On Sun, 2 Jan 2005 03:57:22 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> For a non-Muslim hadith is confusing. There is no > consensus as to which > hadith are reliable and which are not. One issue is that classification of hadith is more nuanced than reliable/not-reliable. Shias have a different understanding, but for sunnis there is a rather large body of hadith which virtually everyone would say are authentic. On top of that, for any given issue, there is probably going to be a high degree of overlap and redundancy. So I don't know of any question which would actually hinge on the textual reliability of a single hadith. More typically, would be something like finality of prophethood (which i just finished sending out an e-mail about) where multiple texts converge on the same point. Even within the larger schoolsof > Islam there is bickering about it. Dr. Khalifa is incensed by the idea that > the Prophet might have married a child and consummated the wedding at age > 11. He rejects this strongly, and it is an argument constantly used against > Islam by those who "bash" the faith of Muhammed. He takes the view that such > a marriage is counter-Quranic and seems to carry the point well - at least > that particular point, anyway. That's actually kind of interesting. I honestly don't know what verse of the Quran one could site to say one thing or another about the age of Aishah or her marriage to the prophet. A good article discussing this issue is at: http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Polemics/aishah.html The basic argument is that the prophet really did marry Aishah when she was young but such a marriage was typical for that time and place. In any case, she was treated well and it wasn't a moral issue. (An interesting argument they make is that in the long history of Muslim-Christian apolegetics and debate it wasn't till recently till Aishah's age became an issue, because it wasn't atypical until recently). > This would throw all the hadith accredited to > Aisha out the window, and there are a lot of them. This is really problematic. I agree with Susan (wow, it always feels funny when I type that) that by throwing out hadith, Rashid Khalifa's group is then free to make up their own doctrine. Also, if you don't like what the texts say it becomes really dangerous to just edit, cut and paste them according to your own pre-conceived notions of right and wrong. Once you start doing that, you are going down the road of making up your own religion instead of following what God is telling you to do. It's more honest to just reject the religion altogether rather than modify it to your own tastes. In the end, that's ultimately what Khalifa did. He ultimately started to throw out verses from the Quran too because they didn't fit his mathematical scheme. > > It comes down to this for me as an outsider (to Islam) where hadith and > Qur'an would seem to disagree hadith must give way if the text and the > tradition cannot be brought into juxtaposition. That's fair enough. Muslims would apply the same standard. Peace Gilberto "My people are hydroponic" __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
