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Edip Yuksel vs. Ali Sina
Round I
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Someone contacted Dr. Edip
Yuksel, a prominent member of the submitters and a follower of Dr.
Rashid Khalifa to debate with me (Ali Sina).
Dr. Yuksel kindly accepted the challenge and here is our
discussion.
Dear Edip Yuksel
The invitation must have been sent to you by one of the members of FFI.
But I am glad that you agreed to this exchange.
I will start with something that needs clarification and it has to do with
your position as a “Quran only” Muslim.
You apparently deny all the Hadiths. Can you please tell us whether you
also deny the books of history such as Srat, Tabari and Al Waqidi?
If so on what you base your knowledge of Muhammad as a historic person?
How do you know about him, his life, his companions, etc?
Do you perform the rituals of obligatory prayers fasting, hajj etc? If you
do how do you know that is the way Muhammad intended. There are no
descriptions of these rituals in the Quran. All these details are in the
hadith which constitute the bases of the sunna. But you deny the
authenticity of the hadith. So where do you get the important information
that is missing in the Quran?
Finally, do you recognize the importance of some of the hadiths at least
for their historic value?
Dear Ali Sina:
A good question.
Syrat (history of prophet and his companions) were written after
hadith and civil war intellectually and emotionally contaminated the
so-called Islamic land. Though some are more critical than the
other, still they all rely on hadith and hearsay. Besides, they are
also not immune from the influence of political and religious powers
of their time.
Historically, the Quran is the most authentic book reflecting the
events. In fact, the Quran is like a journal of major events with
lost chronology. Surely, you will claim that the narrative of the
Quran is from the perspective of Muhammad and his interest. I think
and hope that we will find a way to come into a reasonable agreement
on major historical events.
I do not think that you are relying on every historical report of
the syrah books, such as Tabari or Waqidi. I will treat each
historical anecdote on ad-hoc basis and evaluate it critically with
a healthy dose of suspicion.
I think we both will agree on many issues, as long as we both try
our best to be consistent and objective on the purported stories.
| Quote: |
| If so on what you base
your knowledge of Muhammad as a historic person? How do you
know about him, his life, his companions, etc? |
I mostly rely on the narration of the Quran. If the Quran's account
contradicts the account of a particular narration I chose the
narrative of the Quran since it was written down when events were
happening. However, if you chose the narrative of a book written
five or ten centuries after the events, I expect you to provide a
good reason for that choice.
| Quote: |
| Do you perform the rituals
of obligatory prayers fasting, hajj etc? If you do how do
you know that is the way Muhammad intended. There are no
descriptions of these rituals in the Quran. All these
details are in the hadith which constitute the bases of the
Sunna. But you deny the authenticity of the hadith. So where
do you get the important information that is missing in the
Quran? |
Interesting. I hear similar questions from Sunnis and Shiites. I do
not follow any ritual that is not in the Quran. I argue that all the
details of Salaat (contact) prayer, zakat (purification of
blessings), hajj (annual conference in Mecca), and fasting in
Ramadan are given in the Quran. For instance, if you have time,
please find my article "How to Pray According to the
Quran" at my website, yuksel.org
| Quote: |
| Finally, do you recognize
the importance of some of the hadiths at least for their
historic value? |
Hadith, like every heresy, legend or story may contain some truth.
They at least reflect the spoken language of their time, the
culture, general events, mindset, economy, political and social
tension among groups and nations.
However, I will not consider Hadith as authority besides the Quran
even if I know hundred percent that it was uttered by Muhammad. I
dedicate my religion to God alone, and I reject the religion of
limited partnership that is based on Allah + Muhammad + Muhammad's
companions + early imams + mujtahids + later imams, etc.
Peace,
_________________
Edip Yuksel
www.yuksel.org
www.19.org
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