> Ahadeeth myths

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Ahadeeth myths
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All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings of Allah be upon his Last and Final Messenger, his pure family, his noble Companions, and all those who follow them with righteousness until the Day of Judgment.
We have undoubtedly sent down the Reminder(al-dhikr), and We will truly preserve it. (Soorah al-Hijr:9)

This article is a humble attempt to eradicate the misconceptions that many non-Muslims and Muslims possess about the second source of the Shariah (Islamic jurisprudence) namely the Sunnah.

This article is by no means a comprehensive coverage of the Sunnah, but rather an introductory article dispelling the myths surrounding ahadeeth [pl. of hadeeth]. I will attempt to avoid several sections such as the command to follow the Messenger as this is discussed in great detail by Allamah al-Albani (May Allah have mercy on him) in his treatise, the Status of the Sunnah in Islam

I pray, insha’Allah, (God-Willing), that this article serves to remove the confusion and ignorance that the people are suffering from regarding this important issue and that it will save all those sincere seekers of truth from failing into major kufr by rejecting the ahadeeth.


The Definition of Hadeeth

The term hadeeth linguistically means a communication or a narrative. This is confirmed in the Glorious Qur’an
Let them then produce a saying (hadeeth) like unto it. (Soorah at-Tur:34)

And when the Prophet spoke (Hadeeth) secretly to one of his wives. (Soorah at-Tahrim:3)

In the Shariah terminology, it refers to all that is transmitted from the Prophet, his deeds, his sayings, whatever he approved. According to the Muhadditheen (scholars of hadeeth), it is synonymous with the term Sunnah.


Myth #1 Ahadeeth were written 200 years after the Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)

This misconception is based on the hadeeth mentioned in Saheeh Muslim (Second authenthic Hadeeth collection):
It was narrated from Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Do not write anything from me; whoever has written anything from me other than the Qur’an, let him erase it and narrate from me, for there is nothing wrong with that. (Narrated by Muslim, al-Zuhd wa’l-Raqa’iq, 5326)

Those who use this hadeeth and argue that no ahadeeth were written are ignorant of the historical temporary prohibition of this statement. The temporary prohibition was meant as a precautionary step to ensure the correctness of the word of Allah as distinguished from the words of the Prophet himself, as both came from the lips of the Prophet. This is one view and several other views are mentioned in the commentary on Saheeh Muslim by Imam Al-Nawawi (May Allah have mercy on him)


Al-Nawawi said in his commentary on Saheeh Muslim:
Al-Qadi said: there were many disputes among the Sahabah and Tabi’een concerning the writing down of knowledge. Many of them regarded this as being makrooh, but most of them regarded it as permissible. This dispute is no longer an issue.

They differed as to the meaning of this hadeeth which says that it is forbidden. It was said that this pertained to one who was sure of his memory, and there was the fear that he may rely upon what he had written if he wrote it down; the ahadeeth which say that it is permissible to write things down is to be interpreted as referring to the one whose memory is not reliable, such as the hadeeth, “Write it down for Abu Shah”; or the hadeeth of the saheefah of ‘Alee (may Allah be pleased with him); the hadeeth of the book of ‘Amr ibn Hazm, which contains laws on inheritance, sunnahs and diyat (blood money); the hadeeth about writing down charity, and the minimum amounts at which zakah becomes obligatory (nisab), with which Abu Bakr sent Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) to Bahrain; the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah which says that Ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas used to ; write things down but he (Abu Hurayrah) did not write things down, and other ahadeeth. And it was said that the hadeeth forbidding writing down ahadeeth was abrogated by these ahadeeth.

The prohibition was in effect when there was the fear that (the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) might be mixed with the Qur’an. When that danger was no longer present, permission was given to write down (ahadeeth). And it was said that the prohibition mentioned in the hadeeth referred to writing ahadeeth on the same page as Qur’an, lest they become mixed and thus the reader would be confused when looking at this page. And Allah knows best.

The hadeeth of Abu Shah was narrated by al-Bukhari from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:
‘When Allah granted His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) victory over Makkah, he stood before the people and praised and glorified Allah, then he said: “Allah protected Makkah from the elephant and has given authority to His Messenger and the believers over it, so fighting was forbidden for anyone before me, and was made permissible for me for part of a day, and it will not be permissible for anyone after me. Its game should not be chased, its thorny bushes should not be uprooted, and picking up its fallen things is not allowed except for one who makes public announcement for it, and he whose relative is murdered has the option either to accept a compensation for it or to retaliate.” Al-‘Abbas said, “Except Al-Idhkhir (a kind of plant), for we use it in our graves and houses.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Except Al-Idhkhir.” Abu Shah, a Yemeni, stood up and said, “O Messenger of Allah! Get it written for me.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Write it for Abu Shah.” (al-Luqatah, 2254)

Ibn Hajar said: What may be understood from the story of Abu Shah (“Write it for Abu Shah”) is that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) gave permission for hadeeth to be written down from him.

This contradicts the hadeeth of Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri, which says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘Do not write down anything from me except the Qur’an.’ (Narrated by Muslim).

The two may be reconciled by noting that the prohibition applied only to the time when the Qur’an was being revealed, lest it be confused with something else, and that permission was given at other times; or that the prohibition applied only to writing down things other than Qur’an with the Qur’an on one thing, and that permission was given to write them separately; of that the prohibition came first and the permission abrogated that, when there was no longer any fear of confusion. This is most likely to be the case.

It was said that the prohibition applied only to those whom it was feared would depend on the writing and not memorize things, and that permission was given for those from whom such a thing was not feared.

The scholars said: a group of the Sahabah and Tabi’een regarded it as makrooh to write down the hadeeth and they regarded it as mustahabb to learn it from them by heart, as they had learned it. But when people were no longer able to strive so hard (in memorizing) and the scholars feared that knowledge might be lost, they compiled it in books.”
There are countless instructions from the Prophet instructing his companions to write down some ahadeeth.

One of the Ansar (The Helpers) asked the Prophet if there was another way to preserve ahadeeth as he sometimes forgets them. The Prophet replied:
Seek help from your right hand, and pointed out to a writing. (Tirmidhi)

Rafi ibn Khadij (May Allah be pleased with him) said:
I said to the Prophet that we hear from you many things, should we write them down?” He replied: You may write. There is no harm. (Tadreeb ar Rawi)

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet said:
Preserve knowledge by writing. (At-Tabari Jami ul Bayan)

Abu Rafi (may Allah be pleased with him) sought permission from the Prophet to write ahadeeth and the Prophet granted him that permission (Tirmidhi)

Salma (student of Ibn Abbas) says:
I saw some small wooden boards with Abdullah Ibn Abbas. He was writing on them some reports of the acts of the Prophet which he acquired from Abu Rafi’. (Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d)

Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-Aas (May Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet said to him:
Preserve Knowledge

Abdullah then asked,
how should it be preserved?

The Prophet replied,
by writing it.
(Mustadrik Hakim; Jami ul Bayan)

In another report, he says,
I came to the Prophet and told him, I want to narrate your ahadeeth. So, I want to take assistance of my handwriting besides my heart. Do you deem it fit for me?’

The Prophet replied,
If it is my hadeeth you may seek help from your hand besides your heart. (Darimi)

He also says:
I used to write whatever I heard from the Prophet and wanted to learn it by heart. Some people of the Quraysh dissuaded me and said,
Do you write everything you hear from the Prophet, while he is a human being and sometimes he may be in anger as any other human beings may be? (Abu Dawood)

After Abdullah ibn Amr conveyed their opinion to the Prophet, the Prophet replied by pointing to his lips and said:
I swear by the One in whose hands is the soul of Muhammad: nothing comes out from these two (lips) except truth(haqq). So, do write. (Abu Dawood; Tabaqat ibn Sa’d; Mustadrik ul Hakim)


These narrations attest that ahadeeth were written during the era of the Prophet.

I will list here the prominent compilations written in the first and second century, some written by the sahabas (the Prophet’s companions), their students (tabi’een), and the students of the tabi’een (taba'at-tabi'een).


Some of the compilations during the era of the Prophet:

The Scripts of Abu Hurairah

Hasan ibn Amr reports that once:
Abu Hurairah took him to his home and showed him “many books” containing the ahadeeth of the Prophet. (Jami’ Bayan-ul-‘Ilm; Fath-ul-Bari)

The Script of Abdullahi ibn Amr

Mujahid, his student, said
I went to Abdullah ibn Amr and took in hand a script placed beneath his cushion. He stopped me. I said, You never save anything from me. He replied:

This is the Sadiqah (the Script of Truth). It is what I heard from the Prophet. No other narrator intervenes between him and myself. If this script, the Book of Allah, and wahaz (his agricultural land) are secured for me, I would never care about the rest of the world. (Jami’ Bayan-ul-‘Ilm)

The Script of Anas

Sa’eed ibn Hilal, one of his students, says:
When we insisted upon Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) he would bring to us some notebooks and say, These are what I have heard and written from the Prophet, after which I have presented them to the Prophet for confirmation. (Mustadrik Hakim)

The Script of Alee

Alee said:
I have not written anything from the Prophet except the Qur’an and what is contained in this script. (Saheeh Bukharee- Book of Jihad)

Ibn Sa'd reports that Alee stood in the mosque and delivered a lecture then he asked the people:
Who will purchase ‘knowledge’ for one dirham only?

meaning, who wants to learn ahadeeth should buy writing paper for one dirham and come to him for dictation.

It is reported that Harith al-A’war bought some paper and came to him:
So, Alee wrote for him a lot of knowledge. (Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d)

Scripts of Jabir

Qatadah, one of Jabir’s students, says,
I remember the script of Jabir more than I remember Surah al-Baqarah (Qur’an). (Tahdheeb at-Tahdheeb)

Scripts of Ibn Abbas

Musa ibn Uqbah says:
Kuraib left with us a camel load of Ibn Abbas’s books. When Alee ibn Abdullah ibn Abbas would need any book from them, he wrote to Kuraib, ‘Send to me such and such books.’ He would then transcribe the book and send to him one of the two copies. (Tabaqat Ibn Sa’d)

The pupils of Ibn Abbas would copy these scripts and read them over to him to confirm the correctness of the copies. (Tirmidhi)

Sometimes Ibn Abbas would narrate the ahadeeth to his pupils while they would record them. (Darimi)

The compilations of the First Century:

1. Book of Khalid ibn Ma’dan (d. 104)
2. Books of Abu Qilabah (d. 104). He bequeathed his books to his pupil, Ayyub Saktiyan (68-131 A.H.), who paid more than ten dirhams as a fare for them being loaded on a camel.
3. The script of Hammam ibn Munabbih,
4. Books of Hasan al-Basri (21-110 A.H.)
5. Books of Muhammad al-Baqir (56-114 A.H.)
6. Books of Makhul from Syria
7. Book of Hakam ibn ‘Utaibah
8. Book of Bukair ibn Abdullah ibn al-Ashajj (d. 117)
9. Book of Qais ibn Sa’d (d. 117). This book later belonged to Hammad ibn Salamah.
10. Book of Sulaiman al-Yashkuri
11. Al-Abwab of Sha’bi,
12. Books of Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri
13. Book of Abul-Aliyah
14. Book of Sa’id ibn Jubair (d. 95)
15. Books of Umar ibn ‘Abdul Aziz (61-101 A.H.)
16. Books of Mujahid ibn Jabr (d. 103)
17. Book of Raja ibn Hywah (d. 112)
18. Book of Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Amr ibn Haq
19. Book of Bashir ibn Nahik.

The compilations of the second century (note that only the prominent ones are listed due length) :

1. Book of Abdul Malik ibn Juraij (d. 150)
2. Muwatta of Malik ibn Anas (93-179)
3. Muwatta of Ibn Abi Zi’b (80-158)
4. Maghazi of Muhammad ibn Ishaq (d. 151)
5. Musnad of Rabi’ ibn Sabih (d. 160)
6. Book of Sa’id ibn Abi ‘Arubah (d. 156)
7. Book of Hammad ibn Salmah (d. 167)
8. Jami’ Sufyan ath-Thauri (97-161)
9. Jami’ Ma’mar ibn Rashid (95-153)
10. Book of ‘Abdur-Rahman al-Awza’I (88-157)
11. Kitab az-Zuhd by Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (118-181)
12. Book of Hushaim ibn Bashir (104-183)
13. Book of Jarir ibn ‘Abdul-Hamid (110-188)
14. Book of Abdullah ibn Wahb (125-197)
15. Book of Yahya ibn Abi Kathîr (d. 129)
16. Book of Muhammad ibn Suqah (d. 135)
17. Tafsîr of Zaid ibn Aslam (d. 136)
18. Book of Musa ibn ‘Uqbah (d. 141)
19. Book of Ash’ath ibn ‘Abdul-Malik (d. 142)
20. Book of Aqil ibn Khalid (d. 142)
21. Book of Yahya ibn Sa’id Ansari (d. 143)
22. Book of Awf ibn Abi Jamilah (d. 146)
23. Books of Jafar ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (d. 148)
24. Books of Yunus ibn Yazid (d. 152)
25. Book of ‘Abdur-Rahman al-Mas’udi (d. 160)
26. Books of Zaidah ibn Qudamah (d. 161)
27. Books of Ibrahim al-Tahman (d. 163)
28. Books of Abu Hamzah al-Sukri (d. 167)
29. Al-Gharaib by Shu’bah ibn al-Hajjaj (d. 160)
30. Books of Abdul-Aziz ibn ‘Abdullah al-Majishun (d. 164)
31. Books of Abdullah ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Abi Uwais (d. 169)
32. Books of Sulaiman ibn Bilal (d. 172)
33. Books of Abdullah ibn Lahi’ah (d. 147)
34. Jami’ Sufyan ibn ‘Uyainah (d. 198)
35. Kitab-ul-AAthar by Imam Abu Haneefah (d. 150)
36. Maghazi of Mu’tamir ibn Sulaiman (d. 187)
37. Musannaf of Waki’ ibn Jarrah (d. 196)
38. Musannaf of Abdur-Razzaq ibn Hammam (136-221)
39. Musnad of Zaid ibn Alee (76-122)
40. Books of Imam Shafi’i (150-204)

The following are available today in printed form:
1. Al-Muwatta by Imam Malik.
2. Kitab-ul-AAthar by Imam Abu Haneefah.
3. Musannaf by ‘Abdur-Razzaq. This book has been published in eleven big volumes.
4. As-Seerah by Muhammad ibn Ishaq.
5. Kitab az-Zuhd by ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak.
6. Kitab az-Zuhd by Waki’ ibn Jarrah (3 volumes).
7. Al-Musnad by Zaid ibn Alee (76-122).
8. Sunan of Imam Shafi’i.
9. Musnad of Shafi’i.
10. Siyar of Awza’i (88-157).
11. Musnad of ‘Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak.
12. Musnad of Abu Dawood Tayalisi (d. 204).
13. Ar-Radd ‘ala Siyaril-Awza’i by Imam Abu Yoosuf.
14. Al-Hujjah ‘ala Ahlil-Madeenah by Imam Muhammad ibn Hasan Shaibani.
15. Kitabul-Umm by Imam Shafi’i.
16. Al-Maghazi by Waqidi (130-206) (4 volumes).



Myth #2 Al-Hikmah is an attribute of the Glorious Qur’an

The Quraniyyah (Quran-alone group) argue that Al-Hikmah mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an refers to the Glorious Qur’an instead of the Sunnah. They claim that it means mere 'Wisdom' and leave it at that.

In the linguistic sense, The term hikmah means 'wisdom', 'aphorism', 'maxim', or 'gnome'. it is derived from the root h-k-m (hakama) which means 'to rule or issue a judgement' and thus in the Shariah terminology, it refers to the Sunnah depending on the context.

The definition is eloquently explained by Imam Shaf’ee (may Allah have mercy on him) who comments on the ayat regarding the Kitab (Qur’an) and the Hikmah (Sunnah):
Allah (Exalted is He) mentioned the Kitab, and that is the Qur'an; He also mentioned Hikmah. I have heard those whose opinion I trust among the people of knowledge of the Qur'an say that Hikmah means the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). This supports what Allah (Exalted is He) said - and Allah knows best - because the Qur'an is a reminder (dhikr) and hikmah follows it, and Allah mentioned that He lavished favour on His creatures by teaching them the Kitab and Hikmah. It is therefore impermissible - and Allah knows best - to say that Hikmah here is anything other than the Sunnah of Allah's Messenger (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). That is because it is coupled (maqruna) with the Kitab, and that Allah has made obedience to His Prophet a strict obligation, imposing upon people the absolute duty to follow his commands. Thus it is not permissible to say about anything that it is a strict obligation (fard) except about Allah's Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) due to what we just said, namely, that Allah has coupled belief in His Messenger with belief in Him. (al-Risala (p. 78))

Allah (Exalted is He) mentions the Hikmah in several ayat:
Allah has surely blessed the believers with His favor when He raised in their midst a Messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His verses and makes them pure and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom, while they were, earlier in open error. (Soorah Al-Baqara:164)

He (Allah) is the One who raised up, among the unlettered, a Messenger from among themselves who recites the verses of Allah, and makes them pure, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom. (Soorah al-Joomooa:2)

Here Hikmah is followed straight after the mentioning of Kitab (Book). According to the Quraniyyah, it should read as:
He (Allah) is the One who raised up, among the unlettered, a Messenger from among themselves who recites the verses of Allah, and makes them pure, and teaches them the Book (Qur'an) and the Wisdom (Qur'an) (Soorah al-Joomooa:2)

This is grammatically incorrect since according to the Qur'anic principle of mooghayara (differentiation), coupled words do not mean the same thing and indeed the Glorious Qur’an is far above such mistakes.

Allah (Exalted is He) says:
Do they not then consider the Qur'an carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much contradiction. (Soorah An Nisa: 82)



Myth #3 The Glorious Qur’an does not need any explanation; it is complete.

The Quraniyyah group often introduce this claim to establish that the Glorious Qur’an does not need any expounding based on a couple of ayat. They seemingly twist the tafseer of these ayat and introduce their distorted interpretation.

The revelation (wahy) is one, meaning that they come from same source, but are distinguished between the unrecited wahy (ghayr matluww) which is the Sunnah and the recited wahy (wahy matluww) which is the Glorious Qur’an.

Allah (Exalted is He) says:
He does not speak from his desires, Verily it is inspiration (unrecited revelation) which has been revealed. (Soorah an-Najm:3-4)

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) mentions in his treatise:
And the Sunnah with us are the athar (narrations) of the Messenger of Allah (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the Sunnah explains and clarifies the Qur’an. It is the guide to the Qur’an [containing evidences and indications as to its meanings and correct interpretations.]

Hassan ibn Atiyyah said,
Jibreel used to descend upon the Messenger of Allah with the Sunnah just as he used to descend with the Qur’an.
Reported in Ash-Sharh wal-Ibanah of Ibn Battah, p. and Majmoo’ul-Fatawa of Shaikhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, 3/366.

Ibn Katheer said,
The Sunnah is decisive over the Book of Allah.
Reported in ad-Darimee, 1/144 and Ash-Sharh wal-lbanah of Ibn Battah

Al-Suyuti says that
if one seeks the Quran, he shall seek 'sunnah' because it is the commentary of the Quran and its explanation

Darimi says
that the sunnah is a Judge upon the Qur'an and not the Qur'an upon Sunnah. (Musnad Darimi)


Imam Ghazzali says:
Allah does not have two words, one in the Quranic style which we are bidden to recite publicly, and called the Qur'an, while the other word is not Qur'an. Allah has but one word which differs only in the mode of its expression. On occasions Allah indicates His word by the Qur'an; on others, by words in another style, not publicly recited (Sunnah), and called it the Sunnah. Both are mediated by the Prophet. (Mustasfa 1.125)


Ibn Khaldun explains:
The basis of all the traditional sciences is the legal material of the Qur'an and the sunnah of the Prophet, which is the Shariah given us by Allah and His Messenger, as well as the sciences connected with that material, by means of which we are enabled to use it. This, further, requires as auxiliary sciences the sciences of the Arabic language [that is, grammar, rhetoric, lexicography, etc.]. Arabic is the language of Islam and the Qur'an was revealed in it.

The different kinds of traditional sciences are numerous, because it is the duty of the responsible Muslim to know the legal obligations Allah placed upon him and upon his fellow men. The are derived from the Qur'an and the sunnah of the Prophet, either from the text itself or through general consensus, or a combination of the two. Thus he must first study the explicit wordingof the Quran. This is the science of Qur'an interpretation. Then he must study the Quran, both with reference to the manner in which it has been transmitted and related on the authority of the Prophet who brought it from Allah, and with reference to the differences in the readings of the Quran readers. This is the science of Quranic "reading."
Muqaddimah

Without the unrecited wahy (sunnah), some of the provisions of the Shariah would have been left untouched or subjected to everyone’s opinion irrespective of their knowledge. To name an example: the command to establish the second pillar which is the salah.

Allah (Exalted is He) has ordered more than 73 times to observe it and yet the explanation is nowhere mentioned in the Glorious Qur’an. Hence, through the sunnah of the Prophet, we learn the exact way of observing the salah.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) summed up the different aspects of explanations:
The explanation of the Qur'an has four aspects to it. The first aspect comprises what is known by the Arabs by virtue of their language. When it is recited to the Arabs, they understand it. Then there are the explanations that no one is excused for not knowing. This includes the explanation of the verses related to Islamic legal injunctions and beliefs that people need to know. Then there are the explanations that are known only to scholars. These are subtle meanings that most people do not grasp. Then there are matters whose explanation is known only to Allah. These are the four aspects of the explanation of the Qur’an
Tafseer at-Tabaree

Thus, the Sunnah is an exposition of the Glorious Qur'an by which its generalities are clarified and its intended meaning specified.



Myth #4 The ahadeeth is not protected.

Another popular belief among the Quraniyyah and the ignorant Muslims is the myth that the ahadeeth are not protected.

They cite the ayah in Soorah al-Hijr as proof. A clear examination of the ayah proves that Allah (Exalted is He) has promised to protect His religion which includes the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The ayah is:
Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).(Soorah al-Hijr:9)

Al-Dhikr mentioned in the ayah has numerous meanings in the Glorious Qur’an, it is sometimes for the Glorious Qur'an as in
And this is a blessed Reminder (al-dhikr), which We have sent down: will you then (dare to) deny it? (Soorah al-Anbiyah:50)

And sometimes it is used for Sunnah, as in,
With clear signs and Books (We sent the Messengers). And We have also sent down unto you the Dhikr, that you may tubayyina (explain clearly) to men what is sent down to them, and that they may give thought. (Soorah An-Nahl:44)

Ibn Hazm (May Allah have mercy on him) said in his book ‘al-Ihkam that
al-dhikr is a name that comprises all that Allah revealed to His Prophet (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) be it the Qur'an or the Sunnah. The Sunnah is also a revelation that explains the Qur'an


Myth #5 Some authentic ahadeeth contradict the Glorious Qur’an

Many Quraniyyah shift through the two saheeh volumes and assert that some ahadeeth contradict the Glorious Qur’an. This reveals their lack of acquaintance with the ahadeeth sciences (Usool al-Hadeeth). They do not question that their interpretation might be erroneous and instead of looking at the commentaries of these ahadeeth, they brush them as ‘contradictory’ and thus ‘false’.

There are some apparent contradictions between narrations but that is because the sahabas narrated according to their own understanding of things that they have witnessed. A good example is the ahadeeth regarding Hajj (Pilgrimage). One of the narrators reported that the Prophet made an ifrad hajj because he heard the Prophet saying "I have presented myself in Your service to perform the Hajj". Others have narrated that the Prophet performed a qiran hajj. At the first glance, it seems contradictory since the qiran hajj is very different from the ifrad hajj, but in fact there are no contradictions between the narrations, since it is permissible for one performing qiran hajj to also say "I have presented myself in Your service to perform the Hajj"

Such apparant contradictions can cause confusions and hence why Allah (Exalted is He) said in the Glorious Qur'an to refer to ahl-quran and the ahl-ahadeeth (ahl al-dhikr):
then ask those who possess the Message (Ahl al-Dhikr) if you do not know. (Soorah Al-Anbiya:7)

The general public cannot identify whether the hadeeth is said in a general context or particular matter, or that it is absolute or restricted or that it is abrogating is abrogated. Only the scholars (May Allah have mercy on them) know these matters and can distinguish which is which, contrary to the ignorant Muslims who spend all their time declaring ahadeeth that opposess their intellect as contradictory.



Conclusion

Even though I have not covered the major aspects of the Sunnah, some of the misconceptions addressed are often repeated by many Muslims who are deceived by the Quraniyyah websites.

One of the main reason that many Muslims reject the second source is because it conveys the huddud punishments such as stoning and flogging so they reject to suit the desires of their masters (the enemies of Islam).

They are ashamed that they might be called 'backwards' by their peers so they try to misinterpret the Glorious Qur'an and the Sunnah.

Allah (Exalted is He) addresses this:
Indeed, We have brought the Truth to you but most of them have a hatred for the Truth (al-Zukhruf:78)

And remember the words of the Prophet:
Fa-tooba lil-ghuraba (tooba is for the Strangers)

Praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds

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Recommended reading: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/