Description: A brief description of the misguided people knowncollectively as Quranists and some points regarding the second source ofIslamic law, the Sunnah.

• By Aisha Stacey (© 2017 IslamReligion.com)
• Published on 06 Nov 2017
• Last modified on 17 Nov 2017
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The word Quranism describes a type of Islam in which theQuran is accepted as revelation from God but the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad,may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, and hadith collection[1]  arerejected.  Those who share this belief are known as Quranists.  The doctrineQuranists adhere to states that the message in the Quran is clear and completeand thus it can be understood without reference to the Sunnah or hadith.

Islamic scholars, including those who are oftendenounced as too moderate, condemn this belief.  They point to the fact thatthe Quran commands Muslims to follow the example, or Sunnah, of ProphetMuhammad.  Many scholars add that without the hadith literature many Islamicconcepts would be abstract and without substance.  For example it is the hadithliterature that teaches us how to pray, fast, give the obligatory alms orcharity, and how to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. 

It is difficult to estimate the number of peoplefollowing this deviant sect of Islam due to the fact that, as a general rule,they avoid any organised religious group or organisation.  There are however,several groups that have gathered together under the names, Ahle-Quran,Submitters (or Submission) and from Nigeria a group called Kala Kato.  In hisSunnah, Prophet Muhammad warned us about such people.

"I do not want to see any one of you reclining on hiscouch and, when he hears of my instructions or prohibitions, saying ‘I don’taccept it; we didn’t find any such thing in the Book of God.’"[2]

"Would any of you think that God would only describewhat is forbidden in the Quran? I tell you, by God, that I have warned andcommanded and prohibited things that are as important as what is in the Quran,if not more so."[3]

Islam teaches us that the hadith and the Sunnah ofProphet Muhammad explain and complete the Quran.  The evidence for this comesfrom the Quran itself.  God said that he revealed the Quran to Prophet Muhammadso that he could make it clear and understandable to humankind.  (Quran 16:44)The importance of obeying Prophet Muhammad can be understood from this verse:

"… they can have no Faith, until they make you(Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves noresistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission."(Quran 4:65)

God warns us not to disobey Prophet Muhammad, statingthat whoever does so will be doomed.  He says ".  .  .  And let those whooppose the Messenger’s commandment beware, lest some fitnah (trial, affliction,etc.) befall them or a painful torment be inflicted on them." (Quran 24:63)

The Quran and the Sunnah, including the authentic hadithcannot be understood correctly without recourse to each other.   The scholarsof Islam all agree that the Quranists’ suggestion that all the hadith arefabricated is nonsense.  Throughout Islamic history scholars took care topurify the Sunnah from all strange or outlandish elements.  If they had anydoubts about the truthfulness of any narrator, or if there was the slightestpossibility the narrator may have forgotten something, this would be sufficientgrounds to reject a hadith.

Authenticating hadith is a meticulous science andinvolves strict adherence to procedures built up over centuries.  A hadith isauthenticated and classified in several different ways and before you read oneit has gone through several methods of classification, the most well-known ofwhich is classification according to the reliability and memory of thereporters.

When a person rejects the hadith or the Sunnah ofProphet Muhammad a very important question arises.  How does a Muslim worshipGod without recourse to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad?  For example, theQuran does not provide a detailed prescription of the prayer nor the conditionsrequired for an accepted prayer.  When God commands the believers to pray Hedoes not mention the timing of the prayers or the details of performing them.  Prophet Muhammad however clarifies this when he says, "Pray as you have seen mepraying."[4] And the hadith literature gives us the details of how to do so.

God makes the pilgrimage obligatory but does not explainthe details in the Quran on how to perform this act of worship.  ProphetMuhammad explains the intricacies and rules.   When God made giving almsobligatory He did not mention the particulars.  The Sunnah however clarifiesthis and takes it from a general command to a specific set of details.  Inshort it is the actions and sayings of Prophet Muhammad that explain andillustrate what God is telling us in the Quran.

Prophet Muhammad’s beloved wife Aisha described herhusband’s character as the Quran[5]. Imam An-Nawawi, an esteemed hadith scholar, said that this meant that ProphetMuhammad acted in accordance to the Quran, he adhered to its limits, followedits etiquette, paid heed to its lessons and parables, pondered its meanings andrecited it correctly.  The traditions, the Sunnah and the authentic hadith, arein fact inseparable from the Quran.

The vast majority of Muslims recognise that the Quranand the Sunnah are intertwined.  One is not complete without the other. Centuries of scholarship have left Muslims in the enviable position of beingable to trace the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad.  We are able to build up avery clear picture of his life and times.  We know that his companions looked tohim to explain and clarify the revelations that were sent down to him by God.

Sadly, although they are not the very first people to doso, the Quranists seek to confuse people by rejecting the hadith literature. Some of these small but active groups go to great lengths to portray themselvesas mainstream when in fact they are not.  In this day and age where people haveaccess to vast amounts of knowledge at the touch of a button it is important torecognise when a website is portraying itself as something that it is not. They like to give the appearance of having many followers and try to tracetheir roots back through the centuries of Islamic scholarship.  If you stumbleupon one of their many websites it should not prove difficult to realise yourmistake.  Quranist websites will usually, in their introductory pages, revealthe importance they place on the Quran as the only source of Islamic law.  Onthe other hand, the vast majority of Islamic websites draw attention to bothsources of law the Quran and the Sunnah.

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