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Sayings (Hadiths) of Prophet Muhammad
The Qur’an as the greatest test for judging Hadith
In addition to these rules of criticism, which I think leave little to be desired, there is another very important test whereby the trustworthiness of Hadith may be judged, and it is a test the application whereof was commanded by the Holy Prophet himself. “There will be narrators," he is reported to have said, “reporting Hadith from me, so judge by the Qur’an agrees with the Qur’an, accept it; otherwise reject it."
The genuineness of this hadith is beyond all question, as it stands on the soundest basis(17). That hadith was in vogue in the time of the Holy Prophet admitted by even European critics, as I have already shown, and that the authority of the Qur’an was higher than that of hadith appears from numerous circumstances. “I am no more than a man," the Prophet is reported to have said according to a very reliable hadith, “When I order you anything respecting religion receive it, and when I order anything about the affairs of thw world I am no more than a man" (M&L. 1: 6-i).
There another saying of his: “My sayings do not abrogate the word of Allah, but the word of Allah can abrogate my sayings" (MM. 1: 6-iii). The hadith relating to Muadh which has been quoted elsewhere,(18) places the Holy Qu’ran the first, and after that Hadith.
‘A’isha used to repeat a verse of the Holy Qur’an on hearing words from the mouth of the holy Prophet when she thought that the purport of what the Prophet said did not agree with the Holy Qur’an. The great Imam Bukhari quotes a verse of the holy Qur’an whenever he finds one suiting his text, before citing a hadith thus showing that the Qur’an holds precedence over Hadith, and by common consent of the Muslim community, the Bukhari, which is considered to be the most trustworthy of all collections of Hadith, is looked upon as assah al-kutub ba’da Kittab-Allah, or the most reliable of books after the Book of God. This verdict of the community as a whole is proof enough that even if the Bukhari disagrees with the Qur’an, it is the Bukhari that must be rejected and not the Book of God.
And as has already been stated at the commencement of this chapter, Hadith is only an explanation of the Qur’an, and hence also the Qur’an must have precedence over the Hadith. And last of all, both Muslim and non-Muslim historians are agreed that the Holy Qur’an has been handed down intact, every word and every letter of it, while Hadith cannot claim that purity, as it was chiefly the substance of sayings that was reported. All these considerations show that the saying that Hadith must be judged by the Holy Qur’an is quite in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Prophet, and there is really no ground for doubting its genuineness.
Even if there were no such Hadith the test therein suggested would still have been the right test, because the Holy Qur’an deals with the principles of the Islamic law while Hadith deals with its details, and it is just and reasonable that only such details should be accepted as are in consonance with the principles.
Again, as the Prophet is plainly represented in the Holy Qur’an as not following “aught save that which is revealed to him" (6 : 50; 7 : 203; 46:9), and as not disobeying a word of that which was revealed to him (6:15; 10:15), it follows clearly that if there is anything in hadith which is not in consonance with the Holy Qur’an, it could not have proceeded from the Prophet and hence must be rejected.
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