I've seen a few examples here and there. For example, the Quran requires extensive and creative interpretation to arrive at a death penalty for "apostasy" (leaving your religion) since the Quran does not directly state that the death penalty is the punishment for apostasy. The Hadiths are quite clear on a death penalty for apostasy, and as practiced today, Sharia law usually has a death penalty for apostasy (allowing for differences between countries). Another, much more basic rule is the number of prayers every day. I've always been told by Muslims I've known (and the Canadian show "Little Mosque on the Prairie" has been very educational as well) that good Muslims pray five different prayers, each at a different time of day. The Hadiths tell us that good Muslims pray five times a day, using a different prayer for each time period. The Quran does not tell us how many prayers must be said every day, merely the times of day during which prayers should be said (Quran 17:78-79, essentially "morning, evening, and late evening"). The "Quranists" are thus the source of the oft-repeated confusion about whether the number of prayers each day are 3 or 5: the Quran only spells out three prayer periods, hence if you go by the Quran alone the number appears to only be 3. If the Hadiths are rejected as false, this would tend to invalidate one of the Five Pillars of Islam, "Salat" (truly a "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" situation). **EDIT****EDIT****EDIT****EDIT** **EDIT**: Of particular concern to me, though, is something I've just realized about the Quran and the Hadiths: the Quran does not condemn rape. The Quran doesn't even mention rape. Without the Hadiths, rape is not a specific sin in Islam. This to me is something incredibly big and basic which only comes with the Hadiths and not just with the Quran. While Sharia law isn't all that nice to rape victims (less than four witnesses means no prosecution of the rapist; less than four witnesses or one or more recanting means a possible prosecution of the *victim* for "false rape accusation", a death penalty offense; and a possible death penalty for the *victim* anyway if she gets pregnant from the rape and there continue to be less than four witnesses), it at least states that rape is wrong, and when the occasional rapist is convicted there are serious consequences for the rapist. Take out the Hadiths and Sharia Law goes away too. **EDIT****EDIT****EDIT****EDIT**

The highest authority in Islam is the HQ. There is no dispute in serious scholarly circles about its authenticity. It is accepted that the Prophet, Mohammed was very meticulous in making sure that the HQ was accurately written down and memorised throughout the 23 years that it took to get to him. It is reported that his concern for the accurate recording of the HQ led him to forbid those keen in observing and noting his words and actions from writing their observations down for fear some people might take his written down sayings to be part of the written down HQ. People therefore only made mental note of the incidents surrounding his life. The basic minimum, the fundamentals that have been sufficient for mankind for the last fourteen centuries and should be adequate for centuries to come are covered by the HQ. Many years after his death several people set out to collect and write down as many anecdotes (Hadith) of the prophet as they could find by tracing down and talking to people who had heard such anecdotes. Whereas the HQ lays down rules and guidance the Hadith enable the details of how these rules were actually put into practice during the Prophet’s time to be pieced together. So for example the HQ says you must establish regular prayers but it is the Hadith that will fill in the details about exactly how and exactly when. Also whereas everything in the HQ has the highest level of authenticity, the Hadith are classified into ‘agreed upon’ by the collectors, sound and reliable, weak or fabricated. Caution is clearly required when using Hadith to justify belief or action. However, in many ways it is not possible to say that one will dismiss Hadith altogether and stick to the HQ only.