Imam vs Teachings of Prophet is there a contradiction?
Bismillah hir Rahman Nir Raheem
My Lord, expand for me my chest [with assurance] And ease for me my task And untie the knot from my tongue That they may understand my speech. Ameen
Muslim Ummah and the divide
All my life (well I am not that old but still😅) I have been thinking about the conditions of the Muslims and how much contradictions we have. We can't tolerate another Muslim from a different race or different Madhab (Firqa) and we say that we are the Ummah of the same Prophet SAW. Now if the source is same why such controversies? After some study and discussions with people I came to understand one thing. We look into things using small spectrum we need to think using broad spectrum. I will share what I learned read it fully and it's up to you to accept it or not.
If you are reading this to learn something then go further, if you are reading only for criticism or to protect one's own sect then don't go any further.
One might say what is the need for it? Well the need is that the Prophet SAW said:
It was narrated from ‘Awf bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) said:“The Jews split into seventy-one sects, one of which will be in Paradise and seventy in Hell. The Christians split into seventy-two sects, seventy-one of which will be in Hell and one in Paradise. I swear by the One Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, my nation will split into seventy-three sects, one of which will be in Paradise and seventy-two in Hell.” It was said: “O Messenger of Allah, who are they?” He said: “The main body.”
Don't you wanna know either you are in those seventy two who will go to Hell or that "main body" Al Jammaa, who will enter Paradise. Now what is meant by the main body it means the one who follow the Quran and Sunnah in short. Prophet didn't say that Deobandi or Barelvi or Ahl e Hadith or Shia will go to Jannah did he?
First let's dive in and see the problem to why there are contradictions. One might also say that the Prophet said that there will be contradictions. Yes, he might have said that but did he say that to follow it or to warn us, did he say both will be correct?
Allah says in Quran
Believers, obey God, His Messenger, and your (qualified) leaders. If you have faith in God and the Day of Judgment, refer to God and His Messenger concerning matters in which you differ. This would be a more virtuous and a better way of settling differences.
In this verse it is said that obey three beings rank wise Allah > Prophet > Leaders. First thing first Leaders doesn't mean Imam, Alims, or maulvis because the Arabic word used is أُولِي الْأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ those who can give you order. The next part is important if you differ/contradict then what to do, refer that matter to Allah and His Messenger. and the next part is even more alarming. Who will refer it to Allah and his Messenger only those who have faith in God and the Day of Judgment. It means those who listen to their own Ulamas or their own heart or anyone other than Allah and his Messenger then they don't have faith according to this verse.
Imams and different ways to reach the right source
To understand the problem of why such contradictions we have to go back a little and even before that I would like to ask you guys one question. It is always heard that there are big four or five Imams (May Allah be pleased with them) right? no more than that. Namely:
- Imam Jaffar R.A (grandson of Imam Hussain and teacher of Imam Abu haneefa)
- Imam Abu Haneefa R.A (he followed the students of Abdullah ibn Masood R.A and formulated his fiqah around it)
- Imam Shafi R.A (he was the student of Imam Abu Haneefa but he saw the shortcomings and went to Madinah and started working on Ahadtih and formulated his fiqah around it)
- Imam Malik R.A (he compiled the very first book of hadith Muwatta Imam Malik)
- Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal R.A (student of all the above and almost same era as that of Imam Bukhari)
If you are gonna say that there is one more Imam Raza Khan Barelvi. He comes under Imam Abu Haneefa his roots leads to him. Now my question is Why did no such prominent Imam came after them? Why was there no Imam after them who was at the level of these 5?
To answer that, one should know that the subject of these Imam was Fiqh (The law). I am not going chronologically but I am telling you how it happened. Scholars came to realise one thing that we say that we are the Ummah of the same Prophet SAW and they all claim to follow the teachings of Prophet then where is the issue? The conclusion they came to is that there is a problem in the source of data from where the knowledge is extracted. As we all know there are only two source of knowledge for Islamic laws 1) Quran and 2) Hadith.
Now Allah says that
We Ourselves have revealed the Zikr and We are its Protectors.
The word used is Zikr not Quran it includes both the Quran and Hadith. One Allah protected miraculously and the other he protected by the means of men to show that He has the power of doing it both ways. Now when I say by means of men let's dive in a bit deeper.
Quran cannot be corrupted so the other source became the target which is Hadith. Why because it was gathered in such a way that e.g C heard it from B and B heard it from A and A said that Prophet SAW said. I am not going too deep into it but just to give you overview. If you want details, you can read my article What are Daif Sanad Ahadith, C,B and A here means generation. C and B can be anyone and A is a Sahabi. I will further explain it later. So, the answer to the question which I asked is because the line of study shifted from Fiqh to checking the validity of source of data (study of Hadith) I am not saying that the department of Fiqh was totally closed, and no further advancement took place. What I am saying is that after these Five Imams of Fiqh the Imams who were equal to their level came in the field of study of Hadith.
One thing to keep in mind that all the five Imams have no contradictions regarding the Aqaaidh(meaning things which constitutes Iman, Shirk and all that)
State of Muslims
Now as we got the answers about the following
- Why there was no Imam equal to the level of these five?
- Why was there a need to shift the line of study?
Now let's go back a little bit further, as we all know that those people who become Muslims the first, when there was no hope of anything and they were trained by the Prophet SAW they were the best are called Sabiqoon al Awaloon in Quran and those before Conquest of Makkah. Allah praise them in Quran and says that he is pleased with them. Allah has categorized the Muslims of Prophet's Era into three.
God is well pleased with the foremost ones of those who left their homes for the cause of God, those who helped them after their arrival in Medina and those who nobly followed these two groups. He has prepared gardens for them wherein streams flow and wherein they will live forever. This, certainly is the supreme triumph.
Some of the Arabs of the desert around you are hypocrites, and some of the people of Madina are stubborn in hypocrisy. You are not aware of them; We know them, and will punish them twice, and they will be sent to a harrowing doom.
But there are others who admit their sins of mixing good deeds with evil. It may be that God will accept their repentance, for God is forgiving and kind.
Now one thing to understand here is that after the conquest of Makkah everyone became Muslim some trying to blend in, some by seeing the might of Muslims, submitted and some truly became Muslims. As mentioned in the above verse 101 and in many other places.
So, you know that there came Munafiqs and all sort of people posing as Muslims. You could just think of it by the incidents that happened long after, like the Assassination of Hazrat Usman R.A the ones who killed him were Muslims, who killed Hazrat Hussain R.A were also Muslims. So, you getting my point that some of the Muslims were not truly faithful Muslims. The only thing holding them is their Shadah. That's where the study of Narrators comes in.
The Study of Narrators
Also known as Asmaa Ar Rijaal. This is the one and only of its kind encyclopaedia made by Muslims. This encyclopaedia contains the data of every single Narrator of a Hadith. You might be wondering who is a Narrator? In a Hadith there are two things, to put it simply one is Sanad (chain of narration) and the other is Text. Chain of Narration includes, let's use the same example used above that C heard it from B, B from A and A (heard, saw) Prophet. Now here A is a Sahabi and B is a Tabii (next generation who didn't saw Prophet) and C is a Taba Tabii( generation after tabii). The chain is not this small its just an example. Now there could be an error here e.g in one of the Hadith it is said that D heard it from C and C from B... but when we look at it D never met C in his entire life 😦 or that C was not of the time of B or C was a liar or there are many more factors which are seen. One would say how these things are measured that's where Asmaa Ar Rijaal comes in, as I said it is the study of Narrators. In it is written or recorded that what type of person was D, how was his memory, what was his character, till what age did his memory was good, till what age was his character good, was he a liar and many more things are stored in it.
Now using this tool one classifies the Hadith. As one cannot check or verify the text of the Hadith so only the chain of narration is seen. Although there are some very rare cases when Hadith is also classified using the text.
Not going into other types of Hadith I will just talk about three.
- Sahih
- Daif
- Mawdu
One would say why look so deeper into the Hadith whether it's Sahih Daif or Mawdu. It's because only Sahih Hadith was something that the Prophet said. Daif and Mawdu are something that we are attributing to Prophet which he never or might not have said. If you still feel so what? Then there is a Hadith that.
It was narrated from that Jabir said:"The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'Whoever tells lies about me deliberately, let him take his place in Hell."
One may ask who caught these issues in Hadith and the answer to that is Sahaba. Not long after the demise of Prophet S.A.W, the Tabieen started forging Ahadith. As a proof I will share one hadith for detail read the article What are Daif Sanad Ahadith.
...Ibn Abbās R.A said to Bushayr bin Ka’b:Indeed once upon a time we would listen to a man saying, ‘the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said…’ rushing towards him with our eyes and harkening towards him with our ears; then when the people took the difficult and the docile we no longer took from people except those whom we knew’. [Sahih Muslim Introduction 21]
Abd Allah [bin Mas’ūd] R.A said:‘Indeed Satan will appear in the form of a man and he will come to the people, narrating to them false Ḥadīth, and they will then depart. Then a man among them will say: ‘I heard a man whose face I recognize but I do not know his name narrating [such and such]…’ [Sahih Muslim Introduction 17]
What we do
So yesterday someone posted something on the internet which I didn't knew about I looked into it and gave the reference of that matter to this guy. Well it was about Salatul Tasbih, it was said in a Hadith that "recite Fatiha and some surah then recite the prescribed Kalima 15 times" but the person said that I am confused some people say we have to recite it 15 times before reciting Surah Fatiha and he said that I asked an Alim and he said to recite it before. I said that this is Hadith the saying of Prophet, which is more valuable to you the saying of the Prophet or that Alim? After that I didn't put pressure on him.
There is a verse in Surah Hujraat related to it.
Believers, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet, do not be too loud in speaking to him [as you may have been to one another], lest your deeds will be made devoid of all virtue without your realizing it.
Raising voice now means that if you are arguing and the other person says that Prophet SAW said this. You should leave that argument and submit your self and keep quiet unless or until you know that this Hadith is Mawdu or Daif. If you don't do it all your good deeds will be canceled out and will you know it? will there be a thunder in the sky? will a thunder fall on you? No nothing will happen you won't even know it.
We have made a one way valve that whatever comes from the five Imams don't check, why? who said that? I know they were pious and all that but Allah didn't say that I will send five Imams if you follow them you will enter Paradise did He? If the saying of your Imam, Alim, Maulvi is according to that of Prophet fine follow it if not then don't follow it. It's that simple. If your Alim says do this just ask him what's the reference of this? if he gets angry it means that he is not teaching Islam he is just selling his own product and earning money by using the name of Islam.
May Allah guide all of us to the right path.
O Allah! Enable us to see the Truth as Truth and give us the ability to follow it. And show us the falsehood as false and give us the ability to refrain from it. Ameen
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