Quranist

Epistemological distinction between Hadith and Sunnah

Quranist theologians and modern reformists emphasise the epistemological gap between oral/textual reports and lived historical practices. Hadith collections, canonised over two centuries after the Prophet's death, are categorised in Islamic legal theory as āḥād (isolated, non-mass-transmitted narrations). Because these reports are subject to human error, sectarian bias, political manipulation during the Umayyad and Abbasid eras, and contextual linguistic shifts, Quranists view the entire Hadith corpus as epistemologically uncertain (ẓannī). Consequently, they argue that Hadith cannot serve as an authoritative, divine source of Islamic law (sharia) alongside the Qur'an.