Hadith: Encyclopedia II - Hadith - How are hadith collections viewed?

Hadith - How are hadith collections viewed?

The overwhelming majority of Muslims consider hadiths to be essential supplements to and clarifications of the Qur'an, Islam's holy book.

• In the matter of what is called fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence, the Qur'an contains many rules for the behavior expected of Muslims. However, there are many matters of concern, both religious and practical, on which there are no specific Quranic rules. Muslims believe that they can look at the way of life, or sunnah, of Muhammad and his companions to discover what to imitate and what to avoid.

• In the matter of what is called tafsir, or exposition of the meaning of the Qur'an, Muslim scholars believe that it is useful to know how Muhammad or his companions explained the revelations, or upon what occasion Muhammad received them. Sometimes this will clarify a passage that otherwise seems obscure.

• Hadith are a source for Islamic history and biography.

• For the vast majority of devout Muslims, authentic hadith are also a source of religious inspiration.

A very small proportion of the global Muslim poplulation, such as Rashad Khalifa's followers United Submitters International, advocate following the "Qur'an alone" and claim that hadiths are unnecessary to supplement a complete book, often arguing that hadiths lead believers away from submission to God by adding another source of law. Muslims who advocate following the "Qur'an alone" viewpoint are regarded as apostates or sinners by mainstream Muslim scholars, and by the vast majority of Muslims. They argue that many Qur'anic instructions are impossible to fulfill without guidance from the ahadith. (The Qur'an does not, for example, specify how many prayer cycles constitute fulfillment of each of the daily prayers. See salat.)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "How are hadith collections viewed?", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki