Islam is traditionally understood as a religion informed and confirmed by both the Quran, the holy book revealed to Prophet Muhammad PBUH and Hadith, the collection of the Prophet’s teachings and practices. But what about those who rely solely on the Quran for guidance?
This article explores Quranism, a movement that emphasizes the Quran as the complete and self-sufficient source of Islamic belief and practice. We’ll delve into the core tenets of Quranism, their approach to interpreting the scripture, and how their practices differ from mainstream Islam.
What is Quranism or Quran is Sufficient Movement?
Quranism is an Islamic movement that holds the belief that the Quran is the sole source of faith, guidance and religious law in Islam and reject the authority of sources outside of the Quran like Hadith and Sunnah.
Quranists believe that the Quran is clear, complete, and that it can be fully understood without recourse to the hadith and sunnah. Therefore, they use the Quran itself to interpret the Quran.
As regards to hadith, they believe that Hadith while not being reliable sources of religion, can be used as a reference to get an idea on historical events. It is so because the vast majority of hadith literature are forged and that the Quran criticizes the hadith both in technical sense and general sense
Further, they believe that reliance on hadith limits the vast potential of the Quran to a particular cultural and historical situation, and they point out several narrations about early Islam to support their beliefs.
Unlike Hadith followers who believe that obedience to the Islamic prophet Muhammad PBUH means obedience to hadiths, Quranists believe that obedience to Muhammad (PBUH) means obedience to the Quran.
Thus, in matters of faith, jurisprudence, and legislation, Quranists differ from Sunnis, who consider the hadith, scholarly opinions, opinions attributed to the sahaba, ijma and qiyas, and Islam’s legislative authority in matters of law and creed in addition to the Quran.
History and Rationale of Quranist Muslims behind rejection of Hadith
Quranists date their beliefs back to the time of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, who they claim prohibited the writing of hadiths (Sahih Muslim 3004).
According to one of these narrations, one of Muhammad’s companions and 2nd Rashidun Caliph Umar RA, also prohibited the writing of hadith and destroyed existing collections during his rule as Caliph.
Similar reports claim when Umar appointed a governor to Kufa, he told him: “You will be coming to the people of a town for whom the buzzing of the Qur’an is as the buzzing of bees. Therefore, do not distract them with the Hadiths, and thus engage them. Bare the Qur’an and spare the Hadith from God’s messenger!”.
The centrality of the Quran in the religious life of the Kufans that Umar described was quickly changing, however. A few decades later, a letter was sent to the Ummayad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan regarding the Kufans:
“They abandoned the judgement of their Lord and took hadiths for their religion; and they claim that they have obtained knowledge other than from the Koran…They believed in a book which was not from God, written by the hands of men; they then attributed it to the Messenger of God.”
In the following years, the taboo against the writing and following of hadiths had receded to such an extent that the Ummayad leader Umar II ordered the first official collection of Hadith. Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Hazm and Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, were among those who wrote Hadiths at Umar II’s behest.
Despite the trend towards hadiths, the questioning of their authority continued during the Abbasid dynasty and existed during the time of Al-Shafi’i, when a group known as “Ahl al-Kalam” argued that the prophetic example of Muhammad “is found in following the Quran alone”, rather than Hadith.
The majority of Hadith, according to them, was mere guesswork, conjecture, and bidah, while the book of God was complete and perfect, and did not require the Hadith to supplement or complement it.
That being said, the extent to which Quranists reject the authority of the Hadith and Sunnah varies, but the more established groups have thoroughly criticised the authority of the Hadith and reject it for many reasons.
The most common view being the Quranists who say that Hadith is not mentioned in the Quran as a source of Islamic theology and practice, was not recorded in written form until a century after the death of Muhammad, and contain internal errors and contradictions as well as contradictions with the Quran.
They believe that the trustworthiness of the narrator is not enough to give credibility to the hadith as it is stated in the Quran that Muhammad himself could not recognize who was a genuine believer and who was a hypocrite. Moreover, Quranists quote Sahih Muslim 3004 to argue Muhammad PBUH forbid any hadith beside the Quran.
Also Read| Is Prophet Muhammad PBUH Infallible? Know Shia-Sunni Perspectives
For Sunni Muslims, “the sunnah”, i.e the sunnah (the way) of the prophet, is one of the two primary sources of Islamic law, and while the Quran has verses enjoining Muslims to obey the Messenger, the Quran never talks about “sunnah” in connection with Muhammad or other Prophets PBUTA.
The term sunnah appears several times in Quran including in the phrase “sunnat Allah” (way of God), but not “sunnat al-nabi” (way of the prophet) – the phrase customarily used by proponents of hadith.
Beliefs and Opinions on Various Issues
In the centuries following Muhammad’s death, Quranists did not believe in naskh. The Kufan scholar Dirar ibn Amr’s Quranist belief led him to deny in Al-Masih ad-Dajjal, Punishment of the Grave, and Shafa’ah in the 8th century.
The Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abu Zayd’s Quranist commentaries led him to reject the belief in the Isra and Mi’raj in the early 20th century.
In his rationalist Quran commentary published in 1930, which uses the Quran itself to interpret the Quran, he claimed that verse 17:1 was an allusion to the Hijrah and not Isra and Mi’raj.
What do they call themselves?
Drawing inspiration from the verses of Quran, most Quranists define themselves simply as “Muslims”.
Abraham was not a Jew, nor a Christian, but he was a true Muslim [مُّسۡلِمࣰا], and he was not a polytheist. Quran 3:67
Then when Jesus perceived their disbelief he said, ‘Who will be my helpers of God.’ The disciples said ‘We will be the helpers of God; we believe in God and bear witness that we are Muslims [مُسۡلِمُونَ]. Quran 3:52
إِذْ قَالَ لَهُۥ رَبُّهُۥٓ أَسْلِمْ ۖ قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ١٣١
When his Lord ordered him (Abraham), “Submit ˹to My Will˺,” he responded, “I submit to the Lord of all worlds.” 2:131
Hadith Rejection
Quranists reject hadith altogether. Some Quranists suggest that vast majority of hadith literature are forged and that the Quran criticizes the hadith both in technical sense and general sense.
They argue that there is no harm in using hadith to get a common idea on the history as long as they are not taken as historical facts. According to them, a hadith narration about history can be true or can be false, but a hadith narration adding rulings to religion is generally always completely false.
Syed Ahmad Khan a notable Quranist argued that, while the Quran remained socially relevant, reliance on hadith limits the vast potential of the Quran to a particular cultural and historical situation.
Quranists claim that the Sunni and Shias have distorted the meaning of the verses to support their respective agenda, especially in verses about women and war.
Shahada: Testimony of Faith
The Shahada accepted by a number of Quranists is simply “la ilaha illa’llah” (There is nothing worthy of worship except God). The part of the Shahada is also known as the tahlīl, tabarra and tawalla i.e denial of falsehood and acceptance of truth.
However, a number of Quranists also consider the Quranic Verse 2:131 as the proper shahada, based on the command to “Submit”, and the response, “I submit to the Lord of the worlds” (Aslamtu Li Rabbil Alamein)
إِذْ قَالَ لَهُۥ رَبُّهُۥٓ أَسْلِمْ ۖ قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ١٣١
When his Lord ordered him [Abraham], “Submit ˹to My Will˺,” he responded, “I submit to the Lord of all worlds.” 2:131
Also Read| Prophet Abraham in Islam: A Subaltern Explainer
With respect to traditional shahada that also includes Muhammadar Rasul Allah (Muhammad is the Messenger of God), they believe it is not necessary to say along with the first part because as such both these phrases do not occur together in Holy Quran and the uniform practice of saying them together only developed much later.
In the Quran, the first statement of the Shahadah takes the form lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh twice (37:35, 47:19), and ʾallāhu lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa (God, there is no deity but Him) much more often. It appears in the shorter form lā ʾilāha ʾillā huwa (There is no deity but Him) in many places. It appears in these forms about 30 times in the Quran.
إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوٓا۟ إِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ ٣٥
For whenever it was said to them ˹in the world˺, “There is no god except Allah,” they acted arrogantly. 37:35
مُّحَمَّدٌۭ رَّسُولُ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَٱلَّذِينَ مَعَهُۥٓ أَشِدَّآءُ عَلَى ٱلْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَآءُ بَيْنَهُمْ ۖ تَرَىٰهُمْ رُكَّعًۭا سُجَّدًۭا يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًۭا مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرِضْوَٰنًۭا ۖ سِيمَاهُمْ فِى وُجُوهِهِم مِّنْ أَثَرِ ٱلسُّجُودِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ مَثَلُهُمْ فِى ٱلتَّوْرَىٰةِ ۚ وَمَثَلُهُمْ فِى ٱلْإِنجِيلِ كَزَرْعٍ أَخْرَجَ شَطْـَٔهُۥ فَـَٔازَرَهُۥ فَٱسْتَغْلَظَ فَٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَىٰ سُوقِهِۦ يُعْجِبُ ٱلزُّرَّاعَ لِيَغِيظَ بِهِمُ ٱلْكُفَّارَ ۗ وَعَدَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ مِنْهُم مَّغْفِرَةًۭ وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًۢا ٢٩
Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah. And those with him are firm with the disbelievers and compassionate with one another. You see them bowing and prostrating ˹in prayer˺, seeking Allah’s bounty and pleasure. The sign ˹of brightness can be seen˺ on their faces from the trace of prostrating ˹in prayer˺. This is their description in the Torah. And their parable in the Gospel is that of a seed that sprouts its ˹tiny˺ branches, making it strong. Then it becomes thick, standing firmly on its stem, to the delight of the planters—in this way Allah makes the believers a source of dismay for the disbelievers. To those of them who believe and do good, Allah has promised forgiveness and a great reward. 48:29
Salah: Prayer Frequency
Among Quranists, different views can be found in ritual prayer (salah). Some Quranists pray five times a day, like in traditional Islam, while others pray two or three times a day. The practice of praying five times daily does not appear in the Quran, but the practice originated in hadiths about Muhammad’s Isra’ and Mi’raj.
Some Quranists believe that it is sufficient to pray two or three times daily because Quran 11:114 says “Establish prayer at both ends of the day and in the early part of the night.“
A minority of Quranists see the Arabic word ṣalāt as a spiritual contact or a spiritual devotion to God through the observance of the Quran and worship to God, and therefore not as a standard ritual to be performed.
The blessings for Muhammad and Abraham, which are part of the traditional ritual, are not practiced by most Quranists in the call to prayer and in the prayer itself, arguing that the Quran mentions prayers are only for God, and the Quran tells believers to make no distinction between prophets and messengers of God be it Muhammad PBUH or earlier ones.
Say, [O believers], “We have believed in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him“. Al-Quran 2:136
Also Read| Status of Prophet Muhammad PBUH and Quran: A Seal and Touchstone
There are other minor differences: for Quranists, menstruation does not constitute an obstacle to prayer, men and women are allowed to pray together in a mosque and that there is no catching up later once a prayer is missed.
Sawm: Fasting
The majority of Quranists fast for all of Ramadan, but do not see the last day of Ramadan as a holy day.
Also Read| Ramadan: Quran & Hadith Quotes on Fasting
Hajj: Pilgrimage
Extra-Quranic traditions in the Hajj, such as kissing or hugging the black stone and the symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing stones are rejected and seen as shirk by Quranists.
Polygamy
Some Quranist movements allow polygamy only on the condition of the adoption of orphans who have mothers and do not want to lose them, as the concerning verse 4:3 set the condition after the ‘Battle of Uhud’ where many of the male companions martyred.
But other Quranist movements argue that although it is not explicitly banned, polygamy is a thing of the past because the regulations which are contained in the Quran are very strict and they have been fulfilled by almost nobody on Earth, therefore polygamy cannot be practiced anymore. In the extremely rare case in which it may be practiced, there is a strict limit on the number of wives, which is four.
Military Jihad
Most Quranist movements interpret the “holy war” as a solely defensive war, because according to them that is the only type of war allowed in the Quran. A war is only “holy” when Muslims are threatened on their own lands. Therefore, unlike the Sunnis and Salafi-Jihadis, for the Quranists “holy war” does not refer to an offensive war against non-Muslim countries or communities in any circumstances.
Dress Code
Clothing does not play a key role in Quranism. All Quranist movements agree that Islam has no sets of traditional clothing, except the rules described in the Quran. Therefore, beards and the hijab are not necessary.
O ye Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness,- that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition! Al-Quran 7:26
Also Read| Good Manners in Islam: Quotes from Quran and Hadiths
Tafsir
Although there are Quranist tafsir works, for the most part Quranists do not have tafsir and do not think that it is needed. They believe the Quran does not give anyone the authority to interpret because, as stated in Quran, Allah sends guidance individually.
It is true thou wilt not be able to guide every one whom thou lovest, but Allah guides those whom He will and He knows best those who receive guidance. Al-Quran 28:56
Say, “Do you argue with us about Allah while He is our Lord and your Lord? For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. And we are sincere [in deed and intention] to Him.” Al-Quran 2:139
Ridda: Apostasy
According to Sunni hadith, a Muslim who leaves his religion should be killed. However, since Quranists do not accept hadith and no command to kill apostates can be found in the Quran, they reject this procedure. In addition, they believe in 2:256, which states that “there shall be no compulsion/pressure in religion”, is taken into account and everyone is allowed to freely decide on their religion.
Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from falsehood: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things. Al-Quran 2:256
Also Read| Islam Condemns Extremism: Quran and Hadith Quotes
Other Beliefs
The following aspects can be cited as further examples which, compared to traditional Islam, are rejected by Quranists or regarded as irrelevant.
- Quranists see circumcision as irrelevant; circumcision is not mentioned in the Quran.
- Quranists see Eid al-Fitr (festival of breaking the fast) and Eid ul-Adha (Islamic festival of sacrifice) as merely cultural holidays, not holy.
- Quranists do not consider the headscarf (hijab) for women to be obligatory.
- Quranists believe cremation is permissible in Islam as there is no prohibition in the Qur’an against cremation, and that burial is not the only Islamic method that is approved by God.
- Quranists are strictly against torture.
- Quranists are strictly against stoning to death of adulterers or homosexuals because stoning is not mentioned in the Quran.
- Quranists are against the prohibition of music, singing, drawing, making sculpture and statues. This includes drawings of prophets.
- Quranists are against the prohibition for a man to wear gold or silk, to shave his beard, etc.
- Quranists do not consider dogs unclean or to be avoided.
- Quranists do not believe in Imam Mahdi or the Dajjal, as they are not mentioned in the Quran.
Notable Quranist Muslims
Notable figures who have promulgated Quranist beliefs include Chiragh Ali, Aslam Jairajpuri, Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi, Ahmed Subhy Mansour, Maitatsine, Kassim Ahmad, Rashad Khalifa, and Edip Yuksel with notable Indian and Egyptian contributions.
Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi
Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi was an Egyptian Muslim and physician and he described his motivation for questioning hadith as part of a rejection of taqlid (the unthinking and unjustified conformity of one person to the Islamic teachings of another) and the “quest for authenticity” in Islam.
One hadith in particular that sparked his disenchantment was the “hadith of the fly” which had been rated ṣaḥīḥ (sound) by Muhammad al-Bukhari and other famed scholars of hadith:
- ‘If a fly lands in your drink, push it all the way, under, then throw the fly out and drink. On one of the fly’s wings is disease, on the other is its cure.’
As a doctor he found it in conflict with modern medicine and the germ theory of disease. Shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, Sidqi wrote an article titled “al-Islam huwa ul-Qur’an Wahdahu” (“Islam is the Qur’an Alone”) that appeared in Rashid Rida’s journal al-Manar.
There he argued that the Quran is sufficient as guidance in Islam: “what is obligatory for man does not go beyond God’s Book. … If anything other than the Qur’an had been necessary for religion, … the Prophet would have commanded its registration in writing, and God would have guaranteed its preservation.“
Syed Ahmad Khan
In 19th century, Abdullah Chakralawi, Khwaja Ahmad Din Amritsari, Chiragh Ali, and Aslam Jairajpuri were among the people who promulgated Quranist beliefs in India at the time.
Syed Ahmad Khan was also reportedly a Quranist. He argued that, while the Quran remained socially relevant, reliance on hadith limits the vast potential of the Quran to a particular cultural and historical situation.
Aslam Jairajpuri
Aslam Jairajpuri was a scholar of Qur’an, Hadith, and Islamic history who is best known for his books Talimat-e-Qur’an and “History of Qur’an. He was born on 27 January 1882 in Jairajpur, Azamgarh, in Uttar Pradesh, India, and died on 28 December 1955 in Delhi. He was Distinguished Professor of Arabic and Persian at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia.
Though was doing fine in his practical world, but in his spiritual world he was still haunted by only one subject, namely: the position of Hadith in Islam. This he ultimately solved and in his own words, “When Allah showed me the facts of Qur’an at that point I came to know the position of hadith in Qur’an, which is history of Islam. To consider the hadith as Islam is not correct. If they were in Islam, then Muhammad would also have left a written manuscript of these, like he did in case of Qur’an. For Islam, Qur’an is enough which is a complete book and in which Islam has been finalized.”
Iranian Quranists
Like some of their counterparts in Egypt such as Muhammad Abu Zayd and Ahmed Subhy Mansour, some reformist scholars in Iran who adopted Quranist beliefs came from traditional institutions of higher learning.
Shaykh Hadi Najmabadi, Mirza Rida Quli Shari’at-Sanglaji, Mohammad Sadeqi Tehrani, and Ayatollah Borqei were educated in traditional Shia universities in Najaf and Qom.
However, they believed that some beliefs and practices that were taught in these universities, such as the veneration of Imamzadeh and a belief in Raj’a, were irrational and superstitious and had no basis in the Quran. And rather than interpreting the Quran through the lens of hadith, they interpreted the Quran with the Quran (tafsir al-qur’an bi al-qur’an).
Quranism also took on a political dimension in the 20th century when Muammar al-Gaddafi declared the Quran to be the constitution of Libya. Gaddafi asserted the transcendence of the Quran as the sole guide to Islamic governance and the unimpeded ability of every Muslim to read and interpret it. He had begun to attack the religious establishment and several fundamental aspects of Sunni Islam. He denigrated the roles of the ulama, imams, and Islamic jurists and questioned the authenticity of the hadith, and thereby the sunna, as a basis for Islamic law.
Rashid Khalifa and Quran Code 19
Rashad Khalifa (November 19, 1935 – January 31, 1990) was an Egyptian-American biochemist, closely associated with the United Submitters International (USI), an organization which promotes the practice and study of Quranism.
Khalifa saw his role as purging the accretions that found their way into Islam via hadith and sunnah, which he claimed were corrupted.
Starting in 1968, Khalifa used computers to analyze the frequency of letters and words in the Quran and in 1974, claimed to have discovered a complex mathematical code hidden in the Quran, a code based around the number 19. For example-
- The Basmala (bismi llahi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi), the Quranic opening formula, which, with one exception, is at the beginning of every Surah of the Quran, consists of exactly 19 letters.
- The first word of the Basmala, Ism (name), without contraction, occurs 19 times in the Quran (19×1). [Also no plural forms, or those with pronoun endings]
- The second word of the Basmala, Allah (God), occurs 2698 times (19×142).
- The third word of the Basmala, Rahman (Gracious), occurs 57 times (19×3).
- The fourth word of the Basmala, Rahim (Merciful), occurs 114 times (19×6).
- The multiplication factors of the words of the Basmala (1+142+3+6) give 152 (19×8).
- The Quran consists of 114 chapters (19×6).
- The total number of verses in the Quran including all unnumbered Basmalas is 6346 (19×334). The cross sum of 6346 is 19.
He published his findings in 1973 in the book Miracle of the Quran: Significance of the Mysterious Alphabets, in 1981 in the book The Computer Speaks: God’s Message to the World, and in 1982 in the book Quran: Visual Presentation of the Miracle.
Khalifa claimed that the Quran, unlike the Hadith, was incorruptible because it contained a mathematical structure based on the number 19, namely the Quran code or known as Code 19.
The number 19, which is mentioned in chapter 74 of the Quran as being “one of the greatest miracles” played the fundamental role, which according to Khalifa can be found everywhere in the structure of the Quran.
Khalifa was assassinated by someone associated with the Sunni group Jamaat ul-Fuqra.
Critics often invoke the concept of stochastic processes to explain how seemingly mystical patterns could appear in any large dataset. One such critic was Bilal Philips, who argued that Rashad Khalifa’s “miracle 19” theory was a hoax based on falsified data, misinterpretations of the Quran’s text, and grammar inconsistencies.
Current Trends
In the 21st century, Quranist rejection of the hadith has gained traction among modernist Muslims who want to throw out any hadith that contradicts the Qur’an.
In 2015, Quranist men in Sudan were imprisoned and sentenced to death for recognizing the Quran and rejecting the Hadith. After being arrested for more than five weeks, the men were released on bail.
In 2018, Saudi Quranist scholar Hassan Farhan al-Maliki was arrested and charged with the death penalty for promoting ideas that have been described as “Quranist”, “moderate”, “tolerant”, as well as for his political views, and one of opposition to the more strict Saudi Wahhabi ideology. Other Saudi intellectuals, like Abdul Rahman al-Ahdal, continue to advocate for the abandonment of hadith and a return to the Quran.
However, in 2023, in a major departure from Wahhabism, King Shah Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordered the establishment of an authority in Medina to scrutinise uses of the hadith that are used by preachers and jurists to support teachings and edicts on all aspects of life.
Source: Primarily Wikipedia and other online sources.
