When one
studies God's revealed words in the scriptures with an open mind, it becomes clear that
the main theme in all of these books is one and the same.
One can read the Torah, the Gospel, the Quran or any other scripture from
God, and there is no mistaking their bottom line: there is no god except God, and you
shall not worship except Him.
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
strength." (Deuteronomy, 6:4-5)
When asked
by a rabbi of his time, Jesus confirmed the most important of all the commandments
(Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:29-30). In the
Ouran, we find this unequivocal statement of the oneness of God as follows:
God bears witness that there is no god
except He, and so do the angels and those who possess knowledge. Truthfully and equitably, He is the absolute god;
there is no god but He, the Almighty, Most Wise. (Quran
3:18)
Even the
Veda of the Hindus contains the same message:
Let us meditate on God, His glorious
attributes, who is the basis of everything in this universe as its Creator, who is
fit to be worshiped as Omnipresent,
Omnipotent, Omniscient... (Gayatri Mantra, Yajur Veda)
Further
study of the scripture reveals that this main theme, which is consistent throughout all
the scriptures, is the very reason for our existence in this life. The Quran, for example, teaches us that we were
among those who rebelled in the past, doubted God's absolute authority over His creations,
and therefore were given the final chance by His mercy to redeem ourselves in this life. This is why we find in the Quran statements such
as:
"I did not create the jinns and
the humans except to worship Me alone" and
"the only unforgivable offense is idolatry" (Quran, 51:56, 4:48,116).
The latter
is a concept much misunderstood by people of many religions. Christians of various Protestant denominations
consider the Catholic practice of calling Mary "the Mother of God', idol worship. Muslims consider idolatrous the practice of all
Christian sects of calling Jesus "the Son of God" or "God the Son."
Yet many Muslims themselves are not aware of the full range of what constitutes idol
worship, even though the Quran gives example after example.
Most people will deny that they are committing this offense, even when they
are face to face with God Himself ! (please see Quran 6:22-24).
Idolatry (in
Arabic: shirk) is ascribing partnership to God,
i.e. believing that anything or anybody other than God possesses the power to benefit or
harm (13:16, 22:12 and many others). The
Muslims never claim divinity for Muhammad, they even insist on calling him the servant and messenger of God. However, they believe that Muhammad can help them
on the Day of Judgement. Over time, millions
of Muslims put more and more emphasis on the word "the,"
calling him the last messenger and the greatest of all the messengers, in flagrant
defiance of the Quran (33:40, 10:47, 2:285). Some
in traditional circles even go as far as saying that God created the universe for
Muhammad's sake, and that Muhammad is the light of the universe.
Just as the
Children of Israel fell into Satan's trap of following the mishna (oral) and gemarra (actions) attributed to their prophets,
which is known collectively as the Talmud, the
Muslims fell into the same mistake and invented hadith
(oral) and sunna (actions) falsely
attributed to Muhammad, despite clear warnings from God.
In so doing, both have forsaken God's revealed words in the scriptures and
have chosen instead human fabrications as the source of their religious guidance.
You shall recite what is revealed to
you of your Lord's scripture. Nothing shall abrogate His words, and you shall not
find any other source beside it.
(Quran, 18:27)
God has revealed herein the best
hadith; a book that is consistent, and points out both ways (to Heaven and Hell)
(Quran, 39:23)
Is God not sufficient for His
servant?... "Say: God is sufficient for me."
(Quran, 39:36,38)
When God alone is mentioned the hearts
of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with aversion. But when others are mentioned beside Him, they become satisfied.
(Quran, 39:45)
The
following are direct quotes from an article in the December 1992 issue of Manar As-Sabeel,
a Saudi publication of "Islamic" propagation in America with its
headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. The title
of the article was "The Sunnah: A Source of Legislation" by Dr. Al-Hussain
Shouat (hereinafter referred to as the author), and it appeared under the Studies and
Research section of the journal. In order to
support his argument, the author tried to use the Quran as his first piece of evidence. However, in light of the Quranic verses quoted
earlier and many other verses that elucidates the Quran's main theme, any sincere seeker
of the truth will immediately notice the fallacy of his argument.
The rest of
the author's 'evidence' for the Sunna are reproduced below.
The Second Piece of Evidence: The Pure Sunnah
There are numerous and diverse Hadiths indicating that obeying the Prophet (saws)
and following his Sunnah are musts. The
Hadiths also indicate that the Sunnah is the Qur'an's counterpart in legislation. These Hadiths can be classified according to
their topics into several types:
1. Hadiths indicating that the Sunnah is
equivalent to the Qur'an in legislation, and that the Shari'ah cannot be derived from the
Qur'an only. Examples of this type are:
a: Al-Miqdam Bin Ma'di Karib (May
Allah Be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said:
"Behold! I have indeed been
given the Book and its like with it. Behold! a man with a full stomach on his day bed
might say: take this Qur'an, whatever Halal you may find in it let it be so, and whatever
Haram you may find in it let it be so. But
verily, what the Messenger of Allah forbade is the same as what Allah forbade."
(Related by Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi, and Al-Hakim).
The Muslim
scholars are unanimous in their opinion that Hadith and Sunna are based on chains of
narrations spanning many generations. In
other words, they are hearsay, pure and simple. To
support Sunna, i.e., a body of hearsay, as a legal source based on other hearsay is
unheard of, except when common sense gives in.
Shall I seek other than God as a source
of law, when He has revealed to you this book fully detailed?
(Quran, 6:114)
The idol worshipers say, "Had
God willed, we would not worship any idols beside Him, nor would our parents. Nor would we prohibit anything beside His prohibitions." Those
before them have done the same. Can the messenger do anything but deliver the complete message? (Quran,
16:35)
In the
strongest terms, God nullifies the argument for any other sources of religious law beside
His words. As for dietary prohibitions, what
was delivered by prophet Muhammad in the Quran is complete and fully detailed. In fact, God calls those who invent other
prohibitions idol worshipers.
It is also
very difficult to get even the slightest impression that God's words and human
fabrications are comparable. One needs only
to take a quick look at the above Hadith to appreciate the beauty of God's words. In a demonstration of foreknowledge that only an
Omniscient Creator can give, God challenged the doubters to come up with verses similar to
His, not just in content or in the underlying mathematical structure, but also in the
beauty of the prose (17:88).
The Third Piece of Evidence: Consensus
Imam Ash-Shawkani, in his book: Irshaad Al-Fuhool said: "That the pure Sunnah
is surely a source of legislation and is independent in creed legislation, is a religious
necessity. No one would dispute this fact
except someone who has no share in the Deen of Al-Islam." In his book: Al-lhkam
fi'Usool Al-Ahkam, Al-Hafiz Ibn Hazm said after mentioning a few Ayahs that indicate
the legality of Sunnah: "No Muslim submitting to Tawheed (the oneness of Allah)
would, if disputed with, refer to anything other than the Qur'an and the sayings of the
Messenger (sAws), and would not reject what is found therein, If he does reject the
substantiated proof, he is Faasiq. But if one
rejects it out of conviction and belief that something other than the Qur'an and the
Sunnah is to be obeyed, we undoubtedly consider him an unbeliever." He added:
"If one says: I would not consider but what is in the Qur'an, he would be an
unbeliever by consensus of the Ummah."
How can one
who follows the Quran alone, God's words revealed to Muhammad, be an unbeliever? Did prophet Muhammad not follow the Quran, and
nothing but the Ouran? Was he a Sunni, a
Shia, an Ahmadiyya, or simply a Submitter?
If you obey the majority of people on
Earth, they will divert you from the path of God. They follow only conjecture; they
only guess. (Quran,
6:116)
Most people, no matter what you do,
will not believe... The majority of those who believe
in God do not do so without committing idol
worship. (Quran, 12:103,106)
The Fourth Piece of Evidence: Infalibility of the Prophet
against all mistakes pertaining to conveying the Message
Shari'ah, mind, and consensus have indicated that our Prophet Muhammad (saws) and the rest
of the prophets before him were shielded from committing any mistakes pertaining to
conveying the messages with which they were entrusted by Allah. Allah protected His Messenger (saws) from all
mistakes, including incomplete delivery of the Message, lying, doubting any part of it,
negligence, influence of Satan on him, forgetfulness, and mistakes in his sayings which
were intended for the purpose of conveying the Shari'ah.
The actions of the Messenger (sAws), however, are of three types
1. Habitual actions pertaining to daily life. In this regard the Messenger (saws) is a human
being apt to forgetfulness. This has no
influence on the Message since it is not part of it.
The Almighty
God is very specific when it comes to the message given to Muhammad. What was Muhammad's message? It was - and is - the Quran, the whole Quran, and
nothing but the Quran. God never says
that He gave Muhammad the Quran and the Sunna, just as He never states that He gave
the Torah and the Talmud to Moses and Aaron. In
a very strong language, God swears that the Quran, the utterance of an honorable messenger
(Muhammad), is a revelation from Him (69:38-43). These
verses are followed by:
Had he (Muhammad) uttered any other
teachings, we would have punished him. We
would have stopped the revelations to Him, (and)
none of you could have helped him. (Quran, 69:44-47)
Say, "Whose testimony is the
greatest?" Say, "God's. He is the
witness between me and you that this Quran has been
inspired to me, to preach it to you and whomever
it reaches. Indeed, you bear witness that there are other gods beside God."
Say, "I do not testify as you do; there is
only one god, and I disown your idolatry." (Quran, 6:19)
... Therefore, remind with this
Quran, those who reverence My warnings.
(Quran, 50:45)
Two other
aspects of the author's point deserve comment. He
writes that God protected Muhammad from all mistakes, including incomplete delivery of the
message. Yet, when called upon to follow this
message (i.e. Quran), the traditionalists will invariably state that the Quran is
incomplete, and needs Hadith and Sunna to explain it.
They contradict themselves further by saying that some of God's verses did
not make it into the Quran (i.e. the Ouran is incomplete), because the parchments that
contained them were supposedly eaten by a goat!
The author
also states that Muhammad, as a human being, was prone to forgetfulness in his habitual
actions pertaining to daily life, but that this has no influence on the message. A quick observation of many of today's Muslims,
however, bears out the fact that they are actually more concerned with how to imitate
Muhammad's beard, the way he ate, slept, etc., rather than trying to study and follow his
proven message. This is a clear sign that
after centuries of conditioning from their scholars, the Muslim masses are obsessed with
Hadith and Sunna, to the point of discarding the Quran.
The Fifth Piece of Evidence: It is impossible to Apply the
Qur'an Alone
The claim that worship of Allah can be limited to what is in the Quran and that the Sunnah
is not needed is one of the methods the enemies of Islam utilize to demolish the
foundations of the Deen. They indeed know
that the Qur'an alone is not sufficient to worship Allah the way He commanded. Ibn Abdulbarr reported some early Muslims to have
said: "the Qur'an's need of the Sunnah is more than the Surma's need of the
Qur'an."
With this
piece of 'evidence' the author, and indeed the whole institution behind Manar As-Sabeel finally show their true colors. They actually provide to the world tangible,
undeniable evidence of their contempt of God and His words.
This 'fifth piece of evidence' alone suffices to make any sincere believer
cringe. What any reader can infer is that
the author is saying that God's need of Muhammad is more than Muhammad's need of God. What a blasphemy!
No wonder the prophet Muhammad himself will state on the Day of Judgement
that "his people" have abandoned the Quran (25:30).
There are at
least 15 verses in the Quran where God states, in no uncertain terms, that He does not
need anyone. Any subsequent examples that the
author uses to prove his point become pointless. He
quotes the famous excuse: "If the Quran is complete and fully detailed, where do we
find the number of units in Salat? How do we
give Zakat? And what about Haj?" And on,
and on... He writes:
Ibn Hazm said: "in which Qur'an do
you find that Zuhr prayer is four Rak'as, Maghrib prayer three Rak'as, Ruku, (kneeling in
prayer) is to be performed this way, recitation (prostration in prayer) is to be performed
that way, recitation of Qur'an in prayers is such and such, the end of the prayer is so
and so, the type of fasting to be avoided, the amount of Zakat due for gold, silver,
sheep, camels, cows, the rituals of Hajj..."
Here, the
author shows his not-so-subconscious aversion of the Quran. He conveniently 'forgets' that
these practices of the religion of Submission (Islam) have existed since Abraham. It was Abraham, not Muhammad, who was the founder
of Islam; Muhammad himself said that he was a follower of the religion of Abraham (22:78,
16:123). The proper response is to pose this
rhetorical question from God's own book:
...In which Hadith, other than God
and his revelations, do they believe?
(Quran, 45:6, 77:50)
The author
also uses this example:
- "As to the thief, male or
female, cut off his or her hands: a retribution for their deed and exemplary punishment
from Allah.." what type of theft necesitates cutting?
What are the circumstances and the quantity of the stolen wealth to which
this punishment applies? What part of the
hand is to be cut of?
This
argument (based on 5:38) is a flimsy one. God
gives us the clear meaning of the verse by explaining the same word "cut" in
12:31. God also provides us with an excellent
counter example of the similar attitude shown by the Children of Israel, in the famous
incident of the heifer, when they argued back and forth with Moses upon receiving God's
clear instruction (2:67-71).
Finally, we
can all reflect on the following verses:
This (Quran) is not a fabricated
Hadith; this confirms all previous scriptures, provides the
details of everything, and is a beacon and mercy
for those who believe. (Quran, 12:111)
If all the trees on earth were made
into pens, and the oceans supplied the ink, augmented by seven
more oceans, the words of God would not run
out. God is Almighty, Most Wise. (Quran, 31:27)
- Dr. G. Adisoma
