Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
Praise be to Allah Almighty the Lord of the Worlds, and may Endless Blessings be upon His Most Beloved Prophet Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa, who is the Mercy for All the Worlds, (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam).Jazak'Allah for your question sister. The question that you have asked regarding whether all the accounts of the Beloved Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam) are true or not are as follows:
a) The Qur'an al Karim, which is the final testament, is believed by millions of Muslims in the world today. One of the reasons that it is believed in such a great number, is that it has been believed to be the same, as those people who had believed in it fourteen hundred years ago. In other words it has been the only book in history, and history testifies this, that the Qur'an al kareem has remained unchanged.
The Qur'an also mentions the Most Beloved Prophet of Islam (
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam), and mentions Him to be the last Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam). It has verses, and letters, which refer to His Beloved Character, and His life
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam). As you read the Qur'an, you will find, that in some ways it is a conversation with Allah the Almighty, and His Beloved Messenger (
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam). The Qur'an al hakeem states:
'ar Rahman 'alamal Qur'an'
'The Merciful, who taught Him the Qur'an'.
This verse of Surah ar-Rahman, signifies, that whatever Allah the Almighty had to teach to the Beloved Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam), was taught to His Beloved
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam), as the Qur'an al kareem was the speech of He, who knew everything, and then taught it to the Beloved Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam), who then taught it to the Ennobled Companions of the Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam).
b) Because the Qur'an al kareem, was limited in terms of wording, and later into pages, letters and books etc. Nevertheless its knowledge was so vast, and endless, that no single man has the lifetime, in which he can learn everything about it, except, what was revealed to the Beloved Prophet of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam). With this point in mind, the Qur'an al kareem states:
'wa 'allama kum ma lam takun ta'lam'.
'and we taught you that, which you did not know'.
Here the Qur'an al kareem refers to Allah the Almighty, teaching everything that the Qur'an contains, to the Beloved Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam).
Some of the hadiths, from the books of Bukhari Shareef, and the Muslim Shareef, will prove this, as they state with strong lineages (sanads), and narrators (rawis), which go from one generation into another, regardless of the number of the chains of narration (isnad), that have been recorded, preserved and safeguarded, throughout time.
Allah the Almighty states in the Glorious Qur'an:
'inna nahnu nazalnadh dhikra wa inna lahu lahafizun'
'We are the ones who have descended the dhikr (Qur'an), and it is we who will safegard it'.
From this it can be seen that as far as the Qur'an is concerned, then Allah the Almighty has himself, taken the responsibility of safeguarding the Qur'an al kareem, but from what?
In the previous Ummahs, the ambiya' (Prophets) would bring down the message of the Almighty Allah to their people, but the people would turn against the Prophets, or misbelieve, and even distort the revelations that were brought to them. It is the Qur'an al kareem, which is the final word of Allah the Almighty, which has not even been altered, or contested, by a single word. The Qur'an al kareem states:
'fa'tu bi suratim mim mithli hi'
'then bring a surah that is equivelant to this.'
This challenge by the Almighty Allah has remained since the Qur'an al kareem had been fully revealed, and will remain until the Day of Judgement. His is the Final Beloved Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam), and His is the Final Word, known as the Qur'an al kareem. His is also the Final Ummah, amongst all those communities that had been and gone.
c) Another unchanged science, yet still remains one of the sciences of the Qur'an, is the hadith, or the Sunnah of the Most Beloved Messenger of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam). This has also been preserved by the Companions of the Beloved Prophet of Allah
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam), and the very many learned, devoted, and intellectual communities, which followed after the Messenger of Allah (
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam). They contain the sayings, and the actions of the Messenger of Allah (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) strenghthening them with lineages of Companions, known as
'sahabis', and their companions, known as
'tabi'is', and their companions, known as
'taba' tabi'is'.
These lineages then tend to go towards the Great Imams of religion, such as Numan bin Thabit, also known as (Imam al-A'zam) Imam Abu Hanifah
(Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu). However, we can trust that for the first few centuries, work had been preserved and safeguarded, in the form of books, which are in front of us today by the names of, The Sahih of al Bukhari, and the Sahih of Imam Muslim. Similarly, there is the Sunan of Tirmidhi, Abu Da'ud, and Ibn e Majah (May Allah be pleased with them).
These books are known as the six authentic books of hadith, and will contain both the chain of narration, and the citing of the hadith itself, which will make you wonder, who are the people in the chain of narration?
d) Most people in the chains of narration, i.e.99% of the said persons will be authentic, just, learned, famous personalities of Islam, whose aims and objectives of life, would have been nothing more than getting the true message across to the common people, which had been stated by Allah the Almighty, and the Beloved Prophet & Messenger of Allah Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa aalaihi wa Sallam).
They spent their lives, dressing like the Most Beloved Messenger of Allah (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) dressed, and making Him their role model for every little action in life. They studied His words, and studied His actions, and looked at His history, and wrote books upon His biography. These later became the famous works of Islam, as they were accepted in all four corners of the world, and were acted upon by the Muslims, in their thousands. Some of these books still remain today, in great libraries, or have been reprinted and sold in book shops to the public. However, they can be very voluminous, as a good grasp in the Arabic language would also be useful.
What we should now do is to read up all the biographies, of the said people, in terms of character, piety, justness, faithfulness, intellectual capacity, intelligence, and so forth, in order to determine whether they were reliable or not. By the light of Allah the Almighty, and the Light of His Most Beloved Messenger (
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam), and His Book, He will reveal to us that what we have been seeking, i.e. trust, in the sources that have been given to us i.e. the Qur'an al kareem, and the Sunnah, are all true. That it is by the Grace of the aforementioned, and the people in question, we should be grateful to Allah Almighty for what He has preserved for us.
These are studies of Islam, the Qur'an, the hadith, the tafaasir, and the fiqh, which enables a sound man to grasp the light that it sheds. But to grasp the light, one must have trust, and love in the Almighty Allah, and His Beloved Messenger
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa aalihi wa Sallam).
No man can ever acquire the true knowledge of Islam, if He has doubts in his mind in relation to Allah the Almighty, or denounces the Most Beloved Prophet of Allah (
Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) in any way, or queries what the Qur'an al kareem states. Such a person, will always misinterpret, misrepresent, and mislead others. May Allah the Almighty save us from all three!
Let it be taken to heed, that there is not a single science in the world, that the Qur'an al kareem does not contain, nor the Almighty or His Beloved Messenger
(Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam) know about. They all had been identified centuries ago, by the great Islamic scientists and intellects. But I am sorry to say that in this day and age, where technology has taken over our minds, it has become hard for us, to revert to, and believe in, a kingdom of knowledge, which once belonged to the Muslims.
May Allah the Almighty help us to seek that, which is true, and may He keep us all away from that, which is false. May He keep our lives busy in the search for the truth, whether that truth is within the Religion of Islam, or whether it is the truth in identifying a worldly science. (Amin).Wallahu A'lamu BiththawaabM. Waseem Ashrafi
