"The scholars of Hadith have differentiated between two
distinct types of Hadith which are termed as al-Hadith an-Nabawi and al-Hadith
al-Qudsi. The former being restricted to the sayings of the Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him), while the latter pertains to the sayings of the Prophet
through the medium of Divine inspiration. Al-Quds means holy or sacred. The
sayings that are termed as al-Qudsi are such that while the Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him) was relating them to his Companions (may Allah be
pleased with them), he mentioned that Allah, in effect, had communicated them
to him. However, these communications do not form part of the Qur'an.
Such reports are included within the category of al-Hadith
al-Qudsi. An example of this type of Hadith is one which had been reported by
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) in which it is mentioned that the
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that Allah said: "If My servant
likes to meet Me, I will love to meet him."
While the common factor between al-Hadith al-Qudsi and the
Qur'an is that both contain words from Allah which were revealed to the Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him), they are nevertheless distinct from each
other as pointed out hereunder:
1. The Holy Qur'an contains the verbatim words of Allah,
while al-Hadith al-Qudsi contains the message of Allah conveyed to the people
by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his own words.
2. The Holy Qur'an is inimitable and unique, but such is not
the case with al-Hadith al-Qudsi. This is so because the latter is not the
verbatim word of Allah.
3. The Holy Qur'an is recited in every prayer but al-Hadith
al-Qudsi cannot be recited in any prayer."
"A Hadith Qudsi (plural Ahadith Qudsiyyah) is a
statement where Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) reports a
statement and he refers it directly to Allah. The regular Hadith or what is
generally known as a Hadith Nabawi is a Hadith where one of the Companions
reports the Prophet's statements, his deeds, or things that happened in his
presence and he approved of them. There are more than one hundred Ahadith
Qudsiyah. They are very beautiful and deal mostly with spiritual and ethical subjects.
Sometimes, people ask questions about the difference between
the Qur'an and the Hadith Qudsi. They say that the Qur'an is the world of Allah
and Hadith Qudsi also refers to Allah's words, then how do they differ? The
scholars of Hadith have mentioned five main differences between the Qur'an and
the Hadith Qudsi:
1. The Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him) verbatim, i.e. its words and meanings are both from
Allah. The Hadith Qudsi was not a verbatim revelation, its words are from the
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
2. The Qur'an was revealed via Angel Jibreel while Hadith
Qudsi may have been inspired by other ways, such as in the form of a dream.
3. The words of the Qur'an are miraculous or inimitable (mu'jizah)
while the words of the Hadith Qudsi are not of this nature.
4. The Qur'an is recited in formal prayers (salah) but the
Hadith Qudsi cannot be recited in prayers.
5. One is not allowed to touch the Qur'an in the state of
Janabah (post-sexual impurity), while there is no such prohibition for touching
the books of Hadith Qudsi."
Taken from, Ibrahim Izzuddin and Denis Johnson-Davies, Forty
Hadith Qudsi, Beirut, Damascus, 1980.
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