The status of Sunnah in Islam.

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

"O My Lord! expand me My breast , Ease My task for Me And remove the impediment from My speech,
 So They may understand what I say" (20:25-28)

This is what Moses (pbuh) said when he was ordered by his lord to go to Pharaoh who has transgressed all bounds of disbelief and disobedience towards his creator , when he said those words he was granted the guidence , strength and boldness to face the first creature who declared himself as God.

I hope that by repeating Moses words that Allah shall grant me the strength and power to persuade all those who are deviated from the right path , the path of the prophets.

So I say :

"Ye have indeed In the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is In Allah and the final Day, and who engages much In the Praise of Allah." (31:22)

What is a pattern ?

If you google it , you'll find that it means in plain enlgish "a model considered worthy of imitation"

Hmmm, Immitation , does that sound like doing like what someone else is doing? of course..right?
So, the Quran is actually asking us to immitate the Prophet(pbuh) but of course in the context of what he actually came for , delivering the final message , the word of God , what he likes and dislikes and so on..
Since the Aya did not mention what type of immitation should we adopt then it should be taken in its general form , I mean either his actions or words.

For example  pray like he prayed , deal with people like he dealt , say what he said in similar situations and so on.

If you take a look at the Quran you'll find that it constitues different types of topics , but can be categorized in the following :

1- Stories of the preceding prophets , which takes a very large portion of the Quran (I can say more than 50% of the Quran ) , of course there is a great wisdom in mentioning their stories , like reminding us of what happened when their nations deviated from their path (lesson/warning) , how much they suffered to deliver God's words and many other things that can take a whole book to mention , take a look at this verse :

"There is, In their stories, instruction for men endued with understanding. it is not a tale invented, but a confirmation of what went before it,- a detailed exposition of all things, and a guide and a Mercy to any such As believe." (12:111).

2- Refutation/Falsification of the wrong beliefs , adopted by mankind specially the holders of the old scriptures since they are closer in undesrating the concpet of a message than the pagans , this also takes up a large portion of the Quran and is the main reason why the Prophet Mohammed had to be sent :

"O people of the Book! there hath come to you Our Messenger, revealing to you much that ye used to hide In the Book, and passing over much (That is Now unnecessary). there hath come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book, wherewith Allah guideth all who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace and safety, and leadeth them out of darkness, by His will, unto the light,- guideth them to a path that is straight."(5:15-16) .

I can say confidently that this takes up to another 20-25% of the whole Quran.

3 - Laws , which comes in a general form , like Pray , Perform Haj , Give Zakah , but never mentions the "How to..." . which of course is taken from the Sunnah.

4 - Declaring the identity/nature of God (Allah)  that was subject to so much deformity in the old scriptures , like the invention of the trinity concept , the helplesness of God , for example read this verse in the bible :

Jacob Wrestles With God ( This title is written in the bible , I did not fabricate it )

Source :

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2032&version=NIV


22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.
24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.
28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, [e] because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
29 Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."
But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, [f] saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."  (Genesis 32:22-30)

And a counltess number of insults towards God almighty , In Contrast take a look at the Quran where it says:


"No just estimate have They made of Allah. for Allah is He who is strong and able to carry out His will"


Or how God regreted that he created mankind - as if he didnt know what they were going to do - take a look at (Genesis 6:8) :

"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD"

Or how he NEEDED to rest after creating the heavens and earth !!!

In Contrast take a look at the Quran where it says:

"We created the heavens and the earth and all between them In six days, nor did any sense of weariness touch us." (50:38)


Anyhow , this takes up like another 15-20% of the whole Quran.

What im trying to say here is : How in the world can we immitate the Prophet if his actions does not take even 2% of the Quran ? There is only one answer : The Sunnah !

"But no, by the Lord, They can have no (real) Faith, until They make Thee judge In all disputes between them, and find In their souls no resistance against Thy decisions, but Accept them with the fullest conviction."

Isn't it clear that Allah asks them to judge him in all the disputes and then accept his decisions?
Where is his decisions in the Quran if the most of the Quran is composed of what is mantioned above?

One last thing , The Quran says :

*"Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and beware (of evil): if ye do turn back, know ye that it is Our Messenger.s duty to proclaim (the message) In the clearest manner."

Notice the word "And"

*"He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah. but if any turn away, we have not sent Thee to watch over their (evil deeds)."

The verse implies that there is obedience for both , and that obeying him is actually obeying Allah since he speaks not of his own words.

*"So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which He withholds from you. and fear Allah. for Allah is strict In punishment."

This is a drop from the ocean of what I can say about this matter ... and it all goes back to the fact that the Sunnah is a crucial part of Islam ....

To be continued ....

A debate with a Quranist

I came across a website for the so called Quranists, I felt frustrated from the unawareness/ignorance of those people.


Here is what I read , and follows is my answer.

http://www.quranalone.com/the-quran/appendices/appendix-12.php
1- They said: The Prophet's sole mission was to deliver Quran, the whole Quran, and nothing but Quran .

I say : Wrong! , In addition to that , Allah said : " And we have sent down unto Thee the Message; that Thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them" 16:44.

So his role was not only to deliver but to explain , which is apparently and additional task than just delivering the package and running away.

2- They said: Moreover, the Prophet was enjoined in the strongest words from issuing any religious teachings besides the Quran (69:38-47)

Which is : "
38. so I do call to witness what ye see,

39. and what ye see not,

40. that This is Verily the word of an honoured apostle;

41. it is not the word of a poet: Little it is ye believe!

42. nor is it the word of a soothsayer: Little admonition it is ye receive.

43. (this is) a Message sent down from the Lord of the worlds.

44. and if the apostle were to invent any sayings In Our name,

45. we should certainly seize Him by His right hand,

46. and we should certainly then cut off the artery of His heart:

47. nor could any of you withhold Him (from Our wrath). "

I say : Bad interpretation , These Ayas (verses) states that the prophet cannot say anything other than what Allah told him to say , Allah says :

"Nor does He say (aught) of (his own) desire 53/3" which means that anything that comes out of his mouth is a revelation. Did the prophet speak nothing but the Quran in his entire life ? , Didn't he teach his Ummah (Nation) how to pray , fast or perform Haj in details ? where is that in the Quran.
3 - They said : He was even enjoined from explaining the Quran (75:15-19)

Which is : "

15. Even though He were to put up His excuses.

16. move not Thy tongue concerning the (Qur'an) to make haste therewith.

17. it is for us to collect it and to promulgate it:

18. but when we have promulgated it, follow Thou its recital (as promulgated):

19. nay more, it is for us to explain it (and make it clear):"



I say : If this how they see it then they should say that Allah lied cuz he didn't say how to pray , perform Haj or give out Zakah , which clearly means that he will explain it through the prophets actions or words.



4 - They said : God is the only teacher of the Quran (55:1-2)

which is : "

1. ((Allah)) Most Gracious!

2. it is He who has taught the Qur'an."



I say : Of course he is the one who taught the Quran! , he taught it to the prophet , and then ordered him to do 2 things : -Deliver & Explain : Allah said : " And we have sent down unto Thee the Message; that Thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them" 16:44.

Or did Allah gather man in a Halaqas and taught them the Quran ?!



5 - They said : and the Quran is the best Hadith (39:23 & 45:6).

which is : "

"Allah has revealed (from time to time) the Most beautiful Message In the form of a Book" 39:23

"Such are the Signs of Allah, which we rehearse to Thee In truth; then In what exposition will They believe after (rejecting) Allah and His Signs? " 45:6



I say : No comment !



6 - They said : The Quran has prophesied the fabrication of Hadith and Sunna by the Prophet's enemies (6:112-115)

Which is : "

112. likewise did we make for every Messenger an enemy,- evil ones among men and jinns, inspiring Each other with flowery discourses by way of deception. if Thy Lord had so planned, They would not have done it: so leave them and their inventions alone.

113. to such (deceit) let the hearts of those incline, who have no Faith In the Hereafter: let them delight In it, and let them earn from it what They may.

114. say: "Shall I seek for judge other than Allah. - when He it is who hath sent unto you the Book, explained In detail." They know full well, to whom we have given the Book, that it hath been sent down from Thy Lord In Truth. never be then of those who doubt.

115. the word of Thy Lord doth find its fulfilment In truth and In justice: none can change His words: for He is the one who heareth and knoweth all."



I say : Again if this how they see it then Allah must have lied cuz he didn't say how to pray , perform Haj or give out Zakah , which clearly means that he will explain it through the prophets actions and words.

The meaning here is that the Quran has explained everything : True belief , Laws all in details , There is nothing in the Sunnah that has no origin in the Quran , for example Allah said in general "Pray" , he informed us that he wants us to pray , then he asked us to follow the prophet , so does this order or law alone enough to explain in details how to pray ?



Note : Put in mind that the Quran was meant to be revealed/sent in a way that could be memorized by heart - unlike other books - so if every single detail was mentioned in it , it would not be possible to memorize the whole scripture



Finally they said : Ironically, the books of Hadith report the Prophet's orders to write down nothing from him except the Quran! Shown below are two such Hadiths taken from the Hadithists' most reliable sources, Sahih Muslim and Is-haah Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. :



- The Prophet said, "Do not write down anything from me except the Quran." [Ahmed, Vol. 1, Page 171, and Sahih Muslim]

-This Hadith states that the Prophet maintained his anti-Hadith stand until death. [Ahmed, Vol. 1, Page 192]



I said : What is more ironic than that ? using hadith to disprove hadith? if they say hadith is invalid then they shouldn't have even mentioned this , but if they mean that us "Sunnis" contradict ourselves then here is the answer :
Those Hadith that establish the objection to writing the Hadith are nullified and the objection was only when there was fear that recording the Hadith and the Qur'an in the same pamphlet might cause confusion .
There are many Ahadith that allow writing the Hadith.
Al-Bukhari and Muslim reported from Abu Hurairah that "a man called Abu Shah from Yemen attended the sermon that the Prophet gave the day of the conquest of Makkah he (this man) said: 'Write for me' (what has been said in the sermon). The Prophet said: "Write for Abu Shah ".
Al-Bukhari reported from Abu Hurairah that he said: "None of the companions of the Prophet knew more Hadith than I except Abdullah Ibn Umar because he used to record and I did not use to record" .
So , In conclusion , It was not permissible to write at the very early time of revelation so as to not confuse the Prophets words with the Allahs words, Later on when the Muslims grew stronger and Islam was established in their hearts they were permitted to write it DURING HIS TIME , not like your fellow Quranists claim that it was written after his death.
"He who shuns my Sunnah is not from me.” [Al-Bukhaari]

Finally , True hadiths does not contradict in anyway with the Quran , while false ones of course will since they have been fabricated , The study of how to proof if a hadith is authentic or not is a very very wide science , and If you read the biography of SOME of the authors of the hadith's books like Bukhri or Muslim you will know how much those people suffered to differentiate between what is right from what is wrong .

But note that the slogan of the Quranists - according to their websites - is : The Prophet's sole mission was to deliver Quran, the whole Quran, and nothing but Quran, which means denying not only the false hadith but also the true ones ...

In the same manner , if you doubt the Hadith then you should doubt the Bible , since both - as claimed regarding the Sunnah - were written decades after the death of their prophets , Moreover , The bible is mostly stories told by people who did not even witness Jesus while saying them , which is not the case in the Sunnah..."


to be continued....