Dear Brother Burhan, Salam I read your story of coming to the true deen of Allah swt and its was very touching. May Allah swt guide all of us towards the right path. After going through some of your Q&As I wanted to ask you one question. No doubt that Quran is like an ocean of knowledge and one can spend his whole life in understanding it. But fact of the matter is that Quran gives you guidelines and not the details about most of our Deen. The details of the Deen comes through Hadith. And this is the reason for sending the Prophet with the Book. If book would have been sufficient then there was no need of Prophet. Now in Hadith we have six main books and certain other books that Sunni follow. Similarly there are books that Shia and for that matter any other firqa in Muslims follow. And the main dispute comes among the Shia, Sunni, Salafi etc. is in the interpretation of these Hadiths and the translation of Quran based on the Hadith from their books. How are you going about it. What would be your source of Hadith for translating the Quran? For e.g Quran doesn`t talk about the particular way of saying prayers, so we have different firqas saying prayer in different ways. Which Hadith would you follow? Similarly for Fasting, Zakat, Hajh, Marriage, Divorce, Death etc. I apologize for stating a long question. Salam
Which Hadiths to follow
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.
The truth is that the Ummah of Islam is One Ummah, and there is no authority for anyone to break this Muslim Ummah into sects like Shias, Sunnis, Itna Asharis, etc. These sects were all created after the death of the noble Prophet (saws), and have absolutely no basis in Islam. Anyone who believes that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah Alone and Mohamed (saws) is Allah’s Messenger, is a muslim.
What you have said is indeed true that whenever Allah revealed His Book of Guidance, He always sent a Prophet so that the Prophet could live his life as an example for his people according to the guidance received from Allah. And when the world was ready to receive the One Universal Message, Allah sent as a Mercy to mankind His Last Messenger (saws), and revealed unto him the Holy Quran. The Prophet’s (saws) is an example to all the believers on how to be a perfect muslim, and that is known as his Sunnah or Way.
The hadiths are no more than a collection of the sayings and deeds of the Prophet (saws), which were recorded in a book form about 100-200 years after his death. The believers used to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (saws), as passed down from generation to generation; some verbally, some documented. The eminent scholars who collected the hadiths simply gave these collections a book form. It is not as if the muslims started to pray, fast, make pilgrimage, etc. after reading these collections of hadiths; but they continued following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws).
Thus to say that all the commands and aayahs of the Quran cannot be understood with the hadiths, is incorrect. The majority of the Quran, and especially the Surahs which were revealed in Makkah, deal with the three basic topics of ‘deen’:
- Tauheed (the Oneness of God)
- Rasaalah (the Message and the Messenger)
- Aakherah (the Hereafter)
These aayahs regarding ‘imaan’ or faith are so clear and so comprehensive, that they can be easily understood well by the reader of the Holy Quran. There are indeed very few hadiths which need to explain these aayahs. These guide towards the real deen of Islam, and was the Universal Message of all the Prophets.
Then there are the ‘shariah’ aayahs regarding the prayer, charity, pilgrimage, marriage, Islamic Law, etc. The Messenger of Allah (saws) followed these commands practically and the companions learnt the implementation of these commands from the Prophet (saws) in person. They in turn, followed and taught it to the people after the death of the Prophet (saws). There is absolutely no dispute in any faction in Islam regarding the number of prayers, the number of rakahs in each prayer, the way to perform these prayers, the duration of the fast, the month of the fast, the obligation of charity, the way to perform the Hajj and Umrah, etc. The Sunnah of Prophet Mohamed (saws) was established long before any of the recorders of hadiths were born, and the believers followed the Sunnah in all their deeds in Islam.
Yes, there might be small differences among some muslims, whereby one says that he saw the Prophet (saws) pray with his hands folded, and another records that the Prophet (saws) prayed with his hands straight; or the Prophet (saws) prayed this dua or supplication while doing this act, and another recorded that the Prophet (saws) prayed that. These are minute differences, and if the intention of the believer is that he does one or the other, only so that he wants to follow the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws); there is no harm, and it does not change the deen of Islam in any way. If his intention is to follow the Messenger of Allah (saws), Allah will Insha Allah reward him and accept his deeds. But if his intention is to do any deed in Islam because he belongs to a particular sect, or he is following another personality than that of Prophet Mohamed (saws), then it will not accepted by Allah.
Your Statement: And the main dispute comes among the Shia, Sunni, Salafi etc. is in the interpretation of these Hadiths and the translation of Quran based on the Hadith from their books.
I, humbly, wish to disagree with you here! The main dispute between all these man-made sects is not in the interpretation of the hadiths and the translation of the Quran based on these hadiths. The main dispute is that some people would rather follow their sect leaders and do what their priests say, rather than following the Holy Quran and the Way of the Prophet (saws). The reason they dispute is because some sects have tried to change the Way of the Prophet (saws), and create their own sects and sub-sects in this deen of Islam.
Allah says in Chapter 45 Surah Al-Jathiyah aayat 17:"Then they differed amongst themselves after the knowledge (of Islam) had come to them, only because they wanted to wrong one another. Your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning the matters in which they have been differing."
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 23 Surah Mu’minoon verse 52-54:And you all belong to one and the same ummah, and I(Allah) am your Lord; so fear Me Alone! Yet afterwards the people divided themselves into different sects, and each sect rejoicing in what it has. Well, leave them deeply involved in their heedlessness up to an appointed time.
Your Statement: How are you going about it. What would be your source of Hadith for translating the Quran
?One does not need the hadith to understand the Holy Quran; but to understand the hadiths, one has to have knowledge of the Holy Quran! The Holy Quran is the source of all knowledge, and the Way of the Messenger of Allah (saws) is already established and undisputed. A believer once asked one of the noble wives of the Prophet (saws) about the life of Prophet Mohamed (saws), and her simple and conclusive reply was: "His life was the Holy Quran!"
Your Question: For e.g Quran doesn`t talk about the particular way of saying prayers, so we have different firqas saying prayer in different ways. Which Hadith would you follow? Similarly for Fasting, Zakat, Hajh, Marriage, Divorce, Death etc
.Brother, if you look closely, you will find that all the muslims, no matter what firqa they claim to belong to, pray in the same way. They are all unanimous that one needs to be in wudu to pray; one has to make intention; one has to start the prayer by declaring the ‘takbeer’; one has to pray Surah Fateha in each rakah; they have to bow down in ruku; they have to make sajdah, etc. They are unanimous in the number of times one has to pray, the way to pray, the number of rakahs to pray in each prayer, etc. These actions of prayer were not done because Bukhari or Muslim recorded them in their books; but because the believers learnt these deeds from the Prophet himself, and passed it down generation after generation. Similarly for fasting, zakah, Hajj, Umrah, marriage, divorce, death, etc.
Yes, there might be small differences in some acts, and that is to be expected; as long as there is evidence that the deed was done by the Messenger of Allah (saws). But to start a new innovation and do deeds in religion that have absolutely no evidence from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws), is indeed wrong and a sin, and must be avoided.
For example if someone declares that there is no need to pray Surah Fateha in each rakah, it will be immediately rejected because it is against the established Sunnah taught by the Messenger of Allah (saws). Similarly, if one wants to burn the body of the deceased, it will be rejected, for it is against the established Sunnah.
What is important brother, is that we read and understand the Holy Quran in its entirety, and follow the established Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws).
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister