All Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. Peace and blessings of Allah
be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and on his family and companions.
We have undoubtedly sent down the Reminder, and We will truly
preserve it. (Al-Qur'an, Surah al-Hijr, 15:9)
The above promise made by Allah is obviously fulfilled in the undisputed
purity of the Qur'anic text throughout the fourteen centuries since its
revelation. However, what is often forgotten by many Muslims is that the
above divine promise also includes, by necessity, the Sunnah of the Prophet
Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), for it is the practical
example of the implementation of the Qur'anic guidance, the Wisdom taught
to the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) along with the
Scripture, and neither the Qur'an nor the Sunnah can be understood correctly
without recourse to the other.
Hence, Allah preserved the Qur'an from being initially lost by the martyrdom
of its memorisers, by guiding the Rightly-Guided Caliphs, endorsed by
the consensus of the Messenger's Companions (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace and may He be pleased with them), to compile the ayat (signs,
miracles, "verses") of the Qur'an into one volume, after these had been
scattered in writing on various materials and in memory amongst many faithful
hearts. He safeguarded it from corruption by its enemies: disbelievers,
heretics, and false prophets, by enabling millions of believers to commit
it to memory with ease. He protected its teachings by causing thousands
of people of knowledge to learn from its deep treasures and convey them
to the masses, and by sending renewers of His Deen at the beginning of
every century.
Similarly, Allah preserved the Sunnah by enabling the Companions and
those after them (may Allah be pleased with them) to memorise, write down
and pass on the statements of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) and the descriptions of his Way, as well as to continue the
blessings of practising the Sunnah. Later, as the purity of the knowledge
of the Sunnah became threatened, Allah caused the Muslim nation to produce
outstanding individuals of incredible memory-skills and analytical expertise,
who journeyed tirelessly to collect hundreds of thousands of narrations
and distinguish the true words of precious wisdom of their Messenger (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace) from those corrupted by weak memories,
from forgeries by unscrupulous liars, and from the statements of the enormous
number of 'ulama', the Companions and those who followed their way, who
had taught in various centres of learning and helped to transmit the legacy
of Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) - all of this achieved
through precise attention to the words narrated and detailed familiarity
with the biographies of the thousands of reporters of hadeeth. Action
being the best way to preserve teachings, the renewers of Islam also revived
the practice of the blessed authentic Sunnah.
Unfortunately however, statements will continue to be attributed to
the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) although the person
quoting them may have no idea what the people of knowledge of hadeeth
have ruled regarding those ahadith, thus ironically being in danger of
contravening the Prophet's widely-narrated stern warnings about attributing
incorrect/unsound statements to him. For example, here are some
very commonly-quoted ahadith, which actually vary
tremendously in their degree of authenticity from the Prophet
(may Allah bless him and grant him peace):
- "Surah al-Ikhlas is worth a third of the
Qur'an."
- The hadith about the Ninety-Name Names
of Allah.
- Allah says, "I was a hidden treasure, and
I wished to be known, so I created a creation (mankind), then made Myself
known to them, and they recognised Me."
- Allah says, "Were it not for you (O Muhammad),
I would not have created the universe."
- When Allah completed creation, He wrote in a Book (which is) with
Him, above His Throne, "Verily, My Mercy will
prevail over My Wrath."
- Allah says, "Neither My heaven nor My earth
can contain Me, but the heart of My believing slave can contain Me."
- "He who knows himself, knows his Lord."
- "Where is Allah?"
- "Love of one's homeland is part of Faith."
- "I have left amongst you two things which,
if you hold fast to them, you will never stray: the Book of Allah, and
my Sunnah."
- "I have left among you that which if you
abide by, you will never go astray: the Book of Allah, and my Family,
the Members of my House."
- The hadith giving ten Companions, by name, the
good tidings of Paradise.
- "If the iman (faith) of Abu Bakr was weighed
against the iman of all the people of the earth, the former would outweigh
the latter."
- "I am the City of Knowledge, and 'Ali is
its Gate."
- "My companions are like the stars: whichever
of them you follow, you will be guided."
- "The differing amongst my Ummah is a mercy."
- "My Ummah will split up into seventy-three
sects: seventy-two will be in the Fire, and one in the Garden."
- Prophecies about the coming of the Mahdi
(the guided one), Dajjal (the False Christ, the Anti-Christ) and the
return of Jesus Christ son of Mary.
- Description of punishment and bliss in
the grave, for the wicked and pious people respectively.
- Intercession by the Prophet (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace), and the believers seeing Allah,
on the Day of Judgment.
- "Paradise is under the feet of mothers."
- "Paradise is under the shade of swords."
- "Seeking knowledge is a duty upon every
Muslim."
- "Seek knowledge, even if you have to go
to China."
- "The ink of the scholar is holier than
the blood of the martyr."
- "We have returned from the
lesser Jihad to the greater Jihad (i.e. the struggle against the evil
of one's soul)."
The methodology of the expert scholars of hadeeth in assessing such
narrations and sorting out the genuine from the mistaken/fabricated etc.,
forms the subject-matter of a wealth of material left to us by the muhaddithun
(scholars of hadeeth, "traditionists"). This short treatise is a humble
effort to introduce this extremely wide subject to English readers. The
author has derived great benefit from the outstanding scholarly work in
this field, Muqaddimah Ibn al- Salah.
A brief explanation of the verdicts from the experts in this field on
the above ahadith is given in the Appendix.
We ask Allah to accept this work, and make it beneficial to its readers.
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