Quran-Islam.org - True Islam

Did the Prophet have his own teachings besides the Quran?

O People of the Book, Our messenger has come to you, to 'yubayyin' (clarify) for you, after a period
of time without messengers, lest you say, "We did not receive any bearer of news nor a warner".
Indeed, a bearer of news and warner has come to you. God is Capable of all things.

5:19

As with the other Quranic verses presented in this section, the content of 5:19 has also been manipulated in order to legislate the upholding of hadith as a second source of religious law besides the Quran.
The claim is that the word "yubbayyin", which means to explain, confirms that it was the duty of the messenger to explain the Quran, and thus we must follow the hadith which explains the Quran.
However, it can be shown in the light of the Quran that this claim is false:

1- The verb "yubbayyin" used in 5:19 is the same verb "tubayinannhu" word used in 3:187:

God took a covenant from those who received the Scripture: "You shall 'tubayinunnahu' (make it clear) to the people, and not conceal it." However, they cast it behind their backs, and traded it away for a cheap price. Miserable indeed was their trade. 3:187

In 5:19 God is speaking about His messenger, but in 3:187 God is speaking about all who received the Scripture. The meaning we derive from this is very significant.

If we follow the interpretation of the hadith advocates, we would have to say that since God instructed all who received the scripture (3:187) to "tubayinunnahu" to the people, this would mean that every single Prophet who received the Scripture has to explain it to all other people. It would also mean that every receiver of the Scripture will have his own hadith which in turn must be followed by all other believers!

There can only be one meaning for the word "tubayinunnahu" in 3:187 and also in 5:19, that being to declare the Scripture and proclaim it to all people. Indeed, it is the duty of all who received the Scripture, one of whom is the messenger of God, to make it known to all people.

2- The next verse to examine is 16:64. This verse sheds extra light on the correct meaning of 5:19:

We did not bring the Book (Quran) down to you except for you to clarify to them that in which they have disputed and as a guidance and mercy for people who believe. 16:64

The words in 16:64 clearly state that the messenger is given the Book in order to use it in clarifying what the people disputed in. The tool which the messenger is to use in clarifying is what has been revealed to him in the Book of God and not his own teachings. In addition, the messenger is prohibited from adding his own teachings to the message he received from God. If he does, he would be committing a great error which would incur a severe punishment from God (see 69:44-46).

What this means is that the messenger is to deliver the message of God and to use the Book of God to clarify disputes among the people (16:64), also to rule among the people by means of the Book of God (5:48).
The only source mentioned in all the above verses is the Book of God; there is not any mention of any other source.

One more claim made by the advocates of hadith is that the Quran only contains the headlines, and that it is the hadith that provides the details of rituals and practices.

Needless to say, such claims show contempt of the Quranic assurances that the Book contains all the details (6:114), that nothing has been left out of the Book (6:38) and that the Quran has explanations for all things (16:89).

The Quran gives us the following assurances:

1- The only duty of the messenger is to deliver the message of God:
The sole duty of the messenger is the delivery (of God's message). 5:99

2- Prophet Muhammad was commanded to specifically proclaim to the people that he cannot guide them:
Say (O Muhammad), "I possess no power to harm you, nor to guide you." 72:21

If the messenger was commanded to proclaim that he cannot guide the people, how can some claim that the hadith provides guidance?

3- In 45:6 we are told not to believe any hadith other than the Quran:

These are God's revelations (Quran) that We recite to you truthfully. In which hadith other than God and His revelations (Quran) do they believe? 45:6

It follows that all who say we need the hadith because it explains the Quran are in fact showing their utter rejection of the assurances found in all the Quranic verses presented above.

Website Design