This excerpt is taken from the book of Fazilat-ul-Sheikh Abdul Salam Rustami From Denial of Hadith to Denial of Quran.
The Companions of the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with them, were dependent on the Prophetic Hadith for understanding the Quran
The command of Allah Almighty mentioned in Chapter Two:
وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ
“We have sent down to you the Reminder (Quran) so that you may explain to the people what has been sent down to them.”
Reference: (16-An-Nahl:44)
From this, it is proven that authentic hadiths are explanations of the Holy Quran, meaning that a person needs explanation to understand the text; therefore, all people of the Quran need hadiths to understand the Quran. The purpose of this chapter is to show that the Companions referred to the Holy Prophet for understanding and interpreting the Quran, even though their language was Arabic and their intellect was more perfect than the rest of the Ummah and they were also characterized by the attribute أولٰئك هم الراشدون “They are the guided ones.”
Reference: (49-Al-Hujurat:7)
. For this, a few examples are presented:➊ When this noble verse was revealed:
وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتًا ۚ بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ
“And do not think of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive, but you perceive it not.”
Reference: (3-Aal Imran:169)
The apparent meaning of the verse cannot be taken according to language and intellect because a person who is killed necessarily dies, and after death, there is no feeling of life; he cannot eat or drink. So how did Allah say that do not consider them dead, rather they are alive and they are provided sustenance? The people of language and intellect are unable to understand this, so among the Companions, Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Holy Prophet about this verse. Then among the Tabi‘in, Masruq (may Allah have mercy on him) asked Ibn Mas’ud about the meaning of being alive and being given sustenance here, and Ibn Mas’ud explained that the Holy Prophet said: “Their souls are inside green birds in Paradise, and they roam eating in Paradise.”
Reference: (Sahih Muslim, Al-Imarah, Explanation that the souls of martyrs is a hadith: 1887)
It is understood that this is the life of the Barzakh (intermediate state) which intellect cannot deny, therefore it was said: ولٰكن لا تشعرون “But you do not understand.”
Reference: (2-Al-Baqarah:154)
So this hadith is a clear interpretation of the Quran.Besides this, from some other verses, it is proven that the time of Barzakh is the period from death until the Resurrection. The exact duration of this period is known only to Allah Almighty. This distance in time is also spatial because in this state the body is in one place and the soul in another, and on the Day of Resurrection both will be gathered. However, in the contradictory writings of Hafiz Aslam, the teacher of Parvez Sahib, an attempt has been made to deny the punishment of the grave. He says:
The duration of Barzakh is from the death of the deceased until the Resurrection, during which they are kept veiled from the presence of their Lord, and when the Resurrection occurs, they will be presented before Allah Almighty.
Reference: (Qur’ani Faislay, p. 312)
Then deviating from this view, he writes that the interval between death and Resurrection is not a temporal distance for the dead.
Reference: (Qur’ani Faislay, p. 318)
Then he writes: The people of Barzakh do not have an absolute sense of time, so it should be understood that for the deceased, the day of death itself is the day of Resurrection.
Reference: (Qur’ani Faislay, p. 322)
Then objecting to the punishment of the grave, he writes: Here it should also be considered that Allah is Just; how can it be justified that the one who denied Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him) has been in punishment and burning in Barzakh for five thousand years, and the one who denied Muhammad Kareem will be punished after five or ten thousand years?
Reference: (Qur’ani Faislay, p. 324)
This is a contradictory view and its purpose is to deny the punishment and reward of the grave, which is the belief of the Mu‘tazila (old deniers of hadith).
➋ Allah Almighty said:
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَلَمْ يَلْبِسُوا إِيمَانَهُم بِظُلْمٍ أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمُ الْأَمْنُ وَهُم مُّهْتَدُونَ
“Those who believe and do not mix their faith with injustice (polytheism) - those will have security, and they are rightly guided.”
Reference: (6-Al-An’am:82)
In this verse, the word ‘injustice’ (zulm) is mentioned, and since in Arabic language and usage the meaning of zulm is very broad, ranging from a lesser fault or error in judgment to disbelief and polytheism, here Allah Almighty has made it a condition for safety from punishment and being on the right path that the faith should not be mixed with zulm. The Companions understood that zulm here is used in its general meaning, and they also knew that except for the Prophets (peace be upon them), no one is free from sin. Therefore, the Companions feared that since they commit sins, they would not attain security and guidance. In view of their concern, the Messenger of Allah explained to them that zulm here means a specific kind, namely the great injustice which is polytheism, about which Allah said:
إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ
“Indeed, polytheism is a great injustice.”
Reference: (31-Luqman:13)
Reference: (Sahih al-Bukhari, Ahadith al-Anbiya, Chapter: Allah’s statement and taking Ibrahim as a friend, Hadith: 3360, and Sahih Muslim, Al-Iman, Chapter: Truthfulness of faith and sincerity, Hadith: 124)
That is, zulm here means polytheism, so the faith which is not mixed with polytheism is the cause of security, and security means protection from eternal punishment and Hell. Although the Companions were people of the language, they also referred to the hidden revelation (hadith) of the Prophet to clarify the meaning of zulm, and thus they understood its reality. Whereas Parvez Sahib and his like-minded foreigners do not even have mastery over Arabic language and grammar and have defective intellect, so how can such people understand the Holy Quran without hadith? And their claim of understanding the Quran is not interpretation but semantic distortion, which is the profession of the Jews.
➌ Allah Almighty said:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
“O you who have believed, send blessings upon him and salute him.”
Reference: (33-Al-Ahzab:56)
In this noble verse, Allah Almighty has made it obligatory upon the believers to send blessings and salutations upon the Holy Prophet. The word Salat (prayer) in the Holy Quran is used in various meanings:
● In the sense of supplication (At-Tawbah 9:103)
● To perform funeral prayer (At-Tawbah 9:84)
● Supplication (Hud 11:87)
● To show respect and honor (Al-Ahzab 33:56)
● Sending down mercy (Al-Ahzab 33:43)
● Sending blessings (Al-Ahzab 33:56)
Whereas in this verse, Salat is related to the Holy Prophet because the pronoun ‘him’ refers to him. So صلاة على النبى means to make a special supplication for the Holy Prophet, which is commonly translated as sending blessings (Durood). The Companions understood the meaning of صلوا عليه but were uncertain about the exact words, so to remove this ambiguity, the Companions requested the Holy Prophet that they had learned how to send salutations but did not know how to perform Salat (blessings), so please teach us. The Holy Prophet then taught them the words of Durood which Muslims commonly recite in Tashahhud as Durood Ibrahim.
Reference: (Sahih al-Bukhari, Ahadith al-Anbiya, Chapter 10, Hadith: 3370, and Musnad Ahmad: 244/4)
From this, two things became clear:
① The Companions did not invent acts of worship and their modalities on their own but sought guidance from the Messenger of Allah because innovating modalities of worship on one’s own is a clear innovation (bid’ah).
② The Companions referred to the Holy Prophet’s hadiths for the interpretation of the Quran, even though they were people of language and understanding and wisdom, yet they did not understand the modality of Durood, so they referred to the Holy Prophet to understand it.
Many more examples can be presented in this regard. The summary is that the Companions did not rely on their intellect and understanding for comprehending the Quran but referred to the hadiths of the Holy Prophet. Therefore, it is proven that authentic hadiths are certain proofs in religion upon which the understanding of the Holy Quran depends.
