The Status of Hadeeth in Islam – G a Parwez & Aslam Jairajpuri
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The Status of Hadeeth in Islam Through the Quranic and Historical Perspective How were Ahadeeth compiled? How did these Ahadeeth reach us? What is their status in Deen? What is the mutual relationship of the Quran and Ahadeeth? Ghulam Ahmad Parwez Muhammad Aslam Jairajpuri The Status of Hadeeth in Islam Intentionally left blank ~ 1 ~ The Status of Hadeeth in Islam ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher and/or editor, except in case of reviewers who may quote brief passages in a review. Title : The Status of Hadeeth in Islam Original Title : Muqam-e-Hadeeth Authors : Ghulam Ahmad Parwez Muhammad Aslam Jairajpuri Translator and editor : Ejaz Rasool (Glasgow, UK) Published by : Tolu-e-Islam Trust ® ISBN : 978-1534848078 25-B, Gulberg II Lahore-54660 PAKISTAN www.islamicdawn.com Copyright © 2016 ~ 2 ~ The Status of Hadeeth in Islam Intentionally left blank ~ 3 ~ The Status of Hadeeth in Islam Foreword Some sayings and conversations become so commonly known that people start considering them ‘proven truth’ and these become part of the belief system and people never feel the need to investigate these any further to establish the truth. Such an approach cannot be approved even in resolving everyday life issues let alone applying this to those issues which relate to Deen1. Such an approach is full of very high risk because when we deal with Deen, we must be sure that it actually concerns Deen. Ask most Muslims and they will without hesitation say that Deen is the name of ‘The Quran and Sunnah2’. There is no doubt about the Quran being Deen, as Allah has declared it the Code of Deen (5:3, 6:115). But the question is whether Ahadeeth3 too are an integral part of Deen? This was the question about which Tolu-e-Islam Trust invited everyone to consider and reflect. Tolu-e-Islam says that had Ahadeeth been part of Deen, then like the Quran which the messenger of Allah gave to the Ummah4, the last messenger could also have given a certified compilation of Ahadeeth as well. The messenger however did not do so.5 The question is, ‘Why did he not do this’? This was a question which was purely intellectual and related to Deen with a view to establish the facts. But unfortunately the Muslim orthodox religious part of society across the world did not have even this much tolerance to discuss religious problems without involving their emotions. This is why instead of providing rational answers, they started calling Tolu-e-Islam a non-believer of Ahadeeth and it was thus declared renegade by some. Even then, Tolu-e-Islam responded to their objections and reiterated its question many a time. This has been continuing since 1938. In this regard, information on such a large collection of Ahadeeth was compiled and requests started pouring in from all sides with a desire that all these discussions be compiled in the form of a book, as such, this invaluable collection was compiled. Our request is to please read this book with an open, cool and rational mind, free from any prejudices and reservations. After reading and analysing this, wherever your vision and reason takes you, decide for yourself accordingly. Let us not lose 1 Deen is the term used by the Quran for the Islamic System for which details have been provided through the revelation to the last messenger of Allah, Muhammad (PBUH – Peace Be Upon Him). For further details see the book titled ‘Islam: A challenge to religion’ written by G.A.Parwez. 2 Sunnah - the way of life prescribed as normative for Muslims based on the teachings and practices of Muhammad according to Ahadeeth and interpretations of the Quran. 3 These are the attributions assumed to be linked to Muhammad, and compiled into various books - further details are covered in the main text. 4 Ummah is the collective term used for the Muslim community worldwide. It has also been used for mankind in the Quran. (Ed) 5 There is nothing in the Quran which refers to this aspect or any direction to the messenger to leave anything to the Ummah other than the Quran. ~ 4 ~ The Status of Hadeeth in Islam sight of the fact that Deen is not a personal or individual matter - it relates to establishing a system proposed by the Quran for the good of mankind. Therefore think it over with the seriousness and concentration it deserves and we hope that truth will unfold itself in front of you. Let it be known that Tolu-e-Islam is not about a particular sect nor (Allah forbid) does it claim to introduce a new religion. It aims and strives to present Deen to the world in its true colour and form as revealed in the Quran. Finally we pray to Allah that we succeed in these efforts. December 7, 1953 Tolu-e-Islam 25 B, Gulberg-II, Lahore ~ 5 ~ The Status of Hadeeth in Islam Ghulam Ahmad Parwez Ghulam Ahmad Parwez was born in Batala, Punjab, in British India on 9th July 1903 into a profoundly religious family. His grandfather, who was deeply religious and belonged to the Hanafi school of thought, was a renowned religious scholar who intended to make the author inherit his knowledge and religious understanding. As a consequence, his education and training was carried out under the direction of his grandfather. While he studied the traditional religious teachings, he also had the desire and inkling to question its content using his intellect and reasoning. This led to his inner conflict with the external religious environment and he continued to question the prevalent religious concepts and practices. He noticed that whatever was being taught as part of the religion was being referred to some Imam or religious scholar for authority. It was also noted in the religious literature, that whatever the forefathers had followed should be obeyed without any question, and this was considered to be a requirement of Islam. For Parwez this did not satisfy his desire to seek reason and logic in every claim and statement made within the religious literature. However, he could not express these doubts and reservations initially due to his respect for his grandfather, and the constraints of the religious environment which prevailed at the time in his town. Later, due to his employment, he moved to Lahore (now part of Pakistan), and found a degree of freedom to question some of these religious concepts and beliefs. After the death of his grandfather, he found complete freedom to pursue his line of enquiry and research into the prevalent Islamic beliefs, doctrines, ideologies, and religious practices. This led to his discovering that most of these have been acquired from others. He tried to study the Quran using the traditional religious approach but was unable to find the answers to all his doubts, which required satisfaction from a logical point of view. He also studied the life of the last messenger and the establishment of the Islamic State in the 7th century, in his quest to determine the cause which contributed to this greatest revolution based on the Quran. He especially paid attention to the statement from the last messenger, ‘The Quran is not a product of my thinking or that of any other human being’ and that this is the message from Allah. He soon learnt the procedure to understand the Quran. Through his contact with the famous philosopher and poet, Allama Iqbal, who had a deep interest in the Quran, Parwez concluded that to understand the Quran one has to understand three fundamentally important points: (1) The Quran calls itself Light (Nur) and a light does not need any external source or aid to make itself visible. It makes itself evident and also exposes the reality of those things which are within its domain. (2) The Quran is revealed in the Arabic language and to understand it correctly one needs to understand the Arabic context which was prevalent at the time of its revelation. ~ 6 ~ The Status of Hadeeth in Islam (3) The Quran has guided us by saying that through Tasreef-ul-Ayat (through cross reference within the verses of the Quran) it makes its guidance clear e.g. see (6:106). In order to meet the second requirement regarding the precise meaning of the Arabic words in the Quran, he researched and compiled a Lughat-ul-Quran (now translated into English), which is a dictionary of all the words and terms used in the Quran and which includes the meanings which were prevalent among the Arabs at the time of the Quranic Revelation. For the third requirement of Tasreef-ul-Ayat, the Quran is different from books written by human beings, where the latter are usually divided based on various subjects - the Quran is based on mentioning a reality in one verse or verses and then its further explanation is noted in another place or places. For example in Surah Inaam the Quran states: And thus do We explain the signs by various verses, so that they acknowledge ‘You have explained them’, and We make the Quran clear for a people who know. (6:106) In order to meet this requirement, Parwez felt the need to compile all the verses under one subject as referred in various verses of the Quran and he compiled a book in Urdu titled Tabweeb-ul-Quran i.e. Classification of the Quran. This made it easy to refer to various subjects and look at all the verses mentioned in the Quran relating to a subject.