5. Westernization as the reason for the onslaught on Hadith and Sunnah

The book “Islam at Crossroads” by Muhammad Asad deals with the fall of the Muslim world. It laments the imitation of the West which is in its spirit (materialistic) diametrically opposite to the Islamic spirit (spiritual and harmony between subtle and mundane). It argues that the imitation of the West can only be at the cost of Islam, the two being incompatible. It discusses the attitude the Muslims must adopt towards the West. It further argues that the practical aspect of the spirit of Islam lies in the Sunnah of the Prophet, which has been shunned for the visible impossibility of implementing its seemingly trivial aspects in life, the weakening of these foundations has weakened the cultural structure. It argues that adherence to Sunnah and the conscious acknowledgment of that exercise will bring the Ummah out of its lethargy.

The Book can be divided into the following parts:

1. Islamic Foundations are Moral in Nature [Click to Open]
2. The Spirit of the West is Practical Utility and Dynamic Expansion alone [Click to Open]
3. Historical Experiences [Click to Open]
4. Western Education and its Imitation [Click to Open]
5. Westernization is the reason for the onslaught on Hadith and Sunnah [Click to Open]
6. Sunnah and its Spirit [Click to Open]
7. Conclusion [Click to Open]

After discussing the spiritual incompatibility between Islam and the West, Asad moves on to draw from Historical experiences which he argues are deeply tinged by a strange animosity against Islam. Having done that he discusses Western Education and what it means for the Muslims to imitate it. Then Asad moves on to discuss the importance of Sunnah in the revival of he civilization.

1. Reforms have been failing because the natural diet of the patient has been ignored while only medicines are prescribed. This diet and the only one for the body of Islam is the Sunnah of the Prophet (saw).
2. Neglect of Sunnah is synonymous with decomposition and decay of Islam, because Sunnah is the iron framework of the building of the House of Islam.
3. Islam is complete reconciliation between the moral and the material sides of man.
   • The contention that we need to follow the Prophet (saw) in purely devotional and spiritual matters while not so in society and daily life is superficial and in its spirit anti-Islamic.
4. Sunnah is the example of the Prophet (saw) (his actions and sayings) and is the only valid explanation of the Quranic teachings.
   • Sunnah is the only means to avoid dissensions in the interpretation of Quran and their application in life.
   • Deduction of practical examples from the Quranic spirit is difficult, Sunnah makes it possible.
   • There can’t be a better interpreter of Quran than the one upon whom it was revealed.
5. Sunnah is next to Quran.
   • “Whatever the Prophet enjoins you, accept; and whatever he forbids you, avoid.” (Quran 59:7)
   • “….All of them (the sects of Islam) are destined for the Fire with the exception of one, that which is based on my and my Companion’s Sunnah.” (Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi, ad-Darimi, Musnad)
   • “….they do not attain faith until they make thee (O Muhammad) a judge of what is in dispute between them and find in themselves no dislike of what thou decidest, and submit with full submission”. (Quran 4:65)
   • “….if you love God, follow me: God will love you and forgive you your sins.” (Quran 3:31)
6. Hadith, on which Sunnah is based, are reliable.
   • The compilers of early Hadith collections have done whatever was humanly possible to put authenticity of every Tradition to a very rigorous test, surpassing what Historians apply to any historical document.
   • A complete science dedicated only to research of the transmission of Hadith has been developed.
   • This science has succeeded in establishing an unbroken chain of detailed biographies, with their lives examined, of all those that are mentioned as narrators of Hadith.
   • Burden of proof lies on the one disputing the authenticity of Hadith.
   • The primary ground of rejection of Hadith would be the accusation of willful lie on the part of Companions. It is not conceivable that the people who were ready to sacrifice themselves would play tricks with the Prophetic words.
   • The Companions fully knew that the Prophet (saw) had said, “Whoever intentionally lies about me will take his place in fire”. (Bukhari, Dawood, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, ad Darimi, Musnad)
   • In criminal court proceedings the first question facing the judge is “cui bono” – for whose benefit the crime could have been committed. Imams Bukhari and Muslim rigorously excluded all Traditions relating to party politics from their compilations.
   • The attitude of Sahaba towards acquiring knowledge from the Prophet makes it improbable that they could have been negligent as to the exact wording of the Hadith.
   • Traditionalists ascribe perfect authenticity to those Hadith which are reported in the same form through different chains of narrators. In order to be Sahih a Hadith must be corroborated at every stage of transmission by the independent evidence of at least two and possibly more transmitters.
7. Westernisation is the reason of rejection of Hadith and Sunnah.
   • The motive of rejecting Hadith and Sunnah lies in the impossibility of bringing our present, degenerate, western ways of living and thinking into line with the true spirit of Islam.
   • After getting rid of the Hadith and Sunnah it becomes easier to twist the teachings of Quran to make it suit the spirit of Western Civilization.

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