Hadiths?

[Roxy8491]

Ok my first question is about Hadiths. There seems to be a bit of a controversy around them (at least on the net). There are some people who say they are not authentic, you should throw all of them out and follow Qur'an alone. But what appears to be 90% of the Muslim world says you must follow the Hadiths or you'll go to Hell.

Now the "Qur'an alone" interpretation allows for a very liberal interpretation of Islam, and I tend to be a liberal person so this view is attractive. But in the Qur'an it says many times that Muslims must obey the Messenger. So basically I would definitely follow the Hadiths if I knew for sure they were authentic, but the "Qur'an alone" people have some good arguments against them (if they're true) such as they were copied down hundreds of years after the Prophet's (pbuh) death, and a lot of them appear to be hearsay, for example: A narrates that B has it from C that Muhammad(pbuh) said X. So how do you know which Hadiths are authentic or if any of them are? Hopefully this subject isn't too controversial!

[alcurad]

the qur'an was revealed over a period of more than 20 years. many verses were revealed addressing specific cases that the prophet had to deal with, and so ignoring the ahadeeth is taking the qur'an out of context.
http://www.load-islam.com/artical_de...ection=Hadeeth

[Woodrow]

A valid and understandable discussion of Ahadeeth could easily require an entire section on it's own.

Keep in mind there are no scholars on staff here and we are not qualified to give tasfir or express anyruling of fiqh.

To keep this from breaking down into a war over the value of any hadeeth, try to limit the topic to one specific hadeeth and quote the source for it. From that point it could be discussed in terms of if anyone can find any Qur'anic statements that would indicate it is either halal or haram to follow it.

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

:sl: Sr. Roxy,

Ok my first question is about Hadiths. There seems to be a bit of a controversy around them (at least on the net). There are some people who say they are not authentic, you should throw all of them out and follow Qur'an alone. But what appears to be 90% of the Muslim world says you must follow the Hadiths or you'll go to Hell.

This 'controversy' only started in the latter part of the 20th century by a man named Rashad Khalifa. This man, also had the audacity to claim he was a prophet of Allaah and then claimed that the Qur'an itself contains inauthentic verses; the hadeeth rejectors very shamelessly try to hide these facts but you can find the truth with minimal research. Moreover, this man also sexually molested a 16 year old girl and was found guilty*. This phenomena of hadeeth rejection began from a man like him, who had no Islamic education and was a shameless child molester. How can anything from him in regards to the religion be considered legit? May Allaah's endless curse and anger be upon him for eternity.

Hadeeth rejection was never done in the past, except by a fringe group here or there (for example, the Mu'tazilites, and they too did not reject every hadith) and the Muslims, all of them have always adhered to hadeeth. The hadeeth is the foundation of our religion and our source of Law along side the Qur'an. If one were to remove hadeeth, then one is 1) Denying the authority of the Messenger in matters of the religion, 2) Denying 1500 years of Islamic scholarship, 3) Doing away with the core Islamic law system and the sciences behind them like Usul al-Fiqh, Fiqh, Tafseer of the Qur'an and the others, 4) Making Islam no different than Judaism or Christianity. 5) Is denying the need for Allaah to send a Prophet, when Allaah says in the Qur'an that the reason the Messenger was sent was: {And We revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them}[an-Nahl; 44]. The hadeeth contains the statements, actions, forbiddences and approvals of the Messenger, along with his explanation of the Qur'an, i.e. the hadeeth is the Messenger making clear to us what has been revealed down to us: The Qur'an.

It is by the consensus of the Muslim ummah, past and present, that any individual that rejects the hadeeth, which is the same as rejecting the command of the Messenger (saw) due to Allaah commanding in the Qur'an unwavering obedience to him (peace be upon him), then he is a disbeliever.

Now the "Qur'an alone" interpretation allows for a very liberal interpretation of Islam, and I tend to be a liberal person so this view is attractive. But in the Qur'an it says many times that Muslims must obey the Messenger. So basically I would definitely follow the Hadiths if I knew for sure they were authentic, but the "Qur'an alone" people have some good arguments against them (if they're true) such as they were copied down hundreds of years after the Prophet's (pbuh) death, and a lot of them appear to be hearsay, for example: A narrates that B has it from C that Muhammad(pbuh) said X. So how do you know which Hadiths are authentic or if any of them are? Hopefully this subject isn't too controversial!

The article linked to by Al Curad answers these and other common myths used by the hadeeth-rejectors to spread their doubts.

If you have more questions, let us know :)

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[UmmSqueakster]

Actually, there have been anti hadith movements throughout islamic history. They were especially prevelant in the indian subcontinent starting 2 centuries ago. However, they have never been the majority, or even a significant subgroup.

I've found all the articles re: hadiths here - http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Hadith/ - to be very informative.

I used to be a "liberal" person, but as I learned more about the religion and submitted myself to Allah (swt), I realized that what I wanted as a person didn't matter. What mattered was what Allah (swt) wants for us. And if he wants something "conservative," then that's what I'll have to do.

[Roxy8491]

Thanks guys! After hearing more from both sides, I was already leaning towards the Hadith, I just needed to hear more opinions. And Janaan you're right. God knows best (or do we have to say Allah? what does swt mean?)

[UmmSqueakster]

Some people are hardcore re: only saying Allah (swt). I use both. Whatever comes to my fingers I type, and whatever comes to my lips, I say. Now my husband on the other hand will only say Allah (swt), because it's His proper name and is used for no one else but Him, and the english word god can be used in relation to any deity.

(swt) is an abbriviation for Subhanahu wa ta'ala. It literally means "Glorious and Exalted is He." We praise God when we remember Him.

[جوري]

my brief advise is don't follow any sect especially newely emerging sect, the Quran only sect started late ninties to be on concert with that vision of a 'new middle east' and to separate Muslims from the rightly guided path..

this is a time of great tribulations, s/he who holds on to religion is as if holding to jamara min an'nar (an ember from hell)...
do purchase M.M Azmi's book on Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature.
you'll find it on the internet from a reputable islamic book store insha'Allah...

:w:

[alcurad]

bearing in mind though, that many ahadeeth are used out of context, in fact some were even narrated out of context.

[Umar001]

I had the same/similar problem, when I first became Muslim after a while people put doubts about hadith, they said similar stuff to what has been said to you, i.e. written late, etc.

But when I researched I found a very different view! And all praise and thanks is to Almighty God.

[SixTen]

Their has YET to be one - learned scholar, who has done such a thing. Everyone of those who have given anti-hadith dawah - None of them have ever been educated of Islam through traditional means - they have all ignored every authentic tafsirs of the Qur'an even - so they all just read the Qur'an and derive their own meanings and so fourth.

In the end, think of this.

Do you think:

The few guys, in 20/21st century - are correct - and that all the past respectable scholars of the last 1400 years - who were far more learned, more pious and knowledgeable were all wrong?

I know, which side I would take...

Ignore any materials, which contradict the opinons of the consensus of muslim scholars, who deviate from the traditional meanings and understanding - who make their own conclusions without being learned in the matter.

Most of those anti-hadith people, are, Islamically not allowed to do more than merely read the hadiths - yet they suddenly think they can trash them. How ridiculous. They pray on unlearned muslims, use their rhetorics and expose you to their own deviated interpretations of the Qur'an to trap you in their way of thinking.

They seem to make it seem so simple - that its so obvious their way of thinking. Now, any rational muslim would say - well how comes all those famous scholars of the past, did not get this right but you did? Yes, you see, it doesn't make much sense does it? They show you verses, as though, those scholars, must have missed that verse. Or do they accuse them of misinterpreting it? Would like to see them justify their modern interpretations, and why they are correct and these guys for the past 1400 years had the wrong understanding of the Qur'an. If the Qur'an was clearly stating that hadiths are haram - don't you think all those scholars would have not used them? Come on guys, lets not act like people discovered the real Islam in the past 100-200 years and that they were all deviated for over a thousand years.

Its all ridiculous isn't it?

Be careful of them.