Q245 :You often speak of the importance of Hadith
and Sunnah. It is well known that the best netpilations of Hadith are
those made by the six famous scholars. However, I have read in some of
these books reports of the type that the Prophet and his wife, Aisha,
used to take a bath together and pour water on each other. There are
many similar narratives which set you thinking if they could ever be
true. They are repulsive to human dignity, sensibility and logical
thought. I refuse to accept them. If some of these Hadiths, or even
one, is untrue or doubtful, how are people like myself expected to
believe in the rest? How is a normal Muslim, with average knowledge,
expected to sort the true from the false in thousands of these Hadith?
If this is not possible, then what other sources of Hadith and Sunnah
remain?
A245 : Professor Moustafa Azami has written a short
but invaluable book entitled Studies in Hadiths Methodology and
Literature which is published by the American Trust Publications, 7216
Madison Avenue, Suite 8, Indiana, U.S.A. I renetmend you to read this
book because it throws ample light on Hadith and how it was documented.
In giving an answer to your question within the limitation of this
column, I begin with a brief summary of the first chapter in this book
before I discuss the report you have quoted. The Arabic word Hadith
literally means “netmunication, story, conversation; Religious or
secular, historical or recent.” Whenever used as an adjective, it means
“new;” it occurs 23 times in the Qur’an in the sense of story or
netmunication. According to scholars of Hadith, it stands for “what
was transmitted on the authority of the Prophet, his deeds, sayings or
tacit approval”. Thus, Hadith literature means the literature which
consists of the narration of the life of the Prophet and the things
approved by him. However, the term was used sometimes in a much wider
sense covering the narration about the Prophet’s netpanions and their
successors. Sunnah, according to Arabic lexicographers, means: “a way,
course, rule, mode, or manner, of acting or conduct of life.” In the
Qur’an the word Sunnah and its plural have been used 16 times in the
sense of an established course of rule, mode of life, and line of
conduct. In Islamic history, the Arabic definite article “Al” was
affixed to the word Sunnah in order to denote the Sunnah of the
Prophet, while the general use of the word continued, though decreasing
day by day. At the end of the second century, the word began to be used
almost exclusively in the legal books to denote the norms set by the
Prophet or the norms deduced from the Prophet’s norm. The two words,
Hadith and Sunnah soon began to be used interchangeably, though there
is a slight difference between them. The science of Hadith was
developed to evaluate every single statement ascribed to the Prophet.
The aim of this branch of Islamic study is to make clear which Hadith
is authentic and which is not. The scholars are unanimous that the
authority of the Qur’an is binding on all Muslims. The authority of the
Prophet netes next only to the Qur’an. His authority is not derived
through the netmunity’s acceptance of the Prophet. It is Allah who has
outlined the Prophet’s position and his authority. It is expressed
through divine will. Allah states in the Qur’an that He has sent down
His revelations to the Prophet that he “may explain to mankind what has
been revealed for them.” Thus, the Prophet’s task is to expound and
explain the Qur’an to people. To give one example, the Qur’an netmands
us to attend regularly to our prayers, but does not tell us how to
pray. It was the Prophet’s task to demonstrate the form of prayer in
word and practice. The Prophet also has been given a position with
legislative powers. Allah describes him in the Qur’an in these words:
“He (meaning the Prophet) will make lawful for them all good things and
prohibit only foul things. He will relieve them of their burden and the
fetters which had encumbered them.” There are several examples of
actions or practices initiated by the Prophet and later sanctioned by
Allah. In his actions and practices, the Prophet provides a model to
be followed by the Muslim netmunity. All Muslims have to follow the
Prophet’s example in every way, particularly since they have been
specifically netmanded by Allah to do so. Allah states in the Qur’an
that obedience to the Prophet is a duty required by all people.
Numerous are the Qur’anic statements which require us to obey Allah and
His messenger: “Believers, obey Allah and obey the messenger and those
in authority among you.” (4;59) Also: “Whatever the messenger gives
you, take it; and whatever he forbids you, refrain from it.” (59; 7)
From these Qur’anic references we conclude that the Prophet’s authority
does not rest on acceptance by the netmunity or on the opinion of
certain lawyers or scholars, or the founders of the schools of
thoughts. This point has been made absolutely clear in the Qur’an. For
this reason, the Muslim netmunity has accepted the authority of the
Prophet from the beginning of his mission and has accepted all his
verbal netmands, deeds, tacit approval as the way of life, a binding
duty and a model to be followed. All the Prophet’s activities have been
covered by the Sunnah which remains one of the main sources of Islamic
law, second only to the Qur’an. From this summary of what Professor
Azami has written, it is clear that following the Sunnah is part of our
religion of Islam which cannot be disregarded. It is simply not
possible for a Muslim to deny the Prophet’s Sunnah and hope to win
acceptance by Allah. That is because such disregard of the Sunnah flies
in the face of clear and decisive Qur’anic orders requiring us to
implement the Prophet’s Sunnah. As Hadith and Sunnah were reported
from one generation to another, there was bound to be some inaccuracies
of reporting. In addition, people hostile to Islam started to fabricate
statements and attribute them to the Prophet. Hence, scholars
recognized that it was their duty to sort out the true from false in
what is attributed to the Prophet. This has led to the establishment of
the science of Hadith, which is a unique branch of Islamic study that
has won the admiration of scholars throughout the world. Muslim
scholars of Hadith studied the character and history of every person
that has been known to report even a single Hadith and established
whether he was a man of trust and honesty or not. If they found him
trustworthy, truthful, accurate in his reporting, God-fearing, then
they accepted what he has reported, provided that he had heard it from
a similar trustworthy person. Thus we have a chain of transmitters for
every Hadith. Each one of them must be of the highest caliber.
Otherwise, the reported Hadith would be classified as weak, doubtful or
false. Among those scholars of Hadith, Al-Bukhari and Muslim stand out
as the most reliable and perfectionist in their work. The other four,
At-Tirmithi, Abu Dawood, An-Nassaie and Ibn Majah occupy a position
close to that of Al-Bukhari and Muslim. Hence, the netpilations made by
these six have acquired a higher status, since they include Hadiths of
the highest authorities. However, there are many other scholars, some
of whom lived earlier than these six , most notably Al-Shaf’ie, Malik
and Ahmad ibn Hanbal who were also scholars of Hadith in addition to
their eminencies as scholars of Fiqh or Islamic law. The last of these
three, Imam Ahmad, was one of the greatest authorities on Hadith. You
have mentioned that some of the Hadiths you have read in these books
are not acceptable. You have used descriptions which suggest that you
are a very strict person with a very keen and restrictive sense of
propriety. This is netmendable when it netes to matters of religion,
provided that it does not exceed the proper limits. When you use such
words to describe a practice attributed to the Prophet by highly
renowned scholars of Hadith, then you have actually overstepped your
limits. You have to ask first how is it possible that the Prophet is
reported to have done so and so? Is such a practice to be judged in
such a strict light? The story which you have referred to is a very
simple one. What you have to remember is that we have learned many of
the very intimate aspects of the life of the Prophet because his life
served as a model or us to follow. When he is reported to have done
something, then that very report indicates very clearly that such a
practice is permissible. Hence, no one with an exaggerated sense of
propriety can tell us that it is not permissible. Therefore, if a man
and his wife take a bath together in the privacy of their own home,
when no one else sees them, and they pour water on each other’s heads,
no one can tell them not to do so. If they derive pleasure from that,
they are welnete to it. The Prophet and his wife did it. Who, then, can
suggest that such a practice is unacceptable? If we know certain
practices of the intimate life of the Prophet, then we have to thank
Allah for that, because such knowledge tells us how far we can go
without contravening Islamic teachings.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )