The Sunnah

Table of Contents

The Sunnah

Introduction

In pre-Islamic Arabia, the Arabs used the word Sunnah in reference to the ancient and continuous practice of the community which they inherited from their forefathers. The opposite of Sunnah is bidah, or innovation. In the Quran the word Sunnah and its plural, sunan, have been used on a number of occasions (16 times to be precise).

a) Meaning

Literally, Sunnah means a clear path or a beaten track, or well-known path or well-trodden path, but it has also been used to imply normative practice, or an established course of conduct.

b) Definition

Sunnah generally can be defined as; “What was transmitted from the Messenger of Allah PBUH of his words, acts and tacit approvals”.

c) Explanation

To the ulema of Hadith, Sunnah refers to all that is narrated from the Prophet, his acts, his sayings and whatever he has tacitly approved. The ulema of jurisprudence, however, exclude the description of the physical features of the Prophet from the definition of Sunnah.

In the Qur'an the phrase uswah hasanah (excellent conduct) which occurs in sura-al-Ahzab (33:21)

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“Indeed in the Messenger of Allah you have a good example to follow”. The uswah was later interpreted to be a reference to his Sunnah.

Al-Shafi'i quotes at least seven instances in the Quran where 'hikmah' is used as Sunnah. Al-Jumah (62:2), for example, we read that God Almighty sent a Messenger to educate and to purify the people by teaching them the Book and the hikmah. According to al-Shafis interpretation the word 'hikmah' in this context means the Sunnah.

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“He it is who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger PBUH from among themselves, reciting to them His verses, and teaching them the Book and Hikmah (Sunnah)”.

In another Hadith, the Prophet is reported to have said;

“I left two things among you. You shall not go astray so long as you hold on to them: the Book of Allah and my Sunnah”.

It is in this sense that the jurists use the term Sunnah as a source of Islamic Laws.

Sunnah and Hadith

Notwithstanding the fact that the ulema have used Sunnah and Hadith, almost interchangeably, the two terms have meanings of their own. Literally, Hadith means a narrative, communication or news consisting of the factual account of an event.

Hadith differs from Sunnah in the sense that Hadith is a narration of the conduct of the Prophet whereas Sunnah is the example or the law that is deduced from it. Hadith in this sense is the vehicle or the carrier of Sunnah.

But once the literal meanings of Hadith and Sunnah gave way to their technical usages and were both exclusively used in reference to the conduct of the Prophet, the two became synonymous.

Proof-Value (Hujjiyyah) of Sunnah

The ulema are unanimous to the effect that Sunnah is a source of Shari'ah and that in its rulings with regard to halal and haram it stands on the same footing as the Qur'an. The Sunnah of the Prophet is a proof for the Qur'an. The words of the Prophet, as the Qur'an tells us, are divinely inspired (al-Najm, 53:3);

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“Nor does he speak of his own”.

In more than one place, the Qur'an enjoins obedience to the Prophet;

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“And whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it (al-Hashr, 59:7)”.

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“Obey God and obey the Messenger and those who are in charge of affairs among you. Should you happen to dispute over something, then refer it to God and to the Messenger (al-Nisa', 4:58-59)”.

To refer the judgment of a dispute to God means recourse to the Qur'an, and referring it to the

Messenger means recourse to the Sunnah.

In another passage, the Qur'an emphasizes:

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“Whoever obeys the Messenger verily obeys God' (al-Nisa 4:80)”.

It is concluded from these and other similar passages in the Qur'an that the Sunnah is a proof next to the Quran in all shari matters and that conformity to the terms of Prophetic legislation is a Quranic obligation on all Muslims.

Quran and Sunnah

The Quran was recorded in writing from beginning to end during the lifetime of the Prophet clearly expressed the concern that nothing of his own Sunnah should be confused with the text of the Qur'an. This was, in fact, the main reason why The Prophet had initially ordered his Companions not to write anything other than the Qur'an from him.

Furthermore the entire text of the Qur'an has come down to us through continuous testimony (tawatur) whereas the Sunnah has in the most part been narrated and transmitted in the form of solitary, or Ahad, reports. Only a small portion of the Sunnah has been transmitted in the form of Mutawatir.

a) Priority of the Quran over the Sunnah

As Sunnah is the second source of the Shari'ah next to the Qur'an, the mujtahid is bound to observe an order of priority between the Qur'an and Sunnah. Hence in his search for a solution to a particular problem, the jurist must resort to the Sunnah only when he fails to find any guidance in the Qur'an. Furthermore, the order of priority between the Qur'an and Sunnah is clearly established in the Hadith of Muadh b. Jabal.

The basic role that the Sunnah plays is normally that the Sunnah explains the Qur’an, means that the Qur'an is more dependent on the Sunnah than the Sunnah is on the Qur’an. The Qur'an on the other hand does not play the same role with regard to the Sunnah.

Furthermore, the explanatory role of the Sunnah in relationship to the Qur'an has been determined by the Qur'an itself, where we read in an address to the Prophet in sura al-Nahl (16:44):

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“We have sent down to you the Remembrance so that you may explain to the people what has been revealed to them”.

The correct conclusion drawn from this Quranic passages is that the Sunnah, being explanatory to the Quran, is subordinate to it.

b) Is Sunnah an Independent Source

This can be understand in in the following three capacities;

1. Firstly, the Sunnah may consist of rules that merely confirm and reiterate the Qur’an. A substantial part of the Sunnah is, in fact reaffirm the Qur'anic principles e.g. on pillars of Islam and human rights.

2. Secondly, the Sunnah may consist of an explanation or clarification to the Qur’an. Once again a substantial part of the Sunnah falls under this category, for example, salah, zakah, hajj and riba, etc.

3. Thirdly, the Sunnah may consist of rulings on which the Qur'an is silent, in which case the ruling in question originates in the Sunnah itself, referred to as al-Sunnah al-muassisah, or 'founding Sunnah'. E.g. death by stoning for adultery when committed by a married Muslim, all originate in the Sunnah as the Qur'an itself is silent on these matters.

On this category some ulema of the later ages including al-Shatibi and al-Shawkani, have held the view that the Sunnah is an independent source. The Quranic ayah in sura al-Nahl (16:44) is inconclusive and that despite its being clear on the point that the Prophet interprets the Qur'an it does not overrule the recognition of the Sunnah as an independent source;

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“And we sent down unto you (PBUH) the Dhikar, that you may explain clearly to men what is sent down to them and that they may give thought it”.

The Quran, for example, in more than one place requires the believers to;

“Obey God and obey His Messenger, (al-Nisa. 4:58; 4:80; al-Ma'idah, 5:92), may means obeying him whenever he orders or prohibits something on which the Quran might be silent.

Al-Shafi goes on to explain the view that God has explicitly rendered obedience to the Prophet an obligatory duty (fard) and all Prophetic legislation emanates in divine authority. So the conclusion is that above views should not be read in contradistinction rather in consonance with each other because they are the logical extensions of one another.

Classification of Sunnah

Sunnah has been classified in various ways, but two of the most commonly accepted criteria for such classifications are the subject matter (matn) of Sunnah and the manner of its transmission (isnad).

Table of Classification

1. Subject matter classification

The Sunnah is divided into three types, namely verbal (qawli), actual (fi'li) and tacitly approved (taqriri).

a) Verbal (qawli);

The verbal Sunnah consist of the sayings of the Prophet on any subject. E.g. hadith which provides;

“The nature of acts is dependent upon the underlying intentions”.

b) Actual (fi'li);

The Actual Sunnah of the Prophet consists of his deeds and actual instructions, such as the way he performed the salah, hajj etc.

c) Tacitly approved (taqriri);

The tacitly approved Sunnah consists of the acts and sayings of the Companions which came to the knowledge of the Prophet and of which he approved. The tacit approval of the Prophet may be inferred from his silence and lack of disapproval, or from his express approval and verbal confirmation.

2. Legal and non-legal classification

The entire bulk of the Sunnah, that is, the sayings, acts and tacit enactments of the Prophet, may be once again divided into two types: non-legal and legal Sunnah.

a) Legal Sunnah

The legal Sunnah (Sunnah tashri'iyya) consists of the exemplary conduct of the Prophet, be it an act, saying, or a tacit approval, which incorporates the rules and principles of Shariah.

b) Non-legal Sunnah

Non-legal Sunnah (Sunnah ghayr tashri'iyyah) mainly consists of the ritual activities of the Prophet, such as the manner which he ate, slept, dressed, and such other activities as do not seek to constitute a part of the Shariah.

3. Continuous (muttasil) and discontinued (ghayr muttasil)

Now from the viewpoint of the continuity and completeness of their chains of transmitters, the Hadith are once again classified into two categories: continuous (muttasil) and discontinued (ghayr muttasil).

a) Continuous (muttasil)

A continuous Hadith is one which has a complete chain of transmission from the last narrator all the way back to the prophet. The majority of ulema have divided the continuous Hadith into the two main varieties of Mutawatir and Ahad. To this the Hanafis have added an intermediate category, namely the 'well-known', or Mashhur.

(i) Mutawatir

Literally, Mutawatir means ‘continuously recurrent’. Here it means a report by an indefinite number of people related in such a way as to preclude the possibility of their agreement to perpetuate a lie, because of their large number and reliability.

A report is classified as Mutawatir only when it fulfills the following conditions:

· The number of reporters in every period or generation must be large enough to preclude the possibility of falsehood.

· The reporters must base their report on sense perception.

· The report must be based on certain knowledge, not mere speculation.

· The reporters must be upright persons ('udul).

· That the reporters should not be biased

Types of Mutawatir

These are Mutawatir bi'lma'na, or conceptual Mutawatir and Mutawatir bi'llafz, or verbal Mutawatir;

A. Mutawatir bi'lma'na, or conceptual Mutawatir

When the reports of a large number of the transmitters of Hadith concur in their purport but differ in wording or in form is called Mutawatir bi'lma'na, or conceptual Mutawatir, e.g. ahadith’s on the quantities of zakah.

B. Mutawatir bi'llafz, or verbal Mutawatir

Here all the reports must be identical on the exact wording of the Hadith as they were uttered by the Prophet himself. For example the Hadith which reads:

“Whoever lies about me deliberately must prepare himself for a place in Hell-fire”.

Value (hukm) of the Mutawatir

According to the majority of ulema, the authority of a Mutawatir Hadith is equivalent to that of the Quran.

(ii) Mashhur or ‘well-known’

The Mashhur is defined as a Hadith which is originally reported by one, two or more companions from the Prophet but has later become well-known and transmitted by an indefinite number of people.

It is necessary that the diffusion of the report should have taken place during the first or the second generation following the demise of the Prophet.

The difference between the Mutawatir and Mashhur lies mainly in the fact that every link in the chain of transmitters of the Mutawatir consists of a plurality of reporters, whereas the first link in the case of Mashhur consists of one or two Companions only.

(iii) Ahad

The Ahad, or solitary Hadith (also known as Khabar al-Wahid), is a Hadith which is reported by a single person or by odd individuals from the Prophet. Imam Shafi'i refers to it as Khabar al-Khassah which fails to fulfill the requirements of either the Mutawatir or the Mashhur.

It is a Hadith which does not impart positive knowledge on its own unless supported by extraneous evidence. But the majority of jurists, however, agree that Ahad may establish a rule of law provided that it is related by a reliable narrator and the contents of the report are not repugnant to reason.

Ahad may only form the basis of obligation if it fulfills the following requirements;

· The transmitter is a competent person.

· The transmitter of Ahad must be a Muslim.

· The transmitter must be an upright person ('adl).

· The narrator of Ahad must possess a retentive memory.

· That the narrator is not implicated in any form of distortion (tadlis).

· The transmitter of Ahad must, have met with and heard the Hadith directly from his immediate source.

b) Discontinued (ghayr muttasil)

This is a Hadith whose chain of transmitters does not extend all the way back to the Prophet. The Mursal is defined as a Hadith which a Successor (tabi'i) has directly attributed to the Prophet without mentioning the last link, namely the Companion who might have narrated it from the Prophet. This is the majority definition.

Because of missing link and other doubts, majority of Ulema do not accept mursal hadith. But apart from it, some Ulema like Hasan Al Basri, Qatadah etc, accept it on fulfilling following conditions;

· It is supported by another reliable hadith.

· It is in harmony with precedents of companions

· The transmitter has a reputation not have reported weak hadith etc.

Types of discontinued (ghayr muttasil)

It occurs in three varieties: Mursal, Mu'dal and Munqati'

(i) Mursal

Also called hurried, it is when the link between the successor and the Prophet(PBUH) is missing. Or simply discontinued hadith is also known as Mursal whose chain of transmission is broken and incomplete.

(ii) Mu'dal

The Mu'dal is a Hadith in which two consecutive links are missing in the chain of its narrators.

(iii) Munqati'

It refers to a Hadith whose chain of narrators has a single missing link somewhere in the middle.

This may also be classified into; real and formal.

(i) Real

Real is, when the report contradicts with an evidence stronger than itself e.g. with Quran.

(ii) Formal

Forma is, when the continuity not completed all the way back to the Prophet (PBUH).

4. Sahih, Hasan and Da'if

From the viewpoint of their reliability, the narrators of Hadith have been graded into the following categories:

I. The Companions;

II. thiqat thabitun, those next to the Companions;

III. thiqat, or trustworthy are in a lesser degree than the first two;

IV. saduq, or truthful, who is not known to have committed a forgery or serious errors;

V. saduq yahim, that is truthful but committing errors;

VI. maqbul or accepted, which implies that there is no proof to the effect that his report is unreliable;

VII. majhul, or a narrator of unknown identity.

a) Sahih

Hadith is classified as Sahih or authentic when its narrators belong to the first three categories.

b) Hasan

The Hasan Hadith may include in its narrators who belong to the fourth, fifth or sixth grades.

c) Daif

The weak, or Daif, is a Hadith whose narrators do not possess the qualifications required in Sahih or Hasan. It is called weak owing to a weakness that exists in its chain of narrators or in its textual contents.

Thursday 13 December 2018

The Sunnah

5. Gharib, Munkar and Mudraj

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