The Light (English) The Light (English) September 2013 | Page 4

September 2013

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ground and are applicable to his actions, practices, and sayings, Hadith being the narration and record of the Sunnah, but containing in addition some prophetical and historical elements. Sunnah is divided into three kinds. It may be a qaul, i.e., an utterance or a saying of the Holy Pro phet which has a bearing on a religious question; a fi‘l, i.e., his action or practice; or a taqrir, i.e., his silent approval of the action or practice of another. Anyone who studies the Qur’an will see that the Holy Book generally deals with the broad principles or essentials of religion, going into details in very A view of the earth from the moon – the beauty rare cases. The details were generthat man is destroying in his arrogance ally supplied by the Holy Prophet, by either showing in his practice and regulations for its payment and collection. how an injunction was to be carried out or by These are only two examples. As Islam covers giving an explanation in words. The Sunnah or the whole sphere of human activities, hundreds Hadith of the Holy Prophet was not a thing of of points had to be explained by the Holy which the need may have been felt after his Prophet by his example, action and word. On the death, as is generally supposed; it was as much moral side, he was the exemplar whom every needed in his lifetime. The two most important Muslim was required to follow (33:21). The man religious institutions of Islam, for instance, are who embraced Islam, therefore, stood in need of salat (prayer) and zakat (compulsory charity). both the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah, Yet when the injunctions relating to them were (From: Maulana Muhammad Ali, Introduction to given, and they are repeatedly met with both in the Study of Hadith, Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Mecca and Medina revelations, no details were Islam, Lahore, Pakistan, n.d., pp. 1–2.) given. Aqimu al-salata (or keep up prayers) is the Qur’anic injunction, and it was the Prophet who by his action gave the details of the service. Atuz al-zakah (or pay the zakat) is again an injunction frequently repeated in the Holy Qur’an, yet it was the Holy Prophet who gave the rules
1. Hence the Holy Qur’an is also spoken of as Hadith (18:6; 39:23). The word sunnah is used in the Holy Qur’an in a general sense meaning a way or rule. Thus sunnat-ul-awwalin (8:38; 15:13; 18:55; 35:43) means the way or example of the former people and is frequently used in the Holy Qur’an as signifying God’s way of dealing with people, which is also spoken of as sunnat -ullah or God’s way. Once, however, the plural sunan is used as indicating the ways in which men ought to walk: “God desires to explain to you, and to guide you into the ways (Ar. Sunan) of those before you” (4:26).

Revival of the Faith
by Maulana Abdul Haq Vidyarthi
(This article – reproduced here with minor amendments – has been translated by Dr Zahid Aziz from the Urdu original, written in 1968 on the 60th anniversary of the demise of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and published in Paigham-i Sulh,? the? Urdu? journal? of? the? Lahore? Ahmadiyya? Move? ent. It may be read online at: m http://www.abdulhaq.info/english/revival.pdf.) The S?ra Y? S?n (ch. 36 of the Holy Quran) is customarily read before a Muslim on his deathbed, in order to turn his mind away from this world and to the next. The idea is good, but not