Al-Qur'an versus Al-Hadith

[Idris]

We are living in an age where so many machines have been invented to assist us in carrying out tasks that would have ordinarily proven very difficult or even impossible.

In the technological drive, we have come to the point where we now confidently guarantee the users of the machines full satisfaction from the usage.


What do we really mean when we talk of full satisfaction concerning a machine?


There is no doubt that the usage of the machine would have to be taken into consideration - the machine must be made to satisfy the user in his or her needs of it.


The other important thing (to be considered) is the guide to the usage ? what is the use of an excellent machine of which the user does not know how to use it?


Therefore, every machine comes with a booklet where all the guidelines necessary for the successful usage of the machine are enumerated in a very simple and easy to understand form.


Our point of reference in this analogy is the booklet.


It is normal and if you like, a common sense, that the booklet enumerates all the intended functions of the machine as well as give all the necessary information as to the usage.


While the book does not have to contain the technical information to make it a complete guide, it has to give some suggestions as to what to do or who to refer to in case of technical faults.


Therefore, a booklet accompanying a machine must (of necessity) be satisfactory in guiding to the usage of the machine. In another word, the book must explain everything ? that is, nothing must be left out concerning the successful usage of the machine.


Allah, the Almighty, created humankind with a lot of parts and gave him a heart as the focus of all the other parts. All other things are created as tools so as to make the heart usable just like all the electronics components in a Calculator are put there for the successful usage of the Calculator in solving practical problems. One may never have to know those components and how they work.


Allah sent a Book (the Qur'an) which explains the functions of the heart and guides to the successful usage of it.


The point here is that Allah who has an encompassing knowledge and is absolutely perfect can not be expected to perform less than a maker of a machine. Therefore, we should (of necessity) expect that everything that would be needed to be known with regards to the functions of the heart as well as the guide to the usage are completely stated in the Qur'an.


Allah says ? the Book is an explanation for everything (Q16:89) and says that nothing has been left out (Q6:3. The Qur'an explains everything about the heart and everything about the usage and building of it. Allah does not look at your body or your wealth but the Heart.


This does not mean that the Book contains all the physiological information of the body and all the information about physical matter. The Qur'an urges us to make research or to refer to those that have made the research.


This does not mean also that a person can not uncover the underlying details of the inner working of the body and the physical matter by following the lead in the Qur'an ? it is only that the information is not as evident as the information with regards to the usage of the heart and it would not have been expected anyway.


If we have understood that the task ahead of us is the building of the Heart and we have equally understood that nothing has been left out with regards to that in the Qur'an, what then is the role of al-Hadith?


A genuine Hadith (if found), can only serve as an extra explanation for the Qur'an ? there is no scientific way yet to get to a genuine hadith apart from the ones recorded in the Qur?an. What we have presently are mere conjectures. This does not mean that none of the conjectures is useful. The Qur?an and al-Aql remain the yardsticks for judging all sayings including those conjectures. The word of wisdom remains valid regardless of the author.


The Prophet was guided by the Qur'an and al-Qur'an alone. The Qur'an is the only Imam and the only Legislator. The same Qur?an nonetheless, gives authority to human leadership as long as it is in line with the Qur'an. Obey the Prophet is a delegated authority and it extends to all Leaders at their specific time. There is no obedience to disobedience of Allah.


In a Muslim life, Allah is the only Lord. All human beings are servants of Allah and no human being has the right to become lord or servant of anyone. As it is forbidden to have Pride, so it is forbidden to have inferiority complex. As it is haram to oppress, so it is haram to allow oneself to be oppressed. Mental servitude or slavery is completely prohibited in al-Islam.


Everyone is a king and a direct deputy of Allah on earth and so Allah directly talks to an individual. In al-Ibaadah, which is our interaction with the Lord, human beings are completely independent of each other. There is no intermediary between anyone and Allah. In the same way that Allah talked to Muhammad, so Allah talks to every individual. That is why the words of Allah are left intact in the Qur'an.


Therefore, the Qur'an is the strong rope which connects a servant directly to Allah. It is the Hujjah and the Aql that is outside a person.


As a person must never allow his Aql to be taken away from him, so he must never allow the Qur'an to be taken away from him.


The Idea that one cannot understand al-Islam by al-Aql is a plot devised by the enemies of Allah to enslave humankind. The brain is the greatest asset a human being possesses by which he identifies Allah and surrenders to Him. Therefore, the attempt to take it away is the worst crime against humanity.


The idea that no one can understand the Qur'an except through al-Hadith is another plot by the enemies of Allah to steal the Qur'an from the Muslims so that they become easy prey for enslavement. Allah has said that the Book is easy for understanding as we should have expected naturally. (Q54:17)


How would Allah direct us to ponder over the Qur?an and He is aware that we can not understand? How would He say that the Book is simple and clear for understanding and the case is different? Who is the liar? Far is Allah from lie.


The story is that the enemies (as usual) tried to adulterate the Qur'an (like they did to the previous Books) but without success. They therefore invented al-Hadith and placed it above the Qur'an. It is not a coincidence that the laws of both the Sunnis and Shias are based on al-Hadith instead of the Qur'an. For instance, Allah only makes four types of food ?haram? and stresses it in several places of the Qur'an but through al-Hadith, illegal legislation is made concerning it and both the Sunnis and the Shias today follow the illegal legislation in opposition to the Qur'an. Refer to ?Who made Halal food Haram?? later in this book


A Muslim first refers to al-Qur'an for guidance then any other source of wisdom where he may need further clarification.


Allah says (in Q2:173): ?He hath ONLY forbidden you dead meat and blood and the flesh of swine and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah but if one is forced by necessity without willful disobedience nor transgressing due limits then is he guiltless. For Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.?


I must make it clear here that as Prophet Israel () had the right to legislate for himself within the legislation of Allah, a Muslim can decide to take or not to take what is considered Halal for eating (as it is not Wajib) and a leader may even extend it to the family and to the community but no one has the right to make it a universal legislation because it will be against the legislation of Allah.


If Allah did not talk about something in the Qur'an, it is not that He forgot - instead, it indicates that we are free to choose what we consider the best.


While the Prophet or Leader of the community can make temporary legislations, none among human being including the Prophet has the right to make any permanent legislation in those areas left by Allah. Remember that Allah does not need a partner. The Haram and Halal of Allah remain permanent till the last day.


The Ulama (the Muttaqun Leaders) are the Inheritors of the Prophet in matter of leadership and interpretation of the Qur'an. They are the extension of prophethood in those areas while the Qur'an is the everlasting revelation.


This is how Ayatullah Khamenei saw it in 1974:

?Another point is that in many cases, the Qur'an, the decisive and undoubted document of Islam, has not been able to play an elucidative role in man?s life. Instead, suspicious narrations and traditions have been more reliable and dominating. Thus, the religious beliefs have developed regardless of the Qur'an.


Because of this lack of relation and attention - which are themselves the effects of some particular factors ? scrutinizing the verses of the Qur'an has given way to superficial and perfunctory reading. Such fruitless reading, heedless of mundane reward, was only for the sake of other worldly reward. In this way the honourable Qur'an has become a means of demagogy in the hands of common people.? ? The General pattern of Islamic Thought in the Qur'an -P. 14


Ali Shariati laments:

Monotheism: We see that the teaching of monotheism ends in the schools of the ?traditional centers of learning? and, if, after this, any mention is made of it, it is discussed only in the groups of Divine sages and spiritual Gnostics and that, in the form of words, philosophical and subjective conversations removed from life and alien to the people; the emphasis is more upon proving the existence of God and not monotheism. In practical terms, ?Monotheism means nothing. It is a subject which has been solved,? and solved at the command of the enemy, or, at least, to his benefit!

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And, they achieve all of these with a single policy: A policy which took the ?Book of Supplications? from the cemetery to the city and the Holy Qur?an, from life and the city, to the cemetery where it was offered to the spirits of the dead; taking the Holy Qur?an from their hands, it placed books on the ?Science of Principles? at the disposal of the students of Islamic Science in the ?traditional centers of religious learning?, (and) put the Holy Qur?an on the shelf of their room. It is obvious that when the Qur?an not only deserts the life of the Muslim people but Islam as well, everything becomes possible in its absence, and we see that everything has been done!

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The course that our enemy has chosen for our humiliation is the best guide for us to choose as the way to our glory: Returning from the same way that he has led us. Bringing back the Qur?an from the cemetery to the city and its recitation (from now on) for the living! Bringing down the Qur?an from the shelf and opening it for our lessons.


They were not able to destroy the Qur?an so they closed it instead, and made ?the Book?, a ?holy object?. We should once again turn it into ?the Book? and read it, for the word Qur?an means just this.


Will the day come when we see the Qur?an has been accepted as a textbook in the Islamic programs of our ?traditional centers of religious training??


Will the day come when we see the Qur?an must also be studied by students of religious jurisprudence as a religious textbook for achieving the level of ijtihad, that is, the level achieved after putting forth great endeavors in striving to understand religious issues?


If we bring back the Qur?an to our life and religion, then it will bring back monotheism to us as a world-view. Monotheism hajj, jihad, imamate, martyrdom and anticipation will again find their life-spirit and we, also, our own spirit and life.

[dan kauye]

Jazakallahu! Allah ya bada lada..keep them coming.thank you.

[HUSNAA]

Please please carefully analyse this man's posts before thanking him. He is out to cause fitnah. Idris is not a muslim. Please ppl realise this.

[Idris]

"And when God Alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter are filled with aversion; and when others are mentioned beside Him, they rejoice!" (Q39:43)

[Idris]

Please please carefully analyse this man's posts before thanking him. He is out to cause fitnah. Idris is not a muslim. Please ppl realise this.

My dear brother/sister - assalamu alaikum.

This is an Islamic forum where we have come to share our ideas and discuss issues that concern us. It is not a place for calling names.

I will prefer you write down your refutations and allow everyone to judge for himself or herself.

the word 'Free-thinking' might have been abused but it does not negate the fact that human beings can only progress when they allow themselves to see the truth as it is and not as someone might want them to see it.

Allah is the absolute truth.

The so called free-thinkers are not free-thinkers in reality because it is only by holding on the rope of Allah can a person become completely free from mental enslavement to think freely.

Please behave intellectually/maturely next time.

May Allah forgive your mistakes and bless you.