Testimony of the Holy Quran — Page 6
6 TESTIMONY OF THE HOLY QURAN 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 ahādīth of the Holy Prophetsas. 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'at [units of Prayer] and two rakāt of sunnah; Dhuhr [Prayer] comprises four rakāt of fard and four and two rakāt of sunnah; Maghrib [Prayer]comprises three rakʻāt of fard; and Ishā' [Prayer] comprises four rakāt. In the same way, we have to depend entirely upon ahādīth 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 ahādīth. If the reports contained in ahādīth are not relied upon, then we should also not take it as certain that Hadrat Abu Bakr, Hadrat 'Umar, Hadrat Uthman, and Hadrat 'Alī, may Allah be pleased with them, were the Companions of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, who became the Khulafā' [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 ahādīth 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