As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah,


There is a deviant group of people who claim to follow the Quran only, and not the


Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (SAW). Please provide us with scholarly proof that they are on


the wrong path, so we can give them da'wah, Insha Allah.


Wassalaam


Praise be to Allaah.


Some people have started to claim that the Sunnah is not a source of legislation. They


call themselves “al-Qur’aaniyyeen” and say that we have the Qur’aan, so we take as halaal


whatever it allows and take as haraam whatever it forbids. The Sunnah, according to their


claims, is full of fabricated haadeeths falsely attributed to the Messenger of Allaah (peace


and blessings of Allaah be upon him). They are the successors of other people about whom


the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told us. Ahmad, Abu


Dawood and Al-Haakim reported with a saheeh isnaad from Al-Miqdaam that the Messenger


of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “Soon there will be a time


when a man will be reclining on his couch, hearing a hadeeth from me, and he will say,


‘Between us and you is the Book of Allaah: what it says is halaal, we take as halaal, and


what it says is haraam, we take as haraam.’ But listen! Whatever the Messenger of Allaah


forbids is like what Allaah forbids.” (See al-Fath al-Kabeer, 3/438. At-Tirmidhi reported it


with different wording and said that it is hasan saheeh. See Sunan At-Tirmidhi bi Sharh Ibn


Al-‘Arabi, As-Saawi edition, 10/132)


The name Al-Qur’aaniyyeen does not befit these people, because the Qur’aan tells us,


in almost one hundred aayahs, to obey the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be


upon him). Obedience to the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is


considered in the Qur’aan to be a part of obedience to Allaah, may He be glorified. “He who


obeys the Messenger, has indeed obeyed Allaah, but he who turns away, then we have not


sent you (O Muhammad) as a watcher over them.” [an-Nisaa’:80 – interpretation of the


meaning] The Qur’aan, which they claim to follow, denies the faith of the one who refuses


to obey the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and does not accept his


ruling: “But no, by your Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make you (O Muhammad)


judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions,


and accept (them) with full submission.” [an-Nisaa’:65 – interpretation of the meaning]


Their suggestion that the Sunnah is “contaminated” with fabricated haadeeths is not


valid, because the scholars of this ummah took the utmost care to purify the Sunnah from


all alien elements. If they had any doubts about the truthfulness of any narrator, or there


was the slightest possibility that he could have forgotten something, these would be sufficient


grounds for rejecting a hadeeth. Even the enemies of this ummah have stated that no


Islamhouse.com The Misguided Sect of al-Qur’aaniyyeen


4


other nation has paid so much attention to examining its reports and their narrators, especially


in the case of reports narrated from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of


Allaah be upon him), as this nation.


For it to be obligatory to follow a hadeeth, it is sufficient for it to be known that it is a


saheeh (authentic, sound) hadeeth narrated from theMessenger of Allaah (peace and blessings


of Allaah be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was


content to convey his message by sending just one of his Companions, which proves that


the hadeeth reported by one trustworthy person must be followed.


Moreover, we would ask these people: where are the aayahs which tell us how to


pray, or which tell us that the obligatory prayers are five times daily, or which tell us about


the nisaab on various kinds of wealth for the purpose of Zakaah, or about the details of the


rituals of Hajj, and other rulings which we can only know from the Sunnah?


Al-Mawsoo’ah Al-Fiqhiyyah, 1/44


For more information on the shar'i evidence that the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace


and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is a source of evidence, see Question No. 604