# Is hadith the same as the sunnah, and is hadith certain knowledge?

*Point two, hadith: sunnah versus hadith, khabar ahad, and the question of qualifications*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/12/
- Date: 2018-10-20 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: A Reply to Sheikh Yasir Qadhi - Mufti Abu Layth (1:13:18–1:19:53)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CYLT19GX5k&t=4398s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/

**Topics:** Sunnah versus hadith; Mutawatir and certainty; Exchanges with Yasir Qadhi

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The sunnah is distinct from hadith and reaches Muslims through the living tradition of fiqh, not from hadith books. Hadith are khabar ahad, not certain knowledge, so the Ash'ari and Maturidi orthodoxy does not build beliefs on them, and the Hanafis and Malikis reject solitary reports that contradict reason or their principles.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the sunnah is distinct from hadith and reaches Muslims through the living tradition of fiqh, that hadith are khabar ahad and so cannot found beliefs according to the Ash'ari and Maturidi orthodoxy, and that the Hanafi and Maliki schools reject solitary reports that contradict reason or their principles.

**Evidence, his words at 1:13:53:** “we don't know how to pray because of Hadees we know how to pray because of the living tradition of Islam” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CYLT19GX5k&t=4433s)

## Longer summary

On the second point Mufti Abu Layth says he largely agrees with Qadhi about not rejecting hadith, but objects that Qadhi used hadith and sunnah interchangeably, whereas the school of Madinah, Imam Malik and Abu Hanifa distinguish them: the sunnah is not the hadith. He says Qadhi missed that Muslims do not know how to pray from hadith books but from the living tradition carried by fiqh, transmitted from parent to child, the very tradition of following a school that the Salafis reject. He repeats that the hadith Qadhi quoted, from al-Irbad ibn Sariya, is graded weak, an irony when proving hadith. To Qadhi's claim that anyone who has mastered hadith knows there is no doubt in it, he answers that the orthodoxy of hadith studies holds hadith to be khabar ahad, not certain, which is why the Ash'aris and Maturidis, the majority, hold that beliefs cannot be built on hadith but only on the Quran, and that the Hanafis and Malikis reject solitary reports that contradict their principles or reason. He renews his invitation to a dialogue on BukhariGate, which Qadhi has refused. On Qadhi's remark about unqualified people, he says it cannot have been aimed at him, since as a mufti he would technically outrank Qadhi and his teachers, quoting a Jaun Elia couplet with his own name inserted; he says he studied the whole curriculum and read Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi and the other collections cover to cover, whereas as far as he knows Qadhi studied at the Islamic University of Madinah and did not go through traditional seminary training, though he may be wrong.

## Sources and names cited

- Yasir Qadhi
- Imam Malik
- Abu Hanifa
- report: the hadith of al-irbad ibn sariya in abu dawud (unresolved; content not stated, called weak)
- sunnah
- khabar al-ahad
- Ash'ari
- Maturidi
- distinction between sunnah and hadith
- The deen reaches us through continuous living practice
- single-transmitter reports do not establish creed
- Jaun Elia
- Islamic University of Madinah

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:13:18–1:19:53)

[1:13:13] us to explore when it is reconcilable with the quran don't tell us that that is somehow devaluing the program right now the second thing on the Quran I own I pretty much I agree with the chef Yasir Qadhi although when he said about the Quran in rejecting hadith and so on the hadith first of all he kept using the words hadith and so 90 changeably which according to the school of Medina Imam Malik Inaba Hanif is wrong so we believe in the Sunnah the hadith is not the Sunnah okay so we draw a distinction obviously share here so called the being from the seller fees from the Wahhabi kind of background doesn't draw that

[1:13:53] distinction so so to him they are synonymous to us they ain't synonymous the other thing he missed out when he said to the Quran that they are how would they know how to pray five times a day you see we don't know how to pray because of Hadees we know how to pray because of the living tradition of Islam so we know that through thick okay so Fick carried on the living tradition which ironically is rejected by Sharia law kadhi and the Salafis and the Wahabi by extension they reject as in following a particular method but the living

[1:14:32] tradition is what preserved the pseudonym that Islam was just practice people didn't used to say oh hey how do we how do we praise Allah I know let's open a fifth book oh sorry a hadith book oh we do that that's not how Islam was spread they just learnt it from you know from from father to child that's how it was transmitted that is the living tradition so he forgot to mention that point oh he chose not to mention that point the other thing is he said about look the hadith that let the Haditha quoted of air badness area is a week by Fadi that

[1:15:09] isn't really there's no point really quoting that because it is graded as life which is a bit ironic since you're trying to prove IDs and the hadith you quote is a weak one ah being a goddess all right so the the other thing is he said I've I've mastered the science of

[1:15:48] hadith and anybody who masters had these knows that there's no doubt in hadith I [Laughter] don't know what class you were sitting in because anybody who studies have eath knows that hadith in general oh the general understood the orthodoxy of hadith studies is that hadith is hobro a hat okay it is not certain it's not known with certainty and we and this is why you can't build beliefs based on hadith according to the majority the Orthodox Muslim the ash Oddie's okay you can't build beliefs based on hadith you can only build beliefs based on the

[1:16:26] Quran right by principle according to the a shoddy s and the matarese which were the majority of the Muslims the the orthodoxy so so that's not not actually true the other thing is hobro are had normal hadith the hanafis do not accept normal hadith just like this anyway until they don't meet their principles so they do to reject hadith that go against reason the Maliki method the European will reject Habra hat if it went against reason this is an on principle - either you don't know this or you do know it when you chose to omit

[1:17:03] this or you I'm trying to find more excuses for you Mary John this is out of my love for you but I'm rich stuck in this one you know so sorry but yeah right so the thing is that yeah and as to you being an expert in Buhari and all these things yeah let's have a talk Buhari gate I've highlighted the issues on Bihari Gate you've not

[1:17:43] answered them you've refused to engage in a dialogue you've repeated about two or three times in your hotbar that you are such an expert and master you know you hold these and which maybe you do I'm not I'm not denying that your studies by the way you began your talk by saying people who are not qualified I don't think that part was aimed at me to be fair because technically I would clearly outrank you okay you know I just like speaking with honesty because

[1:18:21] technically I'm innocent I would outrank your teachers that taught you because I'm a Mufti at the end of the day Quran major who must be a bull a sponging up is Kabir Hadley husk ichika that's actually a poem from John Illya I just put my name in there but the thing is that look so as far as the qualifications are concerned I don't think you were referring to me then because I've definitely studied the whole Alamitos I don't think I don't know as far as I'm aware sure he has a thought he studied in Modena University

[1:19:01] so I don't I'm not aware that he actually went through traditional Madras our training I'm not sure if he did I don't think he has I don't think he's being freshly trained what they call the animal attacked in the Arab world or we call it did us at a Lamia I don't think he's received that and as far as I'm aware I could be wrong I don't think he's actually you know studied the book I mean like memorized the Quran maybe he has memorized the Quran but I don't think he's actually studied the books of hadith cover-to-cover so we had to study all of bihari Muslim abu dawood tell me the etc cover to cover every single hadith in there I

[1:19:39] don't think he's done things like that but I don't think that was aimed at me anyway but perhaps I thought I'll just mention that anyway so qualifications are definitely there so that's not true and why don't we have a talk if you're very confident since you said I'm more than confident about the science of hadith and as to the third point of radical reinterpretations that meant anything new is tantamount to declaring yourself a new prophet car these are bars either you behave you know this one

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 7CYLT19GX5k/s/12. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/12/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.