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Ulm-ul-Qur’an An Introduction to the Science of the Qur’an
(How to Study and Understand the Quran) By:
Dr.
Hasanuddin Ahmed, I.A.S.
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CHAPTER - 12
ILMU TAWILIL QUR’AN BIL HADITH
PLACE OF HADITH IN INTERPRETING THE QUR'AN
The traditions, in Arabic ahadith
(sing. hadith) about the Prophet Muhammad (S), are a record of what he
said and did, and what was done in his presence (and thus had his tacit
approval). The Word hadith
means, narration (Qur’an 99:4) report (Qur’an 39:23) discourse (Qur’an 93:11
and 56:81) tale, legend (Qur’an 34:19 and 51:24) "That
day it (the world) will narrate its annals". (Qur’an 99:4) "Allah
has sent down the very best discourse (ahsan al hadith) as a Book
conformable in its juxtaposition, which makes all of those who fear their
Lord, shudder...." (Qur’an 39:23) "And of
your Sustainer's blessings shall you ever speak." (Qur’an 93:11) "Would
you, now, look down with disdain on a message like this." (Qur’an 56:81) ".....and
they did wrong to themselves. So we turned them into bygone tales, and
dispersed them tattered into bits...." (Qur’an 34:19) ". . .
Has the story of Abraham's honoured guests come to you?." (Qur’an 51:24) It is to be
noted that the word ‘hadith’ is not used in the Qur`an just in the
sense of reporting a matter or narrating an event or a talk about something
but the use of the word implies that the narration is always with a purpose,
the purpose being to let it serve as a reminder. Hence we find in at least
two ayaat, the use of the word hadith along with the word zikr: “The other said: “If then
you would follow me, ask me no questions about anything until I myself give
you an account thereof.” (Qur’an 18:70) “That is why We have sent
it down as an eloquent Qur`an and explained in different ways the warnings
through it that they may haply take heed, or perhaps it may lead them to
contemplate.” (Qur’an 20:113) The word ‘hadith’
is used in the Qur`an in this general sense. After the revelation of the
Qur`an, however, hadith acquired the meaning of tradition or reports
(verbal and written) about the sayings of the Prophet. Ahadith
(plural) are considered as a record of what the Prophet said, did and what was
done in his presence (and thus had his tacit approval). This definition
itself is not quite correct as several reports in the six correct
compilations pertain to a period after the Prophet.[1] Even the Qur`an has
reported sayings of the Prophet: I. As addressed to the Companion, in the
cave, ‘at Thaur’: “. . . . when these two
were (hiding) in the cave, (and) the Apostle said to his Companion, ‘Grieve
not: verily Allah is with us’. . . .” (Qur’an 9:40) II. As addressed to his adopted son Zaid: “And lo, (O
Muhammad) you did say unto the one whom Allah had shown favour and to whom
you had shown favour: ‘hold on to your wife, and remain conscious of Allah’
and would you hide within yourself something that Allah was about to bring to
light – for you did stand in awe of (what) people (might think) whereas it
was Allah alone of whom you should have stood in awe.” (Qur’an 33:37)[2] Popular
compilations of hadith (reported incidents from the life of the
Prophet) are the following well authenticated collections of traditions,
known by the names of their compilers, which together are termed the 'Six
correct compilations': Abu
'Abdullah Muhammad bin Isma'il al‑Bukhari, (194/810 ‑ 256/870) Abu Hasan
Muslim bin al‑Hajjaj al Qushairi, (204/820 ‑ 261/875) Abu 'Abdullah Muhammad bin Yazid bin Majah
al‑Qazwini (209/825 ‑ 273/886) Abi
Da'ud Sulaiman bin al Ash'ath As‑Sajistani (202/818 ‑ 275/888) Abu 'Isa Muhammad bin 'Isa at‑Tirmidhi
(209/825 ‑ 279/892) Abu 'Abdur‑Rahman Ahmad bin Shuayb an‑Nasa'i
(214/829 ‑ 303/916) Hadith
literally means what happens later. That which is born in time as opposed to qadim
(former). Ibn Hajar
Asqalani (d. 852/1448) in his book 'Fath al Bari sharah Bukhari, has
observed as follows: "As a
religious term ‘hadith’ means such sayings, which are attributed to
the Prophet. It is used as against the Qur'an which is former." In assessing
the place of ‘hadith’ in interpreting the Qur'an two groups of
scholars are found who hold contradictory ideas. Both the sides exhibit
rather exaggerated views. One group of
scholars is of the view that the Qur'anic message cannot be fully and
correctly understood without the help of hadith. This group is almost
ready to accept even the less authentic ahadith and concludes that
they have an independent position. These
scholars are of the opinion that hadith is a source of furnishing
details on the concise injunctions of the Qur'an. The meanings of certain ayaat
of the Qur'an cannot be determined without the help of ahadith. On the
authority of the Qur'an they argue that ‘hadith’ is that which
explains, interprets and elucidates the Qur'an; "....And upon you (too) have We
bestowed this reminder so that you might make clear unto mankind all that has
ever been thus bestowed upon them and they might reflect." (Qur’an 16:44) They further
argue that the Qur'an has determined the mission of the Prophet: "Even
as We sent a messenger from among you to convey Our messages to you and
cleanse you, and teach you the Book and wisdom, and what you did not
know:". (Qur’an 2:151) The Qur'an
also entrusted the Prophet the task of explaining to mankind that which has
been revealed for them so that they reflect: "We had
sent them with miracles and books; and We have sent to you this Reminder so
that you may explain distinctly to men what was sent down to them; They may
haply reflect." (16:44) There is the same relationship between the
Qur'an and the hadith as between Allah and the revered personality of
the Prophet. Just as the Prophet conveyed the message of Allah, his sayings
convey the interpretation and elucidation of the Qur'an. According to
Mohd. Mas'ud 'Alam Qasmi' "the elaboration of the concise and brief
injunctions of the Qur'an, and determination of the specific out of the
general observations of the Qur'an is possible only through ‘hadith’.
The Qur'an can neither be fully understood nor its teachings can be applied
in varying situations by any source other than the ‘hadith’. It is not
possible to understand the Qur'an and to derive any useful result from it by
keeping aside 'hadith." Further
views of these scholars are as follows; Allah,
enjoined the Prophet to explain and interpret the Qur'anic messages. If the
position of the Qur'an as a universal law enforced on eternal basis is
accepted, ahadith can be regarded as rules which are meant for the
implementation of general injunctions, for elaboration of the Qur'anic
teaching and for the definite explanation of the concise observations. In respect
of a number of Qur'anic teachings, elucidation and explanation can be found
in the conduct and teachings of the Prophet which are available only in the hadith.
The Prophet used to explain the meanings of the ayaat which are found
difficult. The
injunctions regarding Salat (obligatory prayers) Saum
(fasting), Hajj, Zakat (obligatory charity) and other matters
are referred to in the Qur'an in a condensed form. The details are available
only in the ahadith. "It is
He who raised among the gentiles an apostle from, amongst them, who recites
His revelations to them, reforms them and teaches them the Scripture and the
Law, for before him they were clearly in error." (Qur’an 62:2) In the
presence of the Qur'an when the responsibility of teaching the book and hikmah is devolved on the Prophet it
is very clear that the saying of the Prophet will determine the meanings of
the Qur'anic ayaat. Whenever the
Qur'anic messages were revealed the Prophet used to dictate them. He used to
explain and elucidate them and used to present the teachings by his own
conduct. It is therefore, enjoined in the Qur'an to obey Allah and the
Prophet. If there is
even an iota of difference between the obedience of Allah and that of the
Prophet the injunction of obeying both would be meaningless. Simultaneous
injunction only implies that obedience of the Prophet is equal to the
obedience of Allah. The Qur'an says; "He who
obeys the Apostle obeys Allah; and if some turn away (remember) We have not
sent you as warden over them." (Qur’an 4:80) ". . .
Accept what the Apostle gives you, and refrain from what he forbids and take heed
for yourself and fear Allah. Surely Allah is severe of retribution.;( Qur’an
59:7) "Say;
‘If you love Allah then follow me that Allah may love you and forgive your
sins; for Allah is forgiving and kind’ ". (Qur’an 3:31) They argue
that for strict adherence to the teachings of the Qur'an, the Qur'anic
injunctions alone are not sufficient; The Qur'an
says: "So, as We recite it, follow its
reading." "The
exposition of its meaning surely rests on Us." (Qur’an 75:18,19.) Allah has
thus taken the responsibility of the exposition of its meaning. This
exposition is obviously outside the Qur'an. It is a form of wahiy which is different from the
Qur'an. The Prophet did not say anything of his own nor he conveyed anything
out of his desire: "Neither
does he speak of his own will." "It is
nothing but revelation that comes down. (Qur’an 53:3,4) The conduct
and teaching of the Prophet are shown by the Qur'an as exemplary. The mention
of the model is found in the Qur'an but the details regarding the model
conduct and the teachings are outside the Qur'an. These are to be found in ahadith. Some
scholars of this group go to the extent of saying that hadith can
amend or abrogate whatever is contained in the Qur'an. There is
another group which goes to the other extreme; it considers the hadith as
redundant. These scholars argue on the basis of the following observations of
the Qur'an; "Allah
has sent down the very best discourse (ahsanal hadith) as Book
conformable in its juxtaposition, which makes all of those who fear their
Lord, shudder. . . .” (Qur’an 39:23). "There
is not an example they advance to which We do not give you a right answer and
better explanation." (Qur’an 25:33) They surmise
that when the Qur’an itself is the ‘fairest hadith’; and that the best
explanation is available therein no further aid is required for the
understanding of the Qur'an. These scholars regard all ‘hadith’ as
apocryphal and of no concern to the 'muhkamaat' of the Qur'an. In
their view the hadith constitute the history of 'din' and not 'din'
itself which has been given in its complete form in the Qur'an. This trend
of rejecting the hadith is growing among the Muslim intelligentsia.
The orthodox scholars who mostly subscribe to the views of the former group
regard the rejection of hadith as a mischief. The
difference between the two groups can be reconciled if some important facts
are taken into consideration. 1) It is a
fact that Allah has not taken any responsibility of preserving the sayings of
the Prophet in the same way as He has in respect of the Qur'an: "We have, without
doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from
Corruption)". (Qur’an 15:9) Similarly
the Prophet also did not take the same measures and the same amount of care
in transcribing the ahadith which he took in the case of preserving
the Qur'anic revelations. 2) The
Prophet said: “After me many ahadith
will come to you. If any report is attributed to me, evaluate it in the light
of the Qur'an. If it is in accordance with the Qur'an accept it otherwise reject
it.” The Prophet
is reported to have prevented from writing the ‘ahadith’ "Do not write any hadith.
Whoever writes the ahadith in addition to the Qur'an it is incumbent
on him to delete them. However, the hadith may be (orally) conveyed
there is nothing wrong in it. Whoever intentionally attributes false reports to me should make his abode in fire." (According to some reports, however, the Prophet dictated some of his
sayings or if any believer wrote it, he did not prevent him.) 3) Qur'an has prescribed Sunnah (Pattern or Life Style) of the
Prophet as good example for Muslims: "In
the messenger of Allah you have indeed an excellent example." (Qur’an
33:21) They have to follow it for all time to come. Instead of paying
attention to the life style, Muslims in imitating the Prophet give undue
regard to those detail of strictly personal nature which have no relevance to
Din. 4) The traditions about the Prophet were, all of them, transmitted
orally and as time rolled on many things were given in the name of the
Prophet by well meaning preachers and designing ecclesiastics of which the
Prophet was wholly innocent. The tragic mischief of giving currency to
unreliable ahadith started within forty years after the demise of the
Prophet. (about 660/1262). There were several causes for it, the most
important being the conspiracy of some Iranian (Magians) based on enmity and
opposition of Islam. It may be noted that the Mongols were victorious over
Muslims but were conquered by Islam (as they accepted Islam within three
generations) The Iranians on the other hand, were conquered by Muslims but
were victorious over Islam (as they succeeded in their attempt of
adulterating the teachings of Islam). In Iran the political power was in the
hands of Kisra whereas the Majusi ulema exercised authority in
religious domain. When Iran was conquered in 21/642 the political power was
transferred to the Khalifah. As regards religion there was no counterpart of Majusi
Ulema as there was no clergy in Islam. Their power, therefore, could not
be transferred to any institution.
The majusi ulema in their attempt to continue to exercise their
supremacy, skillfully devised a policy; they superficially accepted Islam but
adulterated Islamic teachings, by infusing their own principles and concepts
in Islam. For example they introduced personality cult. Other causative
factors were sectarian and mostly political. Under the personality cult and
traditionalism, which were alien to Islam and which were introduced by the
Magians, ahadith showing superiority of certain personages were
fabricated. Khalifah Umar and the succeeding Khalifahs were against the
compilation of ahadith. Under the motivated influence of ibn Shibab
Zuhri (52-124 AH) who was harbouring feelings against Islam, Khalifah Umar
bin Abdul Aziz issued orders for the compilation of ahadith. Thus
Zuhri got the opportunity to introduce some concocted traditions which found
place in the later collections. The
traditions reported through Zuhri suffer from glaring technical defects. The hadith
scholars formulated the methodology later. The traditions reported through
Zuhri could not be rejected as they had already found a place in the
collections.[3] Ahadith were also fabricated due
to the differences between various schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).
Imam Malik (d.179/795) referred to Iraq as the mint where ahadith were
coined. In this process thousands of unauthentic reports were circulated in
the name of the sayings of the Prophet. The new converts accepted them as
these 'sayings' were in agreement to the sprit of their earlier belief.
Simple minded new converts in whose hearts 'iman' had not fully
entered accepted these fictitious sayings as they found something new
therein. Thus hundreds of false ‘ahadith’ gained currency. Abdullah ibn
Abbas was the ancestor of the Abbasids. To please them several ‘ahadith’
were fabricated as being reported by him. In some cases with the good
intention of inducing the believers to study the Qur'an ahadith were
fabricated mentioning undue primacy to certain surahs. To attract the
popular attention some professional storytellers and public speakers also
fabricated ‘ahadith’. The Sufis in support of their teachings
gave currency to the fabricated ‘ahadith’. Some of such unauthentic ‘ahadith’
found their place in even some commentaries of the Qur'an. When one
criminal 'Abdul Karim bin Abi al Auja was being taken to gallows protested
"you may kill me but what about the four thousand ‘ahadith’ which
I have carved and circulated?" 5) When the
mischief of fabricating ‘ahadith’ became noticeable, Muslim scholars
approached the subject variously. In their hands the subject developed into a
regular discipline. These scholars evolved two methods among others, of
testing the authenticity of a tradition: i) Checking isnad (by determining the reliability
of the chain of narration.) This was termed as the scrutiny of riwayat. ii) Checking
the matn (text) This was termed as
analysing (dirayat.) It is to be
noted that 'matn' of hadith conveys
the sense but seldom convey the actual words of the Prophet . The Muslim
scholars have distinctly laid down that a genuine tradition must
indispensably possess complete and authentic chain of narrators. Numerous floating traditions have been condemned by these scholars as
they have been found, (i) to be contradictory to the plain words of the
Qur'an, or the authentic traditions of the Prophet, or the consensus of the
learned; or against reason and commonsense, and against everyday experience;
or, (ii) which bear threats out of proportion to the gravity of the offence
or, (iii) which promise a reward out of proportion to the righteous deed or,
(iv) which speak in terms of extravagant praise or condemnation of certain
personalities or sections, and (v) which speak of sectarianism. The hadith scholars of bygone ages with very few exceptions
were more concerned with isnad than with 'matn', with the
result that the responsibility of testing the ahadith as per the dirayat
is mostly devolved on the believers. 6) The present position is that some unauthentic and false ahadith
have gained currency. The mischief of fabrication of ahadith is
responsible for the mischief of the total rejection of ahadith. It is
absolutely necessary to reconcile both the contradictory views on the subject
and to complete the important and crucial work started by the earlier Muslim
scholars. 7) A group of noted scholars, after making deep study and research
held the view that the authenticity of a large number of ahadith
already accepted by the six authentic (sahih)
collection requires fresh check up. In other words it was generally felt that
the Principles of dirayat should
be strictly applied to the ahadith. In 1954,
therefore, Dr. Syed Abdul Latif on behalf of the Council of the Academy of
Islamic Studies invited the attention of leading Muslims scholars in
different parts of the world to a note adopted by the Council suggesting the need for fresh approach on scientific
lines to the study of the hadith literature, codification of a single
authorised corpus of authentic traditions by a body of competent scholars
representing the entire Islamic World, was suggested.1 8) To sum up, immense value
of hadith as a record of historical interest cannot be denied.
Moreover, the belief in the Qur'an as the word of Allah itself rests on the
word of the Prophet. As observed above the Qur'an has entrusted the Prophet
the task of explaining the revelation. When such is the importance of ‘hadith’
in achievement of correct understanding of the Qur'an it is absolutely
necessary that the ahadith themselves are most authentic. Otherwise
how can a saying wrongly attributed to the Prophet be allowed to interpret
and elucidate the divine message? If in case of any hadith it is
established that it is authentic and that it is not against any injunction of
the Qur'an then it should certainly be used in interpreting the Qur'an. Between the
Qur'an and the hadith the deciding factor can only be Qur'an as it is
the Word of Allah, absolutely free from any doubt. The hadith may be
weak or unauthentic. Checking with the interpretation of the Qur'anic ayaat,
any contradictory, weak or fabricated hadith will obviously be
Infructuous. The
Companions of the Prophet were very careful in quoting or accepting
ahadith. They were fully aware that even a little deviation can create
misunderstandings in regard to the teachings of Islam. |
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