CHAPTER III THE SUNNAH DEFINITION: *Sunnah literally means a clear path or a beaten track, also been used

d to imply normative practice, or an established course of conduct. - It may be a good example or bad, and may be set by an individual, sect or a community. Arabs used the word sunnah in reference to the ancient and continuous practice of the community which they inherited from their forefathers (pre-Islamic Arabia) - According to ulema of Hadith it refers to all that is narrated from the Prophet, his acts, his sayings and whatever he has tacitly approved plus all the reports which describe his physical attributes and character. - According to the ulema of usul al-fiqh, in its juristic usage it refers to a source of the Shari ah and a legal proof next to the Quran, but to the ulema of fiq, sunnah primarily refers to a shariah value which falls under the general category of mandub - Sunan in plural form. - Referred not only to the Hadith of the Prophet but also to the established practice of the community. - According to al-Shafii, the Sunnah coming direct from the Prophet in the form of Hadith through a reliable chain of narrators is a source of law irrespective of whether it was accepted by the community or not. - Second source of Shariah next to Quran. *Bidah (innovation) - opposite of sunnah, characterized by lack of precedent and continuity with the past. *hikmah literally means Wisdom, also used in Quran as a source of guidance that accompanies the Quran itself. - Sunnah of the Prophet *Hadith literally means a narrative, communication or news consisting of the factual account of an event. (occurs 23 times in Quran) - used almost exclusively to a narrative form, or a saying of the Prophet. - 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. - vehicle or the carrier of Sunnah - 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. ALTERNATIVES TO HADITH: 1. Khabar literally means news or report; used synonymously with hadith 2. Athar impression, vestige or impact; used to imply the precedent of the Companions. - Companions met in groups to discuss the problems they encountered and their agreement or collective judgment is also known as athar PROOF (HUJIYYAH) OF SUNNAH Ulema are unanimous to the effect that Sunnah is a source of Shariah. The Sunnah of the Prophet is a proof (hujiyyah) for the Quran testifies to its authority and enjoins the Muslim to comply with it. Words of the Prophet are divinely inspired, His acts and teachings that are meant to establish rules of Shariah constitute a binding proof. Sunnah commands obedience of the mukallaf, all the rulings of the Prophet, especially those which correspond with the Quran and corroborate its contents, constitute binding law. To refer the judgment of a dispute to God means recourse to the Quran and referring it to the Messenger means recourse to the Sunnah. Submission to the authority of the prophet is not a matter of mere formalistic legality but that it is an integral part of the Muslim faith. Sunnah is a proof next to the Quran in all sharai matters and that conformity to the terms of Prophetic legislation is a Quranic obligation of all Muslims.

CLASSIFICATION AND VALUE I

CRITERIA OF CLASSIFICATION: 1. Subject matter (matn) of Sunnah 2. Manner of its transmission (isnad) TYPES OF SUNNAH: 1. Verbal (qawli) consist of the sayings of the Prophet on any subject; ex. Hadith fi al-saimah zakah, the livestock is liable to zakah 2. Actual (fili) consist of His deeds and actual instructions such as the way he performed the salah, the fasting, the rituals of hajj, or the transactions he concluded such as sale and giving loans. 3. Tacitly approved ( taqriri) may be inferred from his silence and lack of disapproval, or from his express approval and verbal confirmation. The entire bulk of Sunnah that is the sayings, acts and tacit enactments of the Prophet may be once again divided into two types: 1. Non-legal Sunnah (Sunnah ghayr tashi) mainly consist of the natural activities of the prophet (al-afalal-jibliyyah) such as the manner he ate, slept, clothed and such other activities as do not seek to constitute a part of the Shariah. Not of primary importance to the Prophetic mission and therefore do not constitute legal norms. 2. Legal Sunnah (Sunnah tashrii) - consist of the exemplary conduct of the Prophet, be it an act, saying, or a tacit approval, which incorporate the rules and principles of Shariah. May be divided into three types: 1. In his capacity as Messenger of God - the Prophet has laid down rules which are, on the whole complementary to the Quran, but also rules on which the Quran is silent. The Sunnah may consist of clarification of the ambiguous (mujmal) parts of the Quran or of specifying and qualifying the general and the absolute contents of the Quran. 2. In his capacity as Imam or the Head of State such as allocations and expenditure of public funds, decisions pertaining to military strategy and war, appointment of state officials, distribution of booty, signing of treaties, etc., partake in legal Sunnah which, however, does not constitute general legislation. - Sunnah of this type may not be practiced by individuals without obtaining the permission of the competent government authorities first. 3. In his capacity as a judge in particular disputes, usually consist of two parts: Two Parts: 1. The part which relates to claims, evidence and factual proof and the judgment which is issued as a result. is situational and does not constitute general law. 2. Second part lays down general law with the proviso does not bind the individual directly and no one may act upon it without the prior authorization of a competent judge. Since the Prophet himself acted in a judicial capacity, the rules that he has enacted must therefore be implemented by the office of the qadi.

Sunnahwhich consists of general legislation often has the quality of permanence and universal application to all Muslims, this type usually consists of commands and prohibitions which are related to the Quran in the sense of endorsing, elaborating or qualifying the general provisions of the holy Book.

QURAN AND SUNNAH DISTINGUISHED: Quran has been recorded in writing from beginning to end during the lifetime of the Prophet who made sure that the Quran is preserved as he received it through divine revelation; Sunnah on the other hand was mainly retained in memory by the Companions who did not, on the whole, keep a written record of the teachings of the Prophet. The entire text of the Quran 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. Quran in none of its parts consists of conceptual transmission, that is transmission in the words of the narrator himself, both the concepts and words of the Quran have been recorded and transmitted as the Prophet received them; Sunnah on the other hand consists, in the most part, of transmission of concepts in words and in sentences that belong to the narrators. Scope of ikhtilaf or disagreement over Sunnah is more extensive than which may exist regarding the Quran; there is no problem to speak of concerning the authenticity of the contents of the Quran, but disagreements over the Sunnah extends, not only to questions of interpretation but also to authenticity and proof.

PRIORITY OF THE QURAN OVER THE SUNNAH In search for solution to a particular problem, the jurist must resort to the Sunnah only when he fails to find any guidance in the Quran, should there be a clear text in the Quran, it must be followed and given priority. The priority of the Quran over the Sunnah is partly a result of the fact that the Quran consists wholly of manifest revelation (wahy zahir), whereas the Sunnah mainly consists of internal revelation (wahy batin) and it is largely transmitted in the words of the narrators themselves. The authenticity of the Quran is not open to doubt, it is in other words, qatI, or decisive, in respect of authenticity. Sunnah is explanatory to Quran, the explanation or commentary should naturally occupy a secondary place in relationship to the source. Sunnah is the arbiter (qadiyah) of the Quran; the word qadiyah means mubayyinah (explanatory) and it does not imply the priority of the Sunnah over the Quran. The Sunnah being explanatory to the Quran is subordinate to it.

IS SUNNAH AN INDEPENDENT SOURCE? Relationship of the Sunnah to the Quran in the following capacities: Sunnah may consists of rules that merely confirm and reiterate the Quran, in which case the rules concerned originate in the Quran and are merely corroborated by the Sunnah. In question of independency would be redundant since Sunnah merely confirms the Quran, obviously Sunnah is not an independent source. Example: five pillars of the faith, rights of ones parents, respect for the property of others. The Sunnah may consists of an explanation or clarification to the Quran, it may clarify the ambivalent (mujmal) of the Quran, qualify its absolute, or specify the general terms of the Quran. This is once again the proper role that the Sunnah plays in relationship to the Quran in that it explains the Quran. Example: with regard to the contract of sale the Quran merely declares sale to be lawful as opposed to riba, which is forbidden. The Suunah supplements by enacting additional rules which facilitate proper implementation of the general principles of Quran. The Sunnah may consists of rulings n which the Quran is silent in which case the ruling in question originates in the Sunnah itself, referred to as the Founding Sunnah (al-Sunnah al-muassisah) which neither confirms nor opposes the Quran, and its contents cannot be traced up in the holy Book. Example: the punishment of rajm, that is death by stoning for adultery when committed by a married Muslim.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF QURAN AND SUNNAH: 1. Protecting the necessities (daruriyyat) 2. Complementary requirements (hajiyyat) 3. Embellishments (tahsiniyyat) DISTORTION AND FORGERY No dispute over the occurrence of extensive forgery in Hadith. TWO TYPES OF ATTRIBUTION OF FALSE STATEMENTS TO THE PROPHET: 1. Deliberate forgery which is usually referred to as hadith mawdu 2. Unintentional fabrication which is usually referred as hadith batil and is due mainly to error and recklessness in reporting. Racial, tribal and linguistic fanaticism is yet another context in which ahadith has been fabricated. Known among the classes of forgers are also professional story- tellers and preachers whose urge for popularity through arousing an emotional response in the audience led them to indulgence in forgery. They made up stories and attributed them to the prophet. Juristic and theological differences constitute another theme of forgery in hadith. Another category of fabricated Hadith is associated with the religious zeal of individuals whose devotion to Islam led them to careless ascription of Hadith to the Prophet. CLASSIFICATION AND VALUE II Categories of Hadith:

1. Continuous Hadith (muttasil)- one which has a complete chain of transmission from the last narrator all the way back to the Prophet. 2. Discontinued Hadith (ghayr muttasil)- also known as Mursal, is a Hadith whose chain of transmitters is broken and incomplete. A. THE CONTINUOUS HADITH Varieties:

1. The Mutawatir literally means continuously recurrent, means report by an indefinite number of people in such a way that precludes the possibility of their agreement to perpetuate a lie. Such possibility is inconceivable owing to their large number, diversity of residence, and reliability. Conditions for a report to be classified as Mutawatir: a. The number of reporters in every period or generation must be large enough to preclude their collusion on propagating falsehood. b. The reporters must base their report on sense perception. Must also be based on certain knowledge, not a mere speculation. c. The reporters must be upright persons, which means that they must neither be infidels nor profligates. d. That the reporters are not bias in their cause and are not associated to one another through political or sectarian movement. What is the value of the Mutawatir? According to the majority of the ulema, the authority of a Mutawatir Hadith is equivalent to that of the Quran. Universal continuous testimony (tawatur) engenders certainty (yaqin) a the knowledge that it creates is equivalent to knowledge that is acquired through sense-perception. Conceptual Mutawatir - Mutawatir bi al-mana, when the reports of a large number of the transmitters of Hadith concur in their purport but differ in wording or in form, only their common meaning is considered Mutawatir. Example: performing the obligatory prayers, the rituals of hajj, fasting, the quantities of zakah.

Verbal Mutawatir - Mutawatir bil-lafz, of rare occurrence compared to conceptual mutawatir, all reports must be identical on the exact wording of the hadith as they were uttered by the Prophet himself.

2. The Mashhur (Well-Known) Hadith- defined as a Hadith which is originally reported by one, two or more Companions from the Prophet or from other Companion but has later become wellknown and transmitted by an indefinite number of people. Necessary that the diffusion of the report should have taken place during the first or the second generation following the demise of the prophet. It engenders speculative knowledge only. Acting upon the Mashhur is obligatory, but its denial does not amount to disbelief. The difference between Mutawatir and Mashhur lies mainly in the fact that every link in the chain of transmitters of the Murawatir consists of plurality of reporters, whereas the first link in the case of Mashhur consists of one or two Companions only. Example: The killer shall not inherit, no woman shall be married simultaneously with her paternal or maternal aunt. 3. The Ahad (Solitary Hadith) also known as Khabar al-Wahid, is a Hadith which is reorted by a single person or by odd individuals from the prophet. Every report narrated by one, two or more persons from the prophet but which fails to fulfill the requirements of either the Mutawatir or the mashhur. A hadith which does not impart positive knowledge on its own unless it is supported by extraneous or circumstantial evidence. REQUIREMENTS OF AHAD: a. That the transmitter is a competent person which means that reports communicated by a child or lunatic of whatever age is unacceptable. b. The transmitter of Ahad must be a Muslim, which means that report by a nonMuslim is unacceptable. c. The transmitter must be an upright person at the time of reporting the Hadith. d. The narrator of Ahad must possess a retentive memory so that his report could be trusted. The faculty of retention, or dabt, is the ability of a person to listen to speech, to comprehend its meaning s it was originally intended and then to retain it and take all necessary precautions to safeguard its accuracy. e. That the narrator is not implicated in any form of distortion (tadlis) either in the textual contents of a Hadith or in its chain of transmitters. Distortion in the text is to add to the saying of the Prophet elements which did not exist, or to detract from its original content so as to misled the listener. f. The transmitter of Ahad must, in addition, have met with and heard the hadith directly from his immediate source. The content must not be outlandish in the sense of being contrary to the established norms of the quran and other principles of Shariah.

B. THE DISCONTINUED HADITH (al- Hadith Ghayar al-Muttasil) A Hadith whose chain of transmitters does not extend all the way to the Prophet and it occurs in three varieties of Mursal, Mudal, and Munqati 1. Mursal defined as a hadith which a Successor has directly attributed to the Prophet without mentioning the last link, namely the Companion who might have narratd it from the Prophet. The ulema of Hadith does not accept the Mursal. CONDITIONS: a. That the Mursal is supported by another and more reliable Hadith with a continuous chain of transmitters, in which case it is the latter that would represent the stronger evidence. b.That one Mursal is supported by another Mursal and the latter is accepted and relied upon by the ulema. c. That the Mursal is agreeable with the precedent of the Companions, in which case it is elevated and attributed to the prophet. The process here is called raf and the hadith is called Marfu.

d.That the transmitter of Mursal has been approved by the ulema and a number of them are known to have relied on it. e. That the transmitter of Mursal has a reputation not to have reported weak and doubtful Hadith 2. Munqati - refers to hadith whose chain of narrators has a single missing link somewhere in the middle. 3. Mudal a hadith in which two consecutive links are missing in the chain of its narrators. Neither of them is acceptable.

Sahih, Hasan and Daif: Point of reliability, narrators of hadith have been graded in the following categories: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The Companions who are generally accepted to be reliable Thiqqat thabitun or those who rank highest in respect of reliability next to the Companions. Thiqqat or trustworthy but of a lesser degree than the first two Saduq or truthful, that is one who is not known to have committed forgery or serious errors. Saduq yahim, that is truthful but committing errors. Maqbul or accepted, which implies that there is no proof to the effect that his report is unreliable. 7. Majhul or a narrator of unknown identity. These are followed by lower classes of persons who are classified as sinners (fussaq), suspected of lying and outright liers. HADITH ISCLASSIFIED AS: A. SAHIH or authentic when its narrators belong to the first three categories. defined as a Hadith with continuous isnad all the way back to the Prophet consisting of upright persons who also possess retentive memory and ther narration is free of both obvious and subtle defects. B. HASAN differs from Sahih in that it may include among its narrators a person or persons who belong to the fourth, fifth or sixth grades in the foregoing scale. A Hadith that falls between Sahih and Daif and although its narrators are known for truthfulness, they have not attained the highest degree of reliability and prominence. C. DAIF the weak, 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 or narrators or in tis textual contents. Its narrators are known to have a bad memory or that his integrity and piety has been subjected to serious doubt. Categories of Daif: 1. Shadh a hadith with a poor isnad which is at odds with a more reliable Hadith 2. Munkar a Hadith whose narrator cannot be classified to be upright and retentive of memory. 3. Mudtarib- a Hadith whose contents are inconsistent with a number of other reports none of which can be preferred over the others.