Contents

Lecture Two: Salient Features of Islam.................................................................................................. 2

Review: Lecture one............................................................................................................................ 2
Five Salient Features of Islam ............................................................................................................. 2
1. The Latest & Complete Version ................................................................................................. 2
2. Perfection of God's Mercy ......................................................................................................... 3
3. For the Entire Humanity ............................................................................................................. 3
How other prophets addressed their nations............................................................................. 3
4. The Last Message of God (The Seal of the Prophet hood) ......................................................... 4
The Seal of the Prophet Hood ..................................................................................................... 4
5. Fully preserved ........................................................................................................................... 4
Qur'an is the Reminder of al-Hikmah ......................................................................................... 5
The two important criteria for the message to remain preserved ............................................. 5
a.

Unanimity (ijma')............................................................................................................. 5

b.

Uninterrupted continuity (tawatur) ................................................................................ 5

Application of the Criteria on Qur'an, Sunnah, and Hadith ........................................................ 5

Unanimity (ijma') and uninterrupted continuity (tawatur) in Qur'an .................................... 5
Why was The Qur'an Memorized?...................................................................................... 6
How is the Qur'an Easier to Memorize? ............................................................................. 6
Easy to memorize as poetry ................................................................................................ 6
Clarity of Ideas in Qur'an as Prose ...................................................................................... 6
Unanimity (ijma') and uninterrupted continuity (tawatur) in Sunnah ................................... 6
Unanimity (ijma') and uninterrupted continuity (tawatur) in Hadith ..................................... 7
Can we conclude that the information mentioned in Hadith is unimportant? .................. 7
The role of Hadith ............................................................................................................... 7

Lecture Two: Salient Features of Islam

Dr. Khalid Zaheer

Review: Lecture one

We saw in the last lecture that Dn, God's message, originated from God's messenger who
read out His verses comprising of the law, al-Kitab, and moral principles and beliefs (alHikmah). The purpose of Dn is to enable its followers to purify and develop spiritually and
morally (do Tazkia) and thus to become eligible to enter the paradise.

Five Salient Features of Islam

The same Dn was given by all messengers to their respective nations. However, the Dn
brought by Muhammad, , that has been described in the Qur'an and Sunnah has certain
salient features, some of which were not shared by the messages brought by the earlier
messengers.
1. Completion of Religion
2. Perfection of Gods Mercy
3. For the entire humanity
4. The last message of God
5. Fully Preserved

1. The Latest & Complete Version

God mentions this fact about the latest version of His Dn:

"Today I have completed for you your religion and perfected for you my mercy and have
become satisfied by giving you Islam as religion..." (5:3)
What it means by completion of religion is the fact that whatever God wanted to
communicate in religion was completely done through the last messenger on the day when
the verse was revealed. In other words, if Dn comprised of hundred components, for example,
after revealing the hundredth part, God revealed in the Qur'an "Today I have completed for
you your religion."

Does this mean Islam is a complete code of life?

It doesn't mean, as is popularly understood, that Islam is a complete code of life. We
have seen it in the previous lecture that Dn gives beliefs and moral principles (al-Hikmah)
and the law (al-Kitab) to attain purification (Tazkia). That's what the subject matter of Dn
is. In that respect Dn has been completed. That it has mentioned guidance in every worldly
matter too has not been claimed by the Qur'an.

2. Perfection of God's Mercy

Perfection of God's mercy means that God has already given us many blessings including
intellect which enables us to do wonderful things in life. However, human intellect is not
perfect. To guide it out of its imperfection, God has sent His revelation (wahy) in the form of
the Qur'an. That's why God says He has perfected His mercy on us through its revelation.

3. For the Entire Humanity

Another important feature of the message of God is that it is meant for the entire
humanity. The Qur'an says:

"Say: O men, I am God's messenger for all you..." (7:158)

The significance of this statement is that whereas most of the earlier prophets came to
deliver God's message for specific nations, the message delivered by the Qur'an through the
messenger, , was meant for the entire humanity. It is therefore important that
arrangements are made to let everyone know God's message properly.

How other prophets addressed their nations

The Qur'an mentions about many other prophets that they addressed their nations in
these words: "O my nation!"
(See, for example, 7: 59, 65, 73, 80 and 85)

59

56

37

08

06

4. The Last Message of God (The Seal of the Prophet hood)

Another significant feature of the Qur'anic message is that it is the last message of God for
the humanity:

"Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but is God's messenger and the seal of
prophets..." (33:40)

The Seal of the Prophet Hood

When a bottle is sealed, it leaves no possibility of anything entering or leaving it. When
the possibility of new prophets coming to guide humanity was open, God's message could
always be corrected if it had become imperfect because of human interference. But if no new
message is to come, the last message had to be saved from external interferences.

5. Fully preserved
That is what made it important to ensure that the last message be fully preserved. And
that is exactly what God has promised in the Qur'an:

"Indeed We have revealed the reminder (al-Zikr) and indeed We shall ensure its
preservation." (15:9)

Qur'an is the Reminder of al-Hikmah

The reminder mentioned in the verse is the Qur'an. It is the book that reminds us of the
realities of al-Hikmah (morals and beliefs) that we already know but tend to forget. We can
only be reminded of what we already know. We forget the reality of moral principles because
of the influence of bad environment and because commitment to moral principles demands
sacrifice of base desires which humans in many cases don't want to make because they are
strongly attracted towards their desires.

The two important criteria for the message to remain preserved

There were two important criteria that were satisfied by God's message in order for His
message to remain preserved:
a. Unanimity (ijma')
b. Uninterrupted continuity (tawatur)

a. Unanimity (ijma')
Unanimity on a piece of information means that all people agree about the fact that it is
correct.

b. Uninterrupted continuity (tawatur)

Uninterrupted continuity means that the unanimous information reached later
generations without any gaps in a manner that there were durations when some people didn't
have that information.

Application of the Criteria on Qur'an, Sunnah, and Hadith

Let's see how Qur'an, Sunnah, and Hadith appear in the light of these two criteria.

Unanimity (ijma') and uninterrupted continuity (tawatur) in Qur'an

The Qur'an was revealed upon the prophet from time to time over a period of twenty
three years. The prophet himself had the entire Qur'an in his memory as did many of his
companions. The Qur'an was memorized by many people because it was considered a source
of great religious reward to do so; it was memorized also because it was recited in the prayers
by believers. In the early morning prayers (Tahajjud and Fajr) longer passages of it were recited.

Why was The Qur'an Memorized?

The Qur'an was memorized by a large number of Muslims and was thus available to all of
them in the first generation, the same thing happened to the second generation, the third one,
and so on. The criteria of unanimity and uninterrupted continuity were thus fully satisfied.

How is the Qur'an Easier to Memorize?

The Qur'an was easier to memorize because like poetry its verses rhyme. The Qur'an is like
poetry in some ways and like prose in other ways. Both poetry and prose have their merits and
problems.

Easy to memorize as poetry

Poetry has the merit of being more likely to be memorized because of its rhyming verses.
It is also able to emotionally move the reader because of its style. However, it is also likely to
exaggerate because of the potential to emotionally influence the reader. The Qur'an has
borrowed the merits of rhyming verses and ability to stir emotions of poetry without being
influenced by its problem of exaggerating.

Clarity of Ideas in Qur'an as Prose

Prose has the advantage of being able to mention difficult ideas clearly. But it has the
disadvantage of being bland (boring); it is also less likely to be memorized. The Qur'an accepted
the advantage of clarity from prose without borrowing its weaknesses.

Unanimity (ijma') and uninterrupted continuity (tawatur) in Sunnah

The Sunnah was also preserved by God at the same level of reliability as the Qur'an. By
Sunnah we mean religious practices (rituals) like formal prayers (Salat), pilgrimage (Hajj) etc.
All Muslims followed the prophet in praying. They all prayed like he did. And this
unanimous practice was transmitted to the next generation and the process continued
uninterrupted until it has reached us. It is because of this reason that there are no differences
among Muslims in the basics of formal prayers: that the prayers are five, that we say surah alFatiha at the beginning of each unit (rak'at), that each prayer has specific number of rak'ats
which all Muslims agree to etc.

Unanimity (ijma') and uninterrupted continuity (tawatur) in Hadith

Hadith is the historical record of the prophet which was transmitted by individuals to
individuals in the first few generations of the Muslim ummah. This category of information
doesn't satisfy the conditions of unanimity nor of uninterrupted continuity. The information
mentioned in Hadith was neither available to all the companions of the prophet nor was it
transmitted by the first generation to the second one in a way that all Muslims of the second
generation knew it.

Can we conclude that the information mentioned in Hadith is unimportant?

We can't conclude because of this reality that such information is unimportant. Because
it is the historical record of the prophet's life which was very carefully collected by many
scholars, it cannot be ignored. However, the information of Hadith was not preserved the way
the Qur'an and Sunnah were. In order for Hadith to be accepted as valid piece of information
for Islamic knowledge, therefore, it must satisfy the condition of being consistent with the
Qur'an and the Sunnah.

The role of Hadith

The role of Hadith is to explain (do sharah of) the Qur'an and Sunnah or mention their
natural corollaries (fara'). While doing sharah or fara' of the two original sources, Hadith must
be seen to be consistent with them and not contradicting them. If it satisfies the necessary
conditions of consistency with Qur'an and Sunnah, Hadith is a very important secondary
source. Even though it is not the original text of Islam but a footnote of its text, it is an
important footnote of it nonetheless.