The Faith of Islam | Page 7

and his family are very
patient. Their enemy[10] is the chief of sinners.
We have announced to thee a race of just men, men[11] who will not

oppose our orders. My mercy and peace are on them living[12] or dead.
As to those who walk in their way, my mercy is on them; they will
certainly gain the mansions of Paradise."
2. THE SUNNAT.--The second foundation of Islám is based on the
Hadís (plural Ahádís) or Tradition. Commands from God given in the
Qurán are called 'farz' and 'wájib.' A command given by the Prophet or
an example set by him is called 'sunnat,' a word meaning a rule. It is
then technically applied to the basis of religious faith and practice,
which is founded on traditional accounts of the sayings and acts of
Muhammad.[13] It is the belief common to all Musalmáns, that the
Prophet in all that he did, and in all that he said, was supernaturally
guided, and that his words and acts are to all time and to all his
followers a divine rule of faith and practice. "We should know that God
Almighty has given commands and prohibitions to his {11} servants,
either by means of the Qurán, or by the mouth of His Prophet."[14]
Al-Ghazáli, a most distinguished theologian, writes:--"Neither is the
faith according to His will, complete by the testimony to the Unity
alone, that is, by simply saying, 'There is but one God,' without the
addition of the further testimony to the Apostle, that is, the statement,
'Muhammad is the apostle of God.'" This belief in the Prophet must
extend to all that he has said concerning the present and the future life,
for, says the same author, "A man's faith is not accepted till he is fully
persuaded of those things which the Prophet hath affirmed shall be after
death."
It is often said that the Wahhábís reject Tradition. In the ordinary sense
of the word Tradition they may; but in Muslim Theology the term
Hadís, which we translate Tradition, has a special meaning. It is applied
only to the sayings of the Prophet, not to those of some uninspired
divine or teacher. The Wahhábís reject the Traditions handed down by
men who lived after the time of the Companions, but the Hadís,
embodying the sayings of the Prophet, they, in common with all
Muslim sects, hold to be an inspired revelation of God's will to men. It
would be as reasonable to say that Protestants reject the four Gospels as
to say that the Wahhábís reject Tradition.[15] An orthodox Muslim

places the Gospels in the same rank as the Hadís, that is, he looks upon
them as a record of what Jesus said and did handed down to us by His
Companions. "In the same way as other Prophets received their books
under the form of ideas, so our Prophet has in the same way received a
great number of communications which are found in the collections of
the {12} Traditions (Ahádís).[16] This shows that the Sunnat must be
placed on a level with the Jewish and Christian Scriptures; whilst the
Qurán is a revelation superior to them all. To no sect of Musalmáns is
the Qurán alone the rule of faith. The Shía'hs, it is true, reject the
Sunnat, but they have in their own collection of Traditions an exact
equivalent.
The nature of the inspiration of the Sunnat and its authoritative value
are questions of the first importance, whether Islám is viewed from a
theological or a political stand-point.
"Muhammad said that seventy-three sects would arise, of whom only
one would be worthy of Paradise. The Companions inquired which sect
would be so highly favoured. The Prophet replied:--'The one which
remains firm in my way and in that of my friends.' It is certain that this
must refer to the Ahl-i-Sunnat wa Jamá'at." (Sunnís.)[17]
It is laid down as a preliminary religious duty that obedience should be
rendered to the Sunnat of the Prophet. Thus in the fourth Súra of the
Qurán it is written: "O true believers! obey God and obey the apostle."
"We have not sent any apostle but that he might be obeyed by the
permission of God." From these and similar passages the following
doctrine is deduced: "It is plain that the Prophet (on whom and on
whose descendants be the mercy and peace of God!) is free from sin in
what he ordered to be done, and in what he prohibited, in all his words
and acts; for were it otherwise how could obedience rendered to him be
accounted as obedience paid to God?"[18] Believers are exhorted to
render obedience to God by witnessing to His divinity, and to the
Prophet by bearing witness to his prophetship; this is a sign of love, and
love