Hadiths vs. Qur’an

Authority, Origin, and Contradictions

Believed by Muslims to be the literal, verbatim revelation from Allah to Muhammad over 23 years (610–632 CE).
The Qur’an claims to be:
- Complete (Qur’an 6:114–115, 6:38)
- Clear (Qur’an 12:1, 16:89)
- Fully preserved (Qur’an 15:9)
- The final authority (Qur’an 5:48)

It explicitly warns against following any other source in religious matters (Qur’an 6:114, 45:6).

Hadiths are oral reports of what Muhammad supposedly said or did.
Collected decades to over 200 years after his death, e.g.:
- Sahih Bukhari: compiled ~846 CE (over 200 years later).
- Sahih Muslim, Abu Dawood, etc. followed.
Classified into:
- Sahih (authentic),
- Hasan (good),
- Da’if (weak),
- Mawdu' (fabricated)

Collected by fallible men through chains of narration (isnad) — based entirely on human memory and trust.

Many Hadiths contradict the Qur’an or undermine its clarity:

Topic	Qur’an	Hadith	Contradiction
Preservation of Qur’an	Perfectly preserved (15:9)	A verse about stoning was "lost" (Sahih Muslim 2286)	Undermines divine preservation
Punishment for adultery	100 lashes (24:2)	Stoning to death (Sahih Bukhari 6830)	Completely different penalties
Inheritance law	Specific fractions listed (4:11–12)	Hadith alters shares based on personal judgment	Direct conflict
Prayer details	Only commands to pray	Hadith dictates precise motions, words, number of rakats	Qur’an never specifies
Freedom of religion	"No compulsion in religion" (2:256)	"Whoever changes his religion, kill him" (Bukhari 3017)	Direct contradiction
Women’s testimony	Equally credible in many contexts	Hadith says women are deficient in intelligence (Bukhari 304)	Sexist divergence not found in Qur’an

If the Qur’an is complete, clear, and divine, then:

Hadiths that add, change, or override Qur’anic rulings violate its authority.

The moment a Hadith overrules the Qur’an — for example, by commanding a harsher punishment — you're no longer following the Qur’an.

You're following men, not divine revelation.

A growing movement among Muslims.
Reject Hadith as unauthenticated, contradictory, and unnecessary.
Cite verses like:
- 6:114–115 – Qur’an is fully detailed.
- 45:6 – Warns against following other sayings.
- 39:23 – Qur’an is the best Hadith (ahsan al-hadith).
Believe all rituals (prayer, fasting, zakat) can be derived from the Qur’an alone, or redefined through Qur’anic values.

Criteria	Qur’an	Hadith
Source	Claimed divine	Admitted human recollection
Timeframe	Revealed 610–632 CE	Compiled 200+ years later
Preservation claim	Yes (15:9)	No such claim
Clarity	Yes (16:89, 12:1)	Contradictory, fragmented
Legal authority	Self-claimed as final (6:114)	Adds and overrides laws

If you follow the Qur’an’s own statements, then:

The Qur’an alone is the only legitimate authority in Islam.

Hadiths — even the "Sahih" — are man-made, contradictory, and fallible.

To place Hadith on par with the Qur’an is to deny the Qur’an’s claim of sufficiency and clarity.

So you must choose:

Either God’s direct revelation,
Or human recollection of the Prophet’s actions, full of contradictions, decades late, and logically incompatible with the Qur’an's own criteria.

There is no neutral middle ground.