Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The saheeh Sunnah is wahy (Revelation) from Allaah

 

Firstly: I apologize for asking such a question, and so that there will be no room for doubt about my intention I will say that I bear witness that there is no god but Allaah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah, and I am completely content with Allaah as my Lord, Islam as my religion and Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as my Prophet.  


I am asking about the Sunnah, because there are many reports of a single hadeeth. For example, we may find in Saheeh al-Bukhaari a hadeeth that appears in a form different than that in which it appears in Saheeh Muslim. Why isn’t the Sunnah like the Holy Qur’aan? What is the difference between the Sunnah and the Holy Qur’aan? Is the Sunnah part of the Wahy that was revealed to the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) or is it just his words and deeds? Is it one of the characteristics of Prophethood or what?.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:  

It is essential that it be established in the mind and heart
of every Muslim that the Sunnah – which is the words, deeds and approval
that are attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) – is one of the two parts of divine Revelation that were revealed
to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
The other part of the Revelation (Wahy) is the Holy Qur’aan.  

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Nor does he speak of (his own) desire.

4. It is only a Revelation revealed”

[al-Najm 53:3-4] 

It was narrated from al-Miqdaam ibn Ma’di Yakrib (may Allaah
be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said:  

“Verily I have been given the Qur’aan and something similar
to it along with it. But soon there will be a time when a man will be
reclining on his couch with a full stomach, and he will say, ‘You should
adhere to this Qur’aan: what you find that it says is permissible, take it
as permissible, and what you find it says is forbidden, take it as
forbidden.’ But indeed, whatever the Messenger of Allaah forbids is like
what Allaah forbids.” 

Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (2664). He said: It is hasan ghareeb
with this isnaad. It was classed as hasan by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah
al-Saheehah (2870). 

This is what was understood by the righteous salaf (may
Allaah be pleased with them): 

Hassaan ibn ‘Atiyah said in al-Kifaayah by al-Khateeb
(12): 

Jibreel used to bring the sunnah down to the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as he used to bring the Qur’aan
down to him. End quote. 

Narrated by al-Daarimi in his Sunan (588) and by
al-Khateeb in al-Kifaayah (12). It was attributed by al-Haafiz in
al-Fath (13/291) to al-Bayhaqi, and he said: With a saheeh isnaad. 

The importance of the Sunnah is first of all that it explains
the Book of Allaah and is a commentary on it, then it adds some rulings to
those in the Book of Allaah. 

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“And We have also sent down unto you (O Muhammad
صلىالله عليه وسلم) the Dhikr [reminder
and the advice (i.e. the Qur’aan)], that you may explain clearly to men what
is sent down to them, and that they may give thought”

[al-Nahl 16:44]. 

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said in Jaami’ Bayaan al-‘Ilm wa Fadlihi
(2/190): 

The commentary of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) on the Qur’aan is of two types: 

1 – Explaining things that are mentioned in general terms in
the Holy Qur’aan, such as the five daily prayers, their times, prostration,
bowing and all other rulings. 

2 – Adding rulings to the rulings of the Qur’aan, such as the
prohibition on being married to a woman and to her paternal or maternal aunt
at the same time. End quote. 

Secondly: 

As the Sunnah is the second of the two parts of Revelation,
it is inevitable that Allaah will protect it, so as to preserve the religion
from distortion and additions or subtractions. 

Ibn Hazm (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Ihkaam
(1/95): 

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr and
surely, We will guard it (from corruption)”

[al-Hijr 15:9] 

“Say (O Muhammad صلى الله
عليه وسلم): “I warn you only by the Revelation (from Allaah and not
by the opinion of the religious scholars and others). But the deaf (who
follow the religious scholars and others blindly) will not hear the call,
(even) when they are warned [i.e. one should follow only the Qur’aan and the
Sunnah (legal ways, orders, acts of worship, and the statements of Prophet
Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم , as the
Companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
did)]”

[al-Anbiya’ 21:45] 

Allaah tells us that the words of His Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) are all Wahy (revelation), and Wahy is
undoubtedly Dhikr, and Dhikr is preserved according to the text of the
Qur’aan. Thus it is correct to say that his words (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) are all preserved by Allaah, may He be glorified and
exalted, and He has promised that none of them will be lost to us, because
that which Allaah preserves can certainly not be lost at all; it has all
been transmitted to us and Allaah has established proof and left us with no
excuse. End quote.  

Thirdly: 

Once it is established that the Sunnah is part of the divine
revelation, it is essential to note that there is only one difference
between it and the Qur’aan, which is that the Qur'aan is the word of Allaah,
may He be exalted, which was revealed verbatim to the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him), whereas the Sunnah may not be the
words of Allaah, rather it is only His Revelation, so it need not
necessarily come to us verbatim, but the meaning of it comes to us. 

Once we understand this difference, we see that the point in
transmission of the Sunnah is to convey the meanings, not the exact same
words that were uttered by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him). Islam tells us that Allaah only preserves the words of the
Qur’aan in full, and He preserves the general meanings of the Sunnah, and
that which explains the Book of Allaah, not the exact words and phrases. 

However, the scholars of this ummah throughout the early
centuries strove to preserve the sharee’ah and the Sunnah. They have
transmitted to us the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) as he said them, and they distinguished between the
reports that were right and wrong, true and false. 

What the questioner sees of multiple reports of a single
hadeeth does not mean that there is any shortcoming in the preservation and
transmission of the Sunnah. Rather the reports vary for numerous reasons,
and once they are understood the answer will become clear. 

Fourthly: 

Reasons for multiple reports: 

1-   
Multiple incidents 

Ibn Hazm (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Ihkaam
(1/134): 

The existence of different versions does not represent a
fault in the hadeeth if the meaning is the same, because it is proven that
when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) uttered a
hadeeth he would repeat it three times, so each person would narrate it
according to what he heard. This difference in the reports does not mean
that the hadeeth is weak, if the meaning is the same. End quote. 

2-   
Reporting the meaning 

This is the most common reason for there being multiple
versions of a single hadeeth. What matters in transmission of a hadeeth is
that the meaning be conveyed. As for the wording, it is not the matter of
worship as is the case with the Qur’aan. 

For example, the hadeeth “Actions are but by intentions” is
also narrated as “Action is by intention” and “Actions are but by intention”
and “actions are by intention.” The reason for these multiple versions is
that the meaning was narrated. The source of the hadeeth is one, namely
Yahya ibn Sa’eed from Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem from ‘Alqamah from ‘Umar (may
Allaah be pleased with him). It may be noted that the meaning that is
understood from these sentences is the same, so what does it matter if there
are multiple reports? 

In order to be more certain that the narrator had transmitted
the correct meaning of the hadeeth, the scholars would not accept a report
of similar meaning unless it came from a scholar of the Arabic language,
then they would compare his report with that of another trustworthy
narrator; then they would be able to spot the mistake in narration if there
was any mistake. There are many such examples but this is not the place to
discuss them in detail. 

3 – Narrator’s shortening of the hadeeth 

i.e., the narrator memorized the hadeeth in its entirety, but
he quoted only part of it in one place, and narrated it in full elsewhere. 

For example: Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him)
narrated the story of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) forgetting two rak’ahs of Zuhr prayer. The entire story was
narrated from Abu Hurayrah, and it is one story. This indicates that the
difference in reports is due to some narrators shortening it. See Saheeh
al-Bukhaari, 714, 715, 1229. 

4 – Mistakes 

One of the narrators may have made a mistake, so he narrated
the hadeeth in a way that it was not narrated by others. It is possible to
spot the mistake by comparing the reports with one another. This is what was
done by the scholars in the books of Sunnah and takhreej. 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him)
said in al-Jawaab al-Saheeh (3/39): 

But Allaah has preserved for this ummah that which He
revealed. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr and
surely, We will guard it (from corruption)”

[al-Hijr 15:9] 

So there is no error in the interpretation of the Qur’aan or
in the transmission of hadeeth or interpretation thereof. Allaah guaranteed
that there would always be in this ummah those who would explain it and
highlight evidence against the errors of those who err and the lies of those
who lie. This ummah will not agree on misguidance, and there will remain
among them a group who will adhere to the truth until the Hour begins. For
they are the last of the nations and there is no Prophet after their Prophet
and no Book after their Book. When the nations before them changed, Allaah
sent a Prophet to show them the way with commands and prohibitions, but
there will be no Prophet after Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) and Allaah has guaranteed to preserve the revelation that He
has sent down. End quote. 

The Sunnah, as we explained at the beginning, is revelation
(wahy) from Allaah, which explains to the people that which was revealed to
them in the Book of Allaah, may He be exalted, and it teaches them the
rulings that they need to practise their religion. Even if the details or
the basic principles are mentioned in the Book of Allaah, we say: in this
sense the Sunnah is one of the attributes of Prophethood and one of the
missions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
The people still regard the Sunnah in this manner, whether it is mentioned
in books or in oral reports which may differ in some wording or in different
contexts. None of that gives cause to doubt its status or worry that it has
not been preserved properly or to dispute its validity as evidence or to say
that the people have no need of it, despite the many difference among people
about theoretical and practical issues.  

The great scholar Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ghani ‘Abd al-Khaaliq (may
Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

We do not find in the books of al-Ghazaali or al-Aamidi or
al-Bazdawi, or any of the scholars of usool who follow their method of
writing, any suggestion or hint of any dispute with regard to this matter.
They are the ones who examined all the books and madhhabs of the earlier
scholars and studied the disputes, even the odd views, and they took great
care to refute them. 

Then he quoted from the author and commentator of
al-Musallam: The Qur’aan, Sunnah, scholarly consensus and analogy are he
valid foundations of Islam, as is discussed in the field of ‘ilm al-kalaam.
But the scholars of usool focused on the validity of scholarly consensus and
analogy, because there were too many foolish people who tried to undermine
their validity, such as the khawaarij and Raafidis (may Allaah humiliate t
hem). As for the validity of the Qur’aan and Sunnah, the ummah is
unanimously agreed on that, which is why there was no need to discuss their
validity. End quote. 

See: Hujjiyyat al-Sunnah (248-249). 

And Allaah knows best.

No comments: