Thread by @nadeemarifnajmi

Quran only vs Qur'an and Mutawatir Sunnah vs Qur'an and Hadith: thread 🧵/1 @mahmud2008 @Abraham81891703

Please read my previous pinned thread on Quranism and also these two posts for if you haven't: and /2nadeemarif.com/why-i-am-not-a…
nadeemarif.com/hadith-and-sun…

The hadith are person-to-person reports, which people collected on their OWN initiative a long time after the Prophet. One can demonstrate endless contradictions, political and religious interpolations and falsehood within them. Ilm ul riwaya is flawed and subjective./3

Above all it is deeply problematic to claim that the Messenger (as) would give important knowledge from Allah to a person here and there in a casual sitting , not sharing it with the whole ummah and ensuring the deen reaches them completely, as he was entrusted to do (Q5:67)/4

At most Hadith and books of seerah can give us useful knowledge about the Prophet (saw), and his blessed example, provided it does not contradict the Qur'an and Sunnah Mutawatirah. Some early Hanafi and Maliki scholars also held this view./5

What about the Qur'an? The Qur'an is attested in written form from the first century, with some extracts (eg) Birmingham manuscript) likely from the Prophetic era itself. However, there are some gaps in the manuscripts and some minor variations, such as noted in the Sanaa text/6

We can certainly argue the Qur'an is well preserved using manuscripts, but we cannot demonstrate that it definitely originated with the Prophet, or that there are not any additions or missing verses./7

This is not a problem. I agree with Javed Ghamidi, that the oral generation to generation transmission is unassailable. Just as today, we could reconstruct the whole Qur'an from memory and oral transmission, so to did mass transmission ensure the Qur'an's authenticity./8

So what about variant readings? These are all akhbaar ul ahaad i.e. like hadith, from a few people in each generation. They are not the Qur'an, rather the Qiraat ul aamah i.e. hafs, is the original and only mass transmitted Qur'an./9

The warsh reading has found wide acceptance in North Africa, but this too originates from ahaad not mutawatir transmission. There are various historical reasons for this, but the absence of this reading from mass recital elsewhere demonstrates its later transmission./10

Ultimately, the Qur'an's historicity and reliability depends on the fact that we cannot believe that given the rapid spread of Islam and division into rival groups soon after, they would all converge on the same Qur'an if it didn't originate from Muhammad (as)./11

In addition, we cannot demonstrate where Makka or Bakka is, where the Muqam e Ibrahim or Arafat is, what the full rituals of Hajj are and the 'known months' are, what the prescribed timings of Salah and decreed form is from the Quran only/12

We must also accept the mass transmitted timings and forms, geographical and historical information which the original Muslims had as background knowledge, and the Qur'an didnt spell out because Allah willed that information would continue to be known by mass transmission/13

Is it true that Allah didn't give us details of Salah because he didn't prescribe a form? Is that why wudhu is detailed but not Salah? In fact the form of wudhu was re-clarified as a prelude to giving the rukhsah of tayammum, not because it was unknown. /14

In fact the Qur'an stresses there is a divinely commanded form of prayer, that must be performed, that is already known by Muslims (2:239). In the same ways the months of Hajj are well known (2:197). /15

The manasik of Hajj and other rituals were given by Allah to Ibraheem as (2:128), and were known to all at the revelation of the Qur'an, as they are today. So the Quran only clarified some matters, didn't iniatiate these practices and so full details were not required/16

The Qur'an stressed continuation of the millat of Ibrahim taking salah from muqam e ibrahim as, and indicated a default assumption of continuing with the Sunnahs of previous peoples i.e. Jews and Christians with the Prophet purifying them from distortions (22:78, 4:26, 2:151)/17

So the Mass transmitted Sunnah is the revived Millat of Ibrahim, purified of innovations and shirk and taught like the Qur'an by Muhammad (saw) to the whole community, and which the whole community carried on despite spreading across the globe, fighting wars, and splitting up/18

There are two aspects to this Sunnah, the first is the details of the existing practices which the Qur'an directly mandated Muslims to follow. Hajj, Zakah, Salah, Sawm. We must follow the mass transmitted Sunnah here to follow the Qur'an as explained above./19

The agreed Sunnah regarding salah: takbir at start, surah fatiha and quran in qiyam, tasbih in ruku, sujud, 2 sajdahs per rakah, also the units of each salah. Beyond this other actions are optional i.e. binding or leaving hands. These differences are minor and we can choose/20

Second category are actions like removing pubic hair, circumcision, ghusl janazah etc . Most are part of millat ibrahim and are observed by Jews, we should continue these but I acknowledge some might see these are optional not fardh given they are not in the Quran/21

Third category are things that relate to the Ummah, such as Eidayn or Jummah, leaving these might fall under not holding onto the rope of Allah, and be considered sinful, espcially as the Quran commands obedience to the Messenger in addition to obeying Allah./21

You can find details of mass transmitted Sunnah and more questions and answers by reading articles by Farhad Shafti on exploring islam, and see list of Sunan by Javed Ghamidi online./END

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