Some Rebuttals of views Held by Disbelievers of Hadith (Munkareen e Hadith) (8)

There is difference between Nabuwwah and Deen. Nabuwwah is a status granted through Wahi and it is Allah’s Act  whereas Deen is relating to human acts based on  Wahi.  We cannot exclude Muslims' acts based on Wahi  from Deen.  Humans always rely on past generations experiences/ observations and if they find such observations/experiences as authentic, they adopt them as their knowledge and base their actions on such knowledge. It is this way that Quran and hadith are considered as rightly assigned to our Nabi saww and become part of our knowledge. Existence of truth does not mean it will automatically come to us: we have to put in human efforts to unearth the trut. We cannot exclude Ijtihad and Hadith  from Deen. Hadith is an account of Nabi’s ﷺ  deeds (sayings and acts) which are exactly Wahi Ghair Matlu or Quranic Wahi ( e.g. matters which were dictated through Wahi to be performed at the time of occurrence of these matters),  OR which are based on Wahi Ghair Matlu or Quranic Wahi ( the matters performed in the light of Wahi already revealed). It may be appreciated that both kinds of deeds performed by Nabi ﷺ  - the deeds on the basis of Wahi or deeds which are exactly Wahi- are according to meanings of Quran and such meanings were revealed to our Nabi saww through Wahi Ghair Matlu. In other words both kinds of deeds performed by our Nabi saww are not the result of understanding of Wahi through physical intellect- the intellect relating to physical senses- of Nabi ﷺ ;  rather Nabi’s ﷺ  deeds were result of understanding of Wahi  through non-physical intellect- the intellect relating to extra sensory senses. Both these intellects feed human conscious and human conscious decides to accept or reject the conclusions fed  by these both intellects (for details plz see https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/search?q=human+senses-existing+in+pairs and  https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2016/09/intellect-senses-ideas-existence-in-pair.html. 

 In short, Nabi’s ﷺ   understanding of Wahi was relating to non-Physical intellect- wahi and intuition both are relating to non-physical intellect; in other words, our Nabi’s ﷺ  understanding of Wahi was induced by Allah; our Nabi’s ﷺ   understanding of Wahi was divine understanding though this understanding was adopted by Nabi’s ﷺ  conscious through his free will. Every person has physical as well as non-physical intellect. It does not mean that a non-prophet's wahi/intuition or understanding of Wahi  is as much authentic as a prophet’s understanding.   A non-prophet’s conscious is not as much protected as a prophet’s conscious. That means, in case of prophet, Allah takes responsibility to convey accurately to the prophet’s conscious the conclusions made by non-physical intellect so that the prophet’s conscious may take decision to accept or reject those conclusions using his free will. But, in case of non-prophet, Allah does not take that responsibility; that means non-prophet’s conscious may or may not receive with 100% accuracy the conclusions made by his non-physical intellect. Moreover, in case of a prophet,  non-physical intellect always works under Allah’s control so this intellect’s conclusions never go wrong and such conclusions are also conveyed to the prophet's conscious with 100% accuracy; but in case of non-prophet, conclusions of non-physical intellect may be wrong, and may not be conveyed to the non-prophet's conscious with 100% accuracy. In short, difference between a prophet and a non-prophet is that a prophet’s conscious receives, under Allah’s Guidance, conclusions of non-physical intellect with 100% accuracy whereas a non-prophet’s conscious cannot do so in all cases.  That is why a prophet’s understanding of Wahi is compulsorily to be adopted by a non-prophet. But Munkareen e Hadith like Ghamdi, instead of adopting Nabi’s ﷺ Hadith/ understanding of Wahi as an authentic understanding of Deen/ Wahi,  consider Nabi’s ﷺ  Hadith as time and people specific which cannot be applicable for people of all ages. It may also be appreciated that a non-prophet’s understanding of Wahi- whether it is result of physical intellect or non-physical intellect- has to be in consonance with understanding of Nabi ﷺ;  non-prophet’s understanding, if contradictory to Nabi’s ﷺ understanding of Wahi, will be out-rightly rejected.

It may be appreciated that Quran does not deliver ‘Eman’ untill one has faith in Nabi ﷺ and one cannot have faith in Nabi ﷺ until one knows about life of Nabi ﷺ.  As Hadith is the only source to know Nabi's ﷺ detailed life, there is no ‘Eman’ without believing  Hadith.

Itba, a/ following Nabi ﷺ means to follow sayings and acts of Nabi ﷺ. In other words following Nabi ﷺ means to follow life of Nabi ﷺ. And life of Nabi ﷺ cannot be followed without adopting Hadith which is the only source to have authentic account of whole life of Nabi ﷺ.

It may also be appreciated that words and meanings of words are two different entities though meanings are always based on words. That is why same words are understood with different dimensions/ connotations by different persons.
Words are assigned connotations which exist in human mind but do not exist in the words. The same is the case with Arabic language.
everybody understands Quran according to his own level of knowledge and understanding. That is why we need standard and authentic interpretation of Quran; Hadith is standard and authentic interpretation of Quran.

Munkareen e Hadith say hadith is qoul e ravi. One may ask which ravi's qoul is a hadith. There are so many narrators/ravis of a hadith, and every succeeding narrator assigns the narration/qoul to his predecessor. If we trace back the process, finally we come to know that hadith is qoul e Nabi ﷺ.

Deen is guidance for every person for every event he faces in life. Obviously communication of such guidance to people has to be community oriented as well as individual oriented. Community oriented guidance is smaller part whereas individual oriented is larger part of guidance propagated by our Nabi ﷺ. Hadith is individual oriented guidance communicated by our Nabi ﷺ. Munkareen e Hadith are denying larger part of the Deen.

Munkareen e Hadith now have started admitting that Sunnah is non-Quranic wahi. But they do not give a right to our Nabi ﷺ to declare what his ﷺ act is Sunnah and what his ﷺ act is not Sunnah; they keep this right with themselves. And as such Munkareen e Hadith want to share prophet-hood with our Nabi ﷺ.

It may be appreciated, in case of a prophet who is Nabi and Rasool combined (e.g. our Nabi ﷺ) there are only two kinds of wahi i.e. Book wahi i.e. Words of Allah and non-Book wahi which is interpretation of the Book revealed and is basis of acts/sayings of the prophet. There is no third type of Wahi specifically related to sunnah. In other words, it is the same non-Book Wahi which appears in the form Sunnah/ acts and in the form of sayings of such prophet ﷺ.

Quran cannot keep its status of Wahi without Hadith; without Hadith Quran would be  converted into collection of human wisdom because every person would start interpreting Quran according to his own defective limited wisdom. It is Hadith which, being divine interpretation of Quran, keeps up Quran's status of Allah's wahi. Allah protects Quran through Hadith.

Munkareen e Hadith say if we do not hace access to all ahadith, it would mean our Eman is deficient. It may be appreciated that ‘Eman’ is something which is qualitative, not quantitative in its nature. We cannot measure Eman in terms of number (quantity) of ahadith believed as rightly associated to our Nabi ﷺ. But it does not mean we can reject a hadith which has correctly reached us through authentic sources of information.

Munkareen e Hadith say obeying Nabi ﷺ means obeying Quran only (leaving Hadith aside). But Quran states it other way round. Quran says: "He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah" (4/80).
This verse states who obeys the Messenger ﷺ has obeyed Allah; it does not state who obeys Allah has obeyed the Messenger  ﷺ.  

The whole theory of 'denial of Hadith' is based on supposition that Hadith as reached us today is not actual saying/act of our Nabi ﷺ. It is supposition only, not reality. One wonder how they can be 100% sure OR partially sure that a hadith reached us today is not actual saying/act of our Nabi ﷺ; and how they can base their religion on this supposition. On the other hand, the people believing in a hadith are 100% sure that it is saying/act of our Nabi ﷺ. because believing in a hadith is a matter of Eman/faith which is developed in the follower of that hadith after he becomes satisfied that the hadith is rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ.

Munkareen e Hadith say Eman in Hadith is actually ‘Eman’ in narrators. It may be appreciated that believing/Eman in a hadith is something different from ascertainment of Hadith. Believing in a hadith is having Eman in the truthfulness of a hadith rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ whereas ascertainment of a hadith is to see whether or not a hadith is rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ. Believing in hadith is a matter of Eman and ascertainment of hadith is a matter of research which has nothing to do with Eman. Ascertainment of hadith is not based on certain narrators (as munkareen claim); it is based on qualifications of narrators. In other words ascertainment of hadith is based on research principles, not on persons of narrators.

Allah has not only granted His supreme knowledge to the people through wahi but also has obliged people to use their individual intellect to act according to wahi. People cannot create wahi but they can understand wahi and can make use of wahi (In the same manner, we can make use of other natural laws by understanding them though we cannot create natural laws). But obviously people's understanding of wahi is not infallible; that is why people are permitted to rectify their understanding of wahi, if it happens to be wrong or improper. This process of understanding of wahi and rectification thereof is called 'ijtihad'. Deen i.e. code of life is combination of wahi (i.e. Quran and Hadith) and its understanding i.e. ijtihad.

If appreciation of good or bad is inherent in human being, why Deen was revealed through prophets? Actually appreciation of good or bad which is inherent in human being is individualistic; it tells man what is good or bad for him individually. But when Deen is presented through prophets who are bound to live not only individual but also collective life, such a Deen tells us what is good or bad for us not only individually but also collectively. It implies Deen does not crush individualism rather molds it according to collective interests. It also implies Deen is combination of individual and collective matters.

Munkareen e Hadith have another confusion; they confuse contents of nabuwwah with functions of nabuwwah. Hadith is functions of Nabuwwah, as Quran is function of 'Resalah'; Quran and Hadith are not contents of Resalah or Nabuwwah. Suppose a Quranic verse had not yet reached to a companion of our Nabi ﷺ.-obviuosly he would not adopt such verse- it does not mean he had denied Resalah. Similarly if a hadith is denied due to the reason that it is not believed to be rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ is not denial of Nabuwwah. Hadith is function of Nabuwwah, not contents of Nabuwwah; it is denial of contents of Nabuwwah, which is kufr. Denial of a hadith due to the belief that it is not rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ is not kufr ( but such belief must not be based on whims; it has to be based on thorough research and logical principles potent enough to contradict the principles adopted by ‘Muhaddaseen’ believing in that Hadith). But it must be remembered no matter how many ahadith one considers as rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ, one have to believe that Hadith is outcome of Wahi Ghair Matlu; to deny this status of Hadith is to deny Nabuwwah- because it is among the contents of Nabuwwah to believe that interpreting of Quran is the function of Nabuwwah.

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Some Rebuttals of views Held by Disbelievers of Hadith (Munkareen e Hadith) (7).

  Munkareen e Hadith  do not want to accept Hadith as a part of Deen though some of them  accept some Sunnah (which has been transferred from collectivity to collectivity) as part of Deen.

 Munkareen e Hadith say Sunnah is what has been transferred from collectivity to collectivity. But they ignore the fact such Sunnah is of only cllective nature: but ‘Deen’ deals with matters of collective as well as individual nature. The matters of individual nature are dealt with by Hadith. You cannot deny Hadith as part of Deen.

Actually grammatically Sunnah means act/deed/ ‘amal’. Human deeds consist of two types: those relating to sayings; and those relating to acts undertaken. Both sayings and acts of a person constitute his/her deeds. Both acts and sayings of a person are punished or rewarded for. If saying is not included in the deeds of a person, why should he compensated for his/ her sayings? In other words all sayings of our Nabi ﷺ are as much part of his deeds as are his acts. It means both sayings and acts of our Nabi ﷺ are actually Sunnah of our Nabi ﷺ.  The differenciation made by ‘Munkareen e Hadith’ between SAYINGS and  Sunnah is not correct. Actually sayings of Nabi ﷺ  are his Sunnah and his Sunnah is his sayings. This is what is believed to be so by all previous Islamic scholars; Munkareen e Hadith are changing this accepted fact because they do not want to accept Hadith as a part of Deen though some of them  accept some Sunnah (which has been transferred from collectivity to collectivity) as part of Deen. Hadith may be divided into two parts; those which are relating to collective matters and those which are relating to individual matters. Munkareen e Hadith accept some of those Hadith which are relating to collective matters but deny such Hadith which are relating to individual matters. Deen is combination of both individual and collective matters. How individual aspect of deen may be ignored?

Islam gives practical, not theoretical framework of guidance. Hence Islamic guidance is based on actual life of Nabi ﷺ. Denying Hadith is denying practicability of Islam and reducing Islam into theoretical notions.

Munkareen object that Hadith may not be authenticated with certainty so it cannot be followed as part of Deen. But they ignore the fact that existence of truth does not mean the truth will come to us automatically: we have to put in human efforts to unearth the truth. Similarly we have to make efforts to know what is wahi and its implications: we have to make efforts to know what hadith is rightly assigned to our Nabi ﷺ. It may be appreciated Quran is also not accepted by Muslims blindly; before accepting Quran, we get satisfaction that all verses contained in Quran are rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ.  That is why we reject any verse wrongly inducted in Quran. These are human efforts put up generations after generations, which enable us today to be satisfied  that Quran which is in our hands today is rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ.  

Nabuwwah is relating to wahi which is act of Allah. Deen is human act to follow wahi. Allah's Act does not have same imperatives/ implications which belong to human act. Thus Nabuwwah which is Allah's Act does not have same implications which belong to Deen which is human act. Thus regarding Nabuwwah human authentication is not required: but regarding Deen human authentication is required for the people who were/are not in direct contact with our Nabi ﷺ.

Similarly Ijtihad is human effort to unearth what are implications of Quran and how Quranic principles may be applied to present day issues. Ijtihad is not to invent new principles of Quran; rather Ijtihad is to discover Quranic principles already contained in Quran; Ijtihad is to discover implications of Quranic principles and apply them to present day issues.

Similarly Hadith is not an account of principles different from Quran; actually Hadith is interpretation/ meanings of Quran. Hadith describes what principles are contained in Quran impliedly, if not explicitly. Hadith also describes detailed manifestations of Nabi's ﷺ Sunnah about all fields of life including political, economic, moral, and socia-o-cultural matters. There is no Sunnah without Hadith. Quran gives  principles: Hadith gives elaborations.

Muslims from the day one believe that Hadith are wahi or based on wahi. Munkareen denying wahi status of Hadith are actually saying Hadith are contradictory to wahi.

Munkareen say if Hadith is wahi, it means Nabi ﷺ conscious was suspended during Wahi. In other words Nabi ﷺ did not perform consciously acts/sayings contained in Hadith. This objection is not correct.  Nabi's ﷺ conscious was never suspended in acting according to wahi ‘ghair matlu’. It is main difference between a Nabi and an angel. Angel is forced to act according to Allah's Wahi, but Nabi is not forced rather he ﷺ acts according to Wahi with his free will. Actually Wahi was revealed so that  humans could mould their thinking according to Wahi, because it is not in accordance with divine trial system to command humans in each and every matter at the time of occurrence of matter, nor all life incidents to be faced by every human are described in  Quran. Hence humans are directed to mould their thinking according to Wahi, so that every human matter may be disposed of according to Wahi. There is no use of Wahi, if human thinking is not used and moulded according to wahi.

Hadith is such a framework of guidance in which implications of every Quranic verse are explained in so many different ways. Hence a person is able to avail Quranic guidance contained in each and every verse, even if he does not have access to all ahadith relating to a particular verse. So one should not  worry , if some ahadith relating to a particular verse cannot be accessed or accepted by him/ her as rightly attributed to our Nabi ﷺ.

It may be appreciated that Nabi ﷺ deeds (acts and sayings) are exactly Wahi (Quranic or Wahi Ghair Matlu) or are based on Wahi (Quranic or Wahi Ghair Matlu). It may be appreciated our Nabi ﷺ has not made it clear (except in few instances) that what his ﷺ act/saying is exactly Wahi Ghair Matlu (these are matters which were directed to be undertaken at the time of arising the matter) and what is based on Wahi Ghair Matlu (these were the matters which were performed in the light of Wahi Ghair Matlu already revealed). This fact implies that such a distinction was not important.  That is why Quran has ordered people to follow Nabi ﷺ in many verses without distinguishing what was exact Wahi and what was based on Wahi. Hadith is not personal understanding of Quran by our Nabi ﷺ: Hadith is divine understanding adopted by our Nabi ﷺ with his free will. The difference between divine and personal understanding of Quran is that in case of personal understanding, the person can understand Quran using his own intellect but in case of divine understanding, Nabi ﷺ understood exactly what was delivered through Wahi; though Nabi ﷺ adopted such understanding with his ﷺ  own free will.

It may be appreciated existence of Ummah and Deen is similtaneous. There was no Deen, when there was no Muslim. And there was no Muslim, when there was no Deen.
It implies there is no Deen without acts of Ummah. Ijmah e Ummah is part of Deen. It may be appreciated human thinking in Islam is not independent. Human thinking in Islam is to be used always subject to Wahi; it means it always prove Wahi and does not disprove Wahi.

It does not mean Wahi does not allow us to use our choice in matters of Deen. We can use our choice only in such matters in which Allah permits. One form of such permission is that our Nabiﷺ acted in more than one ways pertaining to the same issue. It implies we can also use our choices in such issues keeping in view imperatives of the situation but not contradictory to explicit principles of Wahi i.e. Quran and Hadith. It permission also implies all other issues have been provided for in Deen already explicitly or impliedly and we need to know about those provisions and act accordingly. If we start acting on our choices in all issues we do not find explicitly in Wahi, it would lead to a situation where people would be acting upon their choices relating to almost whole Wahi because every person's level of knowledge would be different to ascertain what has been explicitly provided for in Wahi. It may be appreciated  ‘Tafseer’ is not meant for making up deficiencies (which are nowhere) in Quran, using his own choice: ‘Tafseer’ is a tool to appl Quranic principles. Tafseer does not make good any deficiencies (which are nowhere) in Quran; tafseer makes good deficiency of human understanding of Quran (continued).