Uloom al Hadith Examining some proofs of those who reject the Sunnah

Uloom al-Hadith: Examining Some Proofs of Those Who Reject the Sunnah

Speaker: Navaid Aziz

Opening

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَصَلَّى اللَّهُ وَسَلَّمَ وَبَارَكَ عَلَى نَبِيِّنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ - alḥamdu lillāhi rabbi al-ʿālamīn, wa ṣallā allāhu wa sallama wa bāraka ʿalā nabiyyinā muḥammadin wa ʿalā ālihi wa ṣaḥbihi ajmaʿīn)

Introduction

Prior to our break, I mentioned that we would be discussing the preservation of the Sunnah. Before we actually get to that point, I think there are two important points to establish before that.

Firstly, we were discussing how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala proves the authority of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and the right that Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has to legislate. And at the same time, we need to keep in mind, as we mentioned, there are people who do not accept this. They accept the Qur'an alone, and they say that this is the only form of authority, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the only one who has the right to legislate.

So, I thought we would scrutinize some of the proofs that they bring from the Qur'an.

Examining the Proofs of Those Who Reject the Sunnah

First Proof: Surah Al-An'am, Ayah 38

From the Qur'an itself, there are two main proofs that they use. The first of them is in Surah Al-An'am, Surah number six, ayah number thirty-eight.

They claim that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in this ayah that indeed, we have not omitted from the book anything.

The Complete Ayah and Its Context

However, if we take the ayah in its whole context and let us take a look at it, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"[And there is no creature on [or within] the earth or bird that flies with its wings except [that they are] communities like you. We have not neglected in the Register a thing. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered.]"

Reference: Qur'an 6:38

"There is not an animal that lives on the earth, nor a bird that flies with its wings, but they are communities like those before you, and nor have we omitted anything from the book."

Now, if one was to take a look at this ayah, what is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saying over here? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying that there is not an animal that roams the earth, nor a bird that flaps its wings in the skies, except that it existed before you.

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is showing a correlation between the present existence of creation and the previous existence of creation within mankind. Saying to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that anything that exists at your time existed in those communities or in those people before you. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala goes on to say that we have not omitted anything in the book.

Now (الْكِتَا - al-kitāb) over here, is it actually referring to the Qur'an or is it referring to (اللُّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ - al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ)? This is the logical question that comes to mind. And if one was to look at the ayah, it seems that the logical answer over here is that it is referring to (اللُّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ - al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying that we haven't omitted anything. And the only book that has nothing omitted in it is (اللُّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ - al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ)

And (اللُّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ - al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) as Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentions, is that 50,000 years before the creation of the universe, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded that everything be written down that will take place therein. Now, as for the Qur'an as we know it, did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserve everything in this book verbatim, word for word, or rather did He just give us those tools that we need to be successful in our deen and in our dunya? Rather it is the latter.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not preserve in the Qur'an word for word what would happen. But rather it is only in (اللُّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ - al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ) that has recorded in it everything that will ever take place. How many breaths we take, how many steps we take, how many times we eat, how many hours we will sleep. All this is recorded in (اللُّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ - al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ)

So a more scrutinizing look at the ayah, you will see that they are actually misquoting the ayah or using the ayah in its improper context. So this is point number one.

Second Proof: Surah An-Nahl, Ayah 89

Point number two in the second ayah that they use:

"[And [mention, O Muhammad], the Day We raise up from every nation a witness over them from themselves. And We have brought you as a witness over these [people]. And We have sent down to you the Book as clarification for all things and as guidance and mercy and good tidings for the Muslims.]"

Reference: Qur'an 16:89

Now our issue with this ayah is not one of misconstruing of the context, but rather we say, we submit to this as well, that indeed the Qur'an was sent to clarify everything. But the Qur'an is not taken in bits and pieces, that we don't take a certain part of the Qur'an and leave the other part of the Qur'an. How about all those ayat that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed pertaining to obeying the Messenger of Allah, and the punishment of those people who disobey Allah's Messenger?

How about those ayat? So again, what they're trying to do over here is quote part of the Qur'an to you, and leave a part of the Qur'an. And this is again where they have to be caught. If you want to quote the Qur'an, quote all of it, not just a portion of it.

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when describing the communities of the past, He proves that the biggest of their crimes was that they would only quote part of the book that was revealed to them, and hide other parts. Even to the degree that, this is what some of them tried to do to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when one of their community members was found committing fornication, Allah's Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told them, bring your previous scriptures, and let us read from your scriptures what the punishment is for the one who fornicates. And then when they started reading, the scribe covered it with his hand, that portion where it covers, where it said that they used to be stoned to death.

They covered it up, even during the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So this was from the attributes of those people whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is angry and displeased with, and even calls who are astray.

So to cover up part of the book, and to only accept a part of it, then it is from those people whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is angry and displeased with.

So this is just a brief look at the two ayat that they bring.

The Role of the Messenger

Now, a second point that is very important to establish is the role of the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

As you will hear in all the lectures pertaining to Tawhid and Aqidah, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent the Messengers as warners and gave them blessed titles so that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala may be obeyed, and anything other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala should not be worshipped.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in several ayat, from the most explicit of them:

"[And We have certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], "Worship Allah and avoid the Taghut." And among them were those whom Allah guided, and among them were those upon whom error was [deservedly] set. So proceed through the earth and observe how was the end of the deniers.]"

Reference: Qur'an 16:36

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has sent to every nation a Messenger and a Prophet so that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala may be worshipped, and the Taghut or anything other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala may be warned against and may be abstained from. So this was the first duty of every single Prophet and Messenger.

And our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam falls into this category as well. That his primary mission was to make sure that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was the only one worshipped. Now, he had secondary tasks as well.

Secondary Tasks of the Messenger

And from those secondary tasks was to educate mankind, and to perfect their morality, and to convey the

message of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the Qur'an.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Surah Al-Imran, ayah 164:

"[Certainly did Allah confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book [i.e., the Qur'an] and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error.]"

Reference: Qur'an 3:164

Allah has clearly shown grace to the believers by sending unto them a messenger from amongst themselves who recites unto them the revelations and causes them to grow and teaches them the book and the wisdom. Although before that they were in flagrant error.

Now again look at the wording of this ayah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, and to put it in simpler English, that indeed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has favored the believers, has sent them a big blessing when He sent them a messenger from amongst themselves. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came from Quraysh, the noblest of the tribes, from amongst the tribes of the Arabs. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent them a messenger from amongst themselves who recites unto them the ayat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

(يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ - yatlū ʿalayhim āyātihi wa yuzakkīhim) - And He purifies them from shirk and from evil morals and manners.

(وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ - wa yuʿallimuhumu al-kitāba wa al-ḥikmata) - And He teaches them the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the wisdom, meaning the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

And since Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions both of them together over here, you see that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala establishes the relationship. And the relationship that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is establishing over here is that the wisdom is actually an explanation for the book. So the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is an explanation for the book.

And this ayah in particular is what caused some scholars of the past to say that the Qur'an is more in need of the Sunnah than the Sunnah is in need of the Qur'an. And the reasoning behind this was that when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the Qur'an, He revealed generalities, meaning general statements.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:

"[And establish prayer and give zakah and bow with those who bow.]"

Reference: Qur'an 2:43

But what is the salah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is referring to? Salah linguistically means ad-du'a, meaning to supplicate. But is this what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala only wants from us? Or when the Sunnah came where you make the takbir of al-ihram, and you recite Fatiha, and you make ruku', and you make sajdah, and all the other arkan and wajibat of the salah that you make, or is this what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded us to do? Rather it is the latter. It is not just du'a. So we see, we hear that the Sunnah came to clarify and explain the generalities of the Qur'an.

So this is one of the tasks of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as we will see in the next ayah bi'idhnillahi ta'ala.

The Sunnah Explains the Qur'an

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Surah An-Nahl now, ayah number 44:

"[And We have revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them and that they might give thought.]"

Reference: Qur'an 16:44

One of the names of the Qur'an is Ad-Dhikr. And as we will come to see in a little while, the word Ad-Dhikr has several meanings and connotations. From them is Ad-Dhikr also means the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as is seen in this ayah.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says: (وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ - wa anzalnā ilayka al-dhikra) - We have revealed unto you Ad-Dhikr (لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ - li-tubayyina li al-nāsi mā nuzzila ilayhim) - So that you may clarify and explain that which was revealed to mankind.

So this is another proof that the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was revealed unto him. And again it was not something that he spoke out of his own whims and desires. But rather the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was revealed to him. And again in this ayah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shows the task of the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

That he needs to make clear the message of the Qur'an and explain what the Qur'an means.

The Preservation of the Sunnah

So now this having been said, let us now move on to how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserved not only the Qur'an but the Sunnah as well.

The Meaning of Dhikr

As we just mentioned a little while ago, we mentioned that the word Dhikr has many connotations. And from the ayat which we took yesterday, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"[Indeed, it is We who sent down the message, and indeed, We will be its guardian.]"

Reference: Qur'an 15:9

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that we have revealed unto you the Dhikr and we are the ones who will preserve it. We mentioned this yesterday and we discussed it in quite some detail as well.

Now to take a look into other mentionings of the word Dhikr, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also says:

"[And this [Qur'an] is a blessed message which We have sent down; so are you [now] denying it?]"

Reference: Qur'an 21:50

"And this is a beneficial reminder that we have revealed unto you."

And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also says in the ayah which we just mentioned three ayat ago:

That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers to the Dhikr as the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. So we see over here that the word Dhikr encompasses the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

And this is why when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"Ask the people of remembrance if you do not know."

Now this translation of remembrance is often mistranslated. Because as you will see that certain groups who frequent the Dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and it's not the frequency that we criticize but the manner in which they go about it, where they start saying "Allahu, Allahu" or they shorten it even more and they start going "Hu, Hu, Hu" and things like that. They refer to their sheikhs and what they call their Awliya as the people of remembrance and reminder. And say that go and ask these people because these are the people who make the most Dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

But to put this ayah in its proper context and in its proper connotation, we look at all the ayat that use the word Dhikr. And we mentioned that the word Dhikr encompasses the Qur'an and the Sunnah. As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned that we reveal them to you as Dhikr, and we are the ones who are preserving it. So the Dhikr encompasses the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

And in a more complete sense it encompasses the whole Deen of Al-Islam. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala promises to preserve this Deen in its entirety.

Logical Arguments for the Preservation of the Sunnah

Now let's take a logical approach to this without even getting into the text of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. And the logical argument over here is as follows:

That according to Islamic belief, the Qur'an is Allah's final revelation. That we accept this and they will accept this as well. That there is no revelation after the revelation of the Qur'an. And likewise Muhammad ﷺ was the last of all messengers.

So now if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not preserve the Sunnah, then a portion of the Deen would have been lost. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's message over here that He will preserve the Deen in its whole, it means that

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala didn't preserve His Deen in totality, but rather only preserved a part of it. So the Shari'ah that we have today is incomplete. And obviously this is an atrocity, this is a fallacy.

But rather Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserved all of the Deen. And another way to approach this is that they will submit to the argument that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserved the Qur'an. But did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserve the Qur'an only in words? Or did He preserve the meanings as well?

Now they have to submit to the fact that you have to preserve the meanings as well. As what good would the Qur'an be without its meanings? It has very little or not as much value as the Qur'an would if the meanings were preserved as well. And what are the meanings of the Qur'an? They are none other than the physical implementation of the Prophet ﷺ.

So in order for the meanings of the Qur'an to be preserved, the Sunnah has to have been preserved as well. So this is the logical argument that one can take in order to prove from this ayah that it is not only the Qur'an that was preserved but the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ as well. Because in order to retain and maintain the true meanings of the Qur'an, the Sunnah has to be maintained and retained as well.

Five Ways Allah Preserved the Sunnah

So now how did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala go about fulfilling His promise of preserving and protecting the Qur'an? We will mention the five points and only discuss a few of them in detail.

Point One: The Companions Understood Their Responsibility

The first point is that the companions radiallahu ta'ala anhum understood the responsibility they had of conveying the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ as he said it, or as they saw it, meaning with accuracy. They understood the responsibility that they had.

Point Two: Development of the Sciences of Hadith

Point number two, that in the early years the sciences of hadith were developed. That they started using the isnad, meaning that they started using the chain of narration. That in the time of the Tabi'een, they started asking, who narrated this hadith to you? And what is your chain of narration? So this was one of the ways that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserved the deen, or preserved the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

Point Three: The Science of Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil

And point number three, which is related to point number two, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala established through men the science of Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala established the science and evolved the science through men of criticizing and accepting narrators. That as we mentioned in yesterday's class, that the science of Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil encompasses not only saying which narrators you are allowed to take from, the thiqat, but also mentions those narrators which you are not allowed to take from, the du'afa, or those who are weak.

So when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala established the science of Al-Jarh wa At-Ta'dil through men, then we were thus able to see who are the narrators whom we can take from, and who are the narrators that we are not able to take from.

Point Four: Preservation Through Writing

Then the fourth way is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He preserved the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ through writing. That as we will come to see, the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ was actually written down during the time of the companions radiallahu ta'ala anhum.

Point Five: Travel to Seek Knowledge

And then the fifth point was that we see that the early generations, they used to travel from one land to another. As you mentioned the famous story of Jabir ibn Abdullah to get and reconfirm the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. So this was a task which the companions and their successors took very seriously.

And they wanted to preserve the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in its entirety, making sure that none of it would be lost. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blessed the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ by preserving the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in these five key ways.

Detailed Discussion of Point One

So now taking a look at point number one: the companions' understanding of the heavy responsibility on their shoulders. We know for a fact that the Prophet ﷺ was the best of teachers.

And the responsibility of any teacher let alone the best of them is to make sure that his students are raised and nurtured in a manner where they will be able to convey and understand and learn everything that their teacher has taught them. So one of the important messages that the Prophet ﷺ taught his companions was to learn his Sunnah and then carry it on to others as well.

Hadith: May Allah Brighten the One Who Preserves My Words

We see in the hadith mentioned by At-Tirmidhi that the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Jami' At-Tirmidhi)

"May Allah make radiant the man who has heard what I have said and preserved it in his memory until he conveys it to another."

So this man, he heard what the Prophet ﷺ has said and he preserved in his memory what the Prophet ﷺ has said. And then Allah's Messenger ﷺ goes on to say: "Perhaps the one who he conveyed it to has a better understanding than the one who heard it."

So now Allah's Messenger ﷺ is making du'a for the people over here that those people who learn the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ and carry it to other people, may Allah brighten them, may Allah brighten their faces, may Allah be pleased with these people.

For perhaps they may be conveying the hadith and carrying the hadith to someone who has a better understanding than them. So Allah's Messenger ﷺ is teaching his companions the importance of carrying the hadith to those who are not present. And by those who are not present we mean the other companions as well, as well as the successors of the companions.

Hadith: Relate From Me Even If It Is One Ayah

And another famous hadith that you will see a lot of the groups use is the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih Al-Bukhari)

"Relate from me even if it is just one ayah."

So again the Prophet ﷺ is encouraging his companions that everything they hear from the Prophet ﷺ, carry it to the other people. So the Prophet ﷺ took very good care of his companions and made sure they understood the importance of carrying the message.

The Responsibility of Teachers

And one of the more important points that we derive over here is that when we ourselves become teachers, whether it be to our children or small halaqat or even in conferences, we have to tell our audience and tell the people that this knowledge that you learn is not just for the sake of factual information. But rather it is for you to take in and to understand and likewise teach it to other people as well. Starting with yourself, make sure you have a correct understanding of it. Then take it to your family members and take it to your friends. And then eventually make sure that all of society has this message.

And this is the beauty of Islam. That we don't restrict the beauty of Islam to ourselves. But rather we share it with everyone. We call it to Tawhid. We call it to good manners and morality. We call it to emulate the example of the best of mankind. And again, it's not something we keep to ourselves.

But rather Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and His Messenger ﷺ have expressed great anger and displeasure at those people who do not disclose knowledge, who don't disclose knowledge to the people. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala punishes such people and gives them a severe threat.

The Sunnah Was Written During the Time of the Prophet

So now a common misconception which started off with the orientalists is that the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ only started being preserved and written down in the second and third centuries of

Islam.

And it is sad to see that even Muslim scholars, when they talk about the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, they even say that the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ was only written down and preserved in the second and third generations of Islam. But as we will take a look right now, we will see that the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ was actually preserved in his very time.

Evidence One: Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Al-'As

Imam Ad-Darimi and Abu Dawud rahimahumallahu ta'ala mentioned in their Sunan that Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Al-'As, the illustrious companion of the Prophet ﷺ, used to write down everything the Prophet ﷺ used to say.

Then one of the munafiqun came to him and put a doubt in his heart. And he says to Abdullah ibn Amr that the Prophet ﷺ is just a man. He gets angry and he gets happy. So if you were to actually write down everything that he says, you may be writing down from him that which is from his own whims and desires and not from the speech of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So now, again, an important point we're here to establish is that even the munafiqun of the past recognized that which the Prophet ﷺ said was revelation. They're recognizing this point. The munafiqun are establishing this point that they understood that the Prophet ﷺ, when he spoke, he spoke from revelation, meaning when he spoke about the deen.

But now they're trying to put a small doubt over here that the Prophet ﷺ is a man. He gets angry and he gets happy. So what if one day he speaks out of anger or he speaks out of extreme happiness and he may misquote something.

So Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Al-'As radiallahu ta'ala anhuma, he got shaken up a bit. He was shocked and he didn't know what to do. So as we mentioned previously, that any quarrel that took place at the times of the companions or any argument or any doubt that the people had, what do the people of Iman do? They take it back to Allah and His Messenger.

So he went back to Allah's Messenger ﷺ and told him what this munafiq had said. To which the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud)

"Write! For I swear by the One who has my soul in His hand, nothing comes out of it except the truth."

That nothing comes out from the mouth of Muhammad ﷺ except for the truth. So this is proof number one, that the companions used to write down the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.