Testimony of the Holy Quran — Page 12
T E S T I MON Y OF T HE HOLY Q U R AN 12 become so common among millions of people that had there been no trace or mention of the compilers of a ha d i th, even then no harm would have come to it. Everyone has to admit that the Holy Teacher and Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had not so confined his teaching as to train only a few people in it and to leave all others unaware of it. Had that been so, Islam would have been so cor - rupted that it could not have been reformed through the efforts of any mu h addith etc. Granted that the Imams of Hadith com - piled thousands of a ha d i th relating to religious instruction, but the question is, what hadith is there that was not already being acted upon, and of which the world was wholly unaware, prior to their having written it down. If there is any teaching, or event, or doctrine, the foundation of which has been laid only by the Imams of Hadith on the basis of some report, and no sign of it is discoverable from continuous practice—of which millions of people are convinced—nor is it mentioned in the Holy Quran, then, without doubt, such a solitary report that became known a century or a century-and-a-half later, would be far removed from a level of certainty, and would deserve whatever condemnation might be directed at it. However, in reality, such a ha d i th have no great connection to the religion or history of Islam. If you study carefully, you will find that the Imams of Hadith have very sel - dom mentioned those a ha d i th for which no trace or mention is found in continuous practice. It is, therefore, absolutely wrong, as some ignorant ones imagine, that the world has learnt of hun - dreds of matters relating to the religion, even fasting and prayer services, only from the a ha d i th compiled by Imam Bukh a r i and Muslim and others. Were the Muslims without faith for a century