بســم
اللــه الرحمــن الرحيــم
والصلاــة
والسلاــم علــى نبيــه الكريــم
وعلــى
اهــل بيتــه الطيبيــن الطاهريــن المظلوميــن
والعاقبة
للمتقين
Having
established that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him & his family), in
his person, is the Ma’khadh or source of Islamic knowledge, because it
was upon his heart that the divine Revelation was revealed, I now move on to
the four things that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him & his family)
brought or authorized as sources of law: (1) the Quran (2) the Sunna (3) Ijma
(4) Ijtihad
These
are the four sources of Shari’a in their proper sequence according to
the mainstream and orthodox Ahl us-Sunnati wal-Jama’a. With regard to
the Sunna, it means the Qawl (saying), F’il (action) and Taqrir
(approval) of the Prophet (peace be upon him & his family). One of the
common misnomers that is becoming widespread among the Muslims is that the only
source of the Prophet’s Sunna are the Ahadith. Certainly, the Ahadith
are a source of knowledge of the Prophet’s Sunna, but the reader should
consider the fact that the Prophet’s Sunna was obviously in existence even before
the Ahadith were narrated and collected. For example, the Quraan enjoins the
Believers to pray five times a day, but the details of those mandatory prayers,
including the number of rakaat is known from the Sunna. It is from the
Sunna that the Fajr prayer consists of two raka’a, Zuhr consists of four raka’a,
Asr consists of four raka’a, Maghrib consists of three raka’a and Isha consists
of four raka’a. Suppose not a single Hadith was narrated concerning the number
of raka’at for these mandatory prayers, would any reasonable person conclude thereby
that there is no proof for the number of rakaat for these prayers? Obviously
not! That is because the Muslim community has come to know and practice this
necessary knowledge regarding the number of rakaat in the prescribed prayers through
Amal al-Tawatur, or continuous mass practice going back to the time of
the Prophet (peace be upon him). Hence, Amal al-Tawatur is also a source
of Sunna, in fact, it carries greater weight and significance than isolated reports
from the Hadith, known as Khabr Wahid. Members of the Ahl al-Hadith
sect, however, consider the Hadith as the sole source of Sunna, and emphasize a
literal reading of the Hadith, making no distinction between mutawatir
(mass-transmitted) and khabr wahid (solitary report) and rejecting the
concept of attaining the Sunna through Amal al-Tawatur independent of
the texts of the Hadith. Take for instance the issue of covering the head for a
male, with a turban, skullcap, etc. Muslim males of Ahl us-Sunna have
been covering their heads for religious significance, especially during acts of
worship, as Amal al-Tawatur. But the Ahl al-Hadith sect does not consider
covering the head for a male as having any religious significance, and so it is
common among their ranks to go bareheaded and pray bareheaded. They argue that
since there isn’t a single authentic Hadith which enjoins covering the head for
a male, or quotes any virtue in doing so, therefore they conclude that covering
the head for a male is of no consequence and is merely a cultural custom.
Another strong example is the issue of Udhiya or the animal sacrifice
that is on the Eid al-Qurban (Festival of Sacrifice) and days of Tashriq in the
month of Dhi al-Hijja. According to the Ahl al-Hadith, what is there, from the
Hadith specifically, in preventing someone from sacrificing a bird for the Udhiya?
The fact that Muslims restrict themselves to sacrificing an’am animals during
the Festival of Sacrifice, meaning camels, cattle, sheep and goats, is an
example of Amal al-Tawatur, since there is nothing explicit in either
the Quran or the Hadith which forbids us from sacrificing birds, chicken or
even deer, all of which are Halal, but we come to know from the mass
practiced Sunna of the Muslim community that despite being Halal, those animals
cannot be sacrificed for the Festival of Sacrifice. Outside of the Festival of
Sacrifice, to ordinarily sacrifice deer, birds, ducks, chicken, etc., is a
valid act of worship in order to attain closeness to Allah. This sums up my
discussion on the reality of Sunna and the fact that it is not only derived
from the Hadith but more importantly from Amal al-Tawatur, the continuous mass
practice of the Muslim community going back to the time of the Prophet (sall
Allahu alayhi wasallam) and his Companions (radi Allahu anhum).
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