Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief

Rejecters of Hadith use the Big Lie Technique to Hide Within Muslims Ranks

by Kaukab Siddique, Ph.D
Associate Professor of English

Sis. Bint Waleed posted my notes on "Essential Questions about Hadith" on a number of discussion lists. One person known as Bashir Abid wrote a "point by point" rebuttal of my notes. As he is the elder of the professional anti-Hadith sectarians on the Internet, I'll look at some of his points.

Just about everything Bashir Abid wrote was borrowed from the writings of G.A. Pervez but in the middle of his writing, Abid slipped in this superb example of the big lie. Abid wrote:

"However, no scholar including Pervez (taunted by Mullahs as Munkar-e-Hadith) had ever rejected all the Hadith."

Readers should understand that Pervez is different from scholars who have looked critically at Hadith. ALL scholars of Hadith looked critically at Hadith narrations to make sure they were coming from the Prophet (pbuh). The Prophet (pbuh) himself taught that those who attribute Hadith to him falsely will be in hell fire. The greatest narrator and teacher of Hadith, 'Ayesha (r.a.) looked very critically at Hadith. Imam Bukhari was the greatest critic of Hadith of all times.

The issue here is not that Hadith should be looked at critically. [It should be, just as we should be careful that Qur'an is not torn out of context. One favorite fragment from the Qur'an for Field Marshal Ayub Khan, Pakistani dictator was: "...Obey those in authority among you ..." Anything can be torn out of context..]

The reason why Pervez went outside the fold of Islam was precisely that he considered ALL hadith unreliable. He made a systematic attempt to REMOVE MUHAMMAD (pbuh) from Islam and to reduce him merely to a glorious historic figure whose work would now be replaced by that of the central government or "markaze millat."

Bashir Abid seems to be hopeful that readers will not have seen his group's book MAQAME HADITH [sort of like the Bible of the Munkareene Hadith]. In that book, Oervez rejects ALL Hadith. He started what is now known as the "listing method." He made a list of Hadith, torn out of context, specially about sex, pre-industrial social conditions in Arabia, war, and other items which would offend the westernized mind.

He claimed that Bukhari includes "fabricated" hadith and ALL other hadith, by name, are unreliable too.

Towards the end of MAQAME HADITH, Pervez answers an interesting question and indicates clearly that he is against ALL Hadith.

The questioner wanted to know why we can't depend on Hadith. Surely ALL Hadith can't be fabricated! And he wanted to know that if Pervez thinks some of the Hadith are fabricated he should point which ones are and how he came to that understanding. Also, the questioner said that if you are willing to accept some of the Hadith which are genuine, why don't you compile a selection of reliable Hadith.

Pervez not only rejected the offer but claimed that such an effort to select genuine Hadith would be a waste of time. Heis basic point is that HADITH IN PRINCIPLE CANNOT BE ACCEPTED AS PART OF ISLAM, to be obeyed and followed. He admonished the questioner by making fun of his suggestion. He wrote:
" If we accept Hadiths as worthy of following and then say that a collection of Sahih Hadith should be put together, it would indirectly mean that we are saying that the messenger of Allah (ma'az Allah) made a mistake and did not give a collection of his statements to the Ummah, and what he should have done, but did not do, now the scholars of the Ummah should do." [Maqame Hadith, page 220, translated from Urdu.]

He arrives at this view: "Even if a new selection were to be made from the existing collections of Hadith, how would we be able to say that these definitely are the teachings of the messenger of Allah, that all Muslims should follow them, and that the Hadith we have declared fabricated should be cast aside?" [Maqame Hadith, p.221] [4th edition, 1986]

Thus to say that Pervez did not reject ALL hadith is absurd. Under a tremendous sense of inferiority vis a vis the West [which is also the hallmark of his followers], Pervez made a stupendous effort to eject Muhammad (pbuh) from Islam.

Pervez is the kind of person governments love. General Musharraf would have loved to hire him to fabricate a new Islam in which Hadith would not be there to create a problem for those who want the Qur'an to become like the Bible, open to every interpreter's whim and fancy.

Fortunately for Muslims, Maulana Abul 'Ala Maudoodi, may Allah fill his grave with light, was there to demolish the entire pious fraud of the anti-Hadith sophistry. Hence the use of the word "mullah" by Bashir Abid to refer to all those who uphold the authenticity and decisive force of the Hadith of Muhammad, peace be on him, in Islam.
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2004-12-21 Tue 11:04ct
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