Gifts of Knowledge

See previous post here.

Who Are the Enemies of the Sunnah?!

Despite all that has been mentioned, and all that has not been mentioned, of the definitive proofs found in clear Quranic verses, authentic hadiths, and reports from the Companions and those who came after them among the scholars, despite all these proofs that cry out with the loudest voice that the Sunnah is the counterpart of the Book, that the Sunnah is the wisdom mentioned in the Quraan in numerous verses, and that it is from the revelation of Allaah, and that our religion is derived from the Book and the Sunnah together, not from the Book alone—despite all of this, the Sunnah has not been spared the attacks of ignorant pretenders to religious knowledge, nor the hostility of extremist Rāfiḍah and heretics.

The Rāfiḍah claimed that it was obligatory to dispense with the Sunnah and rely on the Quraan alone in matters of the fundamentals and branches of religion and in the rulings of Islamic law, because, according to their claim, the ḥadīths were transmitted by a people who were disbelievers. This was because they believed that prophethood was actually intended for ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Allaah be pleased with him, but that Jibrīl, alaihis-salām, made a mistake and brought it down to Muhammad ﷺ instead of ʿAlī.

This claim means that the matter of revelation was in a state of disorder and did not proceed according to the precise planning of an All-Wise Lord, exalted is He. Rather, that the angel of revelation, Jibrīl, was stumbling in his task, and that he was not infallible. Exalted is Allaah far above such a notion!

Among them are some who acknowledge the prophethood of the Prophet ﷺ but say that the caliphate rightfully belonged to ʿAlī, Allaah be pleased with him. When the Companions transferred it to Abū Bakr, according to them they thereby became disbelievers, because they had, again according to them, acted unjustly and wrongfully by transferring the rightful claim away from its rightful possessor. On this basis, they rejected all ḥadīths, because in their view and according to their claim, they were transmitted by a people who were disbelievers, as mentioned above.

This principle, both baseless and disbelief-ridden at the same time, is their foundation for rejecting the ḥadīths of the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ.

Recently, the later followers of these groups have called themselves ‘Quranists’ [Al-Qurʾāniyyūn]—meaning those who act upon the Quraan and do away with the Sunnah. This is the interpretation of the word ‘Quranists’ according to their own desires. However, the interpretation that matches their reality is that they are opponents of the Quraan and followers of desires. This is similar to applying the term Qadariyyah to those who actually deny divine decree [while thinking they believe it]. In reality, they are contradicting the Quraan and rebelling against it, just as they rebelled against the Sunnah. This is because the Quraan calls people to adopt the Sunnah, both in its commands and prohibitions, as Allaah the Almighty says “Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it. And whatever he forbids you from, leave it.” [5:97]

Belief in the Quraan is incomplete without sincere belief in the one to whom it was revealed, and believing in him means affirming his reports and following his commands and prohibitions ﷺ.

Imam as-Suyūṭī mentioned this principle of theirs in his valuable treatise Miftāḥul-Jannah fīl-Iḥtijāj bis-Sunnah, and then expressing his disapproval and abhorrence of it, he said, “I would not have considered it permissible to [even] relate it were it not for the necessity of having to explaining the basis of this corrupt doctrine, which people had been free of for ages …” until he said, “People holding this view were present in large numbers during the time of the four [Imāms], and the Imāms and their students undertook to refute them in their lessons, debates, and writings.”

He then cited a great deal of passages from their statements and we have already quoted enough from the words of the scholars, from the Companions and those who came after them, to make clear the position of Ahlus-Sunnah toward the ḥadīths of the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ and how that inherently includes the falsification of the words of the people of innovation and those who follow their desires. Whoever wants more should consult the aforementioned treatise, as well as the well-known treatise of Imām ash-Shāfiʿī that preceded it, along with other reliable references on this subject.

If we were to review the chapters of fiqh that organise people’s daily lives and livelihoods, such as the chapters on sales, which we passed over quickly by mentioning a few examples, [or we were to review fiqh issues such as] bankruptcy, boycotting, reconciliation, transfer of debt, guarantees, partnerships, people acting as agents on [behalf of others], the right of pre-emption, loans, sharecropping, leasing, gifting, borrowing, and other chapters of fiqh—if we were to review the Prophetic sunnah upon which these chapters and issues are built, we would find that it is the Sunnah that organises people’s daily lives, because all the fiqh issues that people deal with in their daily lives and which they recourse to in their courts are based on both the Book and the Sunnah together.

No ruling or judgment is valid without a basis from them.

As for the Book, then most of the rulings mentioned in it regarding the aforementioned chapters are mentioned in general terms, and the Sunnah then mentioned them in detail. Furthermore, most of those rulings may not even have a text in the Book, but rather the Sunnah alone addressed them, as we clarified previously.

So how can anyone, after all this, claim that the Sunnah can be done away with?!

The claim that the Sunnah can be dispensed with is, in reality, an attempt to dispense with Islaam through a twisted and indirect manner. This is confirmed by what we mentioned earlier, that the origin of this attempt lies with the heretics [zanādiqah] and extremist Rāfiḍah, who explicitly declared the Companions to be disbelievers—[the Companions who are] the pillars of this religion and are the ones who the Quraan mentions and praises from among the Muhājirūn and Anṣār.

To declare these masters to be disbelievers essentially means to accuse Allaah of falsehood in His statement where He said that He was pleased with them and they were pleased with Him, and that they followed His unlettered Prophet at a time of hardship. It also entails rejecting the report of the Messenger ﷺ concerning his praise of them and his testimony that a large group of them are among the people of Paradise.

Whoever dares to undertake such an act and reaches such a level must reconsider Islam anew, because by this action of his he has severed his relationship with Islaam which considers such an act to be apostasy from Islam.

And Allaah alone is the One whose help is sought.

These heretics [zindīqs] attempted, if they could, to eradicate or eliminate the Sunnah from existence and destroy it, or at least reduce its existence to a mere formality devoid of value, except that they were unable to harm it in the slightest. Instead, it was they who ended up as losers and defeated.

Their example is like that of someone who tries to uproot Mount Uḥud. He hovers around it and walks at its base, carrying away its stones one by one, imagining that by doing so he will eventually be able to uproot the mountain and remove it from its place.

Or like someone who repeatedly scoops water from the sea with his hand or with a bucket, attempting thereby to empty the sea or diminish it. There is no doubt that this poor man’s time will eventually come to an end and his appointed term will arrive, while the mountain remains a mountain and the sea remains a sea.

In fact, the sea will remain firmly in its place. Divers who are experts in this field will plunge into its depths and bring pearls and precious gems of beneficial scholarly matters to the people. Likewise, the mountain will remain firm and towering. Those with expertise will climb it and move among its ravines, discovering what may be hidden from others within those various passes, paths traversed only by specialists, emerging with subtle and precise matters that others fail to perceive. For every field has its men.

This, then, is the end result of the attempt of the Rāfiḍah and those who resemble them and follow in their footsteps.

And based on the aforementioned disbelief-ridden principle [i.e., doing away with the Sunnah], those who rejected the reports of the Messenger ﷺ wanted to find something upon which they could rely on in arguing against their opponents from Ahlus-Sunnah. So they began searching for reports and ḥadīths that might, directly or indirectly, support their position.

During their search, they came across a false statement, one as false as their doctrine itself, which says, “Whatever comes to you from me, then present it to the Book. Whatever agrees with it, I said it and whatever contradicts it, I did not.”

They flew with it, rejoicing. But they could not escape from the hands of the guards of the Sunnah by using this ḥadīth and nor did those watchful eyes, guarding the Sunnah, sleep on them. Instead, they found that ḥadīth of theirs and declared it to be among their falsehoods and fabrications until the people recognised that. 

They recorded it in their books, subjected it to their own critical examination, refuted it, discredited it, and stripped it bare until its true nature was exposed. And so all Praise and Thanks belong to Allaah.

In his valuable treatise, Miftāḥul-Jannah, as-Suyūṭī said, “Then al-Bayhaqī said: ‘A Chapter on Explaining the Falsity of What Some of Those who Reject the Sunnah use as Evidence, Namely Reports Narrated by Some Weak Narrators Concerning Judging the Sunnah by the Quraan.’ Ash-Shāfiʿī, Allaah have mercy on him, said, ‘One of those who rejected reports, used as evidence against me what has been narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that he said, “Whatever comes to you from me, then present it to the Book. Whatever agrees with it, I said it and whatever contradicts it, I did not.”

I said to him: No one whose ḥadīths are established has narrated this, whether in something minor or major. In fact, it is a disconnected [munqaṭīʾ] narration from an unknown [majhūl] man, and we do not accept such narrations for anything.’”

Al-Bayhaqī said, “Imām ash-Shāfiʿī was referring to what Khālid ibn Abī Karīmah narrated from Abū Jaʿfar, from the Prophet ﷺ, that he summoned the Jews and questioned them. They spoke to him until they lied about ʿĪsā, alaihis-salām. So the Prophet ﷺ ascended the minbar and addressed the people, saying, ‘Reports will become widespread from me. So whatever comes to you that agrees with the Quraan is from me, and whatever comes to you that contradicts the Quraan is not from me.’” Al-Bayhaqī said, “Khālid is unknown, and Abū Jaʿfar was not a Companion, so the ḥadīth is disconnected. Ash-Shāfiʿī said, ‘A ḥadīth does not contradict the Quraan. But the ḥadīths of the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ explain what is intended by it, whether things in particular or something general, the abrogating or the abrogated. People are obligated to follow what he established as Sunnah by the command of Allaah. So whoever accepts something from the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ has accepted it from Allaah.’”

Then as-Suyūṭī mentioned the remainder of al-Bayhaqī’s discussion concerning this ḥadīth. And Allaah knows best.

Tagged: Hadith Rejectors, quraniyoon