One Problem, Two Solutions

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan speech
Published in Muslim Murasu, August 2o11

People used to have good memory power in those days when printing press was not there. Thousands of sahabas who had memorized full Quran were able to gather.
After we got hold of cellphone, we are unable to remember phone numbers. Earlier we used to remember many telephone numbers. When we use a faculty in our brain, its ability will improve.
Sabith Ansari(ral) had a very good memory power. People were asked to bring all objects like bones, leaves and leather where Quran had been inscribed. Everything was cross-checked. It was checked with what they had in their memory. One hadees tells that two verses were missing. It means that they were not written or inscribed on any object. But those verses were intact in memory of many sahabas. It should not be understood that those two verses were completely lost. Thus full Quran was verified with this ‘double check system’.
Then Quran was written on a book and preserved. Later during the period of Usman(ral), copies were taken and sent to places like Sham and Egypt.
In those days, nukta (Arabic vowels) were not written. Even if we get those books, we won’t be able to read them. People who know Arabic, Urdu, can read without nukta. But non-Arabs recited Quran in different ways. Maliki yaumideen. Now ‘Ma’ is written with meem and alif. Earlier they wrote only meem, laam and kaaf. So maalik can be read in different ways as mulk, milk, malik, malak and maalik. A word can be pronounced differently when nukta is not written.
Some Arab tribes read ‘kul auzhu birabbinaas’ as ‘kul auzhu birabinaath’. That is, they read ‘seen’ as ‘the’. Rabbinnaath, malikinnaath. In the same way, ‘kaaf’ was pronounced as ‘seen’. Because of these differences, many copies of Quran were burnt.

It is impossible to understand Quran without hadees.
Consider surah 94, verses 5 and 6. Verily, with every difficulty, there is relief. Verily with every difficulty there is relief. Why is it repeated twice. Holy Prophet explains that every problem comes with two opportunities. Troubles are natural; they will visit us. But Allah will give solution twice its proportion. One should not be dejected by troubles. One should keep hope and courage.
Surah 4, Ayath 128. Assulhu khair. Peaceful settlement is the best settlement. Ayisha(ral) tells that whenever our Prophet is confronted with two options, he always elected the easier one. One can be confronted with peaceful solution and a violent solution. Compromise is best and easy. This hadees can guide you whenever you are faced with confusion, struggle and turmoil.
One is deen(guidance) and another is applied deen. One is spirituality and another is practical spirituality. Practical Islam can be availed in the light of hadees. One cannot follow Islam without help of hadees.
Some people argue that there are weak, baseless hadees in hadees books, so we will follow Quran directly. Follow sahih hadees. Let us get wisdom from Quran with the help of hadees.