Introduction

In this blog, how we know what we know in Islam is discussed in light of 2 considerations and 3 facts. Islam will not be defined, or re-defined in this blog - that will be done in another 'in-shā'-Allah - so just think of it in the way you know or have heard about it.

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Consideration 1

If the sole source of information for some subject is purely textual¹, then only human study² (interpretation) of the text produces any and all conculsions from the text. For example, consider the legal constitution of a nation - say the United States of America. The constitution is textual material written at some time point, transmitted and edited over time, analyzed by legal people in subsequent generations, and laws are derived from it. These laws are changable over time. This similiarly holds for religious scripture.

Consideration 2

Post-Qur'anic Islam's only sources are textual. The primary textual source is The Qur'an. The secondary textual source is Ḥadīth³. We don't need to dwell on the early part of the last ~1400 years when these texts were firstly written, just consider us today and many generations ago - these sources are purely textual for us.

Consequence of Considerations 1 and 2

Therefore, all of Islam's teachings (conclusions) - which are supposed to be based on these sources - have been extracted by human study and interpretation of these texts. Consider the easy evidence of this, the schools of thought are named after human beings who were not the Prophet. Teachings and conclusions throughout the post-Qur'anic history are attached to their originators' names - whether they were companions or other scholars. So the consequence that Islam's teachings are the result of human intellectual study should not be controversial.

Three Facts

Fact 1

Once the revelation of The Qu'an is done, the Prophet dies shortly after⁴.

• There are no more prophets after the Prophet Muḥammad. Therefore, God's intent is that only The Qur'an remains with no prophet ever to come; nor ever to come as an interpreter of it.

Fact 2

No comprehensive Qur'anic tafsīr (explanation which is a type of interpretation) tracing back or attempting to trace back to the Prophet Muḥammad exists.

• As-Suyūṭī (d. 911 a.h./1505 c.e.) compiled 252 such Aḥādīth⁵. There exists over 400,000 Ḥadīth and Athār texts; the 252 are a miniscule percentage - by no means comprehensive. Furthermore, the Qur'an contains 6,235 verses made up from 84,031 words of which the nouns and verbs come from 1,687 linguistic roots. Again 252 Aḥādīth are no-way commensurate to this.

Fact 3

God did not let the world stay the same as it was in the 7th century.

• This fact needs no commentary. An insightful data point is that the expecation of the companions and early scholars was that the world would end "soon" after the Prophet. That it kept going for centuries was surprising for them; that it would change so much - unimaginable. One could ponder on what would be the interpretations and conclusions of any past great-named scholar if they could see today's world?