The Dark Danger: Bigotry: The Two Basic Concepts Misused by Those Who Portray Islam as a Violent Faith: Sharia and Jihad

God describes the Qur'an as follows in one verse:

As God explicitly states in this verse, the Qur'an is "a clarification of everything,"

although it is never enough for the peddlers of superstition. They do not regard the path revealed by the Qur'an as suited to their own false religious conceptions. For that reason, throughout the course of history they have maintained that some of the commandments of the Qur'an are "not sufficient" (surely the Qur'an is beyond that) and need to be interpreted. From that, they developed the idea that "We can only understand the Qur'an through the hadiths."1 Let us make one thing clear here; the hadiths have come down to the present day as the words of our Prophet (pbuh). While some are entirely trustworthy and accurate quotations and practices, others have gradually been distorted and the meanings of some have been changed. There are two ways of telling whether a hadith is really the words or the practice of our Prophet (pbuh) and that is if it is in agreement with the Qur'an or if it has already occurred. It is without doubt a slander against our Prophet (pbuh) to maintain that words or practices that conflict with the Qur'an actually belong to the Prophet (pbuh) because our Prophet abided by the Qur'an alone.

The idea that "We can only understand the Qur'an through the hadiths" has wrought enormous harm on the Islamic world because some Muslims thinking along those lines began to fabricate hadiths in the name of the faith. They even eventually abandoned the Qur'an altogether, taking those hadiths alone as the source of their religion. When fabricated hadiths conflicted with the Qur'an, they even had the effrontery to say, "This hadith overrules the commandment of the Qur'an." Hundreds of fabricated hadiths gave rise to different faiths, and the result was four schools that disagreed with one another on many areas within Islam. Almost four different religions, each with different sets of rules, emerged. So much so, there have been times when some sect leaders considered other sect leaders to have abandoned Islam entirely.

As a result, an entirely different conception of Islam appeared; this Islam was based on fabricated hadiths and their interpretations, The problem with much of the Islamic world today is that it has abandoned the Qur'an. Every pronouncement by people described as "leaders of the faith" has been adopted as a rule, and so every religious community has its own different practices.

fatwas deduced from personal convictions and sometimes from traditional erroneous practices. This is a completely misguided version of Islam based on ancient superstitions and includes almost no Qur'anic provisions. In other words, the Islam we encounter in many places today is a dramatically different religion than the one described in the Qur'an and that was lived at the time of our Prophet (pbuh). Our Prophet (pbuh) complains to Almighty God of the state into which the Islamic world has fallen as follows in the Qur'an: The Messenger says,

Indeed, the problem of a large part of the Islamic world today is that people regard the Qur'an as a book that has been abandoned. Once the Qur'an had been abandoned, it was time for "ijma." (Ijma: Eminent religious figures living at any time producing commandments regarding Sharia law on the basis of deductive analogy). Since the Qur'an was not their guide they were smothered by thousands of fabricated hadiths and they finally decided that "neither the Qur'an nor the hadiths could properly explain the commandments." These "religious leaders" began producing laws in the name of Islam. The schools began clashing with one another, and the agreements of the Muslim communities came into conflict with those of other schools. Every "religious" leader's own interpretation was regarded as law, each community based itself on a different set of practices and the whole community of Islam began splitting up into sects, classes and finally tiny groups. The Qur'an, however, was left as a decorative item hung up on the wall, still inside its casing. As a result, a large part of the Islamic world abandoned and ignored the Qur'an. The bright world of the Qur'an, that fosters science and development, that champions arts, democracy and secularism [freedom of thought and belief], has been replaced by a cold, ruthless, loveless, crude life in many parts of the world.

Looking at some of the opponents of Islam, we see that their problem is quite ironically the same as that of the peddlers of superstition: They do not learn about Islam from the Qur'an. Just like the peddlers of superstition, they concentrate on fabricated hadiths, traditions and interpretations of Islam by religious leaders that are generally incompatible with the Qur'an. In their eyes, "Islam" is the lifestyle and practices of the peddlers of superstition. In their eyes, "Islam" is the imaginative power of historians, not the faith as revealed in the Qur'an. They call the laws of this fabricated religion "Sharia," not the "laws of the Qur'an." They are unaware of the values, concepts and practices imparted in the Qur'an, but have a great knowledge of all the rules of the false religion of the peddlers of superstition. In criticizing the rules of that false religion, they imagine they are criticizing Islam. So attached are they to the religion of the peddlers of superstition that they do not believe it when they are told, "This is not Islam." And this is an exceedingly serious error.

These people must assess the presented evidence and documents with their conscience and see the truth, if they are not opposed to Islam owing to an ideological religious opposition and if they genuinely seek a solution to the darkness of the fanatical mindset. Their religion is not Islam. The Qur'an by itself is sufficient for a Muslim. Hadiths are true and reliable so long as they are compatible with the Qur'an. A hadith that is incompatible with the Qur'an has no place in Islam. If a Muslim cannot find Islam in the Qur'an, it means he is looking for another religion and the Sharia of that faith is not Islam.

Ortaköy Mosque: A 19th-century mosque situated at the Bosphorus Strait. Sultan Abdülmecid commissioned architect Nigoğayos Balyan in 1853 to build the mosque. It is an excellent example of Baroque architecture. There are two ways to be certain if a hadith was really said by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or if he really did what is claimed in an account or narration: It must comply with the Qur'an, or the event foretold in the hadith must have taken place. Statements or practices that are in contradiction with the Qur'an were definitely not said or carried out by the Prophet (pbuh).