Status of Hadith (2)

Question:
Thanks for the quick reply. My main concern was, that if there are no written instructions, from reliable hadith, then how are we to know if the way we pray is the right way to pray. The thing that got me wondering was the question, why do we say the Darud while praying? We pray to Allah, and surely there is nothing wrong with the Darud, and it should be said, but why is it a part of prayer. If it is, it is, and I don't really need a reason. That's why I'm searching for the source of what we say during prayer.
If you can help me further by directing me to the relevant hadith, if they exist, I'd really appreciate it.

Response:
There are ahadith that mention the fact that durud was suggested by the prophet, alaihissalaam, and some of them are authentic ones too. But what worries me is, and I want to learn through you, how an authentic hadith would satisfy you while the fact that Muslims all over the world are doing an act doesn't come across to you as an authentic reason for it being religiously valid.

At the end of the day, a hadith is a report transmitted by one individual while the practice of the entire ummah is what everyone is following. How is it that something written in a text which is based on a single individual's report satisfies you and a source of information that is impossible to be wrong doesn't? What is so special about the text which the practical evidence of the entire ummah lacks?

To me the fact that all Muslims -- all over the world -- read durud in their prayers is a far more satisfactory evidence of the fact that it was given to us by the prophet than the fact that the evidence of it was also written in books which were written more than two hundred years after the demise of the prophet. One of the problems with the hadith-based evidence is that many companions, the very people who witnessed the prophet directly, weren't even aware of many of them. I simply can't understand how such a source enjoys more respect amongst some Muslims compared to the unanimous approval of the Muslim ummah. If the entire ummah's practice can be wrong why can't an individual's statement be wrong too?

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