Why Most Muslims Don’t Follow the Quran: A Brief Dissertation of the Five Pillars

Most people have heard of the Quran. Many people have read the Quran. Many people have called it evil. Many people have called it perfect. Many of the people who believe the later are called Muslims. You no doubt have heard of these people. You no doubt have heard that they’re part of a religion called Islam and they believe in the Quran. What if I told you that this religion and the Quran were actually in opposition to one another? What if I told you that the most fundamental practices of this religion are nowhere to be found in the Quran but rather, entirely extracted from external literature (I.E. Hadith)? My argument against this use of external sources is that the Quran claims to be comprehensive regarding doctrine and religious practice (See: Quran 6:38, 16:84, 16:89, 17:89, 18:54, 30:58, 39:27 and more). In other words, I would like to explain why I believe that 1.7 billion of my fellow Muslims are misinterpreting their own religion.

Why You Should Care

This seems interesting, but why should I care if I’m not Muslim? Well, the truth is that “Muslims” across the Middle-East and other parts of the world are migrating to western countries in mass, and many are already here. Europe has taken most of the wave when it comes to immigration, and to a lot of people’s discomfort, I’d like to point out that it hasn’t worked in their favor regarding crime and culture. Most people don’t know much about the “Islamic” religion and assume that it’s tenants are compatible with western society. Most “Muslims” don’t know enough about their own religion to know that a lot of the tenants are incompatible with western society. So, while most Muslims are not a threat to western society, it’s very likely that the ones from countries that value theocracy are. The reason for this is because of “sharia law”. Certainly, something you’ve heard of. You can argue that there are many interpretations of “sharia law”. but the problem is that the interpretation prominent in places like Syria or Iraq is completely incompatible with western values and it doesn’t help that a decent amount of them have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to America and the west in general.

Hadith

What is the Hadith literature? The word “hadith” can mean any saying or writing, but in the context of the Islamic religion it refers to sayings and actions ascribed to the prophet Mohammad via a prolonged chain of hearsay. These sayings can be found in various compendiums, namely the “Kutub al-Sittah” or “The Authentic Six” in English (note: Shia Muslims have a different number of hadith collections) with the most referenced one being Sahih al-Bukhari.
Practically every sect of Islam is differentiated not by different interpretations of the Quran, but rather by which Hadith literature they view as authentic. Both major sects, Sunni and Shia, contain what they view to be fundamental pillars of Islam. The five pillars alluded to by the title are assets of Sunni Islam, but my arguments should carry over to Shia Islam as well because while they are not pillars in the Shia religion, four of them are part of the ten articles of faith according to Shia Scholars. Therefore, I will analyze and critique the “Five pillars of Islam” from a Quran alone standpoint.

Argumentation and Disambiguation

Now that we’ve gotten those pesky facts out of the way it’s time for what’s really important… my opinion. Jokes aside, there are legitimate reasons why I deny the “authenticity” of the hadith literature. Like I said in the previous paragraph, the hadith are composed of hearsay. The oldest hadith manuscript collection dates to forty-eight years after the death of the prophet. (Note: this manuscript is small, fragmented, and consists of statements and narratives that are irrelevant to sectarian divides.) The second oldest dates to about one hundred and forty years after, but the clear majority of written (and primarily used) hadith date to two hundred plus years after his death. Considering that it’s self admittedly hearsay, the way I see it, traditional Muslims are telling me that I should wager my eternal soul on a two hundred yearlong game of telephone.

Pillar One: The Declaration of Faith (Shahada)

The shahada is the first pillar of Islam. It is the declaration of faith for practically all Sunni Muslims. The English translation of this declaration goes as follows: “I bear witness that there is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” While there is nothing that contradicts the Quran in the statement itself, the claims made about the religious merit of the statement are far from what one can prove via the Quran alone. The interpretation of the shahada amongst most Muslims is that once it’s recited (with legitimate intent), you are considered a Muslim. I do not consider this to be the case for two reasons. Firstly, the phrase cannot be found in its complete form in the Quran. Secondly, the nature of the first surah fills all the prerequisites that such a declaration would require (See: Quran 1:1-7), especially considering that the next verse in the following surah reads: “That is a ‘kitab’ (writing/pact) of which there is no doubt” (Q2:2) (Sahih International translation)

Pillar Two: The Daily Prayers (Salat)

Salat are the ritual prayers Muslims perform five (for Sunnis) or three (for Shias) times a day. Although it is often translated as “prayer”, the arabic root of the word means to “follow closely” or “adhere to”. A man named Sam Gerrans has made a very good article about this.
See https://www.quranite.com/salat-in-the-quran/

Pillar Three: The “Poor Rate” (Zakat)

Zakat is a form of taxation within the Islamic religion. The direct translation of the word is “that which purifies”. The most common interpretation is a 2.5% flat tax. I strongly disagree with this because there is no reference to such a tax in the Quran itself and there are clear verses that contradict the idea of a religiously mandated tax. The reason for this is that there is no taxation without the initiation of aggression, and the initiation of aggression is strictly forbidden by the Quran (See: Quran 2:190 and 22:39). While it would take you days of research to understand what exactly zakat means, it takes only minutes to find what it doesn’t. There is no mention in the Quran of a given number or specified collector for such a tax and there is no qur’anic justification for the use of force if said tax is universal.

Pillar Four: Fasting (Sawm)

Sawm means fasting and translates as such. Fasting in and of itself is found all throughout the Quran. The only contention about sawm is the time in which it is supposed to take place, that being Ramadan. The word “Ramadan” directly translates to “scorching/searing heat”. All we really know about the specific time referred to as Ramadan is that it is a hot month wherein you should fast. This assessment is close to the traditional interpretation but far from the same seeing as the traditional Muslim world has a level of stringency and mysticism surrounding Ramadan that is nowhere found in the Quran.

Pillar Five: The Pilgrimage (Hajj)

Hajj is probably the most popular Islamic practice. It is the pilgrimage to Mecca that most Muslims attempt to make during their lifetime. The city of Mecca is even referred to as the epicenter of the Muslim world. The pilgrimage is a common motif in the Quran and it’s one of the most islamic things you can do. The pilgrimage to Mecca is founded on the concept of the Masjid-al-Haram (inviolable place of worship) mentioned in the Quran. There are assumptions made in the current interpretation of al-Hajj that don’t hold water in the “Quran-alone community”. Mainly that there can only be one Masjid al-haram for all time.
Regarding the assumption that there can only be one Masjid al-haram, I’ll refer you to Surah 3:96 “Indeed, the first (arabic awwala) House [of worship] established for mankind was that at Bakkah - blessed and a guidance for the worlds.”
See http://corpus.quran.com/wordmorphology.jsp?location=3:96:2
The Quran never refers to God as the first god. The reason for this is because there are no latter gods in Islam. In the same way, it should stand to reason that there ought to be later inviolable places of worship if the one in Bakkah was the first. You might raise the argument of whether the “house” mentioned is the masjid al-haram. The rebuttal to that is that the following verse identifies this house’s origin with Abraham who is mentioned regarding Hajj as the founder (See: Quran 22:26-27).

There is also convincing evidence the original masjid al haram was not actually in mecca
See