Other sources for Islam include the Hadith and the Sunnah. These are somewhat amorphous collections, records of what Muhammad said, did, and taught. They also include what his followers, with his permission and approval, said and did.
Many of Islam’s central practices and beliefs are not found in the Qur’an, but are found in these other documents.
For example, not in the Qur’an is the command to pray five times daily, the command to avoid paintings and sculptures of living things, and the requirement of capital punishment for adulterers.
Also not in the Qur’an are the details of the ‘hajj’ pilgrimage: to walk seven times in a counterclockwise circle around the ‘kaaba’ building, and then to acknowledge the ‘black stone’ at the site. Nowhere in the Qur’an is the elevation of the ‘shahada’ to a credal status.
Some other core Islamic concepts, however, are found in the Qur’an, such as the right of men to have sex with any women whom they have obtained in combat. Men are told that they may have sex with their wives, and with those women “whom their right hands possess.”
To “possess with one’s right hand” is an idiom which includes valuables taken in battle. The Qur’an is divided into chapters called “Surah” and this expression is found in Surah 4, 8, 23, and 70.
A thorough understanding of Islam, then, includes the notion that alongside the Qur’an, there are other texts which are understood to be authoritative.
