Preface
Under
God’s blessing, I have always cherished great interest in the Qur’ān as well as
the Ḥadīth. After the death of Imām Farāhī, I felt a strong desire to learn the
Ḥadīth from an expert in the discipline the way I learnt the Qur’ān from a
master of the Qur’ānic sciences. The Almighty fulfilled this desire of mine.
Thus, shortly afterwards, a great scholar of the prophetic ḥadīth,
Mawlānā ‘Abdul Raḥmān Mubārakpurī concluded his teaching and writing services and
settled in his hometown, Mubārakpur, situated at a distance of mere two miles
from my native town, A‘zamgarh. I availed myself of this opportunity and
immediately went to him. I requested him to let me benefit from his knowledge and
teach me aḥādīth of the Prophet (sws).
The
Mawlānā probably knew that I, being a graduate of Madrasah al-Iṣlāḥ, had been
trained by Imām Farāhī in the Islamic Sciences. He, therefore, said: “You have
already learnt a great deal. What is the need of learning more?” He was ready
to grant me a formal certificate if I so desired. This was indeed a great
honour for me. I, however, intended to learn aḥādīth. I did not seek a
formal certificate. I, therefore, stated that I was a humble student who did
not have the courage to be adorned with such kingly crowns and that I only
needed to learn how to properly study and understand the prophetic ḥadīth.
Having heard this request, he paused for a moment and then said: “In this case
I will teach you the book of your choice.” Considering that he had taught and
written a commentary of Ṣaḥīḥ of Tirmidhī, I requested him to
instruct me in the same work. He consented to my request and handed me an
autographed copy of his commentary of the book.
I
started studying Ṣaḥīḥ of Tirmidhī from the very next day. It was the
blessed month of Ramaḍān. As I stated earlier, his home was only a couple of
miles from my town. I walked to his house every morning and returned in the
evening. During the night, I would study Ṣaḥīḥ of Tirmidhī in the
light of his commentary on it. During the day, I would spend about two to three
hours reading out the book to the Mawlānā. This exercise usually exhausted me
completely but my teacher, in spite of his old age, never showed even a
slightest fatigue. May God bless his resting place and raise his status in the
afterlife.
I have
not narrated this story to express my relationship to this great scholar.
Rather I intend to express my interest in this exalted discipline. The above
mentioned episode dates back to the first half of the year 1932. Decades have
passed since. I have gone through good and bad times. I have cherished
different academic engagements during all this time. However, besides carrying
out other tasks, I have been constantly serving the prophetic ḥadīth.
This service has not been a ritualistic one. I have, on the contrary, pursued a
very noble cause.
I have believed for a long time that it is not possible
for our traditional scholars to confront the challenges facing our religion
today. To render this service, only those have to take up the field who are
well acquainted with the poisonous modern thought and philosophy, and at the
same time, are expert physicians of the remedy of the evil, thorough knowledge
of the Qur’ān and the Ḥadīth. But the question is: where do we have to look
for such people? The institutions that produce scholars in this country be they
modern or traditional are barren for this purpose. I believe that the first and
foremost step towards remedying this evil is to abrogate the parallel education
system. A single, unified education system should be introduced, combining the
modern and traditional education systems. This new system should not include,
to any degree, the religious disciplines merely as blessings, but, on the contrary,
the philosophy and core teachings of the Qur’ān must run through the entire
system as its life-blood. This task, however, cannot be undertaken and
accomplished by individuals alone and lies within the realm of the government.
Ordinary people like me cannot do anything but choose a few able graduates from
the same system and guide them to this noble discipline, lead them through a
process of refinement and growth and enable them to take the teachings and
philosophy of the Qur’ān to the world.
Pursuing
this purpose, I focused on two things. First, I started academic and research
lectures (dars) on the Qur’ān. I also planned a commentary on the Qur’ān
based on the coherence in the Book and the corroboratory evidence from its
parallels so that the Qur’ānic wisdom and philosophy is brought to the readers
and their hearts and minds are satisfied.
Second,
I started, in parallel, academic and research lectures on the second source of
religious knowledge in Islam, the Ḥadīth. In the beginning, I taught Ṣaḥīḥ
of Muslim to the college students who were interested in religious learning. Later,
I gave lectures on the text of Muwaṭṭā of Imām Mālik. Having finished
that, I have taken upon myself a lecture series on Ṣaḥīḥ of Bukhārī
as well and quite a number of intelligent and religious minded students are
regularly attending these lectures.
My
work on the Qur’ānic commentary was, with the help of God, completed in the
latter part of 1980.This nine-volume commentary titled Tadabbur-i Qur’ān
has been published. Its initial effects indicate that it will, God willing, fulfil
the purpose it was written for. As for my work on the Ḥadīth, it is
still confined to lectures. Some friends, however, are trying to get my
lectures on Muwaṭṭā transcribed and then compiled and prepared for
publication. If God wills, this work will soon be accomplished. For the
compiled work, I have already had a lecture recorded to be formed into the introduction
to the book. Mr. Mājid Khāwar, my dear fellow, has transcribed and compiled it in
the form of a manuscript. There is a great difference between a spoken and a
written word. It is not easy to transcribe any speech and then produce it in
the book form. I have gone through the manuscript and have realized that the
readers may find it deficient in terms of arrangement and order, brevity and
explanation, and beauty of expression. However, as far as the basic message is
concerned, it has been sufficiently preserved and duly conveyed. This last
element is the real purpose which must be met. The fine points and beauty of
discourse is a secondary element. Readers are encouraged not to attach more
than due share of significance to these things.
In
this booklet, I have explained all such principles of understanding aḥādīth
which I believe are fundamental in determining the reliability or weakness of
the traditions as well as understanding the matn (text). I have myself
followed these principles in my explanation of the speech of the Prophet (sws)
of God. I have not introduced a single new thing in these. All these principles
have been taken from the primary and the most reliable works by the great
scholars of the science of ḥadīth criticism. These principles are very
natural and reasonable. No rational being can deny or reject them. The task of
those people who are accustomed to studying only those aḥādīth which
support their juristic (fiqh) viewpoint is always easy. Such people may
not possibly acknowledge the significance of this endeavour and will fail to
give any credence to these principles; they may rather feel an aversion to this
kind of work, I am afraid. On the contrary, those who intend to gauge and
scrutinize all the works in the discipline and present it before the world as a
source of religious knowledge must have, in their hands, something that can be
acknowledged by all as a criterion.
I have
followed these principles in understanding, interpreting, and explaining to the
people in my lectures on the major ḥadīth works. My concerted efforts
are now directed to communicate to other people the good effects this line of
study produces. I do not know to what extent my desire will be fulfilled. Yet,
however, I am confident in that my efforts are directed at serving the prophetic
ḥadīth. I will not be, God willing, deprived of the due reward in the
long run.
I must
now state that if a scholar points out any errors in the present work, I shall
amend and correct it. I will gratefully receive such suggestions. However, I am
not interested in the comments of those who toe the line of their guides. They
profess much love and care for the prophetic tradition but never serve it
properly and never devote time for it. Their only academic treasure in the
field of the ḥadīth studies is what they have heard from their teachers
for which their sectarian brothers are ready to die. Such people come up with
criticism but their reviews are always devoid of academic strength. I do not
have time to read and respond to their criticism.
I
finish this preface by expressing my gratitude to the Almighty Allah, the Lord
of the worlds.
Amīn
Aḥsan Iṣlāḥī
February
27. 1989
Comments
Post a Comment