Please refer back to all the examples given to refute their other misconceptions and misguidances e.g. number of rakahs to pray, how many ruku and sujud in each rakah, percentage of zakah, nisab level of zakah etc. All these examples prove that the sentence "Quran is complete" cannot be taken in a literal sense. Rather, Quran provides the guidelines, principles and hadith explains them in finer details.
The Quranites usually point to the ayats of the Quran which state that the Quran is fully detailed and clear and that there is nothing left out of the Quran. Therefore, they ask the question, "Why do we need the Hadith?"
The Quran is clear in saying that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is here to explain and teach us the Glorious Quran as we have previously. So does that mean that the Quran is wrong when it says that it is clear and explains all things? There is a fallacy in reasoning going on here. Let me give an example.
Professor X says to his students that in order to know everything for the exam they must read textbook A. The Professor says that textbook A is clear, fully detailed and enough to pass the test. However, you must do everything that textbook A commands you to do. When students read textbook A they find out that textbook A says that textbook B clarifies and explains in better detail textbook A. So what should the students do? They should read textbook B of course because text book A is CLEARLY stating that textbook B should be referred to. Textbook A clearly explains to the students that textbook B should be referred to.
Similarly the Quran, which is fully detailed and clear, clearly states that we should refer to the Prophet. How do we refer to the Prophet? Through the authentic hadith of course! The Quranites also use following ayats:
a. And We have sent down unto you (O Prophet) the book explaining (tibyanan) everything and as a guidance, and mercy, and glad tidings for those who have surrendered (to Allah) (16:89).
Here the words "explaining everything" are said to show that we need no source of guidance other than the Qur'an. . If we take "everything" literally, it is obviously impossible, since there are clearly things that the Qur'an does not explain; for example, the rules of Chinese grammar or the way to fix your computer. Thus common sense requires that we qualify "everything" as something like "everything that is relevant to religion, shariah, and morality etc". Reason further requires us to bring another element in the understanding of this ayat and that is that many statements in a text have a context both within the text as a whole and in the circumstances in which the statements were made. Now the Qur'an no doubt rises as far above its context as it is possible for a book written in a human language to do, but still it has both types of contexts. Hence the Qur'an explains everything only when its ayats are interpreted by taking into account both the context within the book as a whole as well as the context of circumstances, practices, and events that are assumed in those statements. Now this latter context is provided partly by the Hadith.
c. There is no animal in the earth nor a flying creature with two wings but they form communities like you. We have neglected nothing in the book. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered (6:38)
The words "We have neglected nothing in the book (al-kitab)" are used by the Qur'an-only people to conclude that everything is found in the Qur'an and hence there is no need for the Hadith. But in the Qur'an the book is not always the Qur'an. Sometimes it is a heavenly book where everything that happens or exists is written down. Thus a little later in the same surah it is said:
"There is not a grain (buried) in the dark depths of the earth nor anything fresh or dry but is inscribed in a manifest book" (6:59).
In other ayats we read:
"And there is no moving (i.e. living) creature on earth but sustenance thereof is dependent on Allah. He knows its habitation and its repository. All is in a manifest book (kitab)" (11:6).
"And the book (al-kitab) will be displayed and you (O man or Prophet) see the sinful in great terror because of what is in it (the book) and they will say, Woe to us, what a book is this! It leaves nothing small or great, but takes account thereof" (18:6).
But even if we take the words "We have neglected nothing in the book" to refer to the Qur'an, they would have to be understood like the words "the book explaining (tibyanan) everything" in the ayat discussed earlier, not literally. Because, we dont find some information about how to make a car or the rules of cooking soups etc in the Quran and so on. So, the word nothing cannot be taken literally.
But even if we take the words "We have neglected nothing in the book" to refer to the Qur'an, they would have to be understood like the words "the book explaining (tibyanan) everything" in the ayat discussed earlier, not literally. Because, we dont find some information about how to make a car or the rules of cooking soups etc in the Quran and so on. So, the word nothing cannot be taken literally.
d. And We have indeed coined for humanity every kind of similitude (mathal) in this Qur'an that they may reflect (39:27; see also 17:89, 18:54, 30:58).
Again, this statement should be understood in the same way as the statement that the Qur'an explains everything. Since, we dont find similtitude of everything around us in the holy Quran. So, the word "every kind" here is not to be taken literally.
Thus even the ayats most favorable to the Qur'an-only people do not support their contention, or at least do not oblige us to accept their position. But now we show that there are many passages in the Qur'an which clearly do oblige us to conclude the opposite.
To begin with, if it were just a matter of delivering a book, Allah could have used other ways to achieve this. The book could have fallen from heaven or an angel could have brought it to the people. Or, the Qur'an could have been miraculously written down on tablets of stone or tablets of gold and then carried by someone to the people (as said to be the case with the ten commandments and the Book of Mormons). The unbelievers actually raised such possibilities:
To begin with, if it were just a matter of delivering a book, Allah could have used other ways to achieve this. The book could have fallen from heaven or an angel could have brought it to the people. Or, the Qur'an could have been miraculously written down on tablets of stone or tablets of gold and then carried by someone to the people (as said to be the case with the ten commandments and the Book of Mormons). The unbelievers actually raised such possibilities:
The people of the book ask you that you cause a book to descend from heaven ... (4:153)
Had we sent down to you writing upon parchment so that they could feel it with their hands, the unbelievers would have said, This is nothing but mere magic. They say, Why has an angel not been sent down unto him? ... (6:8-9, see also17:94-95)
But Allah did not follow any such mechanical method. Instead he revealed the Qur'an through the heart of the messenger, stressing that a messenger sent to human beings has to be a human being (2:97, 26:194, 42:24). Clearly, then it was not simply a question of delivering a book but the human heart and the person of the messenger also plays an important part in the process of delivery.
There are other ayats showing that the Prophet's involvement in his work as the messenger was much deeper than that of a mere deliveryman. The Qur'an says:
There are other ayats showing that the Prophet's involvement in his work as the messenger was much deeper than that of a mere deliveryman. The Qur'an says:
Have We not opened your breast (O Prophet). And lifted from you the burden that was weighing down your back (94:1-3).
From these ayats it becomes clear that a great deal happened within the soul of the Prophet before he embarked on his mission. Simply conveying a message as a postman need not have involved such inner back-breaking struggles
