NAHWU AL FIQH AL JADID: CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING JAMAL AL BANNA'S THOUGHT ABOUT HADITH NARRATED BY THE COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET

Abstract

Jamal Al-Banna, the 20^th century reformist and thinker, in his book Nahwu al-Fiqh al-Jadid, outlines ideas about new Islamic jurisprudence, especially about the collection of hadith, which he considers to be fabricated hadith because it contained the sayings or interpretations of the companions, not the sayings of the Prophet. Al-Banna offers an alternative to the hadith and sunnah, in line with the Qur'an, not according to the companions’ narration. This study utilized a qualitative research design, with data collected through library and desk research. The primary source was Al-Banna’s Nahwu al-Fiqh al-Jadid, the hadiths and the sunnah, while the secondary material comprised books and critical commentaries of religious scriptures. The study found out that Al-Banna vouches for a new Islamic jurisprudence that believes in the Qur'an but rejects the tafsir (exegesis of the Quran) because, they were a kind of deviation from the Quran. Al-Banna’s new Fiqh paid attention to the sunnah, and rejected many fabricated hadiths originating from companions’ words, not the Prophet Muhammad's words. He recommends to initiate a new perspective on the sunnah, using the Qur'an paradigm, not the hadith narrators' paradigm. There are implications of these revelations as Hadith experts criticized Al-Banna’s ideas as they thought his narration of the companions was not justified and that caused much controversy. However, Jamal Al-Banna's new version of Islamic jurisprudence has a vision and mission to advance the ummah based on the criteria of the Qur'an and Sunnah, only the words of the Prophet, both of which must be able to answer current problems and must be able to interact with contemporary dynamics.