Unveiling the Hierarchy of Divine Guidance: Decoding the Sources of Islamic Wisdom
We, as Muslims, believe God reveals messages through his chosen Prophets. Apart from the book, the actions and sayings of these prophets also become guidance. However, there is an order of priority and credibility regarding the sources of the message.
1) Verbatim word of God
This is the highest priority, and everything else comes below that. In fact, these statements appear verbatim in other religious scriptures, proving that they could have come from the same source (i.e., One God). They are easy to trace, straightforward and non-contradictory. In Islam, this is known as the Quran.
2) Verbatim words of the Prophets
These statements also have high priority. Still, care should be taken to ensure it can be traced back to the Prophet. This requires an unbroken chain of trustworthy narrators who are known to have a good memory. If there are any issues in this chain or the content differs from the verbatim words of God or even more established statements of the same Prophet, these are classified as weak or fabricated. In Islam, this is known as the Hadith.
3) Verbatim words of the Companions/Disciples of the Prophet
Though these statements have a high value, they cannot be taken as words of God. Each companion could have different interpretations and experiences that others don’t have. Even if the statement’s origin can be ensured to be from the companion if it contradicts the words of God and then the Prophet, these have to be rejected. These can be found in Islam as explanations for Quran Verses or the Hadith.
4) Learned scholars who never witnessed the Prophet
These have lower importance as they have never seen the events first-hand. Their statements have a more significant amount of bias as the religious differences would have already risen amongst the people. Some even have political or economic advantages of adopting a particular stance. If any of these statements go against the above three levels, they can be thrown out.
5) The political class and rest of the people
These are the least trustworthy sources. As people from other faith embrace a religion of God, they bring past cultural and religious baggage with them. And suppose these people get political power. In that case, they force their belief on people and even go on to prosecute the rest who hold the correct view. Any belief / underlying theological doctrines that arise after such an event should be rejected and should always be compared against the sources and beliefs before that event.
In Islam, God can inspire good people and convey messages through them. However, if these messages go against the Quran, Hadith or statements of the companions, they are rejected. This also applies to the news that some claim to have received directly from the Prophet in a Dream. If the message confirms the established sources, we can accept it. Otherwise, they can even be a fabrication or form the Devil, who can appear in any form. Nobody can accurately determine the looks of the Prophet when they have never seen him alive. Hence the message holds more significant importance to conform.
These issues become even more evident when the authors translate from the original manuscripts.
- The translator’s own biases or affiliations creep in as the text cannot be translated word for word.
- To make the sentences meaningful, new words are inserted
- Commentaries and margin notes get interpreted as a revelation from God
- On the worst case they are deliberate omissions of verses which don’t conform with the translator’s understanding.
How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?
Old Testament Jeremiah 8:8
So woe to those who write the “scripture” with their own hands, then say, “This is from Allāh,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.
Quran Chapter 2 Al-Baqarah : Verse 79
I hope you agree to this.
