# Is distinguishing the Sunnah from hadith a modernist invention?

*Sunnah versus hadith: Qadhi calls the distinction worse than denying the return*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/s/18/
- Date: 2021-03-02 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #204 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:29:15–1:33:47)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1OOltqtPTw&t=5355s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/

**Topics:** Sunnah versus hadith; Sahih al-Bukhari (BukhariGate); Exchanges with Yasir Qadhi

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Qadhi calls the hadith-Sunnah distinction a modernist invention worse than denying the return; Mufti Abu Layth says it is what the madhhabs and Imam Malik actually teach, and that Bukhari is not beyond criticism.

## Longer summary

The clip says that all these figures, from Muhammad Abduh to modern groups, define the Sunnah differently from the majority, and that Abduh's school came up with differentiating hadith from Sunnah. After joking about Abduh's name, Mufti Abu Layth answers that had they studied the madhhabs they would know this is what the madhhabs actually say, and that Imam Malik is the one who treats hadith as something somebody documented while the Sunnah was the living tradition. When the clip says none of these figures considers the Sahih more authoritative than other books, Mufti says Qadhi is telling the truth here: he does not consider Bukhari something so special, and all hadith are to be judged by their own criteria. Qadhi calls separating the Sunnah from authentic hadith a far bigger issue than denying Jesus's return, and Mufti mocks his confidence that mutawatir reports are as undeniable as the existence of China.

## Sources and names cited

- Yasir Qadhi
- Muhammad Abduh
- Imam Malik
- Sahih al-Bukhari
- sunnah
- distinction between sunnah and hadith
- madhhab
- mutawatir

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:29:15–1:33:47)

[1:28:34] my and others as well and all of these paradigms of anything outside the senses uh cannot exist and that miracles cannot exist and that there's no such thing as the science of day of judgment and so basically he's charging them with being uh heretics by the monarch muftiya and by the monument we'll come back to this a little later they have the same back and forth and led by the monarch and by the monarch and we'll come back to that people pay attention pay attention

[1:29:14] pay attention man pay attention people some of them are more developed than others uh firstly all of these figures back to muhammad abdul all the way down to the modern groups firstly all of them they have a different concept of the sunnah okay they define sunnah differently than the way that the majority of sunnah defines sunnah in fact right so this is an important point by the way since muhammad abdul i think we should put a big d in muhammad abdul

[1:29:50] akhmedo [Laughter] and it can also mean to give give not one but give two to these people so muhammad abdul is the uh this school has come up with this notion to differentiate between hadith uh was sunnah okay so muhammad abdul has come up with that

[1:30:31] is there is a distinction between hadith the hadith does not equate to sunnah sunnah does not equate to hadith and you know this is the same thing to all these people if had they actually studied us had they actually studied math herbs they would have known that this is what the mothers actually say muhammad abdul muhammad abdullah is just from now imam malik is the one who speaks about rejecting uh hadith saying that what you know like go with the sunnah he says the hadith is just something somebody documented the sunnah was the living tradition but

[1:31:10] anyway pay attention i should say then all of a sudden defines a sunnah that defines the sunnah and for them uh hadith even hadith doesn't necessarily you it's an arabic word okay so pay attention people paid they translate into the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam of these figures from

[1:31:49] muhammad abdul all the way down to the modern figures i mentioned none of them considers the sahih uh to be any more authoritative than uh the rest of the books there will difference between this strand this part true man you're telling the truth here though you tell the truth truth truth be told you know we don't consider bukhari to be something so special we consider all hadith on a similar platform all hadith are to be judged with their own criteria and call it you know neo-rationalist or call it a pseudo-enlightenment whatever you call it this strand of thought versus the mainstream scholars of sunni islam so

[1:32:29] the notion of separating the sunnah from authentic hadith to me this is the far bigger issue than their denial of jesus the notion of rejecting rejecting hadees people this is [Laughter] this is the problem that we deny facts which are actual fact because it's mutawater means something that it's it's unconscionable i mean it's inconceivable that it's inaccurate

[1:33:09] well you know because it's just not gonna happen the fact that china doesn't exist it's a myth that all these people have got together just to trick me and that's inconceivable so this is how the hadith of the second coming of jesus you know if anything you gotta love the confidence you know that's the confidence i aspire to in life pay attention people pay attention simply because it is not rational right that this group is willing to claim that the belief

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment b1OOltqtPTw/s/18. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/b1ooltqtptw/s/18/

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