Hadith: An Objective Analysis Edited by : Adv. Abdul Samad INDEX SL TOPICS PAGES PAGES 1 The Source And The Development Of The Hadiths 5 15 2 Weaknesses In The Methodology Of Chain - Reporters 15 20 3 The Effects Of The Hadiths 20 26 4 The Coherence Theory Of The Hadiths 26 32 5 Refutation Of The Traditionalist's Theory 5(a) Argument One: `Sunna Is Revelation' 33 38 5(b) Argument Two: `Obey The Messenger' Means 38 42 `Uphold The Hadith' 5© Argument Three: `Hadith Interprets The Qur’ān' 42 47 5(d) Argument Four: `The Example Of The Prophet' 47 52 5(e) Argument Five: ‘Hadith Indispensable to carry out the Practice of 52 57 Salaat’ 6 A Scientific Methodology For Understanding The Qur’ān 57 61 6(a) The Punishment For Adultery (Zina). 61 67 6(b) The Punishment For Theft 67 70 6© Misinterpretation of the Verses 59:7 and 4:65 70 72 6(d) The Myth of Intercession 72 73 6(e) The Punishment for Apostacy 73 75 6(f) The Belief in the Miracles of the Prophet Muhammed 75 78 7 Conclusion: Return To Prophet Muhammed’s Original Teaching – 78 84 The Qur’ān 8 References 84 85 0 Hadith: An Objective Analysis Edited by: Adv. Abdul Samad “Has not the time arrived for the believers that their hearts in all humility should engage in the remembrance of Allah and of the truth which has been revealed, and that they should not become like those to whom was given Revelation before, but long ages passed over them and their hearts grew hard?” (Qur’ān, Ch.57: Ver.16) Our present knowledge on the factors, which contributed to the rise and fall of nations, is that they are ideological, political, economic, social, cultural, historical, psychological, demographic, geographical, scientific, technological and military in nature. We are also quite certain that within this multiplicity of factors, not all of them play equal roles in the important outcomes. Technological advancement can surmount geographical limitations, military strategy can overcome deficiency in numbers, and better political leadership can offset economic weakness and so on. Turning to the Holy Qur'an as our infallible guide we find the following statements: “GOD does not change what is in a people unless they themselves decide to change. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient. - (8:53) “Leave alone those who take their religion to be mere play and amusement and are deceived by the life of this world. But proclaim (to them) this (truth): that every soul delivers itself to ruin by its own acts” - (6:70) “O, you who believe! If you help [the cause of] God, He will help you, and will make firm your steps;” - (47:7) “Do not give up and do not be downhearted. You shall be uppermost if you are believers.” (3: 139) “Allah will certainly aid those who aid His (cause); for verily Allah is Full of Strength Exalted in Might.” - (22:40) “Verily Allah will defend (from ill) those who believe: verily Allah loveth not any that is a traitor to faith or shows ingratitude. - (22:38) “We will certainly help Our Messengers and those who believe both in the life of this world and on the Day the witnesses appear.” (40:51) “He it is who hath sent His messenger with the guidance and the Religion of Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religion, however much the idolaters may be averse.” - (9:33) All the above Verses from Holy Qur'an point to the very fact that the Ideology based on Touheed (Monotheism) is the most important component in determining our fate. It means 1 that as long as a people imbued with scientific, dynamic and progressive ideology inspired by Touheed, they will continue the climb up higher and higher on the ladder of success. Conversely, so long as a people revert to static, anti-scientific, and regressive ideology, they are doomed to degeneration. The strong and unambiguous statements about victory being granted to believers in both worlds necessarily follow from the definition of believers as those possessing and practicing scientific ideology based on pristine divine unity. The rapid rise of the Arab nation from its dark period of paganism prior to Prophet Muhammad, to become the most powerful civilized nation in the world within a short period of time was due to the new, inspiring, powerful and dynamic Ideology of Islam revealed through The Prophet Muhammed, the Messenger of Allah. The Arabs, under his guidance and the unflinching support provided by his able companions, discarded their erstwhile life-style based on polytheism and superstitions. They rallied under their leader, guided by the Holy Qur'an, to establish a just social order. Because the struggle was based on the Divine truth and justice as contained in the Qur'an, it was invincible. It blossomed into a great social movement, bringing forth outstanding political, military and intellectual leaders who helped to bring forth a scientific-spiritual culture for the first time in the history of humanity. The new and young Muslim society and nascent state set up by Prophet Muhammad and his companions in the early part of the seventh century Arabia, scaled the heights of civilization and intellectual development so rapidly - bringing into its fold in the process - the empires of two superpowers of Byzantium and Persia, astounded the world. Muslims at that time witnessed an intellectual growth unparalleled in the history of Arabia or even the world at that time. Even today, historians and philosophers marvel at how the most backward and barbarous people became the most advanced, most civilised in such a short time. It is this supreme achievement of the early Muslim civilization that made the famous British historian, G. Sarton, remark: "The main task of mankind was accomplished by Muslims. The greatest philosopher, Al- Farabi, was a Muslim, the greatest mathematicians, Abu Kamil and Ibrahim ibn Sinan, were Muslims, the greatest geographer and encyclopedist, Al-Mas`udi, was a Muslim; the greatest historian, al-Tabari, was a Muslim." Yet, sadly enough, today, instead of being astonished, we are perplexed at how the succeeding Muslim generations came to lose that glory. The Muslim polity, science and civilization, great though they were in their formative period, are glorious history and things of the past. The Muslims had long lost their intellectual and political leadership of the world. The unity of the Muslims had since long vanished and there is no semblance of unity, not even the sort of unity generally found among other communities. The Muslim world as disunited as never before had to succumb to the ideological onslaught and domination of the world power-blocs. Their economies are stagnant and backward. Their knowledge of science and technologies are dismal. Militarily they are weak and dependent on the big powers for their self-defence. There seems to be an abysmal divide between great predecessors of the early centuries and present-day Muslims. What Went Wrong? The time is ripe for us and for mankind in general, to undertake a detailed and critical study of this great human tragedy. At some point somewhere, we have gone wrong. What went wrong? Why did we lose the political and intellectual leadership of the world? What are the causes of our disintegration? Why are we split into Sunnites, Shi’ites and numerous other sects? Why are we on the heels of others? Islam sponsors eternal truth and is capable of keeping abreast of the times, but why did it come to a dead stop after a while? Moreover, why is Islam not yielding the same fruits as it did for the Prophet Muhammad and his companions? 2 All these questions are very important and deserve to be seriously considered and satisfactorily answered. The answers to the above questions are attempted in this work. When we delve in the subject, at the very outset, it becomes abundantly clear that the underlying root-cause is that Muslims have deserted the Deen, the way of life bequeathed to us by God. The true teachings of God are contained in His last and final Testament, The Holy Qur'an. The early Muslims rose to the pinnacles of success precisely because they were in possession of and practiced the powerful and dynamic Islamic ideology as preached in the Qur'an. They applied their newly acquired knowledge both, native as well as alien, to the discriminative teachings of the Qur'an. So long as they stuck to this, they progressed. When Divine teachings of the Holy Qur'an were relegated to the back seat, other ones, local and foreign, gained the upper hand and submerged the Qur'an, as witnessed by the following Qur'anic prophecy: “Then (on that day) the Apostle will say: "O my Lord! Truly my people took this Qur'an for just foolish nonsense." Thus have We made for every prophet an enemy among the sinners: but enough is thy Lord to guide and to help”. - (25:30-31) It is time for us to examine objectively the Qur'anic prophecy mentioned above and it must serve us with an important clue in our effort to understand the reason for the fall and decline of the Muslims. This, as opposed to the Modernist or the Traditionalist theses, appears to be the most supportive to our effort to understand the history of the decline of the Muslims. The modernist thesis, in brief, states that the Muslims declined because they had remained traditional and have not modernized themselves in accordance with Western secular values. The Traditionalist thesis, on the other hand, blames the secularisation and the neglect of the man-made orthodox teachings as the major cause of Muslim decline.