Allah didn't Promise to guard Sunnah Like the Qur'an
Question:
Salam,
Allah has given His word to guard the Reminder (i.e. Quran) against corruption. (Surah Hijr, verse 9). However no such protection was mentioned in case of Sunnah. So, how can we be so sure of it's preservation, via transmission through generation to generation, when Allah didn't say He is going to preserve it?
Surely generation to generation transfer makes it highly likely that the practices were preserved however we can never be certain since Allah Himself never took charge of it's protection, right?
Moreover, if Salah is such an integral part of Islam why was it not mentioned in detail as ablution was and ensure that Salah is guarded with 100% certainty? Nowhere in the Qur'an is it mentioned that Salah has bowing, prostrations whereas it's mentioned even birds perform salah and Allah swt sends salah to Muhammad (pbuh).
Jazakallah
Answer:
The first thing we need to appreciate is that it is not just the word of God that assures us of the protection of the Qur’an. The Qur’an has been transmitted through the consensus of generations, starting from the time of the companions. This mass transmission has made the possibility of any significant corruptions occurring in the Qur’an to be zero and the possibility of any insignificant errors to be nearly zero. What then makes us, as Muslims, to believe that even an insignificant error has not been taken place are those verses of the Qur’an that assert the glory and the magnificence of the Book, its function as a guide for the mankind and its divine protection, including the one that you mentioned. In fact, God’s will to protect the Qur’an from any corruptions and errors has been implemented through the process of this mass transmission of the Qur’an in the Ummah.
Like the Qur’an, Sunnah too has been preserved by mass transmission. In fact one may even argue that for Sunnah the preservation was even easier since the preservation of the Qur’an, as a rather thick book, was through mass narration but the preservation of the Sunnah, which included a few practices, was through the perpetual adherence of generations to them.
Therefore we really do not need any verses of the Qur’an to confirm that Sunnah will be preserved. We do know that it is preserved simply because we know how it reached us.
Now let us accept for the sake of argument that, as you wrote, some errors might have been entered to our understanding of Sunnah. Is this going to be a big deal? Not at all, for three reasons:
- Adhering to the Qur’an does not allow such an error to be a significant one.
- The error can only be in our religious practices and not in our beliefs.
- Since the method of transmission of the Sunnah justifies its reliability, if any errors enter it we will not be held responsible if we mistakenly consider that as part of the Sunnah.
I would like to emphasize though that the above was only for the sake of argument. Otherwise, I really do not see how a whole generation could mistakenly add an error to the Sunnah and pass it to the next generation.
Your second question is as follows:
“if Salah is such an integral part of Islam why was it not mentioned in detail as ablution was and ensure that Salah is guarded with 100% certainty? Nowhere in the Qur'an is it mentioned that Salah has bowing, prostrations whereas it's mentioned even birds perform salah and Allah swt sends salah to Muhammad (pbuh)”
As a general note please consider that the Qur'an only explains those necessary parts of our religion that have not been or could not be clearly explained by other reliable sources. Meanwhile even for those necessary parts of religion that have been explained by other reliable sources, the Qur'an has provided a clear basis and platform.
Inline with the above, only those parts of the Sunnah have been mentioned in the Qur’an that needed clarifications. The parts that people already knew or could easily learn from the Prophet (pbuh) have not been explained in the Qur’an. Yes the Qur’an talks about prayer of birds (24:41). However when we look at the verses where the obligatory payers of Muslims are mentioned it is easy to see that a known, defined ritual act of praying is being referred to. For instance look at the verses 4:102,103; 2:238; 4:101; 5:6; 62:9.
When we look at these verses we immediately understand that the word Salah in the Qur’an has not always come in its general or literal meaning (like the Salah of birds, or the Salah for the Prophet - pbuh). When it is about the worshiping duty of Muslims, it has a very specific meaning.
The question then arises, how is this specific prayer?
The answer to this question is not in the Qur’an. Yet the way the Qur’an talks about it, it is obvious that we are expected to know the answer. If not in the Sunnah, then in what other reliable source we can find the answer? And how can we simply ignore the consensus of the generations of Muslims who have practically answered this question by their perpetual adherence to their prayers?
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Related Topics:
- Sunnah vs. Hadith
- Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 1: Imitating the Prophet - pbuh)
- Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 2: Criteria for Accepting a Hadith)
- Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 3: Definition of Established Sunnah)
- Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 4: Beard)
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May 2013
Salam,
Allah has given His word to guard the Reminder (i.e. Quran) against corruption. (Surah Hijr, verse 9). However no such protection was mentioned in case of Sunnah. So, how can we be so sure of it's preservation, via transmission through generation to generation, when Allah didn't say He is going to preserve it?
Surely generation to generation transfer makes it highly likely that the practices were preserved however we can never be certain since Allah Himself never took charge of it's protection, right?
Moreover, if Salah is such an integral part of Islam why was it not mentioned in detail as ablution was and ensure that Salah is guarded with 100% certainty? Nowhere in the Qur'an is it mentioned that Salah has bowing, prostrations whereas it's mentioned even birds perform salah and Allah swt sends salah to Muhammad (pbuh).
Jazakallah
Answer:
The first thing we need to appreciate is that it is not just the word of God that assures us of the protection of the Qur’an. The Qur’an has been transmitted through the consensus of generations, starting from the time of the companions. This mass transmission has made the possibility of any significant corruptions occurring in the Qur’an to be zero and the possibility of any insignificant errors to be nearly zero. What then makes us, as Muslims, to believe that even an insignificant error has not been taken place are those verses of the Qur’an that assert the glory and the magnificence of the Book, its function as a guide for the mankind and its divine protection, including the one that you mentioned. In fact, God’s will to protect the Qur’an from any corruptions and errors has been implemented through the process of this mass transmission of the Qur’an in the Ummah.
Like the Qur’an, Sunnah too has been preserved by mass transmission. In fact one may even argue that for Sunnah the preservation was even easier since the preservation of the Qur’an, as a rather thick book, was through mass narration but the preservation of the Sunnah, which included a few practices, was through the perpetual adherence of generations to them.
Therefore we really do not need any verses of the Qur’an to confirm that Sunnah will be preserved. We do know that it is preserved simply because we know how it reached us.
Now let us accept for the sake of argument that, as you wrote, some errors might have been entered to our understanding of Sunnah. Is this going to be a big deal? Not at all, for three reasons:
- Adhering to the Qur’an does not allow such an error to be a significant one.
- The error can only be in our religious practices and not in our beliefs.
- Since the method of transmission of the Sunnah justifies its reliability, if any errors enter it we will not be held responsible if we mistakenly consider that as part of the Sunnah.
I would like to emphasize though that the above was only for the sake of argument. Otherwise, I really do not see how a whole generation could mistakenly add an error to the Sunnah and pass it to the next generation.
Your second question is as follows:
“if Salah is such an integral part of Islam why was it not mentioned in detail as ablution was and ensure that Salah is guarded with 100% certainty? Nowhere in the Qur'an is it mentioned that Salah has bowing, prostrations whereas it's mentioned even birds perform salah and Allah swt sends salah to Muhammad (pbuh)”
As a general note please consider that the Qur'an only explains those necessary parts of our religion that have not been or could not be clearly explained by other reliable sources. Meanwhile even for those necessary parts of religion that have been explained by other reliable sources, the Qur'an has provided a clear basis and platform.
Inline with the above, only those parts of the Sunnah have been mentioned in the Qur’an that needed clarifications. The parts that people already knew or could easily learn from the Prophet (pbuh) have not been explained in the Qur’an. Yes the Qur’an talks about prayer of birds (24:41). However when we look at the verses where the obligatory payers of Muslims are mentioned it is easy to see that a known, defined ritual act of praying is being referred to. For instance look at the verses 4:102,103; 2:238; 4:101; 5:6; 62:9.
When we look at these verses we immediately understand that the word Salah in the Qur’an has not always come in its general or literal meaning (like the Salah of birds, or the Salah for the Prophet - pbuh). When it is about the worshiping duty of Muslims, it has a very specific meaning.
The question then arises, how is this specific prayer?
The answer to this question is not in the Qur’an. Yet the way the Qur’an talks about it, it is obvious that we are expected to know the answer. If not in the Sunnah, then in what other reliable source we can find the answer? And how can we simply ignore the consensus of the generations of Muslims who have practically answered this question by their perpetual adherence to their prayers?
----------
Related Topics:
- Sunnah vs. Hadith
- Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 1: Imitating the Prophet - pbuh)
- Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 2: Criteria for Accepting a Hadith)
- Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 3: Definition of Established Sunnah)
- Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 4: Beard)
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May 2013
