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Willing to expand on this one? Since Quran is complete it must give you exact instructions on how to offer Salat.
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Hmmm why does it appear from your statement that you doubt if the Qur'an is complete.
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Why not?
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Cool. So then why so reluctant on following his Sunnah. Nobody is asking you to follow any which would contradict the Quran, but I DO think they can act as an example of how Islam should be implemented.
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I cannot be sure that what we have in the shape of "Sayings of the Prophet" are actually what he said.
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A book in the hand of beduins doesn't speak for itself, but one in your hand CAN? There must be some hikmat in choosing a messenger.
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Yes. It's God's system of having human beings deliver the message to their fellow beings and in the case of Prophet Muhammad, he was chosen to lead a nation. Just a scripture cannot achieve political and military victories.
[bani Isra'il 17:93] Or thou have a house of gold; or thou ascend up into heaven, and even then we will put no faith in thine ascension till thou bring down for us a book that we can read. Say (O Muhammad): My Lord be Glorified! Am I aught save a mortal messenger?
[bani Isra'il 17:94] And naught prevented mankind from believing when the guidance came unto them save that they said: Hath Allah sent a mortal as (His) messenger ?
[bani Isra'il 17:95] Say: If there were in the earth angels walking secure, We had sent down for them from heaven an angel as messenger
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Not each and every, but most have been referenced and very well documented.
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No they are not. Re study the criteria for a hadith to be 'Sahih'.
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Ofcourse one can not provide any other evidence other than whats written.
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What's written 200 years after the Prophet's death CANNOT be taken as correct since no documentary evidence is available to trace it back through each narrator.
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But as long as it helps us understand the Quran, whats wrong with it?
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We do NOT need anything else to understand the Qur'an. The Qur'an explains itself. The problem the Ummah faces today is due to these fabrications which are allowed to override what's in the Qur'an.
Take one simple example. The punishment for adulterers. Qur'an specifies 100 lashes. These fabricated accounts ask for stoning to death. AND all ignorant Muslims follow these fabrications.. you tell me isn't it blasphemy and isn't this intruding into Allah's laws by establishinga parallel branch of religion that overrides the Qur'anic instructions?
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The scholars who collected these hadith made a great effort to collect, combine and authenticate the references. Many hadith are referenced back to the original person.
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They only mention the names. There are NO documentary evidence or evidence that these people even existed!!
YOu seem like a fairly intelligent person Ace.. try this at home:
The most 'prolific' of the authors of "Sahah" is Al-Bukhari (194-256 A.H./810-870 C.E.)
He claims to have collected six hundred thousand 'aHadeeth, examined and sifted them, finally settling on about seventy six hundred which, when the repetitions are deleted, drop to about four thousand.
Now just sit back and think.. Bukhari is said to have been born blind. No reading or writing till 10 years of age. Then he slowly gained his vision and started learning to read and write.
From 810 to 870 gives him 60 years to live
He doesn't start till he's 10 years old and definitely didn't start writing the same day so let's assume he started his effort when he was educated and 20.
That gives him 40 years.
Now take away only 10 years for all the travel on foot/camel to Mecca, attending to slave trading, eating, conjugal responsibilities writing other books and all other travel to collect these Hadiths.
Leaves him 30 years.
If he worked 24 hours a day non stop for the entire period of 30 years.. did NOTHING else and collected 600,000 hadiths he spent a little over 40 minutes on each hadith establishing the authenticity, tracing all narrators back to their origin, being meticulous about it and then selecting or discarding it.
I personally am not willing to bet my religion on such 'research'.
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It is referenced that Hazrat Muhammad said that "And anyone who writes something from me other than the Quran- then let him erase it"- so this means that the Prophet(PBUH)'s word shouldn't be taken as being as important as the Quran.
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Yes there is one hadith like that..
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But at times when Hazrat Muhammad(PBUH) would explain a certain thing to one of the followers, and he would not be able to memorize it, Hazrat Muhammad(PBUH) WOULD allow them to write it on their hands or take a note of it.
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yes the Sunnis have found this hadith for their convenience.. but how come it's not in their Sahihs??
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I guess to sum it up- As long as hadith does not add to/take away/change anything that is in the Quran, it should be safe to follow it as 'guidance'. Dont you think so?
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A LOT of history needs to be studied to realize when and how and why the compilation of hadith began, who was behind the MAJORITY of narrations and how easily a religion was derailed by introducing extra Qur'anic texts and allowing these man written texts to override a divine scripture.
[al-An`am 6:114] Shall I seek other than Allah for judge, when He it is Who hath revealed unto you (this) Scripture,fully explained? Those unto whom We gave the Scripture (aforetime) know that it is revealed from thy Lord in truth. So be not thou (O Muhammad) of the waverers.