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  • Should The Quran Be Interpreted Through Hadith?

    Posted by $ohail T@hir on June 24, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    There is a group of scholars which believes that the Qur’ān is dependent on the Hadīth for its interpretation and must at all cost be understood through it. However, the status occupied by the Qur’ān as the mīzān and the furqān entails that everything should be interpreted in light of the guidance it provides.

    Ghāmidī writes:

    The Qur’ān says about itself:

    اللَّهُ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ وَالْمِيزَانَ (17:42)

    It is God who has revealed with truth the Book which is this scale [of justice]. (42:17)

    The verse means that the Almighty has revealed the Qur’ān which is a scale of justice meant to distinguish good from evil. It is the only scale that weighs everything else, and there is no scale in which it can be weighed:


    تَبَارَكَ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ الْفُرْقَانَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ لِيَكُونَ لِلْعَالَمِينَ نَذِيرًا (

    1:25)

    Blessed be He who has revealed al-furqan to His servant that it may warn the whole world. (25:1)

    The Qur’ān is also a furqan in the same sense, i.e. a Book which has the final and absolute verdict to distinguish truth from falsehood. This word also connotes the fact that this Book is the standard by which everything needs to be judged and is a decisive word on matters that relate to religion. Everyone must turn to it only to resolve differences of opinion. Nothing can be a judge on it; it shall reign supreme in the dominion of religion and every person is bound not to make it subservient to any other thing.

    The Qur’ān is the most definite and authentic record of whatever Muhmmad (sws) did in his status of a prophet and a messenger. Consequently, most topics covered in the Hadīth are related to the Qur’ān the way a branch is related to a stem or the way an explanation is related to the text it explains. Without recourse to the original text, it is obvious that its corollaries and explanations cannot be understood. If all the mistakes in interpreting the Hadīth are minutely analyzed, this situation becomes abundantly clear. The incidents of stoning to death in the times of the Prophet (sws), the assassination of Ka‘b ibn Ashraf, punishment meted out in the graves, narratives such as مَنْ بَدَّلَ دِينَهُ فَاقْتُلُوهُ (execute the person who changes his faith) have become issues which have caused a lot of confusion and have been subjected to misinterpretation because they have not been understood by relating them to their basis in the Qur’ān.

    $ohail T@hir replied 4 years, 1 month ago 5 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • Should The Quran Be Interpreted Through Hadith?

  • Beenish Hussain

    Member July 4, 2020 at 12:34 am

    No doubt Quran is the mizan and Furqan. This is why it is counter argued that the right order of sources is Quran as foremost, then Hadith, Ijma and Qiyas. Hadith cannot ADD to the quran but can CLARIFY/ELABORATE on a verse of Quran.

    So the question is how do we tell the difference when someone is clarifying/elaborating on a verse in Quran versus ADDING to the Quran

    When scholars can use deductions to make conclusions then why cant hadith be used to draw deductions which can be argued are in light of Quran because it’s a clarification not an addition.

    • $ohail T@hir

      Moderator July 4, 2020 at 12:58 am

      A/c to Ghamidi sb Quran and Sunnah contains 100% deen. Hadith is a later day valuable historical record but it does not have any independent religious directives.

      Punishment of Rajm (stone to death) for adultery by a married individual is a good example to understand how an isolated report (Hadith) can change Quranic directive. In Ghamidi sb’s opinion Hadith cannot abrogate or modify Quranic text.

      For details, pls. see this topic

      Discussion 1042

  • $ohail T@hir

    Moderator July 8, 2020 at 10:52 am
  • Beenish Hussain

    Member July 8, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    My point here is for audiences to understand that when a scholar reads a verse and it’s ambiguous what options he/she has to understand it further. Many people think that if you are not using Hadith as a source of deen then scholar is using his own opinion without a rational. And if that was indeed the case, I would argue that it’s better to use Hadith instead. However, this is NOT the case as scholar is not using his opinion, but a methodology to understand the verse in light of Quran which many people are ignorant of how that’s even possible and why scholars who use hadith as a source wouldn’t try to find an answer through Quran first.

    I am listing the options that some scholars use to interpret verses at a very high level. There is Qiyas/Ijma as well but limiting to how hadith is/should be used to respect the topic at stake in this thread.

    Option1: Refer to Hadith and see if there are any hadiths which can clarify the verse further. For best interpretation, apply Hadith sciences (assuming scholar is using all variants of the hadiths etc). Note: I have noticed many times hadith’s authenticity value is also not taken into account, like who narrates etc. making it even a more weaker case to use hadith as a source of deen. Here we are trying to understand Quran in light of Hadith.

    Option 2:

    To understand a verse, go back to the Quran and focus on the entire arrangement of the ayat: coherence/nazm,/topic/addressee/Classical Arabic gems to understand the verse further.

    Note: I have learned that via the coherence method which is used not only by Frahi school but many other scholars like Nouman Ali Khan the verse becomes crystal clear of its meaning. It’s quite possible that scholars who understand the same verse in light of Quran still differ in their opinion. However, the beauty is that nevertheless, a verse is understood in light of the divine Book & not through a book that’s not divine and was written 200 plus years after passing away of the Prophet (saw)!

    Those who opt for option 1, often exhaust the possibility of finding the truth via Quran itself! At worse they limit Quran from being reflected upon! If everything was on the surface and in Fiqh books/Hadith why did Allah ask us to CONTEMPLATE on the ayats?

    We may as well, read Fiqh and Hadith books to understand Deen, and recite Quran for Ajr only – AND ISNT THAT WHAT WE HAVE DONE TO THE QURAN AND CONFINED IT TO OUR BOOKSHELVES?

    This is why Quran should NOT be interpreted through Hadith.

    Respect Quran. It’s complete. It’s divine. It’s preserved! 🙏

    • Umer

      Moderator July 9, 2020 at 1:08 am

      You summarized it beautifully & eloquently. Thank you.

      JazakAllah.

  • Rafia Khawaja

    Member September 1, 2020 at 4:37 pm

    Qur’an is Furqan, hadees has to be in the footnote of the Qur’an. Some people even insist that the Qur’an has to be understood by hadees which is totally in correct. Hadees is very valuable but we cannot accept any hadees contradicting the Qur’an.

  • Arsalan Riaz

    Member October 11, 2020 at 3:35 am

    If that’s the case then there are many ahadith which are dubious and are beyond logic but they are mentioned as sahih in Hadith books. If you try to interpret Quran through Hadith then you will have to rewrite the whole ideology of Islam and Quran will unfortunately become just a secondary source of religious guidance. In fact some religious sects have already done that. They just jump to Hadith if they don’t find their narrative being supported by the Quran.

    • $ohail T@hir

      Moderator October 11, 2020 at 8:35 am

      “In fact some religious sects have already done that”

      Not some, most!

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