Testimony of the Holy Quran — Page 6
T E S T I MON Y OF T HE HOLY Q U R AN 6 certainty and conclusiveness. But in reality, this is a great mis - take, the first result of which is to destroy faith and religion. If it were true that with the exception of the Holy Quran all other documentary sources are a bundle of falsehood, imposture, deceit, conjectures, and imagination, then, perhaps only a little would be left of Islam; for all the details of our Faith have come down to us through the a ha d i th of the Holy Prophet s as. For example, the requirement of the formal Prayer—which we offer five times a day—is established by the Holy Quran, but nowhere does the Quran lay down that the morning Prayer comprises two oblig - atory rak‘ a t [units of Prayer] and two rak‘ a t of sunnah; D huhr [Prayer] comprises four rak‘ a t of far d and four and two rak‘ a t of sunnah; Maghrib [Prayer]comprises three rak‘ a t of far d ; and ‘Ish a ’ [Prayer] comprises four rak‘ a t. In the same way, we have to depend entirely upon a ha d i th to learn the details of zakat. Moreover, there are thousands of details relating to worship, dealings, covenants, and so on; they are so well known that writ - ing about them would be a waste of time and needless prolonga - tion. Besides, the primary and principal source of Islamic history is a ha d i th. If the reports contained in a ha d i th are not relied upon, then we should also not take it as certain that Hadrat Ab u Bakr, Hadrat ‘ Umar, Hadrat Uthm a n, and Hadrat ‘Al i , may Allah be pleased with them, were the Companions of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who became the Khulaf a ’ [successors] of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, in this order and also died in this order. If the accounts related by a ha d i th are not trusted, there would be no reason to believe with certainty in the existence of these great personalities. It might be possible to infer that all these names are