A Way to Look at the Qur'an (ritual, moral, Earth)

[fullyveiled muslimah]

I was just wanting to start this thread about the Quran and its relationship with the hadith of rasulullah (saw).

A simple way to look at the Quran is that it is a book of fadha'il. It gives the rewards for the acts of ibadah that we are to engage in, and it tells us the acts to be part of. Quran tells us to make salaat, to fast, to make dhikr, to pay zakat, to give sadaqah, and tells us to safeguards ourselves from harmful spiritual diseases. What it doesn't tell us, is how to accomplish these things.

This is where ahadith come in. The ahadith are also full of fadha'il, but contain also the ever-important masa'il, boys and girls! Yep, they contain 'how to do'. The ahadith contain many other things such as the tafasir of Quran, but let's not talk about that right now. The ahadith contain how to do these things that Allah has either made mandatory, or highly recommended. For instance the rules for fasting spring to mind. Allah says in Quran that we must fast the month of Ramadan. This is fardh upon every able muslim to do. But how do we fast? What are some of the things that can break a fast? Can I take medicine while I fast? Do pregnant women have to fast also? What if it is a hardship? These questions and many more like them are issues that some muslim somewhere must have to answer to once a year. Nowhere in Quran does it answer all these questions. Allah gives an idea about the fast of Ramadan and some of the rules:

185. The month of Ramadân in which was revealed the Qur'ân, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong). So whoever of you sights (the crescent on the first night of) the month (of Ramadân i.e. is present at his home), he must observe Saum (fasts) that month, and whoever is ill or on a journey, the same number [of days which one did not observe Saum (fasts) must be made up] from other days. Allâh intends for you ease, and He does not want to make things difficult for you. (He wants that you) must complete the same number (of days), and that you must magnify Allâh [i.e. to say Takbîr (Allâhu-Akbar; Allâh is the Most Great) on seeing the crescent of the months of Ramadân and Shawwâl] for having guided you so that you may be grateful to Him.


Let's look at what Allah says in this verse from Quran surah Baqara. The first thing Allah tells us in this verse is that Quran was revealed in this month. The next thing Allah tells us in this ayat is what the Quran is, or what it contains in a nutshell. Allah tells us that:

1) Quran is a guidance for mankind that contains:
2)Clear proofs for guidance and:
3)The criteria between right and wrong.

Note: Allah says nothing in this ayat about any other information that Quran contains. He quite succintly manages to say everything that Quran says in a few words only, subhanallah!

The third thing Allah tells us is that we must sight the crescent moon to begin. Then Allah tells us that people who are ill or on a journey are exempt from fasting during the time span of the travel or illness. Also that those days must be made up.

That's quite a bit of information for one ayat right? However, some information is not present. Such as the answers to some of the initial questions I posed above. What about pregnant women? How ill is ill? Is it just the sniffles, or if you're just got a snotty nose does that count even if you feel you can fast? These are legitimate questions that need answers. How do we get those answers? Well we get them from the prophet. Think of it this way, if the prophet were alive here today, and we didn't understand something in Quran, wouldn't we ask him the answer? After all it is to him that it is being revealed along with its complete meaning. If he gives us the answer to these questions wouldn't it then make sense to accept that? This is what the sunnah and the hadith essentially are. They are the answers to the questions that were asked of the prophet during his lifetime. The answers were simply archived and are available today in their entirety.


Why can't we find our own answers?

Many people ask this question. Why cannot Quran simply be open to individual interpretation where no one is necessarily right or wrong?

Humans have the incredible propensity to interpret the same things or events in vastly different ways. This is an incredible ability, and it assists our understanding of many things. Even with that inclination present there are a few things that our interpretation is not valid if it runs counter to proven things. For example, we know that gravity is the force by which things remain fixed on the surface of the Earth, and it is the force that pulls objects towards it when they do leave the ground. We know that unless some work is done on the object to counteract the force of gravity, the object will be pulled towards the Earth. Our individual interpretation of that fact is invalid if it runs counter to the fact that is established. Let's take that thought pattern and turn it towards the words of Allah. To a muslim the word of Allah is established fact. As such it is not open to individual interpretation. The main reason for this is the preservation of the core values and truths of Islam. Allah knew that this would be a task for us not to interpret every verse as we individually see fit, and He also knew that we like explainations and a wealth of information to be available to us particularly when dealing with some rules that we are asked to abide by.

This is what rasulullah was there for. He was a human being so that he could relate to us on all levels of humanity. It was a must that he had sufficient and deep knowledge of that which was being revealed to him. Like the rest of us people, rasulullah also liked answers to questions. He often posed questions to Jibreel (as) and would receive answers to them concerning the things he was being told. It was important for him to have this type of knowledge and not only just the words of Allah themselves but the explanation of the words, perchance someone asked him about it. He could not simply issue some rules, say they were from Allah and expect that the people would follow them without anyone asking a question. Suppose for a moment that he could not answer any questions? What a fool he would look like to the eyes of his followers. Here you are saying you are guided by Allah, yet you cannot answer simple questions? What a pity! So then he answered their questions, and hence the ahadith are born. The archived answers to questions, the explaination of verses, the historical context of verses, and the dispensing of general wisdoms.

Many hadith contain more detail about a subject that Allah only touches on breifly in Quran. We know that in Quran will tell a story, but not in full detail. Allah only tells enough of the story to expound on the moral point or spiritual lesson to be derived from it. Rarely if ever does Allah go into a full detail of any story. So rasulullah (saw), since he had knowledge of these things, would then expound on the details of the story to give a fuller context historically for it.


I am no scholar so I hope none of this was confusing. I just wanted to give a simplified reasoning as to what hadith are and their relationship to Quran, and what purpose they serve.

[TashaN]

You raised the issue of some people asking our beloved prophet about certain things, and he had to answer them.

My question is, do you believe that we have got the sunnah just as a guideline for us in order to expand on them and maybe to adjust and reinterpret some of it in order to find rules which applied to our own time?

I say this because, there are some teachings, if it wasn't for those muslims around the prophet who asked him about it, we would had to find out about it and interpret it by ourselves.

I'm also thinking that it was a mercy from Allah that hadith wasn't like the Quran because the hadiths are so into details which makes it difficult to apply it in our own time 100% because most of it were answers to some questions asked by the muslims at that time, but of course, we can grasp the general meaning from it, unlike the Quran, which can be applied in all times, because it's the eternal word of Allah.

What do you think?

[fullyveiled muslimah]

Well I think that for the most part hadith is also applicable to us as well. We mustn't think that the muslims of that time faced so much vastly different issues as we face today. Although some things are obviously kinda specific. It is my belief that we can interpret Islam and its rulings to fit us, AS LONG AS, it does NOT contradict the meanings already given. You know, it is hard for me to express that the way I would like. Its not like we have to further perfect deen, since Allah has already done that, but it is how scholars come up with fatwas, and rulings that may be specific to us. All they are doing is interpreting Islam in such a way that it fits our particular situations, without going into error or going against what Allah and His rasul have to say. You get my meaning? I hope I answered your question, although I don't think I did.

[Peace]

I've just seen this thread, it's really a great one dear Hakimah!! jazaki Allah khayran and may He reward you for your appreciated efforts!

salam,
Peace