Abudullah, some thoughts for you
Muslims believe in God and in His Prophet (Sura 61:10-12). They obey God and hi final messenger (Sura 4:13-14). The Qur'an describes Muhammed as an excellent example for all Muslims to follow (33:21).
Much of what we know about Muhammed is found not in the Qur'an, though the episodes and events of Muhammed's life can easily be traced to various surah's etc, but is found in the Hadith.
My understanding is that there are nine "canonical" hadiths.. all written in Arabic, and these are furthur divided into three groups
Bukhari and Muslim (considered the most authorative)
Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Nasa'i, and Tirmidhi. All considered fairly reliable
and
Darimi, Ibn Hanbal, and Malik whose narratives authenticity are questioned.
Now to come to this assumption, I understand that there are some rules of assessment applied to the authenticity test. The most important of these being the existance of independed and unbroken chains of trustworthy transmitters (tawutur).
Whilst the degree of reliability of some narratives is agreed upon, others are the subject of continuous debate as to their authenticity.
The Hadith, echoes the teaching of the Qu'ran, explaining it and complementing it in doctrinal matters.
Most are considered actual sayings of the Prophet Himself.
Now, one hadith is recorded in the much respected commentary on the Qu'ran by Tabari. In his exegesis of sura 5:68 he quotes Ibn Abbas, one of the Prophet's companions. A group of Jews had come to question the Prophet as to whether or not he really believed the Torah.
Oh Muhammed, "Do you not claim that you walk in the steps of Abraham's community and religion, you believe in the Torah, which we have and confess that it is God's truth"?
The Messenger of God said "Of course I do, but you have read into Scripture things that are not there and you have rejected God's covenant with you, and you have concealed what you had been commanded to make known to the people. Therefore, I disown your innovations."
They replied "We abide by what is in our hands (the Torah): we follow the truth and the guidance and we do not believe in you nor do we follow you."
Then God revealed this verse (Surah 5:68), "Say, Oh People of the Book: You have nothing to rely upon unless you stand by the Torah, the Gospel, and what your Lord has revealed to you."
Here, the Prophet's positive answer is followed by a remark that describes the Jews disloyalty towards their scriptures by using three words "ahdatha", (to inovate), jahada (to reject) and katama (to conceal). None of these words, only the third of which is Qur'anic, indicates that Muhammed thought that the Jews had changed the text of the Torah. Does this suggest that the Prophet was so aware of the Jews respect for their sacred texts, that he did not question their authenticity, but only their obedience to it?
I have a few others to ask you about, but please comment on this one first.