There are two predominant reasons why a devout adherent of the Quran and a follower of the Prophet Muhammad will solely rely on the Quran alone as their only source of religious law and dismiss all other Hadith.
No Authority
The primary reason is that the Hadith corpus has no authority in the religion and is condemned by name in the Quran.
45:6 These are GOD’s revelations that we recite to you truthfully. In which Hadith other than GOD and His revelations do they believe?
77:50 Which Hadith, other than this, do they uphold?
فَبِأَىِّ حَدِيثٍۭ بَعْدَهُۥ يُؤْمِنُونَ
31:6 Among the people, there are those who uphold baseless Hadith, and thus divert others from the path of GOD without knowledge, and take it in vain. These have incurred a shameful retribution.
6:114 Shall I seek other than GOD as a source of law, when He has revealed to you this book fully detailed? Those who received the scripture recognize that it has been revealed from your Lord, truthfully. You shall not harbor any doubt.
The secondary reason is that Hadith are highly inauthentic, making the entire corpus incredibly unreliable. Hadith by their very nature are conjecture (zann / ظَّنَّ) and lacks any level of certainty.
6:116 If you obey the majority of people on earth, they will divert you from the path of GOD. They follow only conjecture (l-ẓana); they only guess.
6:148 The idol worshipers say, “Had GOD willed, we would not practice idolatry, nor would our parents, nor would we prohibit anything.” Thus did those before them disbelieve, until they incurred our retribution. Say, “Do you have any proven knowledge that you can show us? You follow nothing but conjecture (zann); you only guess.”
For example, there are numerous contradicting reports regarding the most basic facts about the prophet and the religion.
What was the first revelation?
What was the last revelation?
How old was the prophet when he died?
How many years was the prophet in Mecca and Medina?
How many wives did the prophet have?
How many battles did the prophet participate in?
Traditionalists often accuse individuals who reject the authenticity of Hadith besides the Quran of cherry-picking Hadith and rejecting the authenticity of the entire corpus based on some fringe Hadith. To refute such a claim, let’s gauge the reliability of Hadith based on what should be considered the most reputable Hadith found in their entire Hadith corpus.
For this analysis, we will use three of the most cut-and-dry examples:
The most mass-transmitted Hadith
The most oft-repeated statement supposedly made by the prophet
The most widely witnessed Hadith ever stated in the prophet’s whole life
We will demonstrate that the Hadith corpus is still highly unreliable even among these three most notable cases.
Example # 1: The Most Widely Transmitted Hadith
Besides the Quran, one Hadith is considered the most widely transmitted Hadith in all the Hadith corpus. This Hadith has more narrators than any other Hadith and consists of only a single sentence. Yet, there is a dispute regarding the exact wording of this Hadith. In addition to minor differences in the various narrations, there also exists a major point of contention that has implications on the entire Hadith corpus based on which narration is accepted.
The Hadith has the basic structure that claims the prophet said, “Whoever lies about me should take their seat in the Hellfire.” This Hadith is supposedly transmitted by some seventy different companions and is considered the most widely propagated Hadith in the entire Hadith corpus.
As ibn al-Salah (d. 643/1245), the most famous scholar of hadith criticism in the later period, explained, at most one hadith [‘Whoever lies about me, let him prepare for himself a seat in the Hellfire.’] would meet the requirements for mutawatir.
Hadith Muhammad’s Legacy in Medieval and Modern World p. 109
Ibn al-Salah, Muqaddima p. 454
While this Hadith contains many subtle variations in syntax that are inconsequential to the overall meaning, there are two flavors of this Hadith that, depending on which one a person chooses to follow, will have significant implications for the overall validity of the entire Sunni corpus.
This is because some of the narrations claim the lie must be deliberate ( مُتَعَمِّدًا), while others have no indication that this is limited to deliberate lies.
For reference, here are several without the word deliberate:
WITHOUT THE WORD DELIBERATE
Narrated: …Rab’iy ibn Hirāsh, that he heard Alī, may Allah be pleased with him, giving a Khutbah and he said that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said: ‘ Do not lie upon me; indeed whoever lies upon me will enter the Fire’.
وَحَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا غُنْدَرٌ، عَنْ شُعْبَةَ، ح وَحَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، وَابْنُ، بَشَّارٍ قَالاَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنْ مَنْصُورٍ، عَنْ رِبْعِيِّ بْنِ حِرَاشٍ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ عَلِيًّا، – رضى الله عنه – يَخْطُبُ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم “ لاَ تَكْذِبُوا عَلَىَّ فَإِنَّهُ مَنْ يَكْذِبْ عَلَىَّ يَلِجِ النَّارَ ” .
Sahih Muslim 1
https://sunnah.com/muslim:1
Narrated `Ali: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “ Do not tell a lie against me for whoever tells a lie against me then he will surely enter the Hell-fire. “
حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ الْجَعْدِ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا شُعْبَةُ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي مَنْصُورٌ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ رِبْعِيَّ بْنَ حِرَاشٍ، يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ عَلِيًّا، يَقُولُ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم “ لاَ تَكْذِبُوا عَلَىَّ، فَإِنَّهُ مَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَىَّ فَلْيَلِجِ النَّارَ ”.
Sahih al-Bukhari 106
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:106
Narrated `Abdullah bin Az-Zubair: I said to my father, ‘I do not hear from you any narration (Hadith) of Allah’s Apostle as I hear (his narration) from so and so?” Az-Zubair replied. l was always with him (the Prophet), and I heard him saying, “Whoever tells a lie against me then let him occupy his seat in Hellfire.
Sahih al-Bukhari 107
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:107
Here are others with the word deliberate:
Narrated Anas: The fact which stops me from narrating a great number of Hadiths to you is that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Whoever deliberatly lies against me, then let him occupy his seat in Hell-fire.”
حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مَعْمَرٍ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَارِثِ، عَنْ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ، قَالَ أَنَسٌ إِنَّهُ لَيَمْنَعُنِي أَنْ أُحَدِّثَكُمْ حَدِيثًا كَثِيرًا أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ “ مَنْ تَعَمَّدَ عَلَىَّ كَذِبًا فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ ”.
Sahih al-Bukhari 108
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:108
Muhammad bin Ubayd il-Ghubarī narrated to us, Abū Awānah narrated to us, on authority of Abī Hasīn, on authority of Abī Sālih, on authority of Abū Hurayrah, he said, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said: ‘ Whoever lies upon me intentionally, then let him take his seat in the Fire’.
وَحَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عُبَيْدٍ الْغُبَرِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَوَانَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي حَصِينٍ، عَنْ أَبِي صَالِحٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم “ مَنْ كَذَبَ عَلَىَّ مُتَعَمِّدًا فَلْيَتَبَوَّأْ مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ النَّارِ ” .
Sahih Muslim 3
https://sunnah.com/muslim:3
This is not a subtle difference because if someone is to take the more conservative approach, then even if someone unintentionally lies about the prophet, attributing something to him that he did not say, they would be securing their seat in the Hellfire. Therefore, anyone who mistakenly attributes any inaccurate statement to the prophet would be condemning themselves to Hell. The reason this would be so highly problematic for all Hadith is that no scholar claims that the Hadith are verbatim statements from the prophet. This is perfectly encompassed in the following statement attributed to the most famous successor Hasan al-Basri:
The Companion Wathila b. Asqa‘ had admitted that sometimes the early Muslims even confused the exact wording of the Quran, which was universally well-known and well-preserved. So how, he asked, could one expect any less in the case of a report that the Prophet had said just once? Al-Hasan al-Basri is reported to have said, If we only narrated to you what we could repeat word for word, we would only narrate two hadiths.
Hadith Muhammad s Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World p. 24
This shows that the most widely transmitted Hadith in the entire corpus is not only not a verbatim speech of the prophet, but even the exact meaning is uncertain. Therefore, if the most highly transmitted statement in the entire corpus, which consists of only a single sentence, is unreliable, how less reliable are all other Hadith?
For a complete analysis of this Hadith and its variations, you can check out the following article.
Example #2: The Most Oft-Repeated Hadith
The Tashahhud ( تَشَهُّد) is the testimony of faith which is to be recited during Salat while in the sitting position. It is derived from the shahadah ( ٱلشَّهَادَةُ), which occurs in various forms throughout the Quran approximately thirty-plus times.
3:18 GOD bears witness that there is no god except He, and so do the angels and those who possess knowledge. Truthfully and equitably, He is the absolute god; there is no god but He, the Almighty, Most Wise.
[Sura 47 “Muhammad”:19] You shall know that: “There is no other god beside GOD,” and ask forgiveness of your sins and the sins of all believing men and women. GOD is fully aware of your decisions and your ultimate destiny.
Let’s consider that the prophet made this statement multiple times daily and was heard repeatedly by hundreds if not thousands of companions throughout his prophethood. We can comfortably say that this is single-handedly one of the most oft-repeated statements of the prophet during his whole life. Therefore, we would expect that there should be an absolute consensus among all the companions regarding the exact wording for this most prolific statement from the prophet, yet when we search the Hadith corpus, we see this is not the case.
What else is interesting is that many of these narrations state that “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to teach us tashahhud just as he used to teach us a Surah of the Qur’an.” If this were true, one would expect to see every narration regarding how to state the tashahhud to be identical, as this is what we find in the Quran. However, this is not the case, as there are numerous variations of this statement. Below are some of the multiple narrations of the supposed tashahhud of the prophet:
Again, if this most oft-repeated statement made by the prophet, which was supposedly taught to his companions no different than the verses of the Quran, is unreliable, how less reliable are all other Hadith?
For a more in-depth look into these various narrations, check out the following article.
Example #3: The Single Most Widely Heard Hadith During the Prophet’s Life
Despite there not existing a single sermon from the prophet that is transcribed from start to finish in the entire Hadith corpus, the most widely heard sermon that he gave in his whole life would be the one he supposedly gave during what is known as the Farewell Pilgrimage, Ḥijjatu Al-Wadāʿ ( حِجَّة ٱلْوَدَاع), in the Islamic year 10 AH, following the Conquest of Mecca.
It is believed that there were between 4 to 10,000 people in the audience for this sermon. This would make this the most widely heard statement from the prophet in his entire life. Yet not only did not a single person fully document what was said, but the Hadith is even unsure regarding the exact location of the sermon, with some narrations claiming Mina while others Arafat.
Instead, what we find regarding the sermon in the Hadith corpus, on top of the confusion regarding the exact location, are various narrations that conflict with one another regarding what was stated in this sermon. The critical difference between these narrations lies with what the prophet supposedly claimed to have left for the believers to keep them from being misguided. Depending on the narration, there are one of four options.
“I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the book of God.”
Sahih Muslim 1218a
Al-Jahiz in the Kitāb al-Bayān wa-al-Tabyīn
Musnad of Imam Ahmad (hadith no.19774)
Mishkat al-Masabih 2555
Sunan Abi Dawud 1905
“I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the book of God and my Family, the people of the house.”
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3786
“I left for you what if you hold up to, you will never be misguided, the book of God and my Sunnah.”
Ibn Ishaq, as quoted in Ibn Hisham’s Sirah an-Nabawiyah (with no isnad)
“I enjoin you to fear Allah, and to hear and obey (your leaders) even if it be an Abyssinian (Ethiopian) slave, for those of you who live after me will see great disagreement. You must then follow my Sunnah and that of the rightly-guided caliphs.”
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2676
Sunan Ibn Majah 42
Sunan Abi Dawud 4607
Riyad as-Salihin 157
As seen above, these are not minor differences but have significant implications based on which statement the prophet said, if any. The fact that there is no consensus regarding what the prophet stated regarding the single most widely heard sermon of his entire life again reinforces that Hadith are highly unreliable. If the Hadith is not reliable to inform us what the prophet said when potentially thousands supposedly witnessed such a sermon, how less reliable are all the other Hadith when it was heard by one or even a handful of companions?
For an analysis of these four variations, check out the following article.
Conclusion
This shows that individuals who claim that the Hadith are unreliable are not doing this because they are cherry-picking questionable Hadith. Even among the most prominent examples where one should expect that if there is any authenticity to the Hadith, it should be visible in these examples, the Hadith literature repeatedly fails. It fails to determine the exact wording and meaning of the single sentence that is considered the most mass-transmitted statement in the entire corpus. It fails to provide the exact wording for the tashahhud which should be the most oft-repeated statement made by the prophet throughout his whole life. And it fails to give a consistent account regarding what the prophet supposedly stated during the most widely heard sermon of his life. So if the Hadith fails again and again on what should be its most ironclad narrations, how less reliable should one consider Hadith for all other matters?