Studying Islam

Post Reply

Username

Invalid Username or Password

Password

Format

Message Icon

Message

- Forum Code is ON
- HTML is OFF

Smilies

[quote]Ok, the first link above basically states that Hadiths are to be accepted only when they pass the following two tests -

Fann-i-Riwaayat (involving investigation of the complete chain of narrators going back to the original narrator of a particular version of the Hadith in question)

Fann-i-Daraayat (investigates the authenticity of a Hadith by determining whether or not its subject-matter is acceptable)

My response is this, for Fann-i-Riwaayat, fair enough, if one can conclusively determine that the chain of narrators were honest people with good memories, there's a very good chance that information passed on would be reasonably accurate - BUT, as nothing was written down, and information was passed on by word of mouth, it's quite possible that these people may have misunderstood something being said to them (note - their honesty isnt being questioned here, just the simple fact that they were human and liable to make mistakes while communicating - esp when we consider that they would have had to recall things after many many years), and being Muslims, they would have wanted to make prophet Muhammed (pbuh) sound like a wonderful person - not that he already wasnt, but in an attempt to convey this message, it's human nature to slightly exaggerate a story to make it sound more interesting and awe-inspiring (if u get what i mean)

and in response to Fann-i-Daraayat, once again, fair enough, one could eliminate Hadiths that dont make sense according to The Holy Quran, but this, i'm afraid, doesnt stop all those anti-Islamic websites out there from using them as "proof" of Islam's falseness (if that's a word).. and also, even if Hadiths are compatible with the Koran, how do we know that they werent as a result of (unintentionally) exaggerated stories?

In conclusion, yes, i'm sure that a lot of Hadiths out there are most true, but can we - with our far from flawless human minds - distinguish between the ones that have been misinterpretted or exaggerated and the ones that are genuinely true... That said, i dont think we should use that excuse to disregard all Hadiths, but then how do we go about drawing a line?? (and would our position with regards to Hadiths be comparable to the positions Christians are in with respect to their Gospels?)

Oh, thanks for the link aslam - a few very good articles there.. and if i missed anything in this post, please do point it out and i would also love to hear your responses.. Jazakomullah-kher

May Allah Almighty have mercy upon all of us, Ameen

[/quote]

Mode

Check here to be notified by email whenever someone replies to your topic

Show Preview