The Guidance of Islam
(A note in general; I am not an Islamic scholar -- nor a scholar in Islamic traditions. And even such scholars do not agree with each other on these topics. My descriptions below are necessarily simplistic, and I encourage you to pursue this on your own if interested.)
A question arose on a quotation from the Palestinian charter that I posted about yesterday. It contained many quotations, including this one:The Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace be upon him, says: "The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,' except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews." (Recorded in the Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim).
The quote is at the end of Chapter One in the charter. The question was: Is this part of the Qur'an?
Islam's holy works
The quote is not from the Qur'an, but it is part of the Islamic holy works. The first clue that it is not part of the Qur'an is "the Prophet ... says:" -- because the Qur'an does not actually contain any statements or actions of Muhammad himself. He just took dictation, Islam says, from the Angel Gabriel (Jabreel) and recorded it though his followers, becoming a holy Prophet thereby and rendering his own later actions and statements, like the Qur'an, to be holy guidance for all Muslims. (Or "all mankind" -- I see that this debate is ongoing in Wikipedia as to the scope of that guidance.)
Those actions and statements are recorded at length in stories (tens of thousands of them, many of which are variations on the same story passed through different authors) called al Hadith (roughly "the information"). While Shi'a and Sunni Muslims differ in which stories are acceptable (as each side trusts only one group of people associated with Muhammad and not the other) there is broad overlap.
The quote in question
Here is the version in the collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim (it is from Book 41, and is repeated with variations in Hadith 6980 and several following):Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
The Sunnah, ("habits") similarly, are the collected sayings and practices of Muhammad himself. (The Sunni Muslims are called that because of the reliance they place on the Sunnah.)
Guidance for daily life
These stories and sayings of the Prophet form strong guidance to Muslim everyday actions. Essentially, if Muhammad did it, it is proper to do. These guide the behavior of Muslims in the manner of the Bible guiding the behavior of Christians, except that the average level of adherence to holy guidance among Muslims today is much higher than the equivalent among Christians.
For both major groups (Sunni and Shi'a Muslims), reliance on al Hadith is not just a majority opinion, but forms a central doctrine of Islamic faith. There is a tiny subset of Muslims who use the "Qur'an alone" concept -- if it isn't in the Qur'an, it doesn't count. These are not given credence in mainstream Islam and are considered heretics. (More on this in a link at the bottom.)
So Islam has the three holy works: the Qur'an, al Hadith and Sunnah. These are, approximately, the dictation of the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad, several collections of stories about Muhammad, and a selected set of his sayings and deeds. The last two overlap, of course.
The saying quoted above, about the need for killing the Jews, is from a well-known Hadith (several of them, actually), and is considered a "strong" or particularly valuable guidance. The guidance provided by these sayings is considered to be practical, in a sense: Is it okay to kill prisoners? Muslims look to al Hadith to find out. Muhammad killed prisoners, so yes, it is acceptable. And so on.
In short, those instructions, including all the hundreds of "kill the Jews" and "kill the non-believers" quotes, are part of Islam's sacred guidance, though not technically part of the Qur'an (which does not contain any statements or actions by Muhammad himself).
Conan the Imam?
Does it sound fierce? Yes -- and in fact parts of that same collection (Burkhari) sound like something that inspired Conan the Barbarian:I asked Allah's Apostle, "O Allah's Apostle! What is the best deed?" He replied, "To offer the prayers at their early stated fixed times." I asked, "What is next in goodness?" He replied, "To be good and dutiful to your parents." I further asked, what is next in goodness?" He replied, "To participate in Jihad in Allah's Cause."
That's nice. Pray at the right times, treat your parents well ... and conquer and kill non-believers. That last instruction is from Muhammad himself, like countless others, demanding action al all Muslims.
Links for the Hadith
Here's a search engine for the two largest collections. (For amusement, enter [stone] and read the first result about the call of nature.)
This link describes the importance of Hadith, and notes that the Qur'an says that the Prophet should be followed.
Wikipedia has entries on Hadith and Sunnah that provide some background on the sources of the texts. (In general, they were collected in the 800s or so, a couple of hundred years after Muhammad, and the Hadith has many thousands of stories.) Note that Wikipedia seems often beset by the Qur'an-only folks.
Reform the Hadith?
This organization recognizes that these fierce Hadith must be addressed in order for Islam to modernize. They have offered a "Petition for Hadith Reform." They want Muslims to "[c]ondemn and repudiate all Hadith that teach Islamic supremacism, the subjugation of non-Muslims under the rule of Islamic law, and the subjugation of women."
That seems like a good idea to me. But every day, to tens of millions of radio listeners and mosque attendees, Islamic leaders are preaching just how correct and necessary the duty of jihad is, right now.
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A question arose on a quotation from the Palestinian charter that I posted about yesterday. It contained many quotations, including this one:The Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace be upon him, says: "The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,' except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews." (Recorded in the Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim).
The quote is at the end of Chapter One in the charter. The question was: Is this part of the Qur'an?
Islam's holy works
The quote is not from the Qur'an, but it is part of the Islamic holy works. The first clue that it is not part of the Qur'an is "the Prophet ... says:" -- because the Qur'an does not actually contain any statements or actions of Muhammad himself. He just took dictation, Islam says, from the Angel Gabriel (Jabreel) and recorded it though his followers, becoming a holy Prophet thereby and rendering his own later actions and statements, like the Qur'an, to be holy guidance for all Muslims. (Or "all mankind" -- I see that this debate is ongoing in Wikipedia as to the scope of that guidance.)
Those actions and statements are recorded at length in stories (tens of thousands of them, many of which are variations on the same story passed through different authors) called al Hadith (roughly "the information"). While Shi'a and Sunni Muslims differ in which stories are acceptable (as each side trusts only one group of people associated with Muhammad and not the other) there is broad overlap.
The quote in question
Here is the version in the collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim (it is from Book 41, and is repeated with variations in Hadith 6980 and several following):Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.
The Sunnah, ("habits") similarly, are the collected sayings and practices of Muhammad himself. (The Sunni Muslims are called that because of the reliance they place on the Sunnah.)
Guidance for daily life
These stories and sayings of the Prophet form strong guidance to Muslim everyday actions. Essentially, if Muhammad did it, it is proper to do. These guide the behavior of Muslims in the manner of the Bible guiding the behavior of Christians, except that the average level of adherence to holy guidance among Muslims today is much higher than the equivalent among Christians.
For both major groups (Sunni and Shi'a Muslims), reliance on al Hadith is not just a majority opinion, but forms a central doctrine of Islamic faith. There is a tiny subset of Muslims who use the "Qur'an alone" concept -- if it isn't in the Qur'an, it doesn't count. These are not given credence in mainstream Islam and are considered heretics. (More on this in a link at the bottom.)
So Islam has the three holy works: the Qur'an, al Hadith and Sunnah. These are, approximately, the dictation of the Angel Gabriel to Muhammad, several collections of stories about Muhammad, and a selected set of his sayings and deeds. The last two overlap, of course.
The saying quoted above, about the need for killing the Jews, is from a well-known Hadith (several of them, actually), and is considered a "strong" or particularly valuable guidance. The guidance provided by these sayings is considered to be practical, in a sense: Is it okay to kill prisoners? Muslims look to al Hadith to find out. Muhammad killed prisoners, so yes, it is acceptable. And so on.
In short, those instructions, including all the hundreds of "kill the Jews" and "kill the non-believers" quotes, are part of Islam's sacred guidance, though not technically part of the Qur'an (which does not contain any statements or actions by Muhammad himself).
Conan the Imam?
Does it sound fierce? Yes -- and in fact parts of that same collection (Burkhari) sound like something that inspired Conan the Barbarian:I asked Allah's Apostle, "O Allah's Apostle! What is the best deed?" He replied, "To offer the prayers at their early stated fixed times." I asked, "What is next in goodness?" He replied, "To be good and dutiful to your parents." I further asked, what is next in goodness?" He replied, "To participate in Jihad in Allah's Cause."
That's nice. Pray at the right times, treat your parents well ... and conquer and kill non-believers. That last instruction is from Muhammad himself, like countless others, demanding action al all Muslims.
Links for the Hadith
Here's a search engine for the two largest collections. (For amusement, enter [stone] and read the first result about the call of nature.)
This link describes the importance of Hadith, and notes that the Qur'an says that the Prophet should be followed.
Wikipedia has entries on Hadith and Sunnah that provide some background on the sources of the texts. (In general, they were collected in the 800s or so, a couple of hundred years after Muhammad, and the Hadith has many thousands of stories.) Note that Wikipedia seems often beset by the Qur'an-only folks.
Reform the Hadith?
This organization recognizes that these fierce Hadith must be addressed in order for Islam to modernize. They have offered a "Petition for Hadith Reform." They want Muslims to "[c]ondemn and repudiate all Hadith that teach Islamic supremacism, the subjugation of non-Muslims under the rule of Islamic law, and the subjugation of women."
That seems like a good idea to me. But every day, to tens of millions of radio listeners and mosque attendees, Islamic leaders are preaching just how correct and necessary the duty of jihad is, right now.
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