Quranism
In matters of faith, jurisprudence, and legislation, Quranists differ from Sunnis, who consider the hadith, scholarly opinions, opinions attributed to the sahaba, ijma and qiyas, and Islam's legislative authority in matters of law and creed in addition to the Quran.
This methodological difference has led to considerable divergence between Quranists, and both Sunnis and Shias in matters of theology and law as well as the understanding of the Quran.
"Quranists" (Arabic: القرآنية, romanized: al-Qurʾāniyya)[10] are also referred to as "reformists" or "progressive Muslims" as well as "Quraniyoon" (those who ascribe to the Quran alone).
[18] The Kufan scholar Dirar ibn Amr's Quranist belief led him to deny in the Dajjal, Punishment of the Grave, and Shafa'a in the 8th century.
[19] The Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abu Zayd's Quranist commentaries led him to reject the belief in the Isra and Mi'raj in the early 20th century.
[26] The concept of tahrif has also been advocated by Quran alone Muslims such as Rashad Khalifa, who believed that previous revelations of God, such as the Bible, contained contradictions due to human interference.
[34] The shahada accepted by a number of Quranists is la ilaha illa'llah ("There is nothing worthy of worship except God").
Some Quranists believe that it is sufficient to pray two or three times daily because Quran 11:114 says "Establish prayer 'O Prophet' at both ends of the day and in the early part of the night."
[43] Quranist ablution in prayer (wudu) only includes washing the face, hands up to the elbows and stroking the head and feet, since only these steps are mentioned in the Quran 5:6.
[59][60][61] As they believe that hadith, while not being reliable sources of religion, can be used as a reference to get an idea on historical events, they point out several narrations about early Islam to support their beliefs.
According to one of these narrations, Muhammad's companion and the second caliph Umar (r. 634–644) also prohibited the writing of hadith and destroyed existing collections during his reign.
A few decades later, a letter was sent to the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (r. 685–705) regarding the Kufans: "They abandoned the judgement of their Lord and took hadiths for their religion; and they claim that they have obtained knowledge other than from the Koran .
Al-Ma'mun was inclined towards rational inquiry in religious matters, supported the proponents of Kalam and persecuted the adherents of Hadith.
Unlike his three predecessors, Al-Mutawakkil (r. 847-861) was not inclined to rational inquiry in religious matters, and strove to bolster the Hadith as a necessary source of the Sunnah.
[69] Abdullah Chakralawi, Khwaja Ahmad Din Amritsari, Chiragh Ali, and Aslam Jairajpuri were among the people who promulgated Quranist beliefs in India at the time.
[70][69] Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi of Egypt "held that nothing of the Hadith was recorded until after enough time had elapsed to allow the infiltration of numerous absurd or corrupt traditions.
"[71] Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi wrote an article titled al-Islam Huwa ul-Qur'an Wahdahu ('Islam is the Qur'an Alone) that appeared in the Egyptian journal Al-Manar, which argues that the Quran is sufficient as guidance:[72] What is obligatory for man does not go beyond God's Book.
If anything other than the Qur'an had been necessary for religion, the Prophet would have commanded its registration in writing, and God would have guaranteed its preservation.Like some of their counterparts in Egypt such as Muhammad Abu Zayd and Ahmed Subhy Mansour, some reformist scholars in Iran who adopted Quranist beliefs came from traditional institutions of higher learning.
Shaykh Hadi Najmabadi, Mirza Rida Quli Shari'at-Sanglaji, Mohammad Sadeqi Tehrani, and Ayatollah Borqei were educated in traditional Shia universities in Najaf and Qom.
[77] Gaddafi asserted the transcendence of the Quran as the sole guide to Islamic governance and the unimpeded ability of every Muslim to read and interpret it.
Quranism also took on a militant dimension in the 20th century, with the Yan Tatsine movement, founded by Mohammed Marwa, better known by his nickname Maitatsine, which publicly adopted the slogan "Qur’an only" as the foundation of the religion.
Both modernist Muslims and Qur'anists believe that the problems in the Islamic world come partly from the traditional elements of the hadith and seek to reject those teachings.
In 2018, the Russian Council of Muftis issued a fatwa that, contrary to its apparent intent, contained statements supportive of Quran-centric views.
[83] In 2023, in a major departure from Wahhabism, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordered the establishment of an authority in Medina to scrutinise uses of the hadith that are used by preachers and jurists to support teachings and edicts on all aspects of life.
According to Khmer Times, the reforms of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) have been influenced by a Quranist group.
[85][86][87][88] Other Saudi intellectuals, like Abd al-Rahman al-Ahdal, continue to advocate for the abandonment of hadith and a return to the Quran.
[96] Quranists have responded to the criticisms of the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) with arguments and challenged them to a debate.
[109] The most prominent predecessor to the Quran Sunnat Society in India was from the views put forth by Ahmed Khan in the 19th century.
"[12] Among those influenced by Khalifa's ideas include Edip Yüksel,[119] Ahmad Rashad,[121] and Nigerian High Court Judge, Isa Othman.
[122] A Turkish (of Kurdish descent) activist, Edip Yüksel, initially campaigned for a Quranist-Islamic revolution in Turkey, which is why he was imprisoned.
