The old French word for ‘tradition’ is tradicion which directly translates to transmission.
Scholars of Islamic traditions have stated that in fact, the secret of Islam within the Muhammadan community lies in the chain of transmission or in Arabic we call it the sanad, or its plural; the isnad.
So you could very well call the sanad the chain of tradition.
I deliberately mentioned ‘Islam within the Muhammadan community’ and not simply just ‘Islam’ in this case because it is vital at this point to understand that as Muslims, we attest to the fact that Islam existed since the time of Adam all the way to Ebrahim to Moses and Jesus and all the prophets in between them, including themselves and their true followers in their respective eras are Muslims.
So whosoever in the era of Moses (before Jesus) believed in Moses without rejecting any other prophets before him such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, David etc were considered Muslims. Likewise, whosoever believed in Moses and then also accepted the first coming of Jesus Christ during the time of Christ (before the coming of Prophet Muhammad) were considered Muslims. Whereas those who accepted Moses yet rejected Christ, were termed in our context, the Yahudiya or the followers of Judaism. For them in their time, they have rejected Islam. Islam simply means ‘submission (to the Truth)’. And this is the reason why Islam today requires Muslims to believe in the prophecy of all prophets from Adam to Moses to Jesus and finally Muhammad (pbuh), inclusive of all the prophets in between them. For us, Prophets are pure mirrors of the Light of God, representing God but not God Himself. For how can the reflection be the same as the One reflected?
In this day and age where Muslims have been divided in their interpretations of the religion, more so ever hijacked by extremists or people coming up with self interpretations by studying with Shaykh Google, the relevance of the sanad has become all the more crucial for Muslims who take the religion seriously.
God gave every prophet particular sets of gifts to aid them in their mission. One of the gifts towards the Muhammadan community is the sanad. Exoterically, it is the sanad that preserves the accuracy of proper documentation of the religion. Not any Tom, Dick or Harry who claimed to hear or remember words from the Prophet had his word easily accepted. Interestingly and unfortunately, not all Muslims today are even aware of it or see the necessity of this tradition ie, of learning sacred knowledge only from authorised Teachers who bear the sanad. This is one of the reasons for the various yet numerous conflicting schisms within the Islamic community itself.
Instinctively ever since I began to thread the path of learning the religion seriously, my heart had told me to only learn from teachers who have ever learnt from a particular elderly scholar in Singapore. He is originally from Hadramaut, Yemen and is a descendent of one of the close companions of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh- peace and blessings be upon him and all prophets before him.) by means of an unbroken paternal lineage. It was only after some time that I realised the existence of such a concept called the sanad.
So what exactly is the sanad beyond its literal translation? It is the unbroken chain of authorised persons who are given by their teachers the authority to teach and transmit the religion after having been tested for their piety, trustworthiness and high capacity of retention of the field of knowledge or subject they wish to teach.
We believe that sacred knowledge is not merely knowledge to feed the mind like that of math and modern science. Rather it is a holy breath breathed from God to the holy angel Gabriel who then transmitted it to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who then transmitted it to his companions who then transmitted it to their followers so on and so forth until today.
So all records or documentation of chains of transmissions will usually begin with the first line being God, Allah, followed by angel Gabriel, then the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) followed by a companion, followed by an authorised one learnt from a companion, so on and so forth until today.
It is rightfully, the rope of God meant to bind us all as One.
Acquisition of knowledge without this sanad is likened to obtaining plastic fruits in comparison to tasting the real fruits. They look the same, but the taste is not the same.
For real faith is about what the soul tastes and not what the mind has acquired by say…reading from a book. Sacred knowledge is alive and is supposed to breathe life into the soul.
It was only since I have taken this concept of sanad seriously that I began to taste the spirit of Love in the religion. Characters in the Holy scriptures come to life within our own lives.
Love for the saints amongst whom are authorised people within such chains of transmissions (which is one of the core practices within true Sufism) presented the case where their hearts and souls are forever alive within our own souls as one. Slowly, this experience also leads to honouring the chains of ancestors within our own blood… all finally going back to the believers in the Ark of Noah… and finally to Adam. Quite much like the concept in the cartoon series the Last Airbender Avatar series.
“Think not of those who are died in Allah’s way as dead. Nay, they are alive, obtaining their sustenance in the presence of their Lord” – Holy Quran
And from this we taste the universality of the religion and how God described the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as one who was not only sent to a tribe or a community but to all created beings of all realms and universes.
And it is for this reason, I personally am able to see all human beings, regardless of their religions and belief system, as a brother or sister in humanity and a potentially much beloved one of God, without judgement. I am able thus to benefit from wisdom from all sources irregardless of who spoke them.
Religion is not a knowledge. Religion is Love… The word “Religion” comes from a root Latin word “Religare” .. which means “Binding Together”… “Falling into Love becoming One” “ – Osho
To us, all religions originate from the One. The Truth was and is originally One. Every era, God sends a Prophet or a Buddha ie an enlightened being to disseminate and transmit the Truth and to teach people the ethical and moral ways followed by a set of laws in order to maintain order and balance in accordance to what is most suitable for their era.
According to classical Islamic scholars, God sent at least 124000 Prophets. And for us, the last being Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). But after him, God continued to send the helpers of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or whom we call the saints who are in reality inheritors of the spirituality of the Prophets before them.
“The knowers of God (the saints) are the inheritors of Prophets.” – Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
But it was only with time that moral degradation ensued and matters got lost in translation due to adulterated interpretations of scriptural verses. All mainly done by the egos of men with agendas thereby resulting in schisms and confusion.
But the good news is in Islam, we believe that whosoever genuinely and sincerely seeks the truth be he or she born into families of any other religions, will finally arrive to Truth. And for that a real Muslim never places his judgements concerning the reality of the deceased. Whether he was saved or not. To the extent that one of our blessed saintly Teachers said, whether you are Christian or Buddhist, be a good one.
For we believe that it is the humanistic principles of honesty, truthfulness, sincerity, humility and egolessness that will make us more beloved to God, who loves all of His creation more so than a mother does to her children. And it is these 5 core moral qualities that would eventually guide one to the Highest Truth already embedded in our souls only waiting to be unveiled and tasted. And so the final moment of the human is a secret between himself and His Lord.
For we believe that all souls of the children of Adam originate from the Light of God, only to eventually return to Him. The ones who have purified their souls from the evils of ego will be amongst the successful blissful ones. And those who gave in much to their egos in this life will then face regrets and perdition upon their return as they would thus need to be cleansed by the harder flames of the fires in order to be purged of their evil and return to the original state of purity.
A pure one is the one who has emptied himself from his ego in order to allow God’s Light to shine through him.
“Whatever you seek seeks you” – Mawlana Muhammad Jalaaludeen Rumi
“Be not like kings on pedestals judging upon others, rather be like slaves amongst slaves, humble and compassionate for one another (irregardless of status quo)” – Jesus from Islamic classical sources
“No child is born except that he is born in the state of primordial purity, and that it is then his parents whom causeth him to be a jew, christian or magian.” – Prophet Muhammad pbuh
“Truly he succeeds who purifies it (his soul to become egoless) and he fails that corrupts it (his soul by veiling it with his ego)” – Holy Quran
“Verily it is to God we all belong, and verily it is to Him we shall all return” – Holy Quran
The irony of the sanad is that while seekers of sacred knowledge learn or take their religion from a strict set of teachers, it’s by their anchoring to this rope, these chains of transmissions that they can and should be easily able to eventually come to realisation the universality of wisdoms from all other traditions and cultures, whilst remaining grounded and centred in the core principles of Islam.
“Love is the astrolabe to the secrets of the Divine.” – Rumi