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"I believe in ALLAH, in His Angels, His
Scriptures, His Prophets, the Day of Judgment, and in the fact that
every thing good or bad (in the world) is pre-destined by ALLAH the
Exalted, and in the resurrection after death."
The belief on the Hadith, sayings of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) for a
Muslim is:
The term "Hadith" (or even just Hadith sometimes) refers to a number
of historical books which contain reports of the sayings, actions and
example of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w), by which He showed His
followers how to put the teachings of the Holy Quran into practice.
Hadith just means a saying. When used as a term in the religion of
Islam, a Hadith means a report of what the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w)
said or did on a certain occasion. In English books on Islam, the word
"tradition" is also used to denote a Hadith. The word Hadith is also
applied to the books containing these reports. The six most famous
works of Hadith popularly known as "Saha-e-Sattah" are: "Bukhari",
"Muslim", "Tirimzi", "Abu Dawood", "Nisai" and "Masnad Ahmed". Each of
these is named after the person who compiled it, i.e., Bukhari,
Muslim, Tirimzi, Abu Dawood, Nisai and Ahmed bin Hambal. The word "Sahih"
in these titles refers to the fact that the compilers of these books
sifted the genuine reports about the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) from
unfounded and unreliable stories, so far as they could, and included
only those which were trust-worthy. These books compiled are being
termed in sense of authenticated ones. There were many teachings of
the Holy Quran which the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) had to illustrate
by His practice and actions (such as how to perform the Salat). His
followers learnt from and copied what He did, and then by Their
example taught the next generation how to carry out these practices.
Apart from this practical side, the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w)'s
sayings on various matters, and details of what He did on various
occasions, were also remembered by those who saw and heard Him. They
then related all these things to other people. But, unlike the Holy
Quran, these details were usually not written down. So these
traditions were passed down from one generation to the next by
practical example (as in the case of prayer) and by word of mouth.
About 150 years after the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w)'s death, some
scholars decided to try to trace all these traditions back to Him, by
following the chain of people who had passed down each report from the
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w)'s time to the then present time. From their
great research, they compiled the books of Hadith that we now have.
They investigated each and every report of a saying or action of the
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) to check whether the names of all the
persons involved in passing it down from his time were known. They
also investigated the lives and character of all these people to find
out if they could have had the opportunity of hearing and passing down
the saying from one to another, and if they were trustworthy and had
good memories. Bukhari, Muslim and Tirimzi were more strict than other
compilers in making these checks before accepting a report as being
genuine. This is why these books are regarded as the most reliable
Hadith collections, Bukhari is being ranked highest of all books for
the Muslims after the Holy Quran. The people who passed on these
reports by word of mouth before they were compiled made mistakes in
some cases. There are also some reported sayings written down in books
of Hadith which the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) may not have ever said
at all. However, the bulk of the reports, especially those contained
in Saha-e-Sattah (especially Bukhari and Muslim) are genuine. The
teachings which the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w) illustrated by His
example (such as how to perform the prayers) were copied by such a
large number of people that there cannot be any doubt at all about
their genuineness. Similarly, many of the sayings were memorized and
passed down by a number of Companions (r.a) in each case, not by just
one, and became well-known among the Muslims from the beginning. These
books contains especially the part relating to the observance of
religion and to practical life. It must always be remembered, however,
that Hadith is meant to be a further explanation of the teachings of
the Holy Quran. It is the duty of every Muslim that any report in
Hadith books which appears to go against the Holy Quran must be
examined carefully and must be enquired by specialized Scholars (Alims)
to see if it can be given a meaning not contradicting the Holy Book,
and if not, it must be rejected. For the Muslims, it is the second
source of revealed law, complementary to the Noble Quran. It is not
permissible to contradict or reject the rulings and directives
contained in those Hadiths (Ahadees) which are reliably attributed to
the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.w). The methodology applied in determining
the authenticity of these traditions utilizes a set of stringent rules
agreed upon by the scholars who specialize in this field, and involves
detailed analysis of the chain of transmitters of any given tradition.
No distinction is made between male and female narrators; judgment is
made solely on the basis of individual trustworthiness and technical
ability in relating traditions, and every narrator's history is
recorded. No tradition is accepted from a known liar, or from one
whose morals or scholarly ability were not corroborated, or from
anyone, merely on the basis of his family connection or lineage. The
compilation of the Prophetic Traditions is taken to be a sacred Trust,
the fulfillment of which overrides all other considerations. |
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