MUSLIM ‘ULAMA CHALLENGE GOD
PRODUCE SOMETHING “EQUAL” TO QUR’AN
By Mohammed Kamaludin,
Singapore
RABITAT AL’ALAM AL ISLAMI, the official Arabic magazine of the Muslim World League, in its 1983 March issue carried an article titled TADWEEN AL SUNNAH by Ustad Muhammad Nizami. He quotes SUNAN ABI DAWOOD that the prophet had declared that, “Know that Qur’an and the LIKE of it (‘mithluhu’ i.e. Sunnah) was given to me.” Mr. Nizami also states the reasons for “equality (mumathalah)of sunnah with Qur’an.”
This simply amounts to the DECLARATION THAT SUNNAH IS SIMILAR TO QUR’AN. Since the written record of Sunnah is Hadith, then Hadith is LIKE Qur’an! The similarity of the two is further reinforced by the ‘facts’ (as claimed by the author). He states that Sunnah/Hadith is inspired in idea form, is used in prayers and preaching, and is ‘guidance for mankind.’ He also states that the compilers of Hadith were really ‘truthful’ scholars, and that all of them are imams!
But God has challenged the world in Qur’an: “Let them produce a Hadith LIKE IT (MITHLIHI) – i.e. like Qur’an), if they are truthful.” (52:34) History records that from the time of Rasulullah to this day the unbelieving section of humanity has never produced any hadith or book which the Muslims could use LIKE QUR’AN. But here we see an outstanding Muslim ‘Alim, representing ‘ulamadom’ of Islam DECLARING IN AN OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ‘ULAMA THAT THEY HAVE PRODUCED SOMETHING LIKE QUR’AN; THAT THEY HAVE THE SUNNAH/HADITH WHICH IS LIKE QUR’AN!
IS THIS NOT THE SAME AS CHALLENGING GOD BACK? IS THIS NOT EQUAL TO ADMITTING THE ACCEPTANCE OF GOD’S CHALLENGE TO PRODUCE SOMETHING SIMILAR OR EQUAL TO QUR’AN? IS THIS NOT A WORD FOR WORD FULFILLMENT OF GOD’S PROPHECY?
The legality of Sunnah/Hadith cannot be claimed on the basis of verses 53:3-4: “He does not speak on his own. This is a divine inspiration.” (3) without admitting that the Prophet’s actions that led to the incidents described in 66:1, 80:1-10, 18:23, 24, 33:37, 40:66, and 93:7 were also inspired. And it is not explained at all that having inspired the Prophet to do something, then, when done, why does Allah REPRIMAND him and immortalize those incidents in Qur’an!
Ustad Nizami quotes an hadith that “in the beginning the writing of hadith was forbidden (“Do not write anything from me except Qur’an. Those who have written anything other than Qur’an shall erase it.) For the reasons that “hdith might get mixed up with Qur’an and might hinder the memorization of Qur’an.” In fact, this danger of hadith ‘getting mixed up with Qur’an existed until the final verse of Qur’an was revealed. (The Prophet died nine days after revelation of the last verse.) Any attempt at writing Hadith during that period, therefore, constitutes clear violation of the Qur’anic commandment. “You shall obey God, and you shall obey the prophet.” When Abdullah ibn ‘Amr was “allowed to write hadith” in AH 7 as he became a Muslim, Rasulullah seems contradicting himself. Also earlier Muslims do not seem to have received this special treatment. The claim that the completion of Qur’an had superceded the earlier instruction is strange; no evidence is produced to the effect that Rasulullah had cancelled it! Believing that Rasulullah had perfectly understood Qur’an including verses 52:34, 7:185, 77:50, 45:6, 4:87, 39:23, 68:44, 56:81, 12:111, and 31:6 (all against hadith and none of the 36 references on hadith supports it), it is hard to believe that he had cancelled his instruction NOT TO WRITE HADITH.
Again the Prophet was disobeyed by not making unanimous and uncontested selection of KHULAFA UR RASHIDEEN whom the Prophet had supposedly identified and nominated, according to his hadith, “Follow my sunnah and the sunnah of AL KHULAFA AL RASHIDEEN after me.” The selection of the first Khalifa was contested on the very morning Rasulullah had passed away, and this matter remains disastrously divisive until today.
On the Day of Judgment, Rasulullah will complain to Allah: “O my Lord; my people had forsaken this Quran.” (25:30) This means that he either ignores or is ignorant of Sunnah/Hadith. Either way, it is clear that he did not approve Sunnah/Hadith until his death or even after. If he had approved, as claimed by Hadith, then why should he shy away from defending it on the Day of Judgment?
Mr. Azami in his doctorate thesis on Hadith literature Studies in early Hadith literature records the following information: According to Ibn Hanbal, over 7,000,000 traditions were sound, of which 6,000,000 were memorized by Abu Zur’ah” (Ibid pg 301, 1978, American Trust Publications). If this 7 million sound hadiths were spread over 23 years and the Prophet used 18 hours a day continually to disseminate these hadiths, he must have done this at the rate of one hadith every 77 seconds! IN PRACTICAL TERMS, HE COULD NOT HAVE DONE ANYTHING ELSE!
Each compiler of hadith had collected hundreds of thousands of hadiths from which only a small fraction was accepted; e.g. Bukhari found only 7397 hadiths (mere 2602 when repetitions are eliminated) as worth recording from 600,000 hadiths he had collected. This means that by this standard of quality control nearly 99% of them were rejected and the higher the rejection rate, the more genuine the selected hadiths were!!! Yet in all other matters, we go for the Kuffar QC standards which demand the exact opposite: the lower the rejection rate, the better is the quality of the accepted items.!
Yet another ugly aspect is recorded by a “Professor of Islamic Studies” that: “The Prophet himself referred to this inner aspect of his nature as in the Hadith, ‘I am Araby without the letter ‘Ayn (that is “Rab” which means Lord). Who hath seen me, has seen God (the truth).”
(pg 89, “IDEALS AND REALITIES IN ISLAM” by Dr. Sayyed Hussein Nasr, George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London, 1966.) This must be acceptable to the ‘Ulama as none of them has ever protested in the last 19 plus years since publication of that book. But Allah strongly condemns this: “If any of them (the prophets) claims to be a god beside Allah, we shall punish him in Hell; thus we punish the wicked.” 21:29 IS THIS THE DESTINY OF OUR BELOVED PROPHET?
At least four times in Qur’an Rasulullah was commanded to follow what was revealed to him from God (6:106, 10:109, 33:2, & 75:18). At least four times he was ordered to say: I only follow what is revealed to me. (6.50, 10:15, 46:9, & 7:203) So he followed Qur’an alone. In fifty plus places Allah emphasizes that He explains His Ayaat. 25:33 says that God provides the best tafseer (explanation) of Qur’an. 75:19 says that God is the only one who will explain Qur’an. The first mufassir (interpreter) of Qur’an was Satan (7:19-21), and he has vowed to misguide us from God’s straight path (7:16-17).
Allah also declares in Qur’an that none shall abrogate His Ayaat(6:34, 6:115, & 18:27). 21:28 states that none of His prophets would contradict Him. Yet we have religious laws (based on hadith) which supercede God’s laws of 24:1-2, 6:54, 5:6, etc. Who is a better lawgiver than Allah for the sincere believers?(5:50) WHOSE TESTIMONY IS BETTER THAN ALLAH’S (6:19)
Unfortunately, a majority of Muslim’Ulama today would readily state (unbelievable as this may be) that HADITH ABROGATES QUR’AN!!!
From Muslim Perspective, May, 1986
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