Analysis of the Hadith about “Qur’an and Sunnah”

Bismillah

All praises due to Allah and May his peace and blessing be upon the Last and Final Messenger Muhammad, his family and companions.

Imam Malik records in his well-known Mu’atta, hence he sai under the Book of destiny that it has reached him the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said, “I am leaving among you two commandments, by adhering to them you will never be deviated; that is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet.”

This narration has been narrated through several chains, from atleast four of the companions. However, all of them have some defects in them.
Recorded in “Mu’atta Imam Malik” without any sanad [Imam Malik said: it has reached us that Prophet [SAW] said…]. However, Imam Ibn Abdul Barr narrates it with his sanad in his Sharh of Mu’atta through two companions; Abu Hurairah and ‘Amr bin Awf, and he declare it to be preserve and famous among scholars. [At-Tamheed (24/331)]

This narration has been narrated through Ibn ‘Abbas, ‘Amr bin Awf, Abu Hurairah and Anas bin Malik.

Ibn ‘Abbas: – Narrated through Ibn Abbas by Imam Al-Bayhaqi in “Sunan Al-Kubra” (10/114) and in “Dalaa’il An-Nubuwwah” (5/549), Al-Hakim in “Al-Mustadrak” (318), Al-‘Uqaili in “Du’afa” (2/250) and Abu Bakr Al-Aajuri in “Ash-Sharee’ah” (5/2220). All of them narrate it through the route of Isma’eel bin Abi Uwais from his father from Thawr bin Zaid Ad-Dailee from Ikrimah from Ibn Abbas. This narration describe the speech of the Prophet (SAW) during his farewell pilgrimage.
Abdullah bin Abdullah bin Abi ‘Aamir Abu Uwais Al-Madani, the father of Isma’eel bin Abi Uwais, was close to weakness. Yahya and Ahmed said he was weak in hadith. Another time Yahya bin Mu’een said, there is no problem with him. In another narration, he said: Sadooq, but not Hujjah. Nasai and Ibn Madeeni also considered him weak. Abu Dawud said: Saleh Al-Hadith. Muslim relied on Abu Uwais in his Sahih. [Meezan Al-E’etidal (2/450)]
Isma’eel bin Abi Uwais was a disputed narrator. The correct ruling on him is that he was truthful but made mistakes while narrating from his memory. Bukhari and Muslim narrated from him in their Sahih. [Refer to al-Kashif (1/247), Taqreeb (1/96), Meezan (1/222-223) etc]
In the report of Al-Aajurri, al-‘Uqaili and al-Marwazi the father of Ibn Abi Uwais narrates from Abdullah bin Abi Abdullah Al-Basari also along with Thawr bin Zaid Ad-Dailee.

Al-Albani declared the sanad in Mustadrak Al-Hakim from Ibn ‘Abbas to be hasan [“At-Tawassul” (pg.16)], and declared the hadith to be Sahih in “Sahih Al-Jami’” (3232). Al-Hakim said, “The command to stick with Sunnah is Ghareeb (odd) in this speech (farewell speech).” The comment of Imam Hakim is true when we look at the authentic tradition of Ibn ‘Abbas recorded by al-Bukhari in his “Sahih” (1739) Ahmad in Musnad (2036) and others through Fudail b. Ghazwan from ‘Ikrimah from Ibn ‘Abbas. Basically, the version reported by al-Hakim is a manipulated version of famous narration recorded in Sahih and Musnad. And Allah knows best.

‘Amr bin ‘Awf: – Narrated by Ibn Abdul Barr in “At-Tamheed” (24/331) and in “Jami’ Bayan Al-‘Ilm” (1/755, 2/979) through the way of Katheer bin Abdullah from his father from his grand-father…
Katheer bin Abdullah was weak. Taqreeb (2/39)

Abu Hurairah: – Through Abu Hurayrah by al-Daarqutni in “Sunan” (4606), al-Bazzaar in his Musnad (8993), Al-Hakim in “Al-Mustadrak” (1/172), Imam Al-Bayhaqi in “al-Kubra” (20337), Ibn Abdul Barr in “At-Tamheed” (24/331) through the route Salih bin Musa At-Talhi from Abdul Aziz bin Rufai’ from Abu Saleh from Abu Hurairah.
Regarding Saleh bin Musa, Ibn Hajar said: He was matrook.

Anas bin Malik: – Abu Ash-Shaykh Al-Asbahani narrates as a hadith of Anas bin Malik in his “Tabaqat al-Muhadditheen” (4/67).
In this, Yazeed bin Abaan Ar-Raqqashi narrates from Anas. Yazeed was weak in hadith, as said by Ibn Ma’een, Ahmed, Ibn Sa’d, Daarqutni etc. [Tahdheeb (11/270)]

This has also been narrated through ‘Urwah and Musa bin ‘Uqbah in Mursal form.

‘Urwah bin Zubair: – This was reported by Al-Bayhaqi in “Ad-Dala’il” (5/447-448) from Urwah bin Zubair from Prophet (SAW) as a Mursal tradition. The isnad contains Ibn Lahee’ah who was weak in hadeeth.

Musa bin ‘Uqbah: – Al-Bayhaqi reports it as a Mursal report of Musa bin ‘Uqbah (d.141 AH) in the same book (5/448).

 

 

Against Hadith al-Thaqalain

Some people, especially shi’ites, always represent Hadith al-Thaqalain as an evidence against this narration. According to them, the Hadith of “Quran and Sunnah” was forged to diminish the importance of hadith al-Thaqalain. To them, since the latter is reported with so many routes therefore the former must be a fabrication. However there is no real contradiction between them.

 

No real Contradiction

The importance of Sunnah is evident from numerous Qur’anic verses and prophetic traditions. For example, it is mentioned in the Quran:

“O you who have believed! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything then refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day.” [4:59]

“He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah” [4:80]

The Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said:

“Whoever obeys me will enter paradise, and whoever disobeys me has denied.” Sahih Bukhari (7280)

Hudhaifa b. Yaman narrates that the Messenger of Allah (sallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said, “…so read from the Qur’an and understand the Sunnah.” [Sahih Bukhari (6497, 7276), Sahih Muslim (230), Tirmidhi (2179)]

These are only few evidence to prove the validity of Sunnah as a source of Islam. So it is beyond understanding as to why some of the Rawafid dislike when the hadith of Qur’an and Sunnah is used to show the importance of Sunnah. No Sunni scholar uses this hadith to discard the authenticity of the hadith of Thaqalain rather they consider both to be different statements of the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).

The common thing about both hadith Thaqalain and that of “Quran and Sunnah” is that they both speak of adhering to Qur’an. The difference in them is that the former speak of the status of Ahlul Bayt while the latter command to adhere the Sunnah. The is the basic difference which Shiites today fail to understand that hadith Thaqalain does not represent Ahlul Bayt as a source to be followed in absolute sense. To read further on this see this article.

 

Concluding remark

It can be seen from above discussion that this narration has considerable defects with all of its routes. So, to many scholars the narration remains weak as a whole as these different routes do not strengthen each other because of fact that they arise from different sources, while for others it would be Hasan (which is a level just near weak) as the text has been reported through different routes and the text speaks of something which every Muslim agree on. Allah knows best.

Was Sayyiduna ‘Umar bin al-Khattab unaware of the verses of Tayammum?

Bismillah

All praises due to Allah and may His peace and blessings be upon the Last and Final Messenger Muhammad.

In Sahih Muslim, Book of Menstruation, chapter on Tayammum:

Abd al-Rabmin b. Abza narrated It on the authority of his father that a man came to ‘Umar and said: I am (at times) affected by seminal emission but find no water. He (‘Umar) told him not to say prayer. ‘Ammar then said. Do you remember,0 Commander of the Faithful, when I and you were in a military detachment and we had had a seminal emission and did not find water (for taking bath) and you did not say prayer, but as for myself I rolled in dust and said prayer, and (when it was mentioned before) the Apostle (may peace be upon him) said: It was enough for you to strike the ground with your hands and then blow (the dust) and then wipe your face and palms. Umar said: ‘Ammar, fear Allah. He said: If you so like, I would not narrate it.
A hadith like this has been transmitted with the same chain of transmitters but for the words: ‘Umar said: We hold you responsible for what you claim.”

Based on above narration some people allege that Umar bin Khattab (ra) was unaware of the verses of Tayammum. Basically Tayammum has been mentioned at two places in the Qur’an. First in Surah Nisa verse 43:

“O you who have believed, do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated until you know what you are saying or in a state of janabah, except those passing through [a place of prayer], until you have washed [your whole body]. And if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and find no water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and your hands [with it]. Indeed, Allah is ever Pardoning and Forgiving.” [Qur’an 4:43 tr. Sahih International]

And in Surah Ma’idah verse 6:

“O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful.” [5:6]

Sayyiduna ‘Umar (ra) was certainly aware of this verse and he also held it permissible to perform Tayammum in case of minor impurity [i.e. when only ablution is necessary] when there is no water available. But according to him it was not permissible to perform Tayammum in case of major impurity [i.e. when Ghusl is necessary]. In the above two verses if the word “lams” is taken for sexual intercourse then it does go against ‘Umar (ra), however if it is taken to mean physical touch then it is not a proof against his opinion. Basically the meaning of that part is controversial among scholars. According to Imam Shafi’i the part “Lamastumun Nisa” means touching of women while according to Imam Abu Hanifa it means sexual intercourse. So Umar (ra) was not actually unaware of the verses of Tayammum but he considered them to be only for those who with minor impurity but not in case of Janabah. It was a matter of Ijtihad not like some Rawafidh are trying to portray as though he was simply ignorant of the verses of Qur’an. It is said that he left this opinion. And Allah knows best.

Another point which clearly shows that the verse is not decisive against the view held by ‘Umar (ra) is the fact that in the incident which happened between him and ‘Ammar bin Yasir (ra) regarding the issue Ammar (ra) reminded him of an incident happened during the lifetime of the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) and not the verses regarding Tayammum. There could not have been any evidence stronger than the verse of Qur’an and ‘Ammar (ra) would never had left it if it were against ‘Umar (ra).