walaikum asalam Dear Br. Suhail

I am back. Thank you for your patience.
Let me comment on your email of May 31. You seem to have (slightly) misunderstood the points I made about hadith. It would not be fair of you to put in my "mouth" what I did not say. So let me summarize myself:

1. The Qur'an is a perfect book, Allah's word.
2. The hadith is the nearest to perfection a human product can be.
3. The hadith DOES NOT contradict the Qur'an in any aspect which does not require interpretation.
4. People who collected Hadith (like Imam Bukhari) and those who applied Hadith (like Imam Abu Hanifa) were great scholars of the Qur'an. It would be absurd (illogical if you like logic) to claim that a scholar of the Qur'an would collect Hadith which contradict the Qur'an

Your objection to 4 would need to show that you (or G.A. Pervez or Dr. Fazlur Rahman) know the Qur'an better than Imam Bukhari and Imam Abu Hanifa.

Correct me if I am wrong, but your position seems to be that in the year 1423 (A.H.) we are facing a mass of Hadith (you used the word "thousands") which contradict the Qur'an. You are now going to tell us what's wrong with these Hadith and how they contradict the Qur'an. So for 1400 years, the scholars of the Qur'an could not see that the Hadith ("thousands") contradict the Qur'an.

I THINK THESE POINTS CAN BE A STARTERS FOR A GOOD DISCUSSION

I hope you pondered the principle of INTERTWINING which I wrote about during my travel. Again, let me clarify:
1. Allah does NOT say "obey the Qur'an." Allah says "Obey Allah and the messenger ..."
2. The Qur'an is the vehicle of Allah's word: it is not Allah himself.
3. The Hadith is the vehicle of Muhammad's (pbuh) word. The Qur'an is not Muhammad's (pbuh) word.
4. Is Hadith as reliable as the Qur'an? NO. No human production can be as reliable as the word of Allah.
5. Does that mean Hadith is unreliable? It means no such thing. If anyone says he will not rely on the Prophet (pbuh) and will take the Qur'an only, such a person is not a Muslim and has never been accepted as a Muslim.
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Now we come to interpretation. The Qur'an has urged us to use our understanding (after it told us to follow Allah and the messenger and to accept the Prophet's USWA as our role model). Understanding has to be applied TO BOTH QUR'AN and HADITH. If understanding, ijtihad, come into play, that does not mean that the book is imperfect or that the USWA MUHAMMADI (pbuh) is not to be followed.
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You have given me an example of a Hadith which you think contradicts the Qur'an. You thought the Hadith contradicts 6:148 and 36:47 and you came to the conclusion that the Hadih's "message is to pacify and quell" while the Qur'an is saying you can make your own destiny.
I look at the same Hadith and it gives me a message which is the exact opposite of the one you got. It has nothing to do with 6:148 and 36:47.

To me it is saying: You cannot be certain, based on your actions, whether you will go to paradise or hell. In the final analysis, your fate is in the hands of Allah. Does that mean, we should be "pacified"? Not at all: Numerous Hadith tell us that Allah can change our seeming destiny. Even if we are put in hell fire, he can purify us and take us out of hell and send us to Paradise. Have you read those hadith?

We must always seek Allah's mercy and acceptance: never think that we are doing so well and Paradise is guaranteed to us. Also, do not look down on those who seem to be going to hell. At the end, it might turn out that Allah had "ordained" paradise for them.
You will see a contradiction only if you ignore other Hadith which point out that good works are essential. Thus the Hadith you quoted has a purpose: To stop people from being complacent and judgemental.
It's a beautiful Hadith. No way can it be considered a contradiction to the Qur'an. If you think the QADR aspect of the hadith is contradicting the Qur'an, again I must point out that the Qur'an teaches QADR:
MIN NUTFATIN KHALAQAHU FAQADDARAHU (80:19)

Look up the Qur'an and you'll see numerous verses which are saying exactly what the Hadith is illustrating: that humans are NOT the ones who will decide what will happen . I'll help you a little:
"Whom Allah does guide- he is on the right path: whom He rejects from His guidance- such are the persons who lose." (7:178)
"....Allah has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearings ..." (2:7)
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My dear brother-in-faith: Muslims changed the world when they interpreted the Qur'an with the help of the Hadithe Nabawi. Later when they gave up the Prophet's interpretation of the Qur'an, they made the Qur'an a plaything of their individualistic whims. The result was disaster.
We must study the Hadith and apply the Hadith to understand the Qur'an in its context. The Prophet (pbuh) COMES first. Only if we accept him, can we have the taqwa required to understand the Qur'an.
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Articles on HAZRAT 'AYESHA age interpreted by Hadith and the BENEFITS OF CHILD MARRIAGE are now on my web site:
www.NewTrendMag.org
Also a critique of Pervez's idea that Imam Abu Hanifa did not give first priority to Hadith is on: www.NewTrendMag.org
Also look up an introduction to IMAM BUKHARI on the same site: Go to java frames, click on hadith.
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2001-06-05 Tue 21:21ct