Understanding the Historical Context of the Quran through Hadith and Sira Literature.

Living in the age of secular history, perhaps nothing poses a greater mystery to historians as that of a teacher who influences his followers so much that they regard his manner as that of the highest human ideal. What remains a challenge for many historians is the reliability of sources available for constituting the biography of such powerful leaders who leave nothing but their teachings, and sayings behind as legacy. Muhammad, whom Muslims regard as the final prophet of God, is no exception to this rule. Literature concerning the biography of the Prophet, termed sira, has as its mains sources the hadiths (or collected sayings and noted actions of the Prophet), and the Quran (the scripture Muslims all over the world view as to have been divinely revealed to Muhammad). As opposed to other ancient scriptures ranging from the Old Testament, to the Bhagavad-Gita, to the New Testament, the Quran, by itself, is insufficient in detail as to providing readers with an explicit history of the person to whom it was revealed (the Prophet Muahammad), the events that lead up to his prophethood and onward, and the history surrounding his time. One must, instead, look to sira and hadith literature to be able to understand the history within the Quran.

At the time of Muhammad’s mission to spread Islam, during the seventh century, Arab society was mostly an illiterate one. People made the most use of memorization as a means to understand history, develop literature, and compose poetry; preserving it all by passing it onto generations orally. It isn’t until well over two hundred years after Muhammad’s death that his sayings and actions are recorded onto paper because by then most of Arab society is a literate and educated one. Hadith compilation, in and of itself, was a most tedious task during that period. Because of the particular nature of the hadith (as well as the other sources available for sira literature), the question lies in as to what sources may be of use to compile the biography of the Prophet Muhammad.

The hadith literature, a massive and controversial issue even amongst Muslims, “came to represent what have been called ‘uninspired records of inspired sayings’” (Bennett, p.20). A hadith (plural ahadith) is “a report that contains a remark about a saying or an action of the Prophet as it is told by one of his trustworthy Companions who related it to someone in the next generation” (Schimmel, p.26). There exist six compiled collections of hadith, which are highly regarded as authentic by many Muslims. Though there are numerous volumes of ahadith, only six are counted as the most authentic and of reliable source. These six volumes include the compilations of al-Bukhari, Abu Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa’I, Ibn Maja, and Abu Da’ud. The question of authenticity arises because of the chain of narration of that particular report. To consider a hadith as authentic, the reliability of the chain of transmitters must be upright. The report has to trace back to the original narrator of the hadith, who must have received it directly from the Prophet or whilst in his company amongst his Companions. Thus the Companions are “the most important source for Prophetic traditions” (Schimmel, p.26). As every generation transmits it onto the next one (until there is a long line of transmitters where each is connected to the one previous it) the chain of narration must be of reliable and honest people. In relation to sira, the ahadith communicate the qualities of the Prophet such as his behavior, manners, virtuous deeds and so forth. They are not biographical, but are arranged by topics based on Muhammad’s teachings. The teachings of Muhammad are in line with that of the Quran, so much so that Muhammad himself has been called “a walking Quran.”

In addition to its method of transmission, a remarkable difference between hadith and Quran is that of language. At a time when the Arabic language was at its pinnacle in form and style, the Quran appealed to many poets of the age. Maintaining a constant, unchanging style of oration throughout, the Quran came to be regarded by many as something that could not have been written by a human. Ahadith, on the other hand, have a conversational and a more diverse form of narration as various Companions of the Prophet recounted their experiences with him in regards his teachings. In narrating those accounts, something of the relationship between the Prophet and his Companions is noted. In effect, ahadith not only portray the teachings of the religion that Muhammad brought with him, but also shed light upon the Prophet as a teacher, a husband, a friend, a father, a statesman, a leader, a reformer, and many more roles that various Companions saw him fulfill in their relation to him. To peer into the hadith literature, is in essence to peer into the character of the Prophet; thus becoming a vital source of information in constituting his sira.

The sira, “literature almost exclusively concerned with reconstructing Muhammad’s biography” (Bennett, p.28) tends to focus on the Muhammad of history. Ibn Ishaq’s sira, the earliest one compiled, serves as the blueprint for later written siras. Written when the science of hadith compilation was still underway and in its development, Ibn Ishaq relied upon narrations, descriptions, reports, and even poems about events pertaining to the Prophet’s life; all of which make up raw material for his biography (Schimmel, p.9).

The purpose of sira literature is to tell about events and happenings of Muhammad’s life in a chronological manner. It explains the nature of the events in depth and describes what impact those particular events have on the society that Muhammad lives in. The Quran, divinely revealed section by section to the Prophet over a course of twenty-three years, cannot be considered as a biographical source that would tell much about his life. In fact, there exist only four verses in the Quran that explicitly name Muhammad by name (Bennett, p.21). Not compiled in order of revelation, the Quran is put together roughly by chapter length, from longest to shortest. The sira “sheds light on the Quran” (Bennett, p.42), not vice-versa. Sira, for example, “helps us identify when verses and incidents took place” (Bennett, p.41). Sira explains how a certain verse was revealed because of the events that were taking place, since the revealed verse(s) address that particular event or incident. The Quran does not tell about the impact of those events, nor does it address those events directly. It speaks more in terms of the rules and laws to follow, derived from those occurrences, without actually going in depth to mentioning or describing them. It is with the help of the sira literature that those verses are interpreted for a wider understanding or explanation of what significant incident was occurring that brought about its revelation.

Among many concrete examples of verses revealed in a certain context, one such is Chapter 108, Surah Al–Kauthar (Abundance), the shortest chapter (surah) in the Quran:

“To thee have We granted the Fount (of Abundance).
Therefore to thy Lord turn in Prayer and Sacrifice.
For he who hateth thee, he will be cut off (from Future Hope).”

From the above verses, the Quran makes reference to Al–Kauthar as a fountain of immense blessings; where God promises to reserve it for Muhammad and his followers, and disallowing its share to those hateful towards them. It does not, however, illustrate the events that lead up to the revelation of the said verses, nor does it depict whether Al-Kauthar is being figuratively or literally used to mean a “Fount of Abundance.” Anas (a companion of the Prophet), reports that:

One day while Allah’s Messenger [the Prophet] was sitting among us, he dozed off. He then raised his head smilingly. We asked: ‘What makes you smile, Messenger of Allah?’ He said: ‘A surah has just been revealed to me,’ and he recited it [Al–Kauthar]. Then he (the Holy Prophet) asked: ‘Do you know what Al-Kauthar is?’ We said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ The Holy Prophet said: ‘It is a river which my Lord, the Exalted and Glorious has promised me, and there is an abundance of good in it…’” Sahih Bukhari, Volume 6, Hadith no. 488.

Without the knowledge of this hadith, one may most likely assume ‘abundance’ to mean good tidings and favors for the Prophet and his growing community of Muslims in years to come. Another may interpret ‘abundance’ as referring to the spiritual freedom and the possession of having a law of moral code pertaining to the individual and society at large that came with the revelation of the Quran.

Prior to the revelation of this chapter, Muhammad’s enemies (in referring to the early deaths of his infant sons) call the Prophet as one without prosperity. Such mockery had a great impact in Arab society at the time, as sons were more preferable in that they brought assurance that the family name and duty will live on. In the Arabian Peninsula, to refer to a man as not having descendants, he is thus without identity or purpose. The Prophet’s opponents, in effect, take delight in reminding him of what he lacks and even go so far as to telling travelers to the area to ignore the Prophet’s message since it is one that will be short-lived because there are no sons to continue the mission that he is preaching. Such vicious mockery disheartened the Prophet, as they came from his own clansmen and one-time friends. Surah Al-Kauthar, coming down when such taunts were occurring profusely, was therefore revealed in order to comfort and assure the Prophet of God’s favor and blessings upon him, and that it was those who oppressed him and his companions that would taste deprivation and be the ones without prosperity. In the sira of Muhammad, along with the literature of ahadith, one learns of the historical context of this revelation as well as the description of Al-Kauthar itself.

In addition to providing the background of revelation, ahadith also act as an addendum to certain Quranic laws. Pertaining to the covering of the self by women in Islam, for example, the Quran commands the Prophet to “tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their outer garments above themselves (when they go out)…” (Chapter 33, Verse 59). ‘Covering’ may take different forms, and so the verse is left open to interpretation. Looking closely at ahadith pertaining to the Islamic form of covering (hijab), however, the requirements to ‘covering’ is exemplified. Aishah [the youngest wife of the Prophet] said:

“Asma’a the daughter of Abu Bakr came to see the Messenger of Allah wearing a thin dress; so Allah’s Messenger turned away from her and said: ‘O Asma’a, once a woman reaches the age of puberty, no part of her body should be seen but this -and he pointed to his face and hands.”

By looking at this hadith, one understands that the minimum form of hijab allows the showing of the face and hands. In lieu of personal interpretation of Islamic rulings and laws, the hadiths are used in order to derive its meanings.

Extensive knowledge of ahadith and sira is not a prerequisite to understanding the spirituality and wisdom regarding human nature that the Quran addresses. The door to understanding the historical context and background of Quran along with the societal laws that it speaks of, however, lies in ones openness to the hadith and sira literature. Because the Prophet Muhammad is regarded as to have embodied the teachings of the Quran, where his consent or disapproval of certain actions translated into Islamic law in accordance with the Quranic teachings, the life of the Prophet is a key source to understanding the historical context of the Quran. Ahadith depict the Prophet on many levels as his Companions narrated his actions in all areas of life. As with Al–Kauthar, and many chapters throughout the Quran, hadith and sira literature shed light upon the events that occurred to lead up to the revelation of certain Quranic verses. In sum, with the availability of ahadith and sira literature the student in quest of Quranic knowledge has within his or her reach the very teacher who led hundreds, if not thousands, of people to the path of submission through peace to a universal Creator.

References:

1. Al-Hilali, Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din, and Khan, Muhammad Muhsin. Translation of the Meaning of The Noble Qur’an in the English Language. Madinah, Saudi Arabia: King Fahd Complex. (year not given).
2. Al-Mubarakpuri, Safi-ur-Rahman. The Sealed Nectar: Biography of the Noble Prophet. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Dar-us-Salam Publications. 1996.
3. Bennett, Clinton. In Search of Muhammad. London and New York: Cassell. 1998.
4. Emerick, Yahiya. Muhammad. Indianapolis, Indiana: Alpha. 2002.
5. Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, Massachusettes: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 1991.
6. Khan, Muhammad Muhsin. The Translation of the Meanings of Summarised Sahih Al-Bukhari. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Maktaba Dar-us-Salam. 1996.
7. Schimmel, Annemarie. And Muhammad is His Messenger. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press. 1985.