An-Nu‘maan ibn Basheer said, I heard the Messenger of Allah
say,

“That which is lawful is clear and that which is prohibited is clear but between them are doubtful matters about which not many people know. So, he who avoids the doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor. But he who falls into doubtful matters falls into that which is prohibited, like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Surely, every king has a sanctuary, and surely Allah’s sanctuary on the earth is His prohibitions. Verily, in the body there is a lump of flesh which, if it is in good repair, all the body will be in good condition; and which, if it is corrupt, the whole body will be
corrupted. Truly, it is the heart.” (Agreed Upon)4

Commentary:

Muslims have been surrounded by doubtful matters in the guise of modern technology and the Twenty-first century lifestyle. People have developed the ability to make that which is unreal seem real and that which is real appear to be unreal. So-called “Democratic”, secular political concepts empower human beings to set rules of law based on their opinions, while ignoring the already ordained divine laws.

Islamic lifestyle and its Divinely based limits will never change. They were set by the Revelation and the Prophetic directives. The great challenge is to stay within these limits and remain relevant to the actual circumstances that we live in. The essence of our differences lie within ourselves. The never-ending dispute about the beginning of fasting in Ramadaan and the establishment of the first day of the following month of Shawwal is a perfect example. The real difference is not astronomical horizons or schools of Jurisprudence.
The difference is in the hearts, Ikhtilaaf-ul-Quloob. May Almighty Allah enable us to purify the essence before we dispute the external.
4 See Al Lu’Lu wal Marjaan fimaa-Tafaqah Alayhi As Shaykhaan (printed by Darul Jeel) Vol.2 pgs 153 &154
Hadeeth # 1028

CAIRO – Eighty scholars from 23 Turkish universities are working on a major project to classify and translate the Hadith (the collection of sayings of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him). “Make no mistake, we are not after modifying or revising the Hadith,” Mehmet Gormez, deputy director of the religious affairs authority Diy and supervisor of the project, told IslamOnline in a phone interview.

“What we are actually doing is re-classifying, re-categorizing the Hadith and translating it into Turkish, no more no less.”

A hadith literally means “saying,” but in the Islamic technical sense, a hadith refers to the sayings of the Prophet, the Prophet’s acts, the Prophet’s tacit approval of an action or practice, or the Prophet’s attributes, whether physical or moral.

Gormez said the three-year project has to do with a new understanding of the Sunnah and Hadith and accordingly making them more understandable to today’s Turks.

He added that Turkish scholars working on the project, which will be completed by yearend, are taking early Muslim scholars, who had already revised the Hadith, as their basic reference.

“We have compiled all hadiths and read them to reclassify them anew,” he explained.

“We have also taken into account the unauthentic ones or those attributed falsely to the Prophet because to understand the true Hadith, you really need to (understand) the unauthentic sayings.”

Muslim scholars believe Hadith is integral to the understanding of Qur’an, since they are inseparably linked to each other.

They say it is impossible to understand the Qur’an without reference to Hadith because the Qur’an is the message and the Hadith is the explanation of the message by the Messenger himself.

Western Fuss

Gormez, a British trained theologian, said the re-classified Hadith will come in multiple volumes.

“It might be five or even six volumes; we are still not decided.”

He shrugged off media suggestions that Turkey was re-writing the Hadith and creating a new Islam.

“They made too much fuss and took the project out of its real context.

“We are neither fashioning a new Islam nor dare to alter the fixtures maxims of Islam,” Gormez said emphatically.

“The Western media have read what are doing from a Christian perspective and understood it in line with their Christian and Western cultures.”

When it comes to Islam, Gormez said, the Western media is used to focusing on women’s status and jihad.

Several British newspapers on Wednesday, February 27, ran stories on the Turkish project .

The Guardian headlines the story as “Turkey strives for 21st century form of Islam.”

A day earlier the BBC reported the project under the headline “Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts.”

Gormez also refuted claims they would and edit out some hadiths, especially about women.

“No Muslim in the right mind would dare delete any hadith or tamper with the Prophet’s heritage.”

Source: IslamOnline