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First Chapter
There are 3 types of ahadith:
1) Hadith-e-Qauli: The sayings of the Prophet.
2) Hadith-e-F'eli : The acts of the Prophet during day and night.
3) Hadith-e-Sukooti : The prophet watched someone doing some act but didn't prohibit him.
This is the reason that Quran is called 'Wahiyy-e-Jali' (the explicit revelation) and Hadith is called 'Wahiyy-e-Khafi' (hidden revelation)
To companions of the Prophet Quran and hadith had same status. As they listened to hadith by theme selves from the prophet hence they did not distribute his heritage even though order to distribute the heritage is present in Quran. We came very later hence we had to do investigation of ahadith, When we found ahadith which were transmitted consecutively (Hadith-e-Mutawatir) without doubt we followed them like Quran, like ahadith about raka'h in salah, amount of Zakah etc. and the ahadith which didn't reach this level of definitiveness where placed as per their statuses. Quran and ahadith are two mandatory pillars that without them the roof of Islam can not be supported. Now some people directly reject ahadith even though they act on thousand of ahadith but refuse to accept them. I will write about the necessity of hadith and answer to their objections in sequence. Lets look at the proofs first :
Almighty Allah says
1)Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. (4:59).
Following Quran is obeying Allah, following ahadith is obeying the Prophet and jurist obeyed sahaba. If only obeying Quran is necessary then why this verse describes 3 things to be obeyed?
2) Teach them the scripture and wisdom. (62:2)
i.e our Prophet teaches them the scripture i.e. Quran and wisdom i.e. hadith. If hadith is not necessary then why wisdom is mentioned along with Quran?
3) And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from.(59:7)
If only Quran should be followed then Almighty should have said that "whatever we give you - take and whatever we forbid - refrain from them. It means whatever is given by the Prophet, weather Quran or hadith , should be accepted.
4) He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah.(4:80)
This means that Quran and Hadith has same status, obeying ahadith is also obeying Allah.
5) Who, when reminded about the revelations of their Rabb, do not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to them. (25:73)
That is, it is not the way of believers that when verses of Quran are recited, they dont follow them blindfolded following their intellect but follow them after understanding.
6) and will forbid for them unclean things.(7:157)
Hence its known that prohibition is proved from hadith also like prohibition of (eating) donkey and dog is proved from ahadith.
7) Then O beloved! By your Lord, they shall not be Muslims until they make you judge in all disputes among themselves. (4:65)
The only way to make the Prophet judge is by obeying his every command which is nothing but ahadith.
8) No doubt, We have sent down this Quran, and We most surely are its Guardian.(15:9)
It means that, Allah is guardian of words of Quran and their meanings, Quran's rulings and it's secret knowledge etc. This is the reason we will have Hafiz, Qari, Scholars and Sufi's till the day of judgement (to protect the words of Quran). Hadith is the way of guarding Quran's rulings & it's secret knowledge. Otherwise words like 'Salah' & 'Zakah' will be protected (but what is exactly meant these words will not be known) like it will not be known what is meant by word 'Salah' weather it is dancing or running, similarly weather the meaning of 'Zakah' is washing clothes or something else. So ahadith are the most powerful means of protection of Quran.
Ahadith
1) The Prophet said : I have been given Quran and its like (i.e. hadith). Soon a person will born who will say 'Quran is enough for us'. Beware prohibitions by the prophet is like prohibition of Allah. Beware donkey is prohibited and every animal with canine teeth (dog etc.) is prohibited. (Abu Dawud, Darmi, Mishkat)
2) The Prophet said : I'm leaving two things between you, while you hold on to them you will not be misgided, the book of Allah and Sunnah of his Prophet. (Mu'atta, Mishkat)
3) The one is remained separated from group, he removed the tag of Islam from his neck.(Ahmad, Abu Dawud, Mishkat)
4) Wolf kills the sheep which gets separated from its herd. Satan is wolf for man, who moves away from the group of believers, will be hunted by Satan, always be will the group. (Ahmad, Mishkat)
Muslims have always followed Quran and Sunnah, now who rejects sunnah is separate from group and hence in control of Satan
5) The Prophet said : The one who eats halal provision, obey sunnah, and people are safe from him is from people of heaven. (Tirmizi, Mishkat)
6) The Prophet said : My ummah will divide in 73 sects, except one all will be in hellfire. He was asked about that one sect, he replied : " Who follows my path and path of my companions" ()
7) The Prophet said : My companions are like stars, whomsoever you follow will be guided. (Mishkat)
Rational proofs
1) The fact that Quran is Quran is proved from ahadith. We have not seen revelation of Quran nor watched Jibra'eel carrying revelations. The prophet said this is Quran and we believed and this saying of Prophet is hadith. The Quranist can not prove that Quran is word of Allah. (without the help of ahadith.)
2) The chapters, verses and their length is based on ahadith. How it is known that this much Quran, these many chapters and these many verses are revealed by Allah? Hadith rejectors can never answer it.
3) Without hadith, its not possible to follow Quran. Many places in Quran Allah says : And be steadfast in prayer; practice regular charity;(2:43). A person who rejects hadith can not prove the way of praying salah & its raka'h and amount of Zakah and how to pay it, from Quran. Similarly is the case with all the rulings of Quran, as if hadith is explanation of Quran.
4) Quranist should eat dogs and donkeys. Quran has only prohibited pigs, dead animals etc. prohibition of all other animal is proved only from ahadith.
5) Sunnah to Fara'id and Hadith to Quran is like water for food just like food can not be cooked and eaten without water similary rulings of Quran can not be followed without sunnah.
Praying salah is fard, binding hands, reciting Subhan Allah, at-Tahiyyat, Darud-e-Ibraheemi and Salam is all sunnah.
Lets Quranist pray atleast one salah which is only proved from Quran and no help is taken from ahadith.
6) Quran guides as well as misguides.
Allah sends astray many by it and guides many (2:26) but being with truthful is the source of guidance. Allah says : and be with the truthful(9:119) and says : Guide us in the straight path.The path of those whom You have favoured. (1:6-7) following hadith and fiqh is the path of all scholars, pious and righteous (people of Islam) and in this lies the guidance. rejecting ahadith is against their path hence it has misguidance.
7) Quran is book of Allah and the Prophet is noor (light) of Allah. Quran says : Undoubtedly, there has come to you from Allah a lightand a Book, luminous.(5:15) Book without light does benefit anything similarly Quran without commands of the Prophet can not benefit.
It must also be remembered that, only that sect is truth which has Auliya Allah (i.e. friends of Allah). The sect which is free of Auliyah is false. Flowers and fruits can grow only on those branches which is connected to the roots of the trees. Auliyah Allah are the fruits of the tree of ummah. Look, bani isra'eel (jews) had thousands of auliyah Allah but from the time theor religion became void, the wilayah stopped in them. There are many sects in Islam today, but except Ahlus Sunnah not has auliyah Allah. Let any quranist show a single wali from them. Hence it is understood that only Ahlus Sunnah are on true path.
Second Chapter - on their objections and their answers
We will mention few of hadith rejectors famous objections they describe everywhere along with their reply.
Objection 1 : The Almighty says : And We have sentdown this Quran on you in which every thing is clearly explained. (16:89) When Quran has explained everything why do we need hadith?
Reply : Quran is clear explanation of everything for the Prophet and not for people like us that is why "on you" is said. You kindly calculate the amount of zakah from Quran.
Objection 2: Quran says : and nor anythingwet and nor dry which is not written in a luminous Book.(6:59) When everything is mentioned in Quran then what do you take from hadith?
Reply : indeed Quran mentions everything but to derive anything from it requires complete intellect and we can not do it. Sea does contain pearls but it can be recovered only by divers while other will get drown. Pharmacy has medicines but its use can only be told by a doctor.
Objection 3: Almighty says : And verily, We have made Quran easy for remembering, is there then any one to remember? (54:17) When Quran is everything and is also easy then why is the need for hadith?
Reply: Quran is easy for memorizing and not for deriving religious rulings, hence "for remembering" is mentioned. There was no memorizer of Torah and Bible but small children can memorize Quran, this is the meaning of "easy for remembering". If deriving rulings would be easy why the Prophet would have been sent? Teach them the scripture and wisdom. (62:2), senior professor teaches higher book.
Objection 4: Rightly guided caliphs used to prohibit people from writing hadith. When companions did not narrate ahadith then how did it reach to people in later generations?
Reply : Companions did not used to prohibit from narrating ahadith but to narrate it negligently, so that wrong things are not attributed to the Prophet. If they would have prohibited the narration of ahadith then religion would have ceased because without hadith religion can not be established. Today thousands of ahadith are narrated by companions are present. Its in Sahih Muslim, Chapter on Seeking Permission To Enter A House that when Abu Sa'id Khudri narrated a hadith to Umar Faruq, he said : Bring a witness to support that you say, otherwise I shall take you to task. When Ibn Abi Ka'ab bear the witness, then Umar accepted it. From this hadith is can be understood that companions used to investigate ahadith so that hypocrites can not forge hadith.
Explaining this hadith, Imam Nawawi writes : Umar feared the swiftness of people in attributing things to the Prophet so that innovators, lairs and hypocrites get a chance.
The Prophet said to his companions : Narrate my ahadith to people without any issues, then how would rightly guided calips would prohibit it?
Objection 5 : The Prophet said : Do not write from me anything other than Quran. When the Prophet himself prohibited writing of ahadith then how can it be established. Only Quran remained and hence required to be followed.
Reply : It has many answers:
1) Its wierd that you reject hadith and then present the hadith as proof. This is also a hadith which you are describing, that means you are refuting hadith from hadith.
2) The purpose of this hadith is that people should memorize ahadith, as by writing the passion to memorise fades away.
3) This is the hadith from the time when Quran started revealing. It was feared that if people write Quran and ahadith then they may mix up. When people understood the difference between Quran and hadith, they were permitted to write ahadith.
Ahadith on permission to write (Ahadith)
1) The Prophet while on death bed himself asked for paper and said : let me write something for you so that you dont go astray. If writing hadith was prohibited, then why did the Prophet asked for it? Abu Hurairah says : Am'r bin A'as used to write ahadith but I do not.
2) On the occasion of Hujjat ul-Wida, the Prophet gave a speech. Abu Shah requested to get it written so the Prophet said : Write for Abu Shah.
3) Abu Bak' wrote ahadith on Sadqah and sent to governors so that they act on it.
4) People asked Ali that what secrets of the Prophet you have? He said : I have nothing other than a booklet in which a few ahadith are written.
5) Umar bin Abdul Azeez wrote to Abu Bak'r ibn Hazm: Find ahadith of the Prophet and write them. I fear may knowledge be wiped away. Imam Bukhari wrote a chapter " Kitabat ul-Ilm" that is writing of knowledge.
All these ahadith are present at the same place in Sahih Bukhari and at the end of Sahih Muslim.
Important Note : Its surprising that Quran orders to write transaction deeds, When you enter in the transaction of any debt for a fixed period, then write it down. (2:282) so that debt doesn't get wasted. In ahadith there is Faith, which is more precious than goods, hence how it is possible that it would prohibited to write them? Objection-er has deceived.
Objection 6 : There are many contradictions in ahadith. In some ahadith it is mentioned that prayer at night is better than all of the world and at another place it is mentioned that Jihad is better than this world. Similarly some ahadith mention that the Prophet did rafa yadain and some ahadith mention that he didnt used to do it. in some places its emphasised to leave worldly affairs and at other places its told to indulge in wordly affairs. This means that all the ahadith are false as there can not be contradictions in the statements of the Prophet.
Reply : It seems contradicting to you due to your ignorance otherwise there is no contradiction in them. Due to some reasons night prayers are better and by other reasons jihad is better. initially the Prophet used to do rafa yadain and later stopped it as this ruling was annulled.
In personal matters, attraction to the world is discouraged but in the matters of national and religious causes it is a good thing. Why do you reject ahadith due to your misconducts? Go and study hadith in any madarsah then you would come to know that you dont understand hadith just by reading urdu or english translations, else even verses of Quran also (seem to be) contradictory. Quran says the world was created in a moment i.e. very fast and at another place it says the world was created in few days, Who created the heavens and earth in six days (7:54). At places in Quran , Allah says that he would not converse with non-believers on the day of judgement and at other place says thay he will converse with them. At some place he says, on the day of judgment nobody will bear the burden of other person's sin and at other place says that he will have to bear it. At some place it says to be soft on non-beleievrs and at other place asks to be hard on them, do jihad with them. At some place it says iddat (waiting period) for a woman is one year and at other place says it to be 4 months 10 days. Will you reject Quran also? No, but you would try to understand it. Similarly work hard in understanding ahadith. There is niether contradictions in Quran and nor in sound ahadith, its just the fault of intellect.
Objection 7 : Many ahadith are against the intellect. hadith says that after sun is set, it does prostration in the court of Allah, then after taking permisson it rises again but physics says that it doesnt dissapers but keeps circling, when its day here, it is night in America. Beleiving in these ahadith in scientific society of today it like making joke of Islam.
Reply : This is also fault of your intellect and incapability in understanding ahadith. There are many verse of Quran which seem to be against human intellect. Quran says trees etc. do prostration though we have always seen then standing and never bowing down. Whatever is meant by prostartion in Quran should be meant same in hadith too, i.e. Sun always obeys Allah and keeps requesting permission to rise at other places. Thus everyone who can read urdu is reading transalation of Quran and ahadith without understanding and he doesnt understand them, refuses them.
Objection 8 : It is proved from ahadith that rightly guided caliphs took the registers of hadith and got them burned. If writing ahadith was good, why was it necessary to burnt them? When those books were burnt then how did people later got the ahadith?
Reply : Reply to this objection has already passed before. The registers which had Quran and ahadith mixed were burnt and people used to think that all of this is Quran, like the register of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, hence words of Sahih Bukhari, Chapter on 'the collection of the Quran 'are "and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt." or all the registers which had sound and false ahadith were buried. Just like after burning manuscripts of Quran, the original Quran remained protected similarly even after burning those registers, the original ahadith remained protected.
So, rejectors of ahadith do not have anything other a few delusions, thats why I ask Chakralvis to pray one salah which is the salah of Quran or live a single day only as per Quran. But they will never be able to do so. So why do you say things which you cant do ? Just like Quran is required, ahadith are also required.
Objection 9 : Ahadith were written after the era of the Prophet , they were not in the form of books at that time. So there is no authenticity of these books, who knows if they are correct or wrong?
Reply : Exactly same question can be asked for Quran too i.e. Quran was not in book form during the era of the Prophet, it was compiled later in the time of Abu Bak'r and then it was published in the time of Usman Ghani. After the era of caliphs, declensions where added to Quran and many years after this chapters and ruk'u were decided. Who knows people wrote it correctly or not? Almighty Allah granted such a strong memory to companions that they had memorized lakhs of ahadith without a minor mistake.When the era of companions reached the end, ahadith were written so much precautions that its example can not be found in any generation. History of every narrator was written in book and a special subject for this was developed, which is called Asma ur Rijaal.
Imam Abu Hanifa, who was born in 80H wrote Masaneed Abu Hanifah, then Imam Malik who was born in 90H, wrote Mu'atta Imam Malik. Similarly Imam Muhammed wrote Mu'atta Imam Muhammed etc. In 194H Imam Bukhari was born and he wrote such a marvellous book that Subhan Allah, i.e. Sahih Ul-Bukhari. Before and during the period of writing of this book, people used to memorize ahadith just like Quran is recited nowadays. After compilation of ahadith, the custom of memorizing ahadith lessened.
Objection 10 : Case of hadith is such that one narrator narrates from another narrator, though Quran says : bearing witness with justice (5:8). Hence hadith narrated by single narrator is not trustworthy as per this verse. Hence all those ahadith which has just one companion as narrator or one taba'een as narrator are not at all valid.
Reply : It has two replies, one blaming and the other researched one. The blaming reply is that then we do not know about Quran also as one Jibra'eel presented the Quran to the Prophet and one Prophet gave Quran to his people. So from this verse of Quran, the whole Quran itself became untrustworthy. Jibra'eel should have brought the Quran and two Prophets should have given it to their people.
In a jungle, you determine the direction of Qibla, purity of water, cleanliness of place just by a single persons information. You come to know about cleanliness of new clothes and halal meat by information conveyed by one person. If two persons are required as witness for eveything them there will be chaos in the world.
Quran itself says that one witness is sufficient, and a witness of the household of the woman bore witness (12:26) i.e. one person from the family of Zulekha gave witness. So its known that innosence of prophet yusuf was established by just one witness and Quran maintained it.
Researched reply is that, In the court of qazi money matters will be proved by two witnesses, for fornication 4 witnesses will be required but in case of religious matter, witness of one person is sufficient. In ahadith the distinction is made is such a way that, for definite beliefs consecutive hadith (khabr-e-mutawatir) is necessary in other issues somewhere famous hadith is necessary and sometime even hadith narrated by single narrator is also sufficient. But in religious rulings only Sahih ahadith are considered, in virtues even weak ahadith are accepted. These points are explained in details in the book of Usul ul-Fiqh and Usul ul-Hadith, of which you dont have any idea.
Objection 11: In some ahadith there are narrations which shakes your faith when you listen to them like in Sahih ul-Bukari, Kitab ut-Talaq its mentioned that the Prophet stretched his hands towards an unknown women Umaima bint Sharahil but she sought refuge from him. If ahadith contain these things how can they be followed? La Hawla Wa la Quwwata.
Reply : The reason for this objection is that you didnt study ahadth from a comptent teacher and hence could not understand it correctly. You should recite "La Hawl" on your intellect and not on hadith. Without understanding these objections can be made on Quran also.
Quran while describing the story of Loot says that to protect the honor of his guests , He said 'These women of my people are my daughters if you are to do.(15:71)
Quran says about prophet Yusuf : And no doubt, the woman desired him, and he would also have desired her. (12:24)
presently own daughter to people doesn't shakes your faith and desire for unknown women doesnt panic you? are these things according to the honor of the Prophets?
Alhumdulillah, Prophets are free of every fault. The fault is in your ignorance and eyes. Umaima bint Sharahil was married to the Prophet, she was not stranger as Sahih ul-Bukhari mentions at this place itself. But to look into these things, glasses of pure faith are required. Prophet Loot meant the wives of his people by saying these are my daughters. In surah Yusuf actual translation of the verse is that Zulekha desired Yusuf and he would have also desired her if he would have seen the signs of Allah.
May Allah let us correctly understand his words and words of his beloved Prophet i.e. ahadith.
Objection 12: It is established from history that Muhaddithin has lakhs of ahadith but they themselves didnt narrate most of them but very few, considering them incorrect. Imam Bukhari wrote only a few thousand ahadith from lakhs of ahadith. This means that incorrect ahadith has also been made.
Reply : Yes, incorrect ahadith have been created and after the research of muhaddithin they have been separated also. from your objection it is proved that muhaddithin removed the severed ahadith by investigation. Some didnt write them in their books and those who wrote them, specified their status. Look at Jami ut-Tirmizi, with every hadith its condition and status is also mentioned that wether its sound or weak.
Important Note
At last, two points must also be understood, that there is difference between sunnah and hadith. Hadith is every saying and act of the Prophet which has been narrated, though it may not be applicable for us to be followed but Sunnah is every saying and act of the Prophet which should be followed. The Prophet marrying 11 wives at a time, Circumambulating the Kabah while on a camel, praying salah while carrying his grand daughter Umamah on his shoulder is proved from hadith but its not sunnah, we can not act upon these things. This is the reason the Prophet said : Hold on to my sunnah, he didnt say that Hold on to my hadith. Hence no body can claim to be Ahlul Hadith (follower of Hadith) in the world and by the grace of Allah, we are Ahlus Sunnah because the meaning of Ahlul hadith is acting on every hadith, which is impossible but Ahlus Sunnah means acting on every sunnah, which is possible.
Second, even though we act on fard, wajib, mustahab, nafil, sunnat but our name is not Ahlul Fard or Ahlul Wajib etc. but we are Ahlus Sunnah because fard and wajib hold the hand only after a person becomes baligh (reaches puberty) and become sane but the sunnah of the Prophet takes us in its arm as soon as we are born. As you see, getting married is sunnah, providing education is sunnah, then eating, doing bussiness, working, sleeping and waking up, taking care of wife and children, even birth and death is sunnah. The fard is only to cover the area between below navel to knee, otherwise everything else is sunnah.
May Allah make us fortunate to live and die on sunnah of the Prophet: Aameen.
