The deen of Islam was given to the Muslims in its entirety by Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace). Being the final messenger and the last Prophet of Allah, he left no aspect incomplete and no task unaccomplished. The Qur'an sums up the entire journey of 23 years in the final verse.
This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. [Qur'an 5:3]
The verse was recited by the Prophet on the day of Arafah. On the same occasion while the Prophet delivered his final sermon he states what he is leaving behind for us to follow.
"I have left with you two things which, if you follow them, you will never go astray: the Book of God and the sunna of His Prophet."
The word Sunnah (plural: sunnan) is often considered to be a synonym and interchangeable with the word Hadith (plural: ahadith). This practice creates a major misunderstanding and, in fact, changes the entire definition of the deen of Islam that was delivered to us by the Prophet (peace be upon him). It is, therefore, important to understand and reflect upon the differences between hadith and sunnah.
Let us proceed by taking a simple example of Salah that would help us develop a simple understanding of how the Qur'an, the Sunnan and the Ahadith are interconnected.
Salah in the Qur'an
Salah forms an integral part of the faith and holds utmost significance among the mandatory practices of Islam. One among many verses that command the Muslims to offer Salah is cited below;
"Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds and establish prayer and give zakah will have their reward with their Lord, and there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve." [Qur'an 2:277]
Now a general question that comes to mind is how should Muslims offer their salah? The Qur'an does not mention this. The answer to this lies in the Prophet's saying "Pray as you saw me praying."
Sunnah of the Salah
The Prophet regularly taught and led the companions in prayers and they prayed like they saw the Prophet praying. The companions then taught the same to the others and generation after generation, these teaching were transmitted and reached all the way to the present date.
The following narration sheds some light on how the Prophet taught the manner of prayer to a group of companions and commanded them to convey the same to the rest.
We came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and stayed with him for twenty days and nights. We were all young and of about the same age. The Prophet (ﷺ) was very kind and merciful. When he realized our longing for our families, he asked about our homes and the people there and we told him. Then he asked us to go back to our families and stay with them and teach them (the religion) and order them to do good things. He also mentioned some other things... The Prophet (ﷺ) then added, "Pray as you have seen me praying and when it is the time for the prayer one of you should pronounce the Adhan and the oldest of you should lead the prayer. [Sahih al-Bukhari 631]
This is indeed the Sunnah that the Prophet gave his companions, taught them explicitly, practised with them, told them to convey the same to others and was transmitted without any differences of opinion (the minor differences in the actions of salah will be dealt with later in this article).
The generations of the companions learnt it from the Prophet and taught it to the next generation, who taught it to the next and so on and so forth. This manner of an entire generation of the ummah, passing on the teachings of the Prophet with a unanimous consensus and agreement constitutes the sunnah of the deen.
These mandatory aspects of the salah do not differ among people or sects. Despite no mention in the Qur'an, no sect disputes over the number of mandatory prayers in a day, the number of rakah, the recitation of Surah Al Fatiha followed by the recitation of another Surah from the Qur'an, one rukuh, two prostrations etc. The differences that do occur, belong to the part where the Prophet allowed flexibility. The deen that is contained in the Sunnah of the Prophet remains well defined before the Ummah. This now brings us to our next subject of discussion i.e. the hadith.
Continue reading The subjectiveness of Hadith
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