KNOW ABOUT HADEETH !
The companions (radiallahu ‘anhum) on the instruction of Prophet
Mohammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), wrote down the words of Allah as
revealed and also kept them in memory, so as to ensure that from the time of
revelation until now the word of Allah remains pure and untainted. However, the
Prophet commanded the companions not to write down the hadeeth during the early
period of Islam, and the wisdom behind this was not to mix the hadeeth with the
word of Allah. It is very important for Muslims to understand the differences
between the hadeeth, hadeeth Qudsi, and the Qur'aan.
There is another important aspect to hadeeth. The actions and
sayings of the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) provided clarification of
the meanings of Qur'aan. When inquired about the character of Prophet Muhammad
(sallalahu alaihi wa sallam), his wife Aisha (radiallahu ‘anhaaa) replied,
His character is the Qur’aan. This indicates that Prophet (sallallahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) gave further explanation of the Qur'aan with what he said or
did during his lifetime. For example, the Qur'aan mentions prayer and the
hadeeth or the Sunnah shows Muslims how and when to do it. The following details
will help clarify the matter further.
Defining The Types Of Hadeeth
The meaning of Hadeeth is news, report or narration. They are
reports about the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) in the following:
There is
agreement among most Muslim scholars, that the contents of the sunnah are also
from Allah. However, these were expressed by the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) in his own words or actions. They are the words and actions
of a human being transmitted by the companions and family members (radiallahu
‘anhum), who memorized the words or closely observed the actions of Prophet
Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) for the benefit of the Muslim Ummah.
Hadeeth
Qudsi
Qudsi
means holy or pure. There are some reports from Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu
‘alaihi wa sallam) where he relates to the people starting with a statement
"Allah (said) says" or "Allah (did) does", but this
information is not part of the Qur'aan. These are called Hadeeth Qudsi. For
example: Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari reported, that Allah’s messenger related from his
Rubb is that He said: O My slaves, I have forbidden oppression for Myself
and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another…O My
slaves, all of you are astray except for those I have guided, so seek guidance
of Me and I shall guide you. O my slaves, all of you are hungry except for those
I have fed, so seek food of Me and I shall feed you... [Reported by Muslim]
The
Difference Between Hadeeth Qudsi and the Qur’aan
While the
common factor between Hadeeth Qudsi and the Qur'aan is that both contain words
from Allah which have been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa
sallam), the main points of differences are:
1 . In the
Qur'aan the precise wording is from Allah, while wording in the Hadeeth Qudsi
is given by the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam);
2 . The
Qur'aan has been brought to the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) only by
the angel Jibreel (Gabriel), while Hadeeth Qudsi may also have been inspired
otherwise, such as e.g. a dream;
3 . The
Qur'aan is inimitable and unique, while the Hadeeth Qudsi is not;
4 .
Qur'aan has been transmitted by numerous persons (tawaatur), whereas the
Hadeeth Qudsi is often only transmitted by a few or sometimes even by one
individual. There are also Hadeeth Qudsi which are graded as Saheeh (highest
authenticity), or hasan (authentic), or even da’if (weakness in the
transmission or text). There is no such doubt about any of the verses of the
Qur'aan.
5 .
Hadeeth Qudsi cannot be recited in the prayer.
The
Qur'aan was recorded at the time of revelation and the verses and chapters were
arranged on the instructions of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam)
during his lifetime. Every year during the month of Ramadhan the angel Jibreel
came to the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) and recited the Qur'aan with
him, and during the year the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) died, the
angel Jibreel came twice and recited the Qur'aan with him. This was not so in
the case of Hadeeth.
All
chapters and verses of the Qur'aan were collected and arranged during the
caliphate of Abu Bakr (radiallahu ‘anhu). They were written on sheets and bound
together as a book during the caliphate of Uthman ( radiallahu ‘anhu) in the
same order as shown by the Prophet Mohammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam)
himself. Additional copies of the Qur'aan were made during this occasion and
sent to several Islamic cities. However, the compilation of hadeeth did not
start until very much later and by that time, the Qur'aan was already available
in the final form of a bound book.
The
science of collecting, analyzing, compiling, grading and reporting of hadeeths
became a special field of studies after the period of companions (radiallahu
‘anhum). The leading reports are from Al-Bukhari, Muslim, At-Tirmidhi,
An-Nasai, Ibn Majah, and Abu Dawood which are known as the six most authentic
books (As-Sihaahus-Sittah). The validity of a hadeeth depends solely on its
agreement with the Qur'aan and the grading of a hadeeth depends on the
reliability of the chain of narrators who reported it. In order to do this, the
reporter studied the characters and the life of every single person who were
mentioned in the chain of narrators. We notice that utmost care was exercised
not only in reporting the exact words, but also sifting through the characters
of persons who reported them. If a single person in the chain of narrators is
reported to be of doubtful character or unreliable, then the entire hadeeth is
either rejected or this fact is noted down and specifically mentioned.
The Imams who undertook this enormous task of compiling and
reporting the hadeeths exercised great care in their lifetime effort, because
these studies laid the foundation for the guidelines in understanding and
practicing Islam in the life of every Muslim