A Survey of Perspectives
collected from web...
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| Many non-Muslims, including those who study Islam at an introductory university level, have absolutely no concept of the importance of hadith in Islam. It is also perhaps safe to assume that many Muslims themselves do not fully grasp the fundamental importance of the hadith as a basis for the religion of Islam, and more particularly as a basis for the shari'a, or Islamic law. This essay will seek to both outline the importance of the hadith within Islam, and also try to present a survey of the various views on the authenticity of the hadith, both within Muslim and non-Muslim scholarship. In order to understand the importance of the hadith it is essential to first know what the hadith is. Simply put, the hadith are collected traditions about the sunna1 of Muhammad. Thus they are composed of sayings attributed to Muhammad, as well as the actions of Muhammad in various situations, both of which are held to serve as examples and guidelines for Muslim belief and practice.2 According to Muslims, the hadith is almost equal in importance to the Quran. Dr. Mazhar U. Kazi, in the introduction to his A Treasury of Ahadith states that "all the sayings, sermons, and utterances of the Prophet were.. divinely inspired. In Arabic these are known as ahadith (singular: hadith)."3 Dr. Kazi goes on to say that "all of the actions and deeds of the Prophet were also divinely inspired."4 Dr. Kazi summarizes his view on the traditions with clarity: The sunnah and ahadith are not to be taken as the wise sayings of sages and philosophers or the verdicts of rulers and leaders. One should believe with full conviction that the words and actions of the Prophet represent the will of Allah, and thus one has to follow and obey them in each and every circumstance of life.5Another Muslim scholar, John L. Esposito, in his work, Islam - The Straight Path states that, Quranic principles and values were concretized and interpreted by the second and complementary source of law, the Sunna of the Prophet, the normative model behaviour of Muhammad. The importance of the Sunna is rooted in such Quranic injunctions as "obey God and obey the Messenger... If you should quarrel over anything refer it to God and the Messenger" (4:59) and "In God's messenger you have a fine model for anyone whose hope is in God and the Last Day" (33:21). Belief that Muhammad was inspired by God to act wisely, in accordance with God's will, led to the acceptance of his example, or Sunna, as supplement to the Quran, and thus, a material or textual source of the law.6  The sunna, as embodied in the hadith is not to be underestimated or minimized as a material or textual source of the law. Though supplementary to the Quran, the hadith's central importance rests on the fact that it forms the basis for Islamic law, as the scholar Andrew Rippin clearly states: The focal point of the law in .. Islam is the sunna, the concept of the practice of Muhammad, as embodied in the hadith and transmitted faithfully by Muhammad's followers through the succeeding generations down to the present. The sunna presents, for the individual Muslim, the picture of the perfect way of life, in imitation of the precedent of Muhammad who was the perfect embodiment of the will of God.7Thus, in Islam the hadith are the recorded traditions of the divinely inspired actions of Muhammad. Yet, further study compels one to face the fact that there are some complexities involved in the use of the hadith as a basis for Islamic law and practice. Difficulties appear to arise when the transmission and preservation of the hadith are considered. As John L. Esposito states, "by the ninth century, the number of traditions had mushroomed into the hundreds of thousands. They included pious fabrications by those who believed that their practices were in conformity with Islam and forgeries by factions involved in political and theological disputes."8 However, according to Dr. Kazi, Islamic scholars have answered these problems as, Each hadith was scrutinized and tested for its authenticity and recorded only if it proved to be reliable... These scholars [Ibn Jurayj, Imam Malik, Sufyan ath-Thawri, Hammad bin Salamah, 'Abdullah bin Mubarak, Imam al-Awza'i] made significant contributions to 'ilm al-hadith and laid down solid foundations for the evaluation of ahadith. Consequently, a lot of inauthentic ahadith that had crept into the masses were discarded, and at the same time, reliable ahadith were widely disseminated.9According to Dr. Kazi, especially the works of al-Bukhari and Muslim are considered to be reliable and are termed correct.10 Dr. Kazi states that "all that was humanly possible for ensuring the authenticity of the ahadith was completed by the third century Hijrah... no other religion, nation, party or even small group of people can parallel what the early Muslims did to ensure the authenticity of ahadith and the sunna."11 The concern of Dr. Kazi to ensure that Muslims believe the hadith are authentic as the divinely inspired words and actions of Muhammad, is quite understandable. This is especially clear when one once again considers the role of the hadith in Islam. Muslims are often quick to argue that in Islam, in contrast to Christianity, practice is of primary importance.12 'What to do' is central in Islam, and thus the shari'a13 (rather than theology), is the 'queen of the sciences.' And, the Muslim will say, 'divine' revelation is the source of the shari'a. However, the Quran, though seen as the primary source of revelation, has no more than ten percent of its verses devoted to legal issues. There are only six hundred verses relating to prayer and ritual and some eighty verses relating to crime and punishment and inheritance laws.14 Thus it can be simply stated that the Quran is not a book of law.15 The basis of Islamic law or shari'a is, however, to be found in the hadith - giving the hadith a fundamental importance in the religion of Islam. Questions about the authenticity of hadith begin to arise when one consults Maulana Muhammad Ali's A Manual of Hadith - a highly respected compendium of the Bukhari collection. In the second chapter which covers the topics of iman (faith) and islam (submission) a hadith is related in which Muhammad defines what faith is.16 In one of Bukhari's hadith, as relayed by Abu Hurairah, the Prophet states that, Faith is that thou believe in Allah and His angels and in meeting with Him and (in) His messengers and that thou believe in being raised to life (after death).17Ali discloses that the same hadith is relayed by 'Umar,18 though 'Umar's version was rejected by Bukhari as it states that the Prophet, instead of saying "in meeting with Him", said "that thou believe in qadar19, in the good of it and the evil of it."20 According to Ali this is because "the belief in qadar is evidently a doctrine of later growth and it is perhaps on the account of this flaw that Bukhari does not accept the version attributed to 'Umar."21 Yet, Bukhari does continue to use 'Umar as a source of authentic hadith throughout his collection.22 Situations such as this one found in Bukhari's work, have created questions in the minds of many scholars, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Andrew Rippin, in his workMuslims - Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, states that, Some Muslims picked up on this and used these sorts of doubt about the veracity of the material to attack the authority of the sunna. This was primarily an Egyptian phenomenon; the criticism of the sunna as a whole, however, has much earlier roots, especially in India, where the problem was attacked in more of a theological manner than a historical one.23Rippin goes on to present an interesting survey of some of the Muslim leaders and scholars who have either admitted to the weakness of the hadith, or been openly critical of it. Ghulam Ahmad Parvez, born in 1903, in East Punjab, India, was one of the first Muslim critics of the hadith.24 Parvez realized that hadith had been treated as a divinely inspired source in Islam, and "the shari'a, the path of life which Muslims follow, was as a result of the status given to the sunna as a source of revealed knowledge, fundamentally wrong." 25 Parvez argued that "the Quran contains no ruling saying that hadith must be followed" contending that the word hikma in the Quran (2:129) was meant in the general sense of 'wisdom', and that the verse "Whatever the messenger gives you, take; whatever he forbids you, give over"(59:7) referred to the distribution of loot after battle.26 Parvez also noted that "Hadith reports occasionally contradict the Qur'an; for example the punishment for adultery is 100 lashes in the Qur'an but stoning in the hadith."2728 Another point of Parvez's argument was that "Muhammad was an ordinary man according to Qur'an sura 18 verse 100, and that he could have erred."29 All in all Parvez was convinced that "the unreliability of hadith transmission .. undermines its validity."30This was a serious argument, as the Muslim leader Mawdudi realized, being concerned that "the position Parvez argued vis-a-vis the hadith reports, especially where it raises issues concerning their historical value, would eventually be applied to the Quran, and Islam would crumble as a result."31 Another Muslim scholar, Dr. Kassim Ahmad, of Malaysia, authored a work entitled Hadith - A Reevaluation, which was "banned by the Malaysian Home Ministry on 8 July 1986, in order to 'safeguard the interests of the people and the country'."32 The work rejected hadith as a basis for theology and law, and stated that "the hadith are 'sectarian, anti-science, anti-reason and anti-women'."33 Rippin states that, According to available summaries of the book, he [Ahmad] poses four main questions:Clearly, even in Muslim circles there is skepticism about the authenticity of the hadith collections. Yet, to this point, it is the Western scholars of Islam who have presented the most searching critique of the hadith collections. Ignaz Goldhizer was perhaps the first serious Western critic of the authenticity of hadith, and it is his work that has formed much of the basis for further scholarship. Goldhizer begins with a history and definition of the sunna - a concept which he states was in existence among the Arab communities long before the arrival of Islam. Goldhizer states, There was no need for Muslims to invent this concept and its practical significance; they were already current among the old pagans of the Jahiliyya. For them sunna was all that corresponded to the traditions of the Arabs and the customs and habits of their ancestors, and in this sense the word was still used in Islamic times by those Arab communities which had been only very little affected by Muslim religion. Under Islam the content of the old concept and the meaning of the word that corresponded to it underwent a change. To the pious followers of Muhammad .... sunna meant all that could be shown to have been the practices of the Prophet and his earliest followers. The Muslim community was supposed to honour and obey the new sunna in the same way as the pagan Arabs revered the sunna of their ancestors.35Bid'a or innovation was viewed to be the opposite of sunna. Goldhizer recounts a hadith (Al-Nasa'i, I, p.143) of the Prophet which says, "Verily the most truthful communication is the Book of Allah, the best guidance is from Muhammad, and the worst of all things are innovations; every innovation is heresy, every heresy is error, and every error leads to hell."36 Yet, as Goldhizer soon shows, there is great evidence to show that much of the ahadith is either inauthentic, or incapable of being proven authentic, and thus to all appearances it is both innovation from a theological perspective,37 and lacking of any proof of authenticity from an objective historical perspective. One example of the fabrication of hadith is that done by the Ummayad caliph 'Abd al-Malik,38 who is considered to be an important and sound scholar of the collection of hadith. Goldhizer explains, When the Umayyad caliph 'Abd al-Malik wished to stop the pilgrimages to Mecca because he was worried lest his rival 'Abd Allah b. Zubayr should force the Syrians journeying to the holy places in Hijaz to pay him homage, he had recourse to the expedient of the doctrine of the vicarious hajj to the Qubbat al-Sakhra in Jerusalem. He decreed that obligatory circumambulation (tawaf) could take place at the sacred place in Jerusalem with the same validity as that around the Ka'ba ordained in Islamic law. The pious theologian al-Zuhri was given the task of justifying this politically motivated reform of religious life by making up and spreading a saying traced back to the Prophet, according to which there are three mosques to which people may take pilgrimages: those in Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. .. An addition which, apparently, belonged to its original form but was later neglected by leveling orthodoxy in this and related sayings: 'and a prayer in the Bayt al-Maqdis of Jerusalem is better than a thousand prayers in other holy places,' i.e. even Mecca or Medina. Later, too, 'Abd al-Malik is quoted when the pilgrimage to Jerusalem is to be equated with that to Mecca...39Goldhizer boldly sums up the massive evidence for the "tendentious fabrications of traditions during the first century of Islam" with the statement that, ..it is a matter for psychologists to find and analyze the motives of the soul which made such forgeries acceptable to pious minds as morally justified means of furthering a cause... The most favourable explanation which one can give of these phenomena is presumably to assume that the support of a new doctrine .. with the authority of Muhammad was the form in which it was thought good to express the high religious justification of that doctrine. The end sanctified the means.40Of course the fabrication of ahadith, and their lack of authenticity has often left orthodox Muslim scholars in a difficult position, as Goldhizer states, 'Ali b. Sulayman al-Bajama 'wi, a theologian who in recent times has taken great pains in his commentaries on the six canonical works on tradition, says: 'One of the strangest things that has ever happened to me was this: when I recited one of the traditional sayings according to which scholars are told not to mingle with the sultans, one of my listeners said: "How could the Prophet had said this, since there were no sultans in his days?" This poor man did not know the tradition that the apostle of God predicted with prophetical insight everything that is going to happen until the hour of resurrection.'41Another noted Western scholar who delves into the study of the authenticity of hadith is G.H.A Juynboll, whose work Muslim tradition - Studies in chronology, provenance and authorship of early hadith is a powerful critique of not only the authenticity of hadith, but also of scholarly works which have attempted to support notions of the authenticity of hadith.42 Juynboll's criticism of the 'authenticity' of hadith are numerous and well researched. In criticizing the isnad's he quite bluntly states that, ... I am skeptical as to whether we will ever be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that what we have in the way of 'sound prophetic traditions' is indeed just what it purports to be.43Juynboll uses an effective case study approach in his critique of the isnad. One example is the "so-called 'golden chain' (silsilat adh-dhahab): Malik - Nafi - 'Abd Allah b. 'Umar - Prophet." Juynboll also brings serious questions to bear on "the case of Anas."45 He states that, ... Anas' advanced age - according to the most authoritative reports he died in 93/711 when he was allegedly one hundred and three - appeared especially convenient for those isnad forgers who were loath to go to a lot of trouble concocting complicated isnads and simply listed a rather late Successor who allegedly had it from Anas who allegedly had it from the prophet... Indeed, Anas has become such a crucial figure in isnads that he is one of the most important Companions, whose alleged activities caused other, most probably unhistorical, people with his name to into existence. The ensuing confusion, inevitable as we have learned .. makes the reliability of any isnad featuring Anas suspect under the best of circumstances.46A thorough study, Juynboll's work presents what is perhaps the most articulate and documented critique of the notion of the 'authenticity' of hadith, to this day. Clearly, the evidence to refute any notions of solid historical authenticity of hadith reports is overwhelming. Severe theological and historical problems exist, and are blatantly evident even in Bukhari's collection of hadith - which is considered to be "most reliable and [is] termed 'sahih' (correct)."47 The authenticity of hadith transmitted by men such as Anas b. Malik and Abu Hurayra is extremely dubious. Contradictions between the hadith and the Quran remain unsolved. The evidence is all too compelling - even without examining the enormous disparities between the traditions of the various sects of Islam.48 The evidence presents a shattering blow to the religion of Islam, as the shari'a, rather than being rooted in the "words and actions of the Prophet [representing] the will of Allah," is merely built on the tradition of men. The problem of the hadith may carry other serious ramifications well, as "Fazlur Rahman points out.. 'the historical validity of the Koran itself is vouchsafed only by the tradition.'"49 However, (and perhaps not surprisingly, when these consequences are considered) orthodox Muslim scholarship has, to this point, chosen largely to ignore the issue... ________________________________________________________________________________ Reference Notes: 1The term sunna refers to the specific actions and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. 2Alfred Guillaume, The Traditions of Islam (New York: Books For Libraries, A Division of Arno Press, 1980), 10 -11. 3Mazhar U. Kazi, A Treasury of Ahadith (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: Abul-Qasim Publishing House, 1992) , 1-2. 4Kazi, 2. 5Kazi, 2. 6John L. Esposito, Islam - The Straight Path (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1992), 80. 7Andrew Rippin, Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices vol. 1 (New York: Routledge, 1990), 75. 8Esposito, 81. 9Kazi, 8-9. 10Kazi, 11. 11Kazi, 12. For the criteria used in evaluation of authenticity of hadith, as explained by Dr. Kazi, see Appendix A. 12A point which I believe clearly shows a skewed perspective of Christianity, as for Christians both belief and practice of belief are of fundamental importance. 13Islamic law. 14These verses, it must be noted, are usually only related to the areas mentioned - in most cases they fail to give specific prescriptions for either religious practice or law. 15The Bible, which the Christian holds as the divinely inspired and inerrant Word of God, is, in contrast, a book of law - containing all that is necessary for belief and practice. Here is where one can learn how to be perfect in all areas of life, before the sight of Almighty God. 16Maulana Muhammad Ali, A Manual of Hadith (London: Curzon Press, 1988), 22. 17Ali, 22. 18'Abdullah bin 'Umar was one of the sahabah, or a companion of Muhammad, and was highly respected as such. 19Often translated as 'destiny', 'fate', 'divine predestination', or 'divine determination.' Ian Richard Netton, A Popular Dictionary of Islam (London: Curzon Press, 1992), 200. 20Ali, 22. 21Ali, 22. 22If what was attributed to 'Umar was unreliable in this instance, one would wonder how Bukhari could be sure that other hadith attributed to 'Umar were reliable. 23Rippin, vol. 2, 70. A heavy reliance on Rippin's work is necessary in this section as I could not find any other scholars who dealt with the issue of Muslim critiques of the hadith. 24Rippin, 72. 25Rippin, 73. 26Rippin, 74. 27Rippin, 74. 28It is interesting to note that the commentator Yusuf Ali translates the Arabic zina into the English word 'fornication' (Sura 24:2-3), though he admits in a note that the term zina applies to both adultery and fornication. Thus according to the Quran one would understand that the penalty for both adultery and fornication is 100 lashes as the verse clearly states. Ali (undoubtedly aware of the problem here) attempts to qualify the Quranic verse by stating that "although zina covers both fornication and adultery, in the opinion of Muslim jurists, the punishment laid down here applies only to un-married persons. As for married persons, their punishment, according to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him), is stoning to death." The Holy Quran(Al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia: King Fahd Holy Quran Printing Complex, 1981), 1002. It is quite evident that an appeal to the authority of the jurists (fallible men) is being used in order to attempt to gloss over this blatant contradiction. 29Rippin, 74. 30Rippin, 74. 31Rippin, 77. 32Rippin, 78. 33Rippin, 78. 34Rippin, 78-79. It is interesting to note that a result of his views, aside from the banning of his book, was that Dr. Kassim Ahmad was declared to be an 'enemy of Islam.' 35Ignaz Goldhizer, Muslim Studies (Muhammedanische Studien) vol. 2 (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1971), 25-26. 36In Arabic: wa-sharru'l-umuri muhdathatuha wa-kullu muhdathatin bid'atun wa-kullu bid'atin dalalatun wa-kullu dalalatin fi'l-nari. Goldhizer, 34-35. 37Bid'a has been formulated by the scholar Al-Shafi'i as having the possibility of being good or objectionable, the distinction being made where "an innovation which contradicts the Koran, a sunna, an athar, or ijma, is a heretical bid'a.." Goldhizer, 36. Of course even with this distinction made there are numerous hadith (ie. punishment for adultery) which can be seen as falling into the category of being objectionable, even by Muslim standards. 38'Abd al-Malik (716-794 A.D.) is also known as Malik b. Anas, his full name being 'Abd Allah Malik b. Anas. He was one of the four great jurists of Islam, and acted as a major collector of hadith. Anas is used frequently as a source of authentic hadith in Bukhari's collection. Netton, 159; Kazi, 9. 39Goldhizer, 45. Goldhizer cites his reference for this material as being Al-Ya'qubi, II, p. 311; Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani, p. 95, 3; Ibn Maja, p. 102. 40Goldhizer, 55. What is perhaps even more shocking is that, as Goldhizer demonstrates, "The pious Muslims made no secret of this. A reading of some of the older critics of the tradition or of the spreaders of traditions themselves will easily show what was the prevailing opinion regarding the authenticity of sayings and teachings handed on from pious men." An example to prove this point as given by Goldhizer: "The possibilities which the Muslims admit themselves in this field are evident from a tradition in which the authorities seem to give away the secret quite unconsciously: 'The Prophet,' it says in a tradition in al-Bukhari, 'gave the order to kill all dogs except hunting and sheep-dogs.' 'Umar's son was told that 'Abu Hurayra also hands down the words: 'but with the exception of sheepdogs as well.' 'Umar's son says to this: 'Abu Hurayra owns cornfields,' ie. he has a vested interest in handing down the order with the addition that farm dogs should be spared as well. This remark is characteristic of the doubt about the good faith of the transmitters that existed even from the earliest period of the formation of tradition." Goldhizer, 56. 41Goldhizer, 143. 42G.H.A. Juynboll, Muslim tradition - Studies in chronology, provenance and authorship of early hadith(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983) See introduction for preliminary critique of hadith scholarship. 43Juynboll, 71. 44Juynboll, 142. 45Juynboll, 144. It is important to note that this is the same Anas ('Abd al-Malik) dealt with earlier in the paper. 46Juynboll, 145. Juynboll goes on to say, "...this seemingly easy way of putting isnads together resulted in veritable armies of alleged pupils of Anas, whose doubtful historicity, and hence whose supposedly doubtful trustworthiness, necessitated often the patching up of certain isnads with almost anonymous (read: fictitious) people whose names inspired confidence, such as the Thabits [a name often inserted into otherwise rickety isnads in order to make them appear reliable]." In his discussion of 'the dependable Thabit', Juynboll refers to the work Kitab al-majruhin of the early hadith scholar Ibn Hibban al-Busti. Juynboll points out that, "In [al-Busti's work] while discussing how the transmission of traditions can go wrong at the hands of certain transmitters, he mentions the category of those who, though moved by pious considerations, do not pay proper heed to the established rules of transmission and ascribe mursal isnadsto the prophet and complete interrupted isnads with the necessary links. Sometimes they take dictums of Hasan al-Basri and provide them with isnads via Anas b. Malik to the prophet, something which would make such an isnad sound if this practice escaped notice and were not properly exposed. As an example of transmitters who were not averse to this practice Ibn Hibban mentions among others Aban b. Abi 'Ayyash (d. 138/755). Juynboll, 143-144. 47Kazi, 11. 48In Appendix B, the work of one present-day Shiite scholar is dealt with briefly. Due to constraints on the length of the paper, numerous other examples and points have been left out. 49Rippin, 75. |
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