Brief guide to Hadeeth and Sunnah: Part 1

A. Introduction

In this article we study the topic of Hadeeth and Sunnah, giving various scholarly definitions of both terms. But why is it important to study this topic ? There are four main reasons:

1. Misconception regarding the word “Sunnah. Many perceive Sunnah as meaning “it is not obligatory” or “if you do it, it is good”. This leads to erroneous beliefs such as: Whatever in Qur’aan we should follow and Sunnah is just recommended.

2. Groups such as the ‘Qur’aaniyoon’ claim that Sunnah is not required. They give elaborate arguments to support their view. Though most Muslims don’t follow the Qur’aaniyoon, some are influenced by them.

3. Doubts raised by orientalists and missionaries. These people fully realise the importance of the Sunnah to Islam. They are not able to openly attack Qur’aan as no Muslim would follow them in this. However, due to the fact that the average Muslim’s knowledge of Hadeeth is very limited, they have found this to be an opening by which to attack Islam.

4. Understanding role of Sunnah is important part of understanding of this Deen

a) It will serve as an encouragement in studying Hadeeth in greater detail.

b) It helps getting closer to Allah and the Prophet and thus increases one’s faith.

Sunnah is a term that has different meanings depending on the type of scholar using it. In fact, one of the first sources of confusion regarding the word sunnah and its importance is the different usages of the word sunnah.

Definitions

Lexically, sunnah refers to the “flow and continuity of a thing with ease and smoothness” This original usage of the word paved the way for Lane’s definition:

“a way, course, rule or manner, of acting or conduct of life or the like… whether good or bad; approved or disapproved…a way that has been instituted or pursued by former people, and has become one pursued by those after them”.

Hence linguistically, Sunnah is either a way or path, regardless of if it is good or bad, or a manner, habit, or conduct. In its technical sense, sunnah has a number of different meanings.

Sunnah and Aqeedah

Around the third century Hijra, specialists in aqeedah started using the word Sunnah to refer to the correct Aqeedah and worship, as opposed to innovations, which is why many scholars refer to their books on Aqeedah as ‘the Sunnah,’ like ‘As-Sunnah‘ of Imam Ahmed, ‘Sharhus-Sunnah‘ by al-Barbaharee.

Opposite of Bida’

Some scholars would use Sunnah as the opposite of bida’. In this definition, Sunnah refers to anything that is sanctioned by the Shariah whether its from the Quran, the practice of the Prophet, or the ijmaa of the Companions. So we hear scholars saying, so and so is upon the Sunnah, meaning with respect to his aqeedah and manhaj.

Definition of the jurists

According to the jurists, the sunna is a recommended act, also commonly known as mandūb. Hence an act of the Prophet that was either obligatory upon the Muslim, or permissible would not be ‘sunna’ according to the jurists.

Definition of the Muhaditheen

The topic of study for the Muhaditheen¹ is everything that has been authentically narrated or reported concerning the Prophet. Hence they concentrate on any information narrated about him, and therefore their definition of Sunnah is the broadest. According to the Muhaditheen, sunna is:

“what has been passed down from the Prophet, peace be upon him, of his statements, actions, tacit approvals, manners, physical characteristics, or biography, regardless of whether it was before he was sent as a prophet or afterwards”

An example of the Muhaddith usage of Sunnah is: The Prophet had approximately 20 grey hairs. Or that he was more bashful than the virgin girls kept in their private apartments. Or he married Khadija when he was 25 years old. Note that many of the reports that fall under the Muhaditheen’s definition of sunnah have no bearing on Islamic law.

C. Definition of Sunnah according to the Usooliyeen

The definition that interests us for the purpose of this lecture is that given by Usooliyeen (legal theorists). Their task is to determine what is an authority in Islamic law. In other words, what reports are an example for the Muslims to follow. They are not concerned with the details of the actual law, but they are concerned with the sources of that law. They define the Sunnah as:

the statements, actions, and tacit approvals of the Prophet after he received revelation, but not including the Quran.

His statements include what he commanded, recommended, permitted, disapproved, or forbade. His actions only include selected actions, as not all of the Prophet’s actions are considered examples to be followed.

Notice that the Usooli definition of Sunnah is the same as the Muhaddith definition minus the physical attributes of the Prophet and also subtracting anything that happened to the Prophet before becoming a Prophet, as such things would not be considered an authority in Islamic Law.

Physical attributes of the Prophet before Prophethood do not have any weight in legislation found in the Shari’ah, so this is left out. But the Muhaditheen are concerned with anything pertaining to the Prophet, so they include what the Usoolis have omitted.

Difference between muhadditheen and usooliyoon definition

An example to illustrate the difference between the muhadditheen definition and usooliyoon definition is the hadith that mentions that the Prophet used to snore lightly. According to the usooliyoon, this hadith has no bearing on Islamic law, i.e., the Muslim is not required to follow it, and therefore this action of the Prophet is not considered to be a Sunnah. However, the muhadditheen would include this within their definition of the Sunnah.

The Sunna as a source of law

The sunna, according to this definition, is a source of Islamic law, equal to that of the Qur’ān with regard to rulings and obligatory to follow. The Prophet (sallalahu alayhi wa sallam) said, “I am leaving you two things; if you stick to them, you will never go astray: the Book of Allah and the sunna of His Prophet.” To better understand each element of the Sunnah, examples of ahadeeth of each type are defined below:

One might ask the question, what if a sahaba did something that the Prophet didn’t see or was unaware of? To address this, we know that Allah sees everything, and if there was something that needed to be addressed, Allah would have revealed Qur’an to the Prophet.

D. Sunnah vs Hadith

What exactly is a hadith? Is it the same thing as Sunnah? In some contexts, hadeeth and sunnah are used interchangeably. For example, if someone were to say our religion is to follow the Qur’an and Hadith, this would be equivalent to saying “follow the Qur’an and Sunnah.” But to be more precise, a distinction should be made between the two.

Hadith is linguistically defined as “speech” or “something new.” Accordingly to Islamic terminology, Hadith is defined as: The means by which the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah reaches us. So a hadith is any report of the Prophet’s sayings, actions, approvals, manners, physical characteristics, or b. of two parts: isnaad (chain of authorities) and matn (the actual text of the hadith). Both of these parts have to meet stringent requirements for the hadith to be accepted.

The accepted hadith are the Sahih and Hasan. The rejected hadith are daeef and mawdoo. For a hadith to be considered Sahih it must meet five conditions:

E. Relationship between Sunnah and Hadith.

The Sunnah is the reality, or the actual statements, actions and approvals of the Prophet. There is no such thing as a weak Sunnah. That actual Sunnah is contained within the reports that have come down from the Prophet. The Hadith is the vehicle by which the Sunnah reaches us since we were not present at the time of the Prophet. Hadīth is the ‘carrier’ and ‘vehicle’ of the sunna…it has can said that a certain ḥadīth contains five sunnas”

However not everything reported from the Prophet is correct – some are blatant lies and fabrications, and hence not all hadith represent the Sunnah. Only the acceptable hadith represent and portray the real sunnah of the Messenger.

Shaikh Albanee said: "The sunnah that has importance in the law is the confirmed sunnah from the Prophet (sa) via methodological means and well-known sound chains according to the people of knowledge of hadith and its narrators. It is not one that is found in the various books of tafseer, books of fiqh, and books of stories to make the heart soft. In these are many weak, rejected, and fabricated hadith. It is incumbent upon the people of knowledge not to be so bold as to argue by hadith until after they certify its truthfulness."

Notes

1. scholars who specialise on the study of hadith ↩︎