Guest Editorial: THE PROBLEM OF THE SEERAH, HADITH AND SUNNAH, THE PROBLEM OF ISLAM.

Aaron Musa

All over the world the Muslims are associated with failure. And violence. The Christmas season now brings a new anxiety in Europe - Muslims ramming Christmas shoppers with cars or trucks. The latest attack in Magdeburg, Germany taking five innocent lives. Looking inside Islam it is a jumble of never ending sectarianism, schism and new splinters being born everywhere. Even the Salafis have splintered into the new Madkhalis. Regardless of which sect or splinter the entire spectrum is underlined by violence. Apostasy is still punishable. And punishable by death. The Shia ayatollahs in Iran have suggested killing women who do not cover their heads. The violent proclivity begins early. The Sunni hadith says you must beat your sons if they do not pray by age ten. Pubescent girls who fail to cover their heads can suffer worse fates. Has all this worked? Are the Muslims successful at anything? Is it safe to have Muslim neighbours?

The world's 1.9 billion Muslims are made up of the Sunnis and Shias. By numbers the Sunnis make up about 80% of Muslims but the sectarian ideology of the almost 400 million Shias has the same intensity and grip upon its followers as Sunnism. Both Shias and Sunnis share the same Quran but they differ in the prophet's teachings outside the Quran. The Sunnis rely on what they term the Seerah, hadith and sunnah. The Seerah refers to the biographical narratives about the prophet. The hadith represent the alleged sayings of the prophet other than the Quran and the sunnah refer the practises of the prophet. If the prophet asked his wife for a glass of milk that could be in the hadith. If the prophet insisted on being seated when he drank milk or anything else that would be part of his practises or sunnah. The Shias reject the hadith and sunnah of the Sunnis. The Shias have their own theology outside the Quran which are rejected by the Sunnis.

Technically neither the hadith and sunnah nor the Shia theologies are relevant for Islam because despite the Shias not believing in the hadith and sunnah they are still accepted as Muslims by the Sunnis. And vice versa. Both Shias and Sunnis perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, they pray together, greet each other, they eat the same food and their men and women can marry each other. Shia majority countries like Iraq, Iran and Bahrain are accepted as Islamic countries by Sunni majority countries and vice versa. You can be a Muslim without the hadith, sunnah or the Shia theology. The perpetual question will pop up - without the hadith how does one pray? Because there is no prayer mentioned anywhere in the Quran. The fact is there is no complete prayer detailed in the hadith either. The prayers are based on the fiqh or the jurisprudence of the scholars. There is no prayer detailed in both the Quran and the hadith.

The biggest problem with the hadith and the sunnah is their authenticity and credibility. Among Sunnis the most highly regarded source of hadith is the collection by Abu Abdallah Muhammad Ismail bin Ibrahim bin Mughirah ibn Bardizba al Jufi al Bukhari (d. 870 AD). More commonly known as Bukhari. They say that Bukhari sifted through a sample of 600,000 hadith before extracting 7,253 as authentic. The scholars cannot agree on the exact numbers authenticated by Bukhari but minus repeating hadith Bukhari's collection reduces to about 2,600 hadith. That is only 0.4 percent of the sample size of 600,000 hadith which Bukhari sifted. This means that Bukhari's sample size of 600,000 hadith was 99.6% corrupted. It was a fully corrupted sample.

Herein lies a problem for the hadith. The scholars say that the hadith explain the Quran. The Quran has 6,348 verses but Bukhari only collected 2,600 hadith. A shortfall of 3,748 hadith. Plus for 28 chapters of the Quran, Bukhari says that "No hadith were recorded here" (Volume 6, Tafsir, Sahih Bukhari). There are not enough hadith to explain the Quran. The bigger mystery is despite the passage of 1,150 years since Bukhari, the scholars cannot identify which verse of the Quran is explained by which particular hadith such that without that hadith the Quranic verse cannot be understood? There is no such thing. Therefore to say that the hadith explains the Quran is highly incorrect.

The average Muslim also does not know that Bukhari did not write down even a single hadith with his own hands. There is not a single page of any manuscript containing hadith written by the hands of Bukhari. Bukhari was a story teller who would narrate hadith. Other people would later repeat what they had heard from Bukhari. The most well known 'transmitter' from Bukhari was Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Matar al Firabri (d. 932 AD). Again there is no written book, manuscript or any type of written collection of Bukhari hadith from al Firabri either. Another scholar by the name of al Khushaymani (d. 976 AD) transmitted the Bukhari hadith which were narrated to him by al Firabri. By this time there were many versions and variant readings of the Bukhari hadith collection. Some scholars say there were at least 70 different variant readings of the Bukhari hadith in existence. Finally in 1446 AD which is 596 years after Bukhari had died, the 'modern' version of the Sahih Bukhari was compiled by Ibnu Hajar Askalani in Cairo. Ibnu Hajar would sometimes refer up to 70 different commentaries about the Bukhari hadith before he edited the hadith and included it in his own book called the Fath al Bari (The Victory of the Creator). This amount of oral transmission, editing and rewriting the Bukhari hadith over so many centuries does not lend any support to its authenticity. The modern version of the Sahih Bukhari is not directly from the hands of Bukhari at all. Rather it is from Ibnu Hajar Askalani in Cairo who edited and compiled it from a huge variety of sources.

The proof of the pudding is always in the eating. Here are some examples of the Bukhari hadith.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Once Moses went out to take a bath and put his clothes over a stone and then that stone ran away with his clothes. Moses ran after that stone saying, "My clothes, O stone! My clothes, O stone!’" (Sahih al-Bukhari 278).

Narrated Abū Huraira: “The Prophet said, ‘Whilst a man was moving a cow, he mounted its back and hit it, so the cow spoke to him saying, ‘We were not created for this purpose, we were created for ploughing.’ The people said, ‘Praise Allāh! A cow that speaks?’ The Prophet said, ‘I believe in this, and so do Abū Bakr and Umar and neither of Abū Bakr and ‘Umar was present’” (Sahih al-Bukhari 3471).

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "If a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease” (Sahih al-Bukhari 3320).

Stories of stones running away with Moses' clothes, cows speaking perfect Arabic and houseflies becoming part of the treatment just do not lend any credibility to the Bukhari hadith. Also note the name Abu Hurairah. Abu Hurairah is said to be a companion of the prophet who narrated 5,374 hadith or 74 percent out of Bukhari's 7,253 hadith. Yet no one knows Abu Hurairah's real name or identity. No one knows Abu Hurairah's birth name. Abu Hurayrah was a nickname which means ‘Father of Cats’. How does that lend any support to both the authenticity and the credibility of the Bukhari hadith. To make things worse the scholars suggest that Abu Hurairah had up to 38 different names. In the 21st century anyone with 38 names would be called a scammer. Then the scholars say that the prophet chose an Islamic name for Abu Hurairah. The prophet named him Abdul Rahman bin Sakhr bin Azdi. Bin Sakhr bin Azdi being his father's name. But if no one, including the prophet, knew Abu Hurairah's birth name, how did they know his father's name was bin Sakhr bin Azdi? They also know his mother's name which was Maymunah (or Umaymah).

Almost the exact same gaping holes and incredible stories surround the Seerah literature particularly by the famous Ibn Ishaq. Ibn Ishaq never wrote down a single page of any book called the Seerah Rasulullah either (Seerah of the Messenger). That is another tale.

Finally the Quran does not legitimise any hadith other than the Quran itself. In the following verse the Quran calls itself the BEST HADITH (AHSANA AL HADITH).

Surah 39:23 "GOD has revealed herein the BEST HADITH (AHSANA AL HADITH); a book that is consistent, and points out both ways. The skins of those who reverence their Lord cringe therefrom, then their skins and their hearts soften up for GOD's message. Such is GOD's guidance; He bestows it upon whoever wills. As for those sent astray by GOD, nothing can guide them.

In the following verse the Quran again identifies itself as THIS HADITH (HAATHA AL HADITH)

Surah 68:44 Therefore, let Me deal with those who reject THIS HADITH (HAATHA AL HADITH); we will lead them on whence they never perceive.

Finally the Quran prohibits all other hadith.

Surah 45:6 These are GOD's revelations that we recite to you truthfully. IN WHICH HADITH (FA BIAYYI HADITHIN) other than GOD and His revelations do they believe?

This statementy is actually a threat. Who dares to be insolent enough and believe in other hadith, other than the Quran. The prophet could not have been so insolent and said, 'Well ok God, other than your revelations, they can believe in MY OWN hadith".

Aaron Musa is a researcher of social affairs and religion.

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