Tradition Flashcards
What is the hadith? when is it used?
The sayings of Muhammad. It is used if the Qur’an has contradictory passages, or does not cover an item. It forms the basis of Sharia law
what did el fadl say about the hadith?
“Without a study of Hadith a Muslim’s knowledge of his faith remains incomplete.”
what is the problem with the hadith?
there is no one single authorised version, so they can contradict
What is isnad?
a guarantor method used to determine the reliability of a hadith - only a Hadith with a genuine ISNAD, a guarantor which goes back to one of the companions of the Prophet could be accepted as correct.
Why do some muslims distrust the hadith?
Because it is not the word of god, so could have been distorted, eg Rashad Khalifa
What are the advantages of the hadith?
- Muhammad is a perfect moral exemplar and so his lessons and sayings should be taken seriously
- As the isnad method guarantees reliability of the hadiths, they are regarded as authoritative as the Qur’an and sometimes even more so.
Why are the hadith sometimes more authoritative than the Qur’an?
over time things can change e.g punishments and punishments must reflect the developed state of the law in Islam e.g The Qur’an specified 100 lashes for extra marital sex but well known Hadith tell Muslims that Muhammad was known to occasionally order stonings for such an act. According to Al-Shafi’i (762-820) this heavier punishment reflected the developed state of the law.
What are the disadvantages of the hadith? 6
- sometimes people tell lies about muhammad - a man was executed for telling 4000 lies about him
- even 150 years after his death there was little agreement about how to distinguish false from true sayings
- story tellers wove anecdotes into their material about Muhammad
- some contradict each other or the quran
- the guarantor method is unreliable. Oral tradition can affect the reliability of the sayings of Muhammad over a long period of time, even across two or three generations.
- some thought it was wrong to write hadiths down because books confused beliefs
What did one of Abu Hanifa’s most devoted disciples warn people to do?
“stay away from unusual hadiths…A hadith that goes against the Qur’an is not from the Messenger of God even if (reliable) narrators relate it!”
what is the sira?
the biographies of muhammad. Sira comes from the verb sara which means to travel
what does the sira consist of?
○ Stories of military expeditions by Muhammad and his companions
○ Political treatise
○ Military enlistments
○ Letters to foreign rulers
○ Speeches and sermons made by Muhammad e.g speech at farewell pilgrimage
○ Verses of poetry commemorating certain events and battles
○ Prophetic miracles
Why does Wim Raven say no coherent account of the life of Muhammad can be formed from the literature of the sira?
- hardly any sira work compiled in first century of islam
- discrepancies
- later sources claim to know more about the life of Muhammad than earlier sources
Who did Shi’a muslims believe Muhammad had designated as leader? and why?
Ali, his cousin/son in law. Because on his final pilgrimage to mecca he declared “whoever has me as his patron has Ali as his patron”
Why was Abu Bakr chosen as caliph?
The tribes of Mecca and Medina disliked Ali’s tribe, the Hashim - Abu bakr was from a far more liked tribe
Who was appointed after Abu Bakr, and what was he like?
Umar. he was a determined leader and Islam grew and was successful under his leadership
Who was caliph after umar? why was this decision unpopular?
Uthman. His tribe had previously opposed muhammad. However he had been very close with muhammad.
What unpopular decisions did Uthman make?
he was nepotistic, he took away privileges of the Qurra tribe, and he tried to make the pensions of all Muhammad’s wives the same, which angered Aisha who felt she was favoured. This upset the Qurra tribe who turned to Ali, believing he should have been Caliph after Muhammad died
How did uthman die?
he was killed by some of his own soldiers, who had found out that he had ordered their deaths
Who became caliph after uthman?
Ali. He was accepted by some, but not others such as Aisha
How did Ali die?
Ali was murdered, after the Battle of the Camel, where Aisha went to war against Ali. Uthman’s cousin Mu’awaiya and Aisha forced Ali to step down, while Mu’awaiya became Caliph. Puritanical Muslims called the Kharajites killed Ali, as they were angry that Uthman’s killers were never punished.
How did the Qurra tribe respond to Ali’s death?
- The Qurra tribe turned to Husayn, Ali’s son, inviting him to be the next Caliph, but Mu’awaiya’s son Yazid killed him.
- The Qurra tribe who supported the descendants of Ali formed the Shi’a group, who grew strong in Iran and eventually overthrew the Umayyads at the battle of Zab. The Shi’a caliphate then ruled.
Why are orthodox shia muslims known as the twelver shias?
because they believe that after muhammad died there were 12 imams
What are the attributes of the 12 imams?
Semi divine; had supernatural knowledge; sinless; infallible; had miraculous births
What must one be to be an imam?
a descendant of muhammad, and be designated by the previous imam
Who is the 12th imam
The hidden imam, Muhammad al Madhi, was believed to have never died, and instead went into hiding. He is the Messiah, and will come again to bring about the world’s end.
What supernatural powers was ali believed to possess?
he could control the weather; communicate with the dead, life mighty stones, and had supernatural knowledge
What did Muhammad recite in the ahl al-bayt story?
“Verily Allah intends to keep off from you every kind of uncleanness O’ People of the House (Ahlul- Bayt), and purify you with a perfect purification”.
Who makes up the ahl al bayt?
the 12 imams, muhammad and his daughter fatima
order from most reliable to least - daif, sahih, hasan
Sahih - most, then hasan, then daif - least
Why was abu bakr chosen as caliph?
he was very pious, was one of the first to convert to Islam and was Muhammad’s dearest friend. He brought unity and military triumph.
How does Lammens support Abu Bakr as caliph?
said Arabs did not like hereditary leadership. Abu Bakr was the most obvious and right choice.
Why does Aslan believe that the arguments against Ali being caliph were not good ones?
Ali was young but not ‘untried’. He was recognised for spiritual maturity and military prowess. He was often left in charge of the community (Ummah) when Muhammad was absent. Some tribes in medina, and Muhammad’s clan the Banu Hashim wanted him as leader.
What did Madelung say supporting choosing Ali as caliph?
Hereditary succession was common amongst the aristocratic Quraysh as they believed that noble qualities were passed via the bloodline. The Bible also supports hereditary succession and the Qur’an highlights this e.g. Abraham passes succession to Isaac.
What did abu bakr do once appointed as caliph?
he stood before the community and asked for their support and blessing
what is said in the hadiths that supports the ijma?
“My Ummah (community of Muslims) will never agree upon an error.”
How did al ghazali feel about the ijma?
he agreed with Al-shafi’i that the ijma was the whole world of Muslims but felt that the finer details of religious practices and laws should be left to the religiously learned.
Sunni muslims disagree over who the ijma really is. What are the three different opinions on this?
○ Some believe it is the salaf, the first three generations of muslims after muhammad.
○ Some believe it is all Muslims across the world
○ Some that it refers only to Muslim scholars who are learned
How was sharia law developed?
was developed by the Ulama (leading Muslim scholars) and it was initially based on the Qur’an. However, this proved to be inadequate because it is not a book of laws and often did not cover legal issues. The Ulama then turned to the Sunna (example of Muhammad) in the form of the Hadiths.
what did the ulama do if a hadith proved inadequate?
turned to the Ijma, which they believed was the unanimous consenseus of legal scholars.
what is the ulama?
leading muslim scholars
What is the salaf?
the first three generations of muslims after muhammad
What did Muhammad say about the salaf?
“The people of my own generation are the best, then those who come after them, and then those of the next generation”
Who was tamiyya?
a leading Muslim in the 9th century who made decisions based on salaf e.g. when considering the new drug hashish, he said that it was very like alcohol and users merited 80 lashes (which happened in the era of the salaf).He hated the fact that Sufi Muslims ignored the salaf and humiliated one who had been taking hashish by cutting his robe, his finger nails and shaving his long hair.
what is the qudsi hadith?
specjal hadith directly narrated by muhammad inspired through allah but not his direct word
why did some jurists believe the customs of medina were more important than the hadith?
in medina hounds were clean animals. but Muhammad taught that dishes licked by dogs 7 times must be washed
what do shi’a muslims add to the shahada?
“i bear witness that ali is the friend of god”
