The Quranists and the Prophetic Sunnah - Research by Dr. Ruqaia Al-Alwani

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

A Reading into the Impact of Historical and Intellectual Circumstances on the Emergence of Contemporary "Qur’aniyyun" (Quranists)

Dr. Ruqayya Taha Al-Alwani

Research Abstract

This research addresses the issue of uncovering the impact of historical and intellectual circumstances on the emergence and spread of the "Qur’aniyyun" group in the modern era. The nature of historical conditions and prevailing intellectual currents contributes to generating specific thought orientations, which necessitates studying these circumstances to understand how to address them and confront their repercussions. The research also attempts to establish a methodological framework for dealing with the challenges facing the Prophetic Sunnah by deducing certain landmarks and guidelines for that purpose. The study employs a comparative historical-analytical method in surveying and investigating the historical conditions and comparative intellectual currents surrounding the emergence of the Quranists in the present age.

Among the most important results revealed by the research is the identification of the most prominent historical and intellectual philosophies influencing the emergence of Quranists today, namely: the philosophy of Biblical Criticism methods, the impact of the philosophy of the Evolution of Religions, and the misunderstanding of methods for dealing with the Prophetic Sunnah. Among the most prominent landmarks revealed by the research in dealing with the Quranists are: confronting ideas directly, the necessity of distinguishing in discourse between those who deny the authority of the Sunnah absolutely and those who examine certain Hadiths according to accepted criteria among the majority of scholars and Hadith experts, and the necessity of modifying the methods of dealing with the Prophetic Sunnah to escape the crisis of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. The research also clarifies the importance of employing comparative analysis in religious thought to overcome many problems resulting from failing to benefit from the pitfalls of others, while maintaining the importance of considering expected differences and contexts. Furthermore, the research proposes replacing the term "Qur’aniyyun" with the term "Sunnah Deniers," due to the positive connotations the former carries which may lead to confusion and illusion.

Introduction

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Trustworthy Messenger. To proceed:

Talk has increased recently regarding a group known as the "Qur’aniyyun" (Quranists), and wide-ranging intellectual storms have escalated around them. Some modern Hadith studies have addressed their origins and claims, detailing the doubts they raise and undertaking responses to refute them. However, the aspect missing from most studies is an explanation of the nature of the historical and intellectual circumstances that produced this group and contributed to the spread of its thought. This study comes as an attempt to uncover those circumstances, their impact on the emergence of Quranist ideas at present, and their repercussions.

Importance of the Study

The need for such a study is particularly evident today, as the efforts of many authors and writers have converged to respond to the claims and propositions of this group and others regarding the Prophetic Sunnah without identifying the factors of their emergence and the circumstances of their spread. This can lead to further repetition and circling around the phenomenon without attempting to uproot it by confronting the factors of its birth and addressing the spread of its thought. Through this, the study aims to deconstruct and reconstruct some concepts and terminology related to this group, and subsequently draw a general methodological framework to regulate the process of refuting doubts raised about the sources of legislation in general and the Prophetic Sunnah in particular, by providing some guidelines in dealing with the claims and propositions of this group as an applied model.

Previous Studies

The subject of denying the Sunnah has occupied a wide space, appearing in several works addressing it both in the past and present. Discussion about those who advocate it in the modern era and the doubts raised by them has increased. A number of works have appeared that included discussion on the issue of Sunnah denial and its proponents, incorporating responses to them within other research topics.¹

Most of these studies suggest that the subject of Sunnah denial and its related doubts do not differ in their propositions from those who denied it in the past, whom Imam Al-Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) responded to in his Risalah. There are works dedicated solely to this issue; the study by Dr. Khadim Husayn Ilahi Bakhsh (1985) is one of the most important contemporary studies regarding the Quranists and their doubts. In his 482-page thesis, Dr. Bakhsh detailed the history of the idea of Sunnah denial in the past and present, and the history of the Quranist sect in India and Pakistan, providing biographies of their figures and contemporary groups.² He also discussed the Quranists in some Arab countries and mentioned the biographies of their callers. This study is distinguished by dedicating the subject of the Quranists to research and tracking their emergence in the modern era with historical accuracy and novelty.

It is clear from the previous review of what contemporary scholars and thinkers have addressed regarding the Quranists that there is an absence of research into the impact of historical and intellectual circumstances on the emergence of this group and its ideas, and the direct applied link between its propositions and the concurrent intellectual and historical currents. Hence, this study moves toward researching other works from which the impact of historical and intellectual circumstances can be derived, which are scattered in the writings of the Quranists themselves on one hand, and the writings of Orientalists and Western thinkers on the other, many of whom proposed the same ideas. The study does not overlook the importance of examining contemporary research and studies proposed by Western critics and philosophers during their criticism of their sacred books, which greatly influenced the Quranists, as the study will clarify. It is evident from the review of studies addressing the Quranist issue that the aspect this study focuses on has not been treated with precision and depth, despite the urgent need for it today.

¹ Among the most famous of these contemporary studies is what was written by Prof. Dr. Mustafa al-Siba'i, The Sunnah and its Position in Islamic Legislation, Al-Maktab al-Islami, Beirut, 4th Edition, 1405/1985.
² Khadim Husayn Ilahi Bakhsh, The Quranists and Their Doubts About the Sunnah, Al-Siddiq Library, Saudi Arabia, 2nd Edition, 1421 AH / 2001 AD.

Research Methodology and Divisions

The study is based on employing the methods of deduction, analysis, and comparison between the intellectual circles of the Quranist group on one hand, and other intellectual circles that emerged in periods close to the modern era in Judaism and Christianity. The study is divided into several sections in addition to the introduction and conclusion. The first section is dedicated to the problem of the term "Quranists" and its concept. The second section is dedicated to describing the nature of the historical circumstances and the comparative intellectual state of its emergence and intensification at present. The third section is dedicated to attempting to formulate a regulatory law for how to address this issue and similar ones by presenting some deduced landmarks.

Section One: The Quranists... The Problem of Concept and Terminology

The term "Neo-Quranists" appeared and became widely used based on what their figures and callers applied to those propositions and ideas centered around denying the Sunnah and its authenticity in one way or another. Perhaps the beginnings of using this term go back to the followers of the (Ahl al-Dhikr wa al-Qur’an) movement in Lahore, who applied that term to themselves. Subsequently, that naming became common and moved to others in other places. This term is linked to the idea of "Neo-Sunnah Deniers" who did not see the Sunnah as a source of legislation and called for referring to the Quran alone without the Sunnah.

The study does not advocate the continued widespread use of this term for the new deniers of the Sunnah. Terminology holds extreme importance due to the effects reflected in the cognitive structure of its users and the intellectual context in which it is employed, and even in determining the nature of dealing with it and taking positions toward it. This necessitates verification and ensuring its correspondence and credibility to the reality of its concepts. Terminology is also relied upon to know the thought and identity of the speaker.³

Hence, the process of applying a term to a specific thought or orientation is of the utmost importance and precision. Whenever the concepts of the subject to be addressed are correct, the position toward it will be correct. Therefore, applying the term "Quranists" to the new deniers of the Sunnah and its authority is a matter that carries several caveats, not least of which is the illusion and confusion that the proponents of this orientation rely on the Holy Quran and seek nothing else, which contradicts the reality and nature of this intellectual orientation. Reliance on the Holy Quran cannot possibly lead to denying the Sunnah and its authority, while the pillar of their claims is denying the Sunnah by casting doubt on its authenticity and the correctness of its attribution to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Furthermore, the term "Quranists" carries positive connotations that differ from the reality of this thought when refuting its elements and deconstructing its basics, as the study will show later.

Therefore, the study emphasizes the importance of stopping the continued use of this term to distinguish the proponents of this trend (whether they were the ones who used this name or others applied it to them). The study suggests the importance of replacing the term "Quranists" with "Sunnah Deniers" to escape the crisis of concept and terminology from the outset. The study also focuses on a specific time period in which this group appeared, namely the present era, due to its echoes in the current intellectual reality of the Ummah.

It is worth noting in this context that this intellectual orientation also appeared in religious thought circles in Judaism, both ancient and modern. The doctrine of its followers is based on adhering to what came in the Old Testament alone and not recognizing the rulings of the Talmud and the teachings of the Rabbis. Consequently, their sect was called "Karaites," derived from "Miqra" (Karaism), the Hebrew word מקרא קראים meaning followers of the path. Hence, they adhere to and recognize only the books of the Old Testament revealed to Moses (peace be upon him) at Sinai, and do not recognize the legitimacy of the Talmud. Its followers were also known as literalist sons of the Book. This sect continues to this day to follow these ideas and beliefs, adhering to the saying "The Book is sufficient for us," meaning the Torah. In their view, the Torah contains all the principles and teachings that Jews need in different times and places, and they need nothing else. They still adhere to this principle today:⁴

"Karaites differ from others in that we accept the Tanakh (TN'K, Hebrew Bible [old testament]) as giving us all the information we need to live a life in accord with the will of the Creator. We do not feel a need for teachings that are not included in TN'K thus we do not accept either the Talmud of the Rabbinics or the New Testament of the Christians".⁵

It is worth noting in this context that the teachings of the Karaites originally centered on rejecting the recognition of the Talmud's legitimacy as forged human interpretations; therefore, they saw total commitment to the literal texts of the Torah and adhering to their outward meanings as the way out.⁶ The Karaites viewed the Talmud as interpretations and sayings of rabbis throughout the ages, and thus not binding.

³ Hikmat Ali al-Awsi, Concepts in Literature and Criticism, Al-Ma'arif Library for Publishing and Distribution, 2nd Edition, 1984, p. 3. See also the concept in Lalande's Dictionary, Vol. 1, p. 194, Oueidat Publications, Beirut, 1996, trans. Khalil Ahmad Khalil.
⁴ The Old Testament is the collection of books gathered by the men of the Great Assembly founded after the return from the Babylonian exile, collected by Ezra in 444 BC. It constitutes the written law. As for the Talmud, it consists of oral narrations transmitted through the ages via a chain of trustworthy narrators, containing explanations of Jewish scholars; when used generally, it refers to the Babylonian Talmud, which is the most famous. See our published research: "Family Rulings between Islam and Western Traditions: An Analytical Study within the Historical Path," Journal of Islamic Studies, Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad, Issue 3 (July-September 2000), p. 141.
⁵ See the contemporary Karaites website: http://www.karaites.org/who_are_we.htm (Note: The original link was reported broken; the assumed link was used).
⁶ Irfan Abdul Hamid, "The Salafi Method in Religions and the Rules of Religious Philosophy," (Al-Tajdid), Year 3, (Issue 5) 1999. See also: Irfan Abdul Hamid Fattah, Judaism: A Historical Presentation, Dar Ammar, Jordan, 1967, p. 95.

Section Two: The Impact of Historical and Intellectual Circumstances on the Emergence of Quranist Thought

It is difficult to understand how the phenomenon of (Neo-Quranists)⁷ emerged and persisted without placing it within the comparative historical and social framework of its appearance. This becomes clear through historical tracking of its emergence and reading the various prevailing currents during that time. These individuals viewed the Prophetic Sunnah in its entirety (as some viewed the Quran as well) through cultures and philosophies that emerged and prevailed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including:

First: The Philosophy of Biblical Criticism Methods

This philosophy began to verify the truth of the narrations of the Jewish Old Testament and the Christian New Testament in research centers at German universities, then spread to Western European countries and later to the United States. These efforts, which initially aimed at verification and proof, ended in doubting and denying those narrations, considering them human fabrications full of contradictions and echoes of historical events that have perished and vanished, having their own temporal specificity, and not being divine revelation at all. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) is considered the founder of the philosophy of Biblical Criticism.⁸

Thus, the general trend prevailing among scholars of Old Testament criticism is that its books were not written by Moses (peace be upon him), but are rather a collection of accumulated traditions formed at different times. These scholars believe that the long time that passed during the oral transmission of these narrations allowed for the infiltration of historical ideas, events, and much poetry into the text of the Torah, in addition to personal inclinations that played a role in shaping the modern Torah.⁹

What the pioneers of this philosophy did in terms of criticizing and examining the narrations of the Old Testament, others did for the New Testament (the Gospel). Rudolf Bultmann, Samuel Sandmel, and others concluded that the Gospels are different narrations with no origin, being nothing more than myths with no echo in historical reality.¹⁰

However, all of them reached these conclusions after massive scientific efforts and grueling studies of those books, which led to identifying real contradictions between what was mentioned in the Old and New Testaments regarding the universe, its origin, the Flood, the beginning of creation, and what modern science has proven, for example. This led to their claim of the "historicity" of those narrations—that they were indeed human perceptions of people who reflected what prevailed in their eras, which passed with all the contradictions and opinions that oppose reason and science. This fact was pointed out by several fair-minded thinkers among them, including the famous French scientist Maurice Bucaille in his book translated into English, The Bible, The Qur’an and Science: The Holy Scriptures Examined in the Light of Modern Knowledge, where he says:

"..In the case of the of subjects such as the formation of the Universe (the description of the Creation), the date of man's appearance on earth, the Flood and its location in time, it is patently obvious that the biblical writers...have expressed ideas of their times which are incompatible with modern knowledge. Today it is impossible not to admit the existence of scientific errors in the Bible"¹¹

This author and others confirmed that the facts contained in the Quran about the universe, its origin, and other scientific issues could not have been issued by a human in the era of its revelation, as science only reached them recently, which confirms the massive difference between the narrations of the Old and New Testaments on one hand and the Quran on the other. Despite all this, a repetition of that philosophy appeared in the writings of some thinkers in Muslim societies without realizing the clear divergence between the texts of the Old and New Testaments and the texts of the Holy Quran.¹²

Anyone examining the claims of those called (Quranists) in the present era will notice the massive influence and similarity—reaching the point of identity—between their views and those of historical criticism scholars of biblical texts in the West, keeping in mind that the preaching of this in Islamic thought arenas came initially from Orientalists who explicitly adopted this approach. Orientalist Rudi Paret says in this context: "We, of course, do not take everything the sources narrate at face value without exercising scrutiny; rather, we only give weight to what stands before historical criticism or appears to stand before it. In this, we apply to Islam, its history, and the Arabic works we deal with the same critical standard that we apply to the written sources of our own world..."¹³

Repeating the claims of historical and literary criticism philosophers regarding their sacred books is a matter contrary to science, contradicting sound reason, and opposing scientific research methods that recognize only proven facts of certain authenticity—something lacking in the claims of imitators in the arena of Islamic thought.

Reflecting on the basics of the philosophy of Biblical Criticism, one notices that it came through multiple paths, including: Form Criticism, which researches how the text of these narrations arrived and was transmitted orally through history. Philosophers of this type of criticism admit that the collection and recording of Old Testament narrations took a period exceeding a thousand years, from 200 BC to 1000 AD. Jewish scholars believe it was revealed to Moses and the prophets after him, then transmitted orally through tawatur (mass transmission) until the men of the Sanhedrin (the Great Assembly) were able to record it. Similarly, the narrations of the Gospel, for example, came in a period later than the life of Christ (peace be upon him).¹⁴

Historical criticism philosophers went on to research the personalities of the narrators of the Old and New Testaments because those narrations were recorded without mentioning the specific names of their speakers; it is not known who said what. This led them to research the speakers and attempt to discover the narrators and research their biographies. Regarding this, the Dictionary of Religions states:

"Historical Criticism is the fifth type to consider here. This area of study raises questions having to do with authorship, date, and place of composition of the documents. Most of the Bible would have little meaning for us unless we knew who wrote what when and where. Often we do not have all of this information....."¹⁵

Despite this disparity between the narrations of the Old and New Testaments on one hand and the Prophetic Sunnah on the other, this type of repetition of this philosophy appeared among some thinkers in the Islamic arena. They claimed that the recording of the Prophetic Sunnah came late in the third century AH, which might expose it to deletion, addition, and forgetting. Dr. Ahmad Subhi Mansur says in an article published in the Kuwaiti Al-Rai al-Aam on 10/8/2004: "Hadith scholars decide that Hadiths are based on conjecture, not certainty, and by this they confirm the inimitability of the Quran in what it foretold regarding what some Muslims would do after the revelation of the Quran, when they attribute Hadiths to the Prophet centuries after his death, and attribute those Hadiths to the Sahaba who died after being preoccupied with politics, conquests, and the Great Fitna; they died without knowing what the narrators attributed to them centuries after their death in the Abbasid era."

The reality is that this claim contradicts the historical reality witnessing the grueling efforts made by Hadith scholars and the majority of scholars to collect Hadiths and ensure the correctness of their attribution to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), a matter too extensive to cover here. Fair-minded Western scholars have testified to this precision. Dr. Maurice Bucaille conducted this comparison between the narrations of the Old and New Testaments and the Prophetic Sunnah, expressing admiration for the depth of interest in precision and regulation in the process of collecting Hadiths, and the recording of the names of those who transmitted the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) words and deeds by ascending the chain of narration to the first of the Prophet's family and his companions who transmitted the information directly from him, after uncovering the state of the narrator in the entire chain of narration and avoiding narrators not known for good character and truthful narration. Dr. Maurice Bucaille emphasizes that this is something unique to Islamic scholars in Hadith:

"During Muhammad's life and after his death, complementary information of a legislative nature was indeed sought in the study of the words and deeds of the Prophet. These came from the oral tradition. Those who undertook to assemble them in collections made the kind of enquires which are always very taxing before recording accounts of past events. They nevertheless had a great regard for accuracy in their arduous task of collecting information. This is illustrated by the fact that for all of the Prophet's sayings, the most venerable collections bear the names of those responsible for the account, going right back to the person who first collected the information from members of Muhammad's family or his companions"¹⁶.

Furthermore, Muslim scholars who cared for collecting Prophetic Hadith did not neglect the necessity of infinite scrutiny in narrating facts. The Quran placed before them the most important rule of historical criticism in the Almighty's saying: "O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate..." (Al-Hujurat: 6). This rule is manifested in the fact that the narrator's character is a major factor in judging their narration. Muslims benefited greatly from this rule and applied it to the narrators of Prophetic Hadiths. The application of this critical method to Hadith narrators was what gradually developed the rules of historical criticism. Hadith scholars have a long history in criticizing narrators and explaining their state of truthfulness or falsehood. They reached the furthest extent in this field, tracking narrators and studying their lives, history, biography, and what was hidden or apparent of their affairs, not fearing the blame of any critic for the sake of Allah, nor did piety or embarrassment prevent them from criticizing narrators and exposing them.¹⁷

It is worth noting that criticism scholars in the West for the Old and New Testament narrations confirmed the absence of the possibility of intentional distortion by narrators of biblical texts; intentional fabrication (in their view) occurred only rarely despite the massive contradictions revealed by those critical studies. The Catholic Encyclopedia states:

"Deliberate corruption of the Sacred Text has always been rather rare... Even among the unquestionably spurious readings of the New Testament there are no signs of deliberate falsification of the text for dogmatic purposes"¹⁸

In total contrast, some writers who adopted this philosophy (without even attempting to conduct it according to scientific standards) assert that what Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and others did was pure fabrication, forgery, and an intentional crime that cannot be ignored. Writer Zaid Nabulsi says regarding this: "The only result before us, which is beyond doubt, is that the hand of a malicious forger has tampered with the Prophet's Hadiths and added to them, out of slander and lies, what he did not say in his life. The disaster here is not just secondary differences in the text or minor omissions or additions caused by weakness in narration; rather, the matter has exceeded that to something far more dangerous. We are faced here with a process of lying invention of Hadiths that have no basis, narrating fabricated events and contradicting the Holy Quran. That is the great crime that must not be silenced. Therefore, we should entirely reconsider describing all these books and Hadiths as 'authentic,' whose narrations have long been imposed on us as factual reality... all the contents of those 'yellow books' and other books of 'authentic' Hadiths become subject to refutation and doubt."¹⁹ Dr. Ismail Mansur says in his book Enlightening the Ummah on the Reality of the Sunnah: "The original state in Hadith narration then was lying and betrayal, and the exception to that was truthfulness and honesty."²⁰

Then, when they touched upon external criticism, Western philosophers moved to the issue of internal criticism of texts, considering their sacred books (Old and New Testaments) as historical books and literary texts; there is no way to understand them and determine their purposes except by viewing them as literary texts open to criticism in all its forms, from external formal criticism to internal or esoteric criticism. Thus, the theory of historical criticism is considered one of the most dangerous trends in the field of text criticism; it resulted in viewing biblical texts as an echo of a past history that has perished and vanished. Revelation is nothing but a historical accumulation subject to the laws of time, place, and transformations. On this basis, the proponents of this theory considered the Old and New Testaments as historical works subject to historical investigation and the results of historical research.²¹

Proponents who support these trends and repeat them have appeared, attempting to apply them not only to the Prophetic Sunnah but to the texts of the Holy Quran entirely. This claim appeared clearly in the writings of Dr. Ahmad Subhi Mansur, where he said: "The way out of this impasse necessitates canceling that chain of narration (isnad), i.e., cutting the link between those Hadiths and the Prophet (peace be upon him), out of mercy for Islam and in line with logic and the rational and scientific method. Then we look at the text (matn) of the Hadith and its subject in light of it being a culture expressing the eras in which it was recorded. Then we research it through the culture of its era historically and civilizationally, including its errors or correctness; i.e., it becomes a heritage devoid of sanctity, like any human heritage reflecting the conditions of humans in terms of rise, fall, righteousness, and corruption."²²

These writers overlooked that the process of transferring and translating Western critical methods in their entirety for their biblical texts, and then applying them to the texts of the Holy Quran and the Prophetic Sunnah without any distinction between the massive differences, carried many problems. Furthermore, attempts to cast contemporary intellectual visions onto Islam is a dangerous method. From a scientific standpoint, it cannot be accepted because it is merely a historical projection of a contemporary intellectual vision. Methods, by their nature, have two dimensions: a social dimension and a cultural dimension. They are an expression of the need and the environment that called for their emergence. The process of transferring and transplanting them into Islamic thought is a futile attempt with no benefit. In addition, it involves a dismissal of the originality of Islamic critical methods.

Furthermore, this type of criticism of biblical texts, if the need for it was urgent in Western thought because it did not occur originally—which resulted in massive contradictions in those texts—the need for it is non-existent in the texts of the Holy Quran and the authentic Sunnah. According to this new criticism, there is no specific standard; rather, every recipient is free to reject this Hadith and refuse that one. This leads to entering the circle of interpretations and misuse of texts and Hadiths, subjecting them to individual opinions and personal judgments.

Despite this, many proponents of modern critical trends fell into this problem, claiming that the majority of scholars and Hadith experts throughout history cared for what is called "external criticism of the Sunnah," i.e., criticism of the chain of narration (isnad), and neglected the criticism of the text (matn), which they call "internal criticism of texts."²³ Writer Abu Rayyah says in this context: "Hadith scholars rarely judge a Hadith as mudtarib (disturbed) if the difference in it occurs in the text itself, because that is not their business as Hadith scholars; rather, it is the business of the mujtahids (jurists). They only judge a Hadith as mudtarib if the difference in it occurs in the chain of narration itself because that is their business."²⁴ Dr. Ahmad Subhi says in this context: "The science of (Jarh wa Ta’dil) focused essentially on examining the isnad or the chain of narrators, without significant interest in examining the matn or the subject of the Hadith itself. The examination of the isnad was based on sectarian and personal whims; they never agreed that a narrator was trustworthy or weak, because whoever the Sunnis praise, the Shiites attack, and so on among all sects and groups. The result of that difference in judging every narrator in the chain of narration was that judgments became relative even within each sect or school."²⁵

The reality is that internal criticism was the first of the Hadith sciences to appear in the first generation of the Sahaba (may Allah be pleased with them). Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) rejected the Hadith of Fatima bint Qays regarding the maintenance and housing of a woman divorced three times, where she said: "My husband divorced me three times and I wanted to move, so I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: 'Move to your cousin Amr ibn Umm Maktum and observe your iddah (waiting period) at his place.'"²⁶ Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "We shall not leave the Book of our Lord and the Sunnah of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for the word of a woman we do not know if she remembered or forgot; Allah Almighty said: 'Do not turn them out of their houses...'" (Al-Talaq: 1).²⁷

Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) also corrected some companions for mentioning some Hadiths without understanding their contexts. Among these is what was narrated from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'The child of adultery is the worst of the three.' And Abu Hurairah said: 'To strike with a whip in the cause of Allah is more beloved to me than to free a child of adultery.'"²⁸ Al-Bayhaqi narrated from Urwah ibn al-Zubayr who said: It reached Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "To strike with a whip in the cause of Allah is more beloved to me than to free a child of adultery," and that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The child of adultery is the worst of the three." Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "May Allah have mercy on Abu Hurairah; he heard poorly and answered poorly. As for 'To strike with a whip in the cause of Allah is more beloved to me than to free a child of adultery,' it was because when the verse was revealed: 'But he has not broken through the difficult pass. And what can make you know what is the difficult pass? It is the freeing of a slave,' it was said: 'O Messenger of Allah, we have nothing to free except that one of us has a black slave girl who serves him and works for him; what if we ordered them to commit adultery so they would bring children and we could free them?' The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'To strike with a whip in the cause of Allah is more beloved to me than to order adultery and then free the child.' As for his saying: 'The child of adultery is the worst of the three,' the Hadith was not like this; rather, there was a man from the hypocrites who used to harm the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), so he said: 'Who will excuse me from so-and-so?' It was said: 'O Messenger of Allah, along with what he does, he is a child of adultery.' The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'He is the worst of the three,' and Allah Almighty says: 'And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another.'"²⁹ Other scholars shared her rejection of this interpretation and said the child bears no sin for his parents' actions.³⁰ This confirms the interest of the Sahaba (may Allah be pleased with them) in various levels of internal criticism at a very early stage according to regulated standards far from whims.³¹

⁷ The study occasionally uses this term due to its current prevalence. The study also attempts to present the views of thinkers adopting this trend at the present time specifically as much as possible.
⁸ Britannica Encyclopedia, 1999. Inc CD-Rom. Judaism.
⁹ For more details on this point, see Irfan Abdul Hamid, Judaism: A Historical Presentation, op. cit., pp. 81-82.
¹⁰ Samuel Sandmel, A Jewish Understanding of the New Testament, Cincinnati; Hebrew Union College 1957. p. 128. Marcus J. Borg, "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith," Harper Collins, (1994). R.E. Friedman, "Who Wrote the Bible?" Harper, San Francisco, (1987).
¹¹ Maurice Bucaille, The Bible the Qur'an and Science, translated, Alastair D. Pannell, pp 3.
¹² Regarding this, see what Muhammad Ahmad Khalaf Allah wrote in the Egyptian Al-Fath magazine about the existence of contradictions in the Quran to scientific facts!! Cited in Bakhsh, op. cit., p. 139.
¹³ Cited in Ali bin Ibrahim al-Hamad al-Namlah, Orientalism and Islamic Studies, Al-Tawbah Library, Riyadh, 1418/1998, p. 49.
¹⁴ Cited in Maurice Bucaille, op. cit., p. 18.
¹⁵ John R. Hinnells, The Penguin Dictionary of Religions, US: Penguin, 1995, pp 72-73. For more details on this point, see the following references: Stacey, W. David Groundwork of Biblical Studies. UK: Epunth Press, 1979. The Abingdon Bible Commentary. US: Abingdon Press, 1929. Harper's Bible Dictionary. US: Harper & Row, 1985.
¹⁶ Maurice, Ibid, pp. 214.
¹⁷ For details, see Nur al-Din Itr, The Methodology of Criticism in Hadith Sciences, Dar al-Fikr, Damascus, 3rd Edition, 1424 AH/2003 AD, p. 459 onwards.
¹⁸ See the Catholic Encyclopedia website at the following address: section (Biblical Criticism (Textual)) http://www.newadvent.org/cathen
¹⁹ Zaid Nabulsi, "The Lie of Authentic Hadiths," on the Arab Times newspaper website: http://www.arabtimes.com/Mixed7/kwc66.html
²⁰ Cited in Jamal al-Banna's book, op. cit., p. 8.
²¹ E. Krentz, The Historical Critical Method, Fortress Press, Carlisle, 1992, p. 126.
²² Ahmad Subhi Mansur, "Isnad in Hadith," Metransparent on its website: http://www.metransparent.com (Note: The original link was meiransparent.com, corrected to the more common one).
²³ See what Ahmad Amin wrote, Duha al-Islam, Maktabat al-Nahda al-Misriyya, Egypt, 8th Edition, Vol. 2, p. 130 onwards.
²⁴ Mahmoud Abu Rayyah, Lights on the Prophetic Sunnah, Dar al-Ta'lif Press, Egypt, 1377 AH/1958 AD, p. 300.
²⁵ Ahmad Subhi Mansur, "Isnad in Hadith," op. cit.
²⁶ Narrated by Imam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, Sahih Muslim, edited by Muhammad Fuad Abdul Baqi, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, Beirut, n.d., Vol. 2, p. 1110.
²⁷ See Umar's statement in Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Fath al-Bari, edited by: Muhammad Fuad Abdul Baqi, Muhib al-Din al-Khatib, Dar al-Ma'rifa, Beirut, 1379 AH, Vol. 9, p. 481. Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi, Sharh al-Nawawi, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, Beirut, 2nd Edition, 1392 AH, Vol. 10, p. 15.
²⁸ Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Darimi, Sunan al-Darimi, edited by: Fawwaz Ahmad Zumurli, Khalid al-Sab' al-Alami, Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, Beirut, 1407 AH, Vol. 2, p. 218.
²⁹ Narrated by Abu Dawood, Sulayman ibn al-Ash'ath, Sunan Abi Dawood, edited by: Muhammad Muhyi al-Din Abdul Hamid, Dar al-Fikr, Beirut, n.d., Vol. 4, p. 29. Narrated by al-Nasa'i, Ahmad ibn Shu'ayb Al-Sunan al-Kubra edited by Abd al-Ghaffar al-Bundari, Sayyid Kasrawi Hasan, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, 1411 AH/1991 AD, Vol. 3, p. 178. Narrated by al-Bayhaqi, Sunan al-Bayhaqi al-Kubra, edited by: Muhammad Abd al-Qadir Ata, Maktabat Dar al-Baz, Makkah, 1414 AH/1994 AD, Vol. 10, p. 57.
³⁰ Narrated by al-Bayhaqi, op. cit., Chapter on what was narrated regarding the child of adultery, Vol. 10, p. 58. See also Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abi Sahl al-Sarakhsi, Al-Mabsut, Dar al-Ma'rifa, Beirut, 1406 AH, where he cited her statement (may Allah be pleased with her). How can that be correct when Allah Almighty said: "And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another." Vol. 1, p. 41. Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Ahmad ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi, Al-Mughni, Dar al-Fikr, Beirut, 1405 AH, Vol. 10, p. 15.
³¹ For more on this, see Sa'id, Muhammad Ra'fat Reasons for the Arrival of Hadith: Analysis and Foundation, Qatar Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, Jumada al-Ula 1414 AH.

Second: The Impact of the Philosophy of the Evolution of Religions

It is well known that the theory of organic evolution in organisms by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) transferred its influences to the field of human studies. Many Western writers in the nineteenth century concluded that there is a similarity between human societies and the biological evolution Darwin proposed when he depicted man as a being evolved from a type of higher apes similar to humans. This influence of evolutionary thought appeared in various circles of religious thought in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well, in an attempt to subject religion to the claim of evolution by repeating what the evolutionists mentioned. The evolutionary trend appeared as a dominant feature in most writings in the nineteenth century, in a manner that contradicts everything mentioned in religious books that represent the infallible religious reference for the followers of those religions.³²

This philosophy ultimately led to canceling the divine reference of biblical texts in the Old and New Testaments. Religious scholars during the nineteenth century AD viewed religion from three perspectives: First: Absolute denial of the theory that religion is founded on revelation. Second: Religion evolved just like organisms that evolved from the lower and simpler to the higher based on Darwinian evolutionary theory. Third: Religion is the product of a complex process, a human fabrication, and a quantitative accumulation of three cultural elements inherited from nations and peoples throughout history. Meaning that religion is history, not transcendent to it. Proponents of this trend equated infallible religion with religious thought. This led to viewing fixed legal rulings established by revelation as having relative historical value subject to the laws of evolution, change, and transformation.

When reformers in Judaism adopted this intellectual orientation, it became necessary in their view to cancel all the rulings of the Torah and Talmud, considering them echoes of conditions that have perished and vanished. The Reform movement in Judaism donned this cloak when its leaders announced the dropping and cancellation of all legal rulings related to Halal and Haram.³³ In 1885, the philosophy of the Reformers gave its most comprehensive formulation in the Pittsburgh Platform of Reform Rabbis, declaring in its general statement that Judaism was no longer a national religion, but an evolutionary Western religion. Consequently, the Talmud should be considered merely religious literature, not a legislative law. Those principles and teachings of the Pittsburgh Conference remained the official philosophy of the Reform movement in America for subsequent generations.³⁴

Followers of this method in Muslim societies adopted those trends and applied them to their interpretations of the texts of the Holy Quran, and found in the Sunnah their target. Hadiths, in the view of these individuals, are an accumulation of cultural elements inherited from nations and peoples throughout history, meaning they are history falling within its framework and not outside of it. This idea appeared initially in the writings of some Orientalists such as Caetani (1869-1926), Muir (1905), and Sprenger (d. 1893) regarding the historicity of Prophetic Hadith. They were followed by Ignaz Goldziher (1850-1921), a Hungarian of Jewish faith, whom Orientalists—and those influenced by them—considered the first pioneer in the study and criticism of Hadith. He preached the idea of the evolution of isnads and matns in Islamic thought, claiming that the fabrication of Hadith began in the early generation of the Sahaba, and that the recording of the Sunnah did not begin until the second century. Most Hadiths—in Goldziher's view—were fabricated by political, theological, and sectarian groups in the second and third centuries; therefore, they reflect the political and intellectual development of Muslims during those two centuries and mostly have no connection to the first century, being an arbitrary part that grew and developed at the hands of various parties who wanted to attribute their theories to prominent figures of the past.³⁵

What was said about the influence of the philosophy of historical criticism of texts is said here; from such views, repetitions of the claims of those trends and their echoes in the West floated onto the arena of Islamic thought, without any scientific attempt worth mentioning to scrutinize, examine, and research the massive differences between their applications to various sacred books and texts in religions. Mr. Jamal al-Banna says in this context: "The fact of fabrication does not go back to after the Great Fitna (around 40 AH) but goes back to the days of the Prophet himself from the hypocrites, Jews, and enemies of Islam whose habit was to believe in this Hadith at the beginning of the day and disbelieve in it at its end, and to say about the Quran that it is myths of the ancients, and if we wished we could say the like etc... which is the origin whose fruits we find in what is narrated about the Quran regarding claims of abrogated verses, or forgotten surahs, or differences placed by the hypocrites and Jews in the early days of Islam and attributed to the Sahaba, and which passed over the prisoners of isnad among Hadith scholars and Quran commentators, so they filled their books with them and they were transmitted from them until today."³⁶

The claim of the historicity of the Prophetic Sunnah leads to the claim of canceling the laws and rulings brought by those teachings and texts. Furthermore, the claim that the rulings of the Sunnah came for a society with its own specificity and an era with its own circumstances is a claim that judges the Sunnah by its regionalism and undermines the universality of its message and its suitability for every time and place. It considers its rulings an echo of values and ideals linked to historical circumstances that time has surpassed. These individuals did not distinguish between the Sharia issued from a true heavenly religion whose source is divine revelation, which cannot be subject in its basics and foundations to evolution, substitution, and change due to its infallible divine reference, and the branches and details related to people's lives in different societies, which are naturally subject to change, modification, and evolution according to people's needs and conditions. Claiming the possibility of evolution in the basics and fundamentals of Sharia necessitates the existence of deficiency or defect in it at this time, for example, which naturally contradicts its essence and reality. One of them says: "The rulings of the Quran and Hadith are subject to change with the change of time and place, because they came for a reason, and with its disappearance, the effect must disappear. The Noble Quran and Prophetic Hadiths are a collection of moral and behavioral principles caused by reasons, such that their rulings are subject to change by the change of conditions and reasons, not rigid rulings that do not accept modification according to the change of reasons and circumstances."³⁷

It is worth noting in this context that the echoes of this philosophy were directed toward the texts of the Holy Quran as well. A number of Orientalists³⁸ and some thinkers followed them when they said that the divine speech is a historical act realized in history and dependent on the mind of the addressees, and on the nature of the social and cultural reality in which it was realized.³⁹ Accordingly, religion began to evolve and progress, and social life is capable of causing evolution in all Islamic concepts.⁴⁰ This claim appeared clearly in the writings of Dr. Ahmad Subhi Mansur where he says: "The way out of this impasse necessitates canceling that chain of narration (isnad), i.e., cutting the link between those Hadiths and the Prophet (peace be upon him), out of mercy for Islam and in line with logic and the rational and scientific method. Then we look at the text (matn) of the Hadith and its subject in light of it being a culture expressing the eras in which it was recorded. Then we research it through the culture of its era historically and civilizationally, including its errors or correctness; i.e., it becomes a heritage devoid of sanctity, like any human heritage reflecting the conditions of humans in terms of rise, fall, righteousness, and corruption."⁴¹

³² For more on this point, see what was mentioned in our book The Impact of Custom in Understanding Texts: Women's Issues as a Model, Dar al-Fikr, Damascus, 2003, p. 178.
³³ Regarding what was previously presented, see our book The Impact of Custom in Understanding Texts, op. cit., p. 156.
³⁴ See that in detail in the previous reference, p. 178 onwards.
³⁵ Regarding the views of Orientalists on the issue of isnad, their doubts, and the response to them, see Muhammad Mustafa al-A'zami, Studies in Prophetic Hadith and the History of its Recording, Riyadh University Press, Riyadh, 1396 AH, p. 392 onwards.
³⁶ Jamal al-Banna, Toward a New Fiqh, Part Two, "The Sunnah and its Role in the New Fiqh," pp. 23-24. Website: www.islamiccall.org
³⁷ Cited in Bakhsh, op. cit., p. 177.
³⁸ See Muhammad Ahmad Diab, Lights on Orientalism and Orientalists, Dar al-Manar, Cairo, 1989, p. 107.
³⁹ See in this regard the writings of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, "The Quran is a Historical and Cultural Text," An-Nahar Cultural Supplement, Thursday, October 17, 2002. And by the author: "Personal Status Law in Tunisia between Assumed Secularism and the Roots of Islamic Heritage," a chapter in the book Women, Hajar (ed.), Egypt, Dar Sina for Publishing, 1992, p. 267. Muhammad Shahrour, The Book and the Quran: A Contemporary Reading, Al-Ahali for Printing, Publishing and Distribution, Damascus, 2nd Edition, 1990, p. 206. And others.
⁴⁰ Muhammad Muhammad Husayn, Islam and Western Civilization, Al-Risala Foundation, Beirut: Taha, 1402 AH/1982 AD, 147 onwards.
⁴¹ Ahmad Subhi Mansur, "Isnad in Hadith," this quote was previously cited on p. 13 (Note: In the original manuscript p. 16, it seems to refer to a previous citation in the same document).

Third: Misunderstanding of Methods for Dealing with the Prophetic Sunnah

Unsound understanding processes and deviant interpretations (whether in good faith or with bad intent) have contributed to some writers pointing the finger of accusation and blame at Prophetic Hadiths and their role in entrenching extremist orientations and methods contradicting the moderation of Islam. The reason for this is the existence of some authentic Hadiths that were not understood (by some) correctly in a way that reflects the purposes of Islamic legislation. This led to the prevalence of the perception that the Prophetic Sunnah was behind the dispute occurring between Muslims and the emergence of extremist currents among them.

The reality is that most of those Hadiths were read as "fragmented" ('idin)⁴² readings, cut off from the rest of the Quranic and Prophetic texts mentioned on the subject, or viewed in isolation from the reasons for their arrival and their contexts, which resulted in falling into the problems of misunderstanding and subsequently misuse in reality. A legal ruling on a specific issue is not taken from a Hadith separated from others; rather, Hadith is joined to Hadith, and the circumstances and conditions surrounding it and the reasons for its arrival are understood alongside the texts mentioned in the Holy Quran regarding the issue, so that the mujtahid can deduce the ruling through a holistic view that does not read one text and ignore others.

The impact of this dangerous intellectual factor appears clearly in the present era among a number of groups that brandished the weapon of takfir (excommunication) in the face of their opponents by twisting the meanings of some Hadith texts and citing them to justify their positions toward their opponents. Among the most prominent examples are the Hadiths mentioned regarding Al-Wala' wa al-Bara' (Loyalty and Disavowal), the Saved Sect, and other texts⁴³ that were cut from their context and deviated by those who interpreted them from the rules of correct interpretation in an attempt to twist the texts and subject them to personal opinions and intellectual orientations, and to adapt them to serve ready-made ideas and preconceived views.

The factor of misunderstanding and cutting Hadiths from their context, or reading one of them without looking at the rest of the texts mentioned in the Quran and authentic Sunnah on the subject, has contributed to using Hadiths in other than their proper places until the Hadith in some cases (due to lack of understanding and poor interpretation) became one of the most important reasons for further dispute and discord among Muslims.⁴⁴ Mr. Al-Bahnasawi says in his book The Sunnah Falsely Accused: "Among the individuals of Islamic groups are those who adopted an understanding of texts that accept difference, and imposed this understanding on the members of their group, telling them it is a sin to oppose it because in their view it is the definitive understanding... and all of this contradicts the method of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)..."⁴⁵

This is something that, if it occurred in some authentic Hadiths, is also possible to occur in a number of Quranic verses and texts that carry more than one meaning; so does the solution lie in dispensing with those Quranic texts as well?! Furthermore, some did not distinguish between the existence of unauthentic Hadiths and the fact that the Sunnah (if its attribution to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is proven) is an authority. Dr. Ahmad Subhi says: "The culture of extremism is spread through Hadiths attributed or linked to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) falsely, and they contradict the Quran and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)..."⁴⁶

Perhaps the way out of all this lies in promoting the necessity of adhering to the rules of interpretation and the subsequent application and implementation of them. The correct application of texts (Quran or Sunnah) on the ground is the purpose the Legislator aims to achieve from the revelation. Following rules for interpreting texts is a necessary matter of importance in grounding the intellectual process, refining its path, and correcting the methods of dealing with those texts, so they become judges over opinions and understandings rather than the opposite. In addition, this results in blocking the way for those who employ these interpretations to launch further attacks on the Sunnah and its texts. Among the most prominent of those rules is that the texts themselves (Quran and Sunnah) become the arbiter between acceptable interpretations and others within a framework that accords with their general goals and purposes. The ambiguous (mutashabih) among them should be referred to the clear and definitive (muhkam) which constitutes the foundations, rules, and mothers of the Book to escape the crisis of falling into false and deviant interpretations... etc. of important rules that one should not undertake to interpret a text without encompassing, mastering, and adhering to their basics.

The truth is that the causes are intertwined and overlapping, and all of them work in varying degrees, exerting different effects; their impact may strengthen in one person and weaken in another, but all of them ultimately have an undeniable effect. We should not stop at a single cause. The phenomenon of advocating the exclusion of the Sunnah is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, and its causes are cumulative. Among these causes are religious, political, social, intellectual, or a mixture of all or some of these. While the study focused on the impact of historical and intellectual circumstances, it does not exclude the existence of other factors in the emergence and appearance of this thought.

⁴² The author used the term "fragmented reading" (Al-Qira'a al-'Idin) for Prophetic Hadiths in a research paper accepted for publication titled "The Impact of Fragmented Reading and its Repercussions in Understanding the Prophetic Sunnah" at the Second International Scientific Symposium on the Sunnah and the Challenges of the Era, Dubai, March 2005. In it, this type of reading was termed "fragmented reading."
⁴³ See, for example, what was mentioned in Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd al-Hamid al-Amin, Scattering Pearls and Rubies to Explain the Rulings of Sharia regarding the Helpers and Supporters of the Taghut, 1423 AH, no place of publication. The entire book moves toward excommunicating the entire society, rulers and ruled, by relying on his interpretation of some Quranic texts and a massive number of Prophetic Hadiths.
⁴⁴ See in this regard what Dr. Ahmad Subhi Mansur mentioned that the Hadiths attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are the reason behind the occurrence of dispute; he overlooked that what he says about Hadith and the occurrence of dispute because of it is originally caused by the misunderstanding of the Hadith, which is something that occurs even regarding the Quran.
⁴⁵ Salim Ali al-Bahnasawi, The Sunnah Falsely Accused, Dar al-Buhuth al-Ilmiyya, Beirut, 2nd Edition, 1401 AH/1981 AD, pp. 27-28.
⁴⁶ Ahmad Subhi Mansur, "Isnad in Hadith," Metransparent.

Section Three: Landmarks and Guidelines in Dealing with Contemporary Sunnah Deniers

Prelude

This group, which claims to refer and return to the Quran alone, does not differ from other opposing groups; therefore, the dialogue with them should be characterized by the Quranic and Prophetic approach in dealing with the opponent absolutely. Among the most prominent landmarks for dealing with the Quranists:

First: Confronting ideas and focusing on them instead of confronting or attacking individuals. This is an approach pioneered by Quranic texts and practical and verbal Prophetic Sunnah.⁴⁷ The texts relied on rational evidence in discourse and dialogue with the opponent and were initially directed at groups practicing the act of reasoning and reflection and their results. Dealing with argument, logic, historical evidence, and proven facts in various fields of general acculturation is capable of showing the truth and returning the other parties to the path of correctness, not for the sake of achieving victory for one party at the expense of the other, but for the sake of dialogue, communication, and clarifying facts to others.

The distance of Muslims today from the Quranic and Prophetic method for dialogue with others and discussing them on the basis of argument and proof is among the most prominent factors for being drawn into the labyrinths of accusations, takfir, and the like. Meanwhile, the texts of the Quran and authentic Sunnah were not a discourse imposed on the mind and conscience without giving the recipient the opportunity for reflection and deduction through induction and inference; in addition, the inferential mechanisms contained in those texts are in essence argumentative techniques that necessitate following them. Accordingly, ideas should be countered with ideas and doubts resisted with evidence without indulging in sermons, hurling accusations, and brandishing the weapon of takfir and expulsion from the faith, imagining that this is capable of ending this group or burying its ideas. A careful study aimed at deducing the real causes underlying the emergence of these ideas or those claims is the best solution to face these challenges.

It is worth noting in this regard the importance of avoiding derogatory terms in the midst of serious scientific discussion, as it is a path that does not accord with the objective method.⁴⁸ The appropriate response to those ideas should include a presentation of the position of those ideas and their speakers scientifically when they pretend to defend objective criticism and investigate the truth—a pretense that definitive evidence proves is among the half-truths intended to mislead readers who are not specialists in this field. Responding to doubts and ideas does not necessitate being drawn into a detailed listing of everyone who denies the Sunnah and everything they wrote, and then piling that up and considering it a single intellectual method, as much as it necessitates stopping at the ideas without being concerned with distinguishing and classifying their speakers under a specific category or in a specific group.

Under this falls the necessity of conducting a serious, scientific, and civilized dialogue between the figures of this phenomenon in atmospheres where the unique Quranic etiquette and the guided Prophetic guidance in dialogue with the opponent prevail, presenting ideas and propositions without mockery or attack for the sake of reaching the truth and showing correctness. Moving away from atmospheres of civilized dialogue will only generate more intellectual tension and push various intellectual segments into the depths of accusations, tafsiq (labeling as sinful), and takfir, which is something that will not lead to what sincere scholars of the Ummah—who seek nothing but the protection of this religion and its laws—aim to achieve.

It is worth noting in this context the importance of considering the comparative historical and intellectual circumstances for the emergence of various ideas surrounding the Prophetic Sunnah, and attempting to distinguish when discussing them between what was said several centuries ago and what is said today, even if there appears to be a great similarity between the nature of those propositions at first glance. The discourse directed at those who denied the Sunnah in the past should not remain the same discourse directed at those who deny it today while almost completely ignoring the change in the addressees and the nature of the ideas and doubts raised today.⁴⁹

Second: Distinguishing in discourse between those who deny the authority of the Sunnah and demand its cancellation and exclusion from legislation—not seeing it as a valid legal evidence in principle—and those who examine some Hadiths and conclude they are unauthentic according to the criteria of scholars and Hadith experts, and not according to personal whims or preconceived ideas for the sake of adapting texts to them. This is with an emphasis on the importance of not rushing to judge Hadiths as unauthentic. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi says in this context: "How many of the followed and accepted Imams in the Ummah have we seen who rejected a Hadith that was established with others but was not established with him due to a defect he saw. That Hadith might later be narrated in one of the two Sahihs or both. This did not diminish the status of these individuals, nor did it scratch their leadership in any way. We have seen the Mother of the Believers Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) reject some Hadiths she heard from some companions when she saw them contradicting the Quran in her view, or contradicting what she herself heard from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and this only increased her virtue and status with the Ummah. Furthermore, it is not permissible to say of someone who rejected one or two Hadiths from Bukhari or Muslim or both: that he rejected the Hadiths of the two Sahihs or called them liars; this is an incorrect depiction of the issue and an accusation in the wrong place."⁵⁰

Third: The necessity of focusing on modifying the methods of dealing with the Prophetic Sunnah to escape the crisis of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Among the most prominent features of this modification is the interest in a holistic, integrative reading of authentic Hadiths while considering the occasions and reasons for their arrival if they exist. This study is based on collecting the Quranic and Prophetic texts mentioned in the issues and not looking at matters and judging them through reading a single text extracted from its context or from the reason for its arrival. Because the process of understanding the Sunnah must involve understanding the circumstances that surrounded the Hadiths; if the Hadith is taken cut off from the conditions in which it was said, and from whom it was said to, and from the place in which it was said, contradiction and conflict appear with other texts mentioned in the Quran or others in the Sunnah. In addition, this results in a far-fetched interpretation or an understanding that may be characterized by anomaly (shudhudh), and this is among the most dangerous methods of dealing with the Sunnah and most harmful to it. However, if these circumstances are known, and these contexts and conditions appear through the integrative holistic reading (the importance of which we emphasize), the texts are saved from the illusion of contradiction, conflict, and far-fetched understanding.

⁴⁷ For details, see our book that won the Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud International Prize for Serving the Prophetic Sunnah this year, titled: The Fiqh of Dialogue with the Opponent in Light of the Prophetic Sunnah. The book is under publication.
⁴⁸ What is observed in most discussions in this field and others is their distance from the Quranic method and Prophetic guidance in dealing with the opponent and the etiquette of dialogue and presenting ideas; the Holy Quran addressed the most stubborn polytheists and disbelievers and cited their words without mockery, insult, or belittling anyone's opinion. See what Dr. Ahmad Subhi Mansur, former director of the Ibn Khaldun Gallery and former Islamic advisor to the center, mentioned in response to the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar regarding an article published in the Kuwaiti Al-Rai al-Aam 8/10/2004. See also what writer Zaid Nabulsi mentioned in his article "The Lie of Authentic Hadiths" of attack and mockery of scholars and Hadith experts in a style far from objectivity and a rigorous scientific method. See the newspaper's website: Arab times newspaper. October 21, 2004 and its website: http://www.arabtimes.com/Mixed7/doc66.html
⁴⁹ Many contemporary thinkers emphasize when responding to the doubts raised about the Sunnah today that they are the same doubts raised by Sunnah deniers in the time of Al-Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) in the second century AH, which he responded to in his book Al-Risalah. Despite the similarity regarding the doubts, the historical and intellectual circumstances are different; therefore, they must be considered so that the dialogue with those trends becomes more realistic and in step with prevailing currents. Imam Al-Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) did not ignore, when responding to and discussing the views of the deniers of the Sunnah in his era, the circumstances of his era and the events concurrent with those views, which confirms the importance of caring for this aspect. Examples of contemporary studies that focused on the issue of similarity and considering the responses to be the same in every time and age include what was written by Prof. Dr. Abdul Mahdi Abdul Qadir, Refuting Doubts about the Prophetic Sunnah, Maktabat al-Iman, Cairo, 2001, p. 28.
⁵⁰ Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Islam Online: April 24, 2004. www.islamonline.net (Note: The original link isinmouline.net was corrected to the more common islamonline.net).

Conclusion and Results

This study aimed to uncover the impact of historical and intellectual circumstances on the emergence of contemporary Quranists and the appearance of their thought. The study clarified the repercussions of these dangerous circumstances and their effects on misunderstanding the Sunnah and subsequently distorting and attacking it. It also revealed aspects of those repercussions manifested in extremism and excess in applying modern Western critical methods to the Prophetic Sunnah and the Holy Quran without any scientific attempt to understand the vast differences between the two sides. Additionally, those imitated methods lack the required scientific honesty and necessary objectivity.

Among the most important results reached by the study is the identification of the most prominent historical and intellectual circumstances and philosophies influencing the emergence of Quranists in the present era, namely:

The philosophy of Biblical Criticism methods.
The impact of the philosophy of the Evolution of Religions.
Misunderstanding of methods for dealing with the Prophetic Sunnah.

The study also clarified the most prominent landmarks for dealing with this group and others, such as:

Confronting ideas directly.
The necessity of distinguishing in discourse between those who deny the authority of the Sunnah absolutely and those who examine some Hadiths according to accepted criteria among the majority of scholars and Hadith experts.
The necessity of focusing on modifying the methods of dealing with the Prophetic Sunnah to escape the crisis of misunderstanding and misinterpretation.

The study did not stop at addressing and analyzing those effects but provided a vision of how to address, treat, and respond to them in an attempt that necessitates further careful studies in this field.

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English References

Borg, J. Marcus. "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus and the Heart of Contemporary Faith." Harper Collins. 1