Pages

Monday, October 19, 2015

Political correctness doesn't apply to fundamentally flawed claims.

Some people try to out PC each other by assigning value to "some" Ahadith by analyzing the contradictions found in the Hadith literature. I think there is a fundamental flaw in this type of thinking because the Hadith literature is fundamentally flawed on multiple levels. If one were to use these type of analysis then one is effectively giving a green light to some Ahad Ahadith. And in doing so, one will be exposing oneself to be labeled as a liar by God Himself. The only way to safely negotiate claims made in the name of the Prophet of God is to apply the criteria of accepting and rejecting claims found in the message of God he delivered. There is no political correctness in such an approach, in fact, it is not correct to do so at all.

Four minimum witnesses is the overriding rule when it comes to claims. In fact, four witness is the cornerstone of the legal system. Even when two witnesses are required for instance in the case of a financial transaction,  an already agreed upon position between minimum two parties effectively results in four witnesses to the transaction, 2+2. In fact, when a single person's testimony is to be considered or rejected, 
the thing to note is that the four witness criteria is simulated in the presence of witnesses. It is important to note the fact that the accused's word is preferred over the one making the claim.

Hence, there is no provision in the Quran to accept a single narrator's claim without being challenged and/or rejected outright. And then there is the "tremendous" matter of being labeled as a liar by God even in a social context let alone assigning stuff to God and His Prophet.

An actual number of agreed upon mutawatir Ahadith will easily fit on a two pager with large fonts as I always say. Out of those (less than a dozen), the verbatim Hadith number is closer to half a dozen. One of them is important to meditate on;

“Do not attribute lies to me, for anyone who attributes lies to me will be doomed to Hellfire.” (Sahih Muslim)

A few of them has to do with wearing leather socks while performing wudu if I recall correctly and raising of hands during Salat but nothing that can be used to legislate and then there is the case of the last sermon, reportedly witnessed by tens of thousands and yet there are three versions.

It is no wonder that even witnesses by themselves are not a slam dunk, as is evident from the example of the last sermon, not surprisingly God in His infinite wisdom gives us an option not to automatically accept claims just because there are witnesses;

Say, [O Muhammad], "Bring forward your witnesses who will testify that God has prohibited this." And if they testify, do not testify with them. And do not follow the desires of those who deny Our verses and those who do not believe in the Hereafter, while they equate [others] with their Lord. 6:150

A single person's testimony by itself has exactly zero value in Islam of the Quran. If it is not in the Quran please don't call it Islam.

A quick reminder, in addition to almost half of the single narrators, were kids, (yes some barely making the teen cut while others were still in their teens in 632 AD), the real stats to keep in mind are the one unsuccessfully buried under labels of Sahih and Hasan and Mashur. Over 99% of all Ahadith literature consists of third-party single narrators reporting non-verbatim claims in the name of the Prophet of God. 

11 comments:

  1. Sorry guys a lot of typos most corrected now :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lifeguru. I didn't know how to contact you other than this.

      We all know that men are designed to be the leaders of the tribe while women are meant to be the nurturers. We put ourselves first and we'll do anything for the tribe. In the modern world, due to the increasing influence of feminism, women are acting like men and men are becoming feminized. Thus, destroying the natural harmony.

      The best sexual strategy these days as men is to work on your own life. PUT YOURSELF FIRST. Engage in premarital sex when needed, having relationships with several women throughout life without getting married. Marriage has lost the value it had years ago.

      So, my question is is it okay if I have sex with different woman without getting married to them? Because the times have changed and it's harmless to just follow my best sexual strategy. As men, we are hunters and it is our biological imperative to spread our seeds in different women. So I don't see anything wrong in living a life where you put yourself life, be good to people, live a virtuous life while not getting married to anyone and have kids.

      Also, lifeguru, how to perform salah? Can you please explain. I'm interested in becoming a real Muslim. Not the sunni shia bullshit the mollah market advertises.

      Delete
    2. Salam and thank you for visiting my humble blog. Sorry for delay in answering.

      I will try to answer your secound question first.

      When it comes to Salat, it is not restricted to a ritual and there isn't just one way or one form or one set of margins,. God in his infinite mercy and wisdom have given us a range of correctness. The sect scene try their best to put forward their respective version as the most authoritative one but also the only one. It is only when it pointed out that all sects are illegal in Islam and they feel threatened as a whole that they grudgingly acknowledge the other "Madhabs" (The concept of Madhab is a convenient middle ground through which they avoid endorsing another sect directly) and try to sell the absurd notion that all Muslim must adopt at least one madhab and by implication one particular way to perform Salah.

      There are far more important things than the "five" or "three" prayers, not that Salah is not important but proper perspective is everything. Please meditate on these two verses.

      Recite, what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater ( أَكْبَرُ). And Allah knows that which you do. Quran 29:45

      Since Dhikr (remembrance of God) is even more important than Salat as per the Quran, so why is the Hadith literature almost completely silent on this all important element of faith? The answer is simple, the sects gain nothing from it :) Hence why promote it.

      And then this:

      Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah , the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous. Quran 2:177

      God clearly takes a swipe at those who solely focus on the ritual and neglect the deeds :)

      As far as how to is concerned one thing is clear; it is impossible to determine from the Ahadith how to go about it. Allow me to give you my perspective of the ritual aspect of Salah;

      Let me point out first that it is more important to just reserve a special time (s)to communicate with God, it counts more than exacting motions and chants. Basically the idea is to recite the Quran during Salat in Arabic if you know Arabic otherwise do it in a language you understand best, don't worry too much about getting it wrong as long one washes up and then bow and prostrate and recite the Quran and restrict the Salat to the worship of God and his name. You are free to pray for others including the Prophets Pbut and their families but do it after finishing the Salat. Similarly feel free to ask God for anything specific after the Salat. With time you will be able to distill your needs and priorities.

      Delete
    3. The answer to your first question is pretty straightforward. Quran categorically forbids sex outside the institution of marriage. No ifs and buts. In order to internalize the message of the Quran one must spend time and effort to determine that Quran is the very word of God and once done the next logical step would be to stop second guessing God.

      The evidence to support Quran being a revealed word of God is overwhelming and can be found in the words and structure of the Quran in multi-layer formats. Starting from the literary brilliance of the text it moves on to a simple word count and rises to a master class in Self Reference. Then comes the letter counts, prime number distribution and cross referenced mathematical patterns distributed over multiple chapters and finally references to the world that surround us and the world within us with astonishing accuracy.

      All it takes is a methodical approach and a healthy dose of logic and reason irrespective of ones level of understanding and/or knowledge base

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. I agree with life guru; however, we must also define marriage. The definition of marriage from its purpose to the relationships it covers varies greatly from each era and social classes. The great thing about the Quran is that it never defined marriage. You can marry for love, sure! But you also don't have to. Its a recent notion to marry for love. This notion began during the industrialization and urbanization where people were able to take care of themselves individually without extended family.
      So what is marriage in the Quran? Its a union between one PERSON and another PERSON and GOD. It does not have to be defined by a contract. It could be, if you want it to. It could also be defined by love if you want it to. The important thing is, is commitment. Love or not. It is essential to be faithful, and if you cannot be faithful without marrying who you love, then you should not marry the person who you will be unfaithful to. That's what a contract is essentially for, to make sure you are committed to whoever you are marrying. And in this global modern era and the all knowing god that knows all that we do, I do not believe there is a need for a paper contract.
      In conclusion, I do think you can have sex with a girlfriend or boyfriend, assuming you are committed to them. Society changes its definition of marriage every era. In the future era, we may define marriage as a contractless union between two people.

      Delete
    6. Thank you for visiting my humble blog.

      I am not sure what you mean by Quran never defined marriage. I guess we should first agree on what "define" means :) The Quran has set detailed rules for how two individuals can enter into a marriage arrangement, how it should be carried through and even extensive rules for dissolution of marriage if the need arises.

      Delete
    7. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    8. Hey!
      Yes, it has defined rules about "marriage" but what if society defines marriage without a legal contract.Then our idea of boyfriends and girlfriends in this current era would be the idea of marriage God talks about. Divorce can even be seen as our current societies definition of a break up. God never said how to make a contract or what it constitutes of. Yes, God says stuff about paying their due dowries and such but never about what marriage is. Even dowries aren't practiced as much in this current society anymore.
      I wish I could talk to you in person because I have a hard time communicating my words.

      I also want to thank you for changing my life. I have been following your blog for many years now and you have taught me to think. That is something I am utterly grateful for!

      Delete
  2. Assalaamu-alaykum,

    The concept of having at least 4 witnesses to verify the authenticity of hadiths is an interesting theory and I would love to be pointed to more sources where I can learn more about this.

    In this article you mention that the "actual number of agreed upon mutawatir Ahadith will easily fit on a two pager." Could you give a reference for this? Do these hadith meet the requirements of 4 witnesses and 4 witnesses for every witness in the chain?

    Whilst I like the theory some questions remain. In this article you mention that in the case of financial transactions 2+2=4, surely then in the case of adultery the two accused and the additional 4 witnesses would add up to six: 2+4=6 witnesses. This would break the universality of the rule of 4. In another article you mention “a very limited provision for a single person to act as a witness on an already agreed position is given when one is traveling and is unable to locate a scribe.” This also does not add up to 4. Could you explain this in light of the above mentioned 4 witness hadith classification system.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Salam and thank you for visiting my humble blog. I will try to clarify, first of all this not a Hadith classification system but applies to all claims. The number four is not a fixed number but a minimum requirement. And is tied to claims by themselves as I mentioned. In the case of Adultery, first of all the two accused are not going to act as witnesses. if they do then that would be a confession and the equation will change altogether. In case one of them confesses and by implication claim that the other accused was a willing accomplice then first the "he said she said" rule will kick in where the one being implicated has the upper hand and simply deny the accusation. The four witness rule will apply as a secondary evidence. Similarly the limited exception has to do with a very specific set of circumstances and must be restricted to it for a limited time unless the person engaging the witness dies. Hence, you must be traveling and unable to locate a scribe. In today's world it is more or less a moot scenario.

      For the Mutawtir Hadith issue here are some efforts that tried to make sense of the nonsensical that include both Mutawatir verbatim and Mutawatir in “meaning”, mostly the later.

      These include:

      a. al-Fawa’id al-Mutakathira of Imam Jalal al-Din Suyuti
      b. al-Azhar al-Mutanathira of Imam Jalal al-Din Suyuti, an abridgment of the previously mentioned work of his.
      c. al-Aali al-Mutanathira of Sham al-Din Muhammad ibn Tulun.
      d. Luqat al-Aali al-Mutanathira of Murtadha al-Zabidi.
      e. al-Nazm al-Mutanathir of Sayyid Ja`far al-Kattani.


      Some useful links;

      http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Hadith/Ulum/aape.html#J32

      http://www.slideshare.net/nsnirjhor/a-collection-of-mutawatir-hadith?related=2

      http://www.al-eman.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8/%D9%86%D8%B8%D9%85+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%AB%D8%B1+%D9%85%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AB+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%B1+**/i24&p1

      Curiously the list below I could only find in the internet archives. But the list unfortunately, is a mix list and not all the Ahadith are Mutawatir.

      http://web.archive.org/web/20061031015411/http://hadith.al-islam.com/bayan/Index.asp?Lang=ENG&Type=3


      Links to original manuscripts if you want to go that route can be found on the Saudi Arabian education site;

      http://makhtota.ksu.edu.sa/MakhtotaEnglish.aspx

      God bless

      Delete