Qur’aanic Verse 3.31:

Transliteration: 

31. Qul in kuntum tuhibboona Allaha faittabiAAoonee yuhbibkumu Allahu wayaghfir lakum thunoobakum waAllahu ghafoorun raheemun

Translation: 

31. Say, “If you do love Allah, obey me. Allah will then love you and forgive you your sins.^{35 to 37} And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”

Comments:  

35. Allah’s loving us and forgiving our sins is apparently made conditional to our obeying His Messenger (peace be upon him). At the time when the Messenger was living among mankind here in this world, this divine directive obviously meant that all the Messenger’s directions, whether in matters of religion or of administration, were to be obeyed scrupulously. But what about us now, when the Messenger is no longer living among mankind? A majority of Muslims believe that obeying the Messenger means following his sunnah as described in authentic ahaadeeth. But who decides whether any hadeeth is authentic or not?

36. Allah has guaranteed the protection of the Qur’aan (Verse 15.9). There is, however, no such divine protection guaranteed for the ahaadeeth. And the ahaadeeth were floating from mouth to mouth for generations till some of them were recorded in writing, for the first time, at least 150 years after the death the Prophet (peace be upon him). There is every likelihood, therefore, of the ahaadeeth having been contaminated and interpolated with the personal opinions and words of the narrators. The Allah-perfected Religion of Islam could not therefore be based on such an unreliable source. It is based solely on the Qur’aan now. This does not mean that the ahaadeeth are to be completely discarded. They are invaluable in the sense that they give us the historical perspective of the era in which our Prophet lived. But any hadeeth, that is basically contradictory to the teachings of the Qur’aan, has to be rejected outright. The Qur’aan is, and ought to be, the criterion.

37. Obeying the Messenger ought now, therefore, to mean following the Qur’aan.

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The above is an extract from Qur’aanic Studies - Volume VI republished on regenerated site, INVITATION TO SALVATION. Please give your honest comments, on this extract, in the space provided below.

Mohammad Shafi

272. Laysa AAalayka hudahum walakinna Allaha yahdee man yashao wama tunfiqoo min khayrin fali-anfusikum wama tunfiqoona illa ibtighaa wajhi Allahi wama tunfiqoo min khayrin yuwaffa ilaykum waantum la tuthlamoona

272. Guiding them is not your responsibility, but Allah guides whom He pleases.^{509, 510} And whatever wealth you spend, it is for your own benefit. And you spend not, but to seek Allah’s pleasure. And the wealth, you spend, shall be recompensed to you, and you will not be wronged.

509. Some Muslims think that even now, over 14 centuries after his death, the Prophet (peace be upon him) still somehow guides every individual of his Ummah. This verse ought to correct their grievous misconception. I call it grievous because, indulging in such a conception is nothing but shirk. In this, we are following the footsteps of the Christians, who have taken to Jesus (peace be upon him) so much that they have forgotten their God. This verse categorically tells us that guiding any person to the right path is the exclusive preserve of Allah Almighty. It was so even during the time when the Prophet was living in this world.

510. Under Allah’s guidance, the Prophet taught the divine Qur’aan to his Ummah. It was like a good teacher teaching indiscriminately to all pupils in his class. But some pupils learn, and some do not. Likewise the Prophet taught the divine message for the entire mankind; some got guided by the Message, while many did not. Had it been in the power of the Prophet to guide people, he would have guided all without any distinction. It is Allah Who guides whosoever He pleases, to the Straight Path. And Allah has declared that only the pious would receive the guidance from Him. (Refer Verses 2.2 to 2.5 of these Studies.)

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The above is an extract from Qur’aanic Studies - Volume V republished on regenerated website, www.islam-n-interest.com. You’re welcome to offer your honest comments in the space provided below.

Mohammad Shafi

Verse 2.208:

Transliteraion: 

208. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo odkhuloo fee alssilmi kaffatan wala tattabiAAoo khutuwati alshshaytani innahu lakum AAaduwwun mubeenun

Translation:

208. O those who believe! Get into Islam thoroughly^{365, 366}, and follow not Satan’s footsteps. He indeed is an open enemy to you.³⁶⁷

Comments:

365. The original Arabic phrase could also be translated as ‘Surrender yourselves completely to Allah’. Complete surrender to Allah would inter alia mean adherance to all applicable Qur’aanic commands.366. Once a cyber-friend told me that it wasn’t practical to do everything that the Qur’aan asks us to do. It was enough to adhere to as many Qur’aanic commands - from among those applicable - as it was practically possible. This view is a negation of this verse we are presently studying. The Satan it is that subtly induces man to entertain such views in order to lead him astray. That’s why the verse further advises man not to follow the Satan’s footsteps. He (the Satan) arrogantly (see Verse 7.12) thought it wasn’t possible for him to follow one of Allah’s commands to him - to bow before Adam!367. In Verse 2.168 there is a similar divine instruction not to follow Satan’s footsteps as ‘he is to you an open enemy.’ The instructions there were in the context of consuming lawful and wholesome things. One of the food items that are prohibited is ‘that which is consecrated to someone other than Allah’ [Verse 2.173]. This category of prohibited food could include items distributed as tabarruk from the shrine of a peer or saint. The association of the saint wih the food makes the latter consecrated to ’someone other than Allah’. Consumption of such food in the belief that it specially benefits the consumer, is a manifest sin of shirk. It (the belief) betrays the consumer’s blasphemous assumption that the peer or saint partners with Allah in granting special benefits in the act of eating the tabarruk. Satan, the avowed enemy of man, misleads the consumers in making them think that they are doing nothing wrong.

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Please offer your honest comments on the above extract from Qur’aanic Studies - Volume IV, which I have just republished on the regenerated website INVITATION TO SALVATION, in the space provided below.

Mohammad Shafi

Transliteration:  

174. Inna allatheena yaktumoona ma anzala Allahu mina alkitabi wayashtaroona bihi thamanan qaleelan ola-ika ma ya/kuloona fee butoonihim illa alnnara wala yukallimuhumu Allahu yawma alqiyamati wala yuzakkeehim walahum AAathabun aleemun

Translation:  

174. Surely, those who conceal what Allah has sent down, from the Book and earn a trifle price therefor - they, stomach not but the Fire in their bellies! And Allah will not talk to them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He purify them. And for them will there be a painful punishment.^{286 to 289}

Comments:  

286. The divine Books, parts of which got literally concealed by human beings, were those revealed earlier than the Qur’aan. The Qur’aan, on the other hand, cannot thus be concealed, as it is divinely guaranteed (verse 15.9) against such concealment. But human beings, under the influence of the Satan, have resorted to other subtle and ingenious means of concealment. Since a vast majority of Muslims around the world is now non-Arab, a part of the ‘clergy’ among them have gradually come to acquire a vested interest in creating a wrongful notion among other common Muslims. They (the commoners) are not taught the Qur’aanic Arabic as a language, but are taught only to recite the Qur’aan without understanding what they recite. An impression is created that it is very difficult for the commoners to acquire the capability to understand the divine Message in original Arabic. So, they have willy-nilly to go to the ‘clergy’ to know what Islam is.

287. It is in such circumstances that some of the common Muslims, in different parts of the world, have come to understand that invoking dead saints for redressal of their worldly problems, and visiting their graves for the purpose, is part of Islam! The ‘clergy’ that is responsible for misleading the Muslims thus, are guilty of concealing the fact that the Qur’aan condemns such activity as unpardonable sin of shirk.

288. Let alone some ordinary Mullahs thus misleading some uneducated Muslims, but even eminent scholars of Islam do unfortunately and unwittingly fall into the satanic trap of misleading educated Muslims, when the scholars resort to their own interpolations while translating the original Arabic text into other languages. The interpolations are justified on the ground of syntactic differences between Arabic and the language into which the Qur’aan is to be translated. The interpolations are also justified on the ground that these are based on explanatory notes, contained in the ahaadheeth or given by the earlier prominent commentators of the Qur’aan. But the interpolations, more often than not, help in changing the original divine meaning! However great in scholarship the commentator may be, it would be highly presumptuous - nay, blasphemous - on his part to assume that his interpolated word/words could explain or set right any ‘complicated’ part of the divine text! Such an assumption would indeed be blasphemous, particularly in the light of the oft-repeated Qur’aanic assertion that its muhkam verses are clear by themselves or are well-explained in its other verses. [Reference is invited in this context to Verse 2.99 and the corresponding Chapter Note 135 of these Studies.] And once a commentator takes a stand on the interpretation of a certain verse, and makes an interpolation in furtherance of his stand-point, it becomes very difficult for him to change that stand, even when he gets convinced later that his stand is wrong. The Satan sees his opportunity then, and gets busy in influencing the learned commentator to stick to his wrong stand, and thus unfortunately to conceal the true divine meaning of the relevant verse from his gullible readers.

289. It is therefore necessary for every Muslim to try and get at least a working knowledge of Qur’aanic Arabic. He/she may thereby be able to find out if anything is amiss in the translation. When I wrote to one of my own readers on this need of learning Qur’aanic Arabic, he said that it was a ‘tall, a very tall order’ to expect every Muslim to do that. I replied that he wouldn’t so dismiss the need, if he were convinced that his salvation from the Fire, in the Hereafter, very much depended on knowing the original divine Message of the Qur’aan in Arabic.

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The above is an extract from the just republished Qur’aanic Studies - Volume III on the regenerated website INVITATION TO SALVATION. Visitors may offer their honest comments in the space provided below.

    Qur’aanic Verse 2.107:

107	أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۗ وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلَا نَصِيرٍ

Transliteration  

107. Alam taAAlam anna Allaha lahu mulku alssamawati waal-ardi wama lakum min dooni Allahi min waliyyin wala naseerin

Translation:

107. Are you not aware that, certainly, it is Allah who has sovereignty over the heavens and the earth? And none is there for you, other than Allah, as a wali¹⁵⁴ nor anyone who can help!¹⁵⁵

Comments:

154. I find it difficult to find an appropriate English word for this Qur’aanic word, wali (plural: awliya). Some translators have rendered it as ‘guardian’ or ‘protector’. But in verse 10.62, the Qur’aan has called some good human beings as awliya of Allah. Surely it would be preposterous to call human beings as ‘guardians’ or ‘protectors’ of Allah! Let us therefore go to the literal meaning of the three-letter Arabic root word wali, which is to be close or near. It is used in the Qur’aan in that very sense. So when the Qur’aan says that good Allah-fearing persons are awliya of Allah, it means that Allah is so pleased with such persons that He has kept them spiritually close to Himself. In verse 2.257 we are told that Allah is the wali of the believers. In other words, Allah is so very close to the believers that He protects and guides them at every step they take in their worldly lives. In verse 60.9 Allah forbids the believers from being close to (tawallaw) only those who fight with them on religion, etc. It is in this sense that in verse 5.51 Allah asks believers not to take Jews and Christians as awliya. Otherwise, Allah makes it clear in verse 60.8, that He does not forbid the believers to have normal good relations with them if they do not fight with them (the believers) in religious matters, etc.

155. In the Qur’aanic light delineated in the preceding Note, the obvious meaning of the latter part of this verse is that if anyone were not to accept Allah as his/her wali, there could be no one else who could be that person’s wali or helper. If one accepts, without any reservations whatsoever, Allah as one’s wali, then there could be one’s other awliya among  living believers, by way of being one’s confidants, advisors and helpers in worldly and spiritual matters. But there could be no question of any person, dead or martyred, or of any unseen being (jinn) of becoming a wali or helper of a living person. If one takes such a being as one’s wali or helper, besides Allah, one is committing the sin of shirk (polytheism). Alas! A majority of the Muslims today are openly indulging in this unpardonable sin. Allah asks, “Do then those who suppress the Truth think that, other than Me, they can take My worshippers as awliya? …” [Q: 18.102]

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The above extract is from Qur’aanic Studies - Volume II, which I have now republished on my new reconstructed site. In this extract from my Studies, I have tried to understand the Qur’aanic meaning of the Qur’aanic term, Wali. I invite  visitors to offer their own responses in the space provided on the Blog.

Mohammad Shafi 

 Verse 2.65:

وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ الَّذِينَ اعْتَدَوْا مِنْكُمْ فِي السَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ 65.

Trnsliteration: 

65. Walaqad AAalimtumu allatheena iAAtadaw minkum fee alssabti faqulna lahum koonoo qiradatan khasi-eena

 Translation:

65. And you did indeed know those of you who committed transgression on Sabbath⁷³. So We told them, “Be you monkeys, despised!”

Comments:

73. The dictionary informs us that Sabbath is the religious day of rest kept by Christians on Sunday and by Jews on Saturday. The Qur’aan informs us, in verse 4.154, that the Jews were specifically commanded not to transgress the strict observance of their Sabbath. That is, they were asked to take an obligatory rest from usual pursuits for earning worldly wealth. In verse 7.163, the Qur’aan further informs us how a township of Jewish fishermen were put to a test, by making the fish in the sea more easily available, for catching, on the day they observed Sabbath, than on other days! The fishermen failed in the trial and committed transgression. It is this transgression that is alluded to here.

 Verse 2.66:

جَعَلْنَاهَا نَكَالًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهَا وَمَا خَلْفَهَا وَمَوْعِظَةً لِلْمُتَّقِينَ 66

Transliteration:

66. FajaAAalnaha nakalan lima bayna yadayha wama khalfaha wamawAAithatan lilmuttaqeena

Translation: 

66. We set it then as an exemplary punishment for those present at that time and for those who lived thereafter.⁷⁴ And We made it a lesson for the pious!^{75 & 76}

Comments:

74. We have seen earlier, in verse 63 of this Chaper, that Allah raised the Mountain over Moses’ people to coerce them into abiding by the Book of Allah given to Moses. Here is another method adopted by Allah to coerce the recalcitrant Jews. The punishment meted out to the fishermen breaking the Sabbath Law was made an example of, to warn off the other Jews against breaking any divine commandment.

75. During the pre-historic times before the advent of the Last Prophet (peace and Allah’s blessings be upon him), Allah sent direct signs for the people to recognise prophets sent to them. HE also gave direct signs to warn them against disobedience of divine Law. This is what we learn from various anecdotes mentioned in the Qur’aan. The direct signs were given obviously to compensate those people for the lack of means to acquisition of knowledge that Mankind now enjoys. We cannot but marvel at the tremendous divine sense of justice in this! So we do not witness those direct divine signs now. But we do witness indirect signs of warnings. Like the ignominious state of Muslims all over the world at present. It’s a divine sign warning us against our neglect and disobedience of the divine commands contained in the Qur’aan (see also Chapter note 70 above). And in the Qur’aan itself, the caring hand of our Caretaker can be seen, as here in this verse, asking the pious to take a lesson from past history.

76. The pious amongst the present-day Muslims do have to take a lesson from this episode in Jewish history. For, the Qur’aan too prescribes abstaining from our worldly affairs for a short period on Fridays. In verses 62.9 and 62.10, Allah commands the Believers to leave off business from the time the Muazzin gives the call for the Friday noon prayers till the end of the prayers. If we flout this command, Allah may not now turn us into apes, but our aakhira is bound to be ruined! And, despised like apes we already are; we may further be despised in this very world!

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The above is an extract from webpage Qur’aanic Studies - Volume I. I had to rebuild the page, with much difficulty, after my earlier webhosts cheated me by deleting my entire data of 17 Volumes of the Studies, without informing me. I have yet to reconstruct the other 16 Volumes.

Mohammad Shafi

Assalaamu alaykum, 

Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated here in Mumbai (India) on Thursday, 2nd of October, 2008. In Pakistan, it was celebrated on Wednesday, 1st of October. And in Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday 30th of September. On 3 different days in 3 different parts of the world! ‘What’s wrong with that?’ some Muslims ask me. ‘Don’t Muslims say their prayers at different times at different places?’ they ask.

If Muslims in Mumbai are saying their Maghrib prayer now, those in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) can offer the same prayer 2 hours and 30 minutes later. That’s true. But consider what happens when the Eid is celebrated on different days. The 1st day of the Islamic month of Shawwal occurred on Thursday the 2nd of October in Mumbai, on Wednesday the 1st of October in Pakistan and on Tuesday the 30th September in Saudi Arabia. 3 different calendars in 3 different parts of the world! No wonder then that the Islamic calendar is dicarded even by the Islamic countries. They have to use the Gregorian calendar for international transactions. The world has virtually now become one global village. The use of such Islamic calendars is impracticable. If I have my son’s marriage ceremony to be performed next month, say, on the 10th of November, I can’t give the corresponding Islamic date, because I don’t know when the 1st of the next Islamic month will fall. Our Islamic calendar is useless for fixing any appointment beyond the current month. It cannot give us a definite date for our next Eid. There is a perpetual indefiniteness in it. We cannot fix any Muslim holidays in advance. In short, our lives would be more difficult, if we did not have the benefit of the Christian (Gregorian) calendar.

Can this state of affairs be that of a religion perfected by Allah Almighty Himself!? What is the cause of this evident imperfection? Is Allah wrong in declaring Islam to be perfect? If we say yes, we’re clearly then outside the pail of Islam. What then has made the Perfect Religion seem imperfect, particularly in this context? We don’t need the Google Search to find out. We know it very well. It’s the hadeeth that has made new-moon-sighting the criterion for determining whether a particular Islamic month has 29 days or 30.

This hadeeth, which has caused this imperfection, cannot then be part of the Allah-perfected Religion of Islam! The divine Guidance - Qur’aan - does not make new-moon-sighting the criterion, but makes (Verse 2.189) the fixed time - fixed for the entire mankind living on the earth - when the phenomenon of the new moon occurs every month in the cosmos, the criterion.

During the Prophet’s time there was no means available for determining the fixed time of the occurrence of the new moon. The Prophet (peace be upon him) had therefore no alternative but to take new-moon-sighting as the criterion for change of month. It did not matter since the Islamic world then was restricted to the area now known as Saudi Arabia. The hadeeth was time-specific, whereas the Qur’aan is valid for all times till the Last Day. Alas! The Muslims today are blind to this reality.

The Muslims can still have a viable international Islamic calendar by adopting the criterion prescribed in Verse 2.189. I have no reason to doubt that it shall be more accurate than the Gregorian calendar; for, the former is Allah-sponsored, while the latter is man-devised. But will the Muslims awake??

Wassalaam,
Mohammad Shafi
islam-n-interest.com

(more…)

Prophets and Books

According to a report in Musnad Ahmed collection of Ahadith, Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said: “From Adam to me, Allah sent a hundred and twenty-four thousand Prophets, of whom three hundred and fifteen were entrusted with a Book.” The question is why were there so many more Prophets than Books? To reflect on this is to gain an understanding about the very institution of Prophethood. If the role of a Prophet were simply to deliver the Book, as some mis-guided people in our time try to argue, there should have been as many Books as Prophets. But the very fact that there have been many Prophets without a new Book, firmly establishes the need for the Prophets as a source of guidance in its own rights.

My response:

Allah’s guidance is the Guidance (2.120). There is no other independent source for it. Prophets and Messengers guided mankind only as per Allah’s guidance. Theirs was not an independent source of guidance besides Allah’s. They were no doubt teachers; for, mankind needs teachers. No man can learn things by himself. Prophets, who had not brought any new divine Book, were sent as divinely accredited teachers to bring back prople, who had gone astray, to the divine teachings in the divine Book existing then.

When a teacher of any subject, say, science, teaches his students, he draws his information from the scientific literature existing at his time. It cannot be that he is a source by himself, independent of that existing source of scientific literature.

In the pre-historic times, with little means of preserving literature, Allah Ta’ala sent Prophets after Prophets to serve as teachers to mankind on correct ways of leading their lives. Now that Allah’s last Message, the Qur’aan, is preserved, there is no need for Prophets. Ordinary human beings can now serve as teachers on the basis of the preserved Qur’aan. The author’s argument, that the number of Prophets in the pre-historic age being more than the number of divine books is a proof of the Prophets being additional sources of guidance besides the divine books, is therefore fallacious.

The Qur’aan was revealed in parts during a long period of 23 years. Pending the completion of the Book, the Prophet was of course the source of divine guidance besides the incomplete Qur’aan. The instructions in the Qur’aan to obey the Prophet and to obey Allah was in that context. But once the Qur’aan was complete, the Prophet was taken away from this world. Now there is only Allah to obey. There is no Prophet. Allah’s instructions were to obey the Prophet and not any hearsays reported centuries after his death as his sayings. All his genuine sayings are already divinely preserved in the Qur’aan.  

Email cntd.:

It had to be so because life emulates life. We need live human beings to inspire us; to show right from wrong in every day struggles of life; to confront us and pose questions; to answer questions; to clarify misconceptions; to hold our hand; to be the model. We certainly need principles to guide our thoughts and actions. But we also need real life examples to relate the principles to real life situations. For most of our living experience involves judgment calls. Politeness is a desirable moral value. But when does politeness turn into weakness? Firmness is also a desirable attribute. But when does it turn into arrogance? How do we balance our duties towards Allah with those towards other human beings? How do we balance both with duties towards ourselves? We are constantly faced with conflicting claims on our resources, energies, and attention. How do we resolve those conflicts, without doing any injustice? These are real life questions that require real life answers.

This point is beautifully established in the Opening Chapter (Surah Fatiha) of Qur’an. It is a short surah, consisting of only seven verses, and it consists of a prayer for guidance: O’ Allah! Show us the Straight Path. Yet two of the seven verses are used to describe the Straight Path in terms of people. “The path of those on whom Thou has bestowed Thy Grace. Not the path of those who earn Thine wrath nor of those who go astray.”

It would have been simpler to just refer to the Straight path as the Path of the Qur’an. But the longer description has been used to emphasis the fact that human beings need a human model to provide complete guidance.

My response:

Surah Fatiha is in the form of a prayer of the created to the Creator. The created do not know what the Straight Path is. They simply implore the Creator to show them the Path. They do not ask Him to show them the persons who tread that Path. The emphasis is not on the persons, but on the Path. Surah Fatiha does not describe what the Straight Path is. It is described elsewhere in the Qur’aan as in Verses 2.51, 6.152-153 etc. The author’s citing the Surah in support of his plea that the ahaadeeth are a must, besides the Qur’aan, for proper guidance of mankind, is ill-conceived. It smacks of shirk and blasphemy; for, Allah Ta’ala makes it abundantly clear in the Qur’aan that His Message is self-sufficient for guidance of mankind.

Email contd.: 

Of course Prophets were sent to provide the needed guidance.

My response: 

The divine messages that the Prophets brought provided the needed guidance. The Prophets were the teachers.

Email contd.:

It is also obvious that whatever a Prophet declares is binding on all his followers. “To accept a person as a Prophet of God and then to refuse to accept his commands, is so ridiculous that I would not have believed any sensible person would ever offer this proposition,” says prominent Hadith scholar Maulana Manzoor Naumani.

My response: 

The Maulana is absolutely right.

Email contd.: 

But this most irrational of ideas has been promulgated by a segment of Western educated Muslims. They say, without a sense of irony, that we accept the Qur’an but not the Hadith.

My response: 

The Hadith is not the Prophet! It is hearsay that is not divinely guaranteed to be true and not divinely protected as such. Only the Qur’aan is so guaranteed and protected. It (the Qur’aan) contains all the genuine commands of the Prophet. The Prophet’s commands are Allah’s commands. He (the Prophet) was after all Allah’s Messenger.

Email contd.: 

Anyone who says that he accepts the Qur’an but rejects the hadith cannot be serious. Or he has not read the Qur’an either. For the Qur’an says:

 

 

 

“And We have sent down unto you the Message so that you may explain clearly to the people what is sent for them and so that they may give thought.” (Al-Nahal 16:44).

My response: 

The Prophet is directed here clearly to make known to the people what is sent down for them. The Qur’aan is otherwise easy to understand as is repeatedly asserted therein. The commandments therein are by themselves entirely clear (Verse 3.7) and the Qur’aan itself gives the best interpretation of its Verses. In view of this, it is wrong on the part of the author to so interpret the above Verse that it (the Verse) gives ahaadeeth the authority to further explain the Qur’aanic Verses. The Verse gives no such authority.

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It also declares:

 

 

 

 

“Allah did confer a great favor on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the Signs of Allah, purifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom, while before that they had been in manifest error.” (Aale Imran 3:164). So it is the job of the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, to explain the Qur’an. And it is the job of the believers to obey him.

My response: 

The believers obey the Prophet by obeying what is laid down in the Qur’aan.

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“He who obeys the Messenger obeys Allah indeed” (Nisa 4:80).

My response: 

And he who obeys what is laid down in the Qur’aan, obeys both Allah and His Messenger.

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And even more emphatically it says:

 

 

 

“And obey Allah and obey His Messenger.”( Al-Taghabun 64:12).It is to be noted that here the Qur’an did not say “Obey Allah and His Messenger.” By using the command “obey” independently the fact has been firmly established that the status of an order given by the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, is the same as that given by Allah.

My response: 

There is no divine guarantee that the commands in the ahaadeeth are the genuine commands of the Prophet. His genuine commands are all incorporated in the Qur’aan, which is divinely protected from all human mischief. And remember, the Prophet was only a Messenger of Allah. He did not give any command of his own without the sanction of Allah Almighty.

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Even a casual reader of the Qur’an can notice that it gives commands without giving many details. For example it refers to salat (ritual prayers) 67 times. But it never explains how the salat has to be performed. The question is not just how a follower of the Qur’an is to follow that command, but the bigger question is: why the omission in the first place? Is it an oversight, in which case one cannot consider it to be the Book of Allah, or is it simply because another source for those details had been provided?

My response: 

You are openly contradicting the Qur’aan, Brother! Whereas the Qur’aan repeatedly asserts that all necessary things are explained in details within the Qur’aan, you say it does not give many details! You say it never explains how salat is performed. What a lie, that too against Allah!! See Verses 2.238, 4,.103, 7.29, 7.56, 7.205, 11.114, 17.78, 17.110, 20.14, 23.2, 23.9, 70.23, 107.5 (the list is not complete) wherein you will find necessary details on how to perform a Salah. Allah does not want His worshippers to be burdened with things which they cannot honestly do. But our religious leaders take pleasure in imposing so much burden on them that they find it impossible to concentrate on Allah during the prayers, and, no wonder, their minds wander.

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Similarly the Qur’an approvingly mentions many other practices, like the call to prayer (adhan) and the Friday prayer, but never gives commands about them. Again, why? Is there any other explanation possible except for the obvious one that there is a parallel source of instruction in the person of the Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam?

My response: 

Of all the living creatures, human beings are endowed with the highest deree of intelligence. Allah Ta’ala has left certain simple things to be tackled by human intelligence. Call to prayer is one of those simple things. The form of the call was not even given by the Prophet. It was suggested by one of the Sahaba and accepted by the group, which included the Prophet, discussing the issue. In the continuing human life, such issues crop up every now and then. Believers are expected to solve them by using their intelligence, but their course of action has to be within the broad Qur’aanic framework. This is not indicative at all of a parallel source of instruction besides the Qur’aan. And the Prophet (peace be upon him) is not there in person in this world now, Brother!

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Actually in the form of Hadith, Muslims have an unprecedented branch of knowledge. Just a list of all the books written on the subject would take several thousand pages, says prominent hadith scholar Habib-ur-Rahman Azami. Other religions also claim to possess revealed scriptures. But no other religion has an example corresponding to Hadith. “Hadith is a branch of knowledge whose equivalent is not to be found in other religions,” says Dr. Hamidullah.

My response: 

This (Hadith) branch of knowledge is man-built, and, at best, it may be considered as a good historical record. And, like all human record, it is prone to errors, mistakes and manipulations. The Muslim community is committing a grave error in equating this error-prone record with divine revelation. Nay, in doing so, they are committing the unpardonable sin of shirk. No human record can equal divine revelation.

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For the design-your-own-religion crowd, that may be a problem,

My response: 

They who sincerely believe in the Qur’aan and try to follow it diligently, do not design their own religion. It is designed for them by Allah Almighty. Every action of theirs is controlled by Qur’aanic injunctions.

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But for the sincere follower, it is a great favor and blessing of Allah. We have been entrusted with a unique treasure trove of guidance. An appreciation of that favor is the first step towards benefiting from that treasure.

My response: 

The unique treasure trove of guidance is none other than the Qur’aan! By crediting this unique attribute instead to the ahaadeeth, you are betraying your lack of faith in the Qur’aan, which really is the great favour and blessing of Allah on mankind. The disgrace generally faced by the Muslim community today is the direct result of their failure to appreciate Allah’s favour and blessing in the form of the Qur’aan.

Wassalaam,
Mohammad Shafi
islam-n-interest.com

Transliteration: 

31. Ya banee adama khuthoo zeenatakum AAinda kulli masjidin wakuloo waishraboo wala tusrifoo innahu la yuhibbu almusrifeena

Translation:  

31. O children of Adam! Be well-dressed, clean and tidy at every place of worship,^{10, 11} and eat and drink, but indulge not in extravagance. HE does not indeed like those who indulge in extravagance.

Study Notes:  

10. I would like to mention here the insistence of some traditionalists - who consider the ahaadeeth more sacrosanct than even the Qur’aanic Verses - that Muslims should keep the lower ends of their pyjamas and trousers above the ankles. A hadeeth [Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, hadeeth No. 678] tells them that if the garment extends below the ankles, the wearer goes to Hell. And this vital information is not there in the Qur’aan! Therefore, the traditionalists believe that without the ahaadeeth, Islam is incomplete. The Qur’aan, on the other hand, reiterates, “… We have neglected nothing in the Book …” (Verse 6.38) and that “… We have certainly explained, in this Qur’aan, every kind of example …” (Verse 17.89). How could the Qur’aan then neglect to mention a thing that would lead a man to Hell!? It cannot, and it does not, because, Allah Almighty, the Author of the Book, cannot be wrong when He says that the Qur’aan neglects nothing! We are then left with the only conclusion that there is something wrong with the above-quoted hadeeth, which is man-influenced and therefore error-prone. 

11. As this Verse and the one immediately following (7.32) clearly tell us, Allah does not want us to look shabby or uncouth in our dress. One of the purposes of our dress is to make us look better. Allah does not prohibit us this adornment. HE wouldn’t wish us to wear short trousers if these make us look comical. What Allah desires, however, is that we be clean. HE certainly wouldn’t like our trousers to be so long that its lower ends touch the ground and collect dirt therefrom as we walk on.

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Click here to go online to the just-published Qur’aanic Studies - Volume XVI, from which the above extract, on Verse 7.31,  is taken. This Volume has link to the preceding Volume and so on to the first published Volume I. You may also get access to all these Volumes online through my website islam-n-interst.com. Two volumes of these Studies in print are available, along with my other published books, at this link