َلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالصَّلاَةُ وَالسَّلاَمُ عَلَى رَسُولِناَ مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ
Infinite thanks and praises be to our Almighty Lord Allah each one of whose characteristics is almighty, each one of whose names is perfect, and each one of whose artworks is unimaginably beautiful, whose knowledge and wisdom is absolute, whose benediction is abundant, and whose mercy is boundless!
Infinite blessings and greetings be to the Sultan of the worlds, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the cause of our creation, the cure of our life, the eternal light of Islam and faith, the best exemplar who shapes our character, and our interceder in both worlds!
It is known that;
The last divine book is the Noble Qur’an and the last prophet is His Excellency prophet Muhammad Mustafa (pbuh), who is the seal of the Messengers and master of the Prophets.
Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet are the two fundamental sources of Islam, the final religion in the presence of Allah.
If one of them is missing, neither religion nor faith would be complete.
For this reason, in the presence of Allah the Almighty, obeying the Prophet (pbuh) is same as obeying Allah, and He specifically draws attention to this fact in the Noble Qur’an. In the following verses it is stated that:
“He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah.” (Al-Nisa; 4:80)
“Those who obey Allah and His Messenger will be admitted to Gardens with rivers flowing beneath, to abide therein (forever) and that will be the supreme achievement.” (Al-Nisa; 4:13)
These divine statements show that obeying the Prophet (pbuh) is a necessary condition for faith. However, this obedience should not be out of duty but from the heart, out of sincerity and love. This level of obedience is also laid down as a condition by Allah:
“But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) Faith, until they make you judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against Your decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction.” (Al-Nisa; 4:65)
The same level of delicacy in the rules regarding obeying the Prophet applies when it comes not to revolt against him as well. As a matter of fact, Allah considered disobedience to the Prophet the same as disobedience to Himself and strongly prohibited it. In the noble verses, the warning is clear for those who disobey the Messenger of Allah:
“But those who disobey Allah and His Messenger and transgress His limits will be admitted to a Fire, to abide therein: And they shall have a humiliating punishment.” (Al-Nisa; 4:14)
“…let those beware who withstand the Messenger’s order, lest some trial befall them, or a grievous penalty be inflicted on them.” (Al-Nur; 24:63)
All these divine measures indicate the divine dimension of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad as a source of Islam second only to the Qur’an. This is why obedience to the Prophet (pbuh) means to follow his sayings. And this is also why, just as the Noble Qur’an is a revelation from Allah, Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah and ahadith which explain what the Qur’an concisely means are also considered as revelations from Allah. This is a fact expressed in the Qur’an as follows:
“Nor does he speak of (his own) desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him…” (Al-Najm; 53:3-4)
As a matter of fact, since Noble Qur’an is revealed to the heart of the Prophet Muhammad,[1] his every act became the moral of Qur’an. Thus, his sayings (hadith) manifested themselves as the interpretation of the Qur’an. In short, the entire life, sayings, and acts of our Master (pbuh) are the best explanation of the Noble Qur’an.
In this respect, the Noble Qur’an and the Sunnah represent an indivisible unity. Whoever holds on to them does not go astray and earns eternal salvation. Indeed this fact is expressed by the Prophet (pbuh) in his famous Farewell Speech:
“I left with you two things. If you follow them, you will never go astray. One of them is the Book of Allah and the other is the Sunnah of His Prophet.” (Ibn Hisham, IV, 276; Muwatta, Qadar, 3)
For this reason, the Companions of the Prophet and the righteous scholars who are the inheritors of the prophets have attributed great importance to the Sunnah and to the ahadith which are the written documents of the Sunnah and transmitted them to us with a praiseworthy accuracy. The most important factor in the transmission of the Sunnah to this day is Muslims’ learning it from each other and keeping it alive by practicing it in their lives since the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). So much so that in order to accept someone’s reporting of a hadith, some scholars of hadith used to require that the narrator of the hadith practice it in his/her life.
In other words, the issue was not just to report the sayings of the Prophet but also to understand and practice them in the best way. Sunnah of the Prophet is our most valuable and primary source which explain and interpret our sacred book. Ahadith are the channels through which our beloved Prophet Muhammad communicates with us. It is his way of talking to us from centuries ago, and showing us to the straight path. Ahadith are the breaths from the Age of Bliss, the only cure for the problems of the contemporary man who is drowning in the swirls of modern ignorance.
Thus, in order to add our lives a Prophetic cure and love, a Muhammadan blessing and benediction we must always hold tight to the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). In order to achive this, it is our fundamental task to read and understand the ahadith first.
With the encouragement of our esteemed elders, this book that you are holding has been written because of this fundamental duty and out of necessity. First, ahadith about certain topics are selected. We have compiled sayings of our beloved Prophet (pbuh) related to practical side of Islam, faith, worship, avoiding sins, calling to the true path, and serving in the way of Allah. These topics are briefly explained with the help of fundamental sources under the light of verses and other ahadith.
The selected hadith are taken from credible hadith books. Every hadith is compared to its original form by cross checking it with its source. We have paid special attention to their translations as much as we can in terms of being loyal to their originals and expressing the meaning by good usage of the language.
While asking Allah the Almighty to forgive our mistakes and accept our good deeds;
I would like to express my sincere thanks to first of all our honorable teacher Osman Nuri TOPBAŞ who suggested the writing of this work and provided every kind of support and help during the process;
To my honorable teachers Abdullah SERT, Ahmet TAŞGETİREN, Mustafa ERİŞ, Prof. Dr. Ethem CEBECİOĞLU, Ass. Prof. Dr. Ömer ÇELİK, Dr. Âdem ERGÜL and other teachers who put efforts in reviewing and revisions;
To my brothers Harun KIRKIL and Şükrü Mutlu KARAKOÇ;
Especially to asst. prof. Mustafa ÖZTÜRK, Sadettin EKİNCİ and Muhammed Ali EŞMELİ;
Furthermore, I sincerely thank to the directors of Altinoluk Magazine who accurately published and distributed this book to its readers as a gift.*
May Our Lord turn all our efforts into continuous charity that are suitable for His consent. May He grant us the opportunity to live as living Qur’ans by holding on to the Sunnah of our Prophet (pbuh). May Allah bless us with the intercession of His Messenger (pbuh) on the Day of Judgment under his umbrella!
Amen!
Dr. Murat KAYA
June, 2007
Sultantepe – Üsküdar