Will you please explain the verses that order us to obey the messenger of Allah?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Introduction

Why do they deny hadiths?

The Quran orders us to obey the Prophet.

First evidence: “If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger...” (an-Nisa, 4/59)

Second evidence: “Say: If ye do love Allah, Follow me.” (Aal-i Imran, 3/31)

Third evidence: “Fight those who do not hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger.” (at-Tawba, 9/29)

Fourth evidence: “So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you.” (al-Hashr, 59/7)

Fifth evidence: “It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision.” (al-Ahzab, 33/36)

Sixth evidence: “The answer of the Believers, when summoned to Allah and His Messenger, in order that He may judge between them, is no other than this: they say, ‘We hear and we obey’.” (an-Nur, 24/51)

Seventh evidence: “Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct).” (al-Ahzab, 33/21)

Eighth evidence: “We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message; that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them.” (an-Nahl, 16/44)

Ninth evidence: “Then We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion.” (al-Jathiya, 45/18)

Tenth evidence: “O Ye who believe! Put not yourselves forward before Allah and His Messenger.” (al-Hujurat, 49/1)

Eleventh evidence: “They can have no (real) Faith, until they make thee judge in all disputes between them.” (an-Nisa, 4/65)

Twelfth evidence: “Those who resist Allah and His Messenger.” (al-Mujadala, 58/5)

Thirteenth evidence: “For Allah hath sent down to thee the Book and wisdom.” (an-Nisa, 4/113)

Fourteenth evidence: “Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) Desire!” (an-Najm, 53/3)

Fifteenth evidence: How will those who do not accept hadiths do deeds based on the Quran?

Sixteenth evidence: Does the command to make Masjid al-Aqsa the qiblah exist in the Quran?

Seventeenth evidence: “Thou seest the Hypocrites avert their faces from thee in disgust.” (an-Nisa, 4/61)

Eighteenth evidence: “He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah.” (an-Nisa, 4/80)

Nineteenth evidence: “Those who obey Allah and His Messenger will be admitted to Gardens with rivers flowing beneath.” (an-Nisa, 4/13)

Twentieth evidence: “If anyone contends with the Messenger, We will land him in Hell.” (an-Nisa, 4/115)

Twenty-first evidence: The Quran orders obedience to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) in more than 20 places in the Quran.

Hz. Muhammad (pbuh), the Messenger of Allah, orders us to obey him.

Conditions necessary for a hadith narrator

Why did one hadith imam regard a certain hadith as sound but another one did not?

Did the Companions write hadiths?

The phase of tadwin: the process of writing the hadiths officially and compiling them in the form of books

The phase of tasnif: the process of classifying hadiths in different forms

Types of hadith according to the source of the text

Types of hadith according to the number of narrators

Types of hadith according to the degree of soundness

Manners in hadith narration

Was Hz. Umar against narrating hadiths?

Why were witnesses demanded in hadith narrations of the Companions?

The state of hadiths without chains of narrators in Bukhari

Do sound hadiths exist only in Bukhari and Muslim?

* * *

Introduction

We are together with you again with a very important work about belief. Our work is entitled “Hadith Defense” May Allah make this difficult work easy for us, make our words effective and show its effect on the hearts of those who listen to it!

We live at the end of times; it is an era when belief is like the bird on the head of a person; people are believers in the morning but they become unbelievers in the evening. Unfortunately, this era contains many spiritual diseases. Those spiritual diseases are spreading rapidly; those who are deprived of the knowledge that is like the antidote catch those diseases and their otherworldly lives are devastated.

One of those diseases is the disease of denying hadiths. You have probably heard the following statement from many people:

“I take the Quran into considerations. Hadiths are fabricated. The Quran is enough for us...”

You have probably heard the statement above similar ones from the deniers of hadith.

However, the Quran tells us to obey the Messenger of Allah. Then, those who claim to obey the Quran have to obey the order of that Quran also to obey Muhammad (pbuh). Otherwise, they will have disobeyed the Quran.

We will show how nonsensical the statement “We obey/follow the Quran” uttered by the deniers of hadith is with twenty-one evidences.  

After that, we will quote some hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh) ordering us to follow him as the Messenger of Allah.

In addition, we will include some information about hadith methodology and some questions and answers; it will inshallah be shown how reliable hadiths are thanks to that information and those answers.

Why do they deny hadiths?

According to deniers of hadith, hadiths are not a source of the religion; they are all fabricated. The Companions lied - God forbid - and slandered the Prophet; all hadith hafizes, from Imam Bukhari to Imam Muslim; from Ibn Majah to Ahmad b. Hanbal, collected these lies and compiled them in their books. That is the essence of those people’s view on hadiths.

What is the problem of those people with hadiths? Why do they deny hadiths? Let us first diagnose the cause of the disease.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi determined the cause of their disease very well. Let us quote his determination in summary.

Those people firstly claim to be superior to mujtahids. The reason for their claim of being superior to mujtahids is as follows:

Those people of misguidance have become depraved, and have become addicted to depravity, and cannot carry out the obligations of the shari’ah since they form an obstacle to their depravity. In order to find a pretext for themselves, they state the following:

“These questions may be interpreted. The schools of law are opposed to each other in these matters. And the interpreters of the law were human beings like us, and may have made mistakes. In which case, like them we shall interpret the Divine law and perform our worship as we wish. Why should we be compelled to follow them?”

Thus, due to these Satanic wiles, those miserable people put themselves outside the fold of the schools of law. Thus, the main reason for denying madhhabs is the desire to put forward an Islam that suits their souls due to the heavy weight of Islamic decrees: The desire to bring about a religion that does not contain orders such as five daily prayers, zakat and hijab and in which debauchery and sensual desires are halal.

That group of the people of misguidance saw that the matter does not end with the interpreters of the law, for what lay on their shoulders were only the theoretical matters of religion. Whereas this group wants to give up and change the essential teachings of religion. If they say: “We are better than mujtahids,” the matter does not finish there. For mujtahids may interfere in theoretical matters and in secondary matters which are not categorical.

However, these deniers of hadith hardly perform prayers, and some even reduce the five daily prayers to one or two times a day. The women, on the other hand, deny the orders such as hijab and oppose the fards of Islam. Their aim does not end when they deny mujtahids. They attack the Companions, who were the bearers and supports of the essentials of the religion, in order to change the fards of the religion and to oppose the fards of Islam and start to deny the hadiths reported by the Companions.

That is the reason why they deny the hadiths. So, we can list the steps completed by hadith denial as follows:

1. They fall into debauchery and cannot save themselves from harams. They cannot perform the fards that prevent debauchery.

2. They want the harams that they commit to be halal and they do not want fards that they cannot fulfill.

3. Acting upon those desires, they attack mujtahid imams and say, “I can make ijtihad like them; they are also human beings like me.” Thus, they make ijtihad in line with the desires of their souls. They relax themselves by doing so.

4. However, they see that it is not enough to deny mujtahids because they only deduced provisions from the Quran and Sunnah in the theoretical part of religion. Ijtihad has not been and cannot be made related to the fards of the religion. However, those people are far from fulfilling the fards of religion. This time, they aim at a higher level; they attack the Companions, who were the bearers and pillars of religious decrees and the narrators of hadiths. They accuse them of lying - God forbid - and deny hadiths.

5. Nevertheless, the issue does not end there because there are very clear Quranic verses about some fards. Then, they apply to the Quran, interpret the verses as they wish and deduce decrees according to the desires of their souls. Finally, they become poor people who do not deserve even compassion.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi analyzed the issue very well indeed.

This work, which we prepared against deniers of hadith, will be a long work in which we will analyze the issue from all aspects.

Our work consists of several parts.

The First Part was prepared in response to the most common statement of those who deny hadith. They say:

“We follow the Quran. We act according to what we find in the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.”

In fact, we also want them to follow the Quran and act according to the Quran because those who follow the Quran have to accept the hadiths of the Prophet. The Quran commands us to do so in many verses. In this first part of our work, we will show those verses and invite hadith deniers to follow those verses.

The Quran orders us to obey/follow the Quran.

First evidence: “If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger...” (an-Nisa, 4/59)

Deniers of hadith state the following: “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: If you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 59 of the chapter of an-Nisa. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ  If ye differ in anything among yourselves,  فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَالرَّسُولِ  refer it to Allah and His Messenger, إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ اْلآخِرِ  if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day,  ذَلِكَ خَيْرٌ وَأَحْسَنُ تَأْوِيلاً  That is best, and most suitable for final determination.

Let us pay attention to that verse again:

“If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit.

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse: فَإِنْ تَنَازَعْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ  If ye differ in anything among yourselves... This statement describes the situation between us and deniers of hadith. We differ from them related to various issues of deeds and creed. What does the verse order us to do? فَرُدُّوهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ  Refer it to Allah. Referring something to Allah does not mean ascending to the sky, to the Throne and asking Allah by entering into His presence. Referring something to Allah means referring it to the Quran, the book of Allah. That is, making the Quran the judge between our opponents and us and to obey what the Quran says.

We referred the issues to the Quran. We showed verses from the Quran to prove the issues and deniers of hadith also showed verses from the Quran. We said to them, “You mistranslate the verses” but they said to us, “No, you mistranslate the verses.” The disagreement and conflict between us still continue. It is not clear who is right and who is wrong yet.

- What shall we do then?

Verse 59 of the chapter of an-Nisa tells us what to do as follows:  وَالرَّسُولِ Refer it to His Messenger. That is, if the book of Allah has not settled the issue between you and if you still disagree and conflict, refer it to His Messenger (pbuh).

Referring it to Allah means referring it to His book, the Quran. What does referring it to His Messenger mean? Does it mean going to the Prophet physically and asking him directly about it? No. What is meant by referring it to the Prophet is making his hadiths the judge between us. If the Quran does not settle the issue, we need to refer it to hadiths. It is the order of the Quran.

Who obeys that order? The next part of the verse indicates it by saying,

 إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ اْلآخِرِ  if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day.

That is, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day, refer the issue to the Quran first and make the Quran the judge. If the Quran has not settled the issue between you and if you still disagree, refer it to the Messenger of Allah, e.g., his hadiths. Doing so is a sign of your belief. To put it the other way, if you do not refer the issue to the Quran and the hadith, it means you do not believe in Allah and the Last Day.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:

There is disagreement and conflict between us on many issues such as intercession, tawassul and life in the grave. We believe they are true but you regard them as false. What we need to do is to act according to the order of verse 59 verse of the chapter of an-Nisa and to refer our issues to the Quran first.

We referred our issues to the Quran. We showed the verses stating that they were true as evidence but you showed evidences that they did not exist according to you. The disagreement between us still continues. So, what are we to do now? What we need to do is to act in accordance with verse 59 of the chapter an-Nisa and refer the issue to the Prophet.

Now we say to them, “Let us refer issue to the Prophet, that is, to his hadiths.” They say, “No, we do not refer it to the Prophet; we do not respect his hadiths. The Quran is enough for us; we act according to the Quran only.”

However, you do not act according to the Quran. The Quran tells you to take the issue to the Messenger, that is, to make his words and hadiths the judge between you. You oppose this order of the Quran. You say you follow the Quran. Is verse 59 of the chapter an-Nisa not a verse in your copy of the Quran?

You can see how deniers of hadith violate verse 59 of the chapter an-Nisa. What is more, they say, “We act according to the Quran.” I wish they would but they do not and cannot act according to the Quran.

Second evidence: “Say: If ye do love Allah, Follow me.” (Aal-i Imran, 3/31)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.”

We say to them, ‘If you follow the Quran, you have to obey the order of verse 31 of the chapter of Aal-i Imran. Our Lord states the following in that verse:  

قُلْ  Say – O my beloved prophet -   إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ  If ye do love Allah, فَاتَّبِعُونِي  Follow me.   يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ  - If you follow me - Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“Say: If ye do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.” 

Let us analyze that verse a bit.

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse: إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ If ye do love Allah... Those who claim to love Allah are invited to prove their love with that statement. How will they prove it? What is the sign of loving Allah? What do those who love Allah do?

The next part of the verse answers that question: فَاتَّبِعُونِي Follow me. That statement expresses the sign of loving Allah. The sign of loving Allah is following/obeying the Prophet. As the verse clearly states, if a person follows the Prophet, he loves Allah. If a person does not follow the Prophet and denies his sunnah and hadiths, he does not love Allah.

There is a sign for everything; There is a sign for loving Allah too. That sign is following the Prophet. What shall we gain if we follow the Prophet? The next part of the verse answers that question:

  يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ  - If we follow the Prophet - Allah will love us and forgive us our sins.

In that case, following the Prophet, is a sign of loving Allah; it is also a means of being loved and forgiven by Allah.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:  

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Do you not read verse 31 of the chapter of Aal-i Imran? Why do you not act based on the order of that verse? The verse states the following: If ye do love Allah, follow the Prophet of Allah. However, you say, “We do not follow the Prophet; we do not accept his hadiths; we do not follow his sunnah.”

The Quran does not say to you, “Follow the Quran if you love Allah.” It says, “Follow the Messenger of Allah.” For, Islam does not consist of the Quran only. The sunnah of the Messenger of Allah is also a source of the Quran and it is the command of the Quran to follow his sunnah.

I finally address deniers of hadith as follows:

By Allah, you do not love Allah! For, the Quran states the following: If you loved Him, you would follow the Messenger of Allah. Since you do not follow the sunnah and hadiths, you do not love Allah as the Quran clearly expresses it.

And by Allah, Allah does not love you either! For, Allah made His love conditional on following His beloved prophet as the verse expresses it clearly. You do not fulfill that condition; why should Allah love you?

And fear this: Allah made His pardoning conditional on this: Following the Messenger of Allah.

What else can be said to a person who is not afraid of it?

Third evidence: “Fight those who do not hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger.” (at-Tawba, 9/29)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 29 of the chapter of at-Tawba. Our Lord states the following in that verse:  

قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ  Fight those who لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلاَ بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ  believe not in Allah nor the Last Day  وَلاَ يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger.

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse: قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ Fight those... With that phrase, Muslims are ordered to fight some people. Who are they?

The next part of the verse answers that question: The first group to fight: لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلاَ بِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day. They are unbelievers and polytheists.

The second group to fight is وَلاَ يُحَرِّمُونَ مَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah. ... وَرَسُولُهُ nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by His Messenger.

This part of the verse mentions two things:

1. Things forbidden by Allah,
2. Things forbidden by His Messenger.

Things forbidden by Allah are the harams mentioned in the Quran. What are the things forbidden by His Messenger?

Do not say, “They are the harams mentioned in the Quran too.” For, they cannot be the harams mentioned in the Quran. Let us explain it for those who do not know Arabic:

The letter “waw” in the verse حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ is a conjunction. It shows that what is before it and after it are different from each other. It is also used in English. For example, when we say “Ali and Ahmad came”, we understand that Ahmad is a different person from Ali. Ali is different from Ahmad. What shows that difference is the conjunction “and”.

Similarly, when we say things forbidden by Allah and things forbidden by His Messenger, we understand that the things forbidden by His Messenger are different from the things forbidden by Allah. If they had been the same, the conjunction “and” would not have been used between them and only the statement “Fight those who do not hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah” would have been used. However, that statement was not used. What was used? The statement “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger” was used.

After the explanations above, we ask the following question: The things forbidden by Allah are the harams mentioned in the Quran. Where are the things forbidden by His Messenger mentioned? Can you think of any place but the hadiths of the Prophet? Probably no.

It means it is not enough for a believer to accept only the things forbidden by Allah, i.e., the harams mentioned in the Quran. He has to accept the things forbidden by the Messenger of Allah too because the Messenger of Allah’s rendering something haram is like Allah’s rendering something haram; and that rendering is through the command of Allah. The only difference between them is that those harams are mentioned in hadiths, not in the Quran.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:  

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Do you not read verse 29 of the chapter of at-Tawba? Why do you not act based on the order of that verse? The verse states the following: Accept haram what the Messenger of Allah rendered haram. 

Despite the order of the verse, you deny hadiths and do not accept haram what the Messenger of Allah rendered haram.

How can you say “Divine revelation is only the Quran; the Prophet did not receive any other revelation” despite the clear expression of the verse? If the Prophet did not receive any other revelation, what does the phrase “which hath been forbidden by His Messenger” mean? Is it not clearly understood from that expression that we are informed about harams in two ways?

1. Those informed by the Quran,
2. Those informed by hadiths.

If you disregard hadiths, how will you learn the harams informed by hadiths?

You claim that you follow the Quran but you do not have any share from the Quran. You do not understand the Quran at all. If you understood it, you would not oppose the sunnah and hadiths of the Messenger of Allah; you would accept his sunnah as a source as the verse orders. The Quran is in a place and you are in a different place. May Allah awaken you before you die!

Fourth evidence: “So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you.” (al-Hashr, 59/7)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 7 of the chapter of al-Hashr. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ  So what the Messenger assigns to you  فَخُذُوهُ  take it  وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ and which he withholds from you فَانتَهُوا deny yourselves that.   

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:  

“So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse:  وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ So take what the Messenger assigns to you. With that statement, we are ordered to take not only what the Quran commands but all of the orders of the Prophet, that is, we are ordered to obey those orders. The orders of both the Quran and the sunnah are included in it.   

The following is stated in the next part of the verse: وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you. This order includes the prohibitions mentioned both in the Quran and in the sunnah.

We address those who say, “We follow only the Quran” by not accepting the orders and prohibitions in the hadiths as follows:

The verse does not say, So take what the Quran assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which it withholds from you. The verse states the following So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you. If we had been ordered to obey the commands and prohibitions of the Quran only, not the commands and prohibitions of the Sunnah, the verse would have been ‘So take what the Quran assigns to you’, not ‘So take what the Messenger assigns to you’. Since the verse is not like that, it proves that we have to follow what the Prophet (pbuh) commands and prohibits us both through the Quran and the Sunnah.  

We also want to make the following explanation here:

Some people say the verse above was sent down only about ‘fay’ and interpret it as follows: “So take what the Messenger assigns to you about fay, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you.” Thus, they deny that the verse is general. Fay means the property taken after the battle from the enemy if they do not become Muslims. The property taken by force from the enemy during a battle is called “ghanimah (booty)”.

Since the first part of the verse is about fay, some people say the statement “So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you” in the verse is about ‘fay’ only. According to them, we have to accept the decree of the Prophet (pbuh) about fay and that we do not have to obey his other words.  

We will say three things about their wrong view. The first one is as follows:

There is a difference between the words مَا (ma) and مِنْ (min) in Arabic: The word مَا expresses the whole of something. The word مِنْ expresses a or some part of something. If the verse had included the word “min” instead of “ma”, that is, if it would have been as follows:

آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ  وَمِنْ نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا وَمِنْ  The meaning of it would have been as follows: “So take from what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves from what he withholds from you.”

The word “min” would have made the meaning of the verse like that. If it had been like that, those who say, “We obey the word of the Prophet about fay and we do not obey his other words” might have been right. However, the verse includes the word “ma”, which expresses the whole, no the word “min”, which expresses a part:  

  نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا وَما  آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَما

That is, So take (all of) what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves (all of) what he withholds from you. That is the effect of the word “ma” on the meaning. In that case, the word of the Prophet about fay is included in the word “ma”; so are all of his other words. Therefore, we have to take all of them.

Our second statement regarding the issue is as follows: This is a rule in fiqh methodology: The fact that the reason for the revelation of a verse is specific does not prevent its decree from being general. That is, even if a decree was sent down due to a specific incident, the decree is regarded as general. If it were not like that, almost all of the decrees of Islam would have to be disregarded because many decrees of the Quran were sent down related to specific incidents. If we limited those decrees only with those incidents and said, “They are not valid in other incidents”, the Quran would be a book that was sent down only for that century.

Therefore, that the verse ‘So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you’ was sent down about fay does not mean that the decree is only about fay. The decree is general. We should take whatever the Prophet allowed and avoid everything he prohibited.

Our third statement regarding the issue is as follows:  All scholars and mufassirs have decreed that the judgment is general due to the two reasons we have explained above. It is not reasonable to oppose the scholars regarding an issue that they unanimously agree. For instance, Fakhruddin Razi, who is famous with the nickname “the Sun of Imams”, states the following about the verse in question:

“The best meaning is that the verse is a decree that covers everything that the Messenger of Allah gave, ordered and prohibited. The decree related to fay is also included in this generality.”

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:  

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Do you not read verse 7 of the chapter of al-Hashr? Why do you not act based on the order of that verse? The verse states the following:

“So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you.”

Why do you not take what the Prophet allowed and give up what he prohibited? You claim to follow the Quran, but you have no share from the Quran; you do not understand the Quran at all. If you understood it, you would not oppose the sunnah and hadiths of the Messenger of Allah and you would take what that sunnah gave you and give up what it prohibited, as the verse commands. May Allah guide you!

Fifth Evidence: “It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision.” (al-Ahzab, 33/36)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 36 of the chapter of al-Ahzab. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلاَ مُؤْمِنَةٍ  It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman. When is it not fitting?  إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا   when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger. What is not fitting?    أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ to have any option about their decision. That is, they cannot think whether I am to do this or that. When Allah and His Messenger decree on something, believers have no right to choose about it. وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ If anyone disobeys Allah and His Messenger, that is, opposes their decree, فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلاَلاً مُبِينًا  he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision. If anyone disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse:  وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلاَ مُؤْمِنَةٍ  It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman. With that statement, an issue that is forbidden for us, believers, is introduced. Something will be forbidden for us. ... What and when is that prohibition? The next part of the verse answers that question. إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا  This prohibition is when Allah and His Messenger decide something. أَنْ يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ What is forbidden is to have any option about their decision.

Thus, when Allah and His Messenger decree about something that it is halal or haram, what a believer needs to say is, “I have heard and obeyed it.” A believer has no right to choose about it. For instance, Allah decreed that interest (usury) is haram. After that decree, a believer does not think whether interest is haram or halal. He accepts that it is haram.   

We want to deal with the following point now:

The following is stated in the verse: إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger. The verse mentions two things:

1. Allah’s deciding (decreeing) something,
2. His Messenger’s deciding (decreeing) something.

Allah’s decrees are the decrees mentioned in the Quran. What are His Messenger’s decrees?

Do not say, “They are the decrees mentioned in the Quran too.” For, they cannot be the decrees mentioned in the Quran. Let us explain it for those who do not know Arabic:

The letter “waw” in the verse إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ is a conjunction. It shows that what is before it and after it are different from each other. It is also used in English. For example, when we say “Salim and Numan came”, we understand that Numan is a different person from Salim. Salim is different from Numan. What shows that difference is the conjunction “and”.

Similarly, when we say, “when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger...”, we understand that what His Messenger decides is different from what Allah decides. If they had been the same, the conjunction “and” would not have been used between them and only the statement “when a matter has been decided by Allah” would have been used. However, that statement was not used. What was used? The statement “when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger...” was used.

After the explanations above, we ask the following question:

- Allah’s decrees are the decrees mentioned in the Quran. Where are His Messenger’s decrees mentioned? Can you think of any place but the hadiths of the Prophet? Probably no.

It means it is not enough for a believer to accept only Allah’s decrees, i.e., the harams and halals mentioned in the Quran. He has to accept the Messenger of Allah’s decrees because the Messenger of Allah’s decrees are like Allah’s decrees. His Messenger’s rendering something haram is like Allah’s rendering something haram and those decrees occur through the command of Allah. The only difference between them is that those decrees are mentioned in hadiths, not in the Quran.

I want to attract your attention to the next part of the verse:

   وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ If anyone disobeys Allah and His Messenger, that is, if he opposes their decrees,  فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلاَلاً مُبِينًا  he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path. Being on a clearly wrong path does not mean not liking Allah’s decree only. Not liking His Messenger’s decree also means being on a clearly wrong path.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:  

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Do you not read verse 36 of the chapter of al-Ahzab? Why do you not act based on the order of that verse? The verse states the following:

“It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision. If anyone disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.”

Despite the statement of the verse, you deny hadiths and do not accept the decree of the Messenger of Allah. Are you not aware of the fact that you oppose the Quran?

How can you still say “Divine revelation is only the Quran; the Prophet did not receive any other revelation” despite the clear expression of the verse? If the Prophet did not receive any other revelation, what does the phrase “the Messenger of Allah’s decreeing something” mean? Did the Messenger of Allah - God forbid – decree on his own?

You claim that you follow the Quran but you do not have any share from the Quran. You do not understand the Quran at all. If you understood it, you would not oppose the sunnah and hadiths of the Messenger of Allah; you would accept his sunnah as a source as the verse orders. May Allah awaken you before you die!

Sixth evidence: “The answer of the Believers, when summoned to Allah and His Messenger, in order that He may judge between them, is no other than this: they say, ‘We hear and we obey’.” (an-Nur, 24/51)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 51 of the chapter of an-Nur. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

إِنَّمَا كَانَ قَوْلَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ  The answer of the Believers إِذَا دُعُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِwhen summoned to Allah and His Messenger  لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ  in order that He may judge between them أَنْ يَقُولُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا is no other than this: they say, “We hear and we obey”.

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“The answer of the Believers, when summoned to Allah and His Messenger, in order that He may judge between them, is no other than this: they say, ‘We hear and we obey’.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse:  إِنَّمَا كَانَ قَوْلَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ The answer of the Believers is no other than this...  That is, the believer cannot say anything other than this. It does not fit a believer to say anything other than this. It is not permissible for a believer to say anything other than this.

When is it not permissible?  إِذَا دُعُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ  when summoned to Allah and His Messenger. When they are summoned for what?  لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ  in order that He may judge between them. That is, when the believers are summoned to Allah and His Messenger, they will say only this: أَنْ يَقُولُوا سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا “We hear and we obey.”

As the verse states, a believer obeys the decree of Allah and His Messenger. He does not say anything else about their decree. When Allah and His Messenger decree about something, the believers will only say, “We hear and we obey.” They cannot say anything else.

We want to deal with the following point now:

The following is stated in the verse:  إِذَا دُعُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ when summoned to Allah and His Messenger... The verse mentions two things:
1. Being summoned to Allah,
2. Being summoned to His Messenger.

Being summoned to Allah does not mean being in the physical presence of Allah. Being summoned to Allah means being invited to the Quran, His book. If being invited to Allah means being invited to the decrees of the Quran, what does being invited to His Messenger mean?

Do not say, “It means being invited to the Quran.” For, it cannot mean being invited to the decrees mentioned in the Quran. Let us explain it for those who do not know Arabic:

The letter “waw” in the verse إِذَا دُعُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ is a conjunction. It shows that what is before it and after it are different from each other. It is also used in English. For example, when we say “Hakan and Kamal came”, we understand that Kamal is a different person from Hakan. Hakan is different from Kamal. What shows that difference is the conjunction “and”.

Similarly, when we say, “when summoned to Allah and His Messenger...”, we understand that being summoned to His Messenger is different from being summoned to Allah. If they had been the same, the conjunction “and” would not have been used between them and only the statement “when summoned to Allah” would have been used. However, that statement was not used. What was used? The statement “when summoned to Allah and His Messenger...” was used.

After the explanations above, we ask the following question:

- Being summoned to Allah means being summoned to the Quran and the decrees of the Quran. What does being summoned to His Messenger mean? Can you think of any place but the hadiths of the Prophet? Probably no.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:

There is disagreement and conflict between us on many issues such as intercession, tawassul and life in the grave. We believe they are true but you regard them as false.

 We invite you to Allah to decree between us. That is, we say, “Let the Quran decide between us.” We referred our issues to the Quran. We showed the verses stating that they were true as evidence but you showed evidences that they did not exist according to you.

In that case, we say, since the disagreement between us still continues, let us refer the issues between us to the Prophet. Let him decide.  

You answer our offer as follows: “No, we do not refer them to the Prophet; we do not respect his hadiths. The Quran is enough for us; we act according to the Quran only.”

However, you do not act according to the Quran. The Quran says, “The answer of the Believers, when summoned to the Messenger, in order that he may judge between them, is no other than this: ‘We hear and we obey’.”

The Quran orders you to say سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا “We hear and we obey.” You say, “We do not obey the word of the Messenger.” Thus, you prove that you are very far away from the Quran.  

You can see how deniers of hadith violate verse 51 of the chapter an-Nur. What is more, they say, “We act according to the Quran.” I wish they would but they do not and cannot act according to the Quran.

Seventh Evidence: “Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct).” (al-Ahzab, 33/21)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 21 of the chapter of al-Ahzab. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ  Ye have indeed... In whom? فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ  in the Messenger of Allah. What?   أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ  a beautiful pattern (of conduct). For whom is that beautiful pattern (of conduct)?  لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُوا اللّٰهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْاٰخِرَ  for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا  and who engages much in the Praise of Allah.

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:  

 “Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse: Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct). That is, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) is a good example for believers. Believers should take the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) as an example and try to resemble him.

Who takes the Messenger of Allah as an example? The next part of the verse answers that question:  لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُوا اللّٰهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْاٰخِرَ for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا and who engages much in the Praise of Allah.

The verse states the following: If a person hopes to attain Allah and the hereafter and engages in the praise of Allah very much, he accepts the Messenger of Allah as a model. If he does not accept him as a model, it means there is a problem about his belief in Allah and the hereafter. Besides, it means he does not engage in the praise of Allah very much.

It can be expressed as follows the other way round: If a person does not hope to attain Allah and the hereafter and does not engage in the praise of Allah very much, he does not accept the Messenger of Allah as a model.

Thus, accepting the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah and following his sunnah are related to a person’s belief and worship. Those who have problems about their belief and who do not engage in worship, especially praise of Allah, do not and cannot accept the Messenger of Allah as a model. That blessing is not given to them. They become deprived of that blessing.   

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows: 

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Do you not read verse 21 of the chapter of al-Ahzab? Why do you not act based on the order of that verse? The verse states the following: Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct). Why do you not accept the Messenger of Allah as a model and deny his sunnah despite the expression of the verse? Are you not aware of the fact that you oppose the Quran by doing so?

Do you not fear the following statement of the verse?:

“Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah.”

Since you do not accept the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah as a beautiful pattern of conduct for you, there is something wrong with your belief in Allah and the hereafter. In addition, you are not people of dhikr. There problems about your worship too. The Quran describes you like that. You can consider it yourselves.

Eighth evidence: “We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message; that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them.” (an-Nahl, 16/44)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 44 of the chapter of an-Nahl. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ  We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message - that is, the Quran - لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them!

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message; that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse: وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ  We have sent down unto thee (also) the Message - that is, the Quran. A wise reason is mentioned related to the Quran’s being sent down to the Prophet in the next part of the verse. That reason is also a duty of the Prophet. That duty is لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ to explain clearly to men what is sent for them! That is, the duty is to explain the Quran and state what divine consent is.

The verse does not say, ‘We have sent down the Quran; people can understand it as they wish.’ On the contrary, the verse states the following: “O my beloved Prophet! You will explain the Quran. The duty of explaining the verses belongs to you. People will understand the verses according to your explanation. They will not understand the verses as they wish. They will be dependent on your explanation.” That is what the verse states.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Do you not read verse 44 of the chapter of an-Nahl? Why do you not act based on the order of that verse? The Quran gives the duty of explaining the Quran to the Prophet. However, you deny hadiths, which are like explanations of the Quran. With that denial, you remove the Prophet from the duty of explaining the Quran. The Quran says, “O Prophet! Explain the Quran to people. that is your duty.” However, you say, “No, he cannot explain it. I understand it as I wish. I do not accept the explanations of the Prophet.” Do you follow the Quran? Does that attitude of yours mean following the Quran? If you are a bit sane, you will understand that you are very far away from the Quran.

Ninth evidence: “Then We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion.” (al-Jathiya, 45/18)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 18 of the chapter of al-Jathiya. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَاكَ عَلَى شَرِيعَةٍ مِنَ الْأَمْرِ  Then We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion.  فَاتَّبِعْهَا  so follow thou that (Way) وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاء الَّذِينَ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ and follow not the desires of those who know not.

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“(O My Prophet!) Then We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion: so follow thou that (Way), and follow not the desires of those who know not.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse: Then We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion. We understand from the statement of the verse that the Prophet (pbuh) was given a way of religion (shari’ah). Shari’ah means Islamic law. Shari’ah means the laws Allah imposed in order to arrange the deeds of human beings. Every crime has been defined in our current law system and a punishment has been determined for them; similarly, crimes and punishments were determined in shari’ah. That is, halal and haram things, crimes and permissible deeds were determined; punishments were determined for crimes.

The verse states the following: “We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion (shari’ah).” Our question is as follows:  

- Where is that shari’ah?

Do not say, “It is in the Quran” because there is a limited number of decrees in the Quran. Those decrees are not explained fully. For instance, the punishment of theft is determined as cutting off the thief’s hand. However, it is not explained under what conditions the hand will be cut off. For example, if a person steals an apple in the market, will his hand be cut off? Is it permissible to cut off a person’s hand for stealing only one apple? What are the conditions necessary for cutting off the thief’s hand? The Quran does not arrange it. It means there is a limited number of decrees of shari’ah in the Quran and they are not explained fully.

Let us go back to the question again: The Prophet is addressed as follows in the Quran: “We put thee on the (right) Way of Religion (shari’ah).” However, we cannot see all decrees and details of that shari’ah in the Quran. Where is that shari’ah then?

Can you think of anything but hadiths and the sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh)? No. Allah states with a verse of the Quran that He gave the Prophet a shari’ah and ordered him as follows: “So follow thou that (Way), and follow not the desires of those who know not.” Very few of the decrees of that shari’ah are mentioned in the Quran; and the details of the ones that are mentioned are not given. The details and most of the decrees of the shari’ah are explained in hadiths. After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Do you not read verse 18 of the chapter of al-Jathiya? It is clearly stated in that verse that the Prophet was given a shari’ah and he was ordered to follow it. Show us that shari’ah in the Quran! How many decrees related to shari’ah can you show in the Quran? For instance, the Quran says, “Do not have alcoholic drinks!” What is the punishment for having alcoholic drinks? Can you show it in the Quran? The Quran says, “Do not devour interest (usury). Can you show the punishment for a person who devours interest in the Quran? The Quran says, “Give zakah!” Can you show from what goods zakah is given and its rate in the Quran?

There are too many examples. To sum up, if you deny hadiths, you will have denied the shari’ah given to the Prophet. For, most of the decrees of shari’ah are mentioned in hadiths. It is necessary to accept the hadith in which the decrees of shari’ah are mentioned in order to follow shari’ah. What shari’ah will those who deny hadiths follow?

O deniers of hadith who claim to follow the Quran! The Quran orders you to follow shari’ah, which you deny. Why do you deny shari’ah, about which the Quran says, “Follow it”? You say you follow the Quran. Follow it then. We invite you to follow verse 18 of the chapter of al-Jathiya.

Tenth evidence: “O Ye who believe! Put not yourselves forward before Allah and His Messenger.” (al-Hujurat, 49/1)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 1 of the chapter of al-Hujurat. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا  O Ye who believe!   لاَ تُقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيِ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ Put not yourselves forward before Allah and His Messenger.

In the verse above, we are prohibited from putting ourselves forward before Allah and His Messenger. Putting oneself forward before Allah means stating a decree contrary to the decrees of the Quran. For instance, the Quran states that interest (usury) is haram. If a person says interest is halal, he will have put himself forward before Allah. The Quran states that alcoholic drinks, gambling and fornication are haram. Anyone who says they are halal will have put himself forward before Allah.

What does putting oneself forward before His Messenger mean? Its meaning is as follows: Stating a decree contrary to the decrees of the Messenger of Allah. If a person does not like the sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), does not accept his hadiths and expresses a view contrary to that of the Prophet, he will have put himself forward before the Prophet.

To sum up, “Put not yourselves forward before Allah and His Messenger” means follow the Quran and the Messenger of Allah related to all your affairs.

The phrase “put not yourselves forward” is an order prohibiting us from opposing the commands and prohibitions of Allah and His Messenger. The phrase “raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet” in the next verse is an order prohibiting us from raising our voices. It means ‘Do not say anything contrary to the word of Allah and His Messenger.

Ibn Abbas states that Hz. Ali explains that verse as “Do not say anything contrary to the Quran and the sunnah.”

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Why do you not follow verse 1 of the chapter of al-Hujurat? We are prohibited from putting ourselves forward before the Prophet, that is, saying something contrary to his decrees and opposing his sunnah. You disregard that prohibition and deny hadiths and the sunnah. Are you not aware that you put yourselves forward before the Prophet and that you oppose the verse “Put not yourselves forward before His Messenger”?

- You say you follow the Quran.
- Why do you oppose the command of the verse then?
- Why do you put yourselves forward before the Messenger of Allah?

If you acted based on the Quran, you would not put yourselves forward before the Messenger of Allah and you would accept his sunnah and hadiths.

Eleventh evidence: “They can have no (real) Faith, until they make thee judge in all disputes between them.” (an-Nisa, 4/65)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 65 of the chapter of an-Nisa. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

فَلاَ وَرَبِّكَ  But no, by the Lord  لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ  they can have no (real) Faith حَتَّىَ يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ  until they make thee judge in all disputes between them ثُمَّ لاَ يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ   and find in their souls no resistance against Thy decisions  وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا but accept them with the fullest conviction.

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) Faith, until they make thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against Thy decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse: فَلاَ وَرَبِّكَ لاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) Faith! With that phrase, it is stated that the faith of a person who claims to be a believer will not be complete until he makes something. Then, three things are mentioned as the conditions of belief:

Firstly:  حَتَّىَ يُحَكِّمُوكَ فِيمَا شَجَرَ بَيْنَهُمْ until they make thee judge in all disputes between them! That is the first condition for the acceptance of belief. We will make the Prophet judge related to an issue that we disagree. We understand from that statement that the issue that we disagree is not expressed clearly in the Quran. For, if it were expressed clearly in the Quran, there would not be a disagreement between us.

In that case, if we are believers and if we have faith, we will make the Prophet (pbuh) judge in all issues whose decrees are not expressed clearly in the Quran and the disputes between us instead of deciding on our own. Making the Prophet (pbuh) judge means referring the issue to the hadiths and sunnah of the Prophet. Thus, if a person does not refer a dispute to the sunnah of the Prophet, it means he has not believed, as the Quran puts it. We have learned the first condition of belief: Referring a dispute between us to the Prophet.

The second condition of belief is mentioned in the next part of the verse: ثُمَّ لاَ يَجِدُوا فِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَرَجًا مِمَّا قَضَيْتَ  and find in their souls no resistance against Thy decisions...   

It means referring to issue to the Prophet (pbuh) is not enough. It is also necessary to accept the decision of the Prophet (pbuh). It is necessary to accept it in such a way that one must not feel any resistance in his heart against it. He must not think as follows: “I wish it had been like this or that.” As soon as a believer hears the decree of the Prophet (pbuh) regarding the issue, he must say, سَمِعْنَا و أَطَعْنَا “We have heard and obeyed it.” If he cannot say so and if he has some objections in his heart, it means his belief is not complete and perfect.  

The third condition of belief mentioned in the verse is   وَيُسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا accepting the decree with the fullest conviction.

Let us list those three conditions again:

1. We will make the Prophet judge in all disputes between us.

2. We will not find in our souls any resistance against the decree of the Prophet (pbuh) when we learn it.

3. We will accept the decree with the fullest conviction.

If we can do them, it means we have believed fully. If we cannot do them, our belief is not valid.  

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:

There is disagreement and conflict between us on many issues such as “intercession”, “tawassul” and “life in the grave”. We believe they are true but you regard them as false. What we need to do is to act according to the order of verse 65 verse of the chapter of an-Nisa and refer the issues to the Prophet (pbuh) and to show consent to the decree of the Prophet fully.

When we say to you, “Let us refer our disputes to the Prophet, that is, to his sunnah and hadiths”, you say, “No, we do not refer it to the Prophet; we do not accept him as the judge and we do not respect his hadiths.”

However, you do not act according to the Quran. The Quran tells you to take your disputes to the Messenger, that is, to make his words and hadiths judge between you. You oppose this order of the Quran. You cannot refer the disputes to the Prophet let alone accepting his decrees and showing consent to them. What surprises me the most is that you claim to follow the Quran while opposing the command of the Quran. May Allah guide you!

Twelfth evidence: “Those who resist Allah and His Messenger.” (al-Mujadala, 58/5)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 5 of the chapter of al-Mujadala. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُحَادُّونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ  Those who resist Allah and His Messenger   كُبِتُوا will be humbled to dust  كَمَا كُبِتَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ  as were those before them.

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“Those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be humbled to dust, as were those before them.”

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The following is stated at the beginning of the verse:  إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُحَادُّونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ كُبِتُوا Those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be humbled to dust. The meaning of the word “kabata” mentioned in the verse is to destroy, disgrace, defeat and infuriate. The verse states that those who resist Allah and His Messenger will be destroyed, disgraced and defeated. We will deal with the following phrase now: يُحَادُّونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ Those who resist Allah and His Messenger...

The verse mentions two different groups of “resisters”:

 1. Those who resist Allah,
 2. Those who resist His Messenger.

Those who resist Allah are the ones that oppose the decrees in the Quran. If a person does not accept halals of the Quran as halal and harams of the Quran as haram, he will have opposed Allah. Who are those who oppose His Messenger mentioned in the verse? Do not say, “They are those who oppose the decrees in the Quran” because they cannot be those who oppose the decrees in the Quran. Let us explain it for those who do not know Arabic:

The letter “waw” in the verse  َادُّونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ is a conjunction. It shows that what is before it and after it are different from each other. It is also used in English. For example, when we say “Junayd and Wadat came”, we understand that Wadat is a different person from Junayd. Junayd is different from Wadat. What shows that difference is the conjunction “and”.

Similarly, when we say,  يُحَادُّونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ  those who resist Allah and His Messenger, we understand that those who resist His Messenger are different from those who resist Allah. If they had been the same, the conjunction “and” would not have been used between them and only the phrase “those who resist Allah” would have been used. However, that phrase was not used. What was used? The phrase “Those who resist Allah and His Messenger” was used.

After the explanations above, we ask the following question:

Opposing Allah means opposing the decrees of Allah’s book. The meaning of opposing is disobeying. It is not a physical opposition. If a person does not obey the decree of the Quran, he will have opposed Allah.

What does opposing His Messenger mean?  Can you think of anything but opposing the decrees of the Prophet (pbuh) mentioned in his hadiths? Probably no.

We learn the decrees of Islam from the Quran and the hadiths of the Prophet. Those who do not accept the decrees of the Quran will have opposed Allah. Those who do not accept the decrees of the Prophet will have opposed His Messenger.

It means it is not enough for a person to accept only what Allah renders haram, that is, the harams mentioned in the Quran. He has to accept the commands and prohibitions of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) too. If he does not accept them, he will have opposed His Messenger, as the verse puts it.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Why do you not follow verse 5 of the chapter of al-Mujadala? That verse prohibits us from opposing the Prophet (pbuh), that is, saying something contrary to his decrees and opposing his sunnah. You disregard that prohibition and deny hadiths and the sunnah. Does denying hadiths and the sunnah not mean opposing the Prophet (pbuh)? The verse mentions about your end: Those who oppose the Prophet will be destroyed and disgraced! Are you not afraid of being destroyed and disgraced?

Thirteenth evidence: “For Allah hath sent down to thee the Book and wisdom.” (an-Nisa, 4/113)

We will ask deniers of hadith a question: Before asking it, we will give some information as introduction:

Our Lord states the following in verse 113 of the chapter of an-Nisa:

  وَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ  For Allah hath sent down to thee the Book and wisdom.

It is stated in the verse that two things were sent down to the Prophet (pbuh). The first one is the book, that is, the Quran. The second one is wisdom (hikmah).

It is stated in some other verses that the Prophet (pbuh) was given the duty of teaching those two things to us. For instance, the following is stated in verse 151 of the chapter of al-Baqara:

“A similar (favor have ye already received) in that We have sent among you an Messenger of your own, rehearsing to you Our Signs, and sanctifying you, and instructing you in Scripture and Wisdom, and in new knowledge.”

It is stated in the verse that the Prophet (pbuh) taught us wisdom in addition to the book.

The following is stated in verse 164 of the chapter of Aal-i Imran:

“Allah did confer a great favor on the believers when He sent among them an apostle from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the Signs of Allah, sanctifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom.”

The following is stated in verse 2 of the chapter of al-Jumua:

 “He sent … an apostle … to instruct them in Scripture and Wisdom.”

The following is stated in verse 231 of the chapter of al-Baqara:

“Solemnly rehearse Allah’s favors on you, and the fact that He sent down to you the Book and Wisdom.”

The following is stated in verse 34 of the chapter of al-Ahzab:

“And recite what is rehearsed to you in your homes, of the Signs of Allah and His Wisdom.”

There are some other verses that we can quote regarding the issue but we do not want to lengthen the issue since our purpose has been understood. The following decrees are deduced from those verses:

1. The Prophet (pbuh) was given wisdom along with the Quran.

2. The Prophet (pbuh) was given the duty of teaching that wisdom.

3. We have to follow that wisdom just as we follow the Quran.

After those explanations, we ask deniers of hadiths the following question:

- What is that “wisdom” sent down to the Prophet (pbuh)?

Do not say, “it is the Quran” because the Quran is mentioned before wisdom and the verses and the conjunction waw (and) is used between the Quran and wisdom. Anyone who knows a little Arabic understand from the conjunction waw (and) that the book is different from the wisdom. Since it is different, what is the wisdom that was sent to the Prophet and he was ordered to teach us?

If you do not know, we will teach you what wisdom is.

The meaning of the wisdom (hikmah) sent down to the Prophet

Imam Shafii states the following about the word hikmah (wisdom) mentioned in the verses: Hikmah is the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah.

Fakhruddin Razi states the following: Hikmah means knowing the other religious decrees that include the details of the Quran.

Imam Nasafi states the following: Hikmah is the sunnah.

Ibn Kathir and Imam Tabari state the following: Hikmah is the sunnah.

We can report from many more scholars stating that hikmah is “the sunnah”.

Now we address deniers of hadith who claim to follow the Quran as follows:

- You claim to follow the Quran. The Quran tells you to follow hikmah. However, you deny hikmah, that is, the sunnah. Does it mean following the Quran? We refer it to your conscience - if you have.  

Fourteenth evidence: “Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) Desire!” (an-Najm, 53/3)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, pay attention to the following verses of the chapter of an-Najm. Our Lord states the following in those verses:  

  وَمَا يَنْطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَى Nor does he - that is, the Prophet - say (aught) of (his own) Desire.  إِنْ هُوَ إِلاَّ وَحْيٌ يُوحَى  It is no less than inspiration sent down to him. (an-Najm, 53/3-4)

According to the clear statement of those verses, the Prophet (pbuh) did not speak based on his own desire. Every word of him, especially related to the religion, was based on revelation. The following verses explain what would have happened if the Prophet (pbuh) had spoken based on his own desire:

وَلَوْ تَقَوَّلَ عَلَيْنَا بَعْضَ الْأَقَاوِيلِ  And if the apostle were to invent any sayings in Our name,  لَأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُ بِالْيَمِينِ  We should certainly seize him by his right hand, ثُمَّ لَقَطَعْنَا مِنْهُ الْوَتِينَ  And We should certainly then cut off the artery of his heart. (al-Haqqa, 69/44-46)

As the verses above express, the Prophet does not speak based on his own desire; he says only what is revealed to him.

Since he says what is revealed to him, disobeying him means disobeying Allah’s commands. Denying hadiths means denying the revelation of Allah.

Although the Quran states that every word of the Prophet (pbuh) is based on revelation, how can a Muslim ignore them?

Fifteenth evidence: How will those who do not accept hadiths do deeds based on the Quran?

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We ask them, ‘How will you follow the Quran without accepting hadiths?’

For instance, the Quran says, أَقِيمُوا الصَّلاةَ Perform prayers. Is the number of rak’ahs mentioned in the Quran? Can you show in the Quran, for example, how many rak’ahs the fard of the morning prayer (fajr) consists of and how it is performed?  No, you cannot show them because they are not mentioned in the Quran. Since you do not accept hadiths as a source, how will you obey the Quran’s command “Perform prayers”?

The Quran says, آتُوا الزَّكَوةَ Give zakah. Can you show in the Quran from what goods to give zakah and how much? For example, what is the rate of zakah for honey? What is the rate of zakah for cereals?  What is the rate of zakah for camels? Can you show them and other issues related to zakah in the Quran? No, you cannot show them because those issues related to zakah are not mentioned in the Quran. In that case, if you do not accept hadiths as a source, how will you obey the Quran’s command “Give zakah”?

The Quran says, أَتِمُّ الْحَجَّ Complete hajj. How will we perform hajj? For example, how many times will we turn around the Kaaba? How many times will we walk between Safa and Marwa? What are fards and wajibs of hajj? Can you show them in the Quran? No, you cannot show them because those issues are not mentioned in the Quran. In that case, if you do not accept hadiths as a source, how will you obey the Quran’s command “Complete hajj”?

We can give three hundred more examples like the three examples above. If we do not accept hadiths and the sunnah of the Prophet, we cannot act based on the Quran; we cannot fulfill the commands of the Quran; we cannot follow the Quran and we cannot practice the Quran.

O deniers of hadith! How can you claim that you follow the Quran in that case? What command of the Quran can you practice and based on what deed of the Quran can you act without accepting hadiths? If you are sane and if your hearts are still alive, give up this denial and get rid of this great loss.

Sixteenth evidence: Does the command to make Masjid al-Aqsa the qiblah exist in the Quran?

We will ask deniers of hadith a question: Before asking it, we will give some information as introduction:

After the Prophet (pbuh) migrated to Madinah, he performed prayers by turning toward Masjid al-Aqsa for 17-18 months. However, he wanted the qiblah to be changed to the Kaaba very much because the Kaaba was the qiblah of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), the ancestor of the Prophet (pbuh). Besides, the Kaaba was a source of pride for Arabs. Turning toward the Kaaba was more encouraging to invite the Arabs to belief. In addition, turning toward the Kaaba would mean opposing the Jews.

Due to such reasons, the Prophet (pbuh) wanted to turn toward the Kaaba very much.

Bara states the following regarding the issue:

We performed prayers by turning toward Masjid al-Aqsa for about 18 months with the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). When the prayer was over, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) would often look at the sky and wait for the revelation that Gabriel (Jibril) would bring. (Ibn Majah, Iqamah, 56)

Doe to that mood of the Prophet, the following verse from the chapter of al-Baqara was revealed.

قَدْ نَرَى تَقَلُّبَ وَجْهِكَ فِي السَّمَاء  We see the turning of thy face (for guidance to the heavens.  فَلَنُوَلِّيَنَّكَ قِبْلَةً تَرْضَاهَا now Shall We turn thee to a Qibla that shall please thee.فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ Turn then Thy face in the direction of the sacred Mosque. (al-Baqara, 2/144)

With that verse, the Prophet made the Kaaba the qiblah. Now let us analyze the aspect of the issue that is related to our topic:

The aspect of the issue that is related to our topic

The Prophet (pbuh) wanted to turn toward the Kaaba in prayer. He wanted it so much that he would turn his face to the sky after every prayer and wait for the revelation to come. And it continued for 18 months. Is the following deduction not true?

The Prophet (pbuh) did not make Masjid al-Aqsa the qiblah of his own accord. If he had made it the qiblah of his own accord, he would not have turned his face to the sky and waited for 18 months for the revelation; he would have turned toward the Kaaba of his own accord. However, he could not turn toward the Kaaba; he could not make the Kaaba the qiblah; he had to await revelation. It means Allah ordered the Prophet to perform prayers by turning toward Masjid al-Aqsa. The Prophet made Masjid al-Aqsa the qiblah upon that order.

After this analysis, we will ask deniers of hadith a question. Our question is as follows:

- Is there a verse in the Quran about making Masjid al-Aqsa the qiblah? Where is that command in the Quran?

There is no such verse in the Quran! It is understood from it that revelation does not consist of the Quran only. The Prophet (pbuh) received revelation other than the Quran too. That revelation is called wahy ghayr-matluww. Wahy ghayr-matluww, means revelation not read/recited in prayer. What is meant by it is the revelation that the Prophet (pbuh) received other than the Quran. The fact that the Prophet was ordered to perform prayers by turning toward Masjid al-Aqsa and that this order does not exist in the Quran is the evidence for the existence of wahy ghayr-matluww.

O deniers of hadith! You say: “We follow the Quran. We do not act based on anything other than the Quran.” What will you do with wahy ghayr-matluww? You have understood based on the analysis we made that not everything is in the Quran; the Prophet (pbuh) received revelation other than the Quran too. When you deny hadiths, you deny that kind of revelation too. With that denial, you exit your religion. Come to your senses and repent of it.

Seventeenth evidence: “Thou seest the Hypocrites avert their faces from thee in disgust.” (an-Nisa, 4/61)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, you have to obey the command of verse 61 of the chapter of an-Nisa. Our Lord states the following in that verse:

   وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ When it is said to them تَعَالَوْا إِلَى مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ   Come to what Allah hath revealed -that is, the Quran- and to the Messenger رَأَيْتَ الْمُنَافِقِينَ يَصُدُّونَ عَنْكَ صُدُودًا  thou seest the Hypocrites avert their faces from thee in disgust. (an-Nisa, 4/61)

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“When it is said to them: ‘Come to what Allah hath revealed, and to the Messenger’, thou seest the Hypocrites avert their faces from thee in disgust.” (an-Nisa, 4/61)   

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

One of the characteristics of munafiqs (hypocrites) is mentioned in the verse: Averting their faces from two things. The first one is مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ what Allah hath revealed; the second one is وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ the Messenger.

Averting their faces from what Allah revealed means averting their faces from the decrees of the Quran. What does averting their faces from the Messenger mean? Do not say, “It also means averting their faces from the Quran.” For, it cannot mean averting their faces from the decrees of the Quran. Let us explain it for those who do not know Arabic:

The letter “waw” in the verse إِلَى مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ وَإِلَى الرَّسُولِ is a conjunction. It shows that what is before it and after it are different from each other. It is also used in English. For example, when we say “Ali and Ahmad came”, we understand that Ahmad is a different person from Ali. Ali is different from Ahmad. What shows that difference is the conjunction “waw (and)”.

Similarly, when we say, “Come to what Allah hath revealed, and to the Messenger”, we understand that coming to what Allah revealed, i.e., the Quran, is different from coming to the Messenger. If they had been the same, the conjunction “and” would not have been used between them and only the statement “Come to what Allah hath revealed” would have been used. However, that statement was not used. What was used? The statement “Come to what Allah hath revealed, and to the Messenger” was used.

After the explanations above, we ask the following question:

- What Allah revealed is the Quran and the decrees mentioned in the Quran. What does coming to the Messenger mean?

Can you think of anything but coming to the sunnah of the Prophet and accepting his hadiths? Probably no.

It means it is not enough for a believer to accept only the decrees of the Quran. He has to accept the decrees of the Messenger of Allah too because the decrees of the Messenger of Allah are like the decrees of Allah and they are based on the commands of Allah. The only difference between them is that those decrees are mentioned in hadiths, not in the Quran.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:  

You say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” Do you not read verse 61 of the chapter of an-Nisa? The verse states that only hypocrites avert their faces from the decrees of the Messenger of Allah. Are you hypocrites? Or, are you not ashamed of having a characteristic of hypocrites? We invite you to become sincere believers and to accept the sunnah and hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), which is a characteristic of sincere believers.

Eighteenth evidence: “He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah.”  (an-Nisa, 4/80)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, pay attention to the following verse: Our Lord states the following in that verse:

    مَنْ يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ He who obeys the Messenger فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللَّهَ obeys Allah. وَمَنْ تَوَلَّى  But if any turn away - from you  فَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظًا We have not sent thee to watch over their (evil deeds). (an-Nisa, 4/80)

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:  

“He who obeys the Messenger obeys Allah. But if any turn away, We have not sent thee to watch over their (evil deeds).” (an-Nisa, 4/80)

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

The verse does not say, “He who obeys the Quran obeys Allah.” It says “He who obeys the Messenger obeys Allah.” If it had been enough to obey the commands of the Quran only, the word “the Quran” would have been used in the verse instead of the word “the Messenger”.

Allah wants us to obey the Messenger (pbuh). And He regards that obedience a condition of obedience to Him.  

The verse “He who obeys the Messenger obeys Allah” can be expressed as follows the other way round: “He who does not obey the Messenger does not obey Allah.” Thus, when deniers of hadith do not obey the Prophet (pbuh) and deny his hadiths, they actually disobey Allah.

O brothers! Never listen to the statements of the deniers of hadith. Let alone listening, escape from them as if escaping from Satan. If you want to be loved by Allah and to obey Allah, obey His Messenger. He who obeys him obeys Allah.

Nineteenth evidence: “Those who obey Allah and His Messenger will be admitted to Gardens with rivers flowing beneath.” (an-Nisa, 4/13)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, pay attention to the following verses: Our Lord states in the following verses who will go to Paradise and who will go to Hell:

  وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ Those who obey Allah and His Messenger يُدْخِلْهُ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ  will be admitted to Gardens with rivers flowing beneath  خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا  to abide therein (for ever)   وَذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ  and that will be the supreme achievement. وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ But those who disobey Allah and His Messenger  وَيَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَهُ  and transgress His limits  يُدْخِلْهُ نَارًا  will be admitted to a Fire خَالِدًا فِيهَا  to abide therein. وَلَهُ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ And they shall have a humiliating punishment. (an-Nisa, 4/13-14)

Let us analyze those verses a bit:

God Almighty states in the verses above who will go to Paradise and who will go to Hell. Those who will go to Paradise are the ones who obey Allah and His Messenger and those who will go to Hell are the ones who disobey Allah and His Messenger.

Obeying Allah means obeying the decrees of the Quran and disobeying Allah means disobeying the decrees of the Quran.

- What does obeying His Messenger and disobeying him mean?

 Do not say, “It means obeying the Quran and disobeying it.” For, it cannot be obeying the Quran and disobeying it. We have explained the issue several times before but we will explain it again:

The letter “waw” in the verse مَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ، مَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ is a conjunction. It shows that what is before it and after it are different from each other. It is also used in English. For example, when we say “Fatih and Muhammad came”, we understand that Muhammad is a different person from Fatih. Fatih is different from Muhammad. What shows that difference is the conjunction “waw (and)”.

Similarly, Similarly, when we say, “Those who obey Allah and His Messenger” or “Those who disobey Allah and His Messenger”, we understand that obedience or disobedience to the Messenger is different from obedience or disobedience to Allah. If they had been the same, the conjunction “and” would not have been used between them and only the statement “Those who obey Allah and disobey Allah” would have been used. However, that statement was not used. What was used? The statement “Those who disobey Allah and His Messenger” was used.

After the explanations above, we ask the following question:

- Obedience to Allah means obedience to the decrees of the Quran and disobedience to Allah disobedience to the decrees the Quran. What does obedience or disobedience to the Messenger mean?

Can you think of anything but following his sunnah, obeying the decrees informed by him and accepting his hadiths? Probably no.

It means it is not enough to accept only the decrees of the Quran related to obedience to Allah. It is necessary to obey the Messenger of Allah and accept his words too because the decrees of the Messenger of Allah are like the decrees of Allah and they are based on the commands of Allah. The only difference between them is that those decrees are mentioned in hadiths, not in the Quran.

After the explanations above, we address deniers of hadith as follows:  

Pay attention to verse 14 of the chapter of an-Nisa! Let us see what the verse says:

“He who disobeys the Messenger of Allah will be admitted to a Fire.”

The verse above mentions your end.

They disobey the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). Do they think they will gain the hereafter by disobeying him? If they do not repent, they will go to Hell and be losers. Our evidence for it is verse 14 of the chapter of an-Nisa.

Twentieth evidence: “If anyone contends with the Messenger, We will land him in Hell.” (an-Nisa, 4/115)

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: Since you follow the Quran, pay attention to the following verse: Our Lord states in the following verse whom He will send to Hell:

  وَمَنْ يُشَاقِقِ الرَّسُولَ If anyone contends with the Messenger مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ الْهُدَى even after guidance has been plainly conveyed to him,وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ  and follows a path other than that becoming to men of Faith,  نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى  We shall leave him in the path he has chosen   وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ and land him in Hell;  وَسَاءتْ مَصِيرًا what an evil refuge. (an-Nisa, 4/115)

Let us pay attention to the meaning again:

“If anyone contends with the Messenger even after guidance has been plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than that becoming to men of Faith, We shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Hell,- what an evil refuge.” (an-Nisa, 4/115)

Let us analyze that verse a bit:

God Almighty threatens two people in the verse above. The first one is the one who opposes the Messenger of Allah (pbuh); the second one is the one who follows a way other than the way of believers.

Deniers of hadith are the addressees of those two threats because they both oppose the Prophet (pbuh) and follow a way other than the way of believers by denying hadiths. For, the way of the believers is to follow the sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), to accept his hadiths and to obey his word. All Islamic universities have hadith departments. However, they deviate from the way of believers by denying hadiths.    

What is the end of the one who opposes the Messenger of Allah and deviates from the way of believers? The verse mentions their end:

 نُوَلِّهِ مَا تَوَلَّى وَنُصْلِهِ جَهَنَّمَ  Allah shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Hell.

O deniers of hadith! You claim to follow the Quran. Do you not read that verse at all? Do you not know that the punishment for opposing the Messenger of Allah and deviating from the way of believers is Hell? If you do not know, you have learned it now. Will you continue opposing the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and following a way other than the way of believers or will you adhere to the sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) by repenting? It is up to you to decide.

Twenty-first evidence: The Quran orders obedience to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) in more than 20 places in the Quran.

Deniers of hadith say, “We follow the Quran. The Quran is enough for us.” We address them as follows: How can you say that you follow the Quran? The Quran says, “Obey the Messenger” in more than 20 places. However, you do not obey the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and do not accept his words. How can you claim that you follow the Quran by doing so?

The command أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ Obey Allah and obey the Messenger is mentioned 5 times in the Quran.

The statement أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ Obey Allah and His Messenger is mentioned 4 times.

The statement أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ Obey Allah and the Messenger is mentioned twice. 

The statement أَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ Obey the Messenger, in which obedience to Allah is not mentioned but obedience to the Prophet (pbuh) is ordered directly, is mentioned once. 

The statement مَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ He who obeys Allah and His Messenger is mentioned 5 times. 

Along with other forms the statement “Obey the Messenger” is mentioned more than 20 times in the Quran; thus, we are ordered to obey the Prophet (pbuh).

Now I ask deniers of hadith who claim to follow the Quran:

- What does obedience to the Messenger mean according to you?

- Do you understand denying the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah and rejecting his hadiths from the command “Obey the Messenger”?

You disobey the command of more than 20 verses of the Quran at once; then, you say you follow the Quran.

By Allah, you do not follow the Quran; you do not know and understand the Quran. The Quran says to you, “Obey the Messenger” but you deny all words of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). May Allah guide you!

Hz. Muhammad (pbuh), the Messenger of Allah, orders us to obey him.

“He who does not like my sunnah is not of me.” (Bukhari, Nikah 1; Muslim, Nikah 5)

We have mentioned the Quran so far. We have shown how nonsensical the statement “We follow the Quran” of deniers of hadith is. In this lesson, we will quote some hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh) regarding the issue. The first hadith we will quote was reported by Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Tirmidhi and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. The Prophet (pbuh) stated the following:

أَلاَ Beware! إِنِّي أُوتِيتُ القُرآنَ وَمِثلَهُ مَعَهُ I have been given the Quran and something like it. أَلاَ يُوشِكُ رَجُلٌ شَبْعَانُ عَلَى أَرِيكَتِهِ يَقُولُ  Beware! The time is coming when a man replete on his couch will say:  عَلَيْكُمْ بِهَذَا القُرآنِ Keep to the Quran. -That is, you do not have to follow anything else -  فَمَا وَجَدتُمْ فِيهِ مِنْ حَلاَلٍ فَأَحِلُّوهُ What you find in it to be permissible treat as permissible وَمَا وَجَدتُمْ فِيهِ مِنْ حَرَامٍ فَحَرِّمُوهُAnd what you find in it to be prohibited treat as prohibited  أَلاَ -The Prophet says - Beware!  وَإِنَّ مَا حَرَّمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ كَمَا حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ  What the Messenger of Allah prohibits is like what Allah prohibits. (Abu Dawud, Sunnah 6; Ibn Majah, Muqaddima 2; Tirmidhi, Ilm 10; Ahmad b. Hanbal, 6/8)

The Prophet (pbuh) gives information about deniers of hadith in the hadith above. He states the following in order to warn them: “I have been given the Quran and something like it. What the Messenger of Allah prohibits is like what Allah prohibits.” The Prophet (pbuh) says so but deniers of hadith do not accept the statement of the Prophet (pbuh).

The Prophet (pbuh) states the following in another hadith:

 فَمَنْ رَغِبَ عَنْ سُنَّتِي فَلَيْسَ مِنِّي He who turns his face away from my sunnah is not of me. (Bukhari, Nikah, H. No: 4776; Muslim, Nikah, H. No: 1401; Nasai, Nikah, H. No: 3217; Musnadu Ahmad, 3/241)

He states the following in another hadith:

 فَمَنْ لَمْ يَعْمَلْ بِسُنَّتِي فَلَيْسَ مِنِّي He who does not act based on my sunnah is not of me. (Ibn Majah, Nikah, 1)

Now we ask deniers of hadith a question:

- The Prophet (pbuh) says, “He who turns his face away from my sunnah is not of me. He who does not act based on my sunnah is not of me.” O deniers of hadith! Since you do not act based on the sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), you are not of him. Whom do you follow then? Have you ever thought of it?

We will quote one more hadith:

  إِنَّ أَوَّلَ ذَهَابِ الدِّينِ تَرْكُ السُّنَّةِ  The religion’s being lost starts with abandoning the sunnah.  يَذْهَبُ الدِّينُ سُنَّةً سُنَّةً كَمَا يَذْهَبُ الْحَبْلُ قُوَّةً قُوَّةً  The religion will be lost as sunnahs are abandoned one by one just like a rope that breaks as its threads break one by one. (Darimi, Muqaddima 16)

Brothers! There are a lot of hadiths that can be quoted regarding the issue; we regard the ones above sufficient. They will be enough for those who are sane. Even if we quote thousands of hadith for those who are not sane, it will not be enough.

Conditions necessary for a hadith narrator (rawi)

Now will mention some information related to hadith methodology. Thanks to that information, it will be clear how reliable hadiths are.

The following conditions are necessary in a rawi (hadith narrator) from whom a hadith is reported:

1. The rawi must be a Muslim. Hadiths are not reported from a person who is not a Muslim.

2. The rawi must be sane. Hadiths are not reported from a person who is not old enough to differentiate between what is good and bad, and a person who is mad.

3. The rawi must be honest. Hadiths are not reported from a person who is known to be a liar.

4. The rawi must be known. That is, at least two people must report from him or his state must be known in terms of jarh and tadil (criticism and praise). Hadiths are not reported from a person who is not known.

5. The rawi must not be mudallis. That is, he must narrate hadiths truly and honestly. If a rawi hides some faults in the chain of the narrators and text of the hadith, hadiths are not reported from him.

6. The rawi must be a religious person. Hadiths are not reported from a person who does not fulfill fards and commits harams.

7. The rawi must have a proper creed. Hadiths are not reported from people with wrong beliefs and who fell into unbelief. Hadiths are reported from Shiites who are Ahl al-Bid’ah but not from those who fell into unbelief.  

8. The rawi must be a decent person. That is, he must have humane characteristics and high ethics; he must have good manners. Hadiths are not reported from a person who is not decent.

9. The rawi must have a good memory. He must know what he writes and memorizes. Hadiths are not reported from people with weak memories.

10. There must not be any break in the chain of the narrators of the hadith. It is called “the condition of ittisal (continuity)”. A hadith must come through rawis that saw one another up to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) to be sound. If there is a break somewhere, that hadith is not sound.  

11. There must not be contrariness in the hadith. That is, a hadith must not be contrary to the decree of another hadith or a verse. The hadiths that are contrary are not sound. They are called shaz, munkar, etc.  

12. The hadith must not be muallal. That is, it must not have even a slight fault that only those who are good at hadith science can notice.   

Scholars agree unanimously that the twelve conditions are sought in order to accept a hadith sound (sahih). If one of them is missing, a hadith is not “sound”.

In addition to those conditions, there are some special conditions. For example, according to Imam Bukhari, the rawi must be together with the person he narrates the hadith from and must live with him for a long time. Thus, according to Imam Bukhari, even if a hadith has the 12 conditions mentioned above, a hadith is not sound if the rawi did not live together with the person he narrates the hadith from for a long time.

Thus, hadith scholars virtually split hairs when they accepted a hadith sound; they accepted a hadith sound after investigation. In that case, if a person says that a hadith reported by such hadith scholar is fabricated, it shows that person’s ignorance. A hadith stated to be sound by them is sound in our opinion too.

Why did one hadith imam regard a certain hadith as sound but another one did not?

We have to know the levels of rawis to answer that question.

Hadith narrators (rawis) belong to one of the following five levels:

Hadith narrators of the First Level: They are the rawis that have all of the 12 conditions of soundness we mentioned in the previous lesson fully. In addition, such a rawi knew the person from whom he reported hadiths for a long time. The rawis of this level are the most superior rawis in terms of soundness.

Hadith narrators of the Second Level: They also have all of the conditions of soundness like the ones in the first level. However, they did not know for a long time the person from whom they reported hadiths. Imam Bukhari did not accept the hadiths narrated by the rawis of this level sound but Imam Muslim accepted their narration sound. A short time of being together for the rawi with his teacher is enough for Imam Muslim. However, Imam Bukhari wanted that togetherness to last for a long time.

With this explanation, the following issue has been understood:

- Why does Imam Bukhari not accept a hadith sahih though Imam Muslim accepts it sound?

The reason for it is that they seek different conditions for the rawis. Imam Bukhari lays it as a condition for the ravi to live for a long time with the person from whom he reported hadiths but Imam Muslim regards a short togetherness as sufficient. Thus, the same hadith is not accepted sound by Imam Bukhari but it is accepted sound by Imam Muslim. It means the issue is related to the difference in the conditions for a hadith to be sound according to scholars.

Hadith narrators of the Third Level: They are the rawis who were together with their teachers for a long time but who had some deficiency in terms of justice and memory. They are between acceptance and rejection. Some scholars regard them as acceptable while others reject them. Abu Dawud and Imam Nasai, regard the narrations of such rawis as sound.  

Let us underline the same issue again:

- Why do Abu Dawud and Imam Nasai regard a hadith as sound while Imam Bukhari does not regard it as sound?

Because the conditions they seek in hadiths are different. Imam Bukhari does not accept any deficiency in the rawi in terms of justice and memory. However, Abu Dawud and Imam Nasai accept the deficiency in the rawi who lived together for a long time with the person from whom he reported hadiths in terms of justice and memory and regard their narration as sound. Thus, the difference originates from the difference of methodology in accepting hadiths sound.

Hadith narrators of the Fourth Level: They are narrators who did not know the people from whom they reported hadiths and who had some deficiency in terms of justice and memory. This level is the level of Imam Tirmidhi. Imam Tirmidhi included such hadiths in his book based on some conditions. Other hadith scholars did not accept the hadiths of this level.

Hadith narrators of the Fifth Level:  They constitute the group that includes weak and unknown rawis. According to the scholars who act based on the conditions of Bukhari and Muslim, it is not permissible to take hadiths from them. According to Abu Dawud and those coming after him, it is permissible to take hadiths from the people of this level in order to strengthen fiqh issues.

To sum up, the disagreement about whether a hadith is sound or not stems from the difference in the conditions that scholars seek for the rawi. While Imam Bukhari regards it as a condition that the narrator should live for a long time with the person from whom he reported the hadith, Imam Muslim regards a short togetherness as sufficient. According to Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim, there should be no deficiency in the justice and memory of the rawi but according to Abu Dawud and Imam Nasai, the deficiency of the rawis who lived for a long time with the person from whom they reported the hadith is not a problem. Due to such reasons, one scholar says that a hadith is “sound” while another one does not regard it as sound.

The following is understood from the explanation above:

When Imam Bukhari says about a hadith, “It is not sound”, we do not understand from his statement that the hadith is fabricated. We only understand that the hadith does not have the conditions of soundness according to Imam Bukhari. In other words, a hadith that Imam Bukhari does not regard as sound may as well be sound.

Did the Companions write hadiths?

Some deniers of hadith say, “The Companions did not write hadiths. Hadiths were written 300 years later.” Thus, they raise doubts in people who do not know the issue. We will inshallah remove that doubt in this lesson.

The Prophet (pbuh) prohibited his Companions from writing hadiths in the first years of Islam. In a hadith narrated by Abu Said al-Khudri, the Prophet (pbuh) stated the following:

“Do not write anything from me. Whoever wrote anything other than the Quran from me should destroy it. Report from me - verbally - there is no harm in it. Whoever attributes a lie to me knowingly should prepare his place in the fire.” (Muslim, 4/2298)   

Zayd ibn Thabit states the following about that time period:

 “We did not write anything but the Quran and tashahhud.”

There are also narrations from other Companions such as Hz. Umar, Muadh b. Jabal, Ibn Abbas, Abdullah Ibn Umar and Abu Musa related to the prohibition.

Scholars have made different explanations about the hadiths stating that it was forbidden to write hadiths. According to some scholars, the prohibition of writing hadiths is related to the pages of the Quran. In other words, it was forbidden to write both the Quran and hadiths on the same page. Writing on different pages was not prohibited.

Some scholars state the following:

The prohibition of writing hadiths was not for everybody, but only for those with a strong memory. The purpose of it was to prevent them from neglecting the task of memorizing hadiths by relying on writing. Those with a weak memory asked for permission to write and they were allowed.

Most of the scholars state the following related to the prohibition of writing hadiths:

The prohibition of writing hadiths belongs to the first years of Islam. In those years, the writing of hadiths was prohibited for the following two reasons:

1. The possibility of confusing the Quran with hadiths.

2. The possibility that the Quran could be neglected when dealing with writing hadiths.

In the following years, people were allowed to write the hadiths due to the following reasons:

1. Most of the verses had been sent down,

2. People’s acting meticulously related to the writing of the verses,

3. The increase in the number of hafizes of the Quran,

4. The Muslims’ understanding the style of the Quran and the elimination of the possibility of confusing the Quran with hadiths

5. The elimination of the fear of neglecting the Quran by being busy with hadiths.

Due to such reasons, hadiths were allowed to be written and many Companions preserved hadiths through writing.

Let us quote a narration about the permission to write hadiths:

Abdullah Ibn Amr narrates: I was writing what I heard from the Prophet (pbuh) with the desire to memorize them. Qurayshis prohibited me by saying,

“You write down everything you hear from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). However, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) is a human being. He speaks both when he is angry and pleased.

Thereupon, I gave up writing. However, I told the Prophet (pbuh) about the issue. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) pointed to his blessed mouth with his finger and said,

“Write. I swear by Allah, who holds my soul, that nothing but the truth comes out of this.” (Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Musnad, II, 158)

It is stated in a narration from Anas that Anas listened to hadiths from the Prophet (pbuh), wrote them and then went to the Prophet and read them. Anas b. Malik showed his students those notebooks, in which the hadiths were written, while narrating hadiths. It is understood that Anas b. Malik wrote hadiths too.

There are many narrations expressing permission for writing hadiths:

• The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) gave the following advice to those who complained about their memory: “Call your right hand for help”, “Strengthen knowledge with writing”.
• Some of the speeches of the Prophet (pbuh) were written and given to those who wanted them.
• There are about 300 letters, all of which are hadiths,

They all prove that the Prophet (pbuh) allowed the hadiths to be written and that the Companions wrote them.

Hadith collections written by many Companions have reached us. Some of those Companions are as follows:

• The collection written by Abdullah Ibn Amr is called “as-Sahifa as-Sadiqa”. There are about 1,000 hadiths in this collection and they are included in Ahmad ibn Hanbal’s Musnad.
• Jabir Ibni Abdullah’s collection: It is stated in the books that Jabir established a circle of knowledge in Masjid an-Nabawi and narrated hadiths to his students and that his students wrote those hadiths, which he had.
• Anas b. Malik’s collection: Hubayra ibn Abdurrahman narrates: People insisted to Anas very much about hadiths. Thereupon, Anas brought them some collections and said: “These are what I heard from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and wrote. After I wrote them, I read them and presented them to the Messenger of Allah.” (Baghdadi, Taqyidul-Ilm) Anas also ordered his two sons to write the hadiths narrated from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) and said: “We would not regard the knowledge of those who did not write as knowledge.”
• there are narrations that Samura ibn Jundab, Ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Umar, Sa’d ibn Ubada al-Ansari, Abdurrahman ibn Abi Awfa, Mughira ibn Shu’ba and many other companions wrote hadiths. We do not need to enter into details here. Those who wish can find such information in the books of hadith methodology.

Apart from the collections written by the Companions, it is now known based on documents that about 400 hadith scholars wrote hadiths in the second half of the first century of the Migration and in the first half of the second century.

However, we should also point out that although some Companions preserved hadiths in writing, not all hadiths were written by the Companions. The following question comes to mind here:

“Why did the Companions not write all hadiths?”

The reason for it is that some Companions did not welcome writing and believed that knowledge should be recorded in memory. In order to understand the issue, it is necessary to have a look at the conditions of that century.

Most of the Arabs were illiterate. The Prophet (pbuh) attracted attention to that fact as follows:

“We are an illiterate nation; we do not know how to write and calculate.” (Bukhari, Sawm, 13; Muslim, Siyam, 15; Abu Dawud, Sawm, 4)

Since most of the Arabs were illiterate, they had a tradition of conveying their culture orally through poetry, oratory, war stories and genealogical information. It greatly improved the memorization skills of the Arabs. They had an extraordinary memory power. Among them, there were some people who had such a strong memory that they could memorize a long poem or speech that they heard by listening to it only once. When the Prophet (pbuh) spoke, those people could easily memorize the hadiths because he pronounced words slowly enough. It would probably be appropriate to quote a few statements about their memory power:

Ibn Shihab stated the following: When I passed by Baqi Cemetery, I would plug my ears to avoid any rude words. By Allah, there is nothing that entered my ear and I forgot.

Imam Shabi states something similar. Ibn Abbas memorized an ode by Umar Ibn Abi Rabia by listening to it only once.

There are many examples of it. Those who study Arabic literature know those examples very well. We will not give more examples to avoid lengthening the issue.

Having such a strong memory was not peculiar to the Companions only. Many Arabs had that characteristic. When that innate characteristic was combined with Allah’s special benevolence, the Companions who memorized a hadith by hearing it once emerged and they never forgot what they had memorized. As a result of such a memory, some Companions objected to writing hadiths. The reasons for that objection were as follows:

1. They did not need to write because they memorized all the hadiths by listening to them once and never forgot them.

2. They thought that if the hadiths had been written, the Quran could have been neglected.

3. They feared that the students of knowledge would reduce memorization by relying on writing. According to them, knowledge was not what was written, but what was kept in memory. As a matter of fact, al-Khalil states the following: “Knowledge is not placed in the cupboard, but in the mind.”

Due to such reasons, people like Abdullah Ibn Masud, Abu Musa al-Ashari, Abu Hurayra, Ibn Abbas, Abu Said al-Khudri and Abdullah Ibn Umar, who had great memory power, did not write hadiths and opposed to writing them.

Let us quote a few statements from some of the Companions who were against writing hadiths:

Abu Said al-Khudri did not allow those who wanted to write down the hadiths they heard from him and would state the following:

“Do you want to make mushafs out of hadiths? The Prophet (pbuh) told us hadiths and we would memorize what he said. So, you memorize like us too.”

Ibn Abbas said: “We neither write nor dictate knowledge.”

Abu Burda states the following: Abu Musa narrated some hadiths to us. We tried to write them... He said to us, “Are you writing what you hear from me?” We said, “Yes.” Thereupon, he said, “Bring them to me.” He washed them all in water and said “Memorize them just like we memorized them.”

Muhammad Ibn Shirin narrates: I said to Abida: “Shall I write down what I hear from you?” He said “No!” and asked me: “Am I reading to you from a book?” I said, “No!”

Imam Shabi said, “I have never written black on white. I have not wanted anyone to repeat the hadith I heard from him.”

There are many examples regarding the issue. Let us regard the examples above sufficient and add the following: Almost all of those people, who were against writing, gave up their opinion when they saw careless rawis afterwards, and recommended that hadiths be written; they had hadiths written by their students, and even obtained texts in which hadiths were written.

The disagreement among the Companions about whether to write hadiths or not, that is, some of the Companions’ writing hadiths and others’ not writing them, continued in the era of Tabi’un after the Companions. Some Tabi’un scholars did not write down hadiths because they had a great memory like the Companions; they memorized hadiths just by listening to them. Some of them preserved hadiths in writing.

You can understand the memory power of the people who memorized hadiths from the following information:

• A person who memorizes one hundred thousand hadiths together with their chains of narrators is called a “Hafiz”.
• A person who memorizes two hundred thousand hadiths together with their chains of narrators is called “Sheikh al-hadith”.
• A person who memorizes three hundred thousand hadiths together with their chains of narrators is called “Hujjatul-Islam”.
• A person who memorizes more than three hundred thousand hadiths together with their chains of narrators is called “hadith imam” and “hadith mujtahid”.

Some hadith imams memorized five hundred thousand hadiths. Ahmed b. Hanbal memorized one million hadiths together with their chains of narrators. You cannot find even one person who has memorized only five hundred hadiths together with their chains of narrators today, let alone five hundred thousand hadiths....

Therefore, do not compare the memory power of those people with your own. They were people whose memories were strengthened by the environment they were in, and on top of that, they received the special benevolence of Allah.

Due to having such a memory and for the reasons we have stated at the beginning, many hadith scholars of the Companions and Tabi’un did not write hadiths; they conveyed hadiths orally.

The writing of the hadiths by the state started during the caliphate of Umar b. Abdulaziz due to the fear of the death of those great scholars and the disappearance of hadiths. The collection of hadiths in the form of books is called “tadwin”. We will describe the period of tadwin separately. We will not explain it now.

It has probably been understood why the Companions did not write down all hadiths. In fact, they wrote the hadiths in their memory, not on paper. When the number of people to memorize hadiths like them decreased, the hadiths in the memories of those hadith scholars were transferred onto paper and recorded. That is all.  

The phase of tadwin: the process of writing the hadiths officially and compiling them in the form of books

Tadwin means the formal writing of hadiths and compilation of them into books. The word “officially” is important here because, as we have explained before, writing hadiths is an activity that started individually and privately during the era of the Prophet (pbuh). Both some Companions and some scholars of Tabi’un wrote hadiths. However, none of them is included in the work of writing expressed by the word tadwin because writing all hadiths is in question in tadwin. Then, we can describe tadwin better as follows:

“Tadwin is a writing activity that includes all hadiths and that is carried out by the state.”

The work of tadwin started with Umar Ibn Abdulaziz, one of the Umayyad caliphs. It covers the second half of the first century of the Migration and in the first half of the second century first half of the century.

The two most important reasons leading to tadwin were as follows:

1. The fear of the death of the scholars who memorized the hadiths and the disappearance of hadiths.

As we explained in the previous lessons, although some of the hadiths were written, most of the companions and Tabi’un scholars memorized the hadiths; some of them even destroyed the hadiths they had written for memorization after memorizing them. The death of those great scholars, who memorized the hadiths, one by one, caused the fear of the disappearance of hadiths. Therefore, the need to write the hadiths that those scholars had written in their memory before they passed away arose. That is the primary reason for the compilation of hadiths.

2. The second reason for the compilation of hadiths: The increase in hadith fabrication activities.

The efforts of some enemies of the religion to include fabricated hadiths in sound hadiths, people’s starting to fabricate hadiths to strengthen their own opinions due to political and sectarian conflicts, and some well-intentioned people’s fabricating hadiths in order to encourage people related to some issues such as the thawab of deeds necessitated the writing of sound hadiths.

Due to those two reasons, hadiths were recorded in writing through an activity carried out by the state. A letter sent by the caliph Umar Ibn Abdulaziz to Abu Bakr Ibn Hazm, the governor of Madinah, is as follows:

“Research, collect and write the hadiths about the Prophet (pbuh) in your town. I fear that knowledge will disappear and scholars will pass away. While doing it, only the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) should be accepted. Let scholars spread knowledge in public places such as mosques and teach those who do not know. For, knowledge does not disappear unless it is kept secret.” (Darimi, “Muqaddima”, 43; Bukhari, “Ilm”, 34; Khatib, Taqyidul-Ilm, p. 106)

With this and similar orders of the caliph, hadiths began to be written in all Islamic towns and cities; hadiths that were written were sent to the center in the form of books; the hadiths collected in the center were checked by hadith scholars and the hadiths were reproduced; then, they were sent back to Islamic towns and cities.

The following two points are important in tadwin activity:

1. The hadiths were not written in any sort of classification, such as sunan, sahih or musnad. In tadwin, it was essential to write the hadiths in a book and to preserve them in writing. The division of hadiths into parts such as sunan, sahih and musnad took place in the period of classification. We will deal with the period of classification in the next lesson.

2. The recorded hadiths were not divided into parts such as sound (sahih), hasan and weak; they were all written side by side. The division of the hadiths into such parts took place in the next century. We will give detailed information regarding the issue under the heading “jarh and ta’dil (criticism and praise)”.

It is possible to summarize the phase of tadwin briefly like that. We did not mention the names of the scholars who served during the phase of tadwin, the rawis from whom hadiths were taken, and the names of the written works so as not to prolong the issue. Those who wish can find such information in “Tadwin” part of hadith books.

The phase of tasnif: the process of classifying hadiths in different forms

Tasnif means classifying (classification). In our previous lesson, when we dealt with the issue of tadwin, we stated the following:

“Tadwin is a writing activity that includes all hadiths and that is carried out by the state.”

What was done in tadwin was only to record the hadiths in books and to preserve them in writing. In tadwin, the hadiths were recorded in a mixed manner regardless of their topic. It was difficult to find a hadith that was wanted among the hadiths recorded in a mixed manner. Hadith scholars classified the hadiths in different ways in order to eliminate that difficulty. Sometimes they gathered the hadiths under one topic. Sometimes they used the rawis as basis and wrote all the hadiths narrated by a rawi under the name of that rawi. This phase, in which hadiths were classified in different ways, is called the “Phase of Tasnif (Classification)”.

Classification activities started in the first quarter of the second century of the migration and continued up to the middle of the fourth century.

Now, we will mention the classification types of hadith books for those who want to learn.

Types of classification of hadith books

The first type of classification is Tasnif Alal-Abwab. Tasnif Alal-Abwab means classification of hadiths based on fiqh topics, i.e., their meanings. In this type of classification, hadiths are mentioned to explain an issue and to serve as evidence for the issue. The books of this type are divided into different types as Jami, Sunan and Musannaf.

Jamis are hadith books that include all of the eight main parts. Those eight parts are as follows:

1. Ilm at-tawhid and sifat. That is, hadiths about belief and creed.

2. Sunan. That is, hadiths about decrees/judgments.

3. Riqaq and zuhd. That is, hadiths about spiritual and ethical elevation.

4. Hadiths on good manners. That is, hadiths about good manners such as eating, drinking, sitting, lying down and speaking.

5. Tafsir. That is, hadiths about explaining some verses of the Quran.

6. Siyar. That is, hadiths about history and the life of the Prophet (pbuh).

7. Fitan. That is, hadiths mentioning the incidents to take place up to the Day of Judgment.

8. Manaqib. That is, hadiths about criticizing and praising some cities, individuals or tribes.

Not all hadith books include hadiths about all those topics. The ones including all of them are called Jami. Among Kutub as-Sitta only Imam Bukhari’s, Imam Muslim’s and Imam Tirmidhi’s books are called Jami.

The second type of Tasnif Alal-Abwab is Sunans. Sunans are books that bring hadiths together based on fiqh topics. The hadiths that are not related to decrees are not usually included in those books. Sunans generally start with the topic taharah (cleanliness) and continue with the topics worshipping, transactions and penalties. Marfu hadiths are essential in Sunans. There are very few mawquf and maqtu hadiths.

Marfu hadith: A hadith that belongs to the Prophet (pbuh).
Mawquf hadith: A hadith whose words or deed belongs to the Companions.
Maqtu hadith: A hadith whose words or deed belong to Tabi’un.

The third type of Tasnif Alal-Abwab is Musannafs. Musannafs are essentially like Sunans. However, they include a lot of mawquf and maqtu hadiths.

We have learned the first type of classification: Tasnif Alal-Abwab. It is divided into three: Jami, Sunan and Musannaf.

The second type of classification is Tasnif Alar-Rijal. Tasnif Alar-Rijal is the classification made according to the names of the narrators. In this type of classification, some scholars regarded the Companions from whom the hadiths were narrated as the basis while others regarded the sheikhs from whom the hadiths were narrated as the basis. The classifications based on the Companions are called “Musnad” and the classifications based on sheiks are called “Mu’jam”.

In Musnad type classifications, for example, in Ahmad Ibn Hanbal’s Musnad, the Companions are arranged based on the order of virtue and the hadiths narrated from them are placed under their names.

In Mu’jam type classifications, the sheiks from whom the hadiths were narrated are arranged alphabetically or based on their tribes and the hadiths narrated from them are placed under their names.

We should add the following information:

Since the hadiths were sought for their topics, such books were dealt with again afterwards and they were also classified based on tasnif alal-abwab.

One of the important deeds done during the phase of classification was sorting out fabricated hadiths. This sorting out was done according to the method of jarh (criticism) and tadil (praise). We will deal with the topic of jarh and tadil in our next lesson. This topic is very important because if we know the topic of jarh and tadil, we will know how reliable the hadiths we have are.

Jarh (criticism) and tadil (praise): the deed of showing the degree of soundness of hadiths

Jarh and tadil is a deed done to show the degree of soundness of hadiths.

Jarh means criticizing and showing the fault of a hadith.
Tadil means proving the honesty and memory of the narrator.

Criticizing the narrator of a hadith can be made through several ways:

1. Showing the lie of a narrator by proving.

2. Proving that his memory is weak.

3. Proving that he committed sins and that he was a person of bid’ah.

4. Proving that the narrator was in a state of ecstasy if he was a person of sufism (tasawwuf).

There are other similar ways too.

The reason why jarh and tadil are done about narrators is to distinguish between fabricated words and hadiths. Fabricated words are called “mawdu hadith”. We will use the term “mawdu hadith” in this part. “Fabricated words” are meant by it.

When the rumors of mawdu hadith started to emerge at the beginning of the second century of the Migration in the form of mischief, hadith scholars started to distinguish sound hadiths from mawdu hadiths. Great hadith scholars like Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, Nasai and Tirmidhi started to deal with the issue. They had memorized more than a hundred thousand hadiths.

Thus, those great scholars put all hadiths through jarh and tadil in order to sort out fabricated hadiths and to end the rumors about hadiths. All chains of narrators of hadiths were put through jarh and tadil. The method of jarh was applied so strictly that many sound hadiths were lost during the process.

The deed of determining the degrees of hadiths through the method of jarh and tadil continued up to the end of the fourth century of the Migration; it was completed at that time. All of the analyses made after that time are studies done based on them.

The method of jarh and tadil was applied for the hadiths of Bukhari and Muslim too. This method was applied for more than 80 teachers of Bukhari from whom he took hadiths and 160 sheikhs of Imam Muslim.

If a hadith was analyzed by such investigative scholars and approved by being called “sahih (sound)”, it is no longer doubted that it is a hadith. If a person rejects a hadith that is accepted by them unanimously, his ignorance is obvious.

Now we want to ask a question:

- The process of determining the degrees of soundness of hadiths and sorting out the fabricated ones was completed 1,000 years ago and every hadith was checked through jarh and tadil; then, can it be regarded service to the religion of Islam to discuss those hadiths again and to confuse people?

Hadith scholars had to criticize hadiths for a temporary period of time, used the method of jarh and tadil to purify them of delusions and to eliminate doubts; after that process, they placed the hadiths in the place that they deserve. It is not regarded service to the religion of Islam but treason to put the hadiths through jarh and tadil again in order to shake the trust put in them and to cause doubts.

O deniers of hadith who dare to commit that treason! Based on what knowledge of yours are you going to do it? Do you have the power to go and see a narrator in order to speak about that narrator? You cannot do it unless you can travel in time. Then, how will you get the information about that narrator? Dou you have any sources other than the books of hadith scholars?

You can see that you need the hadith scholars that you do not like in the beginning. Why do you not trust their words though you need them? Besides, your memory is not as strong as theirs and your taqwa is not as high as theirs; in addition, you are not close to the Companions and Tabi’un as they were. How will you outshine them in that case?

Our brothers! The levels and degrees of hadiths were determined a thousand years ago, and the issue was settled and completed. The only thing that a person who wants to learn the degree of a hadith today should do is to study the works of those hadith imams and learn the issue from them.

All hadiths included in nearly a hundred hadith books have three degrees and levels in terms of their chains and ways of narration. A hadith is sahih (sound), hasan or weak. However, all of them are hadiths. A weak hadith is also a hadith. A weak hadith is close to a hasan hadith but far away from a mawdu hadith. The difference between a weak hadith and a mawdu hadith is as much as the distance between the earth and the sky.

The reason why we have started to explain this issue is to show how reliable the hadiths we have are. The method of jarh and tadil was applied for all hadiths; the hadiths that failed to pass the test of jarh were sorted out and removed from the books. The ones that passed the test of jarh were named as sound, hasan and weak according to their strength. They also have their own degrees. We will talk about those degrees in the next lesson inshallah.

Types of hadith according to the source of the text

We will study the types of hadith under three headings:

1. Types of hadith according to the source of the text,
2. Types of hadith according to the number of narrators,
3. Types of hadith according to the degree of soundness.

In this lesson, we will explain the types of hadith according to the source of the text; we will deal with the other headings afterwards.

Types of hadith according to the source of the text are divided into four:

1. Qudsi hadith,
2. Marfu hadith,
3. Mawquf hadith,
4. Maqtu hadith.

Now let us learn what those types of hadiths are.

Qudsi (Sacred) Hadith

Qudsi hadith is a hadith whose meaning belongs to Allah but whose words belong to the Prophet (pbuh).

A qudsi hadith is understood from its introductory sentence. Qudsi hadiths start as follows: “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, ‘Allah Almighty states the following:...” The hadiths starting with the sentence “Allah Almighty states the following:...” are qudsi hadiths.

The following question can come to mind here:

- What is the difference between qudsi hadiths and the Quran?

The answer to that question is as follows:

- The similarity between a qudsi hadith and the Quran is that both of them are attributed to Allah. However, the Quran belongs to Allah in terms of both meaning and words. On the other hand, a qudsi hadith belongs to Allah only in terms of meaning; its words belong to the Prophet (pbuh). Thus, qudsi hadiths are the words of the Prophet (pbuh); they are not regarded as part of the Quran; reading them is not regarded as a deed of worship like reading the Quran.

Let us regard the information above related to qudsi hadith enough and learn what marfu hadith is.

Marfu Hadith

Marfu hadith means all words and deeds attributed to the Prophet (pbuh). This type of hadith is also called Hadith Nabawi. All of the words reported from the Prophet (pbuh) are called “hadiths”; the reason why they are classified as “marfu hadith” here is to distinguish them from the words of the Companions and Tabi’un. As we will explain soon, the term “hadith” is also used for the words of the Companions and Tabi’un. When the term marfu hadith is used, we understand that the statement in question belongs to the Prophet (pbuh), not to the Companions and Tabi’un.

Mawquf Hadith

The third type of hadith is “mawquf hadith”. Now let us learn what mawquf hadith is.   

Mawquf hadith means a hadith whose words and deeds belong to the Companions. The reason why they are called mawquf is that the chain of narrators ends with the Companions. That is, the deed or act belongs to the Companions, not to the Prophet (pbuh). Accordingly, a rawi’s narration starting with a phrase like “such and such a Companion said this or that, he said...” is mawquf.

The reason why the word of a Companion is called “hadith” is due to the possibility that the source of their words and deeds related to the religion is generally based on the Prophet (pbuh). Therefore, mawquf hadiths are regarded among the sources of the religion though they are not definite and binding.

Mawquf hadiths can be sound or weak in terms of their narrators or chains of narration just like marfu hadiths. We will deal with the meaning of the terms sahih (sound) and weak under the heading “Types of hadith according to the degree of soundness”.

Maqtu Hadith

The fourth type of hadith is “maqtu hadith”. Now let us learn what maqtu hadith is.

Maqtu hadith means the words and deeds of Tabi’un.

The Muslims who saw the Companions are called “tabi’un”. The words and deeds of Tabi’un are called “maqtu hadith”. The words and deeds of Tabi’un are taken into consideration in the determination of religious decrees but they are not regarded as binding evidence.  

Types of hadith according to the number of narrators

Hadiths are divided into two in terms of the number of narrators (rawis):

1. Mutawatir hadith,
2. Ahad hadith.

Mutawatir Hadith

Mutawatir hadith is a hadith reported by a group that is impossible to agree on a lie in each generation (tabaqa).

If the number of the narrators of a hadith is a lot in the generations of the Companions, Tabi’un and Tabau Tabi’in, it shows that the hadith is true. Therefore, mutawatir hadiths are the soundest hadiths that are not doubted at all.

It is fard to act based on a mutawatir hadith; a person he denies it exits the religion of Islam. Mutawatir hadiths are closest to the Quran in terms of serving as evidence.

 Mutawatir hadiths are divided into two:

1. Mutawatir lafzi (in words),
2. Mutawatir manawi (in meaning).

Mutawatir Lafzi is a hadith that all narrators reported using the same words. For example, the hadith below is a hadith that is mutawatir lafzi :

“If a person tells a lie about me deliberately, let him get ready for his place in Hell.” (Bukhari, Anbiya, 50; Muslim, Zuhd, 72)

This hadith was uttered by the Prophet (pbuh) like that and were reported by all narrators with the same words.

The second type of mutawatir hadith is “mutawatir manawi”.

Mutawatir manawi is a hadith that all narrators reported with the same meaning though they did not use the same words. Raising hands during supplication (dua) is an example of mutawatir manawi. About one hundred hadiths were reported related the Prophet’s raising his hands during supplication. However, they were reported related to different incidents, in different forms and with different words.

Ahad Hadith

The second type of hadith in terms of the number of narrators is “ahad hadith”.

Ahad Hadith is the general name given to hadiths that are not mutawatir.

If the number of the narrators of a hadith does not reach the level of mutawatir in any generation, it is included among ahad hadiths. That is, if the number of narrators narrating a hadith decreases in the generations of the Companions, Tabi’un, Tabau Tabi’in and in any of the consequent generations, that hadith is regarded as ahad hadith, not mutawatir.

Ahad hadiths are divided into three according to the numbers of their narrators:

1. Mashhur hadith,
2. Aziz hadith,
3. Gharib hadith.

Mashhur hadith is a hadith that has at least three narrators in each generation.

The condition of having “at least three narrators” in each generation is not necessary in the first generation, i.e., the Companions. Accordingly, the hadiths that are reported from one or two Companions but that have at least three narrators in other generations are regarded as mashhur hadiths.

If 10 Companions narrated a hadith and 20 members of Tabiun reported it from those 10 Companions but if 3 people reported it from the members of Tabau Tabi’in or another generation after them, that hadith would no longer be regarded as mutawatir. It would become a “mashhur hadith” due to the decrease to three narrators in a generation.

The second type of ahad hadith is aziz hadith.

Aziz hadith is a hadith whose number of narrators decrease to at least two in any generation.

If a hadith had three or more narrators in some generations but the number decreased to two in any generation, that hadith would no longer be regarded as mashhur; it would become an “aziz hadith”.

The third type of ahad hadith is gharib hadith.

Gharib hadith is a hadith in which there is only one narrator in a generation.   

If a hadith were reported by enough narrators to make it a mutawatir hadith in each generation but only one narrator in one generation, it would not be regarded as a mutawatir hadith, but a “gharib hadith”.

Based on those definitions, it will be easier to understand why a person who denies mutawatir hadiths and the strength of mutawatir hadiths becomes an unbeliever. A hadith undergoes so many tests to become mutawatir. However, a person who is not aware of the science of hadith emerges and says, “it is fabricated” for a mutawatir hadith. What can you say to such an ignorant person? May Allah guide him to the true path!  

Types of hadith according to the degree of soundness

Hadiths are divided into three according to the degree of soundness:

1. Sahih hadith,
2. Hasan hadith,
3. Weak hadith.

Sahih Hadith

There are five conditions for a hadith to become sahih (sound):

1. The narrator must be just (fair). That is, he must have a sound creed and taqwa.

2. The narrator must have a good memory. That is, he must keep in mind a hadith that he has memorized without changing it until he narrates it to somebody else.

3. The chain of the narrators of the hadith must be uninterrupted. That is, the chain must be uninterrupted from the first narrator to the last one.  

4. The hadith must not be shadh. Shadh means a hadith that is alone in terms of narration. If the narration of a narrator contradicts the other narrators who narrate the same hadith and he remains alone, the other narrations are preferred. In that case, that hadith is no longer sahih.

5. The hadith must not be muallal. A hadith’s being muallal means having a hidden fault that makes it weak. Sometimes, a fault remains hidden in a hadith and it is not easily noticed by all hadith scholars. A hadith that is narrated as sound for a while is known as muallal after a hadith scholar finds a fault in it and reveals it.

The five items mentioned above are characteristics and conditions of a sahih hadith. If one of those characteristics is missing, that hadith ceases to be sahih.

Hasan Hadith

The second type of hadith is “hasan hadith”. Hasan hadith is a hadith that does not reach the degree of being sahih due to a fault in the memory of the narrator though he is just (fair).

Hasan hadith is a hadith that is between a sahih hadith and a weak hadith but it is closer to a sahih hadith. The only difference between a hasan hadith and a sahih hadith is that the narrator of the hasan hadith has a fault in terms of memory.

Both sahih hadiths and hasan hadiths are divided into parts. We will not mention them here so as not to bore you. Those who want more information about them can refer to the sources of Hadith Methodology.

One of the types of hadith we want to explain in detail is “weak hadith”. Many people confuse “weak hadith” with “mawdu (fabricated) hadith”; they think weak hadiths are mawdu hadiths. However, weak hadiths are different from mawdu hadiths.

In fact, a mawdu hadith is not a hadith. A mawdu hadith is a fabricated hadith. A weak hadith is a hadith. A weak hadith is closer to a hasan hadith but far away from a mawdu hadith. The difference between them is as much as the distance between the earth and the sky. If a sahih hadith were 24 carat gold, a hasan hadith would be 22 or 18 carat gold and a weak hadith would be 14 carat gold. A mawdu hadith is not gold; it is iron. Therefore, there is no closeness between a weak hadith and a mawdu hadith.

Hadith scholars state the following about weak hadiths:

A weak hadith is not at the level of sahih hadiths in terms of its chain of narrators. However, it is a hadith with the meaning it generally expresses and the expression that is in line with the meaning of sound hadiths.

However, some hadith deniers say about a hadith, “This hadith is weak” and want to give people the impression that it is fabricated. However, a weak hadith is not a fabricated statement. A weak hadith is a hadith just like a sahih hadith and a hasan hadith. The reason why it is weak is that it does not have one or more of the conditions of a sahih or hasan hadith. Either there is an interruption in the chain of narrators of the hadith, or there is a flaw in the narrator in terms of justice and memory. Therefore, such a hadith cannot reach the level of soundness. However, those characteristics do not prevent it from being a hadith; they only reduce its level of soundness. Sometimes, the text of a weak hadith is exactly the same as a sound hadith. Since the other hadith has a sound chain of narrators, it is called sahih; since this hadith does not have a sound chain of narrators, it is called weak. Although the meaning is the same, one of them is accepted as sahih and the other as weak due to having different chains of narrators.

Hadith imams divided weak hadiths into many parts. Some divided them into 42 parts while others divided them into 49, 63 and 81 parts. Some scholars divided weak hadiths into even 129 parts and made a description of each part.

Therefore, only calling a hadith weak is not enough. There are dozens of parts in weak hadiths too. We are unable to understand even those parts; how can a person call a hadith weak and accept it as a fabricated statement then? What kind of courage is it? We find it difficult to understand.

Manners in hadith narration

When we learn this topic, we will see once again how hadiths reach us in a reliable way.  

There are some principles in hadith narrations; they are called “adab (manners)”. Those manners enable the narration to be true. Some of those manners are as follows:  

First Manner: The narrator (rawi) must have permission. A narrator needs the permission of his sheikh in order to narrate the hadiths he received from his sheikh. In the science of hadith, the sheikh is the teacher from whom the narrator takes the hadith. Do not confuse the term sheikh with the sheikh in a dervish order. If his sheikh does not give permission, the narrator cannot narrate hadiths. This permission is given by the sheikh after the hadiths learned from the sheikh are presented to the sheikh again and checked whether they are in accordance with the original ones.

Second Manner: The narrator should narrate the hadith from the copy he wrote. It is not permissible if he wants to leave his own copy and narrate from the original copy of his sheikh or from another copy somebody else wrote from his sheikh. In such cases, there may be some hadiths that he did not hear in those copies and he would narrate them by attributing them to his sheikh, which would not be permissible.

Third manner: The narrator must memorize the hadith. For, something can be inserted in the narrator’s book without the narrator being aware of it. According to Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Malik, a hadith that the narrator did not narrate from his memory is not regarded as evidence for a decree.

When Imam Malik was asked, “Can a hadith be taken from a person who has not memorized his hadith even though he is reliable?”, he said, “No!” Then, Imam Malik was asked, “What if he showed us a book by saying, “I listened to these hadiths”? He answered as follows:

“Hadiths cannot be taken from such a person either. I fear that some things might be added to his book at night without his knowledge.”

Fourth Manner: If a person comes across a hadith in a book in which he wrote down hadiths that he had heard, should he narrate it or not? The hadith may have been written in the book by others. According to Imam Abu Hanifa, it is not permissible for him to narrate it unless he remembers it. Some Shafii scholars hold the same view too. According to some other scholars, it is permissible. Ibn Salah lays the following as a condition for its permissibility:

“The owner of the book must believe in the soundness of the book himself, if he is in doubt, it is not permissible.”

Fifth Manner: Another issue that shows the respect and meticulousness of the scholars for hadiths is that they try to narrate the hadith using the same words. All scholars agree unanimously on the importance of narrating a hadith in the same way as it came out of the mouth of the Prophet (pbuh). It is not permissible to change a hadith knowingly, to increase or decrease its words, or to replace them with their equivalents.

Although this is the general principle, there are also those who say that hadiths can be narrated with different words provided that the meaning is preserved exactly. This kind of narration is called “riwayah bil-ma’na (narration based on the meaning)”. Those who accept riwayah bil-ma’na consider it permissible under very strict conditions.

There are other manners in hadith narration too. We regard the information above sufficient. We also want to show the following with it:

It is not something easy to narrate hadiths. It is subject to many conditions and tests.

- He who does not have permission from his sheikh cannot narrate hadiths.
- A person cannot narrate hadiths from someone else’s copy.
- A person cannot narrate a hadith that he has not memorized.
- A person cannot narrate a hadith that he wrote in his book but that he cannot remember writing.
- One should try to narrate a hadith in the same way as it came out of the mouth of the Prophet (pbuh).

Changing some words of a hadith is subject to many conditions. And there are many other manners like those mentioned above. The hadiths came to us based on such strict rules. It is not scientific and reasonable to doubt the hadiths that reach us like that.

Was Hz. Umar against narrating hadiths?

In this lesson, we will explain an issue that hadith deniers always talk about. They state the following:

Hz. Umar was against hadiths. We can show the following incident as an example: He addressed the people he sent to the Iraqi region as follows:

“Do not alienize people from the Quran by keeping them busy with hadiths. Narrate few things from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh).”

In fact, when those people arrived in Kufa, some people said to Qaraza Ibn Ka’b: “Narrate hadiths to us.” Ibn Ka’b said, “Hz. Umar prohibited us from doing it.”

Besides, Hz. Umar imprisoned Ibn Masud, Abu Darda and Abu Masud al-Ansari due to narrating many hadiths. It proves that Hz. Umar was against hadith narration.

That is the summary of what they say. In this lesson, we will respond to their words one by one.

Firstly, we state the following: That Hz. Umar said to the people he sent to Iraq, “Narrate few things from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh)” reached us with a weak chain of narrators. You deny even the soundest hadiths and ask, “How do we know that this hadith is true?” for a sound hadith. How do you judge the accuracy of that narration from Hz. Umar? So, the reason why you deny hadiths is not because you find a hadith weak because you accept weak hadiths when it serves your purpose. The reason why you deny hadiths is that the decrees in the hadiths are too heavy for your soul. After this determination, we will continue as follows:

Secondly, we state the following: Since you trust Hz. Umar’s words so much, I will quote some of his words:

Ibn Abdilbarr states the following: “It is unanimously agreed that the following statements belong to Hz. Umar:” See what Hz. Umar said:

• If a person listens to a hadith and then narrates it in the same way as he has heard it, he will attain salvation.
• Learn the knowledge of inheritance and sunnah just like you learn the Quran.
• Some people will emerge at some time in the future; they will fight you by using the mutashabih verses of the Quran as evidence for themselves. Take the Sunnah as a basis against them at that time. The people of the Sunnah are those who know the Quran best.
• A person who has memorized a hadith and remembers it should narrate it.

Hz. Umar has dozens of statements like the ones above. Why do you not act according to them? You accept a weak statement that serves your purpose and ignore the soundest ones. Know that it is enough for a person as a sin to show Hz. Umar as an enemy of hadith.

Thirdly, we state the following: Apart from the words of Hz. Umar that we have just quoted, there are dozens of incidents that he himself searched the sunnah and decreed accordingly. We will give a few as examples:

When Hz. Umar went on an expedition to Damascus, some news stating that there was a plague epidemic in the Syrian region came to him. He hesitated whether to continue or not. Abdurrahman Ibn Awf said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) state the following:

“If you hear that there is plague in a place, do not go there; if it emerges where you are, do not leave your place.”

When Hz. Umar heard the hadith, he returned with his army.

Another incident: Miswar Ibn Makhrama states the following: Hz. Umar did not know anything about the punishment for those who caused abortion in women. He asked people about it. Mughira Ibn Shu’ba said,

“I witnessed that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) judged a male or female slave regarding the issue.” Hz. Umar said, “Bring another person who witnessed it.” Muhammad Ibn Maslama also witnessed. Thereupon, Hz. Umar decreed based on that hadith.

Another incident: Hz. Umar gave up his decision of punishing a mad woman who committed fornication because of the following hadith narrated by a single person:

“Three people are not punished. A person who is sleeping until he wakes up; a small child until he reaches puberty, a mad person until he becomes sane.”

Another incident: Hz. Umar believed that the diyah (blood money) for the fingers should be different from the diyah for the hand because the value of the fingers and the hand was not the same. Later, when he heard the hadith stating that the diyah for the fingers is like the diyah for the hand, he gave up his idea without asking for witnesses and acted based on the hadith.

We can quote tens of such hadiths. They claim that Hz. Umar denied hadiths and did not allow hadith narration but it is not true.

Fourthly, we state the following: Ibn Abdilbarr makes the following magnificent explanation regarding the issue: It is either good or bad to narrate hadiths from the Prophet (pbuh). If it is good - and we have no doubt that it is good - it is better to do good things a lot. If it is bad, it is necessary to accept that Hz. Umar advised people to commit a bad deed very few times. It is not permissible. It proves that Hz. Umar did not order people to narrate very few hadiths.

Fifthly, we state the following: Ibn Hazm makes the following explanation: The statement about Hz. Umar’ prohibiting hadith narration is very weak. If those statements are true, the prohibition is not related to the hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh) but to the stories of the previous ummahs or the stories that do not contain fiqh. For, it is not permissible for Hz. Umar and any Muslim to prohibit hadith narration.

Hz. Umar may have limited the narration of stories that do not contain fiqh due to the following reasons:

1. The caliphate of Hz. Umar was a period when conquests were made on the one hand and the state was organized on the other hand. At a time when there were so many things to do, dealing with an issue that was not needed so much at that time could have hindered the main tasks. Hz. Umar might have limited the narration of stories that do not contain fiqh based on that thought.

2. The aim of that prohibition might be to cause people to be as meticulous as possible regarding hadith narration.

3. That prohibition may have stemmed from the fear of making a mistake about the Prophet (pbuh).

4. That prohibition may have stemmed from the concern that it might cause people to neglect the Quran. For, the Quran was still in the form of a single copy at that time. However, everyone knew the hadiths. Therefore, he may have wanted to draw attention to the Quran.

Hz. Umar may have objected to narrating a lot of stories that do not contain fiqh due to such reasons. (Ibn Majah, Muqaddima, 3; Darimi, Muqaddima, 20, 28)

However, keep the following two things in mind:

1. The narrations stating that Hz. Umar did so are weak.

2. Hz. Umar himself ordered people to narrate hadiths and he used hadiths as a source while decreeing.

The reasons we have just listed aim to explain the reasons why Hz. Umar may have done so - if those weak statements were true. Hz. Umar may not have done so.

Why were witnesses demanded in hadith narrations of the Companions?

In this lesson, we will answer the following question:

- When a Companion narrated a hadith, another Companion sometimes asked him to bring witnesses and sometimes to swear an oath. Why were the Companions asked to bring witnesses or to swear an oath though they were just and reliable?

We can answer the question in items as follows:

1. The following incident is narrated in verse 260 of the chapter of al-Baqara:

Hz. Ibrahim (Abraham) said, “My Lord! Show me how Thou givest life to the dead.” Thereupon, Allah said, “Dost thou not then believe?” Hz. Ibrahim answered as follows: “Yea! but to satisfy My own undertaking.”

Although Hz. Ibrahim believed in resurrection after death, he asked Allah to show him how He gave life to the dead so that his heart would be satisfied. Likewise, a Companion who heard a hadith that he had not heard for the first time may have asked another Companion to bring a witness or to swear an oath so that his heart would be satisfied. It was not because he did not believe his statement but because he wanted to satisfy his heart.

2. It is known that sometimes a person may hear something partially, may have misunderstood or may have forgotten some of what he heard. When someone else bears witness, it becomes certain that what he says is true and doubts are eliminated. The Companions may have demanded witnesses for that reason.

3. Bringing witnesses ensures the multiplicity of the narration and makes that hadith reach the level of tawatur from the level of khabar wahid. They may have been asked to bring witnesses to strengthen the hadith and to elevate it to the level of tawatur.

4. Sometimes the objection of the Companions to each other was not related to the hadith that was narrated, but to the decree deduced from it. For example: Abu Hurayra saw that the Prophet (pbuh) made wudu after eating something cooked on fire and deduced the following decree: “Eating something cooked on fire invalidates wudu.” Ibn Abbas objected to it. Ibn Abbas did not reject the fact narrated by Abu Hurayra; he rejected the decree Abu Hurayra deduced from it and stated the following:

“We do not know whether the Prophet (pbuh) had wudu during the meal or not.” 

Due to those reasons, which we have summarized, sometimes, but not always, a Companion was asked to bring a witness for a hadith narrated by him. (Bukhari, Istidhan, 13) The issue is so simple.

The state of hadiths without chains of narrators in Bukhari

In this lesson, we will explain the reasons for the existence of muallaq hadiths in Bukhari.

Muallaq Hadith is a hadith in which one or more narrators disappeared from the beginning part of the chain of narrators. Narrating a hadith in this way is called ta’liq. For example, if Imam Bukhari recorded any hadith by saying: “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said...” or “According to the narration of Ibn Masud, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said...” it is called a muallaq hadith. As it is seen, no narrators in the chain of narrators of the hadith are mentioned.

- Are there muallaq hadiths in Bukhari and Muslim?

Yes, there are. There are 14 muallaq hadiths in Muslim and 1,341 muallaq hadiths in Buhari. In that case, the following question comes to mind:

- How can Bukhari be called “Sahih” despite all those muallaq hadiths?
- And why did Imam Bukhari include those muallaq hadiths in his book?

Now let us answer that question:

There are two groups of muallaq hadiths in Bukhari’s Sahih. The first group includes the muallaq hadiths whose chains of narrators are mentioned in Bukhari. In other words, when Imam Bukhari repeated a hadith in other chapters according to the topic, he removed the chains of narrators so as not to make the book thicker. In that case, those hadiths are not muallaq hadiths. They are hadiths whose chains of narrators were not rewritten since their chains of narrators were written in previous chapters.

As for the second group of muallaq hadiths, their chains of narrators are not mentioned in any part of Bukhari’s Sahih. Imam Bukhari deliberately included those hadiths without chains of narrators. The reason why he did not include their chains of narrators was to draw attention to the weakness of the hadiths. In other words, those hadiths are hadiths that do not fulfill the conditions that he seeks to call a hadith “sahih”. For example, a narrator may not have lived for a long time with his teacher. Or, he may have been subjected to criticism because of his memory. Or, the hadith does not meet Imam Bukhari’s conditions for soundness for another reason. Thus, Imam Bukhari removed the chains of narrators of the hadith to indicate that the hadith was not sahih according to him. Since we have already explained Imam Bukhari’s conditions for soundness, we do not mention them here. Those who wish can read the answer to the question, “Why did one hadith imam regard a certain hadith as sound but another one did not?”.

In other words, the muallaq hadiths that fall into the Second Group are the hadiths that do not meet the conditions for soundness according to Imam Bukhari. The muallaq hadiths that fall into the second group are divided into two parts:

His view about the soundness of some of them is stronger. He is not so certain about the soundness of the others. In other words, those in the first part are sounder in terms of their conditions; those in the second part are hadiths that are weaker in terms of their conditions.

- How can we know which part a muallaq hadith falls into? Imam Bukhari gives a clue about it:

He presented those falling into the first part, that is, those about whose soundness he had a strong opinion by using active voice. He presented such hadiths beginning with a phrase that expressed certainty. Examples: قال رسول اللَّه The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,  فعل رسول اللَّه the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did this/that, روى عبد الله ابن مسعود  Abdullah Ibn Masud narrated that.... Those phrases are in “active voice”.

He presented the muallaq hadiths of the second part, that is, the hadiths about whose soundness he was not sure by using “passive voice”. Such a phrase is not certain. Examples, يُذكر عن رسول اللَّه It was mentioned that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh)...  رُوى عن رسول اللَّه  It was reported from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) that.... The muallaq hadiths presented with such phrases are at a lower level in terms of soundness.

The following question can come to mind here:

- Why did Imam Bukhari, who knew two hundred thousand sound hadiths by heart, include those muallaq hadiths, which he considered “weak”, in his Sahih? Would it not have been better if he had included the hadiths that he accepted as sound instead?

That question has been answered in two ways:

1. Imam Bukhari had a fiqh concern while arranging his book. He expressed the legal decrees accepted among fiqh scholars in the titles of the topics; then, he wanted to show their basis from the verses of the Quran and sound hadiths. If he could not find any sound hadiths that met his own conditions about a topic, he took it from the hadiths that did not meet his conditions in order to show evidence.

2. Imam Bukhari does not say that muallaq hadiths are actually weak. He says they are weak according to the conditions he determined. According to him, muallaq hadiths are sound in terms of fiqh. As a matter of fact, fiqh scholars acted based on them. He did not include their chains of narrators only to indicate that they were weak in terms of the conditions he determined.

We should also know this: Imam Muslim could accept a hadith sound that Imam Bukhari does not accept as sound. Imam Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah and others could accept a hadith sound that Imam Muslim does not accept as sound.

With this explanation, you have probably understood the reason why the hadiths without chains of narrators are included in Bukhari and you will be convinced once again how groundless the attacks of the enemies of hadith are.

Do sound hadiths exist only in Bukhari and Muslim?

In this lesson, we will deal with the following topic:

Sometimes when you use a hadith as evidence related to an issue, somebody might say, “This hadith is not included in Bukhari and Muslim.” They speak as if sound hadiths are included only in those two books and in no other hadith book. We should explain the following issue against their words:

- Do sahih hadiths exist only in Bukhari and Muslim? Are other hadith books not sources?

No scholar in history said, “There are no sound hadiths except in Bukhari and Muslim. All sound hadiths are included in Bukhari and Muslim.” Now let us prove the issue with numbers:

Imam Bukhari stated that he knew two hundred thousand sound hadiths by heart. However, he reported only seven thousand odd hadiths in his Sahih.

Ibn Hajar and Imam Suyuti state the following about Imam Bukhari’s Sahih:

“The sound hadiths he left so as not to make his book thicker were much more than he included in his Sahih.”

So, the sound hadiths memorized by Imam Bukhari are not just the seven thousand odd hadiths he wrote in his work.

Again, Imam Muslim states the following about his own Sahih:

“In this book, I did not collect all the hadiths that were sound in my opinion, but only those that were agreed unanimously to be sound.”

Imam Kawthari states that unanimity mentioned in the statement above is the unanimity of the teachers from whom Imam Muslim received hadiths.

We understand from the statement of Imam Muslim that there are many hadiths that are sound according to him. Those hadiths were not included in his work. He included in his work only the hadiths that his teachers agreed unanimously to be sound.

We want to state the following with all those explanations:

Sahih hadiths are not limited to those mentioned only in Bukhari and Muslim. Even these two imams included very few of the hadiths they knew to be sahih in their works. That is, a hadith does not necessarily have to be included in Bukhari or Muslim to be sahih. A hadith accepted by hadith scholars as sahih is also accepted sahih by us no matter in which hadith book it is included. The decision about the soundness of a hadith belongs to the hadith scholars. Our duty is to abide by ijma (consensus, unanimous agreement).

Praise be to our Lord! May Allah Almighty make this work atonement for our sins! May He make us continue serving belief and the Quran. Amin.

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Considering that hadiths reached us through many narrators, why should we trust hadiths and why should we not deny hadiths?

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