The Islamic Sources: Qur'an, Sunnah, and Consensus

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The previously mentioned objective of this book – to derive the Islamic understanding of monotheism from the earliest sources – requires focusing on the primary sources of Islam, the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

To these two main sources must then be added the consensus (ijma') of the early scholars, particularly that of the Companions of the Prophet (sahabah) رضي الله عنهم¹⁸.

It is unthinkable that within the first centuries, a thousand or more experts in the narration of texts concerning a specific matter of faith could have unanimously agreed on something and all been mistaken. For this reason, early Islamic scholarship regarded such consensus opinions as undoubtedly indicative of the authentic Islamic doctrine of faith – especially given the already mentioned reliance on numerous chains of narration.

It is, of course, clear that any consensus must always be based on the primary sources of Islam, as consensus could only have emerged due to a clear statement from the Qur'an or the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. In this sense, consensus is not to be regarded as an independent legal source, since from the perspective of Islamic theology, and in agreement among Muslims, no one received direct revelation after the Prophet.¹⁹

As an example of the narration of consensus by the early hadith scholars, the experts in Islamic narration, we shall consider the following statement from Muhammad ibnu Isma'il al-Bukhari, who is probably the most well-known hadith scholar of all time.

Thus, Abu l-Qasim Hibatullah al-Lalaka'i narrates the following statement from al-Bukhari in his book Sharhu Usuli 'tiqadi Ahlissunnati wa-l-Jama'ah. It should be noted that al-Lalaka'i himself was also a hadith scholar and, following the established tradition of his field, narrated this statement from al-Bukhari also with a chain of narration²⁰:

أَخْبَرَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ حَفْصٍ الْهَرَوِيُّ , قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ سَلَمَةَ , قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْحُسَيْنِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عِمْرَانَ بْنِ مُوسَى الْجُرْجَانِيُّ قَالَ:

سَمِعْتُ أَبَا مُحَمَّدٍ عَبْدَ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنَ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ الْبُخَارِيَّ بِالشَّاشِ يَقُولُ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ إِسْمَاعِيلَ الْبُخَارِيَّ يَقُولُ: لَقِيتُ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَلْفِ رَجُلٍ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ أَهْلِ الْحِجَازِ وَمَكَّةَ وَالْمَدِينَةِ وَالْكُوفَةِ وَالْبَصْرَةِ وَوَاسِطَ وَبَغْدَادَ وَالشَّامِ وَمِصْرَ لَقِيتُهُمْ كَرَّاتٍ قَرْنًا بَعْدَ قَرْنٍ ثُمَّ قَرْنًا بَعْدَ قَرْنٍ , أَدْرَكْتُهُمْ وَهُمْ مُتَوَافِرُونَ مُنْذُ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ سِتٍّ وَأَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً , أَهْلَ الشَّامِ وَمِصْرَ وَالْجَزِيرَةِ مَرَّتَيْنِ وَالْبَصْرَةِ أَرْبَعَ مَرَّاتٍ فِي سِنِينَ ذَوِي عَدَدٍ بِالْحِجَازِ سِتَّةَ أَعْوَامٍ , وَلَا أُحْصِي كَمْ دَخَلْتُ الْكُوفَةَ وَبَغْدَادَ مَعَ مُحَدِّثِي أَهْلِ خُرَاسَانَ , مِنْهُمُ الْمَكِّيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ , وَيَحْيَى بْنُ يَحْيَى ...

I heard Abu 'Abdillah Muhammad ibnu Isma'il al-Bukhari say: I have met more than a thousand men from among the people of knowledge, from the people of Hijaz, from Mecca, Medina, Kufa, Basra, Wasit, Baghdad, ash-Sham ²¹ and Egypt.

I have met them repeatedly, from generation to generation, and then again from generation to generation. I encountered them in great numbers for more than 46 years ²².

The people of ash-Sham, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula twice and (the people of) Basra four times over several years, and in Hijaz for six years.

And I can hardly count how many times I entered Kufa and Baghdad together with the hadith scholars from the people of Khurasan²³.

Among them (were) al-Makkiyy ibnu Ibrahim and Yahya ibnu Yahya …

Now, al-Bukhari mentions – according to my count – a total of 45 names of renowned scholars from various major cities and the leading centers of knowledge in the Islamic world until the narration finally states:

... وَاكْتَفَيْنَا بِتَسْمِيَةِ هَؤُلَاءِ كَيْ يَكُونَ مُخْتَصَرًا وَأَنْ لَا يَطُولَ ذَلِكَ , فَمَا رَأَيْتُ وَاحِدًا مِنْهُمْ يَخْتَلِفُ فِي هَذِهِ الْأَشْيَاءِ: أَنَّ الدِّينَ قَوْلٌ وَعَمَلٌ؛ وَذَلِكَ لِقَوْلِ اللَّهِ: {وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةِ وَذَلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ} [البينة: 5] وَأَنَّ الْقُرْآنَ كَلَامُ اللَّهِ غَيْرُ مَخْلُوقٍ

[…] We have sufficed with mentioning the names of these individuals to keep it concise and not make it lengthy. Among all these people, I did not see a single one who held a differing opinion (from the others) on the following matters:

• That the din²⁴ consists of both statement and action. This is based on the statement of Allah: “And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakah²⁵. And that is the correct religion.” (al-bayyinah:5)

• And that the Qur'an is the word of Allah and is not created. […]

The individuals mentioned here by al-Bukhari were not merely unknown people with whom he had personal connections. Rather, they were all well-known figures throughout the Islamic world – scholars and, in turn, narrators of hadith. Apart from these exemplarily listed individuals, as previously stated, there were countless other well-known narrators and scholars who conveyed these fundamental beliefs in exactly the same manner.

Alongside these scholars of narration, many new opinions began to emerge in the first centuries of Islam, influenced in part by Greek philosophy. Those who were influenced by philosophy increasingly began to regard their own intellect as a source of religion. Eventually, on this path, they soon started to prioritize their own opinions over the textually narrated statements. Depending on how far these individuals went, they sometimes even rejected well-established narrations or even consensus opinions, contradicting the clear statements of Qur'anic verses to a significant extent.

Among the issues that were intensely debated in the early centuries was the question of whether actions are a part of iman or not, or the question of whether the Qur'an is created or not.

However, as evident from the above quotation, there existed a narrated consensus among the scholars of that time regarding these matters, which is why other opinions on these issues could not be considered legitimate.

In such matters of faith, these differing opinions were unanimously condemned by those very scholars as an unlawful innovation in religion (bid'ah, pl. bida').