Hadith Rejection and the “Quran-Only” Argument - Q&A

0:00This audio is brought to you by Muslim Central. The idea that modern criticism brings is that how can you rely on people? You can only rely on Allah. We pray three rakah for Maqrib. We pray four rakah for Aisha. We pray two rakah for Fajr. None of this is in the Quran. And none of this is in the Hadith. The authenticity of Islam is... We are the most chaotic religion on earth. We have, man, every much that's got their own. Muthhab, everybody's got their own. And yet, I can travel to Indonesia. And I hear the Adhan of Maqrib, and I hear the same Adhan I heard in Morocco. Assalamu'alaikum. So first of all, it's an honor to meet you finally. I loved your book Revi'er Heart.

1:00So sad I didn't bring it with me because I would have loved your autograph on it. But I have a question that circulates around my mind lately. Because there's a lot of speculation, also on social media, etc. about the ones that say we only need to follow the Quran. And we have to be careful about everything that's been written by mankind. So we don't repeat what was repeated in Christianity. For example, like a lot of things have changed from the book that actually was given to Sayyidina Aisha, Alayhi salatu wa salam. And that, an Islam that we're actually doing the same thing that God has already said, for example, in Surat al-En Kabud. 2029 verse 51, where he says like,

2:00isn't it enough that we have given you a book where everything was already given to you? Like a lot of them use that term to block our belief in that so many hundred years later after the Prophet Muhammad Al-Lawis Al-Lam died. It was written, the Sunnah was written. So it's like, are there? I don't even know how to put the question. Thank you, I think you did a good job. Putting it good. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. This is a question that is not modern. So the first thing I'd like you to know is that this is a question that was being asked in the first century, the second century, the third century of Islam. And this is a question that was being debated heavily. So it's not something that just came out of nowhere today. And the answer to this question is sometimes oversimplified by some people.

3:02I don't like to, I'm okay with accepting complication when there is complication. The Rasulullah, the Harsatulah, left a legacy behind, not just of words, but a living practice, a living legacy. And that living legacy was only brought to us by people. Like we didn't get the Quran by print, we got it because of people. And those people carried the message of the Quran and they also carried what they learned from the practice of the Prophet's life. So how he applied the Quran in life, in worship, in food, in marriage, etc., etc., right? Yeah, it's details. It's details. Now, like any other religion, there were people who over the centuries relied on certain reports more than other reports. So all of these historical reports were being documented in scattered places. And a few centuries later, they started getting compiled. So the difference is scattered reports and compiled reports.

4:06The reports did not get invented 300 years later, but the reports started getting gathered 300 years later. They already existed, but in scattered form in the first couple of centuries. Even then, there was a question about these reports are there, who is reliable and who is not so reliable. Right? Among these chains, who is reliable and who is that? And there's debate about that. There's debate about a certain person and debate about a certain, maybe if the chain is ABC and D, we're not sure about C. And some people say, no, no, I'm very sure about C. C is okay. And another person says, C is not that okay. I don't think I'm convinced of C. So you might get different conclusions by different people. But they all agreed on one thing. And the one thing, generally, historically, that was agreed was these reports are, they cannot be considered 100% exact. That's why even in the Mosqueh narrations, we say, or exactly how he said. So we acknowledge in our Hadith tradition

5:08that these reports are a high degree of accuracy, but can we say with 100% these are exactly, exactly 100% the words of the Prophet's Laws of the Son, there had to be other people that had to be relied on for us to get to that point. But the idea that modern criticism brings is that how can you rely on people? You can only rely on Allah. That's kind of the idea, right? We pray three rakah for Mughrib. We pray four rakah for Aisha. We pray two rakah for Fajr. We make one Rukur, then we get up from Rukur, we say, we are Allahul Iman Hamida. Then we make two such laws. None of this is in the Quran. None of it. Okay. And none of this is in a Hadith. There's no Hadith that says, make two such laws, then get up, or make such laws, then do Qorud, then do such laws again, then get up, and then start the Fatiha, then recite the Surah, then go to Rukur, then say, Allahul Iman Hamida, there's no Hadith like this. Not a single one. So now you've got a problem of,

6:09there's no Quran, and there's no Hadith. Now where did this come from? That's because when, look, when everybody in your home, in the modern world, everybody puts their shoes on their feet, then you don't have to have an education where the shoes go. I don't see any historical document that says shoes go on the feet. So one day, when you decide to put the shoes on your ear and walk out, and somebody says, what are you doing? Where's your delir, brother? That shoes go on the feet. Stupid. Everybody's doing it. Everybody was praying, Maha-u-Rat-Riraka, everybody was praying, Masha'a-For-Raka, everybody was praying, you know, and these practices are so overwhelming, they didn't have to be documented. If somebody came along, if everybody is doing it, and somebody came along, by the way, I just want to make sure, so our next generation is protected, shoes go on the feet. Just because I want to make sure everybody gets this,

7:10because, you know, I really want to protect Islam. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, and we, the Imam stands in the front, and we stand in rows behind him. Just want to make sure you guys got that, okay? Just wanted to, nobody wrote this down. You know why? Because it's overwhelming practice. It's overwhelming practice. And the reports that we have, the majority of them, they are parallel with the overwhelming practice. Here's another thing. These reports, they came scattered. But Islam was not scattered. Islam was spreading in every direction. Asia, Africa, Europe, at the same time. At the same time. But the reports are going in this direction, and some of them are going in this direction, and some of them are going in this direction. So not everybody in the first century has all the reports. And not everybody in the second century has all the reports. And by the third century, the reports are getting collected.

8:12So it's very possible that there are people in Iraq who have no knowledge of some Hadith, and there are people in Sham that have no knowledge of some other Hadith, and there are people in, you know, in some parts of India that have no knowledge of certain, it's possible or no? It's very possible. It's not only possible, it's historical fact. Yeah, it's a fact. And if that's the case, there Islam should have looked very different. The Islam that reached Africa, parts of different parts of Africa, and the Islam that reached the Levant, and the Islam that reached parts of Asia, should look very different because they had different kinds of reports. Right? And then it should have taken a life of its own, if I'm just being a sociologist right now, and a social anthropologist, it should have become a completely different identity. But what do you notice even 14 centuries later? It's not because, unlike the church, where the NIC in Creed was adopted, and once the NIC in Creed was adopted, if you disagree with the Trinity, you will be killed. It was imposed as law. We never had that in Islam. We never said, if you don't accept Bukhari, you'll be killed. We never said,

9:12if you don't accept a Revival from Abu Dawud, you will be executed. That never happened. And so we didn't enforce it, and yet we have the kind of incredible consistency in the Ummah, and the things we disagree about, practically you don't see them. This is actually the testimony of Islam, the authenticity of Islam, as it is. The authenticity of Islam is, that even though we don't have one, do we agree on one Imam by the way? Today, do we all agree on one Sheikh? Do we all agree on one Fikr? Do we all agree on one Muslim government? No, we are the most chaotic religion on earth. The Catholics have one Pope. They can't even have Pope Aing. This is one. And you've got to get rid of one to get the other one. Right? You can't just have a Pope. But we have, man, every Masha'at has got their own. Masha'at, everybody's got their own, you know. And yet,

10:13without, I can travel to Indonesia and go in a village where I don't speak any Bahasa Indonesia. And I hear the Adhan of Mokhari, but I hear the same Adhan I heard in Morocco. And I go and stand in Salah. And I'm here in the same Quran, the same Rukur, the same Samiyah Allah Al-Iman Hamidah, the same Asalamu Alaykum wa rahmatullahi. And nobody stands in Maghrib going like this. And nobody's doing such that like this. How? How did that happen? But if you, because if you go from one church to another church, they're just singing a different song. If you go from one temple to another temple, they're doing different rituals. This is a variety. Right? But there's no variety in this religion like that. This was a glimpse of a few reflections, but I've actually done quite a deep dive into all of these ayat. And I'd really encourage you to study the full blown study of these ayat along with me, which Alhamdulillah, by Allah's grace, is available on the revealed app now.

11:13You can just select whichever ayah and look at all of my notes and listen to the concise commentary also. So I'd really like to encourage you to become part of the revealed app family. It's a remarkable project of anyone who is engaged with the study of the Quran, or is curious about the Quran reading any part of the Quran and just wants to know. I wonder what this ayah is talking about. I wonder if Nirmans done some work on this ayah or have some thoughts on it. You can just hold down the ayat and you'll get my notes and you might even get, or you also get my concise commentary on it. You can also post questions on there, which many of you are starting to post Masha'Allah. So I'd really encourage you to become part of this revolutionary study and this revolutionary resource that can really help develop a very good bond between you and the Quran, and also a really great way for me to gain insights on what kinds of things are on your mind as you post your questions. Thanks so much and I hope to see you at the revealed app.