A debate with Anti Hadeeth in Malaysia Today Part 1

By Rahman Celcom

An article (actually two) appeared in Malaysia Today written by True Muslim. Both articles attempt to establish the Anti-Hadeeth ideology as being an undisputed truth, vilifying PAS for following Hadeeth thus vilifying the entire Muslim ummah for following Al Hadeeth.

The word Al Hadeeth in the Quran

True Muslim started his salvo by quoting two verses from the Quran, 39:23 and 45:06, which contains the word “Al Hadeeth”. He interprets that these verses proves that the best Hadeeth is the Quran.

Unfortunate for True Muslim, the verses he quoted exposes his ignorance of the Quran (the same goes to the entire Anti-Hadeeth Sect). The word Al Hadeeth in 39:23 has a different meaning than in 45:06. In 39:23 -- the message while 45:06 -- exposition (according to Yusuf Ali).

In fact, the word Al Hadeeth has takes so many meaning in various places in the Quran. I summarize as follows:

No : Meaning : Verses : Frequency

1 : Explanation : 18:06, 31:06, 39:23, 53:59, 59:81, 68:44 : 6 times
2 : Words of Mouth or Utterances : 04:42, 87 & 178, 12:11, 66:03 : 5 times
3 : Dream : 12:06, 10 & 21 : 3 times
4 : Story : 23:44 , 34:19 : 2 times
5 : Exposition : 45:06 : 1 time

This fact points to the fact that True Muslim totally skewed the real meaning of the word in both verses he quoted. That means that the case he’s trying to build based on the two verses is also weak.

In short, due to the Anti-Hadeeth Sect (AHS) ignorance of the Arabic language, their interpretation of the translation of the Quran is not only skewed, they’re biased as well. It reminds me of a verse in the Quran:

‘Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say: ‘This is from Allah’, to traffic with it for miserable price! - Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby’. Surah 2 verse 79.

Ignorance of the Arabic Language

Ignorance of the Arabic language is the trademark of the Anti-Hadeeth ideology. If one has even basic Arabic, one would not have gone the anti-Hadeeth way. Their ignorance of the Arabic language is due to their insistence that the Arabic language is unnecessary to interpret the Quran since we already have so many translations. They also quote some verses of the Quran to support their case.

What they do not quote is at least ten verses in the Quran that states unequivocally that the Quran is in Arabic and none other.

In fact, their ignorance in the Arabic language is the main source of their confusion. If they had taken the time to learn even a bit of Arabic, they would’ve abandoned the anti-Hadeeth ideology in a heartbeat.

Misunderstanding of Al Hadeeth

If one were to study all of their criticism of the Hadeeth, one will find that all of them are based upon the translation of the various Hadeeth. Never have they studied the Hadeeth in its original language, Arabic.

Therefore, just like the Quran, their understanding of the Hadeeth is more often than not erred or skewed. It reflects their desperation to please their western masters.

Main motive behind anti-Hadeeth ideology

The main motivation for the anti-Hadeeth ideology is their apologetic feelings towards the west. They feel guilty because Islam is the way it is. They feel that Islam doesn’t fit the Western paradigm, and therefore Islam has to be altered. They needed a methodology and the anti-Hadeeth ideology came to birth.

Take for example their resistance to punishment on apostasy. True Muslim quotes two verses in the Quran 2:256 and 4:137 and claims these verses guarantees freedom for anyone who wishes to leave Islam.

Yet he conveniently left out verses like 02:54 which clearly spell out the death penalty for apostasy which started from the time of Moses and has never been abrogated.

The Anti-Hadeeth are embarrassed by this particular provision in the Islamic Jurisprudence because their western idols do not see it well. The Anti-Hadeeth know that the penalty for apostasy is mentioned in the Sunnah. So, the anti-Hadeeth ideology is a good excuse to save themselves from embarrassment in the eyes of their western masters.

Drawing parallel between Al Hadeeth and the Bible and Torah

Among the rants from True Believer is his attempt to draw parallel between Al Hadeeth and the content of the Bible and Torah. His examples are: death penalty for apostates, treatment of women which he claims to be second class in the eyes of Hadeeth, circumcision, wearing the hijab or tudung for women, the payment of religious tithes or zakat, the very contentious word ‘aqeedah’, punishment of stoning to death for adultery, the ownership of slaves, the halal certification of food, the wearing of beards, turbans and jubah and many more.

Based on these examples, he concludes: “the Bible speaks the same language as the Hadith”.

If one were to take True Believer’s logic, then we will be forced to conclude that even the Quran speaks the same language as the Bible.

Example: prohibition of pork:

Bible : Quran

1) "The pig also because it is a splitter of the hoof but there is no cud. It is unclean for you. None of their flesh must you eat and carcass you must not touch." (Deuteronomy 14:8 2)

“Who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places who eats swine's flesh and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;....." (Isaiah 65:4,5b RSV)

1) “Forbidden to you for (food) are: dead meat,blood and the flesh of the swine and thatwhich hath been invoked the name other than Allah." (5:42)

"Allah has forbidden you only what dies of itself and blood and the flesh of swine and that over which any other name than that of Allah has been invoked; but whoever is driven to (it), not desiring nor exceeding the limit, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." (16:115 )

When reading the comparison above and adopting the anti-hadeeth’s skewed logic, one cannot but conclude that the Quran also speaks the same language as the bible.

Observe how contradictory the anti-Hadeeth ideology. It’s so contradictory that it never fails to amaze me. They can actually contradict themselves unwittingly.

Unbelievable ignorance on how Hadeeth is collected

True Believer and his sect repeatedly make this accusation. They claim that Imam Bukhari collected 700,000 hadeeth and only 7,000 are authentic, the rest are not. Anyone who takes the time to learn a little bit of Ulum Hadeeth can tell you that such a claim is ludicrous. For one, Imam Bukhari never claimed that other than the 7,000 Hadeeth, all of them are not authentic. It’s just that Imam Bukhari only took 7,000 of them and put them in his As Sahih. That’s all. As usual, the claim was never substantiated by the Anti-Hadeeth Sect.

This is just a tip-of-the-iceberg of the Anti-Hadeeth Sect’s ignorance on the Al Hadeeth.

The real status of Hadeeth based upon the Quran

Al Hadeeth is actually a second form of Divine Revelation. The verses from the Quran are as follows: 02:129, 02:151, Ali Imran: 164, Al Jumuah: 02, An Nisa: 113. In these verses, God has indicated the existence of two forms of revelations, Al Kitab and Al Hikmah through the Prophet. Al Hadeeth, by definition, are recordings of the Prophet’s words and actions in addition to the Quran. Therefore, the Al Hadeeth is the second form of Revelations.

Role of Prophet Mohammad SAW

1. To clarify or explain the Quran: 16:44
2. As an absolute legislator: 07: 157-158, 59:07, 33:21
3. The Quran and Sunnah are Revelations from Allah SWT: 5:3-4

The verses above clearly indicate the existence of Divine Revelations other than the Quran. Unfortunately, the Anti-Hadeeth Sect refuses to consider these verses at all. Their minds were already made up long before they opened the first page of the Quran.

Anti-Hadeeth ideology introduces unjustifiable confusion into Islam

Here are some examples:

No : Issues : Anti Hadeeth Way : The Truth

(Sorry, this part is a bit of a mess but this was how I received it. I wrote back asking for a cleaner copy but the writer did not respond: Editor)

1 Punishment For theft and fornication as stated in the Quran (05:38 and 05:02) Punishment can be carried out without due process because the Quran does not prescribe due process resulting in chaos and absolute anarchy in the soceity.

The way punishment is carried out as stated in 05:38 and 05:02 is shown by the Prophet SAW. That is where due process was shown to us by the Prophet.

2 Inheritence to children who had murdered their parents (04:11 states on inheritence)

The killer children are allowed to receive their inheritence. Hurrah for the Menendez brothers. There is a hadeeth stating exceptions to children who murder their parents.

3 Consuming the carcass of dead animals (The Quran prescribe to it’s followers that animals which are to be consumed must be properly slaugthered - 05:03)

It will cover all types of animals including sea-dwelling animals. In short, the next time the Anti Hadeeth open their can of sardines, they will have to ensure that the sardines are slaugthered properly. There is a hadeeth making -exceptions to sea-living animals i.e. fish, squid etc.

4 In 05:38, there is no mention of minimum limits for a thief to be qualified for amputation

Even if a man steal a clove of garlic, he will be amputated.

There is a hadeeth stating that only is the value of loot is more than ¼ of a deenar will a thief have his hands amputated.

5 The Quran states many times about Az Zakah There is no way, there is simply no methodology at all for the anti hadeeth to follow.

The methods are clearly mentioned in the sunnah, ijma and qiyas.

6 Various ibadah clearly mentioned in the Quran, i.e fasting, solat, al hajj, jihad, sadaqah, inheritance, marriage, divorce, commerce etc

IT WILL BE AN ABSOLUTE MESS. There will be absolutely no methodology shown in the Quran, so the anti hadeeth is in a total mess.

The Hadeeth laid down ways and methodology to carry out

Imam Syafiee, Anti Hadeeth, Ar Risalah, Al Umm and a big waste of time

The absolute truth is that the question of the position of Al Hadeeth has been explained to a point of absolute clarity in his monumental work entitled Ar Risalah and Al Umm. All that has studied Imam Syafiee’s work is satisfied and convinced of the status of Al Hadeeth (or As Sunnah) with respect to the Quran.

To summarize, Imam Syafiee states that As Sunnah is Revelations from Allah SWT. He based his entire argument on the Quran.

Anti-Hadeeth responded by, in short, lying about Imam Syafiee’s work. They misquote him, quote him out of context, leaving out most of his argument and of course applying whimsical and Arabic-ignorance interpretation on the verses quoted by Imam Syafiee.

Anyways, all of the lies on Imam Syafiee have already been answered. One such answer can be referenced in a book entitled “Islam dan Al Hadeeth: Dialog Bersama Kassim Ahmad” written by Abdul Halim El-Muhammady.

In short, questioning the status of Hadeeth is a big waste of time considering the issue has been resolved amicably close to 1000 years ago by Imam Syafiee.

Conclusion

I beg those who have been following the ways of anti-Hadeeth to re-examine your argument. It is still not too late to get back onto the right path and save yourselves from spending the rest of your lives in darkness and deviation. Please heed the warning stated by Allah SWT in the Quran.

‘Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say: ‘This is from Allah’, to traffic with it for miserable price! - Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby’. Surah 2 verse 79.

Links to the articles being replied to:

Pas’ Bible Link

Who’s anti-Hadith?