Sunnah and Hadith
"And whatever the
Messenger gives you, take
it, and whatever he forbids
you, leave it. And fear
Allah: truly Allah is severe
in punishment. " [Qur'an
59:7]
In Islam, the Arabic word
sunnah has
come to denote the way
Prophet Muhammad (saas), the
Messenger of Allah, lived
his life. The Sunnah is the
second source of Islamic
jurisprudence, the first
being the
Qur'an. Both sources are
indispensable;
one cannot practice Islam
without consulting both of
them. The Arabic word
hadith (pl.
ahadith) is very similar to
Sunnah, but not identical. A
hadith is a narration
about the life of the
Prophet (saas) or what he
approved - as opposed to his
life itself, which is the
Sunnah as already mentioned.
In M. M. Azami's
Studies in Hadith
Methodology and Literature,
the following precise
definition of a hadith is
given,
According to
Muhaddithiin [scholars
of hadith -ed.] it
stands for 'what was
transmitted on the
authority of the
Prophet, his deeds,
sayings, tacit approval,
or description of his
sifaat (features)
meaning his physical
appearance. However,
physical appearance of
the Prophet is not
included in the
definition used by the
jurists.'
Thus hadith
literature means the
literature which
consists of the
narrations of the life
of the Prophet and the
things approved by him.
However, the term was
used sometimes in much
broader sense to cover
the narrations about the
Companions [of the
Prophet -ed.] and
Successors [to the
Companions -ed.] as
well.
The explosion of Islam in
the 7th and 8th centuries
confronted Islamic scholars
with a daunting task: to
preserve the knowledge of
the Sunnah of the Prophet (saas).
Hence the science of hadith
evaluation was born. We
recommend that you read the
"Introduction to the Science
of Hadith" below to
understand the tremendous
efforts that were required
to sift the true reports
from the false reports. The
success of the early
scholars is also captured
below by some collections of
hadith.
Large Collections
Miscellaneous
Collections
Other Articles on the
Sunnah
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