بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 

Friday Sermon

 

Hazrat Amir’ul Momeneen Muhyi-Ud-Din

Al Khalifatullah

 

Munir Ahmad Azim

 

31 July 2009

 

(Summary of Friday Sermon)

 

 

After having greeted everybody with the Salutations of Peace, the Khalifatullah read the Tashahhud, Taouz and Surahhh Al Fatiha and then he said:

 

In this world, the prophets are the only human beings whom the Creator chooses to communicate and through these prophets the other human beings have access to the commandments and biddings of the Creator meant for them. It is thus apparent that more there is the link of the human beings with the Prophet, there is more their link with God, the Almighty. In other words, our spiritual connection with God, in accordance with the Quran, will be measured with our affinity to the Prophet, as determined by Hadith and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him).

 

The commandments of God which reached the human beings through the Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him) may be classified into four:

 

First is the commandment which is not in the Quran and has no scope for dual interpretation.

 

Second is the commandment of God indicated precisely in the Quran but its elucidation has been made in the words of the Prophet.

 

Third is the commandment which has not been specifically mentioned in the Holy Quran but by giving guideline in the words:

 

 

“So take what the Apostle assigns to you and deny yourself that which he withholds from you” (59:8)

 

 

“He who obeys the Apostle obeys God” (4:81)

 

God has made it obligatory to establish a relationship between the Quran, the word of God and the Sunnah of the Prophet.

 

Fourth includes all the commandments and directives which, it is obligatory to know, by Ijtihad, the process of reasoning based on the Quran and Sunnah, in a spirit of dedication to the will of Allah, which, through the process of “ijma”, assures the final assimilation of juristic acumen as accepted by the collective will of the Ummah, the Muslim Community. It goes without saying that its pre-requisite is a thorough knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah together with juristic acumen.

 

The Fatwa of the Sahaba, the companions, generally known as “athar”, are quite legitimately not divorced from the general concept of the Prophetic Sunnah and, with evident justification, the Sunnah of the first four caliphs was given prominence or to say priority over all other Sahaba, the Companions.

 

The commandments of the first two classifications are revealed to the Prophet in the form of words through Gabriel whereas the third classification of commandments is generally revealed by “ilqa” or “ilham” to the Prophet, without any formation of words. The first form is that of Wahi Matlu (Recited Revelation), the Quran, the word of God and the other form is the Wahi Ghair Matlu (Unrecited revelation), the Hadith the word of the Prophet himself. To Quran is the book of God and the Hadith and Sunnah, generally speaking is the oral and practical, rather authoritative interpretation and commentary of the Book of God, in aid to the correct understanding of the meaning of the Quran. In other words, there is one academic Quran which is preserved in the leaves of paper and the hearts of people and the other, the Sunnah is the Quran in practice. The Quran contains the principles and absolute truths whereas the Hadith and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) contain its details and particulars. Hence, the whole edifice of the Shariah (Religious Law) is based on the Wahi Matlu, the Quran and Wahi Ghair Matlu, the words and actions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him). One who tries to hold the Book alone is bound to lose both the Sunnah and the Book.

 

There are a number of commandments laid down in the Quran and similarly there are many which have been detailed by the Prophet. That is why, wherever the Quran commands its followers to obey God, it necessarily commands to obey the Prophet. Rather, it goes further and declares that obedience to the Prophet is the obedience to Allah Himself:

 

In the words of Allah:

 

“Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him.

 

The Quran mentions certain provisions of law but the exact connotation is presented in the definitive form of words and actions by the Prophet. Besides, the performance of an act within the sight or knowledge of the Prophet, in the absence of any approbation or reprobation, is also included in the definition of Sunnah. It is stated in the Quran that God sent the Prophet with the object and purpose that he be obeyed. In fact, the criterion for the love of Allah is the love of the Holy Prophet:

 

Quran declares:

 

“Say: ‘If you do love God, follow me: God will love you.”

 

The Quran says about the Holy Prophet:

 

“God did confer a great favour on the Believers; when He sent among them an Apostle from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the signs of God, sanctifying them, and instructing them in scripture and wisdom, while, before that they had been in manifest error.”

 

He teaches them Kitab and Hikamat. The meaning of Al-Kitab to be the Quran is apparent. For ‘Al-Hikamat’ have defined it to be the Hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet. Hadith and Sunnah, in a sense is also the revelation from God without formation of words, because the Quran at several places has used the word (sent down) for the hikmat also. It will thus be irrational to think that the Quran was taught without involving in fact the Sunnah of the Prophet, who was the vehicle of God’s message.

 

1. The Book of God stands in the need of Sunnah more than the Sunnah needs the Quran.

2. Without the Sunnah it is neither possible to have faith in the Quran, nor to practice Islam.

 

If we, therefore, fail to give the importance to Hadith and Sunnah, as it rightly deserves, it will be difficult to practise Islam in the real sense. For example, the Quran commands:

 

“And be steadfast in prayer;”

 

We can only know through the Hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) as to how and when the prayer is to be performed. The persons who talk of the Quran and assert that to understand and practise Islam the Quran only is sufficient, let them show us to how they should perform prayer in the light of the Quran.

 

The Quran says:

 

“Practise regularly charity”

 

Now the classification and quantity of wealth and the period of its retention and the rate of Zakaat can be only be determined in the light of the Hadith. The Quran says:

 

“And complete the Hajj or Umra in the service of God”

 

No one knows how the Hajj and Umra will be performed. This can only be performed if you know the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).

 

God says:

 

“It is for us its collection and its recitation.”

 

It further says:

 

“Then it is for Us to explain it.”

 

It is a matter of common knowledge that bayan, description or explanation, means to disclose the hidden, vague, brief or an unknown thing. Here bayan means to describe, explain and disclose the meaning and the real intent of God which may remain obscure to a reader while reciting the Quran.

 

This bayan al-Quran when it was uttered by the tongue of the Prophet was named as Hadith and when practised was named as the Sunnah, which subject was revealed to him by the Divine Knowledge and the words in which it was described were those of the Prophet himself.

 

God says:

 

“And We have sent down unto thee the message that thou mayest explain clearly to men what is sent for them and that they may give thought.”

 

The verse clearly proves that the words and deeds, Hadith and Sunnah of the Prophet are the manifestations of the will of God as indicated in the Quran, which can be best known and described only by His Prophet.

 

God says:

 

“This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.”

 

The Nimat which is indicated by the Quran in this verse is in fact the Shariah as a whole, the entire code of life during full 23 years of the period of prophethood. It never happened with the Sahaba to ask for the sanction for the mandate of the Prophet beyond itself.

 

A Hadith or Sunnah will either describe the verse of the Quran or will add something to its commandment. In the first category it will have secondary position to the Quran as it will be based on the Quran itself whereas in the second situation if there was no mention about the commandment in the Holy Quran, it will stand on its own force. In the Islamic legal literature, therefore, one has to consider with equal force the text of the Quran and the Hadith and try to bring about reconciliation and uniformity between the two, if there appears to be some disagreement between the two, which in fact, is not there.

 

The question, however, arises about those matters or situations undiscovered in the Quran, whether the Sunnah can be the sole basis of our legislative process. To answer this question, the Hadith and Sunnah may further, be classified into three:

 

(i) The Hadith which are in conformity with the Quran.

(ii) The Hadith which elaborates and elucidate the commandments of the Quran.

(iii) The Hadith which lay down new rules in the Shariah in respect of which either the Quran is silent or its commandment remains undiscovered.

 

There is a difference of opinion among the ‘Ulama’ on this point, but the generality of ‘Ulama’ has followed the view that Sunnah can be the sole source of Shariah in matters which have not been dealt with in the Quran. They take it to be hikmat as ‘ilqa’ by God.

 

Nobody can deny the existence of such Hadith. The question is of their enforcement as the sole source of the Shariah in such matters, that is, the Sunnah as the single source.

 

The Quran says:

 

“Then let those beware who withstand the Apostle’s order lest some trial befall on them or a grievous penalty be inflicted on them.”

 

This verse, though indirectly, points out to some such commandments that are given by the Prophet of his own, not mentioned in the Book of God, because had that ‘amr, commandment, be in the Quran, it would have been termed as the opposition to the Quran and not an opposition to the commandment of the Prophet.

 

The Quran calls upon us:

 

“But no, by thy Lord, they can have no (real) faith, until they make thee judge, in all disputes between them and find in their souls no resistance against thy decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction.”

 

The prophetic Sunnah can, therefore, initiate the necessary prerogative, permission or prohibition, although it can never override the Quran.

 

May Allah help us to better implement in our lives both the commandments stipulated in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Ameen.