Quranism

Differences with mainstream Islam

Quranists believe that the Qur'an is the sole source of religious law and guidance in Islam, rejecting the authority of external sources such as the Hadiths. They argue that the vast majority of Hadith literature is forged and maintain that the Qur'an itself criticises such narrations in both a technical and general sense:^{[37][38][39][40]}

"And whose hadith is more truthful than God's?" — 4:87

"Then in what hadith after it [the Quran] will they believe?" — 77:50

"God has sent down the best hadith: a consistent Book wherein is reiteration..." — 39:23

"And of the people is he who buys idle/baseless hadith to mislead [others] from the way of God without knowledge..." — 31:6

"These are the verses of God which We recite to you in truth. Then in what hadith after God and His verses will they believe?" — 45:6

Furthermore, Quranists contend that Sunni and Shia theologians have distorted the meaning of key scriptural passages to support sectarian agendas,^[41] particularly regarding verses on women's rights and warfare.^[42][43] They argue that both major sects have altered the central authority of scripture by promoting external dual sources of guidance—such as the Sunni reliance on the Quran and Sunnah, and the Shia reliance on the Quran and Ahl al-Bayt (the People of the House) as codified in traditional narrations like Hadith al-Thaqalayn.^[44] As a result of these foundational theological divergences, distinct differences exist between traditional Islamic and Quranist religious practices.

For instance, several extra-Quranic traditions upheld in traditional Sunni practice—such as venerating the Black Stone, the ritual Stoning of the Devil, and reciting the Tashahhud during Ṣalāh—are regarded by Quranists as forms of idolatry (shirk) or potential corruption of pure monotheism.^[45][46]

Epistemological distinction between Hadith and Sunnah

Quranist theologians and modern reformists emphasize the epistemological gap between oral/textual reports and lived historical practices. Hadith collections, compiled over two centuries after the Prophet's death, are categorized in Islamic legal theory as āḥād^[b] (isolated, non-mass-transmitted narrations).^[48] 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.^[49]

Conversely, Quranists contend that the original Sunnah was never intended to be an anecdotal, legalistic catalog of spoken dictations or administrative rulings. Instead, it is understood as an overarching, lived ethical paradigm and a set of practical monotheistic rituals inherited and institutionalized by Muhammad.^[47] In this view, obedience to the Prophet (āṭīʿū ar-Rasūl)^[c] means adhering to the divine message he delivered—the Qur'an—and following the overarching monotheistic model he practiced, rather than subscribing to second-hand historical compilations.^[50]

Al-Sunnah al-ʿAmaliyyah (practical tradition)

A major intellectual stream within Quranism distinguishes between written Hadith literature and al-Sunnah al-ʿAmaliyyah (the practical or continuous Sunnah). Proponents of this methodology hold that essential Islamic practices were transmitted not through written chains of narrators (isnad), but through perpetual, generational mass practice (tawātur ʿamalī)^[d] passed down through entire communities.^[47]

Under this framework, core devotional and communal practices—such as the structural units and physical forms of daily prayers (ṣalāh), the procedural steps of pilgrimage (ḥajj), the public calls to prayer (aḏān and iqāmah), funeral rites (janāzah), are preserved as inherited practical traditions (Sunnah 'Amaliyya) passed down through continuous mass transmission (tawātur) rather than Hadith-derived mandates. By contrast, ritual purification (wuḍūʾ) is derived directly from the explicit text of the Quran (Surah al-Māʾidah, 5:6). Quranist scholars cite several core arguments to support this position:

• Absence of systematic manuals in Hadith literature: Canonical Hadith collections contain fragmented, highly specific, and occasionally conflicting reports regarding minor ritual details (such as hand placement or minor supplications), but lack comprehensive, end-to-end instructions for executing a complete ṣalāh or ḥajj. Quranists argue that this demonstrates that early Muslims relied on living, mass-transmitted community practice rather than written texts to perform their daily worship.^[47][49]
• Pre-existing Abrahamic practices: The Qur'an addresses rituals such as ṣalāh, zakāh (almsgiving), and ḥajj as established practices already recognized by Arab society through the historical legacy of the religion of Abraham (Millat Ibrāhīm).^[49] Quranists maintain that Muhammad purified and standardized these existing rites, which were subsequently preserved through universal, continuous adoption rather than new textual revelation.^[47]

View of Prophethood and "Obey the Messenger"

A central difference between Quranists and mainstream Sunni and Shia thought concerns the meaning of the Quranic command to "obey Allah and obey the Messenger".^[51] Traditional scholars understand this as establishing two sources of authority: the Quran and the recorded sayings and actions of Muhammad found in the Hadith literature.^[51] Quranists reject this dual-source interpretation.^[51]

Quranist writers argue that the Quran itself limits the Messenger's role to the clear delivery of the divine message.^[51] They point to several verses:

"Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah." — 4:80

"The Messenger's duty is only to deliver the message." — 5:99

"Say: 'Obey Allah and the Messenger.' But if they turn away, then Allah does not love the disbelievers." — 3:32

One of the most discussed linguistic arguments appears in Quran 53:3–4:

"Nor does he speak (yanṭiqu) from [his own] desire. It is only a revelation revealed." — 53:3–4

The Syrian thinker Muhammad Shahrur argued that the verb yanṭiqu (from the root naṭaqa) refers specifically to the act of uttering or articulating the revealed text, not to ordinary human speech (takallama).^[51] In his reading, the verse confirms that when the Prophet recited the Quran he was not speaking from personal desire.^[51] It does not mean that every word he spoke in daily life was divine revelation.^[51] Traditional interpretation, by contrast, has often treated the verse as proof that the Prophet’s speech in general was divinely guided and therefore authoritative beyond the Quran itself.^[51]

According to this view, the Prophet's religious role was to receive, deliver, and live according to the Quran.^[51] Once the revelation was complete, the binding source of guidance remained the Book itself.^[51] Later claims of religious authority based on Hadith are therefore seen as an expansion of the Messenger's role beyond what the Quran itself authorises.^[51]

This leads Quranists to reject the classical equation of the "Sunnah of the Prophet" with the content of the Hadith collections.^[51] They note that the Quran never uses the term sunnah in connection with Muhammad in the technical sense later developed by jurists, and that the only sunnah explicitly attributed in the Quran is the sunnah of Allah.^[51]

Mainstream Sunni and Shia scholars reply that the command to obey the Messenger necessarily includes his detailed teachings and practice, which were preserved through the Hadith.^[51] Without these reports, they argue, many Quranic injunctions would remain incomplete.^[51] Quranists respond that this underestimates the self-sufficiency and clarity of the Quran, which the text itself repeatedly affirms.^[51]

Other

Many Quranists reject or regard as non-obligatory a number of practices and beliefs that lack explicit support in the Quran and are derived primarily from Hadith or later tradition.^[18][53]

• Circumcision is generally viewed as irrelevant or non-religious, since it is not mentioned in the Quran.^[54][55]
• Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are often treated as cultural rather than religiously mandated festivals, as neither is named or prescribed as such in the Quran.^[56]
• The headscarf (hijab) is not considered obligatory for women; Quranist interpretations of Q 24:31 and 33:59 emphasize covering the chest and outer garments rather than the hair or face.^[57]
• Cremation is regarded by some Quranists as permissible because the Quran contains no prohibition against it and does not exclusively require burial.^[58]
• Torture beyond the specific corporal punishments stated in the Quran is rejected.
• Stoning (rajm) for adultery or other offences is rejected on the ground that it does not appear in the Quran; the Quranic penalty for zina is flogging (Q 24:2).^[59]
• Prohibitions on music, figurative drawing, and the making of statues (including images of prophets) are rejected as extra-Quranic.
• Restrictions on men wearing gold or silk, or on shaving the beard, are rejected as lacking Quranic foundation.
• Dogs are not regarded as unclean or to be avoided; the Quran mentions dogs in neutral or positive contexts (e.g., Q 18:18) and permits their use in hunting (Q 5:4).^[60]
• Quranists generally regard homosexual acts as prohibited on the basis of the Quranic narrative of the people of Lot (Lut), in which the primary sin highlighted is men approaching men with desire instead of women (7:80–81, 26:165–166, 27:54–55, and 29:28–29).^[61]

• Quranists also consider intentional gender transition (transgenderism) to be forbidden (Sin), interpreting it as a form of “changing the creation of God,” which the Quran attributes to the command of Satan in 4:119:

  "I will command them so they will change the creation of God."

They view this as a violation of the natural order established by God.^[62]

• Belief in the Mahdi or the Dajjal is rejected because neither figure is mentioned in the Quran; both appear only in later Hadith literature.^[18]

Emphasis on human choice

Quranist writers frequently cite verses that present belief and disbelief as genuine human choices. Key passages include:

"And We have shown him the two paths." — 90:10

"We guided him to the path, whether he be grateful or ungrateful." — 76:3

"The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills may believe and whoever wills may disbelieve." — 18:29

These verses are understood as affirming that individuals possess real agency and are fully accountable for their decisions.^[64] Central to this position is the Quranic concept of absolute divine justice (ʿAdl)^[e] and the total negation of systemic divine injustice or oppression (ẓulm).^{[f] [65]} Scholars and commentators within this tradition emphasize that if God coercively predetermined moral choices and subsequently punished individuals for those enforced choices, the internal coherence of Quranic justice would collapse.^[66] Quranic passages explicitly disavow divine injustice toward humans, attributing moral failure strictly to human self-wronging:

"Indeed, God does not wrong people in the least, but it is people who wrong themselves." — 10:44

"Whoever does good, it is for their own soul; and whoever does evil, it is against it. Your Lord is never unjust to His servants." — 41:46

Under this framework, human agency (ikhtiyār)^[g] and the capacity to choose (mashīʾah)^[h] must be real operational factors for divine judgment and personal accountability to remain ethically consistent and fair.^[67]

Divine knowledge and human agency

Quranists distinguish between God’s perfect foreknowledge and coercive predetermination. They accept that everything is recorded in a divine record:

"No misfortune can happen on earth, or in yourselves, except it is decreed in a record before We bring it about. This is easy for God." — 57:22

This is interpreted as God’s complete knowledge of future free choices rather than a forced decree. Quranist exegesis resolves the apparent tension between divine sovereignty and human freedom by differentiating between omniscience (ʿilm)^[i] and forced execution (jabr).^{[j] [68]} From a theological standpoint, God operates outside the linear constraints of temporal sequence; thus, the heavenly record (al-Kitāb)^[k] reflects an exhaustive, timeless awareness of actions that human beings freely choose to execute in time, rather than a causal force compelling those actions.^[69] Rashad Khalifa summarized the position by stating that predestination is a fact from God’s perspective, while from the human perspective individuals remain completely free to choose belief or disbelief.^[70]

Furthermore, Quranist commentators address verses stating that God "guides whom He wills and misguides whom He wills" (e.g., 14:4) by analyzing them within the broader textual context of the Quran. They argue that divine guidance (hudā)^[l] and misguidance (iḍlāl)^[m] are not arbitrary pre-allocations, but rather conditional divine responses to prior human moral choices.^[71] Verses such as 2:26 and 5:51 indicate that divine misguidance is reserved for those who initiate wrongdoing or arrogant disobedience, whereas divine guidance is extended conditionally to those who actively turn toward God:

"God guides to Himself whoever turns to Him." — 13:27

"He misguides none thereby except the defiantly disobedient." — 2:26

Rejection of deterministic interpretations

Consequently, Quranists reject interpretations that portray human beings as passive instruments of an unchangeable divine will. They argue that such views undermine the Quran’s consistent stress on individual accountability, repentance, and the justice of divine judgment on the Day of Resurrection. This approach aligns them more closely with the early emphasis on free will found among the Qadariyah and Muʿtazila, while remaining grounded exclusively in Quranic language.

Quranist perspectives on Predestination (Qadar)

In contrast to mainstream Sunni orthodoxy, which includes belief in divine predestination (al-qaḍāʾ wa-l-qadar) among the six articles of faith,^[72] many Quranist writers reject fatalistic determinism^[n]. Quranist writers such as Edip Yüksel argue that qadar in the Quran refers to concepts such as "measure," "proportion," and divinely established laws rather than to a predetermined human fate.^[73]

Quranist writers emphasize human free agency and moral responsibility, drawing on verses such as Surah 18:29 and Surah 13:11:

"..Whoever wills, let him believe; and whoever wills, let him disbelieve.." — Surah 18:29

"..Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.." — Surah 13:11

They maintain that extra-Quranic Hadith collections introduced doctrines depicting pre-recorded fate, which they view as contradictory to the Quranic principle of divine justice.^[74]

Principles of application

In practice, Quranists tend to follow three main methods:

• They interpret the Quran primarily through the Quran itself, explaining one verse by means of others rather than turning to external sources.^[18]
• They pay close attention to the Arabic wording of the text and treat it as complete and fully detailed, rather than relying on later historical or traditional explanations.^[18]
• Some Quranist thinkers, most notably Muhammad Shahrur, distinguish between fixed moral and legal boundaries set by the Quran and areas in which human societies retain flexibility to adapt according to their own conditions.^[75]

Muhammad Shahrur’s theory of limits

One approach developed within Quranist thought is the Theory of limits formulated by the Syrian engineer and writer Muhammad Shahrur (1938–2019). According to this theory, many legal verses in the Quran do not prescribe a single fixed ruling. Instead, they establish lower and upper boundaries within which human societies may exercise Ijtihad according to their historical and social conditions.^[76]

Shahrur described six mathematical-geometrical models that show different ways these limits can interact. In some cases only a minimum limit is given, in others only a maximum limit, and in still others both limits operate together. Within these boundaries, he argued, believers retain the freedom to adapt rulings to new situations, provided they do not go beyond the limits set by the text.^[76]

Overall stance

Quranists do not claim that the Quran contains a ready-made answer for every modern problem. Rather, they generally regard it as providing a stable and complete framework of principles, values, and limits within which each generation is expected to exercise reasoned judgment (Ijtihad), address new circumstances, and develop appropriate solutions while remaining faithful to the text.^[75][18]

Shahada (creed)

Many Quranists accept a shortened form of the Shahada: lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh ("There is no deity except God").^[77][18] They generally omit the second part of the traditional Sunni and Shia testimony ("Muhammad is the messenger of God"), arguing that the Quran itself does not prescribe the longer formula as a required declaration of faith and that adding the name of any prophet to the testimony of God's oneness risks elevating the prophet to a status approaching partnership with God (shirk).^[78][52]

This position is not uniform across all Quranist groups. Some accept the traditional two-part Shahada while still rejecting the authority of Hadith, while others insist strictly on the monotheistic formula alone.^[18]

Ṣalāh (prayer)

The practice of prayer (ṣalāh) among Quranists varies based on hermeneutical approaches to the Quranic text and the degree of acceptance of inherited mass practical tradition (tawātur ʿamalī). All Quranists observe five daily prayers (Fajr, Dhuhr, ʿAṣr, Maghrib, and ʿIshāʾ), maintaining the total count of five prescribed prayers as an inherited practical tradition rather than a Hadith-derived mandate. However, while the majority perform these five prayers across five distinct times throughout the day, a minority stream within Quranism interprets specific Quranic passages addressing prayer times (such as Surah 17:78 and Surah 11:114) as specifying three distinct prayer periods (Dawn, Sunset, and Night). Consequently, this minority group fulfills all five mandatory prayers scheduled within three daily time windows rather than five separate sessions.^[79][80]

Structural and Liturgical Nuances

While traditional Sunni and Shia jurisprudence incorporates greetings and supplications upon Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Abraham during the sitting posture (Tashahhud), some Quranists omit these extra-Quranic phrases during the call to prayer (Adhan) and the prayer itself.^[81] Quranist theologians base this exclusion on Quranic verses instructing that places of worship and remembrance belong strictly to God alone (e.g., Surah 72:18 and Surah 20:14) and that believers must not make religious distinctions among God's messengers (Surah 2:285).^[49]

Additional divergent positions documented among Quranist legal theorists include:

• Menstruation and Devotion: A significant proportion of Quranist scholars maintain that menstruation does not disqualify women from performing ṣalāh or fasting, asserting that the Quranic description of menstruation as a physical discomfort (aḏan) in Surah 2:222 pertains solely to sexual intercourse and physical hygiene, rather than ritual impurity that halts worship.^[82]
• Congregational Worship: Because the Quran does not explicitly mandate spatial segregation or physical barriers between male and female worshippers, proponents of Quranism generally reject traditional jurisprudence enforcing separate facilities or partitions. In practice, due to the movement's decentralized structure and sparse physical institutions, mixed-gender worship largely occurs within private study circles or progressive reformist congregations, ranging from shared-room arrangements with separated rows to side-by-side prayer.^[83]
• Missed Prayers: The mainstream Sunni and Shia concept of making up missed prayers (qaḍāʾ) is generally rejected by Quranist jurists, who view prayer as a time-bound obligation (Surah 4:103) that cannot be retroactively accumulated or transferred once its ordained period has elapsed.

Wuḍūʼ (ablution)

Quranist ablution (wuḍūʾ) before prayer is generally limited to the four actions explicitly mentioned in the Quran (5:6): washing the face, washing the hands up to the elbows, wiping the head, and wiping (or washing) the feet up to the ankles.^[18] Quranists typically reject additional steps found in traditional Sunni and Shia practice (such as rinsing the mouth and nose, washing each limb three times, or wiping the ears), regarding these as later elaborations derived from the Hadith rather than from the Quranic text itself.^[49]

Ḥajj (pilgrimage)

See also: Hajj

Extra-Quranic rituals associated with the Hajj, such as kissing or touching the Black Stone and the symbolic Stoning of the Devil (ramy al-jamarāt), are rejected by many Quranists. They regard these practices as lacking any basis in the Quran and view them as forms of shirk (associating partners with God) or as innovations derived solely from the Hadith literature.^[18][49]

Quranists generally affirm the obligation of the pilgrimage itself when mentioned in the Quran (for example 3:97 and 22:27–22:29), but limit the required rites to those explicitly described in the text, such as circumambulation of the Kaaba (ṭawāf) and the overall pilgrimage to the Sacred House.^[18]

Polygamy

See also: Polygyny in Islam

Views on polygyny among Quranists diverge significantly from classical Sunni and Shia jurisprudence. Traditional legal schools interpret Surah 4:3 as a general permission for a man to marry up to four wives, provided he treats them equally. In contrast, Quranist scholars argue that the text establishes strict, non-negotiable prerequisites tied exclusively to the care of orphans.^[49]

Central to the Quranist argument is a linguistic analysis of the word used in Surah 4:3, yatāma (يَتَامَى, the plural of yatīm, يَتِيم). In classical Arabic lexicography, such as Ibn Manzur's Lisan al-Arab and Edward William Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, a child is defined as a yatīm specifically upon the death of their father (a fatherless child). Classical Arabic distinguishes this from a child who has lost both parents, designated by the term latīm (لَطِيم, a double-parent orphan), or a child who has lost only their mother, called an ʿajiyy (عَجِيّ, a motherless child).^[104][105]

Because the Qur'an deliberately employs yatāma (fatherless children) rather than latīm (double-parent orphans), Quranist scholars argue that the verse specifically addresses widowed mothers left with fatherless children after events of mass casualty, such as the Battle of Uhud. Under this interpretation, polygyny is not a general sexual or marital privilege, but a socio-economic relief mechanism limited to marrying the widowed mothers of fatherless children to integrate them into established households and protect their inheritance.^[52][106]

Furthermore, Quranists synthesize Surah 4:3—which mandates marrying only one wife if a man fears he cannot treat them with justice—with Surah 4:129, which explicitly states, "You will never be able to be equal between wives, even if you should strive [to do so]." Based on this cross-textual link, reformist theologians such as Edip Yüksel argue that the Qur'an establishes a self-limiting rule that effectively restricts systemic polygyny, establishing monogamy as the sole achievable moral baseline under modern conditions.^[52]

Individual interpretation vs. centralized authority

Because Quranism fundamentally rejects centralized religious institutions, the movement lacks a universal governing body, formal clergy, or standardized creed.^[119] Critics argue that this decentralization leads to extreme interpretative subjectivism, resulting in wildly divergent understandings of fundamental practices such as prayer, almsgiving, and ritual purity.^[120]

Conversely, Quranist thinkers generally view interpretative differences as a natural consequence of allowing individuals to engage directly with the Quran rather than treating a particular group of scholars or an established tradition as the final religious authority. From this perspective, keeping interpretation open allows the Quran to be understood and applied in different circumstances and in light of new knowledge, while avoiding the establishment of a fixed religious orthodoxy, provided that such interpretations remain grounded in the Quran itself and do not contradict its clear and foundational verses,^[121] which the Quran describes as the "Mother of the Book" in Surah 3:7. They therefore characterize this approach as preserving what they regard as the original, decentralized spirit of early Islamic thought.^[119][120]

Institutionalization and critique of clerical authority

In academic analyses of modern Islamic reform, Quranist literature is characterized by its systemic critique of traditional institutionalization and scholarly authority. Writers within the movement argue that the historical rise of formal legal schools (madhhabs) and clerical bodies (the ulama) gradually introduced systemic vulnerabilities into religious practice:^[122][123]

• Clerical gatekeeping: Quranist thinkers maintain that formal religious hierarchies created a monopoly over scripture, positioning scholars as indispensable intermediaries between God and believers. According to this critique, turning religious interpretation into a specialized profession makes clerical positions vulnerable to political patronage, social influence, and personal ambition.^[124][125]

• Institutional self-preservation: Reformers argue that once religious bodies establish social and political power, their primary focus shifts toward defending historical consensus (ijma) and institutional authority. From the Quranist perspective, this environment discourages critical inquiry, as challenging long-held doctrines is treated as a threat to the institution itself rather than an honest search for scriptural truth.^[126]

• Passivity among lay believers: By relying on established hierarchies for moral and legal guidance, Quranists argue that ordinary Muslims are encouraged to practice passive compliance rather than exercising personal moral agency. This outsourcing of religious thought is seen as undermining the Quranic emphasis on individual accountability and direct reflection on the text.^[127]

Through this critique, Quranists present direct, unmediated engagement with the Quran not merely as a preference, but as a necessary safeguard against the corruption and rigidity that they view as inherent to institutionalized orthodoxy. Because Quranism generally rejects formal clerical structures, independent reasoning (ijtihad) is emphasized over imitation of established scholarly opinions (taqlid).

Individual accountability and rejection of scholarly excuses

Under Quranist theology, individual accountability is absolute, meaning that shifting moral or spiritual responsibility to religious teachers, jurists, or ancestral scholars is rejected as a valid defensive argument before God.^{[128] [129]} Writers in the movement assert that because God provided each human with independent reasoning faculties (aql) alongside a clear scriptural guide, outsourcing moral discernment to a third party constitutes an evasion of individual duty.^{[128] [130]} Quranists maintain that mainstream traditions permitting religious blind following (taqlid) violate foundational principles of the text, noting that the Quran explicitly denies the transfer of spiritual guilt:^[129]

"And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And if a heavily laden soul calls [another] to carry some of its load, nothing of it will be carried, even if he should be a close relative." — 35:18

Furthermore, Quranist literature emphasizes that the text describes explicit scenes from the Day of Judgment where subordinates unsuccessfully attempt to excuse their errors by blaming their scholarly or political leaders.^[128] Movement thinkers frequently cite Surah Al-Ahzab (33:67) as a direct scriptural warning that following religious dignitaries will not insulate an individual from divine judgment:^[129]

"And they will say, 'Our Lord, indeed we obeyed our masters and our dignitaries, and they led us astray from the way.'" — 33:67

Quranist texts argue that treating human rulings (fatwas) as divinely binding amounts to a form of shirk (associating partners with God), drawing parallels to Quranic criticisms of past religious groups who elevated their clergy to the status of lawmakers.^[129] By arguing that leadership will ultimately disown its followers at the judgment, Quranists frame independent textual reflection not just as an intellectual right, but as an unavoidable individual obligation for salvation.^{[128] [129]}

"[And they should consider] when those who have been followed disown those who followed them, and they [all] see the punishment, and cut off from them are the ties [of relationship]." — 2:166

Early Islam

Quranists date their beliefs back to the time of Muhammad, who they claim prohibited the writing of Hadiths.^[131][91] As they believe that Hadiths, while not being reliable sources of religion, can be used as a reference to get an idea on historical events, they point out several narrations about early Islam to support their beliefs. According to one of these narrations, Muhammad's companion and the second caliph ʿUmar (r. 634–644) also prohibited the writing of Hadiths and destroyed existing collections during his reign.^[91][132] Similar reports claim when Umar appointed a governor to Kufa, he told him:

"You are going to a people whose recitation of the Qur'an is like the buzzing of bees. Do not distract them with hadith and thus occupy them. Devote yourselves to the Qur'an and reduce narration from the Messenger of God." — Umar as reported in Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, vol. 6, p. 7

• 
  Sura al-Baqarah, verses 282–286, from an early Quranic manuscript written on vellum (mid-late 7th century)
• 
  Calligraphic seal featuring Umar's name, on display in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
• 
  Silver Arab-Sasanian drachm minted during the reign of Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph

Kharijites

A categorical rejection of Hadiths, as can be found today among the Quranists, is already known in the early days of Islam by the Kharijites.^[133] For example, Abū l-Qāsim al-Balkhī (d. 931) in his Kitāb al-Maqālāt speaks of the Kharijites as "those who declare the tradition completely null and void and claim that one only needs to know what the Book literally speaks of".^[134] The Muʿtazilite thinker Dirār ibn ʿAmr (d. ca. 815) reports that, according to the teachings of the two Kharijite sects the Azraqites and Bazighites, "knowledge of religion can only be acquired from the Qur'an and they rejected the Ijmāʿ and the traditions". A letter that the early Khārijī ʿAbdallāh ibn Ibād is said to have sent to the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān in the year 76 of the Hijra (695) rejects Hadiths as the basis for the imposition of duties and prohibitions and admonishes people to adhere only to the Qur'an.^[135] The Bidʿīya^[q], a subgroup of the Azraqites, is said to have recognised only two daily obligatory prayers with reference to Sura 11:114.^[136]

Some of the Kharijites rejected the punishment of adultery with stoning.^[137][138] Although the Qur'an does not prescribe this penalty, Sunnis hold that such a verse existed in the Qur'an, which was then abrogated. A Hadith is ascribed to Umar, asserting the existence of this verse in the Qur'an.^[139] These Kharijites rejected the authenticity of such a verse.^[137] The Islamic scholar Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī attributed this position to the Kharijite sect, the Azariqa,^[9] who held a strict scripturalist position in legal matters (i.e. following only the Qur'an and rejecting commonly held views if they had no Quranic basis), and thus also refused to enforce legal punishment on slanderers when the slander was targeted at a male.^[140]

Muhammad ibn Idrīs ash-Shafiʿī (d. 820) also reports in his tractate Jimāʿ al-ʿIlm of a group of scholars who completely rejected the authority of the Hadiths. He summarises their reasoning as follows: The Qur'anic text in Sura 16:89, which states that the Qur'an is a "clarification for every thing" (tibyān li-kull shaiʾ), shows that the Qur'an contains all the necessary information for the derivation of legal rules; therefore, there is no need for Hadith reports to interpret the normative content of Qur'anic verses. Since the Qur'an does not specify a specific number or time for ritual prayer, nor a specific amount for Zakah, a person fulfills his duties if he prays only once a day or every few days, or gives the smallest amount that can be considered alms.^[141] At no point in his text does ash-Shafiʿī mention the names of individual persons or the school of thought that held these positions.^[142] Joseph Schacht was of the opinion that this group were Muʿtazilites.^[143] On the other hand, due to the similarity of these teachings to what is reported about the Kharijites, Hüseyin Hansu suspects that the group of scholars described by ash-Shafiʿī consisted of Kharijites.^[135]

Although there were also various critical positions among the Muʿtazilites regarding Hadiths, they did not completely reject extra-Qur'anic prophetic authority, but demanded that only what could be known with certainty could serve as the basis for Islamic legal norms. They therefore did not accept isolated Hadiths, but only those that were so widely accepted that their untruthfulness seemed unthinkable.^[133] After the 9th century, however, the Muʿtazilites abandoned this strict position and swung to the line of ash-Shafiʿī by accepting Hadiths handed down only by individuals as sources of certainty.^[144]

Umayyad period

The centrality of the Qur'an in the religious life of the Kufans that Umar described was quickly changing, however. A few decades later, a letter was sent to the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān (r. 685–705) regarding the Kufans^[145]:

"They abandoned the judgement of their Lord and took Hadiths for their religion; and they claim that they have obtained knowledge other than from the Qur'an... They believed in a book which was not from God, written by the hands of men; they then attributed it to the Messenger of God."

In the following years, the taboo against the writing and following of Hadiths had receded to such an extent that the eighth Umayyad caliph ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (r. 717–720) ordered the first official collection of Hadith. ʾAbū Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAmr ibn Ḥazm and ʾAbū Bakr Muḥammad az-Zuhrī, were among those who wrote Hadiths at ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz's behest.^[32]

Abbasid period

Despite the trend towards Hadiths, the questioning of their authority continued during the Abbasid period and existed during the time of ash-Shafiʿī, when a group known as Ahl al-Kalam argued that the prophetic example of Muhammad "is found in following the Qur'an alone", rather than Hadith.^[146][147] The majority of Hadiths, according to them, was mere guesswork, conjecture, and bid'a, while the Book of God was complete and perfect, and did not require the Hadith to supplement or complement it.^[148] There were prominent scholars who rejected traditional Hadiths like Dirar ibn Amr. He wrote a book titled The Contradiction Within Hadith. However, the tide had changed from the earlier centuries to such an extent that Dirar was beaten up and had to remain in hiding until his death.^[149] Like Dirar ibn Amr, the scholar ʾAbū Bakr al-Aṣamm also had little use for Hadiths.^[150]

Under the Abbasid caliph al-Maʾmūn (r. 813–833), the adherents of Kalam were favoured and the supporters of Hadiths were dealt harshly. Al-Maʾmūn was inclined towards rational inquiry in religious matters, supported the proponents of Kalam and persecuted the adherents of Hadiths. His two immediate successors, al-Muʿtaṣim (r. 833–842) and al-Wāthiq (r. 842–847), followed his policies. Unlike his three predecessors, al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861) was not inclined to rational inquiry in religious matters, and strove to bolster the Hadiths as a necessary source of the Sunnah.^[151]

The emergence of Quranism in modern India and Egypt

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Muslim reform thinkers began to deal again with the authority of Islamic sources of law, rejected the taqlīd and demanded a return to the Qur'an and the Sunnah.^[17] In addition, there was the confrontation with the superiority of the Western great powers. Muslim scholars now had to deal with new questions and problems that arose from the influence of Western ideas, which were spread by missionaries and Orientalists, among others.^[152] They also tried to find an explanation for the backwardness of Muslims compared to the progress made in Western countries.^[152] In order to provide an answer to these questions, to defend Islam against accusations, and to interpret it in such a way that it is compatible with rational and scientific ideas, some modernist scholars have sought to separate the foundations of religion from historical influences and tradition. To this end, they critically examined the four traditional sources of Islamic law (Qur'an, Sunnah, Ijmāʿ, Qiyās).^[153]

In this context, especially in British India at the time, a number of thinkers and scholars emerged who rejected Hadiths and wanted to establish the Qur'an as the main source. Syed Ahmad Khan (d. 1898), founder of the Aligarh Movement,^[154] argued that the Qur'an is the only authoritative source of Islam. The Hadith corpus is unreliable, since in traditional Hadith criticism only the trustworthiness of the narrators was used as evidence for the authenticity of the Hadiths.^[155] However, one should also critically analyse the Hadith text (matn) and check its compatibility with the Qur'an and reason.^[156] On the basis of this foundation, some theological dogmas and legal regulations would have to be rationally justified^[157] and interpreted according to criteria of reason, independent of tradition.^[158] Another important point in Syed Ahmad Khan's thinking was his definition of nature. He equated the laws of nature, the "Work of God," with revelation, the "Word of God."^[159] Among other things, this led to him being dismissed by other scholars as a "naturalist" (Naychirī)^[152] and his ideas were criticised by numerous contemporary scholars.^[160]

Chiragh Ali (d. 1895) further developed the ideas of Syed Ahmad Khan and took a stricter view of the use of Hadiths as an authoritative source. He also criticised the focus of Muslim scholars on the criticism of isnād and pointed that the Hadiths were not collected until decades after the death of the Prophet Muhammad,^[161] and concluded that almost all Hadiths were inauthentic. This assumption made it possible for him to invalidate and reform all regulations and institutions based on the Hadiths.^[162] Ali's starting point, however, was not the criticism of the Hadith per se, but the defense of the feasibility of Islam in the modern age and the search for the "True Islam" far from the ideas of traditional Muslims and the accusations of Western Orientalists.^[163]

At the same time as Syed Ahmad Khan, Muhammad ʿAbduh (d. 1905) began to cautiously criticise Hadiths in Egypt.^[164] He considered only mutawātir Hadiths to be ultimately binding, i.e. those handed down by a large number of people.^[165] However, aḥād Hadiths, i.e. those that have been handed down by only one person, are only to be followed if they convince the reader.^[165] In doing so, he opened the door to a personal assessment of the binding nature of the Hadiths without rejecting them as a whole.^[164] His focus was on rejecting the imitation of earlier schools of law and scholars, which in his opinion had contributed greatly to the retrogression of Muslims in his country.^[166]

In 1906, the Egyptian physician Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi (d. 1920) published an article entitled "Islam is the Qur'an Alone" (Al-Islām huwa l-Qurʾān Waḥda-hū) in Rashīd Rida's magazine Al-Manār.^[167] As the name of the article suggests, Sidqi accepted the Qur'an alone as an authoritative religious source and was convinced that it contained all the necessary information.^[168] The Sunnah of the Prophet was only a model for his contemporaries. If the Prophet had wanted Hadiths to reach future generations, he would have had them written down – just like the Qur'an.^[169] Muslims today are therefore free to decide whether or not to follow something that is narrated by the Prophet and is not contained in the Qur'an.^[170] Sidqi's article drew a long discussion^[171] and several refutations, which were published in the journal along with his response.^[172]

"What is obligatory for man does not go beyond God's Book. If anything other than the Qur'an had been necessary for religion, the Prophet would have commanded its registration in writing, and God would have guaranteed its preservation." — Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi

Quranism in early 20th-century India

At the beginning of the 20th century, Abdullah Chakralawi (d. 1916) founded the community of the Ahl aḏ-Ḏhikr wa-l-Qurʾān (Ahl al-Qurʾān for short) in Lahore.^[152] He was convinced that the Qur'an was so comprehensive that it was sufficient as a divine source for the guidance of Muslims, and therefore the rest of the written tradition, including the Hadiths and earlier Quranic commentaries, could be excluded.^[173] Thus, Chakralawi and his followers, in contrast to their predecessors, rejected the Hadiths as a whole^[174] recognising only the Qur'an as an authoritative and valid source on theological and ritual issues, and breaking away from classical exegetical methods.^[175] Between 1903 and 1932, they also published the journal Ishāʿat al-Qurʾān.^[176]

A few years after Chakralawi's death, Khwaja Ahmad ad-Din Amritsari (d. 1936) founded another Quranist movement in Amritsar, the Anjuman-i Ummat-i Muslimah,^[177] with the magazines al-Balāḡ and al-Bayān.^[178] The return to the Qur'an as the only authoritative source, in his opinion, should cleanse Islam of previous theological conclusions and jurisprudences, as well as of Arab-dominated thinking, thus making it a universal faith that can create harmony between the different religions.^[179]

The historian and Islamic scholar Aslam Jairajpuri (d. 1955) developed a Quranic history of the Hadith and saw the Hadiths not as a religiously binding, but very important historical source.^[180] With regard to ritual questions, he considered the actions of the Prophet (Sunnah al-Mutawātir), which had been handed down over many strands, to be trustworthy.^[181]

His student Ghulam Ahmed Perwez (d. 1985) became one of the most influential and productive personalities of the Quranist movement.^[182] In 1938, he founded the organisation Tolu-e-Islam in Delhi, which was later relocated to Lahore and published the journal Tolu-e-Islam,^[183] which had previously been edited by Syed Nazeer Niazi.^[184] Like his teacher, Perwez regarded the Hadiths as a purely historical source and attributed authority to the Prophet's interpretation mainly in his time.^[185] However, the Hadiths would have to be compared with the Qur'an, selected and thus cleansed.^[186] Similar to Amritsari, he ascribed to Islam a universal character, which could be achieved on the basis of the Qur'an. As far as the details of interpretation and implementation are concerned, these would have to be determined by a central Muslim authority – also in the form of a state – in a contemporary manner.^[187] In this context, Perwez also developed a theory of the state and later supported the partition of India and the founding of Pakistan.^[188] In particular, his views on Hadiths brought him much criticism. It even got to the point that 1000 traditionalist scholars declared him an infidel in a Takfīr-Fatwa.^[189] However, the movement he founded is still active today and has followers in Pakistan and Europe, among other places.^[183]

The Yan Tatsine movement in Nigeria

A new current with a Quranist orientation emerged in the 1960s with the Yan Tatsine movement in Nigeria under Mohammed Marwa, better known by his nickname Maitatsine (d. 1980), which later led to an armed uprising.^[190][191] Muhammad Marwa came from Maroua in northern Cameroon and came to Kano in 1945. In the early 1960s, he began preaching a particular form of Quranic exegesis that was radically different from the commonly used Sunni Quranic commentaries in Kano and Northeastern Nigeria. Marwa rejected all Western inventions such as wristwatches, bicycles, cars and televisions. He also rejected the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and recognised only the Qur'an as an authoritative religious source.^[192] Marwa and his followers derived their specific prohibitions directly from the Qur'an, excluding traditional literature and using the Hausa language.^[193] Those who did not obey these precepts were labeled as polytheists.^[194] In December 1980, they finally stormed the Friday Mosque of Kano. The uprising was crushed by the Nigerian Army. Several thousand people died in the fighting, including Marwa himself.^[195] However, the movement lived on and led to uprisings in other parts of northern Nigeria for some time.^[196]

Libya under Gaddafi

The military coup in Libya in 1969 brought Muammar Gaddafi (d. 2011) to power, who initially gave the country a pan-Arabist, socialist and later increasingly clear Islamic orientation. Gaddafi ascribed a universal claim to Islam and called for a return to the "essence of Islam" and its fundamental source, the Qur'an,^[197] which was interpreted in a progressive way.^[198] In the Declaration on the Authority of the People of 1977^[199] the Qur'an was declared the "constitution" of the People's Republic of Libya.^[200] Gaddafi asserted the Qur'an as the sole guide to Islamic governance and the unimpeded ability of every Muslim to read and interpret it. The Islamic tradition, including the Hadiths, the schools of law and jurisprudence of earlier scholars, was rejected by Gaddafi, on the grounds that it distracted Muslims from the "primordial source of divine truth".^[201] In contrast, the religious acts of the Prophet Muhammad such as ritual prayer were recognised as Sunnah^[202] In 1978, the year zero of the Islamic calendar was also changed from the Hijrah to the anniversary of the Prophet's death.^[203] Gaddafi was also critical of the various schools of jurisprudence, such as the Hanafi, Maliki, and Hanbali, charging that they are the product of a struggle for political power and unconnected with either Islam or the Qur'an.^[204]

Rashad Khalifa and his international impact

In the United States, the Egyptian Rashad Khalifa developed a new theological doctrine at the end of the 20th century, which had an influence on Quranists in many other countries. With the help of computers, he carried out a numerical analysis of the Qur'an, which was supposed to prove unequivocally that it was of divine origin.^[205] The fundamental role was played by the number 19, which is mentioned in a verse^[206] and which Khalifa sought to find everywhere in the structure of the Qur'an as the "Qur'an code" or "Code 19". This "scientific" approach was initially welcomed by many Muslims. However, Khalifa's subsequent conclusions led to strong criticism from Muslims and scholars around the world.^[207] Khalifa claimed that the Sunnah and the Hadith were pure speculation and satanic traps for the people, and their observance was tantamount to associating partners with God (shirk).^[208] He also excluded two verses from the Qur'an (Q 9:128–129) as "satanic" because they were incompatible with his theory based on the number 19.^[209] Rashad Khalifa also founded an organisation called United Submitters International, which published a monthly newsletter entitled Submitter's Perspective from 1985 onwards.^[210] Like Muhammad Marwa before him, Rashad Khalifa declared himself God's Messenger of the Covenant in 1989, causing a great stir and outrage.^[211]

With his teachings, Rashad Khalifa developed a strong international reputation as early as the 1980s. It is worth mentioning, for example, the Egyptian activist Ahmad Subhy Mansour, who was relieved of his professorship of Islamic history at Al-Azhar University in 1985 because of his Quranist ideas and imprisoned two years later.^[212] In January 1988, he traveled to the United States and joined Rashad Khalifa, but soon left his circle.^[213] In 2002, he was granted asylum in the United States and founded the "International Quranic Center" there, which is mainly active online.^[214] In addition to a return to the Qur'an alone, the goals of the organisation include the promotion of democracy and human rights.^[215]

The circle of Quranists around Rashad Khalifa also includes Edip Yüksel, a Kurdish activist from Turkey who initially campaigned for an Islamic revolution in Turkey, which is why he was imprisoned.^[216] Through the works of Rashad Khalifa, he became acquainted with the ideas of Quranism and began to propagate them.^[217] In 1989, he had to leave the country and joined the Submitters in Tucson,^[218] but left them some time later.^[219] Yüksel and two other authors produced their own translation of the Qur'an^[220] and disseminated their own and Khalifa's ideas in numerous Turkish and English books as well as online^[221] – above all the doctrine of the number 19. In some respects, however, his views differ from those of the Submitters. In his opinion, for example, one only has to pray three times a day, because only three prayer times are mentioned in the Qur'an, and there are no fixed dress codes during prayer.^[222]

Rashad Khalifa himself was murdered in 1990 in the Tucson Mosque, where he had previously worked as an Imam for eleven years.^[207] However, the organisation he founded, called United Submitters International, continues to exist. Followers, albeit few in number, can also be found in other regions of America and Canada and are mainly active^[208] online.^[223] They see themselves as a "moderate reformist religious community"^[224] and are not associated with other Muslim communities, as they believe that they do not really follow the Qur'an.^[210] The Submitters practice the Five Pillars of Islam with deviations from the practice of the majority of Muslims, which in their opinion is not found in the Qur'an.^[210] The women do not wear headscarves and take an active part in community life.^[208]

Rashad Khalifa also had some long-distance effect with his teachings. In Malaysia, for example, under his influence, Kassim Ahmad (d. 2017) wrote the book Hadith: A Re-evaluation in 1997, in which he called for a scientific evaluation of Hadiths and the entire Islamic tradition, as they were responsible for the retrogression of Muslims.^[225] He saw the Qur'an as the only Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad and criticised the classical Sunni view of the Sunnah and Hadiths since ash-Shafiʿī.^[226] Although his ideas are largely in line with those of Rashad Khalifa, Ahmad uses a milder tone, calling on people to think rationally and for social reform at the same time.^[216] His book was banned in Malaysia and Ahmad was declared a heretic.^[216]

The South African preacher Ahmed Deedat also contributed to the dissemination of Khalifa's ideas with his book Al-Qurʾān – The Ultimate Miracle, which was strongly based on Khalifa's early writings. This book fell on particularly fertile ground with the former followers of the Maitatsine movement in Kano. There, in the late 1990s, Quranist movement formed among well-off civil servants and freelancers who called themselves Qurʾānawa. They accept the prophethood of Muhammad, but reject Hadiths. They do not see Rashad Khalifa as a prophet or a messenger of God, but they adhere to his teachings. To spread their teachings of the "mathematical miracle of the Qur'an" and the lack of authenticity of Hadiths, they rely heavily on the Internet. From Kano, the Quranist movement has also spread to other cities in northern Nigeria.^[227] Well-known Quranists who have been influenced by the teachings of Rashad include Isa Othman, a Supreme Court of Nigeria Judge from Maiduguri, and Uthman Muhammad Dangungu, a former leading preacher of the Izala Society. In Nigeria, the Quranists will also call Sunnis Qāla Qato (lit. "Man said"), after their statement that what man says is not accepted as authoritative, unlike the Qur'anic Qāla Allāhu ("God said").^[228]

Quranist movement in Turkey and Europe

In Turkey, Quranist ideas have been making themselves felt since the mid-1970s.^[236] One of the first and most important thinkers in this line is the Islamic theologian Hüseyin Atay. Among other things, he wrote his own translation of the Qur'an and was of the opinion that Islam at the time of the Prophet consisted only of the Qur'an and reason. It was only after the death of the Prophet that people began to refer to Hadiths, statements by companions of the Prophet and scholarly opinions, which in the long term led to alienation from the Qur'an and imitation of scholars. All extra-Quranic sources and tradition belonged only to the realm of religious culture and should be critically examined.^[237] Similar ideas were held by his student Yaşar Nuri Öztürk (d. 2016), who also wrote his own translation of the Qur'an.^[238]

Kerem Adıgüzel, a Swiss-Turkish author, founded the German-language website Alrahman.de in 2007 and the Al-Rahman – mit Vernunft und Hingabe (Al-Rahman – With Reason and Dedication) association in 2017.^[239] In addition to a return to the Qur'an, Adıgüzel is solely committed to a "de-Arabisation" of Islam, tries to make the Qur'an more accessible to German-speaking readers in particular and to enable independent interpretation.^[240] His arguments regarding the rejection of the traditional Sunnah views and Hadiths^[241] as well as his conviction of a mathematical code in the Qur'an^[242] are largely in line with the ideas of Edip Yüksel. In his book Key to Understanding the Qur'an, Adıgüzel describes his attitude to the Hadiths as follows:

"Aḥādīṯ, in German sayings, do not explain the reading, but rather dilute it with new words and new questions, new (often meaningless) laws, superstitions and sometimes even blasphemies. They elevate themselves as another authority alongside God's Word by selling themselves as "Islamic." They unconsciously demand that we associate them with God's word and thus make ourselves guilty of the capital sin in faith par excellence, namely the shirk, the association of other deities and authorities besides God. These sayings do not represent prophetic words. The prophet himself was always against the writing of his personal sayings [...], which is why in the first century no book was written that records the personal words of the prophet." — Adıgüzel: Key to Understanding the Koran. 2015, p. 197.

Egypt

In Egypt, Quranists are a religious minority.^[248] The Quranist trend began in 1977, when Quranists took the initiative to debunk Sahih al-Bukhari and its assumed sanctification inside Al-Azhar Mosque.^[249] Quranists who have been vocal in their criticism of Hadiths include Ahmed Subhy Mansour, Ibrahim Eissa, Islaam Behery, Khaled Muntaser, and Ahmed Abdo Maher.^[249][250]

India

Quranism gained a significant following in India in the 19th century. The movement introduced by Syed Ahmad Khan was the most influential and coordinated effort in the formation of Quranism. Another ground for the creation of Quranism was opposition to Ahl-i Hadith. Another influential Quranist during this period was Chiragh Ali. Two movements started in the Indian subcontinent after the publication of Syed Ahmad Khan's and Chiragh Ali's beliefs. The center of the first movement was in Lahore, led by Abdullah Chakralawi.^[4] Chakralawi founded the Ahl-i Quran movement, which has been described by Aziz Ahmad and Dietrich Reetz as a "fundamentalist splinter group of Ahl-i-Hadith" while Francis Robinson has described it as puritanical.^[251] Alongside his criticism of Hadiths, Chakralawi opposed Sufism and vehemently condemned the shrine-based practices and Piri-Muridi traditions of the time.^[4]

Chakralawi established a Quranist mosque with the financial assistance of his disciple Shaykh Muhammad Chittu (d. 1911) in Lahore.^[251] Mohammad Ramadan was a student of Chakralawi who established the Quranist sect "Omaht Moslem" and the Quranist institution "Ahl al-Zekr va al-Quran". Another Quranist sect in Amritsar was founded by Khawaja Ahmad al-Din Amritsari, who later founded the "Omeh Moslemeh Association" in Lahore.^[4]

In 2024, the Quranist population in India was estimated to be one million.^[252]

Iran

Like some of their counterparts in Egypt such as Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi and Mohammed Abu Zaid al-Damanhury, some reformist scholars in Iran who adopted Quranist beliefs came from institutions of higher learning. Shaykh Hadi Najmabadi, Mirza Rida Quli Shari'at-Sanglaji, Mohammad Sadeqi Tehrani, and Sayyid Abu al-Fadl Burqaʻi were educated in traditional Shia universities in Najaf and Qom. However, they believed that some beliefs and practices that were taught in these universities, such as the veneration of Imamzadeh and a belief in Raj'a, were irrational and superstitious and had no basis in the Qur'an. And rather than interpreting the Qur'an through the lens of Hadith, they interpreted the Qur'an with the Qur'an (Tafsīr al-Qur’an bil-Qur’an). These reformist beliefs provoked criticism from traditional Shia scholars like Ayatollah Khomeini, who attempted to refute the criticisms made by Sanglaji and other reformists in his book Kashf al-Asrar.^[253] Qur'an-centered beliefs have also spread among Muslims like Ali Behzadnia, who became Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare and Acting Minister of Education shortly after the Iranian Revolution. He has criticised the government in Iran for being undemocratic and totally alien to the "Islam of the Quran".^[254]

Niger and Nigeria

Kala Kato is a Quranist movement based in Niger and northern Nigeria. Kala Kato leaders established a mosque in Kaduna.^[255] In 2009, they engaged in skirmishes with Nigerian police at Zango on the outskirts of Bauchi, resulting in the deaths of 38 people.^[256] Similar cases occurred in Maiduguri in 2004.^[257] In Niger, Sunni Imams have urged the government to suppress Kala Kato, who have been described as militant.^[258][259]

Previously in Nigeria, Quranism took on a militant dimension, with the Yan Tatsine movement, founded by Mohammed Marwa, better known by his nickname Maitatsine, which publicly adopted the slogan "Only Qur'an" as the foundation of the religion.^[190][191]

Russia

In the Russian Federation, intellectual discussions around Quran-centric reformism—often referred to in regional academic literature as "Qur'anic humanism" or "Euro-Islam"—gained visibility through debates within official Islamic institutions, particularly in Tatarstan and Moscow.^[260][261] Prominent Muslim intellectuals, including philosopher Tawfik Ibragim and former Tatarstan Deputy Mufti Rustam Batyr (Batrov), advocated for revisiting classical legal methodology (fiqh) by prioritizing the ethical framework of the Qur'an over medieval Hadith-based legal interpretations.^[262][260]

In 2018, the Council of Ulema under the Russian Council of Muftis (DUM RF) issued a controversial theological stance that generated significant debate regarding the authority of Hadith literature versus the primacy of the Qur'an.^[260] Although officially intended to articulate a moderate, reform-oriented methodology of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning), critics and commentators argued that the text implicitly favored a Quran-centric perspective. The document asserted that uncritical reliance on late historical reports (*rivayat*) and medieval commentaries had led to stagnation in Islamic thought, suggesting that an ideal, ethical society should draw its core guidance directly from the Qur'an.

The document sparked widespread debate among Russian Muslim theologians, academics, and public intellectuals.^[261] While proponents of Islamic reform and "Qur'anic humanism" praised the initiative for promoting intellectual dynamism and challenging rigid traditionalism, traditionalist scholars and Hadith-centrists expressed strong concerns over what they perceived as an erosion of the Sunnah and classical jurisprudence.^[260][263]

Saudi Arabia

In 2023, in a major departure from Wahhabism, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ordered the establishment of an authority in Medina to scrutinise uses of the Hadith that are used by preachers and jurists to support teachings and edicts on all aspects of life. According to Khmer Times, the reforms of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have been influenced by the Ahl-e Quran group.^[264]

Previously, in 2018, Saudi Quranist scholar Hassan al-Maliki was arrested and charged with capital crimes for his political views, opposition to the more strict Saudi Wahhabism, and for promoting ideas that have been described as "Quranist", "moderate", "tolerant".^{[265][266][267]} Other Saudi intellectuals, like Abd al-Rahman al-Ahdal, continue to advocate for the abandonment of Hadith and a return to the Qur'an.^[268]

Syria

There is a Quranist community within Syria, who began forming in the 19th century and followed the teachings set forth by the Indian theologian Syed Ahmad Khan and then spread to Syria soon afterwards via intermediary pilgrims. However, Quranist adherents precede these 19th century developments in the form of Mu'tazilites such as Ibrāhīm an-Naẓẓām, who lived for some period in these environs. Contemporary adherents of Quranism in Syria have included Muhammad Shahrur.^[269]

Turkey

In Turkey, Quranist ideas became particularly noticeable,^[270][271] with portions of the youth either leaving Sunni Islam or converting to Quranism.^[272] There has been significant Quranist scholarship in Turkey, with there being even Quranist theology professors in significant universities, including scholars like Yaşar Nuri Öztürk^[273] and Caner Taslaman.^[274]

The "Ankara School" was characterised by historical criticism and a revivification of Mu'tazilite rationality. The origin of its approach is traced to the 1980s, when Edip Yüksel, invoking critical Hadith studies to question the reliability of the Sunnah's transmission, proposed a Quran-only formula.^[275]

Quranists have responded to the criticisms of the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) with arguments and challenged them to a debate.^[276]

Tunisia

In Tunisia, Quranist ideas have been associated with the historian and Islamologist Mohamed Talbi (1921–2017). Talbi advocated reliance on the Quran as the primary source of religious guidance and was critical of traditional interpretations based on Hadith and classical jurisprudence. In 2013, he founded the International Association of Quranic Muslims.^[277][278]

Quranist voices in Tunisia have participated in public debates about the role of religion in society, particularly after the Tunisian revolution in 2011, though they remain a minority current.^[277]

Other places

In Morocco, rejecting the Hadith has become a growing trend. Quranists who have been vocal in their criticism of Hadiths include Ahmed Assid, Mohamed Lamsiah, and Rachid Aylal.^[244]

In 2015, Quranists in Sudan were imprisoned and sentenced to death for recognising the Qur'an and rejecting the Hadith. After being arrested for more than five weeks, the men were released on bail.^[279] Quranists are present in Pakistan. In 1920, the Lahore High Court gave legitimacy to the Ahl-e Quran group as a Muslim sect.^[280]

Epistemic and historical objections

A frequent objection raised by mainstream Sunni and Shia scholars against Quranism is the charge of inconsistency. They argue that the same early Muslim community — the Companions and those who followed them — transmitted both the Quran and the reports about the Prophet’s words and actions. Therefore, accepting the reliability of the Quran’s transmission while rejecting the Hadith is, in their view, methodologically inconsistent.^[290][291]

Traditional scholars maintain that the Quran was memorized, written down, and standardized by the same generation that also transmitted descriptions of how the Prophet performed prayer, collected zakat, and explained Quranic rulings. They contend that confidence in the integrity of that early community cannot be applied selectively only to the Quranic text.^[290][291]

A second related argument focuses on the practical necessity of the Prophet’s example. Scholars point to Quranic verses that command believers to obey the Messenger and take him as a model (3:31, 4:59, 33:21, 59:7). They argue that many of these commands would remain incomplete without knowledge of the Prophet’s concrete practice, knowledge preserved primarily in the Hadith literature. Without this material, they claim, core rituals such as the exact form of the daily prayers or the detailed rites of pilgrimage cannot be derived from the Quranic text alone.^[290][291]

An early example of this line of reasoning is found in a report attributed to the Companion Imran ibn Husain. When a man asked that only the Quran be taught and the Hadith left aside, Imran replied that reliance on the Quran alone would leave believers unable to know the number of units in the daily prayers, the rites of pilgrimage, or the details of other religious practices.^[292]

Quranist writers respond by distinguishing the nature of the two transmissions. They argue that the Quran was preserved through mass transmission (Tawatur) on a scale that makes systematic alteration virtually impossible, and that God explicitly guaranteed its protection (15:9). In contrast, they maintain that the majority of Hadith reports are solitary (āḥād) narrations compiled more than a century after the Prophet’s death and therefore do not enjoy the same degree of certainty.^[291]

Traditional scholars generally regard this distinction as insufficient. They maintain that the early Muslim community did not treat the Quran and the Prophet’s explanatory practice as two unrelated bodies of material, and that the historical process of preservation applied to both.^[290][291]