Adinant Adulyasat's Profile

自说自话 พูดเองเออเอง
自问自答 ถามเองตอบเอง
自作主张 คิดเองเออเอง ไม่ถามความเห็นของคนที่เกี่ยวข้อง
自言自语 พูดกับตัวเอง

The Turki Shahis ruled the region until 870 CE, losing control of it only between 815 and 819. During those four years, the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun invaded Kabul and forced the ruling shah to submit to him and accept Islam. To represent his submission, the Kabul Shah presented the Caliph, as a gift, a gold Buddha statue from Subahar Monastery. As a sign of the triumph of Islam, Caliph al-Mamun sent the enormous statue, with its silver throne and jeweled crown, to Mecca and displayed it there at the Kaaba for two years. In doing so, the caliph was demonstrating his authority to rule the entire Islamic world after vanquishing his brother in a civil war. He did not force all the Buddhists of Kabul to convert, however, nor did he destroy the monasteries. He did not even smash, as an idol, the Buddha statue that the Kabul Shah had presented him, but sent it instead to Mecca as booty. After the Abbasid army withdrew to fight against movements for autonomy in other parts of their empire, the Buddhist monasteries quickly recovered.

The Sunnah is not Based on the Ahadith  

    The Sunnah has not been founded
on Ahadith,
which have an inherent prospect of either being right or wrong, as we have
seen in the foregoing pages. On the contrary, it is based on the perpetual
adherence of the Ummah to it. Just as the veracity of the Qur’an
is proved by perpetuity in verbal adherence, likewise the veracity of Sunnah
is equally proved by the Ummah's perpetuity in practical adherence
to it. For instance, we have not adopted the prayers, pilgrimage etc, in
all their details because a few narrators explained them to us, but we
act in a particular manner because the Prophet (sws) acted accordingly.
Thereafter, through him learnt the Companions, and through them learnt
the followers of the Companions, and then the successors thereof learnt
through the followers. In this manner, the later generations continued
to learn through their earlier predecessors. In case, the narrative records
also testify to this effect, it should be taken as additional testimony.
However, if the narrations are found to vary in any manner, preference
shall, in any case, go to the perpetual adherence to practice. If it is
observed that in a certain case the Akhbar-i-Ahad differ from the Sunnah, reasons for variation shall be investigated.
However, if the variation cannot be explained, we shall be obliged to give
up the narrations, since in any case the latter are presumptive, whereas
in comparison the Sunnah is a categorical reality.  

    The creed of the Malki
School of Fiqh whereby they prefer the practice of the people of Madina to Akhbar-i-Ahad,
is based on this very principle. They regard the practice of the people
of Madina as a conclusive evidence
and say `among us the Sunnah is like this'. The Hanafites, likewise,
do not attach any importance to Akhbar-i-Ahad on problems which relate to `Umum-i-Balwah,
and do so with the same principle in view.  

    We must bear in mind the fact that
the perpetual adherence to practical issues by the Ummah means the
practice of the Prophet (sws), that of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and
of the Companions of the Prophet (may Allah's blessings be upon them all).
Says the Holy Prophet (sws):  

Acting upon my Sunnah and the Sunnah of
my Rightly Guided Caliphs is obligatory for you. (Ibn Majah, Ch 6)  

    This is the group which is, in fact, the
mainstream of the Muslim Ummah. In our times, a very large section
of the people have adopted practices which are evidently contrary to the
Qur’an and Sunnah. They
are all in the category of heretics. And with regard to heresy the Prophet
(sws) has said that heresy is deviation, and this deviation leads to Hell-fire.  

A Question to Non-Believers of the Sunnah  

    Those who reject the Sunnah
claim to believe in the Qur’an,
and still deny the Sunnah. It is hard to understand their logic,
since, as the Qur’an is proved
by the verbal adherence of the Ummah, likewise the Sunnah
is proved by the practical adherence of the Ummah. If these people
reject the Sunnah, there is no justification to accept the Qur’an.
There is hardly any difference in the credentials of either.  

    It is rather important that the difference
between Hadith
and Sunnah, elucidated in the foregoing pages, be kept in mind.
When this difference was overlooked, the result was that the denial of
a few Ahadith
was construed to mean the denial of the Sunnah. Thereafter, whatever
doubts were invented against the Hadith
by the non-believers of Hadith
were extended by them to deny the Sunnah as well, though the denial
of the Sunnah is tantamount to denial of the Qur’an
itself, as already explained.  

    Those who are familiar with the history
of the denial of Hadith
are fully aware that this mischief actually raised its head over a few
Ahadith
of anomalous nature. However, later on this matter turned into a hot-bed
of debates; in the heat of arguments people lost sight of the difference
between Hadith
and Sunnah. In such battles of wits, the attacking party failed
to realize what they were attacking; nor did the defenders knew what exactly
they had to defend and wasted their energies on a different front. In their
ignorance, either side ended up in a loss. The non-believers of Hadith
stretched their doctrines so far as to touch the bounds of Kufr (disbelief),
and the supporters of Hadith,
on the other hand quite unnecessarily dragged the Sunnah as well
along with the Hadith
into the firing-range.