“Certainly you have in the Messenger of Allah an excellent exemplar for him who hopes in Allah and the latter day and remembers Allah much.” (Qur’an 33: 21)
“And We have not sent you but as a mercy to the worlds.” (Qur’an 21:107)
The most noble soul that ever wore the cloak of human flesh. The one whom Allah (swt) and his angels praise. The one whom countless tears have been shed and the heart longs for the meeting of. The beloved of Allah (swt). Our Master, the Blessed Prophet Muhammed (saw).
We are to take our example from him and he was an expositor of the Qur’an. He was the one would clarify, and settle disputes. He was the one who the faithful would put their trust.
The esteemed scholar and teacher, Shaykh Abdullah bin Saeed Al Ma’mari (hafidullah) puts it so eloquently how the believer feels towards the most noble creation.
LOVE THE PROPHET (SAW)
However, how are we as Muslims to follow his teachings, and to convey his message without having a means to do so? This is where we have the Sunnah. The teachings, words, actions of the Blessed Messenger (saw).
For the first time in the English language one noble teacher has taken up the challenge to convey the Ibadi school’s approach to the sciences of hadith. I had embarked upon this challenge with my respected teacher, Shaykh Juma Al Mazrui (hafidhullah). Due to some personal issues in my own life I was unable to continue with the task. What you have is what is put together up until chapter 11.
Insh’Allah it is my sincere hope that we can continue with this to give to you, the truth seeker the completed version. With Allah (swt) is success!
Of particular interest to the readers is the idea that it is possible to accurately transmit inaccurate information. Meaning the chain of narrators checks out. However, there is a flaw in the text. That one must be humble and be ready to admit the possibility of error in an otherwise impeccable chain.
This is why across all the schools the lone narrator reports are dubbed as Dhani/Zanni, which can mean: Speculative, Uncertain, Ambiguous. However, they are not dismissed outright as informing us as to the nature and truth of the Sunnah of the Blessed Messenger (saw).
Secondly is the issue of ‘Forensic Linguistics‘ when analyzing the matn (the text) of a hadith.
This can be further broken down into: What in modern Forensic investigation would be classed as:
Discourse analysis -a research method for studying written or spoken language in relation to its social context.
Sociolinguistics -defined as the study of how the people around you and your heritage can change the way you speak
Forensic phonetics – This studies dialect, grammar, sentence construction, to determine authenticity and ensure correct interpretation.
In a nutshell it would be analyzing and looking at the Blessed Messenger (saw) used the Arabic language himself, his own style of speaking, idioms, expressions, sentence structure. So that even if there is a hadith that has passed the bench marks of the sanad authentication, there would be an analysis of the text itself checked against the usual manner in which the Blessed Messenger (saw) spoke.
These measures add an additional layer of authenticity and protection over the sacred oral tradition. So that we do not end up being among those whom it is warned:
Prima Quran 