Differentiation between Wahi and Islamic Thinking

There is difference between wahi and Islamic thinking. Wahi is what has been revealed in words or Ideas to our Nabi ﷺ. We know Quran was revealed to our Nabi ﷺ in the form of Allah’s Words; and Hadith is what has been revealed to our Nabi ﷺ in the form of Allah’s Ideas expressed in words by our Nabi ﷺ or by Gabriel (a.s) (for details pls see https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2011/09/wahi-and-intuition.html). In other words, Wahi is what has reached us through Quran and Hadith; Quran and Hadith are sources of Islam. 

We have already seen in details that it is the basic function of a Nabuwwah that meanings of the Book  (i.e. Allah's Kalam) are revealed to a Nabi through wahi. In case of our Nabi s.a.w.w. such meanings have been revealed to our Nabi s.a.w.w. in the form of ahadith. To believe in this basic function of Nabuwwah that meanings of the Book (i.e. Allah's Kalam) are revealed to the Nabi is requirement of Eman in the light of al-Qiyamah-19 and many other Quranic texts (for details pls see  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/12/nabuwwat-and-its-functions-in-light-of.html ). In other words, we have to believe  that ahadith are Quranic meanings which have been revealed to our Nabi s.a.w.w. through wahi, and as such ahadith are part of Deen. Once we have this belief that ahadith are part of Deen, the next stage is how we can ascertain that a certain hadith is rightly attributed to our Nabi s.a.w.w. There may be hundreds of ways which may be employed to ascertain a hadith; all these ways have nothing to do with Eman or Deen. Once we have ascertained correctness of a hadith, we become able to develop tasdeeq bil qalb that such hadith is saying/action of our Nabi s.a.w.w. This tasdeeq bil qalb is the second name of Eman. Thus we see that process starts with believing that ahadith are part of Deen and ends with Eman/ belief in a hadith. The in between stages which are related to ascertainment of a hadith have nothing to do with Eman or Deen. It may be appreciated that believing in ahadith as part of Deen essentially ends in having Eman/faith/belief in many ahadith. Therefore we cannot put up an excuse that we do not consider ahadith as part of Deen because we cannot be sure that ahadith are rightly attributed to our Nabi s.a.w.w.

Islamic thinking is an approach developed through mental exertions by the Muslims of a certain age to solve the problems and issues to be faced by Muslims in that age. It means Islamic thinking is always age specific. Islamic thinking is always based on wahi i.e. Quran and Hadith. Wahi is unchangeable but Islamic thinking, being age specific, is changeable. Through Islamic thinking, Wahi is neither redefined nor reshaped; rather, through Islamic thinking, solutions of problems and issues pertaining to the present age are sought by the people, on the basis of the principles contained in Wahi i.e. Quran and Hadith. Islamic thinking is product of mental exertions of people which apply Islamic principles for seeking solutions of their age/period; but wahi is outcome of Allah's Deed . But it does not mean that principles contained in wahi i.e. Quran and Hadith may be understood or discovered without intellectual exertions. In case of wahi, intellectual exertions aim at discovering principles already contained in wahi; but in case of Islamic thinking, intellectual exertions are made to discover solutions of problems/issues pertaining to the present age through application of principles already contained in or discovered from wahi. It may also be appreciated that sources of Islam are only Quran and Hadith; these sources contain obvious Islamic principles in the form of words. But those Islamic principles which are not in the form of words in these sources and which we have to discover out of these sources through intellectual exertions are part of  Islamic Thinking. In other words, sources of Islam are what is wahi (i.e. Quran and Hadith); it is in the form of words. Wahi' has worded Islamic principles as well as un-worded Islamic principles. The worded Islamic principles are apparent. The un-worded Islamic principles are discovered through intellectual exertions and become a part of Islamic Thinking. Thus Islamic Thinking is not only un-worded Islamic principles discovered  through intellectual exertions from Quran and Hadith but also an approach to solve problems faced by the Muslims of an age on the basis of worded as well as un-worded Islamic principles. 

As Islamic thinking is age specific, it gives solutions of the problems faced in the present age. With the change of age/period, if problems and issues to be dealt with by the Muslims are changed, need arises for new Islamic thinking. It is peculiarity of Islamic thinking that Islamic thinking pertaining to a present age does not contradict Islamic thinking of any previous age, though it may be different from the Islamic thinking of a previous age (for difference between ‘Contradictory’ and ‘Different’ pls see https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2015/07/khilafah-and-imamah-not-contradictory.html). . Islamic thinking of a present age is always dominant over all Islamic thinking of previous ages, but Islamic thinking of present age does not eliminate Islamic thinking of a previous age. The reason behind this peculiarity of Islamic thinking is that Islamic thinking of all ages is always based on the same sources i.e. Quran nad Hadith (for details pls see  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/07/change-and-changeability-in-islamic.html). Another peculiarity of Islamic thinking is that it is order of the day; towering majority of Muslims adopts Islamic thinking of their age. Only a small minority propagating  contradicting thinking is left out of fold of Islamic thinking of an age. It may be appreciated that there may be many shades in Islamic thinking but no one may be contradictory to another one; the shades found in Islamic thinking may be different but not contradictory (It may pls be appreciated that Sunni and Shiite views are not contradictory though they are different in most of the cases; Shiite and Sunni are two different shades of collective Islamic thinking). In other words, Islamic thinking is what is reflection of collective wisdom of  Muslims not only because it is order of the day but also because Islamic thinking of an age does not contradict Islamic thinking of a previous age. In other words, any minority view presented in the name of Islamic thinking but actually contradicting tenors of Islamic thinking is certainly not Islamic thinking of an age; such views may be termed only as a negative views. In other words, any views held by a minority group in contradiction to collective wisdom of Muslims cannot be termed as Islamic thinking; such views may only be termed as negative views.One example of such negative minority views is Ghamdi Cult which is changing Islam by changing sources of Islam in the name of so called Islamic thinking. As stated earlier, it is not mandate of Islamic thinking to redefine or reshape sources of Islam; sources of Islam are unchangeable. Islamic thinking can only seek solutions of present age on the basis of principles contained in Islam. 

We have already seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/10/itbaa-e-nabi-second-name-of-deen-2.html that human needs are unchangeable; what are changeable are the ways and means to meet with human needs. Sources of Islam i.e. Quran and Hadith deal with human needs which are unchangeable in character; Islamic thinking deals with ways and means to meet human needs- the ways and means which are changeable in character. Deen/Islam is combination of Quran, Hadith and Islamic Thinking.  Islam  describes not only human needs but also ways and means to meet those human needs. All ways and means described in Islam are not changeable; only time specific ways and means are changeable- if our Nabi s.a.w.w adopted contradictory ways and means for the similar issue at different time periods, such ways and means may be called time specific. It may be appreciated that presence of time specific ways and means in Islam does not mean Islam is changeable; rather it means this quality of Islam which is related to time specific ways and means is unchangeable. Through Islamic thinking we can adopt such new ways and means which are not present in Quran and Hadith but which are not contradictory to Quran and Hadith. Through Islamic thinking we can also adopt new ways and means along-with those described in Wahi, if such new ways and means are not contradictory to wahi.

All decisions reached at the Muslims through mental exertions, if based on Islamic principles, are called Islamic thinking. In other words, all decisions reached through various forms of Ijtihad are Islamic thinking and they should be taken as such. It means what we call Islamic fiqh is actually Islamic thinking and, as stated earlier, Islamic thinking is always age specific and is needed to be changed, if new problems and issues are to be dealt with in new age.

Some Rebuttals of Views Held by Disbelievers of Hadith (Munkareen e hadith) (2)

Munkareen e Hadith have reduced the number of sources of Deen. Since the age of our Nabi ﷺ  sources of Deen were  and are Quran and Hadith (Sunnah); but Munkareen e Hadith like Ghamdi cult have reduced number of sources of Deen from Quran and Hadith to only Quran; they say Hadith is no longer a valid source of Deen.

The Quran orders people to obey and follow our Nabi ﷺ along-with obeying Allah or Quran. Obeying/ ‘Ita,at’ means to act according to the order and following/ Itba,a means to follow each and every act/saying of our Nabi ﷺ whether or not people have been ordered to follow such act/saying (we have already written in details about it). The munkareen e Hadith admit the people present in the age of our Nabi s.a.w.w. were under obligation to obey our Nabi's ﷺ  commandments even though such commandments were not found in Quran.  It means our Nabi's ﷺ sayings/commandments  were part of Deen for the people living in Nabi's ﷺ  age. But at the same time munkareen e Hadith say  commandments/sayings of Nabi ﷺ are not part of Deen for the people living in the present age, even though it is proved such commandments/sayings are our Nabi's ﷺ commandments/sayings. It means ‘munkareen’ are saying what was part of Deen in our Nabi’s ﷺ age is no longer part of Deen in the present age. In other words, munkareen are saying our Nabi’s ﷺ sayings/acts were part of Deen in our Nabi’s ﷺ period but these sayings/acts are no longer part of Deen in the present period/age. In other words, munkareen e Hadith have reduced the number of sources of Deen from two (i.e. Quran and Hadith) to one (i.e. Quran). To determine sources of Deen is Allah’s authority; but munkareen are using Allah’s authority by reducing number of sources of Deen. 
The munkareen also plead if ahadith/sayings were part of Deen, why did our Nabi s.a.w.w. consult people about many matters; they mean people cannot be source of Deen. Munkareen are missing one important point in this regard. No doubt people cannot be source of Deen. If our Nabi s.a.w.w. used to consult people in some matters, it was done under the wahi; I mean wahi dictated our Nabi s.a.w.w. to consult people in those matters, and if our Nabi s.a.w.w. adopted peoples' view, it was entirely under wahi. In other words, it was not people who took their decisions as Deen; it was wahi which took their decisions as Deen. Similarly if decisions made at one time were changed at another time, it was also under the wahi. IT WAS NOT EXIGENCY OF TIME WHICH MADE A PARTICULAR DECISION A DEEN; IT WAS WAHI WHICH MADE SUCH DECISIONS/ CHANGED DECISIONS A DEEN.  We have already seen if contradictory decisions are made regarding the same issue, such decisions/sayings.actions of our Nabi s.a.w.w. are called time specific or strategy to implement Deen; regarding such issues, Muslims are at liberty to adopt a decision according to time requirements. Again it is not time requirement which makes Deen; it is Deen which allows to take into consideration the time requirements.

The munkareen e Hadith have fallen a prey of another grave misunderstanding. They maintain that mental exertions put up by them aim at developing an Islamic Thinking/ Islami fikr suitable for the present age. But actually these ‘munkareen’ need to understand that through mental exertions they can develop Islamic Thinking but they cannot change Wahi. Wahi is what has come to us through its sources i.e. Quran and Hadith; sources of wahi cannot be changed; wahi i.e. sources of Deen cannot be changed.   There is difference between wahi and Deeni/Islamic Thinking. Wahi is never to be changed with the passage of time; but Deeni/Islamic Thinking may be changed with the passage of time. Islamic Thinking for a period is a framework developed through intellectual exertions for seeking solutions of problems faced by the people of the period; Islamic Thinking developed for a period is always based on wahi i.e. source of Deen; it can never change wahi itself. What munkareen e Hadith are doing is to change wahi itself,  in the name of developing Islamic Thinking for the period.  Wahi is not product of mental exertions of anybody; wahi is what has been revealed to our Nabi ﷺ and being a ‘rasool’ our Nabi ﷺ has expressed to us through his ﷺ sayings and actions what has been revealed to him ﷺ. We do not have any other way to come to know what has been revealed to our Nabi ﷺ, except sayings and actions of our Nabi ﷺ. 

Munkareen e Hadith say wahi was not revealed to our Nabi ﷺ all the time; therefore, they maintain, our Nabi’s ﷺ saying/actions are not wahi because such sayings/actions are product of our Nabi’s ﷺ intellect; only Quranic wahi is the wahi. 
It is true Wahi did not come to our Nabi s.a.w.w all the times; but our Nabi s.a.w.w kept wahi with him all the times. Our Nabi s.a.w.w. used to have with him such a framework of wahi at each moment of time, which was enough to deal with all the problems/situations to be faced till that moment of  time. In this way our Nabi s.a.w.w dealt with every situation in the light of wahi.
It is true wahi did not keep coming to our Nabi ﷺ all the time; but our Nabi ﷺ kept communicating wahi to the people all the time. There was not a single moment in our Nabi’s ﷺ life when our Nabi ﷺ was forbidden from communicating wahi to the people. Our Nabi ﷺ kept communicating wahi to the people all the time through his sayings and actions. Quran clearly says that our Nabi ﷺ does not speak on the basis of his ﷺ desires; rather he ﷺ speaks only (according to) wahi. In case of prophet, the distinction between wahi and prophet's conscious/intellect is meaningless. Wahi has become part of prophet's conscious. A prophet when speaks wahi, he speaks his conscious; when he speaks his conscious, he speaks wahi. It is not that prophet's conscious is suspended; rather prophet has moulded his conscious according to wahi. In other words, sayings and actions of our Nabi s.a.w.w. are wahi based.

Munkareen e hadith say we cannot translate Wahi/Quran in our own words.

The question is if Allah is capable to make us understand what HE wants us understand, and it is universal truth what we can understand we can describe in our own words, why cannot we understand Quran in our own words.? If we can get Allah's understanding about something, why cannot we describe that thing in our own words? In translation we do not replace Allah's Words; Allah's Words remain at their place; we only understand and describe Allah's Words in our own words. Furthermore, if I can describe universe- which is ayat e Ilahi and 'Kalamullah ( as universe also has been created by Allah’s Kalam i.e. KUN') - in my own words, why cannot I describe Kalamullah (i.e. Quran) in my own words? If universe is a creation, Arabic language- in which Quran has been revealed- is also a creation. If we can describe universe in our own words, why cannot we describe Arabic words of Quran in our own words? Ahadith are actually meanings of Quran, which have been revealed to our Nabi ﷺ and described by our Nabi ﷺ in his own words.

The munkareen say wahi is tanzeel and rawayat is not wahi. Therefore rawayat is not part of Deen. This distinction between 'tanzeel' and 'rawayat' is baseless; actually every tanzeel becomes ‘rawayat’ when it (tanzeel) is reported to other persons. Our Nabi ﷺ is the first reporter/ ravi of every tanzeel. It is a mark of extreme confusion to say that there is any tanzeel which has reached us without reporting/ rawayat. If any tanzeel has not reached us correctly through rawyat- as is said about a hadith- it does not mean tanzeel can reach us without rawat/reporting. Therefore munkareen cannot differentiate between tanzeel and rawayat by labeling one as based on wahi and the other one as not based on wahi (continued).

Some Rebuttals of Views Held by Disbelievers of Hadith (Munkareen e hadith) (1)

  

Munkareen e hadith/ disbelievers of hadith say that wahi is only what has been revealed in Quran and what are our Nabi’s ﷺ few practices which they call Sunnah (like salah, fasting, zakah and hajj) which have been made a part of Islamic culture and about which Muslims do not have differences. They plead that  Sunnah is carried forward to the next generations through culture and as such Sunnah needs not be authenticated by narrators; the narrators are non-prophetic entities and as such cannot authenticate ‘wahi’ which can only be authenticated by the Nabi ﷺ himself. Disbelievers of hadith do not believe that ahadith are also ‘wahi’. They say ahadith are authenticated by ‘ravis’/ narrators and as such ahadith are not reliable; whereas cultural values, which are not  authenticated by narrators, can reliably transmit Sunnah from one generation to the other. 

Let us analyze these above mentioned views of disbelievers of ahadith.

On the one hand disbelievers of hadith maintain that ‘wahi’ cannot be authenticated by a non-prophetic entity like a narrator but on the other hand they believe that culture- which is also a non-prophetic entity- can transmit Sunnah/wahi to the next generations. They say that culture has nothing to do with ‘rawayat’/tradition; they deny obvious fact that it was rawayat/tradition which was established as cultural value through repeated practicing by the Muslims. Actually the only criteria to ascertain whether or not an Islamic cultural value is justifiable is to look into whether or not such cultural value is in accordance with the rawayat/tradition behind such cultural value. If we cannot use this tool to differentiate between right and wrong cultural values in Islamic culture, we would have to accept all prevailing cultural values in our Islamic cultures as true Islamic values. And this would be complete non-sense. If rawayat/traditions are not be basis of Islamic culture, the disbelievers of ahadith fail to substantiate how a cultural value was made a part of Islamic culture. They put forth an illusive idea that wahi/Sunnah was established in Islamic culture as PRESENCE; they cannot explain how it was made present. They say sunnah is as present as Quran is present; but they ignore the fact that Muslims believe in Quran because our Nabi ﷺ told us about Quran; in other words, it was our Nabi’s ﷺ saying/rawayat which is basis of our belief in Quran and which is basis of our compliance of Quran.

 

Secondly what disbelievers of ahadith declare as sunnah are a few directions of Quran, like salah, fasting, zakah and hajj etc. If these Quranic orders which they call as sunnah were made part of Islamic culture, what about the other orders contained in Quran? If only those few orders which they call as sunnah were established as cultural values of Islamic culture, why others so many Quranic  orders were not made part of Islamic culture? If other Quranic orders were also made part of Islamic culture, in what form those other Quranic orders are found in Islamic culture today? Actually disbelievers have to believe those other Quranic orders are found in the form of ahadith in Islamic culture. And if what disbelivers call sunnah is established in Islamic culture as intact/ original form, on the same analogy, they have to believe that ahadith are also intact and present in original form. What we need is to exact those original forms of ahadith from the present body of ahadith. In fact like what they call as sunnah, there are many thousands of ahadith which are believed in and practiced by millions of Muslims in everyday life. We have to believe that ahadith are as much part of wahi as those Quranic commandments which disbelievers of ahadith call sunnah. 

 Thirdly, Muslims do not practice what disbelivers of ahadith call sunnah because these sunnah are cultural values; actually Muslims practice these sunnah because these are Deen and Deen is what is wahi and wahi is sayings and actions of our Nabi s.a.w.w. Wahi has never been initiated to the people as cultural values. Wahi is always initiated to people as action or saying of the prophet; such sayings and actions are further reported to other people; such reporting is called rawayat- whether it is Quranic wahi or non-Quranic wahi. However such rawayaat e wahi later on become cultural values, through repeated practicing of them by  Muslims. If any cultural value is contradictory to Deeni rawayat, Muslims are bound to reject such cultural value.

Disbelievers of hadith believe that all actions and sayings of our Nabi ﷺ  are not based on wahi; they maintain that some sayings/actions of our Nabi ﷺ are his ﷺ personal sayings/actions, and some his ﷺ sayings and actions are based on wahi.

This distinction between personal and wahi based sayings/actions of our Nabi ﷺ is baseless. For instance if a person acts according to wahi, his action would be his personal as well as wahi based action. In other words, if an action is according to wahi, such action would be called personal as well as wahi based action. Similarly all sayings/actions of our Nabi ﷺ are not only personal but also wahi based because our Nabi ﷺ always acted according to wahi revealed to him ﷺ. It may be appreciated that our Nabi ﷺ had capability to disobey the ‘wahi’; but he ﷺ never used this capability and never disobeyed wahi in his actions and sayings. It is the basic difference between a prophet and an Angel; an Angel does not have capability to disobey Allah, but a prophet has such capability but he does not use such capability.

Munkareen e hadith also propagate that Ijtihad is human modification of shariah; hence they do not believe in Ijtihad. This is a clear lie propagated by munkareen e hadith. What needs to be understood is that a mujtahid does not invent a law; he only discovers new implications of a laws enshrined in Shariah/wahi; a mujtahid applies implications of shariah to a new situation under consideration, keeping within the limits imposed by shariah. There is a difference between a Nabi and a mujtahid. When a Nabi extends a law enshrined in the Book to new situations, he does so under wahi. In this way extension of any law done by a Nabi is mandatory to be complied with by the people; but a mujtahid does not extend a law enshrined in the Book and Hadith under any prophetic wahi; therefore any extension of law done by him is not mandatory to be complied with in all cases by the people. If people/ other mujtahideen think Ijtihad is in line with the Quran and hadith, such Ijtihad would be acted upon; otherwise it would be rejected or modified by people/other mutahideen.   Every mujtahid clearly differentiates between Ijtihad and shariah by believing that shariah cannot be amended whereas Ijtihadi exertions/laws may be amended, keeping within limits of shariah. Ijtihad is not source of shariah/wahi; Ijtihad is an attempt to discover implications of shariah.

From the foregoing we may see that disbelievers of hadith/ munkareen e hadith, by disbelieving in hadith and Ijtihad and by confining Sunnah only to a few practices of our Nabi ﷺ, actually want to deprive Muslims of the elaborate guidance contained in ahadith and accessed through Ijtihad; this elaborate guidance bestowed upon Muslims provide them basis to build their collective systems including political, social, moral and economic systems. By depriving Muslims of such elaborate guidance, munkareen e hadith want to reduce Islam only to a few religious rituals not likely to pose any challenge for un-islamic systems (continued).

Nabuwwat and its Functions in the Light of Basic Islamic Beliefs (4)

Another objection raised by munkareen e hadith is that ahadith are adopted on the attestation of non-prophets i.e. narrators; it would mean, if ahadith are taken as part of Eman/faith, Eman/faith would be based on attestation of non-prophets i.e. narrators.  

This objection is also baseless because we do not base our faith/Eman on attestation of any third person (except the person of our Nabi ﷺ). Actually we base our Eman/faith on our own ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’; we do not base our Eman on ‘tasdeeq/attestation’ of narrators. The narrators provide us with information regarding a hadith alongwith the narrators’ views as to correctness or incorrectness of that hadith. We do not adopt the narrators’ views as our Eman; rather we adopt the hadith on the basis of our own ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’. If we have developed ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’ regarding a hadith, only in that case we would be considered as having Eman/faith in that hadith; otherwise, we would be considered as not having Eman/faith in that hadith. In the same manner, when we believe in Quranic verses, we do not base our belief on attestation of Quran’s narrators through whom Quran has been reported to us. Actually our belief in Quran is based on our own ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’; if we do not have developed ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’ regarding Quran, our Eman/faith regarding Quran is not true faith. The role of narrators of Quran and hadith is to provide us only with information regarding Quran and hadith; these are we who develop or do not develop ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’ regarding that information and accordingly we develop or do not develop Eman/faith regarding that information about Quran and hadith. It is sheer misunderstanding on the part of munkareen e hadith to say that narrators’ attestation of wahi is part of our Eman; narrators’ attestation is only their information and personal views as to whether or not claimed wahi has been rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ or not; such attestation has nothing to do with our Eman/faith in Quran and hadith. Our Eman/faith is always based and has to be based on our own ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’; if we are able to develop ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’ regarding a hadith or a Quranic verse, we will be considered as having true Eman/faith in that Quranic verse or that hadith; otherwise we would be considered as untrue in our Eman/faith. However role of narrators cannot be undermined or denied; these are the narrators who transmit information regarding Quran and hadith to us. Without this information about Quran and hadith at our disposal, we would not be able to develop ‘tasdeeq bil qalb’ regarding Quran and hadith; in other words, without narrators’ information, we cannot develop Eman/faith in Quran and hadith. 
 It is not narrator's authority to label a hadith correct or incorrect for other peoples; a narrator's view is for the narrator himself. For other people a narrator can only appeal to their intellect. If narrator's view is justified according to intellect of people, the people may develop 'tasdeeq bil qalb' for the relevant hadith; otherwise people may reject that hadith. To endorse a hadith as a correct one is entirely an intellectual phenomenon; whereas Eman in a hadith is entirely a matter of faith. Only with a little sense one can distinguish between the two. And very Muslim does distinguish between the two. No Muslim believes that attestation of a hadith by narrators is part of their Eman; but munkareen e hadith hypocritically make propaganda in this regard.  If  munkareen e hadith  cannot be 100% sure (and in 99% cases they cannot be 100% sure) about the incorrectness of a hadith,  in such cases munkareen e hadith cannot object logically, if a person develops Eman in that hadith. On the basis of doubts, munkareen e hadith do not have right to object logically, if any person develops Eman in a hadith.  It may be appreciated that interpretation of Quran is the basic function of 'nabuwwah'. Muslims have to take ahadith as outcome of this basic function of 'nabuwwah'; it is one of the requirements of having faith/Eman in 'nabuwwah'. But it does not mean a Muslim has to have faith/Eman in all sayings which have been presented to him as ahadith. The scrutiny of sayings attributed to our Nabi s.a.w.w. to know whether or not a saying is rightly attributed to our Nabi s.a.w.w.,  is an intellectual process. After going through this intellectual process, if a Muslim develops 'tasdeeq bil qalb' regarding a portion of ahadith (and majority of Muslims will develop such 'tasdeeq bil qalb'; only a few munafqeen like munkareen e hadith may not develop such tasdeeq bil qalb) such Muslim will meet the requirement of having faith/Eman in 'Nabuwwah'. Similarly in case of Quran, we go through an intellectual process to ascertain that Quranic verses presented before us have actually been revealed by Allah. After going through this intellectual process, we develop 'tasdeeq bil qalb' regarding Quran; this 'tasdeeq bil qalb' is the second name of Eman.

Another objection put up by munkareen e hadith is there is no need to interpret Quran as Quran is the easiest ‘kalam’ to understand. This objection is also baseless because a writing easy to understand may also be comprehensive enough. Quran is not only easy but also most comprehensive Book in the world. Like every comprehensive Book, Quran also comes out with multi-layers of meanings, if a reader ponders over. Easiness of Quran does not deprive Quran of comprehensiveness; a serious reader of Quran can exact easily many layers of Quranic meanings. It may be appreciated that Quran is Allah’s Kalam/Words but Arabic language in which Allah’s Kalam has been revealed is not a divine language. Arabic language is human creation like all other languages are human creation. Humans always differ in meanings and application of words of a language. That is why same contents of a language may be interpreted differently by different people. In the same way Allah’s Kalam which has been revealed in Arabic language is likely to be interpreted differently by different people. This diversity in understanding of Allah’s Kalam actually helps us in discovering all dimensions of Allah’s Kalam. But at the same time, need arises to channelize human understanding of Quran so that  understanding of Quran may be put on the right track. This channelization of human understanding of Quran is done through ahadith; ahadith lead us as to which direction human understanding of Quran about any matter should go.

It may also be appreciated that words are something different from the guidance coming out of those words. If words and guidance from the words would be the same, the same words may not guide us in more than one different ways; but the fact is that words guide us in more than one different ways. Sunnah/hadith is the meanings/guidance received from Quranic Words; this guidance has been revealed to our Nabi ﷺ  through ‘wahi e khafi’.

From the foregoing, we may conclude the stance of munkareen e hadith is quite baseless, illogical and based on ignorance.