Sunnat

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

I have come across سنت الله (Allah's Way) [Verse 33:38], and not سنت الرسول (the Prophet's way), in the Qur'aan.

But our religious leaders (those who call themselves Sunnis) insist on associating the Sunnat with the Qur'aan. By Sunnat, they mean سنت الرسول. They say that Islam is incomplete otherwise.

Is it so? Then why is this so important a thing not mentioned in the Qur'aan? The Qur'aan reiterates that it explains every necessary thing in detail (Verses 17:12, 16:89, 6:55, 41:3, 11:1, 17:89, ...).

Are the religious leaders then guilty of contradicting the divine Qur'aan?

 They cannot take shelter of the Qur'aanic direction و اطيع الرسول; for, that direction was for obeying the Messenger while he was living on this earth. Kindly see the blog post Obeying the Messenger in this context. 

 

Mohammad Shafi 

Friday, the 4th of June 2021.

 

O Muslims - 42

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

27. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo la takhoonoo Allaha waalrrasoola watakhoonoo amanatikum waantum taAAlamoona

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8:27. O you who believe! Betray not Allah and the Messenger, nor betray your trusts, knowingly.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 27^th of November 2020.

O Muslims - 41

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

24. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo istajeeboo lillahi walilrrasooli itha daAAakum lima yuhyeekum waiAAlamoo anna Allaha yahoolu bayna almar-i waqalbihi waannahu ilayhi tuhsharoona

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8:24. O you who believe! Respond to Allah and His Messenger when he calls you to that for which Allah gives you life.¹⁵ And know that Allah intervenes between man and his mind¹⁶ and that to Him you shall be gathered.

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15. The Islamic outlook is that human life on earth is not the be-all and end-all of existence. This is only a testing ground for a better and higher life. Allah and His Messenger call us to the code of conduct in this life necessary for passing the test. And that code of conduct is laid down in the Qur’aan.

16. In other words, Allah Almighty tells us that He knows all the secrets of our minds.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 20^th of November 2020.

O Muslims - 24

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extracted from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

136. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo aminoo biAllahi warasoolihi waalkitabi allathee nazzala AAala rasoolihi waalkitabi allathee anzala min qablu waman yakfur biAllahi wamala-ikatihi wakutubihi warusulihi waalyawmi al-akhiri faqad dalla dalalan baAAeedan

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4:136. O you who believe! Believe in Allah, His Messenger, the Book He has sent down to His Messenger, and the Book He had previously sent down. He, who denies Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Hereafter, has indeed gone far astray.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 24^th of July 2020.

O Muslims - 21

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Adapted from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

59. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo ateeAAoo Allaha waateeAAoo alrrasoola waolee al-amri minkum fa-in tanazaAAtum fee shay-in faruddoohu ila Allahi waalrrasooli in kuntum tu/minoona biAllahi waalyawmi al-akhiri thalika khayrun waahsanu ta/weelan

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4:59. O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority from amongst you. Then if you believe in Allah and the Hereafter and quarrel on anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger. That is better, and it is the best solution.⁴¹

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41. This Verse gives the basic principle of jurisprudence in Islam. Since the Messenger is no longer living amidst mankind now, the only source for reference is Allah Himself. And the Qur'aan is His Book of Guidance especially given to mankind for the purpose. The Qur'aan therefore ought to be the final reference on any dispute. Allah assures us here that this final source for reference would provide the best solution. We have but to trust Him. About the directive to obey the Messenger, please see the blog post Obeying the Messenger, for further information.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 3^rd of July 2020.

Obeying the Messenger

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

31. Qul in kuntum tuhibboona Allaha faittabiAAoonee yuhbibkumu Allahu wayaghfir lakum thunoobakum waAllahu ghafoorun raheemun

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3:31. Say, "If you do love Allah, obey me. Allah will then love you and forgive you your sins.^{35 to 37} And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."

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35. Allah loving us and forgiving our sins is apparently made conditional to our obeying His Messenger (peace upon him). At the time when the Messenger was living among mankind here in this world, this divine directive obviously meant that all directions of the Messenger, whether in matters of religion or of administration, were to be obeyed scrupulously. But what should the position be now when the Messenger is no longer living among mankind? Many Muslims believe that obeying the Messenger means following his Sunnah as described in authentic ahaadeeth. But who decides whether any hadeeth is authentic or not?

36. Allah has guaranteed the protection of the Qur'aan (Verse 15:9). There is, however, no such divine protection guaranteed for the ahaadeeth. And the ahaadeeth were floating from mouth to mouth for generations till some of them were recorded in writing, for the first time, at least 150 years after the death the Prophet (peace be upon him). There is likelihood, therefore, of the ahaadeeth having been contaminated and interpolated with the personal opinions and words of the narrators. The Allah-perfected Religion of Islam could not therefore be based on such an unreliable source. It is based solely on the Qur'aan now. This does not mean that the ahaadeeth are to be completely discarded. They are invaluable in the sense that they give us the historical perspective of the era in which our Prophet lived. But any hadeeth, that is basically contradictory to the teachings of the Qur'aan, must be rejected outright. The Qur'aan is, and ought to be, the criterion.

37. Obeying the Messenger ought now, therefore, to mean following the Qur'aan.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 25^th of October 2019.

Believers Defined

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES -A Modern Tafsir PART II:

15. Innama almu/minoona allatheena amanoo biAllahi warasoolihi thumma lam yartaboo wajahadoo bi-amwalihim waanfusihim fee sabeeli Allahi ola-ika humu alssadiqoona

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49:15. The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger. Then they doubt not and struggle hard with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah. Those are they who are the true believers.²

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2. The believers defined!

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 21^st of September 2018.

Obey the Messenger!

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Pasted below is an extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

132. WaateeAAoo Allaha waalrrasoola laAAallakum turhamoona

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132. And obey Allah and the Messenger so that Mercy is bestowed upon you.^{144 to 146}

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144. This Qur'aanic directive to obey the Messenger is grossly misunderstood. The Messenger is no longer living in this world, and there is no question of his issuing any directives now in person, which could be obeyed. The directives he had issued, while he was living, under Allah's guidance, are most authentically incorporated in the Qur'aan. So when the believers obey the directives in the Qur'aan, they in effect obey both Allah and His Messenger. But a majority of the Muslims now say that obeying the Qur'aanic directives alone wouldn't be akin to obeying the Messenger. He (the Messenger), they insist, had issued some detailed instructions for practical implementation of the divine directives in the Qur'aan. These practical instructions, they say, are contained in the ahaadeeth. According to these Muslims, then, the divinely approved Religion of Islam is not complete and perfect without the ahaadeeth!

145. The majority contention of the present-day Muslims as above, clearly contradicts many Qur'aanic statements like those quoted below:

·         "...We have missed nothing in the Book..." [Verse 6.38]

·         "...It is not a concocted hadeeth but a confirmation of what preceded it and a detailed explanation of everything and a guide and a mercy for the people who believe." [Verse 12.111]

The Muslim contention in fact betrays their lack of belief in the Qur'aan.

146. It is an accepted fact that the ahaadeeth contain many contradictions. And in the light of the divine criterion laid down in Verse 4.82, such writings cannot be from Allah. So by treating these non-divine writings at par with the divine Verses of the Qur'aan, the Muslims are committing the unpardonable sin of shirk. Nay, they are committing a sin worse than shirk. They are rejecting the divine Verses which say that everything is explained in the Qur'aan, and they seek the explanation instead in the error-prone, man-influenced ahaadeeth. They, in effect, believe in men narrating the ahaadeeth to the recorders, hundreds of years after the death of the Prophet. But they do not believe in Allah!! May the GhafoorurRaheem make them realise, before it becomes too late, that they are, by doing so, inexorably hurtling themselves into a painful doom.

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Guide us to the Right Path, Allah!

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 25^th November, 2016.