Sunnah - The Other Source of Wahy

 The Status of the Sunnah

Allah SWT says in the Quran al Hakim:

  

 Allah has clearly shown his grace to the believers by sending unto them a Messenger of their own who recites unto them His revelations and causes them to grow and teaches them the Book and Hikmah although before they were in flagrant error.

(Aal Imran: 3;164).

The scholars of Islam agree that the Book referred to in this ayat is that which Allah SWT sent down through the agency of Wahy or Revelation.  Wahy has come to us in two forms – the first is the word for word revelation contained in the Qur’an.  The Qur’an is the actual word of Allah, revealed through the agency of the Angel Jibreel to the Prophet Muhammad SAW.  The wording is from Allah SWT and from no human author.  The Qur’an, as the revealed wahy of Allah SWT, is the source of our Deen, and of our Shariah Law.  However, there is another source of Deen and Law, and it too is revealed.  This is the Sunnah.  The actions, sayings, tacit approvals and overall character of our beloved Prophet SAW was at all times guided by Allah and constitutes a recording of the wahy of Allah to our Prophet, just as much as the Qur’an records wahy.  When acting as Prophet, his Sunnah or example is the most perfect example and is guided by wahy.

Al Azhab 33:21. Ye have indeed
In the Apostle of God
A beautiful pattern (of conduct)
For any one whose hope is
In God and the Final Day,
And who engages much
In the praise of God.

These two, then, the Qur’an and the Sunnah, the two recordings of wahy, constitute the two primary binding sources of Islamic law. 

Many of our Khatibs have mentioned the importance of the Qur’an.  There is no doubt that this Message to us from Allah must be central in our lives.  It is the very Word of Allah to us all.

But what is the position of the Sunnah?  For that matter, what is the Sunnah?  There are many misunderstandings regarding this term.  Some may say that what is in the Qur’an is required while what is in the Sunnah is good to follow, but is not required.

This idea comes from the confusing use of the term “Sunnah” by some of our ulema – including, by the way, my own Sheikh.  And this confusion over the meaning and status of Sunnah has been exploited by those who claim that they want to ‘reform’ Islam, as well as those Orientalists who have their own agenda in portraying Islam as a bunch of customs and traditions and not as the Law given us by a divine being, Allah.

It is important, especially for our youth, to have a clear understanding of the meaning and role of Sunnah in our lives. 

Sunnah – lexicologically means – a path, a way, course, rule or manner of acting, a way pursued by former people that is pursued by those coming after them. 

Generally speaking, then a Sunnah provides a road map or pattern for us to follow.  And the best Sunnah is that of Allah.

33: 62. (Such was) Sunnah of Allah among those
Who lived aforetime:
No change wilt thou find
In the sunnah of Allah.

The Qur’an teaches us much of this Sunnah when it records Allah’s message to other prophets and other peoples.  From Ibrahim, to Nuh, to Moses, to Isa, we have seen no change in the basic Sunnah of Allah – and the model of character and righteous behavior provided by the Prophets that He sent.  (AS). 

Al Anam 6: 50. Say:"I tell you not
That with me
Are the Treasures of God,
Nor do I know
What is hidden,
Nor do I tell you I am
An angel. I but follow
What is revealed to me."
Say:"Can the blind
Be held equal to the seeing?"
Will ye then consider not?

Yunus 10:15. But when Our Clear Signs
Are rehearsed unto them,
Those who rest not their hope
On their meeting with Us,
Say: "Bring us a Reading
Other than this, or change this,"
Say: "It is not for me,
Of my own accord,
To change it: I follow
Naught but what is revealed
Unto me: if I were
To disobey my Lord,
I should myself fear the Penalty
Of a Great Day (to come)."

In these ayaat Allah SWT makes it clear that our beloved Prophet did nothing other than follow what was revealed to him.  Some have claimed that these ayaat support an idea that only the Qur’an contains wahy and only it should be followed, but they ignore the import of these words.  All of the actions of the Prophet SAW, as Prophet, were guided by Allah through wahy, and hence, his actions, sayings, tacit approvals, and character provide us a living example of the wahy contained in the Quran. His Sunnah is the applied Qur’an. As noted by Aaisha (RAA), the Prophet was a walking Qur’an. 

Therefore the Kitab mentioned in the first ayaat is all of the wahy sent by Allah to us, both in the Qur’an, and in the Sunnah, the practical application of the wahy provided by our beloved Prophet SAW.

May Allah SWT guide us always to the truth and help us to always follow His revelation to us and to emulate the best of those who can be emulated, His Prophet, Muhammad, SAW.

The Definition of Hikmah

 

Allah SWT says in the Quran al Hakim:

   

Allah has clearly shown his grace to the believers by sending unto them a Messenger of their own who recites unto them His revelations and causes them to grow and teaches them the Book and Hikmah although before they were in flagrant error.

(Aal Imran: 3;164).

Our beloved Prophet SAW brought us the wahy contained in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, and he also taught us the Hikmah.  Some scholars have interpreted the word Hikmah to indicate the Sunnah, but others have interpreted it to mean a criterion or furqan, a wisdom by which we are able to determine the best path, even in the absence of direct wahy.  Islam was intended to be the last religion revealed to mankind, and it will guide us until Yawm al Qiyama, so how do we address physical and technical innovations, new forms of transport, new foods and sources of wealth, new methods of manufacture and sale.  A few years ago, internet sales was a huge issue in fiqh.  Now it seems commonplace and a settled area of law.  A few years ago, my sheikh was advocating that one should pay zakat on computers since they were luxury items.  Now … they are a necessity.  How do we deal with these innovations in hayat al duniyah?  Even the most ardent dhahari or textual literalist drives a car, has a face book account and consults Sheikh Google. 

Imam Tirmidhi and Imam Abu Dawood have both narrated that when the Prophet (sallalahu alaihi wa sallam) sent Mu’adh ibn Jabal (radhiallahu anhu) to Yemen (as a governor), he asked him:
“How will you judge if you are asked to do so?”
Mu’adh said: “I will judge according to the Book of Allah.”
The Prophet: “And if you do not find it in the Book of Allah?”
Muadh: “Then I will judge according to the Sunnah of His Messenger.”
The Prophet : “And if you do not find it in the Sunnah of the Messenger, or in the Book of Allah?”
Muadh: “Then I will exercise my opinion and I will not be negligent with it.”
The Prophet then patted the chest of Mu’adh with his hands and said: “All praise is due to Allah, Who has guided the emissary of His Messenger towards that which He guided His Messenger.” [Abu Dawood]

To exercise one’s opinion and not be negligent is to exercise what is called ijtehad or due diligence.  To do so requires a thorough understanding of the revelation from Allah in the Qur’an; of the applied Qur’an found in the Sunnah, and of the principles of due diligence, especially those found in the objectives of the Shariah, the maqaasid ash-Shariah.  These include protection and promotion of Deen, protection and promotion of life, protection and promotion of aql or reason, protection and promotion of dignity and lineage, and protection and promotion of property.  These comprehensive maqaasid guide the mujtahid or doctor of Islamic Jurisprudence, such as Mu’adh, by providing the criterion which will lead to the correct understanding of any issue.  By applying these maqaasid, we can understand whether an action will ultimately bring us harm or good.  We know that a thing may appear good, but ultimately harm us, and a thing may be disliked by us, but be good for us.  Through these maqaasid, Allah SWT has provided us a criterion by which we can judge our own actions by looking to the ultimate effects of those acts.  And in doing so, we will gain the wisdom and good governance of ourselves and of our societies, for hukumat or governance also comes from this same root indicating wisdom. 

Mu’adh ibn Jabal was sent to provide good governance to the people of Yemen, and he did so by following the law laid down by Allah in the Qur’an and Sunnah, and by the wise application of that law through the exercise of due diligence – ijtehad.

We should remember that ijtehad is not whim or fancy. The Prophet is reported to have said in the hadith quoted above: “All praise is due to Allah, Who has guided the emissary of His Messenger towards that which He guided His Messenger.” [Abu Dawood]

Our Prophet SAW also taught us how to exercise ijtehad.  When he sent the people to the Bani Quraizah, he told them to go there and pray asr prayer there.  A group were traveling there when asr time came in.  The people began to debate, “Should we stop and pray, or go on and pray at the fort of the Bani Quraizah, even if we pray late?”  One group stopped and prayed, another went on and prayed when they arrived.  Later they asked Rasul Allah SAW.  He told them they were both correct.

Some have a problem with this.  How can both positions be correct?  That is the nature of ijtehad…  What is important is the effort to use our reasoning and find the best solution we can find, not the most appealing or popular, but what we feel is the most correct given our ability and knowledge.  Both groups did this.  We, as humans, have freedom of intention, but Allah SWT controls the effects of those intentions.  When we intend the best, to the best of our ability, then Allah SWT will reward us.  But if we are not diligent, or exceed our abilities, or act arrogantly and think we know, when we do not… then we will face His Wrath.

Imam Khassaf, in his Book Adab al Qadi, notes that if a judge rules beyond his ability, then he will face the hell fire, and if he has the ability given him by Allah, and fails to use it for the service of the community, then he will face the hell fire.  Only if he does his best, based on his ability and knowledge, will he walk that fine line, that sirat, to the jennah.  

These days, everyone claims to be a sheikh, a mujtahid.  Read one book, or attend a few years at a university, and you are a scholar of Islam.  Many seek to wear the mantle of the Prophet SAW, but few understand its weight.  It is a heavy, heavy thing, and no one should attempt to put it on.  The Prophet used to appoint judges based on their knowledge and their character.  Those who asked for the job, did not get it.  Those who shunned it, did.  Few today are taught according to the Socratic method, the method that actually trains the intellect and prepares one to exercise ijtehad.  Instead, we read a book, attend a lecture, watch videos, listen to tapes, and occasions take some form of objective test where we are expected to spew forth what has been fed us - we have become regurgitators.  We have become inflexible and our deen is stagnating.  People abandon us for other religions that appear to offer compassion and understanding, but which truly offer only whims and fancies.  This is because we are only able to vomit up what our so called teachers feed us, and we are unable to look to the sources of our deen, the Qur'an and Sunnah, and understand them so as to apply them in the world as we find it.  

And so mullahs run across town, forcing kitchens to close during Ramadan, forgetting that we will need to eat once the sun sets, and ignoring 1400 years of fiqh on how to deal with cooking during the holy month.  And so ignorant fools kill birds in the market place because they are "singing."   And so people fight over how to raise your finger during salaat.  We scream "bida'a" at each other, without the slightest understanding of the methodology of the madhaahibs, Sunni and Shia.  Well, you can put on that mantle if you want, but be careful it does not crush you.  As for me, I will follow the Deen of Al-Rahman, the Deen contained in the Qur'an and Sunnah, the Deen whose objectives form the Maqaasid ash-Shariah, the Deen that will guide us until Yawm al Qiyamah by Wahy and Wisdom.

May Allah SWT grant us this tawfiq to walk that fine line and grant us the Jennat ul-Firdaws, even though we scarcely deserve it.

Allahumma, aghfi lilmuslimeen wa almuslimaat, wa almu’mineen wa almu’minaat il-ahyaa’a minhum wa al-amwaat, innaka sami’u qareebun mujeebu udda’awaat.