Quranists claim:
(i) The Qur’an describes things in DETAIL,
and therefore, it is alone enough for guidance.
(ii) The Prophet conveyed, practiced and taught
only the Qur’an and not an iota besides it.
(iii) Hadith or Sunnah are unrequired in Islam,
and even have been fabricated after the Prophet.
The above claim of “no Muhammad’s Sunnah but only the Qur’an in Islam” can be disproved in many ways. Lately, we have written on Moon Sighting And The Qur’an. In relation to Islamic Calendar and the days of a week, Quranists’ stand is found to be impractical. This indicates that their position about the Sunnah in Islam is completely wrong:
(1) How can only the Qur’an help Muslims recognize which Islamic month it is — Muharram or Ramadan or any other?
There appears no sign in the Moon that indicates which month it is related to. Therefore, one Muslim can take a lunar month as of Muharram (alternatively, the first month of the year) while another Muslim can count the same lunar month as of Safar (alternatively, the second month of the year), and so on and so forth. This would give rise to 12 different real-time Islamic months across the globe. Even there would be different Islamic calendars within a family i.e. one member would count a month as Muharram while another member would count the same month as of Ramadan. And all these people will be perfectly alright so far is the issue of following the information given solely in the Qur’an. Here the questions arise:
Do Quranists call all of these 12 calendars truly Islamic? If they do, can Quranists provide any support from the Qur’an for the existence of 12 different calendars in Islam?
If Quranists consider only one of these calendars as Islamic, how do they distinguish that very calendar by using the information given solely in the Qur’an?
In contrast, Sunni and Shiite Muslims recognize a month by the order of months that has been coming down from the practice (sunnah) of Muhammad (PBUH).
Let us consider the impracticability of Quranists’ stand another way. In the 10th year of Muhammad’s migration to Medina, almost all the polytheists of Arabian Peninsula accepted Islam. Regarding a few of them who emigrated from the Arabia, there is no history available what they did afterwards concerning their calendar — whether they adopted the calendar of the lands they got settled in, whether they kept running their former Arabian calendar with Kabeesa (intercalation), whether they ran the former Arabian calendar without Kabeesa, etc. In other words, today we know only the history as well as the continuity of Muhammad’s Sunnah Calendar. Therefore, the only way to recognize an Islamic month is to follow the Sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH).
Since Quranists ridicule Sunni and Shiite Muslims for following the sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH), they have not adopted the sunnah of Muhammad in recognizing the lunar months. So it is on them to tell:
Which disbeliever’s sunnah have they adopted in recognizing the lunar months?
The above question arises because everyone does not make his/her own calendar. Rather one follows the calendar that is coming down from some authority, such as, Julius Caesar for Julian Calendar, Pope Gregory for Gregorian Calendar, and so on and so forth. Before Muhammad’s take-over, Arab Polytheists were following the calendar regulated by Meccan Chiefs who were adding the Month of Kabeesa (leap month) every two to three years. And it was Muhammad (PBUH) who abolished that practice. And Sunni and Shiite Muslims have been upholding the Sunnah Calendar to date.
On the same token:
(2) How can the Qur’an alone help Muslims recognize the day of جمعه (mentioned in the Qur’an) among the days of a week?
Every student of the Qur’an knows that there is no prescribed rule in the Qur’an for identifying when a week starts in Islam as well as which of the seven days of a week is جمعه . Then the questions arise:
How are Quranists following the Qur’an alone?
(in ordering the days of a week)
Why can’t they be charged of following the sunnah
of some disbelievers?
The latter is the only left-out possibility because Quranists assert that they are not into the sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH) for acting on Islamic regulations.
(3) How can the Qur’an alone help us identify the month of Ramadan, mentioned in the Qur’an?
Every student of the Qur’an knows that there is no prescribed rule in the Qur’an for identifying which lunar month is Ramadan, and also there is no sign in any Moon that tells us that it is the month of Ramadan. Then the question arises:
How are Quranists following the Qur’an alone
in identifying the month of Ramadan?
(4) How can the Qur’an alone help us recognize the month and date(s) of Hajj?
Every student of the Qur’an knows that there is no prescribed rule in the Qur’an for identifying the month and date(s) of Hajj, and also there is no sign in any Moon that tells us that it is the month of Hajj and these are the dates for Hajj. Then the question arises:
How are Quranists following the Qur’an alone
in identifying the month and date(s) of Hajj?
(5) How does the Qur’an alone help us spot the four sacred months mentioned in the Qur’an (e.g. verse 9.36)?
Every student of the Qur’an knows that there is no prescribed rule in the Qur’an for identifying the four sacred months, and also there is no sign in any Moon that tells us that it is of sacred month. Then the question arises:
How are Quranists following the Qur’an alone
in identifying the four sacred months?
(6) How does the Qur’an alone help us recognize which New Moon-Crescent starts Islamic Year?
Every student of the Qur’an knows that there is no prescribed rule in it for identifying the New Crescent that starts Islamic Year, and also there is no sign in any Moon that tells us that it is of year-starting month. Then the question arises:
How are Quranists following the Qur’an alone in identifying
the New Crescent-Moon that starts Islamic year?
Why can’t they be charged of following the sunnah of
some disbelievers in this matter?
The latter is the only remaining possibility because Quranists assert that they are not into the sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH) for acting on Islamic regulations.
(7) Where does the Qur’an mention the dates for the two Eids every year?
How can the day(s) of an Eid be pinned down without the help of the Prophet’s Sunnah?
Hope some Quranist(s) will show the above details in the Qur’an because they claim that the Qur’an describe things in DETAIL, and therefore, Muslims do not require Sunnah at all.
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