thoughts) and your open (words), and He knows what you earn."
This encourages the understanding that the inner self is the Divine's infinite self. There is no other self other than the Divine's infinite being. This is the ground of our being; Peace.
At the root of the word Islam in Arabic is the word 'Salaam' (Peace). From it's root tongue, Ge'ez, sälam (ሰላም) it means "whole, safe, intact, unharmed, to go free, without blemish". It is the same as in ancient Hebrew, where the verb shalam literally means to make whole or complete.
Through prayer, charity, and other practices which remind them they are more than the separate self, Muslims -are those who strive to attune themselves with their true nature, which is peace.
This Peace is also Allah. It is one of his attributes or qualities.
Qur'an 59:232
"He is Allah, besides Whom there is no god; the King, the Holy, (I-salaamu) the Peace, the Faithful, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Supreme, the Possessor of every greatness Glory be to Allah from what they set up (with Him)."
"Our self – luminous, empty Awareness – knows no resistance and is, therefore, Peace itself; it seeks nothing and is, thus, happiness itself; it is intimately one with all appearances and is, as such, pure love." ~Rupert Spira.
"He who knows his own self, knows his Lord."41
The Qur'an seeks to join man back with his Lord through his heart. Allah is within, but man has a tendency to look outside of himself for guidance to attach himself to, something tangible an edifice, a relic, a crystallized material object. This is reflected in the human history of 'idol worship' or shirk in all of it's subtle and exoteric forms. But the Heart is the guide and the Qur'an appeals to and connects with the heart and the conscience. There's no set rule or path that can be laid out as to what to do in every situation. We have to trust the universe as conveyed through our senses, trust our minds, and trust our nature, the very ground of being itself.
Qur'an 41:53 "We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient concerning your Lord that He is, over all things, a Witness?"
Diyn -(which has been translated as religion) means "a way of conduct, judgment, a custom, self governance." In this sense, the 'religion of Islam' is better understood as 'a way towards peace.' This Islam has no beginning, and no end. It is a state of peace; a peace that transcends time and space.
It is not something meant to be imposed or forced on any one, that is the way of oppression.
Qur'an: 28:83
"As for that Abode of the Hereafter We assign it unto those who seek not oppression in the earth, nor yet corruption. The sequel is for those who ward off (evil)."
What the Sunni jurists did was create a religion where they tried too hard to control belief, conduct, behavior and knowledge. For all of Imam Shafi's efforts to craft a jurisprudence that would ensure uniformity and erase division and uncertainty, even more division erupted. The same is true for Abu Bakr who sudued all of Arabia and the Umma by force, and dispossessed the family of Muhammad to "keep the Ummah" together.
At some point you have to teach the truth as best you can, then let go and trust. The more you trust, the more you realize the inseparable identity of self and other. This is called true faith. This was the 'way' Muhammad exemplified. He gave the Qur'an and did not Lord it over anyone. This is the way of nature, the way of the universe, and the way of True Islam.
Qur'an 6:104
"Indeed there has come to you enlightenment (insight) from your Lord; whoever will see, it is for his own soul, and whoever will be blind, it shall be against himself; And I am not a keeper (guardian) over you."
1. Sahih Al-Bukhari, v. 3, Kitab Al-Fadha'il, Chapter on the Virtues of Fatima, p. 1374.
2. Sunan Al-Tirmidhi, v. 3, Chapter on the Virtues of Fatima, p. 240.
3. Yanabi^ Al-Mawadda, v. 1, ch. 15, p. 243.
4. Al-Sawaiq Al-Muhariqa, p. 173.
5. Ibn Ishaq. From Rubin, Uri "The Eye of the Beholder: The life of Muhammad as viewed by the early Muslims, P.131 (1995) Princeton, New Jersey.
6. Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Vol. V, pg. 356, Matba'ah al-Maymaniyyah.
7. Al-Tirmidhi, Sahih, Vol. 2, p. 299.
8. Al-Mustadrak, by al-Hakim, Vol. 3, Pg. 124
9. Sahih Al-Bukhari, part 6 p. 3.
10. Sahih Muslim, v1, p48; Sahih Tirmidhi, v5, p. 643; Sunan Ibn Majah, v1, p142; Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal v1, pp 84,95,128
11. (The tradition of Ghadir Khum, has been narrated with as much as 150 authentic chains of transmitters by the Sunnis alone. Among the historians who have recorded the events of Ghadir-Khumm are Athir-ud-Diyn in his book Usudul-Ghaba; Halabi in his Sira-tul-Halabiyya; and Ibn Hajar in his al-Sawa'iq-al-Muhriqa.
Among the traditionalists who have mentioned the events of Ghadir Khumm are Muslim, Nasai, Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja; Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Hakim.
13. Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Hanbal b. Hilal b. Asad, Abu 'Abd Allah al-Shaybani al-Marwazi. Manaqib 'Ali b. Abi Talib Manuscript.
15. Tafsir al-Tha’labi, by Is’haq al-Tha’labi, commentary of verse 70:1-3 from two chain of narrators.
17. Betty Kelen, Muhammad Messenger of God, T. Nelson; 1st edition (1975).
18. Sahih al Bukhari Arabic-English Volume 9 hadith number 468 and Volume 7 hadith 573
21. The History of al-Tabari Vol. 9: The Last Years of the Prophet p.1118/186.
22. (See Ansab Ashraf, by al-Baladhuri in his , v1, pp 582-586; Tarikh Ya’qubi, v2, p116; al-Imamah wal-Siyasah, by Ibn Qutaybah, v1, pp 19-20)
23. History of Tabari, in the events of the year 11 AH
Al-Imamah wa al-Siyasah by Ibn Qutaybah, v1, beginning of the book, and pp 19-2024. Riz̤vī, Sayyid Sa'eed Ak̲h̲tar. Slavery: From Islamic & Christian Perspectives. Richmond, British Columbia: Vancouver Islamic Educational Foundation, 1988. (See also Ibn Abd'l Barr for Sunni reference).
24. Sunnan Abu Dawud: Book 14: 2527
25. Ahmad Bin Yahya Bin Jabir Al-Baladhuri , "Kitāb futūḥ al-buldān" The Origins of the Islamic State, Book no.,1., p 107.
26. Wilfred Madelung, The Succession to Muhammad p.48, Cambridge University Press (1997).
27. Ibid, p.44
28. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, the True Jihad, Goodword Books, (2002).
29. Tabari, I, p.2769
30. Al-Nasa'i, al-Sunan al-kubra, hadith:8148 Al-Tabarani, al-Mu'jam al-kabir, vol.5 p.18, Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, hadith:3876, Niyshaburi, al-Mustadrak, vol.3 p.110 Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, vol.4 p.371; see also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-Sy6dKXyCg&t=1903s
32. "During the reign of Umayyad dynasty the family and descendants of Imam ‘Ali were heavily oppressed and the Imam ‘Ali was cursed from the pulpits of the mosques. Nevertheless, the hadith literature of the Sunni tradition of Islam has preserved numerous statements of the Prophet Muhammad where he praises the virtues, excellence and spiritual pre-eminence of Imam ‘Ali. These hadiths, either taken individually or collectively, make it abundantly clear that the Prophet had indeed appointed Imam ‘Ali as his spiritual and religious successor and as the legitimate authority for the interpretation of Islam after him. It is highly unlikely that Sunni hadiths and transmitters would have forged such statements especially given the fact of the widespread opposition to Shi‘ism. Indeed, the presence of such statements about the Imam ‘Ali’s exalted status even in Sunni literature lends support to the notion that ‘Ali was the true and legitimate successor of the Prophet Muhammad."
Part 2.
1. Harald Motzki, "The Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani as a Source of Authentic Ahadith of the First Century A.H." Journal of Near Eastern Studies 50 (1991):21
Brown, Daniel W. (1996).Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought. Cambridge University Press.
3. (Ikhtilaf al Hadith, Ikh339)
4. Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (1964), Supra note 5, at 47.
5. Al Darimi, Sunan, 1:153; See also - [Al-Shafii ‘’Kitab al-Risala’’, ed. Muhammad Shakir (Cairo, 1940), 84]
7. Alfred Guillaume, Islam (1954).
8. Ibn Al Jawzi, The Virtues of the Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (2013).
9. Taqyid al-‘ilm P 29-31, Musnad Ahmad vol. 3 P 12, 21, 39, Sunan al-Darimi vol:1.
10. Sahih Muslim Vol. 2 P. 414
12. Taqyid al-‘ilm P 34.
14. Joseph Schacht, The Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1950).
16. Kassim Ahmad, Syed Akbar Ali; Hadith: A Re-Evaluation (1997).
17. Ibn Habib, Abu Ja´far Muhammad, Kitab al-Muhabbar, Beirut, trs, pp.171-172; Muslim, IV, 1920.
18. Irving Zeitlin, "The Historical Muhammad", Polity Press, (2007).
19. Bulugh al-‘Arab fi Ahwal al-Arab, Muhammad Shukri al-Alusi, Vol 1, p 121-122, Muslim.
20. FALASHA ANTHOLOGY
TRANSLATED FROM ETHIOPIC SOURCES
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
WOLF LESLAU
BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
NEW HAVEN
YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON • GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE • OXFORD UNVERSITY PRESS]
Copyright, 1951, by Yale University Press
Halevy, Teezdza Sanbat, French synopsis, pp. xvii-xvm;
Ethiopia text, pp. 51-56.
22. See Abu Dawud, vol. 1 Chapter 327, etc.
24. The Hanafis, Imam Malik, and most theologians maintained that the Qur’an can be abrogated by a Sunna that is established by multiple-chain transmission [mutawatir] or by a Sunna that is well-known [mash’hura], “well-known” according to the Hanafis meaning a prophetic report that is accepted and implemented by the vast majority of jurists such that it is akin to multiple-chain transmission.
26. This narration was reported in the following sources:
1. In Muwatta of Imam Malik ibn Anas: The narration is invalid because it had no isnad (no chain of transmitters).
2. In Sirat ibn Hashim: The narration is also invalid because it had no isnad (no chain of transmitters).
3. In Mustadrak al-Hakim al Nisaboori: He reported two isnads. The first chain of narrators contains Ismaiil bin Abi Owais, Abi Owais and leads to Abdullah ibn Abbas. Several renowned scholars have regarded Ismaiil and his father as weak narators and unreliable. Al-hakim has regarded this narration as strange and has acknowledged the version with the Ahlul Bayt as sahih. The second chain contains Saleh bin Musa Al-talhe and Ishaq bin Musa Al- talhe who are also weak and unreliable narrators in the view of renowned Sunni and Shia'a scholars.
4. al-Bayhaqi in Sunnan al-Kubra: There are two narrations. One was transmitted by Saleh bin Musa Al-talhe and the other by Ishaq bin Musa Al- talhe. Both of them are weak and unreliable.
5. ibn abdel-barr: Two isnads: the first one contains Saleh bin Musa Al-talhe, who we already rejected for obvious reasons. The second is Katheer ibn abdullah who is considered weak and unrelliable.
6. The narration of al-Qaddi A'ayadd in al-Ilma'a: Narrated by Shua'ayb ibn Ibrahim: who is also considered an weak/unreliable narrator by many scholars.
7. Sharh al-Jami'i al-sagheer by al-Suyuti: He reported it from Mustadrak al-Hakim which we have already discussed.
8. Kanz al-U'ummal by al-Muttaqi al-Hindi: He reported the same narrations as some of the ones above, which are all unreliable.
27. Jonathan A.C. Brown, "Misquoting Muhammad" (2014), pp. 47-48.
28. Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi (ca. 800–870 CE) was the first self-identified philosopher in the Arabic tradition. He worked with a group of translators who rendered works of Aristotle, the Neoplatonists, and Greek mathematicians and scientists into Arabic.
29. Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples, Grand Central Publishing New York (1991), p. 166.
31. Talib Jaleel, "Notes On Entering Deen Completely: Islam as its followers know it." (2015) P. 346
32. George F. Hourani, “The Basis of Authority of Consensus in Sunnite Islam,” Studia Islamica 21 (1964): 16.
33. Tirmidhi said: “And the meaning of “jama`a” according to the people of knowledge is: the people of jurisprudence, learning, and hadith. Tirmidhi (gharib) #2256, Cairo ed. `Aridat al-ahwadhi (11:9)
34. Ibn Majah (2:1303 #3950) Ahmad narrates it mawquf through three sound chains to Abu Umama al-Bahili and Ibn Abi Awfa. Bayhaqi in al-Madkhal narrates something similar from Ibn `Abbas.
36. Kassim Ahmad, Hadith: A re-evaluation (1997) [Translated from the Malay original by Syed Akbar Ali.]
37. See, "The obligation to follow the opinion of those more knowledgeable than us is reported by Ibn Qayyim on his discussion of the different kinds of taqlid. He said: "There is an obligatory (wajib) taqlid, a forbidden taqlid, and a permitted taqlid... The obligatory taqlid is the taqlid of those who know better than us, as when a person has not obtained knowledge of an evidence from the Qur'an or the Sunna concerning something."
Shaykh Hisham Muhammad Kabbani Ijma`, Taqlid and Ikhtilaf al-Fuqaha
41. Mizan al-Hikmah, hadith 12223 [urdu trans.] quoting from Ghurar al-Hikam Safinat al-Bihar, vol 2, page 603.
42. Islam Alfred Guillaume.
