This intense activity about the Hadith was, in fact, an activity for understanding the Qur`aan and evolving jurisprudence. The Fiqh that has evolved from general principles of the Qur`aan and the Sunnah is like a perfect tree that has sprung from their seeds; its root is the Qur`aan, its trunk the Hadith and the foliage and the flowers that adorn it are Fiqh and analogical reasoning.
We are not presently concerned with the nature of the juristic and deductive (Ijtihaadi) problems in Islam, and on what authority they rest. We have only to shed light on the evolution and growth of Fiqh and its existence, since it is the result of the Hadith and the fruit of the Qur`aan. this could not have been possible without the medium of the Hadith which joins two disparate elements. That is to say, it connects the word of the Mujtahids with that of God.
Thus, as man cannot gain access to God without the medium of the holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) who is connecting link between God and man, similarly between the Word of God and the word of the Mujtahids there is the connecting link provided by the word of the Holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). Without this, the word of men can derive no authority from the Word of God. Therefore, any group of Muslims which relinquishes the Hadith cannot hope to gain access either to the Qur`aan or Fiqh. In other words, it would be bereft of the authority and the source of Islam. It will be slave to its own imaginings – Satanist imaginings – which it would equate with the commandments of God although, leave alone the Word of God and that of the Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), it would not have even the capability to understand the writing of the jurists.
Hadith: An exposition of the Qur`aan
It is evident, that the Hadith is something other than the Qur`aan. It certainly unfolds the Qur`aanic eternal truth and hidden significances. Since it has also emerged from the same light from which the Qur`aan did, it possesses the power to bring out that light which no other writing possesses.
Whether anything is in the nature of a statement (qawl) or act (`amal), silence (sukut) or speech (taqrir), it is called bayaan in the language of the Qur`aan. According to the holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) this is called Hadith or Sunnah, which is evident from his words, “Quote from me” and “follow my example”. It removes all obscurities in the Qur`aan: It says in detail what has been said in brief therein; it is an exegesis for the difficult points in the Qur`aanic text, elucidation of what is subtle, and explication of its gnomic points without which there is no way out to settle the different disputes and determine the intents of God.
Thus, the Ahaadith are an elaboration of the whole of the Qur`aan while each Hadith explains some Aayat.
Qari Muhammad Tayyib (Late)
Rector – Darul Uloom (Deoband)
