These questionable examples mainly from the most authentic and trusted Sunni Ahadith cannon - Sahih Bukhari, are by no means intended to provide a comprehensive list.
Many Ahadith reports, irrespective of their authenticity contain wisdom, exquisite narratives and in keeping with the teachings of the Quran. However, their agreeable content does not amount to prima facie evidence, that they were actually said by the Prophet.
The following excerpts quoted are merely a selection of questionable hadith reports which do indeed pervade Islamic sources and are used not only by Muslims but also those vehemently critical and opposed to Islam. The latter often make use of these sources to undermine the message of Islam and in particular, malign the character of the Prophet.
Please check all these references with your own copies of these sources at home, bookstores, in libraries and on-line resources.
Please do discuss these reports with your religious leaders. However, please do be sincere and true with yourselves. Please assess whether the explanations given make sense, or amount to nothing more, than a desperate attempt to explain them away.
The Quran's advice is clear.
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"And do not follow that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed! the hearing and the sight and the heart - of each of these you will be questioned"
Furthermore, I urge those with an appetite to research these Ahadith reports deeper including 'matn' (text content) and 'sanad' (support) analysis to more comprehensive sources such as Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's Fath al-Bari.
Some Arabic online AHadith resources are present.
On-line Hadith source (Arabic)
Albeit, those who are proficient with Arabic will be at an advantage when scrutinising these sources from the early Arabic texts, this should not deter those relying on translations to obtain the jist of the narrative.
English translations can be found here:
Centre for Muslim-Jewish Engagement
Furthermore, there exists detailed scholarship from both Muslim (modern and classical) and Oriental scholarship corners. Areas of Hadith provenance, Hadith criticism, Islamic Jurisprudence in the early formative period and canonisation of Hadith are very well covered and scrutinised.
Please contact me directly if you would like to discuss the scope and content of this area of study.
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