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Islam and Scripture: Difference between revisions
Automated script replacing USC-MSA hadith numbering system for Bukhari, Muslim, and Abu Dawud
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{{Main|Mawdu' (Fabricated Hadith)}}While traditional Islamic scholars have generally disallowed the very weak and fabricated hadiths from playing any role whatsoever in the formation of doctrine and law, many of them have, in varying capacities, permitted the use of unreliable hadiths in preaching, particularly where the hadith regards a topic without legal or doctrinal consequence. Examples of this include hadiths which give details about stories regarding the lives of other prophets, stories without legal consequence having to do with the life of Muhammad, and hadiths which comment on the merit or dis-merit of some deed and what its consequences will be in the hereafter. An example of the second of these three common genres is the story regarding Muhammad visiting the vicious Jew he had for a neighbor while she was sick. The last of these three genres most very often feature hadiths which say something to the effect of how many good deeds or heavenly rewards a believer gets if they recite some prayer or set of verses a given number of times. | {{Main|Mawdu' (Fabricated Hadith)}}While traditional Islamic scholars have generally disallowed the very weak and fabricated hadiths from playing any role whatsoever in the formation of doctrine and law, many of them have, in varying capacities, permitted the use of unreliable hadiths in preaching, particularly where the hadith regards a topic without legal or doctrinal consequence. Examples of this include hadiths which give details about stories regarding the lives of other prophets, stories without legal consequence having to do with the life of Muhammad, and hadiths which comment on the merit or dis-merit of some deed and what its consequences will be in the hereafter. An example of the second of these three common genres is the story regarding Muhammad visiting the vicious Jew he had for a neighbor while she was sick. The last of these three genres most very often feature hadiths which say something to the effect of how many good deeds or heavenly rewards a believer gets if they recite some prayer or set of verses a given number of times. | ||
===Contradictions=== | ===Contradictions=== | ||
{{Main|Contradictions in the Hadith}}While the sheer vastness of the hadith literature coupled with the large percentage of it that is admittedly inauthentic virtually necessitates the presence of contradictions, critics and historians have pointed out that even among those limited number of traditions graded as very reliable by Muslim scholars, there exist contradictions which can only be resolved through the most inventive hermeneutical techniques, which, needless to say, strain credulity. Historians have referenced these contradictions to argue that traditional system whereby Islamic scholars have tried to ascertain the reliability of hadiths is itself not reliable.{{Quote|{{Muslim| | {{Main|Contradictions in the Hadith}}While the sheer vastness of the hadith literature coupled with the large percentage of it that is admittedly inauthentic virtually necessitates the presence of contradictions, critics and historians have pointed out that even among those limited number of traditions graded as very reliable by Muslim scholars, there exist contradictions which can only be resolved through the most inventive hermeneutical techniques, which, needless to say, strain credulity. Historians have referenced these contradictions to argue that traditional system whereby Islamic scholars have tried to ascertain the reliability of hadiths is itself not reliable.{{Quote|{{Muslim||169e|reference}}| | ||
Ibn Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him). made a mention of Dajjil in the presence of the people and said: Allah is not one-eyed and behold that Dajjal is blind of the right eye and his eye would be like a floating grape.}}{{Quote|{{Muslim| | Ibn Umar reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him). made a mention of Dajjil in the presence of the people and said: Allah is not one-eyed and behold that Dajjal is blind of the right eye and his eye would be like a floating grape.}}{{Quote|{{Muslim||2934a|reference}}| | ||
Hudhalfa reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Dajjal is blind of left eye with thick hair and there would be a garden and fire with him and his fire would be a garden and his garden would be fire.}} | Hudhalfa reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: Dajjal is blind of left eye with thick hair and there would be a garden and fire with him and his fire would be a garden and his garden would be fire.}} | ||
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{{Main|Scientific Errors in the Hadith}}A common criticism of the [[Hadith]], [[Scientific Errors in the Quran|as with the Quran]], is that they contain numerous [[Islam and Science|scientific]] and historical errors, with no obvious attempts to differentiate their understanding of the natural world and historical events from the common folklore and misconceptions of the people living in 7<sup>th</sup> century Arabia. Modern responses typically appeal to metaphor, alternative meanings, or phenomenological interpretations of such hadiths. They also argue that the wording needed to be acceptable to people of its time. Critics typically argue that an all-knowing, perfect communicator would nevertheless have been able to guide the avoidance of statements in the Hadith that reinforced misconceptions of the time, caused future generations to have doubts about its perfection, and on a scale that critics contend is an overwhelming weakness. | {{Main|Scientific Errors in the Hadith}}A common criticism of the [[Hadith]], [[Scientific Errors in the Quran|as with the Quran]], is that they contain numerous [[Islam and Science|scientific]] and historical errors, with no obvious attempts to differentiate their understanding of the natural world and historical events from the common folklore and misconceptions of the people living in 7<sup>th</sup> century Arabia. Modern responses typically appeal to metaphor, alternative meanings, or phenomenological interpretations of such hadiths. They also argue that the wording needed to be acceptable to people of its time. Critics typically argue that an all-knowing, perfect communicator would nevertheless have been able to guide the avoidance of statements in the Hadith that reinforced misconceptions of the time, caused future generations to have doubts about its perfection, and on a scale that critics contend is an overwhelming weakness. | ||
===Absurdities=== | ===Absurdities=== | ||
{{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars: Remarkable and Strange Islamic Traditions}}The Islamic tradition is truly vast, and covers an impressive number of different topics, often including surprising stories, anecdotes and injunctions. Some of these traditions are truly strange or noteworthy in their own right. As with contradictions, historians and critics (who also cite the scientific errors), have argued that the presence of absurd anecdotes among those hadiths that have been graded very reliable by traditional scholars directly undermines the traditional method of grading hadiths.{{Quote|{{Muslim| | {{Main|Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars: Remarkable and Strange Islamic Traditions}}The Islamic tradition is truly vast, and covers an impressive number of different topics, often including surprising stories, anecdotes and injunctions. Some of these traditions are truly strange or noteworthy in their own right. As with contradictions, historians and critics (who also cite the scientific errors), have argued that the presence of absurd anecdotes among those hadiths that have been graded very reliable by traditional scholars directly undermines the traditional method of grading hadiths.{{Quote|{{Muslim||2277|reference}}|Jabir b. Samura reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying : I recognise the stone in Mecca which used to pay me salutations before my advent as a Prophet and I recognise that even now.}}{{Quote|{{Bukhari|||3849|darussalam}}|Narrated 'Amr bin Maimun: During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them.}} | ||
==Other important texts== | ==Other important texts== | ||
===Tafsirs=== | ===Tafsirs=== | ||