The idea that hikmah is a separate revelation from the Quran was introduced by Shafi. He made one mistake. In his book/debate, he left no solid evidence to prove how he figured out the meaning. On the top of that whatever he mentioned was nothing more than appeal to unknown authority. You will find this in his quote below. Believe it or not, his explanation was contested by some sectarian scholars like Aisha Musa. But it all fell in deaf ear. Many among us who follow Quran only know that hikmah is right inside the Quran. One of us has done a detailed analysis of the word. This should clarify why hikmah is not separate revelation. His post is given below.
Argument One: `Sunna is Revelation’
It means the Qur’an and Hadith are both Divine Revelation. And any kind of division between these two is not admissible. That is why a hadith was later on crafted, according to which the Holy Messenger told his disciples that ‘I get revelations of Qur'an and Masla Ma'a’ (along with it similar and something else). This led to the concept of two kinds of Hadith: “Wahee-i-Jali” – Handwritten Revelation (Qur’an) and “Wahee-i-Khafi” – Hidden Revelation (the Hadith). The Wahee-i-Jali is also called “Wahee-i-Matlau” – Revelation-to-be-recited- and “Wahee-i-Khafi” is also called “Wahee-i-Ghair Matlau” - Revelation-not-to-be-recited. It may be known that there is no mention of these two types of revelations anywhere in the Qur’an. Actually, this idea of two revelations belonged to the Jews. The Hadith writers have borrowed it from the Jews who believed in a revelation that could be written and the other that is not written (which means it was transferred through traditions).
According to the Qur'an any revelation, which claims to originate from God, must meet basically the criteria of perfect preservation and no contradictions in any form.
‘Behold, it is We Ourselves who have bestowed from on high, step by step, this reminder (the Qur'an) and behold, it is We who shall truly guard it [from all corruption]. - (Ch.15: Ver.9)
‘Will they not, then, try to understand this Qur'an? Had it issued from any but Allah, they would surely have found in it many an inner contradiction!’ - (Ch. 4: Ver. 82)
Evidently the Hadith books lack both the above Criteria. The important question arises at this point is that, if the Qur'an and the Hadith both were revelations, why the responsibility of preserving the Hadith was not taken up either by the prophet or his immediate companions? Why so much favoritism, care, and protection of one and no care at all for the other revelation? Anyhow, the Traditionalists bring forth the following Qur'anic verses in support of their theory. We will study the verses in detail and find that their claim is false.
“Allah did confer a great favour on the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them the Ayat of Allah, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom, while before that they were in manifest error” - (Ch.3: Ver.164)
“By the Star when it goes down, your companion is neither astray nor being misled. Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him: He was taught by one Mighty in Power” - (Ch.53: Ver.1-5)
We will look at the first verse first.
The famous classical jurist, Imam Shafi'i, basically the creator of the theory of classical jurisprudence, interpreted the Arabic word hikmah (wisdom) in first verse and in similar verses as meaning `Sunna' or `Hadith.' In his major work, al-Risalah, he stated:
“God mentions His scripture, that is the Qur'an, and wisdom, and I have heard from those who are knowledgeable in the Qur'an — those whom I agree with — say that wisdom is the traditions of the Prophet. This is the same as the Word [of God Himself]; but God knows better! Because the Qur'an is mentioned followed by Wisdom; then God mentions His blessing to mankind by teaching the Qur'an and wisdom. So, it is not possible that wisdom means other things than the traditions of the Prophet...”
Imam Shafi'i's interpretation of the word hikmah as meaning the Prophet's tradition cannot but give rise to grave doubts. Was he justified in doing so? He did not produce any support from the Qur'an for such an interpretation. He merely reported the view of "experts" whom he concurred with. Who these "experts" were and what their reasons for advancing such a view Imam Shafi'i did not say. According to the laws of logic, we can question any view put forward by anybody but we cannot question certainty. In the quotation above, we notice that Imam Shafi'i jumped from a statement of the status of probability to a statement of the status of certainty without giving proper proofs to enable the probable view to achieve the status of certainty. This is unacceptable in any scientific discourse.
God Himself states in the Qur'an that it is He Who explains the Qur'an. This means that the Qur'an explains itself. Taking this clue and examining the use of the word hikmah, occurring twenty times in the Qur'an, it is obvious that hikmah is an attribute of the Qur'an. We will use the methodology of "Tasreef ul Ayah" to determine the meaning of the word "Al-Hikmah". Allah tells us: “See how We repeat the verses that they may understand.” - (Ch.6: Ver.65)
We understand that the revelations of Allah have many attributes. Allah has not just assigned "names" for His revelations - rather the "names" mentioned are actually attributes that signify different characteristics of His revelations. The word "Al-Qur'an" itself is not a name but an attribute. It means 'The Recital", or "The-Recitation", specifying the attribute of recitation of Allah's revelations. There are many attributes of Allah's revelations. For example, "Al-Zikr", meaning "The-Reminder" as Allah's revelations are supposed to REMIND us; "Al-Huda", meaning "The-Guidance" as the revelations are supposed to GUIDE us; "Al-Kitaab", meaning the "The-Book" or "Written Record" as Allah's revelations are in the form of a Book, a written record; "Al-Furqaan", meaning 'The Criterion" as Allah's revelations are supposed to be the CRITERION for us to judge between right and wrong. Similarly, "Al-Hikmah" is also an attribute of Allah's revelations as it is supposed to teach us WISDOM behind the written words in 'Al-Kitaab".
The following verses clearly explain to us that Wisdom is an attribute of the Qur'an:
“Alif Laam Ra; these are the Verses of the Book of Wisdom [Kitaab al-Hakeem]” -- (Ch.10: Ver.1)
“Alif Lam Mim; these are the Verses of the Book of Wisdom” (Ch.31: Ver.1-2)
“Ta Sin. By the Qur'an full of Wisdom” (Ch.36: Ver.1-2)
“We have made it a Qur'an in Arabic, so that you may use your Aqal. And verily it is in the Mother of The Book, in Our Presence, High, Full of Wisdom” (Ch.43: Ver.3-4)
These are of the Wisdom [al-Hikmah], which your Lord has revealed to you. Take not, with Allah, another object of Worship, lest you should be thrown into hell, blameworthy and rejected (Ch.17: Ver.39).
These above verses make it evident that Wisdom is an attribute of the Qur'an. Thus when the Qur'an is revealed to the Prophet, its Hikmah is also revealed to him by default.
Again, we look at the Qur'an and see how "Hikmah" is defined:
“This is what We rehearse [natluhu] to you of the Ayat and the Reminder of Wisdom [al-Dhikr al-Hakeem]” - (Ch.3: Ver.58)
Here the “Reminder of Wisdom” is to be recited [Natluhu]. The only thing that the Muslims recite is the Qur'an. No one ever recites Hadith. Thus the Hikmah is the Qur'an.
We now look at another evidence that al-Hikmah is something that is to be recited. We see that Allah commanded the wives of the Messenger to recite al-Hikmah:
"And bear in mind that which is recited in your houses of the Ayat of Allah AND al-Hikmah. Lo! Allah is Subtle, Aware." (Ch.33: Ver.34)
Here we notice that the wives of the Prophet were instructed to RECITE the Verses of Allah AND the Wisdom. The only thing that is RECITED is the Qur'an. However, some people say that Yutla does not necessarily mean to recite but could also mean to read from memory. They insist that in this Ayah, the Hadith of the Prophet are included and his wives are instructed to read the verses of the Qur'an as well as the Hadith of the Prophet. This claim is not only baseless but quite hollow. First of all, the Qur'an uses the words tilawa, yatlu, tatlu, etc. explicitly for RECITATION of the VERSES of the Qur'an. In addition, the reading of the Hadith for the wives would create a very comical situation. It would be interesting for the wives of the Prophet to be reciting that if a house fly falls in the drink of anyone of you, he should dip it (in the drink), for one of its wings has a disease and the other has the cure for the disease, that the Messenger poked out the eyes of some people and cut their hands and feet and put them up on the wall to die, and that Messenger urinated in the standing position, etc. We hope the proponents of Hadith see the ridiculousness of their concocted explanation.
However, some people still insist WITHOUT PROOF that Hikmah is a separate revelation from the Qur'an. Allah disposes off such claims when He tells us:
“Ha Meem. And the Book of Clarity [Kitaab al-Mubeen]. We sent it down during a blessed night: for We wish to warn. In that is made distinct EVERY affair of WISDOM” (Ch.44: Ver.1-4)
Here Allah ties the descending of the Book with all wisdom. Now, in addition to the evidence above that attests that Wisdom is an attribute of the Qur'an, there is NO evidence to suggest that Wisdom [al-Hikmah] is the Hadith of the Messenger that will be recorded after his death. Therefore, just by using the "tasreef ul Ayat' we notice two major flaws in the reasoning of the Traditionalists - one, they ignore that Hikmah is tied with the Qur'an elsewhere in the Book; and two, they fail to produce evidence where Hikmah is tied to the Hadith of the Messenger recorded by people several years after his death.
It is therefore abundantly clear that Hikmah is an attribute of the Qur'an, and is to be recited. Qur'an is not just a Kitaab or Book of Legal rulings. It also contains the Wisdom behind those rulings and laws. Thus The Book and the Wisdom means the laws and the wisdom behind those laws. This is the Miracle of Allah’s Revelations - they contain His laws as well as the Wisdom behind those laws.
When the above arguments are presented to the Traditionalists, some of them get very emotional and shout that "there is no 'WAU ATFA' in the rest of the 'Hikmah' usage and therefore that 'Hikm' is different from the one used in 3:164". They fail to see the logical implications of this stubborn and emotional argument. We will analyse some other Verses of the Qur'an in the light of this argument.
"And if they reject you, so did their predecessors to whom came their messengers with clarity AND [Wal] Scripture AND [Wal] the Book of clarity” - (Ch.35: Ver.25)
Now in this Ayah the same "wau atfa" is used for the revelation brought by the past messengers. According to the logic posed by the Traditionalists, the above Ayah would mean that the past Messengers came with THREE DISTINCT revelations - "Clarity", "Scripture", and "The Book of Clarity". According to their logic, we should not consider all three of the above to be different attributes of Allah's revelations. However, we MUST consider them THREE distinct revelations. This creates a problem - If the "Scripture", and the "Book of Clarity' are DISTINCT, where is the SCRIPTURE of those people (for even if they show us their BOOKS - written records, we cannot accept that as scripture as it MUST be DISTINCT from the BOOK).
Let us look at a few more "Wau Atfa" Ayat. In the following Ayah, Allah is talking to Jesus. He says:
“I taught you the Book [wal]AND THE [hikmah] Wisdom [wal] AND The-Law [Torah] AND The-Gospel [Injeel]” - (Ch.5: Ver.110)
So according to the logic used by the Traditionalists, Allah taught Jesus FOUR DISTINCT revelations named as "The Book", "The Wisdom", "The Torah", and "The Injeel". This would mean that The Book is DISTINCT from Torah and Injeel. Thus according to the Traditionalist’s interpretation, during that time, there were four revelations making the rounds!
We may look again at a few more Ayat:
"Even as We have sent among you a Messenger from among you who recites to you Our Ayat and purifies you and teaches you the Book AND [wal] the wisdom AND [wal] teaches you that which you did not know." (Ch.2: Ver.151)
Now, we see another "wau Atfa". Here the Messenger teaches us "The-Book" AND "The-Hikmah", AND teaches us "that which we did not know". Thus according to the logic of the Traditionalists the presence of the "wau atfa" would mean that he is teaching us THREE DISTINCT things. Now, the Traditionalists have established that "Al-Kitaab" is the Qur'an, and "Al-Hikmah" is the "Hadith and Sunna". Now in addition to this we would like to know what is this NEW KNOWLEDGE that the Messenger is teaching…mind you because of the "wau atfa" the "new knowledge" MUST be DISTINCT from "Al-Kitaab", and "Al-Hikmah". Where this NEW KNOWLEDGE would be found? It cannot be in the Qur'an, or even in the Hadith.
We are sure that anyone with a grain of reason in his mind can see the logical error committed by the Traditionalists.
Now look closer at the second verse in question:
By the Star when it goes down, your companion is neither astray nor being misled. Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him: He was taught by one Mighty in Power, Endued with Wisdom: for he appeared (in stately form); While he was in the highest part of the horizon: Then he approached and came closer, And was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer; So did (Allah) convey the inspiration to His Servant- (conveyed) what He (meant) to convey. (Ch.53: Ver.1-10)
People quote the above verse from the Qur'an without reference to the rest of the Qur'an to imply that everything that the Prophet said was Wahi from Allah. The above verses clearly describe the process of revelation to the Prophet Muhammad. They refer to especially inspired state, not to the ordinary state of the Prophet Muhammad’s human existence. What should alert Muslims is the very close resemblance of this theory to the much earlier Jewish theory of written and oral revelations. This historical testimony is self-explanatory. The theory of two revelations that the Traditionalists had propagated is Jewish in origin and had its beginning in the teaching of scholar-priest Ezra, idolized by the Jews as the son of God, and his followers.
From a linguistic point of view, we note that God says 'In Huwa ila wahe yuha' 53:4, this literally translates to ‘It is nothing but inspiration being inspired’. The word 'Huwa' is very indicative in this verse, it literally means 'it', but that is not all. The word 'it' in English does not give a gender, 'it' could refer to a masculine or a feminine equally. However, in Arabic the word 'Huwa' refers to the masculine (as opposed to the word Hiya which refers to the feminine). The word 'Huwa' here refers to the Qur'an which is masculine. What all this means is that in this verse, God is SPECIFICALLY speaking about the inspiration of the Qur'an to Muhammad. God is NOT speaking about every word uttered by Muhammad!
The Qur'an explains it very clearly that the speech of the Prophet that is by Wahi is nothing else but the Qur'an. Allah has made clear distinction between the Prophet’s ordinary human speech and the Wahi that he is reciting. We see that Allah admonishes the Prophet in the Qur'an at several places. Here are a few examples:
“Allah pardons you! Why did you give them leave until those who spoke the truth had become manifest to you and you had known the liars?” - (Ch.9: Ver.43)
In the above Ayah, the messenger of God is admonished as to why he had given permission to the Hypocrites until the truthful people were made distinct from the liars. Had everything spoken by him been a revelation from God, then the above Qur'anic revelation would not have opposed the speech of the messenger in which he had given the permission to the Hypocrites for non-participation in Jihad. This makes it clear that NOT everything that the Messenger did or said was by Wahi.
Then we further see in the Qur'an that Allah says to the Prophet:
O Nabi! Why do you forbid (yourself) that which Allah has made lawful for you; you seek to please your wives; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful? - (Ch.66: Ver.1)
Here Allah admonishes the Prophet for forbidding something for himself that Allah DID NOT forbid. This verse again establishes that the Prophet often acted on his own initiative as a human being WITHOUT the revelation of Allah. If the things he did or said was by Wahi, he would NOT be admonished by Allah in the Qur'an for saying something that Allah did not want him to say.
Now we look at the Qur'anic evidence that the REVELATION that was being sent down to the Messenger was nothing else but the Qur'an. Allah explains what is being revealed to the Prophet:
Ha Mim: A REVELATION from the Beneficent, the Merciful Allah: A BOOK, whereof the Ayat are explained in detail; - a QUR'AN in Arabic, for people who understand - (Qur'an, Ch.41: Ver.1-3).
The Messenger himself is made to confirm that the Wahi he is receiving is the Qur'an:
‘And this Qur'an has been revealed to me [uhiya ilayya ha_zal Qur'an] that with it I may warn you and whomsoever it reaches?’ (Ch.6: Ver.19)
Allah Challenges people to produce something similar to the Revelation being sent down to the Messenger. Let us read these challenges:
‘And if ye are in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto Our slave (Muhammad), then bring a Surah similar to it, and call your witnesses beside Allah if ye are truthful?’ (Ch.2: Ver.23)
Here we notice that as a challenge to WHAT ALLAH REVEALS to His slave, the people are told to bring a Surah. Here, Allah’s challenge to ‘bring a Surah similar to it’ against ‘that which We reveal unto Our slave’, establishes that What Allah is revealing to His slave is composed of Surahs, i.e. it is the Qur'an.
Then we see that the hypocrites were afraid that a Surah might be revealed to show their hypocrisy. The Prophet’s ordinary speech was always present, but the Qur'an tells us that it was a Surah that they were afraid would reveal their hypocrisy:
‘The hypocrites fear lest a Surah (chapter of the Qur'an) should be sent down to them telling them plainly of what is in their hearts. Say: Go on mocking, surely Allah will bring forth what you fear?’ - (Ch. 9: Ver. 64)
Not only the hypocrites but the believers also used to wait for SURAHS to see Allah’s commandment. If everything that the Messenger was saying was Wahi, then they did not have to wait for a Surah:
‘And those who believe say: Why has not a Surah (chapter of the Qur'an) been revealed? But when a decisive chapter is revealed and fighting is mentioned therein you see those in whose hearts is a disease look to you with the look of one fainting because of death. Woe to them then!’ (Ch.47: Ver.20)
Then Allah forbids people from asking unnecessary questions when the Qur'an is revealed.
‘O you who believe! Do not put questions about things which if declared to you may trouble you, and if you question about them when the Qur'an is being revealed, they shall be declared to you; Allah pardons this, and Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing.’ -(Ch.5: Ver.101)
The above restriction would have been meaningless if Prophet Muhammad had received other revelations besides the Qur'an. This proves that there were no other revelations besides the Qur'an.
In addition to the Qur'anic evidence, even the books of Hadith also refute this baseless claim that the Messenger was receiving other revelations besides the Qur'an:
Bukhari: Volume 4, Book 52, Number 283: Narrated Abu Juhaifa: I asked Ali, Do you have the knowledge of any Divine Inspiration besides what is in Allah's Book?" 'Ali replied, "No, by Him who splits the grain of corn and creates the soul. I don't think we have such knowledge, but we have the ability of understanding which Allah may endow a person with, so that he may understand the Qur'an, and we have what is written in this paper as well. I asked, what is written in this paper? He replied, (The regulations of) blood-money, the freeing of captives, and the judgment that no Muslim should be killed for killing an infidel.
Therefore the idea that the Sunna is also revelation has no support either from Qur'an or from Hadith books.
