format_quote Originally Posted by
syed1
Does it say anywhere in the Quran that we must follow the "hadeeths"?
The Qur'an is the word of Allah - it contains the commands of Allah, and in numerous verses in the Qur'an,
Allah tells us to obey the Prophet :saws:. Most of the commands of the Prophet which we must obey, as inspired to him by Allah, are in the hadeeth.
If you accept the Prophet :saws: as an explainer of the Qur'an and it's verses, if you accept him as a role-model, if you accept him as an object of obedience, and if you accept that matters should be referred back to not only Allah, but also to his prophet (as in the verse below) then you have no choice but to follow his sunnah which is recorded in the hadeeth.
So it is incumbent on you to follow the hadeeth, and to obey the prophet's commands therein, and therefore to obey Allah.
Sahih International
O you who believe, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result. (4:59)
The companions of the Prophet and later scholars have understood "refer it to Allah", to mean, "refer it to the book of Allah." And referring the matter to the Messenger of Allah, means to refer it directly to him in his lifetime, and to his sunnah (as recorded in the hadeeth) after his death. Note that the two, the book of Allah, and the sunnah of His Messenger , are placed together here, and the verse does not say "refer it to Allah and
then to the Messenger", nor does it say, "refer it to Allah, and if you do not find the answer there, then refer it to the Messenger". The two (Qur'an and sunnah) come together, hand in hand.
There are many such verses where Allah commands obedience to Himself and His prophet :saws:, and many of those begin, "O you who believe". This means that the command is not just restricted to the Prophet's lifetime, or to his companions. Instead, the command is addressed to everyone who claims to be a believer - then, now, and always.
Interestingly, there is no verse in the Quran where Allah commands obedience to Himself without also ordering obedience to the Prophet :saws:. But there are verses where Allah tells us to obey the Prophet (pbuh), without mentioning obedience to Himself, and this is because obedience to the Prophet automatically means obedience to Allah, as the Prophet did not give commands of his own volition:
Sahih International
And establish prayer and give zakah and obey the Messenger - that you may receive mercy. (24:56)
And there are verses warning of the punishment for those that oppose the Messenger :saws::
Sahih International
And whoever opposes 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. (4:115)
And see this verse:
Sahih International
He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah ; but those who turn away - We have not sent you over them as a guardian. (4:80)
In this verse, Allah states clearly that obedience to the Messenger :saws: is nothing less than obedience to Allah. It proves that any command from the Prophet :saws: (whether recorded in the Qur'an or in the hadeeth) actually originated with Allah. So what about those who disregard the hadeeth (records of sayings, commands, approvals and actions of the prophet) and thus disobey him on those matters? By inference, they are disobeying Allah, no matter how much they may think they are obeying Allah, and they are not following Allah's commands in the Qur'an.
Indeed, in the two saheehain (Bukhari and Muslim) the following hadeeth of the prophet is recorded: "Whoever obeys me, obeys Allah. Whoever disobeys me, disobeys Allah."
In another hadeeth rasoolullah :saws: says, "
I had better not find anyone of you reclining on his bed, and there comes to him one of my commandments or one of my prohibitions, and he says about it, "I do not know, what we find in the book of Allah (only) do we follow." (Al-Baihaqi, Abu Dawood, Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi, Ibn Maajah, al-Haakim, and others)
This is a clear warning to those who reject the hadeeth of the Prophet :saws:.
In the Sermon of the farewell pilgrimage, before the Prophet's death, he said:
"I have left among you two matters, that if you adhere to them, you will never be misguided: the book of Allah and the sunnah of his prophet." (Maalik, al-Haakim, al- Baihaqi)
He then asked for those hearing it to convey it to others.
The advice given is clear. We must follow BOTH of them, both the Qur'an and sunnah (as recorded in the hadeeth). Note that he gave this advice during the farewell pilgrimage, when he knew that his death was near, and it was a farewell advice to the thousands who thronged around him. If his sunnah was only to be followed during his lifetime, it would have been his duty to tell that to his followers. Otherwise he would not be fulfilling his mission of conveying the message properly. But instead he asked them to convey the message onto others, it was
that important. At a time when his death was near, he reiterated that Muslims must cling to both the Book of Allah, and the sunnah of his Prophet :saws:, and with regards to the latter, the hadeeth are the only way of doing that correctly.
Also, some verses tell us that obedience to the Prophet :saws: does not mean just with what he came with of the Qur'an, and that obedience to him has sources external to the Qur'an, that must be followed as well:
Sahih International
And when it is said to them, "Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger," you see the hypocrites turning away from you in aversion. (4:61)
Come to what Allah has revealed,
and to the Messenger. In other words, following only the Qur'an is
not enough. Following only the prophets commands mentioned in the Qur'an is
not enough. You
must obey his commands that are not in the Qur'an too (which is the majority of them), those that are recorded in the hadeeth.
The passage continues:
And We did not send any messenger except to be obeyed by permission of Allah . And if, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you, [O Muhammad], and asked forgiveness of Allah and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Accepting of repentance and Merciful.
But no, by your Lord, they will not believe, until they make you [O Muhammad] judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against your decisions, but accept them with full submission. (4:64-65)
Indeed, verse 65 above tells us that
accepting the Prophet's rulings and decisions is part of our very faith, part of our imaan. It is noticeable that Allah begins the verse by swearing by the Lord of the Prophet, and this is much more greater and serious than any of the other types of swearing that Allah has used in the Qur'an, such as the stars, the sky, the dawn, the morning light etc. And it is after this great swearing that Allah informs the believers that it is necessary for them to completely accept the authority of the Prophet . Without this, we do not believe, no matter how much we try to convince ourselves that we do.
Some more food for thought for you:
...
And We did not make the qiblah which you used to face except that We might make evident who would follow the Messenger from who would turn back on his heels. And indeed, it is difficult except for those whom Allah has guided. (2:143, part)
We have certainly seen the turning of your face, [O Muhammad], toward the heaven, and We will surely turn you to a qiblah with which you will be pleased. So turn your face toward al-Masjid al-Haram. And wherever you [believers] are, turn your faces toward it [in prayer]. Indeed, those who have been given the Scripture well know that it is the truth from their Lord. And Allah is not unaware of what they do.(2:144)
These verses are in reference to the Muslims facing Jerusalem before the direction of the prayer was changed to Makkah. Allah explicitly states that it was He that appointed that original direction of prayer. However this inspiration and command to the Prophet :saws: to face Jerusalem never formed part of the Qur'an. Hence this shows that
the Prophet :saws: received another type of revelation from Allah, that was binding on him and his followers.
Sahih International
And do not pray [the funeral prayer, O Muhammad], over any of them who has died - ever - or stand at his grave. Indeed, they disbelieved in Allah and His Messenger and died while they were defiantly disobedient. (9:84)
This verse shows us that funeral prayers had already begun to be performed and that the Prophet :saws: used to offer prayers at the burial of the dead before this verse was revealed. Yet there is no verse in the Qur'an that orders the Prophet :saws: and the Muslims to pray specific funeral prayers over the dead. It must be conceded, that the command for the funeral prayer was given through the sunnah, and that command was binding on him and his followers.
These verses also show, that what the Prophet :saws: established as part of the religion, is approved by Allah. Nowhere in the Qur'an can one find any type of censure or rebuke or correction of the Prophet :saws: for establishing facts that are not in the Qur'an. If the Prophet :saws: , whose message and teachings are for everyone until the Day of Judgement, made any statement or established any practice that should not form part of the religion, one would expect that Allah would have clearly and unequivocally demonstrated that such practices do not form part of the religion, or that the Prophet :saws: does not have the right to establish any practice in the religion outside of the Qur'an. But one cannot find anything of that nature. Indeed, you can only find the opposite: approval or acceptance of what the Messenger of Allah established, in addition to the numerous verses, a few of which I quoted earlier, ordering Muslims to accept and follow whatever the Prophet :saws: instructs them to do.
If these practices of the Prophet :saws: are ordered/approved/accepted by Allah, and Allah commands us to follow them, what right do we humans have to reject them?
format_quote Originally Posted by
syed1
who are we to claim that these things are actually factual...
You, are a servant of Allah, and one who claims to follow the Prophet :saws:. Read the bold sentence directly preceding this quote. And I hope the rest of the post above and that to come, has made it clearer.
You are already following the ahadeeth, whether you realise it or not. How would we know how many raka3aat to pray for each prayer, what to say in the sitting position, all of these are from the ahadeeth, and
without the ahadeeth (the method of recording the sunnah of the Prophet), we would all be astray, because we would have no record of what the Prophet ordered/did, and how he did it, and thus how we are supposed to do it. We cannot adhere to Islam without it. And Rasoolullah :saws: said in his farewell sermon that if we follow both Qur'an and Sunnah, we will never go astray, meaning that if we leave even one of them, we will go astray.
format_quote Originally Posted by
syed1
My friend brings up the argument that the hadeeth should only be taken at face value and nothing more since it is not a direct saying or teaching of the prophet PBUH.
The authentic ahadeeth are direct teachings and sayings of the Prophet, and are NOT hearsay.
Read this book, and you will see how they are a fundamental part of our deen, and the rigorous process by which they were recorded, verified, and preserved for us to follow Islam correctly:
Usool al-Hadeeth: the Methodology of Hadith Evaluation, by Dr Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
Part of post extracted and adapted from: The authority and importance of the sunnah, by Jamal Zarabozo.