Islaam is very
clear on the concept of God and the concept of Prophet so that there is
no confusion or ambiguity in the minds of Muslims between the two. Islaam
distinguished between a) The word of Allaah brought by the angel Jibreel
(Gabriel) as revelation, known as the Qur'aan; and b) The words of Prophet
Muhammad which are known as
the Hadeeth.
This separate identity of Allaah and His creation is very vital if you study the history of old religions and Islaam ensured that they were not mixed. How was this done?
How Was The Integrity Of The Qur’aan Insured?
The companions
on the instruction of Prophet Muhammad
,
wrote down the words of Allaah as revealed and also kept them in memory,
so as to ensure that from the time of revelation until now the word of
Allaah remains pure and untainted. However, the Prophet commanded
the companions
not to write
down the hadeeth during the early period of Islaam, and the wisdom behind
this was not to mix the hadeeth with the word of Allaah. It is very important
for Muslims to understand the differences between the hadeeth, hadeeth
Qudsi, and the Qur'aan.
There is another important aspect to hadeeth. The
actions and sayings of the Prophet
provided clarification of the meanings of Qur'aan. When inquired about
the character of Prophet Muhammad
,
his wife Aisha
replied, His
character is the Qur’aan. This indicates that Prophet
gave further explanation of the Qur'aan with what he said or did during
his lifetime. For example, the Qur'aan mentions prayer and the hadeeth
or the Sunnah shows Muslims how and when to do it. The following details
will help clarify the matter further.
Defining The Types Of Hadeeth
The meaning of Hadeeth is news, report or narration.
They are reports about the Prophet
in the following:
What he
said (qaul)
What he
did (fi’ l)
What he
approved in other people’s action (taqrir)
There are also reports about him
i.e. what he
was like (sifa)
There is agreement among most Muslim scholars,
that the contents of the sunnah are also from Allaah. However, these were
expressed by the Prophet Muhammad
in his own words or actions. They are the words and actions of a human
being transmitted by the companions and family members
,
who memorized the words or closely observed the actions of Prophet Muhammad
for the benefit of the Muslim Ummah.
Hadeeth Qudsi
Qudsi means holy or pure. There are some reports
from Prophet Muhammad where
he relates to the people starting with a statement "Allaah (said) says"
or "Allaah (did) does", but this information is not part of the Qur'aan.
These are called Hadeeth Qudsi. For example: Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari
reported, that Allaah’s messenger
related from his Rubb is that He said: "O My slaves, I have forbidden
oppression for Myself and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not
oppress one another…O My slaves, all of you are astray except for those
I have guided, so seek guidance of Me and I shall guide you. O my slaves,
all of you are hungry except for those I have fed, so seek food of Me and
I shall feed you..." [Reported by Muslim]
The Difference Between Hadeeth Qudsi and the Qur’aan
While the common factor between Hadeeth Qudsi and
the Qur'aan is that both contain words from Allaah which have been revealed
to Prophet Muhammad , the main
points of differences are:
1 . In the Qur'aan the precise wording is from
Allaah, while wording in the Hadeeth Qudsi is given by the Prophet Muhammad ;
2 . The Qur'aan has been brought to the Prophet
only by the angel Jibreel (Gabriel), while Hadeeth Qudsi may also have
been inspired otherwise, such as e.g. a dream;
3 . The Qur'aan is inimitable and unique, while the Hadeeth Qudsi is not;
4 . Qur'aan has been transmitted by numerous persons (tawaatur), whereas the Hadeeth Qudsi is often only transmitted by a few or sometimes even by one individual. There are also Hadeeth Qudsi which are graded as Saheeh (highest authenticity), or hasan (authentic), or even da’if (weakness in the transmission or text). There is no such doubt about any of the verses of the Qur'aan.
5 . Hadeeth Qudsi cannot be recited in the prayer.
The Qur'aan was recorded at the time of revelation
and the verses and chapters were arranged on the instructions of Prophet
Muhammad during his lifetime.
Every year during the month of Ramadhan the angel Jibreel came to the Prophet
and recited the Qur'aan with him, and during the year the Prophet
died, the angel Jibreel came twice and recited the Qur'aan with him. This
was not so in the case of Hadeeth.
All chapters and verses of the Qur'aan were collected
and arranged during the caliphate of Abu Bakr .
They were written on sheets and bound together as a book during the caliphate
of Uthman
in the same order
as shown by the Prophet Mohammad
himself. Additional copies of the Qur'aan were made during this occasion
and sent to several Islaamic cities. However, the compilation of hadeeth
did not start until very much later and by that time, the Qur'aan was already
available in the final form of a bound book.
The science of collecting, analyzing, compiling,
grading and reporting of hadeeths became a special field of studies after
the period of companions .
The leading reports are from Al-Bukhari, Muslim, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasai,
Ibn Majah, and Abu Dawood which are known as the six most authentic books
(As-Sihaahus-Sittah). The validity of a hadeeth depends solely on its agreement
with the Qur'aan and the grading of a hadeeth depends on the reliability
of the chain of narrators who reported it. In order to do this, the reporter
studied the characters and the life of every single person who were mentioned
in the chain of narrators. We notice that utmost care was exercised not
only in reporting the exact words, but also sifting through the characters
of persons who reported them. If a single person in the chain of narrators
is reported to be of doubtful character or unreliable, then the entire
hadeeth is either rejected or this fact is noted down and specifically
mentioned.
The Imams who undertook this enormous task of compiling
and reporting the hadeeths exercised great care in their lifetime effort,
because these studies laid the foundation for the guidelines in understanding
and practicing Islaam in the life of every Muslim.