Quran and Sunnah 

As-salaamu'alaykum.

My Dear Shaykh M.K. Yusuff,

At your request, I have reviewed Shaykh al Albani's

article.

My humble opinion, is that taken as a whole this article is

Disguised as a scholarly attempt to prove authenticity of the role of

Hadith and Sunnah in Islamic jurisprudence vis-a-vis the Qur'an and

Authentic Hadith.

However, I get a sense that the purpose all along is to elevate the

status and dependency of the Hadith to the point where it is as

important as the revealed book itself. Keep in mind it is Al Albani, who

of course, determines what is an authentic Hadith in the first place. No

doubt, we all recognize and agree on the importance of the role of the

Sunnah/Hadeeth and the author clearly plays upon our purported reliance

on the hadith in understanding certain verses of the Qur'an. He cites as

examples verses on shortening the prayer while on a journey, wearing

silk garments and eating certain foods.

Reading his "logical" comparative relationship between the Qur'an and

Hadith, one might get the impression that the author is being fair,

however, his own contradictions are too much to ignore. He criticizes

others for their insistence on using only the Qur'an as their source of

interpretation, yet, his overwhelming dependency on the Hadith in

defending his own position on certain matters is hard to miss. For

example, he is critical of an unnamed "renowned scholar" who wrote a

book on Islamic law and dogma and uses only Qur'anic references in his

book, by citing what he calls a 'true Hadith' from Tirmidhi that

supports using both the Qur'an and Sunnah. I should also mention here

that Al Albani makes no attempt to differentiate between 'Sunnah' and

'Hadith.' That 'Sunnah' and 'Hadith' are used in this context

interchangeably, I believe, is a grave mistake or deliberate.

Cloaked in his rambling conclusion are the following statements ( pages

7 and 8):

"In short, what is obligatory on all Muslims is that they do not

separate between Qur'an and Sunnah; whereas, it is obligatory to take

both of them and to formulate the law on both of them."

"Sunnah is not with the Qur'an in the same manner as Rae with the

Sunnah. No, definitely not. It is rather necessary to regard Qur'an and

Sunnah as being one source with no discrimination between the two

whatsoever. This is indicated in a saying of the prophet, salla Allah u

alihi wa sallam, : "Certainly I have come with the Qur'an and its like

(meaning the Sunnah)". He said: "They are never departed until they come

to the Basin#".The compilation mentioned between them is not correct

because the separation between them is void as we have explained."

Obviously, Al Albani wants us to make no distinction between the Qur'an

and Hadith. This I cannot accept. Let me also add that in my humble

opinion, Al Albani's overly reliance on Hadith and obvious disdain for

Scholars who think "outside the box" or Allah forbid, interpret the

Qur'an in a modern context, is a battle line long drawn, and it's going

to be a long fight for the souls of Muslims. In Al Albani's perfect

world, there is no place for the modern scholar such as Al Afghani,

Shaykh Shaltut, Dr. Fazlur Rahman, Muhammad Arkoun, etc. The concept

that our understanding of Allah's Glorious book, Al-Qur'an, is forever

evolving is summarily dismissed. Professor Murad Hoffman was right when

he said that "Islam must be taken back by the laymen."

Your Brother In Islam,

M. Zakir Rahaman