Fawariq: The Distinctive Character of Tradition

Among the distinctions that have been lost by the muslims is that between Qur'an¹ and hadith.² Not that the muslims have become ignorant of the fact that they are different -- although in jurisprudence this is realistically the case -- but that they have become ignorant of the true nature of that difference -- which we will endeavor to convey here, insha'ALLAH.³

It should be noted, however, that the importance of hadith is as great as the importance of the Qur'an -- in the context of appropriate cognizance of the difference -- and that throughout the Qur'an and hadith we find reference after reference to the unbelief of separating or making division between ALLAH⁴ (viz. His word, the Qur'an) and His messengers 'alaihim as-salaam⁵ (viz. their tracings, hadith). Thus it is not surprising to find the muslims pursuing the Talmudic error⁶ of applying tradition to set the law as naught -- i.e., asserting the primacy of hadith as law over the inviolable and eternal mandates of the Qur'an, by forsaking the latter at the apparent behest of the former.

Examples of this are to be found in every school of jurisprudence, if not incipiently than through the later interpolation of succeeding generations of interpreters; but no example comes to mind that is more dramatic in its intrinsic error and profound ramification than that of the castigation for extra martial coitus. This is set forth clearly in the Qur'an as an absolute, obligatory decree of 100 lashes; but is instead held by custom to be stoning, on the alleged basis of a report that is not even ascribed to Rasulullah⁷ sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam⁸ but to 'Umar⁹ radi ALLAHU 'anhu.¹⁰ The assertion that the relevant Ayats¹¹ of the Qur'an¹² have been "abrogated," on the basis of this report, is clearly the old Talmudic error -- but serves to show the extraordinary esteem in which hadith are held: quite properly, if in the context of appropriate cognizance of the difference between them.

As to that difference, it is of course well-known that the Qur'an is the word of ALLAH ta'ala,¹³ unchanging and timeless, free of danger of being altered by addition, transposition or subtraction; while the hadith are the reports -- of admittedly varying authenticity -- of the sayings and doings of Rasulullah sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam and (to a lesser degree) the previous prophets 'alaihim as-salaam and his companions radi ALLAHU 'anhum. Moreover the Qur'an consists of 114 Suras,¹⁴ a concise, unvarying volume; while hadith are to be found in nine (at the least) highly venerated compendiums,¹⁵ dozens more not-so-highly venerated large collections, and literally thousands of more minor collections held authentic or spurious depending on the view of the commentator; all rife with varying accounts of the same events, duplications, contradictions and deliberate forgeries. That these more obvious differences are glossed over by jurisprudence, so that the two are effectively equated as sources of Law despite the difficulties of the latter, is but another sign of the awareness of the muslims of the profound importance of hadith vis-a-vis Qur'an; but to recover the true distinction we must strive for greater depth of understanding.

The Tie of Law and Tradition

No Muslim would argue with the observation that He Who is ar-Rahman¹⁶ is identical with He Who is al-Halim;¹⁷ and yet none would contend that ar-Rahman is the same as al-Halim: here there is a distinction made by ALLAH between His Attributes, while there is no separation or difference enhancing one at the expense or detriment of the other. Indeed, the Attributes are complementary aspects of The One Reality (Al-Wahid, Al-Haqq), undifferentiated Unity (Al-Ahad) in manifold manifestation (Az-Zahir), neither subordinate nor subjunctive; coeval and coextensive but not necessarily coincident.

Similarly there are the obvious differences between the received message (the Qur'an) and the received messenger (the Hadith): and yet the two are one, inseparable and complementary. It is the nature of the distinction that we seek, an understanding of the ways in which these aspects are discrete, mutually supportive expressions of ALLAH's religion -- not a way of compartmentalizing one apart from or exclusive of the other, but the perception of both as petals of the same blossom; or hues on the same petal; or shades of the same hue; or nearer still.

Another jurisprudential approach has been to describe the Qur'an as the Law and the Hadith as Tradition -- the former being the arbiter of the latter. The lawyers have then customarily gone on to elevate the Tradition into Canon, setting it up as arbiter of the Law as we have seen; although the initial approach would reasonably forestall this later development if matters were only that simple. Again, the Qur'an has been held to be the Law as against the hadith as exemplar -- the former again being binding over a reported apparent departure from its prescription. Traditionists, however, have found in some reports a remnant of an earlier Canon -- and with typical bureaucratic aplomb have restored to canonicity the very Law abrogated and superseded by the Qur'an. Thus the -- again -- valid theory is once more, though unreasonably, abandoned in practiced by the muslims

The Law is Unchanged

It is not difficult to show that The Book -- that is, the Qur'an -- has been extant from the earliest times. The Qur'an itself describes Musa¹⁸ 'alaihi as-salaam as being in possession of both The Book¹⁹ and the Torah,²⁰ the two being named as distinct in a number of Ayats.²¹ 'Isa²² 'alaihi as-salaam as well was given The Book, the Torah, and the Gospel -- all three being specifically stated to be distinctly in his possession.²³

It is as clear that the Law revealed to and through the messengers 'alaihim as-salaam has varied but little through the various epochs, variances that had particular cause and particular validity notwithstanding the eternal nature of its prescriptions. Thus we find that for the children of Israel, life for life was prescribed in the Torah; while the Qur'an permits an alternative of compensation -- a permission not mentioned in the Torah. Again, the Torah permits certain meats, all others being forbidden; while the Qur'an forbids certain animal substances, all others being very emphatically allowed, including many prohibited for the children of Israel -- and specifically states that this identical Law had once applied to the children of Israel, except as Isra'il²⁴ 'alaihi as-salaam had forbidden for himself prior to the revelation of the Torah.²⁵ These other prohibitions were then incorporated in the Law made applicable to the Jews -- on account of their outrageous behavior.²⁶

The Gospel is stated to have relaxed some provisions of the Torah and tightened others -- an emendation of the prescriptions applicable to the children of Israel, the eternal and immutable Law being withheld from them for the time. The Law, however, has been the same from the first instance of its revelation throughout all the periods in which the record of it had been lost, discarded or altered by men,²⁷ until its final revelation to man and preservation in man's possession intact as the Arabic Qur'an; and so it exists today.

What has varied from time to time has been the new permissions brought by each succeeding prophet 'alaihi as-salaam -- that which was new or novel (etymologically the word hadith means new, novel, recent, late; modern; as well as speech, report, narrative, etc.) with the advent of that particular prophet or messenger 'alaihi as-salaam. This has sometimes involved, as we have seen, a variation in the practices of the followers of Musa, Yahya,²⁸ Jesus and Muhammad 'alaihim as-salaam, known respectively as Jews, Sabians, Christians and muslims; and has sometimes involved additional details of future prophecy concerning the messengers then yet to come.

Tradition is Also Constant

What is not so clear -- the matter having been obscured by history and the tendency of men to attempt "improvements" on that given to them for their guidance -- is that the original traditional practices of each of the four named prophets -- as well as of the myriad prophets unnamed 'alaihim as-salaam has, like the Law likewise known to them all, been virtually the same throughout time, varying only in permission to practice the various aspects of it.

Thus we find in hadith that the 'Isha Salat²⁹ is the ritual prayer added for the followers of Muhammad sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam, while the other daily four³⁰ were performed by the people of the earlier revelations. Nor has the form or manner of prayer been changed, and we find all of the prophets 'alaihim as-salaam praying in congregation and prostrating themselves along with Rasulullah sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam as Imam.³¹ The ritual ablutions were performed by 'Isa 'alaihi as-salaam; circumambulation of the Ka'aba³² by Ibrahim,³³ Isma'il³⁴ and even Adam 'alaihim as-salaam; Jumu'ah³⁵ was prescribed from time immemorial, and the fast likewise.

Clothing not unlike the muslim garb was given to Adam and Eve; circumcision originated with Adam's vow to punish the flesh by cutting it; and we find the history of humanity recorded in prophetic tradition adorned with abundant detail showing no variation in the living practices of the servants of ALLAH throughout time; in every age, in every place the sunna of ALLAH -- His custom -- has undergone no alteration.³⁶

Orderly Progression of Allah's Plan

What, then, is "new" or "novel" with the advent of each succeeding prophet 'alaihi as-salaam? To be sure there have been changes, as we have seen -- but in substance, both the Law and the Tradition have remained constant. What has varied has been minor in context with what has not -- a change in the direction faced in prayer is substantive only in a small area of the world: except as a fulfillment of earlier prophecies relating to the unfolding of ALLAH's Plan.

We might focus for a moment on this singular change, this departure from the Mosaic practice announced in the Qur'an. In the context of Madinah al-Munawwarah³⁷ of the time, such a change in practice would register in each involved group with a different impact and -- as we shall see, briefly -- would sharply divide the people into those who accepted the prophetic mission of Muhammad sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam and those who denied.

From at least the time of Sulaiman³⁸ 'alaihi as-salaam, Jerusalem had been known as the City of God -- the Holy City -- the City of Peace, the Sanctuary. For it was at Jerusalem that the Temple was built, on the site now occupied by the Mosque of 'Umar (and the Dome of the Rock -- the "Restored Temple" of the Bible), and in which was maintained the Holy of Holies described in the Levitical rite. While encamped, the Children of Israel had faced the Holy of Holies -- located in the center of the encampment described in Numbers 2:1-34 -- in prayer. Emerging from their tents, they would turn in the direction of the Holy of Holies, nodding their homage to their Creator. Once established in the land, during the reign of Dawud³⁹ and Sulaiman 'alaihuma as-salaam, the Holy of Holies was within the Temple -- and the observance of the faithful followed the same pattern. Throughout the Kingdom of David, wherever there were those true to Moses, the Holy of Holies located in Jerusalem was faced in prayer and remembered whenever the faithful emerged from roofed enclosures.

'Isa 'alaihi as-salaam observed the identical practices in this regard, and so did Muhammad sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam and the early muslims radi ALLAHU anhum -- and it was this observance of the Mosaic Tradition that led the Jews of Madinah al-Munawwarah to tentatively accept the muslims as proselyte Jews or converts, the "mad pretensions" of their leader notwithstanding.

But it was well known to the Jews and the rabbis that the prophet expected by them -- who they yet today call Messiah -- the Messenger of the eternal Covenant that was to set aside the Torah and make religion supreme; it was known to them that he would announce a "new Jerusalem" -- a new Holy City -- to which the faithful would then turn in prayer, henceforth to be "the camp of the saints" forever. Moreover, this change was to herald the advent of a new epoch in human experience -- as each of six preceding prophets had heralded the change of season for those gone before.

Adam 'alaihi as-salaam had emerged from the Garden to announce the beginning of human existence in this vale of tears and the eventual return to the Garden of the faithful; Nuh⁴⁰ 'alaihi as-salaam and his followers, alone in a world devoid of deniers, witnessed the first rainbow and announced a final Day of Conviction.

Ibrahim 'alaihi as-salaam gathered the faithful from among the tribes of the earth and received and announced the promise of progeny through whom all men might know ALLAH; Musa 'alaihi as-salaam led the Children of Israel through the parted waters of the Red Sea out of bondage and announced the establishment of God's Kingdom. Sulaiman 'alaihi as-salaam witnessed the dominion of ALLAH ta'ala over the very tribes of Shaitan⁴¹ a'oodhu billah,⁴² knowing and announcing the agony of those to follow in their abandonment of ALLAH's Promise; and 'Isa 'alaihi as-salaam announced the passing of the Kingdom from the faithless tribes and its imminent return at the hand of the Messenger of Promise.⁴³

But the men of Zion defected in the time of the prophet Sulaiman 'alaihi as-salaam, denying his announcement: and in league with the Devil a'oodhu billah had not accepted 'Isa 'alaihi as-salaam as Messiah or even as a Jew; and in fact had so corrupted their Law with the tools of false tradition that the truth was all but buried under the sheer weight of Talmudic scholasticism -- much as the realities of Islam are today obscured by the wranglings of the lawyers and the learned. How, then, could they admit the arrival of the seventh age of man if they denied the passing of the fourth?

If these desert Arabs converted to be Jews and followed their lead in restoring the Temple of Solomon, so much the better -- but this nonsensical prattle about a non-Jewish prophet was simply a fable from the past, with no application to the realities of the modern day. A "new Jerusalem" was to them simply the return of the heads of Zion, as the practice of facing the Holy of Holies is still carried on today, shown in the farewell that is exchanged even today among the Jews: "Next year in Jerusalem!"

But they had not -- in their design -- reckoned on the Plan of ALLAH; and the change of the direction faced in prayer from Jerusalem to Makkah al-Mukarramah -- yet another clear sign they knew from the prophecies they studied and carefully concealed -- was not a matter they could accept, since to do so would be to admit that Muhammad sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam was the Messenger of Promise they so indelibly found (and find even today) in their inadequately altered Books.

Whether these facts were known to the early muslims -- they need not have been -- is, in reality, of no particular consequence. What is to be noted is that this seemingly minor change in applied practice, together with the revelation and preservation of the eternal, immutable Qur'an, had the consummate effect on the faithful of awakening them to the realities of their religion -- that they had in fact entered that time described to them by the prophet sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam and set forth for them in the Qur'an in terms recognizable to them all.

In short, the "new" thing brought by the prophet sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam was neither the Law which had not been changed, nor the Tradition which had not been changed, but was rather the announcement of a change in permissions toward a new condition of the human kind -- as indeed, had been previously announced by each of six earlier messengers 'alaihim as-salaam and related by every prophet of ALLAH since Adam 'alaihi as-salaam. And this not simply by the spoken word, but by teaching the ritual practices and customs that existed from time immemorial through which each individual among the faithful could directly perceive and know the nature of his condition before ALLAH in terms enabling him to apply the Law to the conduct of his own affairs.

The Role of Hadith and Tradition

This, then, is the function of Hadith, to preserve that knowlege whereby each person might arise to awareness of his state -- as the Qur'an is the Law, or Shari'ah,⁴⁴ the Hadith bears the clear method, or minhaj,⁴⁵ whereby each person may see plainly how to apply the Law to himself and realize in his own life the fruits of that application.

Neither is the Hadith the Shari'ah, nor is it separate from it; but in the manner we have shown, the two are mutually supportive, complementary operatives of the same Conviction that has been man's ultimate heritage from the moment he entered creation. The immutable message is the Law; the Hadith of the messenger, the measure of man's readiness to live by it before the Face of his Lord. A single example will suffice,

     From Salman.⁴⁶ He said "I asked Rasulullah sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam of the forty hadith of which he said 'Who has kept it of my ummah⁴⁷ has entered the Garden.' I said 'And what are they, O Messenger of ALLAH?' He said,
     'That you keep faith with ALLAH and the Last Day and the Angels and the Books and the Prophets and the awakening after death and that the measure, its good and its evil, is from ALLAH ta'ala;⁴⁸
     'And that you bear witness that there is no diety except ALLAH and that Muhammad is the messenger of ALLAH, and perform the prayer with a complete ablution in its prescribed time, and bring the dues⁴⁹ and fast Ramadan⁵⁰ and make pilgrimage to the House⁵¹ if you have means;
     'And pray twelve bowings⁵² in every day and night and the witr⁵³ -- don't neglect it -- in every night; and do not make a partner with ALLAH of anything;
     'And do not disrespect your parents and do not eat the wealth of orphans unfairly and don't drink wine, and don't copulate unlawfully, and don't swear by ALLAH falsely and do not bear witness to false testimony;
     'And do not act according to whim, and don't scold your brother muslim; and do not slander an inaccessible woman and don't fetter your brother muslim; and don't play;⁵⁴
     'And do not be heedless with respect to those near, and do not say to an incapable person 'O Failure' seeking by that his chagrin; and do not make fun of anyone among mankind;
     'And do not spread slander between two brothers and be grateful to ALLAH ta'ala for His Favor; and be patient in trial and tribulation and do not feel safe from ALLAH's punishment; and don't disrupt your relations but establish them; and do not curse anyone of ALLAH's creation;
     'And be constant in praise,⁵⁵ magnification,⁵⁶ and acclamation⁵⁷ and don't omit attendance at the Friday Gathering and the two festivals;
     'And know that what befalls you could not miss you and what misses you could not reach you;
     'And don't omit reading the Qur'an under any circumstance.'

This Hadith contains the elements of faith and practice which, applied, bring the faithful to awareness of the state of human affairs as seen in the Light of Religion. It does not set forth Law, but rather describes the keys to understanding the Law: by applying those keys the believer is enabled to "follow the best of it" in the process of "ordering affairs by what is certain." It is a sort of proximate distillation of Law, a mixture of moral and method appropriate to daily living -- tradition, exemplar, canon or custom are not accurate descriptions of this; and although it is easy to hear similar echoes throughout the various earlier prophetic traditions, it is just as easy to see that this "forty hadith" is unique to and new with the messenger of ALLAH Muhammad sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam: "hadith" in the truest sense of the word.

But the relation is so integral to religion -- the tie between Message and Messenger -- that we can reach right into the trace of a previous messenger 'alaihi as-salaam for a concise admonition:

"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you stand at the head of humanity and shut up the Kingdom of God: neither do you enter it yourselves, nor do you permit to enter those who seek it in truth!"

and again,

"Woe unto you, lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge: you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in, you hindered!"

Other examples doubtless are available as well; but we have before us countless examples of those who stand at the threshhold of the Kingdom of God (to use the obvious phrase) and yet refuse to enter. The key of knowledge is application -- and the hadith detail, disclose and demand persistent, punctilious practice that applied is the key to knowing the Law of that Kingdom.

The Law is Total in Its Scope and Application

The drinker of wine possesses no knowledge of its evil -- knowledge subsists in not drinking it. And as with this, so it is with the balance of what ALLAH has prescribed, even to the assignment of men and women to their various ranks and stations in the spectrum of His creation: the faithful are those who do as ALLAH says the faithful do, and the hypocrites also earn their condition by deeds.

And just as the dominions of ALLAH are described in detail in His Book -- all of His creatures, their relations and locations in the various worlds of His universe -- so are the keys of each door worth entering to be found in the Hadith -- the practice, instruction and announcements -- of the messenger of the eternal Promise Muhammad sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam, to be applied in obedience to the Law set forth in the eternal, immutable Qur'an.

The messenger calls to the Message: the Message calls to its Lord.

-- Ramadan 1399