Our Teaching — Page 23
23 Quran the greatest favour that has been bestowed on the Muslims is the Sunnah. The obligations of God and His Messenger were primarily two. Firstly, God revealed the Quran and through the agency of His Word informed His creation of His will. This was the obligation of God’s law. Then, the obligation of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was to prac- tically demonstrate the Word of God and thus clearly expound it to the people. In this way he provided a practical demonstration of this Word and through his Sunnah i. e. his way of practice, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, resolved matters of intricacy and difficulty. It would be wrong to suggest that such issues were resolved by the Hadith, for Islam had already been established on earth before the Hadith had come into existence… Prior to the compilation of Hadith, did the peo- ple not observe Prayers, or, for that matter, pay the Zakat , per- form the Hajj, or possess knowledge of that which was lawful and forbidden? 3. Supportive Position of Hadith Of course, it is true to say that the third means of guidance are the Hadith, for many matters relating to Islamic history, moral- ity, and jurisprudence are elaborated on by the Hadith. Moreover, the greatest benefit of the Hadith is that they serve the Quran and Sunnah. Those who fail to properly honour the Quran proclaim that the Hadith are an authority over the Quran, just as the Jews claimed in relation to their own traditions. But I declare that the Hadith serve the Holy Quran and the