Unfair Attack on Sunnah by Some Elements: What Would Be Appropriate Response?

WHAT are the criticism used against Sunnah/Hadith of the Prophet of Islam (SallAllahu Alaihe wa sallam) by the ignorants, bigots and  enemies of Islam? The basic criticism is that the Hadith from which we know Sunnah is unreliable; that the collection of Hadith was made very late and there was also a movement of spreading false Hadith by inventing Matn (text) and/or Isnad (chain of narrators). The atheists, some orientalists and some Christian missionaries quote around thirty/forty Hadiths from Bukhari, Muslim and other collections of Hadith and try to show how frivolous these are and as such, the whole Hadith literature should be thrown out. They also criticize and create doubt about the Prophet for saying such so-called unscientific Hadith.

1. To counter this evil and falsehood what is needed is to clarify the relevant issues and  spread the knowledge of the discipline of Hadith evaluation and interpretation, the knowledge of Usul-al-Hadith and Usul-al-Fiqh (principles of Islamic Jurisprudence ). We can point out that a very serious movement for collection of Hadith was undertaken by scholars as soon as  possible after the death of the Prophet  and most rigorous principles were followed in separating the false ones from the acceptable hadith and for distinguishing the Sahih (excellent principally because the narrators were very  reliable ) from the weak.

2.  A discussion of Sahih is necessary. A hadith is considered Sahih (excellent) if all the reporters in the chain of report (isnad ) are of good character, good memory and free from any moral defect. The criterion of Sahih also differ slightly from scholar to scholar, for instance, Imam Muslim and Imam Bukhari differed on some principles. Furthermore, when we say that this is a Sahih Hadith from Bukhari, it means that the Hadith is Sahih according to Imam Bukhari, others may agree or disagree. For instance, Imam Daraqutni finds about a hundred Hadiths that are weak in Bukhari and about similar number in Muslim. (Please see the commentary of Bukhari by a scholar from Deobond, Maulana Mufti Muhammad Idris Qasemi ,Kashful Bari , Sharhil Bukhari. Similarly, Imam Al-Bani found a number of Hadiths weak in Bukhari and Muslim. There are other scholars who have differed on some Hadiths of Bukhari and Muslim.From the above it follows that -------------

a.    There are Hadiths considered Sahih by all. We are concerned with this group more than other Hadith.

b.   There is a small group of Hadith, which are considered Sahih by some and weak by others.

c.   There are Hadiths considered weak by scholars and these can not be the basis of Aqida (issues related to belief) or law or Hadd  punishment ( punishment prescribed in the text of Quran or Sunnah.

3.   Scholars of Hadith and Usul agree that a Hadith can be considered acceptable or Sahih only if it passes the test Isnad and Matn (text) checking. The text must also be free from unethical, immoral, plainly irrational, and established facts. These are all well-known and established principles of Matn examination. It is true that Matn checking in the past was not done as rigorously as was done in case of chain of narrators. A group of scholars have called for such examination and in fact a group of Turkish Ulama have undertaken such a collective task. If such work is done under the auspices of OIC Fiqh Academy with Ulama drawn from Universities of Al-Azhar, Deobond and Madina with the aid of experts of various science disciplines, this will get world-wide acceptability. This should be done without delay. If such a task is carried out, may be some more hadith will be found weak from Matn (text) point of view. This will not affect structure or belief of Isla as all these are bases on the Quran and well- established Sunnah.

4. Most of the misgivings about Sahih Hadith will go if we follow the following principles in understanding them:

a. Sunnah should be interpreted in the light of the Quran, because Sunnah is essentially the explanation of the Quran; it can not go against Quran.

b. Sunnah in any issue may not be found in one Sahih Hadith but only when all the Sahih Hadith on the issue are taken together. For instance, Sunnah's approach to agriculture, the case of wearing long Ijar..

c.  Objectives should be seen in understanding Sunnah. For instance, the Sunnah of the Prophet with regard to dealing with missing camel , the nisab of Zakat, women traveling with a mahrem ( a person with whom marriage is not valid )..

d.    Stable ends contained in the Hadith should be seen, not only the means. For instance, Hadith about maintaining weight of Mecca and measure of Medina.

e. Where necessary, figurative meaning should be taken, not literal meaning.

f.   The Hadith about Barzakh (time from death to resurrection ) and Akhirat (after-life or hereafter) should not be understood in the light of worldly science. The laws there will be different which we do not know.

These principles have been discussed by many scholars but placed together by Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi in his book, "Approaching The Sunnah - Comprehension and Controversy", published by International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), 2006.

You can also see the the books Losing my religion: A Call For Help by Jeffrey Lang and the Issues in Contemporary Islamic Thought by Shaikh Taha Jabir Al Alwani.

In the end, I must say that we must fight the conspiracy against Sahih Sunnah, which is a basis of Deen (basic faith ) and law of Islam.

(Shah Abdul Hannan is the Chairman of Bangladesh Institute of Islamic Thought)