The ‘trilogy’ of Islam comprises of Quran (revelations from Allah), Sahih Hadith (authentic sayings and doings of Muhammad) and Sirat (biography of Muhammad). The ideology, teachings, laws, rituals and practices of Islam have come from these three sources only. The earliest biography of Muhammad available was written by Ibn Hisham in mid-ninth century. Though pieces of different manuscripts of supposed Quran, without attributing to Muhammad, were available from late 7th century, its first compilation from multiple sources was done not before mid ninth century.
The major events of Muhammad’s life, as per Sirat includes: birth in Mecca (570 AD), receiving first revelation from Allah (610 AD) in a small cave of Mecca, nocturnal journey to heaven and back on a winged horse (621 AD), migration to Medina (622 AD) with about one hundred followers and death in Medina (632 AD) supposedly by poisoning. Quran may be the revelation from Allah, but Islam is mostly dependent not on Quran but on Sahih Hadith and this is Islam’s Achilles Heel.
Sahih Hadith (like Sirat and Quran) were later writings containing the teachings, sayings, traditions and practices of Prophet Muhammad, passed on orally through generations. Out of six such compilations, first two were compiled by Muḥammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (810 AD to 870 AD) of Bukhara in the then Persia (present day Uzbekistan) and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (822 AD to 875 AD) of Nishapur of present day Iran. These two Sahih Hadith are specially regarded as most authentic and called Sahihayn.
Though Islam in its origin was Arab, but these two compilers of Sahih Hadith, mentioned above,were located in the then Persia. Arabs conquered Persia by 656 AD. And after about two hundred years, these two scholars, far away from Mecca and Medina, crystallized Islam in form of Sahih Hadith by compiling the largest part of its practices, rituals, dos and don’ts, as well as, the foundations of Islamic laws, called Sharia.
The history of Islam in respect of Muhammad, Mecca, Medina, Quran, Sahih Hadith and Sirat, we know today, is called the ‘Standard Islamic Narrative’ (SIN). The whole SIN was developed during ninth and tenth centuries under Abbasid Caliphate. By late tenth century all the ideologies, beliefs, laws and practices under Islam were codified through Quran (14%), Sahih Hadith (60%) and Sirat (26%). Thus Sahih Hadith became the major source and reference point of Islam, including its five pillars (Shahada, Namaz, Roza, Zakat and Hajj), circumcision, as well as, celebration of two annual Eids. There is no record from Muhammad’s time that Muhammad was circumcised and he observed the five pillars of Islam and celebrated two annual Eids as we find today.
Muḥammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari collected a total of 300,000 Hadith. After thorough scrutiny for authenticity, he accepted only 2602 Hadith (0.867 percent) as Sahih (reliable). However, his compilation, with repetition, contains 7563 to 9082 Sahih Hadith. Accepting less than one percent of collected Hadith as Sahih hardly made those authentic. Those Hadith were not hymns (like Vedas) passed from generation to generation orally. Those were descriptive contents. Moreover, the passage of about 220 years between the claimed year of death of Muhammad and al-Bukhari’s compilation of Sahih Hadith is highly disturbing.SIN about the Sahih Hadith of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj is no different. Sahih Hadith have made Islam a religion of hearsay.
About 10 percent of the Sahih Hadiths converges with Quran. Rest 90 percent has come from outside Quran and from oral sources, attributed to Muhammad, through generations. There was no Mecca during the claimed lifetime of Muhammad. Even there is no evidence about the historical Muhammad. Islamic scholars may cry hoarse about the authenticity of Sahih Hadith, but in absence of clear historical evidence and records of the life and deeds of Muhammad from any 7th century Arab or non-Arab source, the veracity and sagacity of Sahih Hadith remain highly doubtful. The moment Sahih Hadith are removed, there is no Islam.
