hadith and Qur'an: Relative authority?

[Popeyesays]

"
You shall obey God and obey the Messenger and beware. If you turn away, then you should know that the sole function of our messenger is to deliver the message.
(Quran, 5:92)

Say, "O people, I am God's messenger to all of you. To Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. There is no God except He. He grants life and death." Therefore, you shall believe in God and His messenger, the gentile prophet, who believes in God and His Words and follow him, that you may be guided.
(Quran, 7:158)
When Prophet Muhammad died, he left with us only the Quran ­ and nothing but the Quran ­ as a guidance for Muslims and indeed for all mankind. This has been shown by solid historical evidence. Moreover, the Quran pronounced this fact as well when God stated several times that the function of the messenger was only to deliver the message. Verse 92 of Sura 5 that we quote above is one of them. We also quote Verse 158 of Sura 7 which states that Prophet Muhammad himself believes in the divine words, i.e. the Quran.


Nevertheless, the previous chapters have shown how Muslim society between 200-250 years after the death of the Prophet, through their religious scholars (particularly Shafi`i) built a new doctrine to the effect that the Prophet has left them the Quran and the hadith and that they must hold on to both.
Notwithstanding the conflicting versions of hadith that say otherwise, historical facts also prove beyond any shadow of doubt that there were no hadith collections existing at the time of the Prophet's death. History also proves that the early caliphs prevented the dissemination or recording of hadith. Al-Muwatta' of Malik ibn Anas (d. 975) may be said to be the first hadith collection, although, properly speaking, it was a law-book rather than a hadith collection. We know that the official collections were made only after Shafi`i pronounced the hadith to be also divine and a source of law on par with the Quran. "

HADITH

Regards,
Scott

 

[Aenea]

Nevertheless, the previous chapters have shown how Muslim society between 200-250 years after the death of the Prophet, through their religious scholars (particularly Shafi`i) built a new doctrine to the effect that the Prophet has left them the Quran and the hadith and that they must hold on to both.

The parallel in Christianity is the doctrine of sola scriptura, which states that the Bible should be the sole rule of faith, not Bible plus human tradition.

 

[Popeyesays]

The parallel in Christianity is the doctrine of sola scriptura, which states that the Bible should be the sole rule of faith, not Bible plus human tradition.

Quite right. The extreme of acceptance of tradition without consideration of the fact that tradition is not perfect is the cause of many tragedies.

The Judaic Talmud is tradition in essence though Orthodox will insist that it is unwritten scripture. The saving grace is that Talmudic authority is expressly for the purpose of "building a fence around the law" to deny one's self the possibility of violating the law by having obedience keepone away from the edges of the law. The Judaic dietary law against mixing meat and dairy is to keep one from the extreme unlawful act of consuming meat that has been cooked in its own mother's milk.

Regards,
Scott