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How Much Of Sunnah Was Preserved Before Prophet (AS)?
Quran condemns the method of prayer that was present in Mecca before Allah revealed the method of prayer to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):
Surah 8:35
Their prayer at the House (of God) is nothing but whistling and clapping of hands: (Its only answer can be), “Taste ye the penalty because ye blasphemed.”
So if the method of prayer was passed down from Abraham (AS) generation after generation, then surely people would have been practicing it.
How much of the Sunnah was preserved before Prophet (AS)?
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8 Replies
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How Much Of Sunnah Was Preserved Before Prophet (AS)?
updated 4 years, 5 months ago
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We need to go back to what Sunnah is : “that tradition of Prophet Abraham’s (sws) religion which the Prophet Muhammad (sws) instituted among his followers as religion after reviving and reforming it and after making certain additions to it.”
The Quran has directed Muhammad (sws) to obey the religion of Abraham (sws). This tradition is a part of it:
ثُمَّ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ أَنِ اتَّبِعْ مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ (123:16)
“Then We revealed to you to follow the religion of Abraham [1], who was truly devoted and was not among the polytheists. (16:123)”.
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[1] Ie., adopt religion in the same form and shape in which Abraham (sws) had left it. Thus there should not be any semblance of polytheism in their beliefs and deeds nor any trace of religious innovations in them the way they are found among the Jews, Christians and the polytheists of Arabia. They should give currency to the prayer, the fast, the hajj, the zakah and other religious deeds and customs and etiquette after cleansing them from all adulterations so that they are observed the way they were in the times of Abraham (sws). All matters related to what is lawful and what is unlawful should also return to their original form and it should become evident to everyone that they are in fact the real followers of the religion of Abraham (sws) and that their opponents have no relation with him.
Here it should be kept in mind that the part of religion which is called Sunnah has been instituted under this directive. Hence it is mandatory to be followed the way other directives of the Quran are. The directives of the Sunnah which have been transferred by the consensus and perpetual concurrence once Muhammad (sws) had revived and reformed some of them and also added certain directives to them are the following:
i. The Prayer
ii. Zakah and Sadaqah of ‘Id al-Fitr
iii. Fasting and I‘tikaf
iv. Hajj and ‘Umrah
v. Animal Sacrifice and the Takbirs during the days of Tashriq
vi. Marriage and Divorce and their relevant details
vii. Abstention from coitus during the menstrual and the puerperal period
viii. Prohibition of pork, blood, meat of dead animals and animals slaughtered in the name of someone other than Allah
ix. Slaughtering in the prescribed manner of tadhkiyah by pronouncing Allah’s name
x. Remembering Allah’s name before eating or drinking and using the right hand for eating and drinking
xi. Greeting one another with al-Salamu ‘Alaykum (peace be to you) and responding with Wa ‘Alaykum al-Salam (and peace be to you)
xii. Saying al-Hamdulillah (praise be to Allah) after sneezing and responding to it by saying Yarhamukallah (may Allah have mercy on you)
xiii. Keeping moustaches trimmed
xiv. Shaving pubic hair
xv. Removing the hairs under the armpits
xvi. Paring fingernails
xvii. Circumcising the male offspring
xviii. Cleaning the nose, the mouth and the teeth
xix. Cleaning the body after excretion and urination
xx. Bathing after the menstrual and the puerperal periods
xxi. Ghusl al-janabah
xxii. Bathing the dead before burial
xxiii. Enshrouding a dead body and preparing it for burial
xxiv. Burying the dead
xxv. ‘Id al-Fitr
xxvi ‘Id al-Adha
(Excerpts from Quranic Exegesis & Meezan: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi)
(Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem)
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Umer bhai how can we be sure that the same way the sunnah has adulterations before the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that it doesn’t have interpolations now? Because we can’t go back in history to check, and hadiths cannot according to Ghamidi sahab and common sense add anything to islam?
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What way do you have to check authenticity of Quran and make sure it does not contain any adulteration?
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The Quran does not have any major ikhtilaaf. The qiraat aamah is known by everyone and that is a perfect example of ijmaa and tawattur. But sunnah has ikhtilaaf from fard actions of wudu to what breaks wudu to fard actions of salah etc. So how can it be presented as an example of ijma and tawatur? How can we identify the true sunnah? Do we need to see some book?
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I don’t agree with your premise about the Quran; it is true that we can reach the one true qiraat with a little effort, but when you go to Morocco and nearby regions, you have to use those arguments to convince people about Qiraat aamah (ordinary Muslim still thinks there are seven different Qiraats of Quran as allowed by God himself). You have to refer to history and fiqh to make them realize of the condition and circumstances under which Qiraat of Nafi was implemented in those regions. This whole activity doesn’t bring into question the ijma and quoli tawatur of Quran.
The same activity needs to be done with Sunnah at times, the whole Sunnah is present within Muslim Ummah, but sometimes it gets adulterated by a group of people, so we need do the same exercise to make them realize the point of initiation of their mistake.
Most of the times it’s just a little realization of this fact that you’ve to give to people, and when they look back, they agree with itma and Tawatur status of both Quran & Sunnah. In my experience, it’s the equal religious status of Fiqh & Akhbar-i-Ahad with Quran & Sunnah that sometimes mix things up and clouds our judgement.
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Some input on this verse from Dr. Shehzad Saleem:
https://soundcloud.com/ask-ghamidi/response-by-dr-shehzad-saleem/s-0stnykwmWMJ
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