Kassim Ahmad's introduction to his book Hadith: A Re-evaluation traces hadith to Shafi`i's theory two centuries after Muhammad and argues that hadith, not modernity or secularism, caused Muslim decline, with renewal lying in a return to the Quran alone. Also reported are Masjid Tucson's food drive, soup kitchen work, and interfaith Thanksgiving service, plus excerpts from a Bill Clinton speech on religious tolerance.
...Therefore, congratulate My servants who listen to all
views, then follow the best.
These are the ones guided by God; these are the intelligent ones. (39:17-18)
[Editor’s note: This
article is part of the introduction of the book “Hadith: A Re-evaluation”
authored by Kassim Ahmad of Malaysia. This book is translated into English
from the Malay original by Syed Akbar Ali. We are in the process of publishing
this book. God willing, it will be available for distribution by the month
of Ramadan.]
All Muslims are required to uphold the hadith or sunna of the Prophet,
i.e., the so-called Prophetic traditions, as a primary source of law apart
from the Quran, according to the teachings of classical jurisprudence.
Yet not many, indeed very few, realize that the basis of this jurisprudential
theory was promulgated two hundred years after Muhammad’s death
by the famous jurist Imam Shafi`i (d. 204/820). What have come to be known
as the ‘Six Authentic Books’ of hadith of the majority Sunnite
‘orthodoxy’ were compiled, precisely after the promulgation
of this theory, by Bukhari (d. 256/870), Muslim (d. 261/875), Abu Daud
(d. 275/888), Tirmidhi (d. 279/892),
Ibn Maja (d. 273/886), and al-Nasa'i (d.
303/915) during the second half of the second and the beginning of the
third centuries of Islam, between 220 and 270 years after the Prophet’s
death.
The ‘heterodox’ Shi`ite minority sect has its own sets of
hadith compiled during the third and fourth centuries, by al-Kulaini (d.
328 or 329), Ibn Babuwayh (d. 381), Jaafar Muhammad al-Tusi (d. 411) and
al-Murtada (d. 436), who compiled sayings attributed to Ali.
Based on this Shafi`i theory and on what was later termed as the consensus
of scholars, the hadith/sunna was propagated to and accepted by the Muslims
as interpreter and complement to the Quran, implying thereby that the
Quran needs an interpreter and is not complete in itself. Although the
Shi`ites have not accepted the classical Sunnite jurisprudential theory
in toto, they do accept the doctrine that the hadith/sunna constitutes
a source of law on par with the Quran.
Background to this Study
In accordance with this Sunnite tradition, I also accepted this position
when I wrote my book on modern Islamic social theory in 1981-82, although
I qualified my acceptance according to Ibn Khaldun’s formula, which
requires all acceptable traditions to be validated by the Quran and rational
criteria. However, this position, though a scientific one, is still not
clear enough until in 1985 the works of an outstanding Egyptian Muslim
scholar, Dr. Rashad Khalifa, particularly his The
Computer Speaks: God’s Message to the World, Quran, Hadith and Islam
and his superb translation of the Quran have opened for me a way to solve
the problem of the hadith. I therefore began to re-examine the hadith:
how they came about; the social factors that brought them into existence;
a review of the classical criticism; the actual place of the hadith in
relation to the Quran; their negative effects on the Muslim community;
their connections to the decline and
Page 2
Hadith
fall of the Muslims; and the way out of this impasse.
I am convinced that the time has come for the Muslim community
and their intelligentsia to critically re-evaluate the whole heritage
of traditional Islamic thought, including theology and jurisprudence.
This is because the traditional formulation was made by the society
and intelligentsia of that time in accordance with their knowledge
and level of understanding, and conforming to needs of that time.
Now the situation has changed tremendously and there is no doubt
that the traditional formulation must be reconsidered.
Since the emergence of the modern reformism movement of Jamaluddin
al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh and Rashid Ridha at the end of the nineteenth
and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, many studies have
been made on the decline and fall of the Muslims. These include
the works of thinkers like Iqbal, Malek Bennabi and Fazlur Rahman.
However, the condition of the Muslim community has not changed very
much and continues to be precarious. In comparison with other communities,
especially those in Europe, United States, Russia and Japan, the
Muslim community is the most backward, especially in socio-economic,
scientific, technological and military fields.
What are the reasons for this backwardness? From the point of view
of numbers, the Muslims, now more than a billion, have outnumbered
the Christians, and from the point of view of natural resources,
Muslim countries are among the richest in the world. Why, with such
vast resources and possessing an infallible divine scripture, are
the Muslims unable to compete with and surpass other nations?
This situation is exactly the opposite of the situation of their
early ancestors who, within a short period of time, climbed the
heights of success and created a great world empire and a great
world civilization. These early successes which had astounded the
world must have had their
reasons based on the laws of historical
change. What are those reasons? This is the greatest challenge facing
Muslim intelligentsia at the close of the twentieth century and
on the threshold of the twenty-first: to seek the true causes of
Muslim decline and thereby to lay the ground for a new Muslim Renaissance.
As we have said, this study and review of our traditional formulation
must encompass classical theology and jurisprudence. The hadith,
of course, is at the core of these traditional disciplines.
Our present knowledge points to many factors that contribute to
the rise and fall of nations, factors that are ideological, political,
economic, social, cultural, historical, psychological, demographic,
geographical, scientific, technological and military in nature.
But it is also quite certain that within this pluralism of factors,
not all play equally important roles. Technology can surmount geographical
limitations; military strategy can overcome numbers; political leadership
can offset economic weakness, and so on. Turning to the Quran as
our infallible guide, we find the following statements that can
give us a clue to the understanding of the problem under discussion.
Surely, God does not change the condition of any
people until they them-selves change. (13:11)
That is because God does not change the blessings
He had bestowed upon any people, unless they themselves change.
(8:53)
If only the previous generations had some intelligent
people who enjoined them from corruption, they would have been saved.
But We saved a few of them, while the rest pursued their material
things and became sinners. Your Lord never destroys any community
unjustly while the people are righteous. (11:116-117)
We will surely give victory to our messengers and
to those who believe, both in this life and on the day the witnesses
are raised. (40:51)
You shall never waver, nor shall you worry; you are
guaranteed victory for as long as you are believers. (3:139)
All the above Quranic statements point
to a people’s ideology as the most important component in
the determination of their fate. This means that insofar as a people
is imbued with a scientific, dynamic and progressive ideology, that
far will it climb the ladder of success. Conversely, insofar as
a people revert to a previously held anti-scientific, static and
regressive ideology, that far will it degenerate. The strong unambiguous
statements about victory being granted to believers in both worlds
necessarily follow from the definition of believers as those possessing
and practicing the true scientific ideology.
Basing ourselves on this premise, we can make the following hypothesis.
The rapid rise of the Arab nation from its dark period of paganism
prior to Muhammad to become the most powerful and civilized nation
in the world then, within a short period of time, is due to the
new, inspiring, powerful and dynamic Islamic ideology of monotheism
brought by Muhammad. The Arabs, under his and his immediate successors’
leadership, discarded their erstwhile polytheism and superstitions.
They united to fight and struggle under the guidance of the Quran
and set up a just social order. Because this struggle was based
on divine truth and justice as contained in the Quran, it was invincible.
It also gave rise to a great social movement, bringing forth with
it outstanding political, military and intellectual leaders who
helped to create the first scientific-spiritual culture in history.
This hypothesis, in contrast to the modernist or the traditionalist
theses, appears to be the most helpful in our effort to understand
the history and the decline of the Muslims. The modernist thesis,
in brief, states that the Muslims declined because they have remained
traditional and have not modernized themselves according to Western
secular values. The traditionalist thesis, on the other hand, blames
the secularization of Muslim societies and the neglect of orthodox
Muslim teachings as the major cause of Muslim decline.
Page 3
Hadith
It is obvious that the modernist and the traditionalist theses
canceled each other. Furthermore, the modernists have to explain
why the Turkish experiment with Westernized modernization failed.
They also have to explain why developed Western societies such as
the United States and Europe have been undergoing a multi-faceted
crisis since the First World War, and why a new philosophical trend
of thought critical of Western-type modernization has developed
in Europe and America.
The traditionalists, on the other hand, must explain the failure
of their system from the beginning when it was first formulated
around the third, fourth and fifth centuries of Islam. Some Arab
countries have hardly modernized and
had been practicing the traditional
system for centuries—why have these not progressed? If they
have not progressed, it is idle to expect Muslim countries to progress
if they implement the traditional system.
The answer lies in our hypothesis. The early Muslims rose to the
pinnacles of success precisely because they were in possession of
and practiced the powerful and dynamic Islamic ideology as preached
in the Quran. They subjected other knowledge, local and foreign,
to the discriminative teachings of the Quran. As long as they did
this, they progressed. A time came when other teachings, local and
foreign, gained the upper hand and submerged the Quran, as witnessed
by the following Quranic prophecy:
The messenger will say, “My Lord, my people
have deserted this Quran.” We thus appointed for every prophet
enemies from among the
criminals, and God suffices as Guide and Protector. (25:30-31)
After about three hundred years, extraneous harmful teachings not
taught by Prophet Muhammad but skillfully attributed to him gradually
gained a foothold in the Muslim community and turned them away from
the dynamic invincible ideology that initially brought them success.
This ideology, as we shall show, is precisely the hadith. This is
the main cause of their downfall. It therefore follows that the
purging of this harmful ideology, and with it other foreign modern
ideologies, from the Muslim community, and their return to the original
ideology brought by Muhammad in the Quran is the sine qua non for
the regeneration of the Muslim community and for a new Muslim Renaissance.
Kassim Ahmad
Masjid Tucson Activities
Food Drive
Some members of the community participated in a food drive for
the Community Food Bank. They volunteered to help collect canned
and non-perishable food donations in the last week of September,
1996. The Food Bank, one of the largest charitable organizations
in Tucson with low overhead, distributes the donated items to the
needy people throughout the year.
Soup Kitchen
We participate in an ongoing project to help feed the hungry in
our town in cooperation with Casas Adobes congregational church
and Temple Emmanuel synagogue. Representatives from the three communities
get together during one weekend every other month, to buy, prepare
and distribute food at a soup kitchen operated by the Salvation
Army. The last soup kitchen participation was on November 9-10,
1996. Hot meals were served to a total of 230 needy people.
Thanksgiving Service
The 2nd annual Interfaith Thanksgiving service was held on November
28, 1996 at Temple Emanuel in Tucson. The event was sponsored by
the Inter-Religious Council of Southern Arizona of which we are
a member. The idea is to use this American holiday of giving thanks
to our Creator as a chance for people of different faiths to come
together, united in the worship of God. We read Quranic verses of
appreciation and thanks. The Christian readings from the New Testament
included Jesus reminding his disciples not to worry about the things
of this world: “Your heavenly Father knows all that you
need. Seek first His kingship over you, His way of Holiness, and
all these things will be given to you besides.” (Matthew
6:32-33) There were Jewish Thanksgiving Blessings, a prayer of thanks
in the language of the Indian tribe of the Tohono O'odham, and thanksgiving
prayers by other religous groups. It was a wonderful chance to see
all that we have in common.
He decreed for you the same religion decreed for
Noah, and what we inspired to you, and what we decreed for Abraham,
Moses and Jesus: “You shall uphold this one religion and do
not divide it.” (42:13)
Your Lord has decreed: “The more you thank
Me, the more I give you.” (14:7)
Page 4
We’re all the Creatures of God
[The following are excerpts
from a speech by Bill Clinton, the President of United States, to the
United Michigan Clergy, a Christian, Jewish and Muslim gathering in Detroit.]
There’s a big idea here. Do you believe that we’re better
off if we go forward together, with mutual respect for each other, with
all of our diversity? Or are we better off having a fight every time we
disagree with somebody over something?...If you’re willing to respect
me even though I’m different from you; and if you’re willing
to show up for work tomorrow and be a law-abiding citizen, that’s
all I need to know about you....
This is not a simple thing. Look at the world. Look at how the world
is convulsed...how children, innocent children, [are] still being killed
on the brink of the 21st century because of tribal, ethnic, racial and
religious differences around the world. Consider the Holy Land, the home
of the three great religions of the world, who all believe we are all
created in the image of one God, our creator, our judge. How shall He
judge us for keeping on killing each other into the 21st century because
we’re different from somebody else?
Some people said they thought I had overreacted when these churches were
being burned, when synagogues were
being defaced with swastikas, when there was
an Islamic center destroyed in South Carolina...And I said, “No.
I don’t think so.” Not just because churches have been burned
in my region in my lifetime...but because all over the world you see the
logical conclusion of human affairs if we define ourselves primarily in
terms of what we are not instead of what we are.
If we start looking at other people and say, “Thank God I’m
not them,” then it’s not very long before you can say, “Well,
maybe God wants me to do away with them.” Is that right?...
So in America there’s a connection, a direct connection, between
this fundamental religious concept we’re talking about here—whether
we’re all the creatures of God and all equal in the eyes of God—and
the much more secular events...
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