why do Muslims follow the Hadith?

[alexpolismum]

I got to thinking about this after lurking on the AIBU banning the burkha thread. Someone on there mentioned that the Koran claims to be a complete and perfect easy to understand book. If this is the case and it is complete, then why the Hadith? Obviously you can't believe that god forgot to include a few details, as that wouldn't make much sense and would contradict the claim to be complete. So what is the thinking behind it?

Are there any Muslims who only follow the Koran and do not use the Hadith at all?

The short answer is yes.

The longer answer is more complicated in that there are some things we have to follow the hadith for. For example - The Quran tells us to pray, the Hadith tells us how to pray. Without a time machine and a fluency in ancient arabic we can't ever really know the answer to every question and while the Prophet Muhammad (may peace be on him) was a great man - he was just a human being like you and me so we just have to do the best we can. Its not easy but we are fortunate in having a loving, forgiving and merciful God.

The Prophet was a walking talking Qur'aan.
The Qu'raan is a Reminder, and Final Revelation. In it are unclear verses, of which need to be explained, and the Book is a book of guidance, which needs to be understood with the correct understanding, and not individual intereptaions. The Prophet was sent by Allah, and like all the Prophets and Messengers, was given the wisdom, Hikmah, by the One who sent him, and so was able to explain to the believers by way of speech, and act out the commandments within the revelations in the correct manner and with the correct undersanding. The way in which Allah intends good for His believers, and in which we can obtain Jennah.
It is imperative to follow his Sunnah. The proof is Allahs saying, "Obey Allah AND obey the messenger. Truly Allah will love you and forgive you your sins"
Allahs saying, " And We have sent down to you a reminder (Muhammad), that you may explain clearly to the people that which is sent down to them"
"He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allh"
"What the Messenger gives, you take, and what he forbids you avoid"
"It is not for a believing man nor woman, that when Allah AND His messenger have judged in a matter, that they should have an option in thier decision, and whoever disobeys Allah AND HIs Messenger has strayed in clear error"
The Sunnah is Islam, and Islam is the Sunnah. It is not for Muslims to interpret Islaam to suit personnal desires. Other wise, what was the point of the Messenger being sent by Allah? Allahs saying, "Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed my favours upon you, and have chosen Islaam as your religion". Allah has said that the Revelation, and Islaam, is complete and perfected, and will be preserved and unchanged until the Final Day. We do not need to change any aspect of Islaam to suit our personnal desires, even when the intention is good. Indeed Muhammad said, "Every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance leads to hell fire" He also said, "Whosoever invents a matter into this affair of ours (meaning the religion), then it will be rejected on the Day of Resurrection"
He also said, "He who does not follow my way, is not from me"
He also said, ".......The Muslims will split into 73 sects, all of them in the hell fire except one" Hs companions asked, "Who are the saved sect?" He replied, " That which I, and my companions are upon"
In one of Muhammads last sermons to the people, he spoke a lengthy speech warning and commanding his followers to stick to his way, "...Those of you who will live long, will see a great amount of splitting and differing.....so what is upon you is to stick to my Sunnah, and the Sunnah of my rightly guided companions, and hold onto it with your molar teeth...(meaning fight and struggle to keep hold of the Sunnah)....."
To just go by the Qu'raan without the understanding and explanation of Muhammad, then a person will no doubt fall into error. How many a times do we hear of Muslims carryingout atrocities and other lesser acts in the name of Islaam, when in reality they have no knowledge of what they do? They take verses from the Book and decide how to live them out by way of personnal, or political desire. These Muslims are ignorant, and misguided, even if the intention is good! Ibn Mas'oud, a great companion of the Prophet, when he came across a group of Muslims who were worshipping Allah in a manner in with the Messenger did not command, said, "How many intend good, but never reach it?" Did you know there are seven conditions of the Shahada? The very first condition is Knowledge! Knowledge repels ignorance, and a person can only have knowledge of Allahs religion if he studies the life and sayings of Muhammad.

Sorry, to finsh the above sentance, and lives by, and follows Muhhammads example, which is what Allah has commanded His believers to do.
Allahs saying.." Indeed in him (Muhammad) you have a fine example of character)

I was speaking to a Muslim irl who told me she thinks there are some sects of Islam who do not use the Hadith at all and that even when using the Hadith you have to be careful as not all is considered reliable.

How do you work out what is reliable and not?

Good Muslims are allowed to say that the Prophet was "just a human being"? Really?

Does that mean that a good Muslim can do things differently from what he did?

No I am not being facetious, but it's obvious that a lot of Muslims think that the Prophet's way of doing things is the only righteous way to do them now.

This is a complicated (and controversial) issue. There are sects of muslim who follow only what is in qu'ran, those that follow one set of hadiths and traditions and others who follow others including hadiths relating to the prophets family members. So there is not a unilateral agreement about this.

It is believed that both the qu'ran and the Prophet were given as 'gifts' with the prophet being able to demonatrate the way in which to implement or practice Islam.

Riven, re. the beard..
No, there are no specific statements with regards to the beard, within the Qu'raan. However, refer back to Allah's saying, "What the Messanger gives, you take, and what he forbids, you avoid". Which is a general statement, wouldn't you agree, that if Muhammad commands the Muslims with such and such a thing then, we are commnded by Allah to take that thing up. Likewise, if he forbids the Muslims from a certain thing, then by the command of Allah, we are to follow his example and refrain from a certain thing.
So Muhammed commanded the believing men to grow their beards. His saying, "Differ from the pagans, trim your moustache, and grow your beard". Another statement, "Differ from the fire worshippers....grow your beard" Aisha narrates that the Prophet stated seven things are from the Fitra, of which were "...clipping the fingernails, shaving the pubic hair, growing the beard...."
A narration of two (Muslim) men who had travelled from their homeland of Persia, to sit with and learn from Muhammed. The men had long moustaches, and no beards, which was the custom within Persia. When they came into the room where Muhammad was, he saw their unbearded faces and he turned his face away from them and wouldnt look at them. His turning is face away from certain things, was well known that this was a sign of the Prophets extream dislike for a thing.
The command is there to grow the beard! it may not be in the Quraan specifically, but as Allah says, Muhammad "..does not speak from his desires, but it is Revelation sent down (from Allah)"
Muhaamad commanded the believing men to grow the beard, to distinguish the Muslims from the non muslims, and he did so, with Hikmah from Allah. We all agree that there is no description of how a Muslim should pray properly to Allah, and so we look to the action and speech of Muhaamad to guide us in that affair. Likewise the Wudoo before the prayer, there is no descrition or guide to this in the Quraan, and so again we take from Muhammad, without adding or subtracting from his actions, just as Allah commands us to. "Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger.."Why would it be a differant affair with regards to other issues like the beard, and other than these?

By the way Riven, I love you for the sake of Allah.

Im confused.
Allahs commands the Muslims to obey Muhammad.
Muhammad commands the believing men to "GROW the beard"
Some Shaykh has issued a statement that muslim men dont have to grow the beard if they choose not to. Where is his evidance to make this statement? Muhammad didnt say, "Grow the beard, if you wish, if you choose". It is a difinative statement and command, "Grow your beard"
Your point?
Listen to this guy, rather than Allah and His Messenger?
Knowledge is what Allah says, what the Messenger says. Take everything back to the Kitaab and Sunnah, as Allah says, "And if any of you dispute in a matter of ours, then take it back to Allah and His Messenger.."

Sorry Riven, but myself and my Husband and children will take our chances with Allah and His Messenger, not, as you said previously, to believe everything some shaykh tells us.

Wa laa hawla wa laa quwwata 'illah billaah
There is no power nor miht except by Alaah.

Laa, The message, commandments, and prohibitions within the Kitaab and Sunnah, is for all of Mankind, and for all times, until the Final Day.

And yes of course, the beard is specific for the men only!

yes, igyb, but Mohammed also told people to circumcise their daughters.
most people agree that that's not acceptable in this day and age.

Did he?
Are you refering to female genital mutilation?

well, what this thread has done is demonstrate that there is no consensus among Muslims regarding the Hadith (I'm assuming the beard thing comes from the Hadith). To be quite frank, as a non-believer, it seems to me a very trivial thing to worry about.

Riven - if illgetyoubutler is correct and Mohammad told people to "differ from the fire-worshippers" then I believe he was referring to Zoroastrians and not Jews. Owing to a lack of understanding about their religion (they don't worship fire but use it symbolically) Zoroastrians were often called fire-worshippers.

igyb - i was told this by a Muslim in Egypt - there are references to it if you google, but i don't want to quote, because I don't know if it was included in the Hadith, or if it was someone reporting it.

the reference I was given was quoted from the Muslim Women's League.

Riven - hear hear! there was a very funny story about an email sent to a woman who had spoken about homosexuality being an abonimation. can't reference it now, cos i can't remember where i saw it, but basically the email was very sarcastic, saying things like "in Deuteromony it tells me i can sell my daughter into slavery, how much can I get for her in this day and age?"

We can only assume that books like the Hadith are guidelines that were relevant at the time they were written - times change (as does medicine and general opinions on life and how to live it), and as long as the underlying moral obligations are read and understood, then that's all that matters! common sense, as you imply, that's all we can apply.

I do think the hadith get a bad rap sometimes, there some beautiful prayers and stories in there, my favourite being when the Prophet (pbuh) first received revelation and afterwards he ran to his wife Khadija (RA) for comfort and she supported him and encouraged him.

For non-Muslims it's important to note that there are different legal rulings: Obligatory, Sunnah (something the Prophet did & is strongly encouraged), recommended, permissable, disliked and forbidden.

Also, hadith follow chains of narration, right back to whoever heard the Prophet (pbuh) say it. Only trustworthy individuals are accepted as narrators. Hadith can be strong, weak, odd or false, depending on these chains.

No hadith narrated by a woman has ever been declared false, and the formost transmitter was actually a woman - Aisha, (RA)

Yes, there is often a lot of disagreement, but ultimately we believe that humans are imperfect and God is Merciful and loves to forgive.