^^^^

Whilst the Qur'an did not demonstrate salat, there are a few key rules mentioned in the following verses; 72:18, 17:110. Verses also allude that prostration and bowing are acts of worship and so may be recommendable options to be incorporated into salat.

The physical acts do not make or mar salat, hence salat is obsevable even whilst walking or riding in emergencies. The Words of the performers and the attentiveness of their mind to God alone is what makes or mar salat.

usermane:
Arabs Observed Salat Before Muhammad, God Never Condemned their Procedure.

In Qur'an 8:35, God used the word 'salat' for the practices of the pre-Islamic Arabs whom He chastises. It's discernible that this verse doesn't condemn the salat procedure of the Arabs, it seem rather to condemn the carefree mindset of the Arabs to salat.

Muhammad could have learnt from these Arabs. Jews, Zoroastrians and Christians performed salat in Muhammad's days. Given the resemblance of traditionalist's salat with these religious communities', Muhammad could have borrowed a leaf from them.

You are getting worse everyday.. lol


The verse:


And their prayer at the House was not except whistling and handclapping. So taste the punishment for what you disbelieved.


How can you misread this clear text?. First, our current salat procedure is not "whistling and clapping" which is what they were doing. And the Ayah said at the end that they were punished for that which means thats not the proper procedure legislated. And you said Allah didn't chastise them?.

You funny. You didn't see the highlighted area?.

usermane:
Salat Without Hadith

Salat loosely translate to communication. Anyone actively, humbly and mindfully speaking to God is practically performing salat, regardless of their religion, regardless of their procedure. If the traditionalist's procedure of salat is the only acceptable one, the Qur'an would have alluded it.

Of course, going by the Qur'an alone, individual Muslims may have varying procedures of salat. So, for a congregational salat, such variation is easily addressed by mutual agreement on a specific procedure among congregants when they offer salat behind one imam.

Nonsense!

So only during congregational salat we are uniform bro, you are getting worse. Christians go separate ways due to different forms of worship they invented for themselves. What you are insinuating will not work because it is not coordinated.

I think you should listen to yourself and read in your mind before you post. The purpose of prophet was to properly coordinate obligatory acts of worship. But you are promoting disunity in this specific act of worship.

An Analysis of Qur'an 8:35

Translation

Their salat at the House is nothing but whistling and handclapping. Taste, then, this chastisement for your denying the truth.

Because the word 'salat' is used for the 'clapping & whistling' of the Arabs, it will be shallow to assume the Arabs just literally clapped and whistled in their salat.

If that were to be so, the verse would read like this; "Their activities in the House was whistling and clapping". Thus, God would not even use the word "salat" for such an activity.

Hence beyond literal whistling and clapping, there was something going on in the house, that had to do with salat.

Clapping & Whistling in the Arabs' Salat

Clapping

This is observable in the clap-like action & sound in; striking one palm over the other, over the chest, striking the palms over the knee caps, striking both palms over the floor. All evident in Standing, Bowing & Prostrating.

In traditional Islam, women are directed to directly clap(striking both palms together) during Salat; to deter someone that is speaking nearby or walking across the qibla, or to alert the Imam to an error. Such clapping may have been common among Arabs.

Whistling

The whistling may be the noises associated with the accent and pronounciation of words during the recitation. You know, the occasional 'hwee hwoo' and 'hwis' sounds that can be heard during speech. It's evident during recitation.

Plus, dependent on how the lips is moved or shaped during recitation, it may seem like whistling from view of someone watching out of hearing range.

What God condemned in this verse was not specifically the Arabs' procedure of salat, the clapping and whistling that is associated.

God is condemning the Arabs' Salat for lack of substance. And thus, he undermine their entire Salat to basically clapping and whistling.

Singing, Humming & Clapping/Whistling in Traditionalists' salat

Clapping/Whistling:
Already explained above.

Singing & Humming:
To an observer, the recitation of Imam is akin to Singing. Imam treats the Qur'an passages like lyrics, he sings them like musical Verse sang by professional singers.

After the Imam sings the Verse, a Bass, a Chorus can be heard from congregants behind the Imam; "Aaaaameeeen". This usually comes with a Humming sound. A novice listener won't even know it is "Amin".

Notice how similar this is to a Church choir, only difference is that Christians may add little music.

So, if an observer remark that Muslims' Salat is just singing and humming, does this mean Muslims just enter the mosque, singing anything and humming?

No?! Likewise, the Qur'an 8:35 is no indication that the Arabs were just clapping and whistling.

Bye To Traditionalists' Congregational Salat

Untill 2013, I was very active in Sunnite and Sufite Mosques. The more I investigated Islam, the more the traditionalist salat seem pretentious, bereft of substance.

Silent or excessively loud recitation, invoking Muhammad, singing verses and humming, all in violation of Qur'an and Reason.

I couldn't deal with it, standing behind an imam that is reciting silently? You don't even know if he is reciting or not. If he recites aloud, all you hear is a foreign language that you don't understand, that the Imam himself may not understand, that up to 70% or more of the congregation do not understand.

Salat has a puporse that transcends unity or uniformity in procedure among Muslims.

A Poor Refutation & Letting the sleeping dogs lie

Hadith #6 proved the action of Charlie Hebdo shooters conform with traditional Islam and thus exposed Muslims that shamelessly deceive the naive and gullible.

As another proof of injustice & evil espoused by 'hadith and sunnah', I cite the case of Aasia Bibi on death row in 'Islamic' Republic of Pakistan for saying, "What did Muhammad do for the world?" in a reproachful tone during a religious quarrel with a Muslim neighbor.

As typical, Empyree delve in with poor analogy, a pathetic attempt to excuse the 'Islamic' republic or portray me as bias.
Empyree ask of me to read Aafia Siddiqui.

But Aafia Siddiqui is a poor analogy with Aasia Bibi. Aafia was not charged for blasphemy or criticizing anyone or ideology. Aafia is on charge of terrorism(Innocent? That's a different story). Comparing Aafia with Aasia is like comparing apples with orange.

So, I wrote a satire pointing this out. And as evident, Empyree took the satire literal, writing that I proved his point. Beyond this, I laughed at my screen and took off for a week.

Through this episode, Empyree neither condemned the 'Islamic' republic nor the blasphemy law. And this is not necessarily a surprising thing, for it's proof of his degree of high-handedness as a person or Muslim.

usermane:
An Analysis of Qur'an 8:35

Translation


Because the word 'salat' is used for the 'clapping & whistling' of the Arabs, it will be shallow to assume the Arabs just literally clapped and whistled in their salat.

brother, you still wrong. It is like using the word "prayer" for prayers of the Hindu, Buddhist, Jews, shikh, Christian, chintos, zoroastrians etc at kaaba. It is still "prayer" just like salat mentioned in the ayah but not correct formats.


Their format was wrong



It means if you watch a video that surfaced a while back titled "strange Islam", y will see no wrong in it. To them they are practicing Islam but not as we do. Looks like there are no scholars of Islam in that region to guide them. You should watch the video. But from what you are saying, it seems to me that you are not gonna fault those people because according to you, it is "salat" regardless.

This is the video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFcQHYq5E3c&t=16s

Table of Content Now Available

A Table of content has been posted in the introductory post of the thread. This is to ease the reader in surfing through topics that span over 100 posts and 5 pages.

https://www.nairaland.com/4594366/why-quran-alone-2.0#69014448

Acknowledgement

This thread has been created to expose the evil face of hadith that is often denied or distorted to resemble contemporary secular democratic laws or policies.

Regardless of whether one agrees that hadith should be rejected as authority in Islam, any observant Muslim that that embraces Qur'anic spirit of human rights and freedom will find this thread a breath of fresh air.

I take pride in the fact that I'm the only Muslim on the section that condemns abusive and backward teachings parroted as hadith and sunnah.