My deep disappointment with the Hadith literature

I had been brought up as a traditional Muslimah, Alhamdulilah, deriving my spiritual and ethical knowledge only from the Glorious Quran. Since the past few years I had been hearing much about "Hadith" from many sections of the Muslim community, so I thought of studying it too. As we know, Hadiths are the alleged sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) as claimed by the Muslim traditionalists, but in reality it is NOT. I studied Sahih al-Bukhari thoroughly from cover to cover and parts of certain other collections as well. Unfortunately and unexpectedly, I was very disappointed. I became deeply disturbed by the contents of many of these Ahadith, to the extent that it robbed my sleep for many nights. I found majority of them to be full of absurdities. Most of them clearly contradict the Quran, many are totally unnecessary, some are silly, some are funny and many sound vulgar & embarrassing. Many clash with the emplemary character of the most beloved Prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace. Of course, it goes without saying that the beloved Prophet (SAAW) never said such things. What boggles my mind is how can so many Muslims today take these narrations seriously by attributing them to the Prophet (SAAW), and implementing important laws based on such narrations that have apparently been cooked up by the self-appointed law makers to suit their own motives?

There are a few good narrations as well, ones compatible with the Glorious Quran and the Prophet's (SAAW) humble temperament. But the improper ones have shaken my trust considerably and I am not sure if I can give the benefit of the doubt for authenticity even to the few good ones.  However, the decent sounding Ahadith (not more than a drop in the ocean) can surely be retained for deriving ethical lessons.  But because the history of Hadith is tainted with such deep controversy, no narrations (good or bad) should be attributed to the Prophet (SAAW). Almighty Allah says in the Quran not to say or believe in matters about which we have no knowledge. Surely, attributing wrong narrations to the Prophet (SAAW) would be a serious violation in the sight of Allah (Subhanu Wa'Tala).

Besides, I've heard a great deal about 'isnads' or chain of narrators being manipulated too. So, that might not be a really satisfying reason for recognizing a narration as authentic. I've come across many narrations declared "authentic" by our so-called "scholars," but their contents are such that my heart can never accept them.

The good hadith sound very nice, but the bad ones sound really very bad. The problem with hadith begins when you start reading the collections systematically. The hardliners say that we must believe in all the Hadith. This means believing in the bad ones too. I already stated I cannot do that.


There's yet another important aspect to reflect upon. Even if a few Ahadith are found unauthentic or absurd in the entire set of all collections, it would be enough to shake the trust of people. If something is based upon truth with a straight intent of conveying the truth and nothing but the truth, there ought to be no cracks anywhere. Of course we cannot say this about hadith because there are not just a 'few' that are absurd, but majority are in that categroy. A few good sayings from the Hadith cannot cover up for all the bad ones.

We cannot simply quote the good ones and slip the bad ones under the carpet. This is not the way 'guidance' is supposed to present itself to people. If we really value a collection of writings or narrations, we should be proud of every word of it .. just like we are proud of every single Ayah of the Glorious Qur'aan .. it's contents, it's uniformity, eloquence, and the honesty and beauty with which it presents the truth. But it's the opposite with the Hadith. I've very often come across people circulating handpicked narrations of Hadith, making sure they select the best ones to avoid embarrassment, and hiding the disgusting ones. So how is one be expected to trust the institution of hadith and acquire peace of mind by reading it when most of its narrations sound so inappropriate that they have to be concealed from public view? I thought that the Hadith was meant to compliment the Quraan, not contradict it.

Now think of this. There are so many Ahadith that discuss the conjugal relationship of the Prophet (SAAW) with his wives. I say to myself .. is all this necessary to discuss? Wasn't our beloved Prophet entitled to any privacy in his life? If the Prophet (SAAW) ever knew of these obnoxious narrations, would he be pleased with those people responsible for circulating such gossip? We are supposed to love and respect the beloved Prophet even more than we love and respect our own parents, and that's really saying a lot. Would any of us ever discuss the conjugal relationship of our parents? I am sure not. So why do the Hadith writers narrate such intimate aspects about the beloved Prophet's life? All I can say is that these Hadith writers had a questionable intent .. a bad intent.

People say Hadith explains the Quran. Among the ulemas and imams, this is the standard excuse for accepting Hadith. But that just isn't true. All my life I have read the Glorious Quraan independently and never needed help from any source to understand it. Quran is not complicated nor difficult to understand particularly for those who are seriously looking for guidance. Allah Himself says in that the Quran is "easy to understand." Indeed it is. Secondly, it would be gross arrogance on the part of we humans to say that the Glorious Quraan depends on Hadith or on any collection of writings for its explanation. The Glorious Quraan in independent of everything. It is a STANDALONE BOOK about which there is NO doubt.

As anyone who has studied Hadith would know that it has a striking resemblance with the Old and New Testaments. Researchers who have analysed the history of Hadith have confirmed that the Hadith writers read little or nothing of the Quran, but they surely scanned the Torah and Gospel to write the Hadith narrations, the purpose being to revive many of the pre-Islamic laws. Looking at many of the contents of the Hadith, this analysis is apparently very true. E.g. stoning to death for adultery, death for apostacy, re-appearance of Jesus son of Mary etc. are all taken from the Bible. Such laws have nothing to do with the Quran. The counterpart of the Gospels is the Hadith, not the Quraan.

It's a natural tendency in human beings to accept & adhere to human dictates with much greater willingness than Divine Commandments. If Allah (The Most High) hadn't taken the responsibility upon Himself to preserve the Glorious Quran, perhaps the Quran would have also been completely altered by humans over the last several centuries, just like the Torah and the Bible have been changed. But Allah has stated that the Glorious Quran is in a "guarded tablet" and will never change. So it won't. Praise be to Him! So the manipulators needed a different channel altogether to present their own views and attribute narrations to the Prophet (SAAW) for acquring acceptance from the people. Most of these exaggerated or completely concocted and fabricated narrations are today read in the form of 'Hadith.' It is also an accepted fact that most of the Ahadith we see today have been 'edited' dozens of times during the last several centuries by various imams and "scholars" to suit their own social & political interests and personal thoughts.

Then again, I have very often come across this needless and hackneyed concept that Hadith teaches prayer (salaah), without which we wouldn't know how to offer salaah today. After reflecting a little, anyone with a shred of sense would agree that nothing could be farther from the truth. Hadith does not teach salaah. I never came across the entire procedure of salaah in any Hadith nor have any of those whom I've asked. Most importantly, we must know that the culture of Hadith narrations came around 200 years after the passing away of the Prophet (SAAW). So, according to the theory of the clergy that Muslims have learnt to offer salaah through Hadeeth, the question arises .. how did those Muslims offer their salaah who lived during the 200 years after the passing of the Prophet (SAAW) and the coming of Imam Bukhari? Or does this mean that for those 200 years the Muslims didn't offer salaah or forgot the method of salaah till Bukhari and other narrators came along and showed it to them ? Of course this is nonsense. In other words, if Bukhari & Co. showed people how to offer salaah through their Hadith narrations, I would like to know how the Muslims learnt to offer prayers during those 200 years between the Prophet's (pbuh) death and Bukhari's appearance for writing narrations. The answer is simple. Muslims have not learnt the method of prayers from the Hadith. Instead, they have learnt to offer salaah from the practical demonstrations of the beloved Prophet (SAAW) who used to lead the prayers 5 times a day throughout his lifetime. After the Prophet (pbuh), Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Ali led the prayers and so on. This is how the unwritten practice and tradition of offering salaah was passed on from generation to generation. Bukhari and other hadith writers learnt these details from the people and thus wrote it down. I wouldn't give Hadith any credit for teaching us prayers.

Some adherents of Hadith, in an effort to defend it from this argument, claim that Hadith narrations already existed since the time of the Prophet (SAAW), and Bukhari and others simply compiled them into different collections/sections. This is another contradiction from the many concrete data of Islamic history that categorically state that the Prophet (SAAW) did not allow any of his narrations to be preserved for fear that people might mix them up with the Quran or get distracted from the Quran, and in accordance with his (pbuh) wishes, Abu Bakr (ra) and Umer bin Khattab (ra) had destroyed thousands of Ahadith narrations. In fact, there are some Hadith narrations that themselves mention that the Prophet (SAAW) did not allow anyone to preserve his words. If you think of it, this admission makes the Hadith literature a 'contradiciton within a contradiction' in that, it apparently denies the truth of its own narrations and yet goes on with it.

Surely, the Glorious Quran itself contains the Sunnah, in that, it mentions every basic aspect about the Prophet's (SAAW) life and character. In the Quran, Allah also tells the Prophet what to narrate and how to respond to queries. This alone makes up the real, authentic Sunnah. What we read in the various Hadith collections are the 'sunnah' of the Hadith narrators or writers, NOT of the Prophet (SAAW). Thus, every reliable and truly authentic information about the Prophet can only be acquired from the Quran. Following the Quran automatically means following the beloved Prophet (SAAW). But following the Hadith means neither following the Quran nor the Prophet.

Adhering to the teachings of the Prophet (SAAW) is most important. When the Quran tells the believers to follow the example of the Prophet, it refers to those believers living in the Prophet's era. And now since the beloved Prophet (SAAW) has passed away, the believers are expected to follow Allah's Quran and then only can they be sure that they are adhering to the teachings of the Prophet (SAAW)otherwise they are bound to waver and fall into the trap of falsehood. True & pure guidance as preached by the beloved Prophet Muhammad comes only by endearing the Message that was revealed to him (SAAW) in the Glorious Quran and nurturing our conscience on the basis of the principles and broad guidelines of the Noble Quran.

Last but not least, many conscientious believers have upheld that as Muslims we simply ought to know that we should not adhere to any other book except the Quran. Allowing any other set of human writings to come between the Quran and us would definitely distract us from the Quran. This is precisely what has happened to the so-called 'Ummah' of today that has been carried away in a very different direction than the one ordained by the Almighty Allah, only because of their involvement with Hadith.

I've now quit the Hadith and am back to the Quran alone like before, praise be to Allah Almighty .. thus, getting back my peace of mind.