Although I am born in a sunni family but like you I consider myself just as a muslim. I do believe in the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW).
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa
Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
Salaam
Brother,
Although
I am born in a sunni family but like you I consider myself just as a muslim. I
do believe in the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). I would like to know if all the
narration in
Your brother in Islam
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confidentiality.)
Answer:
Authenticity of Hadeeths
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is no one (no idol, no person, no
grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Holy Quran Chapter 33
Surah Ahzab verse 21:
There is indeed the
best example for you to follow, in the
Messenger of Allah, for every such person looks forward to Allah and the Last
Day, and remembers Allah much.
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisa verse 79-80:
We have sent you (O
Mohamed) as a Messenger to mankind, and
Allah’s witness suffices for this.
Whoever obeys the Messenger, in fact obeys Allah, and whoever turns away from him, he will be
accountable for his deeds. Anyhow, we have not sent you (O Mohamed) to be a
guardian over them.
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imran verse 31-32:
O Prophet, tell the people, “If you sincerely love
Allah, follow me. Then Allah will love you and forgive you
your sins, for He is All Forgiving, All Merciful.” Also say to them, “Obey Allah and His
Messenger.” And if, in spite of this, they do not accept your invitation, warn them that Allah does not love
those, who refuse to obey Him and His
Messenger.
It is indeed unfortunate that
some people have gone to the two extremes when dealing with the ‘ahaadiths’ of
the Messenger of Allah (saws). One
extreme declares belief in each and every hadith of the Prophet (saws), without
confirming whether the hadith is authentic or not! The other extreme declares their complete
opposition and rejection of any and all ahaadiths, regardless of whether they
are fabricated or not!
The true muslims must take a
balanced view or the ‘middle way’ when dealing with anything. Just because someone calls a statement or a
deed a hadith, we are not to completely submit to it, nor completely reject it;
but the right and correct mode of conduct would be to do a thorough
investigation to determine whether the Messenger of Allah (saws) indeed did do
or say the thing claimed by the ‘raavi’ or narrator.
The great and eminent scholars
like Bukhari and Muslim have done an exhaustive research and investigation in
each of the hadiths to determine their authenticity, and only when they were
completely satisfied, they recorded these hadiths in their ‘Sahih’ or Book of Authentic
Hadiths. They investigated each aspect
of the saying or deed whether it was in conformity with the Quran or not, for
it is inconceivable for a believer to assume that the Messenger of Allah (saws)
would have done or said anything against the dictates of the Quran. Then they thoroughly checked and investigated
the chain of narrators to see whether they were truthful people or not, or
whether one who claimed to have heard it from the other was alive at the same
time or not, and if alive, did they ever meet each other or not! If there was even a slight doubt in any event
or chain of events, these eminent scholars refused to accept the hadith as
authentic.
Even after all their exhaustive
efforts and thorough investigations, it is impossible to claim, nor does anyone
ever claim, that each and every hadith in their collection of ‘sahih’ is
absolutely authentic; for after all, this is a work of man, and man is prone to
shortcomings and error. For the
believers, the only guaranteed authentic Book of Guidance has to be the
Glorious Quran, whose authenticity is guaranteed until the end of time by none
other than Allah Subhanah. For every
aspect of guidance, ‘emaan, belief, faith, ‘aqeedah’, ‘tawheed’, ‘shirk’, etc.,
one need not look beyond the Quran. The
hadiths, once they have been declared authentic by the scholars, will only be used when one finds the Quran
silent on a particular subject.
Whatever the Prophet (saws)
said, and whatever he did are known as
his Sunnah, which means The Prophet’s (saws)
way. Hadith is the name given to the
record of writing down the Prophet’s
(saws) Sunnah by somebody.
What concerns us first and
foremost is the guidance and the teachings in the Holy Quran. There is absolutely no doubt in the mind of
any believer that these are the very words of Allah Subhanah. The Sunnah of the Prophet (saws) is the way
he followed the commandments of the Holy Quran in a practical way and showed
his companions and believers to act accordingly. To follow the way and example of the Prophet
(saws) is a commandment of the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah Al Ahzaab verse 21:
There is indeed the
best example or model for you (to follow) in the Messenger of Allah, for every such person who looks forward to
Allah and the Last Day, and remembers
Allah much.
For example: The Quran says ‘establish Prayer’, but does not give other details of the number
of rakah, etc. This the Prophet (saws)
showed us practically by praying five
times a day for a number of years in front of thousands of believers. He prayed two rakahs for fajr, three for
‘magrib’, and four for ‘zuhr’, ‘asr’ and ‘isha’. This is how the Prophet (saws) established
the Prayer commandment of the Holy Quran practically. And that is known as His Sunnah. Another example is that the Prophet (saws)
kept a beard, and instructed the
believers to grow a beard. Thus keeping
a beard is regarded as
The Sunnah is something that the
believers followed immediately after the Prophet (saws) did or said something himself. They did not wait for 120 years for the
hadith to be recorded and then started doing it, but rather as soon the Prophet (saws) did
it, they started following it as his way
or Sunnah. The Sunnah of the Prophet
(saws) was followed by the believers from the first day of the Prophet’s
mission.
The Hadith is only a record of
the acts or words of the Prophet
(saws), written down by some muslims 120
years after the Prophet’s (saws) death,
for reference to future
generations. The reason we pray the
five prayers or the 3 rakahs of magrib prayers today, is not because they are recorded in the
hadiths of Bukhari or Muslim, but because hundreds of thousands of the
believers saw the way or Sunnah of the Prophet (saws) and followed it. And this Sunnah or way of the Prophet
(saws) was being followed by all the believers, who narrated to their next generation, and they to the next. The Sunnah was followed when the Prophet (saws) was alive, and will be followed, Insha Allah,
until the end of time.
The original laws and
commandments are all in the Holy Quran for the guidance of mankind. The Sunnah or way of the Prophet (saws) is
exactly according to the teachings of the Holy Quran. And the Hadiths are just a record of these
ways written by man some 120 years after the death of the Prophet (saws) as
reference for future generations.
Because the hadiths were
recorded by man, they are prone to error.
Not every hadith recorded is genuine.
In fact a lot of them are fabrications and may have been recorded by
people with political or material bias.
Some might say the Prophet
(saws) said or did this act, which, he (saws) might never have done or said! But a lot of the hadiths are genuine, and the Prophet (saws) did say and do these
things, and these are the ones we have
to follow. It is said that Bukhari
collected in excess of 300,000
hadiths, but only 7500 were considered
authentic by him and recorded in his volumes of
There are a few rules, if followed,
one can easily realize if the hadith is genuine or not.
1.
If any hadith is directly against any commandment
or statement of the Holy Quran, it will
be immediately rejected. Simply
because, it is inconceivable that the
Prophet (saws) did or said anything against the Holy Quran. His whole life was a practical example of
following the Quran, and Allah Himself certifies in the Holy Quran that the
Prophet (saws) is a good example to follow for anyone who believes in Allah and
the Last Day.
2.
If any hadith is directly against any
established Sunnah of the Prophet
(saws), it will be rejected. For example,
if one hadith says the Prophet (saws) prayed four rakahs for ‘magrib’
prayers, it will not be accepted.
3.
If any hadith goes against the foundation of Islam, it will not be accepted. For example,
if one hadith says that the Prophet (saws) went to an idol or grave and
invoked it, it is against the basic
foundation of Tauheed or worship and invocation of one-God, and will thus be rejected. It would just be inconceivable for the
Prophet (saws) to do such an act!
4.
If any hadith is against basic common-sense, it will not be accepted. For example if one hadith says that a man
talked to a tree and the tree started walking! This sort of things are absolutely against
basic common sense, and will be
rejected.
A lot of unscrupulous people
wrote a lot of slander and false statements and said the Prophet (saws) said or
did this. These people might have had
any number of agendas, be it political, or material,
or otherwise. If one wrote that
the Prophet (saws) said this or that, it
does not mean by any means that the Prophet (saws) actually said or did those
things. If the saying or act goes
against any of the four principles or laws laid above, chances are that the hadith is a fabrication
and should be rejected.
Thus in conclusion, the genuine hadiths are a record of the
Sunnah of the Prophet (saws), and the
false hadiths are the work of unscrupulous people in pursuit of their own
agendas.
Now to answer your particular questions:
Q-1:
e.g. if today I wish to find out who my family members were 200 years ago I
surely wont be successfull in finding it out. Narrations are much more
difficult than than.
Beloved brother, what you have related is indeed true that
it would be almost impossible for one to, suddenly after 200 years find out
one’s family members, leave alone what they said and did.
But if one amongst your family members 200 years ago was a
person who was revered by almost a 100,000 people before his death, each of
whom had made it their mission in life to copy and imitate each and every
single aspect of his life into their lives, and each and every one believed
that eternal salvation depended entirely upon his teachings, etc…..then it
would not be as difficult as one might assume it to be to find out what exactly
happened during that period.
The Sunnah of the Prophet (saws)
is something that the believers followed immediately after the Prophet
(saws) did or said something
himself. They did not wait for a 120
years for the hadith to be recorded and then started doing it, but rather as soon the Prophet (saws) did
it, they started following it as his way
or Sunnah. The Sunnah of the Prophet
(saws) was followed by the believers from the first day of the Prophet’s
mission, and subsequently engrained and taught to the next generation who
taught the same to the next generation.
At various points in the history of muslims, some amongst the scholars
decided to pen the narrations they considered authentic for the use of future
generations, and amongst these eminent scholars the most respected and accepted
works are those of Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, followed by Tirmidhi, Ibn Maajah,
Abu Dawood, etc.
Your
Question: Why was the hadiths not written during the time of the Prophet(SAW).
Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 3640 Narrated by
The Messenger of Allah (saws) ordered us not
to write any of his traditions.
Because the Quran was being revealed and immediately
documented during the lifetime of the Prophet (saws), he (saws) forbade the
believers to document any of his traditions so as to prevent any
misunderstanding or confusion between what was being revealed by The Lord Most
High in His Glorious Quran and what was related by the Messenger of Allah
(saws).
It is only after the Glorious Quran was fully documented
and memorized thoroughly by a large number of believers, and there was
absolutely no fear of any of the Prophet’s sayings being added to the text of
the Quran that some believers and scholars starting documenting the traditions they
had access to of the Noble Prophet (saws).
Your
Question: As per my knowledge Scholar Bukhari was from
To the best of our
knowledge Imam
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
