Quran is the main source of Muslim’s belief which one must have for the success in the Hereafter. Any deviation from it is not acceptable. Hadith of Prophet peace be upon him corroborates what is stated in Quran and it cannot nullify the believes supported by Quran. In this perspective we have the example of Umm-ul-Momineen Aisha may Allah pleased with her. She always taught to check the believes from Quran and interpret the facts accordingly. For example, she totally denied that the Dead could hear as this belief is not supported by the Quran. Further on another occasion she refused the idea that the Prophet peace be upon him saw Allah Almighty. Therefore our first rule is that the main source of believes is Quran and Sahih hadith must be interpreted in light of Quran.
The second rule is that we must appreciate the efforts done by scholars of hadith in history. They travelled far and wide to collect the sayings of our Holy Prophet, compiled those, analyzed those and extracted the truth from falsehood. That was a laudable effort and its reward is in the Hereafter. So if a hadith scholar had rejected a narrator then we must look into it, there is a reason behind that. One cannot ignore their comments. A student of Yahyah bin Saeed Al-Qattan (famous Imam of Jirah Wal Tadeel) once asked him: “Are you not afraid of the narrators, you had criticized that they would argue with you on the day of Judgment?” He replied: “No, It is better for me that they argue with me on that day, instead of the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him that why I had not saved his sayings”.
The third rule is that once a belief is supported by the Quran and Sahih hadith then it must be taken as a faith. The rest is only quoted to show others that scholars said similar. There are diverse opinions present on some of issues of faith. It is a fact that some famous personalities in the Muslim history were infected with weak hadith, like for example at around 200 AH, people started compiling hadith related to Zuhud and Fadhail (Virtues) and they started writing whatever they found. The purpose was to collect narrations on these topics. However later people extracted believes from them instead of taking guidance from Quran. That approach led to a series of mistakes committed by some scholars as they viewed Quran through the lens of these weak narrations. Naturally the outcome was wrong.
Looking that the people were writing whatever they got, Imam Ishaque bin Rahwiah once desired that how good it would be, if someone compiles only the Sahih narrations. Imam Bukhari was present there and this desire got hold into his heart. He decided to compile only the Sahih ahadith now called Jama-al-Sahih. May Allah give utmost reward to him. Bukhari has not only compiled Sahih Bukhari, he also compiled the books on Jirah wal Tadeel. Likewise Imam Ibn Abi Hatim compiled a book on the illul ahadith i.e. weaknesses in ahadith. Imam Ibn Abi Hatim totally refused to accept that the baseless narration (which is quoted by all deviated sects) that Allah has forbidden earth to eat the bodies of Prophets.
Thus there had been an effort in past to protect the sayings of Prophet peace be upon him. However their efforts are like lost jewels in the books in libraries, waiting to be discovered by someone. The scholars of deviated sects read them and they go through these books as if nothing is said and life goes on. Due to this people are dying on wrong believes and main culprit for this whole mess is the professional clergy of Ummah. These priests have their rules, their lifestyles and religious camping. They would attract you to this life style and claim that this is what Prophet peace be upon him had preached. Nay that is Falsehood! This is the trap of Iblis and you my dear reader must remove this shackle from your neck.
Enough damage is already done, at present we have more sects than what Jews and Christians had at any moment in time. Therefore one must return to Quran to see what the verdict of our Lord is.