What Has Been Related As To Why ʿAmal is Chosen As a Higher Proof of the Sunnah Than the Ḥadith

What Has Been Related As To Why ʿAmal is Chosen As a Higher Proof of the Sunnah Than the Ḥadith

In his book ‘Tartiibu-l-Mudaarik’ Qaadi ʿIyaad has devoted a chapter to what has been transmitted concerning the matter of the ʿAmal being a proof of the Sunnah even if it contradicts hadith.  The title of the chapter which we have quoted and translated in full is ‘The Chapter About What Has Come from the Salaf and the ʿUlamaa About the Necessity for Returning to the ʿAmal of the People Madinah and Its Being a Proof with Them Even If It Differs with Al-Athaar (the related Sound Hadith).’

[ Tartiibu-l-Mudaarik  by al-Qaadi ʿIyaad (Wuzaaratu-l-Awqaaf  Government of Morocco Edition – Ribat) pgs. 44-46 ]

It reads as follows:

روى أن عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله تعلى عنه قال على المنبر احرّج بالله عز و جلّ على رجل روى حديثـًا العمل على خلافه

It has been related that ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) said from the mimbar, “I forbid by Allah Exalted and Mighty is He, any man to relate a Ḥadith with which the ʿAmal differs.

قال ابن القاسم و ابن وهب رأيت العمل عند مالك اقوى من الحديث

Ibn Al-Qaasim and Ibn Wahb said: “I saw that the ʿAmal with Maalik  was stronger than the hadith.”

قال مالك  وقد كان رجال من أهل علم من التابعين يحدثّون بالاحاديث و تبلُغهم عن غيرهم فيقولون ما نجهل هذا و لكن مضى غيره

Maalik  said, “There were people among the men of knowledge from among the Tabi’uun who narrate hadiths and hear other hadiths  and so they say, ‘We are not ignorant of this, but the ʿAmal that has come down to us is different.’ ”

قال مالك رأيت محمد ابن أبي بكر بن عمرو بن حزم و كان قاضيا و أخوه عبد الله كثير الحديث رجل صدق فسمعت عبد الله إذا قضى مجمد بالقاضية قد جاء فيها الحديث مخالفا للقضاء يعاتِبُه يقول له ألم يأت في هذا حديث كذا ؟ فيقول له بلى فيقول له أخوه فما لك لا تقضي به فيقول فأين الناس عنه ؟ يعني ما اجمع عليه من العمل بالمدينة يريد أن العمل به اقوى من الحديث

Maalik  said I saw Muhammad bin Abi Bakr ʿAmr bin Hazm who was a judge and his brother who knew many Ḥadith and who was a man of truth.  I heard ʿAbdullah when Muhammad gave a judgment in the case, mention the Ḥadith which was at variance with the judgment while reproaching him saying to him, “Did this not come in such and such hadith?”  He (Muhammad) said, “Certainly!”  Then his brother (ʿAbdullah) said to him, “Why didn’t you take it into account when you passed judgment?”  Muhammad then said, Where are the people (that is to say: What is the opinion of the people of knowledge) in regards to the matter?”  What he meant is that the practice in Madinah did not agree with it.  He (also) meant by this that the ʿAmal was stronger.”

قال ابن المعذَّل سمعت إنسانًا سأل ابن الماجشون لِمَ رويتم الحديث ثم تركتموه ؟ قال ليعلم أنّا على علم تركناه

Ibn Al-Muʿadh-dhal said, “I heard a man ask Ibn Al-Maajishuun, ‘Why do all of you transmit the Ḥadith and then leave it (that is to say, not act by it)?’  He (Ibn Al-Maajishuun) said, ‘So that it is known that we were fully aware of it while we did not act by it .’ ”

قال ابن مهدي السنّة المتقدّمة من سنة أهل المدينة خير من الحديث و قال أيضًا إنّه ليكون عندي في الباب الاحاديث الكثيرة فأجد أهل العرصة على خلافه فيضعف عندي أو نحوَه

Ibn Mahdi said, “The well established Sunnah from the Sunnah of the people of Madinah is better than hadith.”  He also said, “I have many hadiths on the subject yet I have found Ahlu-l-ʿArsah (the people who teach in the masjid) at variance with them and so they (those hadith) are weak to me or close to that condition.

قال ربيعة ألف عن ألف أُحبّ إلى من واحد عن واحد لان واحد عن واحد ينتزع السنة من ايديكم

Rabiiʿah said one thousand from one thousand is preferable to one from one because one from one would snatch the Sunnah right out of your hands.

قال ابن أبي حازم كان أبو الدرداء يسأل فيجيب فقال له إنّه بلغنا كذا و كذا بخلاف ما قال فيقول و أنا قد سمعته و لكنه ادركت العمل على غير ذلك

Ibn Abii Haazim said, “Abud-Dardaa’ would be questioned and he would answer the questions.  He (the questioner) said to him, ‘Such and such has reached us’ contrary to what he (Abud-Dardaa’) had said, he would say, ‘And I have heard it (also) but I know that the ʿAmal is different.’”

قال ابن أبي الزناد كان عمر بن عبد العزيز يجمع الفقهاء و يسألهم عن السنن و الاقضية التي يعمل بها فيشبتها و ما كان منها لا يعلم به الناس القاه و ان كان مخرجه من ثقة

Ibn Abii-z-Zinaad said, “ʿUmar bin ʿAbdi-l-ʿAziiz use to gather the ʿUlamaa’ and ask them about the Sunnahs and legal judgements.   Those which were acted upon he would affirm and those which the people did not act upon he would discarded even when they came from a trustworthy source.”

قال مالك انصرف رسول الله صلّى الله عليه و سلم من غزوة كذا في نحو كذا و كذا ألفًا من الصحابة مات بالمدينة منهم نحو عشرة آلاف و باقيهم تفرق في البلدان فأيّهما احرى أن يتّبع و يؤخذ بقولهم من مات عندهم النبي صلّى الله عليه و سلّم و اصحابُه الذين ذكرت أو من مات عندهم واحد أو اثنان من اصحاب النبي صلّى الله عليه و سلّم ؟

Maalik , “The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم returned from such and such a ghazwah with so many thousand of the Sahaabah – ten thousand of whom died in Madinah while the remainder became dispersed (through out other) countries.  So which of them is more worthy of being followed and which of them is more worthy of being accepted in what they have said, those among whom the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم  and his Companions died whom I (meaning Maalik) have mentioned or those among whom (only) one or two of the Companions of the Prophet  صلى الله عليه وسلم died?”

قال عبيد الله عبد الكريم الرازي قُبِضَ رسول الله صلّى الله عليه و سلّم عن عشرين ألف عين تطرِف

ʿUbaydallah ʿAbdul Kariim ar-Raazii said, “The messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم died and twenty thousand eyes were weeping eyes.”