Is Hadith Necessary To Understand Quran?
No, Ahadith are not necessary to understand the Quran, but they do help at times in supplementing the message in Quran already understood independently of Hadith. To understand the Quran, following principles must be kept in mind: Discussion 55737 Among these principles, last one relates to ‘ Historical Background ‘ which includes established history and akhbar-i-ahad as reported in Hadith corpus. F ull importance should be given to whatever is mentioned in Ahadith and Athar literature with reference to the Prophet (sws) and his Companions (rta). No doubt they contain many spurious things, and since the original words have not always been preserved and a narrator has relied on his own intellect to transmit these words, a lot of changes have come about in the original words, yet this literature still contains many valuable gems. While pointing out the correct attitude in this regard , Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes: “ Among the dhanni [non-definite] sources of tafsir, Ahadith and Athar occupy the highest status. If their authenticity could have been fully relied upon, they would have had the same importance in tafsir as the Sunnat-i Mutawatirah. However, since Ahadith and Athar do not possess this degree of authenticity, they can only be benefited from as far as they are found to be in conformity with the absolute principles of interpreting the Quran delineated above. Those who give such importance to the Hadith that they make the Quran subservient to it are neither aware of the status of the Quran nor that of the Hadith. On other hand, people who don’t even refer to the Ahadith and Athar in interpreting the Quran deprive themselves of a great treasure second only to the Quran. I consider the Hadith to be totally derived from the Quran; thus I have not confined myself to Ahadith which are mentioned in relation to a verse of the Quran; as far as I could, I have tried to benefit from the whole corpus of the Hadith. They have helped me the most in understanding the wisdom of the Qur’an. If I have found a Hadith which is not in harmony with the Quran, I have deliberated upon it for a long period, and I have only rejected it when it became abundantly clear to me that it was against the Quran or it was in conflict with some principle of religion. As far as correct Ahadith are concerned, seldom has there arisen a case in which they contradict the Quran; however, when this was the case, I have preferred the Quran to them, and have written my reasons of this preference in detail “.