Without Sunnah, Muslims would not have known the number of Rak`ahs (units of Prayer) of each Salah (Prayer), the way to perform it and its obligations. They would not have known the details of the rulings on Sawm (Fast), Zakah (obligatory charity), Hajj, Jihad (fighting in the Cause of Allah), propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, or the details of rulings on transactions, prohibitions, Hudud (ordained punishments for violating Allah's Law), etc.
And obey Allâh and the Messenger (Muhammad ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ) that you may obtain mercy.
O you who believe! Obey Allâh and obey the Messenger (Muhammad ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allâh and His Messenger (ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ), if you believe in Allâh and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination.
Whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah; and whoever disobeys me has disobeyed Allah.
My entire Ummah will enter Jannah (Paradise) except those who refuse.
Ma`dy Karib (may Allah be pleased with him) saying, The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) prohibited some things on the Day of Khaybar, and then he said, "Some of you will belie me (i.e. my Hadith) while reclining on comfortable cushions. They would claim, 'The Book of Allah is a judge between you and us; what we find in it to be Halal, we will declare as Halal; and what we find in it to be Haram, we will declare as Haram.' Indeed, what the Messenger of Allah has forbidden authorizes the same power of the prohibitions forbidden by Allah." (Related by AlHakim, A lTirmidhy and Ibn Majah with a Sahih Isnad).
Hadith Mutawatir were reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that he recommended the attendants of his Khutbahs (sermons) to notify the absentees, saying to them, The informed one might comprehend it (what I have said) better than the present audience.
This also includeswhat was recorded in the two Sahih books of Hadiththat when the Prophet (peace be upon him) delivered a Khutbah to the people in the Farewell Hajj, on the Day of `Arafah (9th of DhulHijjah) and on the Day of Sacrifice (10th of DhulHijjah), he said to them, Those who are present should convey it (this information) to those who are absent, as the informed one might comprehend it (what I have said) better than the present audience who will convey it to them.
were informed of it, and had it not been eternal until the Day of Resurrection, he would not have asked them to convey it. Thus, it is known that the evidence of the Sunnah is established on those who hear it from him (peace be upon him) and those to whom it was reported by Sahih Isnad.
The Sahabah preserved the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) by words and actions. They conveyed it to those who came after the Tabi`un (Followers, the generation after the Companions of the Prophet), who in turn conveyed it to the following generations. Thus, trustworthy scholars conveyed from generation to another and from a century to another. They also compiled it in their books, classified it into Sahih (authentic) and Da`if (weak) categories of Hadith, developed rules for the Sahih and Da`if Hadiths. Scholars have preserved the books of the Sunnah, such as the two Sahih books of Hadith just like Allah (Exalted be He) has preserved His Book from distortions and atheism in order to apply Allah's Saying (Glorified be He), Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (i.e. the Qur'ân) and surely, We will guard it (from corruption).
There is no doubt that the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was revealed to him through Wahy, so Allah preserved it just like He preserved His Book; He appointed for it great scholars to protect it from distortion of distorters and interpretations of the ignorant, and to defend it against all that was falsely ascribed to it by ignorant people, liars and atheists. Allah (Glorified be He) made the Sunnah an interpretation of the meanings of the Qur'an in which the rulings of the Qur'an are clarified in detail, and which includes other rulings that are not mentioned in the Qur'an, such as the rulings on breastfeeding, inheritance, prohibition of combining in marriage a woman and her paternal or maternal aunt, and such other rulings mentioned in the Sahih Sunnah but not mentioned in the Qur'an.
Below is some of what was reported from the Sahabah, Tabi`un and the scholars who followed them about the obligation of honoring and applying the Sunnah.
It was reported in the two Sahih books of Hadithon the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said, When the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) died and some of the Arabs became Murtad (apostates), Abu Bakr AlSiddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "By Allah, I will fight those who differentiate between Salah (Prayer) and Zakah (obligatory charity)."
`Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) wondered, "How can you fight them although the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'I have been ordered to fight the people until they testify that La ilaha illa Allah (there is no deity but Allah). If they say it, they have saved their lives and property from me, provided that they fulfill its conditions?'" Abu Bakr AlSiddiq said, "Is Zakah not one of its conditions? By Allah, if they refuse to give me even a young shegoat they used to give to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), I will fight them for that." `Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "When I saw that Abu Bakr has already decided to fight, I knew that it is A lHaqq (the Truth)." Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them) followed suit and fought the apostates until they returned to Islam and killed those who insisted on Riddah (apostasy). This is a clear evidence of the obligation of honoring and applying the Sunnah.
A grandmother came to AlSiddiq (may Allah be pleased with him) asking him about her share in inheritance, he said to her, "There is nothing prescribed for you in Allah's Book, nor do I know anything prescribed for you in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), but I will ask the people." He (may Allah be pleased with him) asked the Sahabah. Some of them testified that the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave the grandmother one sixth of the inheritance, so he gave it to her.
`Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) used to ask his governors to judge among the people according to Allah's Book. If they failed to find a solution to a case in Allah's Book, they should refer to the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him). When he got stuck with the ruling on Imlas (a pregnant woman losing her child because of a felony committed against her), he asked some of the Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them) about it. Muhammad ibn Maslamah and AlMughirah ibn Shu`bah (may Allah be pleased with them) testified that the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave a verdict of paying the value of a male or female slave, so he (peace be upon him) gave the same verdict.
When `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) was confused about the ruling on a woman spending `Iddah (woman's prescribed waiting period after widowhood) in the house of her husband or moving to her parents' house, Furay`ah bint Malik ibn Sinan, sister of Abu Sa`id (may Allah be pleased with them both), testified that the Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded her to spend `Iddah in her husband's house. Therefore, `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) gave that verdict. It was also judged according to the Sunnah when performing the Had (ordained punishment for violating Allah's Law) of drinking Khamr (intoxicant) on AlWalid ibn `Uqbah.
When `Aly (may Allah be pleased with him) was told that `Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) forbade Tamattu` Hajj (combining Hajj and `Umrah with a break in between), `Aly (may Allah be pleased with him) performed Tamattu` Hajj and said, "I shall never leave a Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) because of the opinion of any person."
Ibn `Abbas heard some people objecting to his Fatwa (legal opinion issued by a qualified Muslim scholar) regarding Tamattu` Hajj, taking as evidence the opinion of Abu Bakr and `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) who preferred Ifrad Hajj (performing Hajj only), Ibn `Abbas said "Stones from the sky are about to fall onto you. I am telling you that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said (so and so), and you say that Abu Bakr and `Umar said (so and so)!" If those who contradict the Sunnah and favor the opinions of Abu Bakr and `Umar are liable to punishment, what about those who contradict it favoring the opinion of someone less important or for personal opinions?
When some people argued with `Abdullah ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) about some matters pertaining to the Sunnah, `Abdullah said to them, "Are we asked to follow the Prophet (peace be upon him) or follow `Umar?" While `Imran ibn Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) was telling the people about the Sunnah, a man asked him to tell them about the Qur'an. He (may Allah be pleased with him) became angry and said that the Sunnah is the interpretation of the Qur'an; without the Sunnah we would not have known that Zhuhr (Noon) Prayer is four Rak`ahs, Maghrib (Sunset) Prayer is three Rak`ahs, and Fajr (Dawn) Prayer is two Rak`ahs. We would not neither have known the details of the rulings on Zakah, in addition to other details mentioned in the Sunnah.
There are many cases reported from the Sahabah (may Allah be pleased with them) about honoring the Sunnah, the obligation of applying it and warning about violating it. When `Abdullah ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) told the people the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Do not forbid the female Servants of Allah from going into the Masjids (mosques) of Allah one of his sons said, "By Allah, we will forbid them." `Abdullah became very angry at him and said, "I am telling you 'The Messenger of Allah said' and you tell me 'By Allah, we will prevent them'?"
When `Abdullah ibn AlMughaffal AlMuzany (may Allah be pleased with him) saw one of his relatives throwing pebbles, so he forbade him to do this and said, "The Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade throwing of pebbles since it neither leads to hunting a prey, nor does it defeat an enemy, but it may break a tooth or gouges out an eye." Later, he saw him throwing pebbles, so he said, "By Allah I will never talk to you again. I told you that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) forbade throwing pebbles, but you insist on doing it."
It was related by AlBayhaqy on the authority of Ayyub AlSikhtiyany, the honorable Tabi`ythat he said, "If a person when told about a Sunnah says, 'Forget about it and tell us about the Qur'an'; indeed he is misguided."
A lAwza`y (may Allah be merciful with him) said, "The Sunnah is considered authoritative on the Qur'an. This means that the Sunnah clarifies in detail what was mentioned briefly in the Qur'an, or mentions rulings that are not stated in the Qur'an, such as Allah's saying (Glorified be He), And We have also sent down unto you (O Muhammad ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭ ﺳﻠﻢ) the Dhikr [reminder and the advice (i.e. the Qur'ân)], that you may explain clearly to men what is sent down to them, and that they may give thought.
The saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) was previously mentioned, I have been given the Qur'an and something like it. It was related by AlBayhaqy on the authority of `Amir AlSha`by (may Allah be merciful with him) that he said to some people, "You went astray when you ignored (the Prophetic) reports," i.e. authentic Hadith.
It was also related by AlBayhaqy on the authority of AlAwza`y (may Allah be merciful with him) that he said to one of his friends, "If you hear a Hadith reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), never give an opinion according to other than it, for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) conveyed the Message of Allah (Exalted be He)."It was also related by AlBayhaqy on the authority of the great Imam, Sufyan ibn Sa`id AlThawry (may Allah be merciful with him), that he said, "All knowledge is based on (Prophetic) reports." Malik (may Allah be merciful with him) said, "The views of anyone of us can be refuted except that of the one who is buried in this grave." He meant the grave of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). Abu Hanifah (may Allah be merciful with him) said, "If a Hadith is reported from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), it is heartily welcomed."
AlShafi`y (may Allah be merciful with him) said, "If I ever narrate a Hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and I do not work accordingly, I call you to witness that my mind has gone." He also said, "If I ever say anything and a Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) tells otherwise, ignore my statement."
Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah be merciful with him) said to one of his friends, "Do not imitate me, Malik or AlShafi`y, and rather take from the same source we based our opinions on." He (may Allah be merciful with him) also said, "I wonder at people who have known the authenticity of Isnad from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), but they prefer the Ra'y (personal opinion) of Sufyan, while Allah (Glorified be He) says, And let those who oppose the Messenger's (Muhammad ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ) commandment (i.e. his Sunnah legal ways, orders, acts of worship, statements) (among the sects) beware, lest some Fitnah (disbelief, trials, afflictions, earthquakes, killing, overpowered by a tyrant) should befall them or a painful torment be inflicted on them. He then said, "Do you know what Fitnah (temptation) is? Fitnah is Shirk (associating others with Allah in His Divinity or worship). If someone refuses some of the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him), they might have some aberration deep inside their hearts, and so they become losers."
It was related by AlBayhaqy on the authority of Mujahid ibn Jabr, the honorable Tabi`y, that he said about Allah's saying (Glorified be He), (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allâh and His Messenger (ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ) that referring to Allah means referring to the Qur'an, and referring to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) means referring to his Sunnah.
It was also related by AlBayhaqy on the authority of AlZuhry (may Allah be merciful with him)
that he said, "Our scholars in the past used to say that adhering to the Sunnah guarantees safety." Muwaffaq AlDin ibn Qudamah (may Allah be merciful with him) said in his book Rawdat AlNazhir fi Bayan Usul AlAhkam, "The second source of evidence is the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). His saying (peace be upon him) is considered supporting evidence on the miracle of his truthfulness. Allah (Exalted be He) ordered the people to obey him and warned them against disobeying his orders." Al Hafizh ibn Kathir (may Allah be merciful with him) interpreted Allah's saying (Exalted be He), And let those who oppose the Messenger's (Muhammad ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ) commandment (i.e. his Sunnah legal ways, orders, acts of worship, statements) (among the sects) beware, lest some Fitnah (disbelief, trials, afflictions, earthquakes, killing, overpowered by a tyrant) should befall them or a painful torment be inflicted on them. that it is order, approach, Sunnah, Shari`ah (Islamic law), words and deeds of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); if any action complies with them it will be approved and if not it will be rejected from whoever does them.It was authentically reported in the two Sahih books of Hadithand others that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, If a person does any act for which there is no sanction from our behalf, that is to be rejected. This means that a person who violates Shari`ah, whether explicitly or implicitly, should beware lest some Fitnah (disbelief, trials, afflictions, earthquakes, killing, overpowered by a tyrant) should befall them by Kufr, hypocrisy or Bid`ah (innovation in religion), or a painful torment be inflicted on them. in this world by being killed, imprisoned or Had inflicted upon them. It was related by Imam Ahmad that
`AbdulRazzaq told him that Ma`mar reported on the authority of Hammam ibn Munabbih that Abu Hurayrah said that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, The similitude of you and I is that of a man who lit a fire and there began to fall into it moths and insects that normally fall into a fire. The man tried his best to prevent them from falling into the fire, but they overpowered him and rushed into the fire. He (peace be upon him) said, "This is what our situation is like. Similarly, I take hold of the knots at your waist (belts) to prevent you from falling into the fire saying, 'Beware of the fire!', but you insist on falling into it.'" This Hadith was narrated on the authority of `AbdulRazzaq.
A lSuyuty (may Allah be merciful with him) said in his thesis entitled Muftah AlJannah fi AlIhtijaj bilSunnah, "Please be advised, may Allah have mercy on you, that whoever denies that the Hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him), whether words or action, with its known conditions, as a source of jurisprudence, is considered a Kafir (disbeliever), rendered outside of the bale of Islam and would be gathered with the Jews, the Christians or any other Kafirs." There are many reports from
Sahabah, Tabi`un and those who followed them about honoring the Sunnah, obligation of applying it and warning against violating it. I hope the Ayahs, Hadith and reports we have cited will be enough and convincing to truthseekers. I ask Allah to guide all Muslims and us to what pleases Him; protect us from the reasons that incur His Wrath; and guide us all to His Straight Path. He is AllHearer, Ever Near.
May Allah's peace and blessings be upon Allah's Slave and Messenger, Prophet Muhammad, his family, Companions and those who follow them in righteousness!