The Qur’an, the Hadith and the Scholars

[Hamayun]

There is no contradiction.

The believers are all the people who believe in the original message given by all the Prophets.
This does not include the people who went astray and associated partners with God for example some Christians and Jews.

One verse refers to the Christians and Jews who were Monothiests and the other refers to the ones that went astray. Its really simple

 

[Thinker]

Thanks for that. Skye, I have read through that lengthy explanation and think I now understand it to be saying that the access to heaven for Christians etc., only applies to Christians who followed the teachings of prophets before Muhammad? Thanks again.

 

[جوري]

in the beginning and the end... Judgement lies solely with Allah swt.. so no one here can tell you who is going to hell or heaven..unlike many sects in Christianity and Judaism that guarantee salvation through baptisms or birth right or whatever else.. in Islam we believe that we enter into heaven through God's mercy.. and that whomever does righteous deeds be it even an atom's worth as per sura 99 shall be rewarded for it and like wise for sins...

and Allah knows best

Thanks

 

[MSalman]

lol, no offense Thinker but look where you started from and where you ended up. I won't jump to quick conclusions, so i'll leave at that.

just to answer your earlier questions:

1 - The Islamic sources are the Qur'aan and the Sahih Sunnah. The science of the Qur'aan and the ahadith is an advance topic.

2 - We, Sunni Muslims, take things from the Qur'aan, the Sahih Sunnah and understand them how they first three Muslims generations understood it as they were the best - said Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Laypeople, like myself, are obliged to ask the people of the knowledge; so, this is where the students of knowledge and scholars come into play. They explain us the Islamic sources and thereof give their opinions. However, they are not infallible and can have wrong opinions. This is the reason Imam Malik (May Allah be pleased with him) said that everyone can be refuted except him (pointed the figure toward the grave of Allah's Messenger - peace be upon him)

I hope this answers your questions

 

[Muhammad]

Greetings Thinker,

I have noticed that many of your questions are based around the things you asked in this thread. So I decided to answer your questions to the best of my ability and hopefully, anyone else who can elaborate more or correct what I have said will do so.

From what I have learned, Muslims lead their lives based upon what is said in the Qur’an, the Hadith and the teachings of scholars (if there are any other source tell me).

The sources of Islam are the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The scholars are not a source themselves, but rather they must also refer back to the Qur’an and Sunnah. From these two sources the scholars derived other principles on which rulings may be based (see the link about sources of Islamic legislation below).

The Qur’an is as it is and is translated and interpreted by those who have been accepted as qualified to translate and interpret it.

The Qur’an was explained by the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and his life was exemplary of its teachings. Those who are engaged in the field of Qur’an exegesis are not doing so based upon their own intellect, but are rather implementing a system of principles laid down in this field, referring back to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaag be upon him). See here for more information:

http://aa.trinimuslims.com/showthread.php?t=2110

The Hadith or is it Hadiths was/were written by the companions after Mohammed’s death and they are their memories of

No, this is a myth. Please see the following post, which also elaborates on what the hadeeth are:

http://www.islamicboard.com/212874-post5.html

One of the reasons I posed these questions is because, for me looking in from the outside, there seems to be little difference given, in weight and value, from one text to another. For example ‘scholars’ are men and as such are fallible. And, for the many scholars that say “that means x” there are many others that say “that means y.” Yet when someone asks a question people answer it with a quote from a scholar and it appears to have the same weight as if it were a clear verse from the Qur’an.

There is a clear difference in weight between the sources. The reference point in all cases must be the texts of the Qur’aan and Sunnah. For further information regarding the sources of Islam, please see:

Sources of Islamic legislation

The other misgiving I have with an edict issued by a scholar is that after 1700 years of scholars giving their scholarly advice on this or that, every question must have been asked and answered.

Not necessarily – many things exist now which did not before, hence people need to ask about the Islamic ruling regarding them. As brother Al Habeshi explained, other things also need to be taken into account, such as the fact that the lay people may not know what answers the scholars of the past gave, hence you will find fatwas of modern scholars often quoting the words of earlier scholars. Scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets, preserving the knowledge of this noble religion with the help of Allaah, and at all times there is someone who is showing the correct way, based on evidence, who recognizes the truth concerning a certain issue and he knows how to reach the correct conclusion.

The other issue I have with scholars is (again a human frailty) if someone asks a scholar “Is it OK for me to do this?” the scholar is under greater pressure to say NO because he’s less likely to be criticised for being pious than he is for being too lenient or soft. I wonder whether the general drift towards a more radical interpretation of Islamic text is because it’s easier (brings less criticism) for scholars to err on the side of a more radical interpretation.

Among the qualities of a scholar is that he is a God-fearing person and does not fear the criticism of the people. He always speaks and stands up for the truth. There is no need to conjecture about the interpretation of Islamic evidences as we have already seen how it is to be based upon authentic evidences. As brother Al Habeshi mentioned, there are those people who are not qualified to issue rulings, yet do so and misguide themselves and others. It is people like these who arrive at extreme interpretations, not those who are true scholars.

Maybe Mohammed did say what he is reported as saying above but did he really expect that it was going to be written down and become a sin in every age that follwed (it appears that scholars believe it so). Maybe those people reporting what he said (being human) didn’t quite get it exactly word for word perfect, yet it appears that scholars are presuming they did.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not speak of his own desire, but rather he received inspiration from Allaah the Exalted. As explained in the other thread, Islam is a complete religion for all times and places, hence it can never be outdated. Moreover, Allaah the Exalted has Himself promised to preserve this religion, and if you research into how hadeeth have been preserved, this doubt of yours will soon vanish.

Also in the first Hadith it talks about Allaah cursing eyebrow pluckers . . . .altering the creation of Allaah but the second Hadith commands that the moustache be trimmed. Would God be so prescriptive to say that it is a sin to trim your beard and a sin not to trim your moustache?

Finally how come I see lots of Muslims with moustaches or without beards; will they go to hell?

Islam is a religion that covers all aspects of life, and among the things it emphasises is cleanliness and purity, hence the removal of certain hair. This is characteristic of the wisdom that is present in all of Allaah the Exalted’s commands. Another example is that in trimming the moustache, it is a means of beautification, purification and also avoidance of imitation of the polytheists. However, we cannot always know what the wisdom behind a divine ruling is and this is why it is wrong to question them too far. For a true believer, it is sufficient to know that Allaah the Exalted is the One who has decreed it, and in return we hear and obey.

Not all Muslims have the same level of faith, hence some perform more duties than others. The question of who will go to hell is for God alone. But we should bear in mind the vast forgiveness of God:

http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-purification-soul/134265747-allah-forgives-all-sins.html

How do I apply this analogy to the rulings and edicts of Islamic scholars; let us take for example to question of the veil. If a scholar rules that the evidence suggests that a woman does not need to cover her ***** and he is wrong God will punish him; if he rules that woman must cover her ***** God will not punish him, it consequently follows that the scholar has everything to gain and nothing to lose by interpreting the evidence as strictly as possible.

It is essential that such a scholar strives in expending his efforts to arrive at knowledge of the truth, and to give rulings in accordance to what is apparent to him. If he is correct, then he has two rewards: one for his ijtihâd (expending efforts to arrive at a Sharî’ah ruling), and the other for arriving at the truth - since arriving at the truth means that it is manifested and acted upon. If, however, he is mistaken, then he has a single reward, and his error is forgiven for him - as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When a judge judges and strives and is correct, then he has two rewards. If he judges and strives and errs, then he has a single reward.”[Related by al-Bukhârî (13/318) and Muslim (no.1716)]

I know there are the ‘companions’ whom I presume are the people who were in direct day to day contact with Mohammed and I have read text of them saying “Mohammed told me that it should be done this way” or “I heard Mohammed say this” or “I saw Mohammed do that” and that those things constitute an hadith. My question is – is that where the line is drawn or do they go further to, for example include hearsay - “a companion told me that Mohammed had told him this or that” OR when scholars extrapolate something from two hadith does that become an hadith e.g. if we agree that hadith ‘a’ and hadth ‘b’ are correct it logically follows that we should do *******?

The Companions were very righteous people and understood the importance of preserving knowledge. When relating such information, the narrators of a hadeeth would mention the chain of people they heard it from, which allows the hadeeth to be tracked to the source and scrutinised for authenticity. It is important to note that numerous hadeeth warn against claiming any statement to be a statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when it is not so. The Companions understood this well as many of them used to perspire when narrating hadeeth on the authority of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) out of fear that they would make the slightest mistake in the narration.

When scholars derive rulings from hadeeth, those rulings are not themselves hadeeth. Remember that hadeeth are the sayings, deeds and approvals of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and rulings are based on these.

I posed a further question “is every hadith to be read literally; could it not be that when someone says 'touch the hand' they might be using a euphemism for hand meaning something more than hand e.g. ***.

Interpreting hadeeth is not something everyone can do. Rather it is for those people of knowledge who understand all the principles behind it. What you have said above is mere speculation. Some hadeeth are very clear and easy to follow, others may require more research to find out how they should be understood.

From what I have learned here and elsewhere I have formed the view that many of the Muslims contributing here believe that they should strive to closely follow the Sunnah (as described above) in some instances searching for the smallest detail of what Muhammad did and said on diverse issues. They do that and copy those examples but ignore other examples of what Muhammed did which today would be socially unaccaptbale or even illegal – how do you reconcile that?

The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was a mercy to mankind. There is nothing that he did which would be socially unacceptable. For example, marrying four wives may not be allowed in some countries, but there is nothing socially unacceptable about it.

Muslims are required to adhere to the sunnah as much as possible to emulate the example of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah). It should be noted however, that there are different types of Sunnah. There are some things that were specific to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and nobody else is allowed to do. There are some things we have to do, there are some things that we are encouraged to do, and so on.

There are certain verses in the Qur’an and hadith that keep coming into question. When I first read the Qur’an and started researching Islamic teachings I discovered these verses. I joined this forum and asked for an explanation, I could almost hear the groans from the replies telling me that the question had already been discussed before and I should go away and read previous threads. I have read the eloquent explanations about why, for example, apostasy doesn’t really mean apostasy etc., etc. The problem (for Muslims who care what non Muslims think about them) is that these verses keep coming up; much as they might like, they just won’t go away. They don’t go away because a large section of the Muslim world don’t accept those eloquent explanations, they take the words literally. And, that situation is compounded when some of the (better educated and more enlightened) Muslim members of this forum choose to take certain verses literally (for example the shaking hands issue).

I have often said I am here to understand and by that I largely mean to understand how Muslims reconcile certain things. I don’t understand how you can reconcile in your head that you should not take the words of this sura literally but you should not take the words of that sura literally. I would like to know what you would reply to those men in Somalia who said to you “but you choose to take Sura 1234 literally why should I not take Sura 1235 literally”?

All of this goes back to what was mentioned earlier about understanding Islamic sources with knowledge. One does not simply open the Qur’an and derive his own rulings from it. One has to study the sciences of Qur’an as mentioned in the link about this above. One needs to have an in-depth knowledge of Islam. As the lay people are not qualified in this regard, they must refer to those who have knowledge of this subject.

I hope this has helped you to understand these issues further. And Allaah, the Ever-Majestic, Knows best.

Peace.

 

[Riyadh-ul-Jannah]

I am a bit behind, I am not going to reply to posts at the back, however reply to the actual thing right at the beginning. Forgive me, I am still small:-[ Not that I dont read the other replies. Anyway, as far as I am concerned what you said is right, sorry If I did not fulfill your ecpectations.


P.S When I write this I felt weird?