Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 283
283 community. The Rank of the Sunnah and Hadith in Comparison to the Holy Quran Due to their opposition against me, these people have even forsaken the Holy Quran. I present the Holy Quran and in return, they present the Hadith. It ought to be remembered that the Hadith do not possess the same status as the Holy Quran. We cannot give the Hadith the same rank as the Word of Allah. In fact, the Hadith are third in line and it is a generally accepted fact that they are benefi- cial, but only to a degree of conjecture. 1 ُـغْنِيْ مِنَ الْحَقِّ شَيْـًٔـا ی اِنَّ الظَّنَّ لَا Surely, conjecture avails nothing against truth. There are three sources in the context of this discussion: the Quran, Sunnah and Hadith. The Quran is the holy revelation of God Almighty which was sent down to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and the Sunnah is the exemplary model of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, which he demonstrated and established in accordance with that divine revelation. Conveying the Quran and Sunnah were the two tasks assigned to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. It is for this reason that even before the Hadith were compiled, the sacred rites of Islam were acted upon without fail. The misconception now is that people turn the Hadith and Sunnah into one and the same, even though these two things are not the same. Hence, until the Hadith are judged against the standards of the Quran and Sunnah, we cannot place them at any level of authenticity. However, it is my belief that one must act upon even such Hadith as are of the lowest rank, irrespective of how weak and inauthentic they may be in terms of principles of Hadith, provided that they are not in contradiction with the Quran or Sunnah. However, our opponents assert otherwise and state that a narration which is established as being authentic in light of the principles of critique formed by the scholars of Hadith should be accepted irrespective of how contrary the narration may be to the Quran and Sunnah. Now the wise ought to reflect, and reflect they should with fear of God in their hearts, as to whose side the truth is on—their side or mine? I give precedence to the Word of God and the action of His Holy 1 an-Najm , 53:29 p. 258