Definition of Hadith and Sunnah?

Smashing

6 years ago

Sunnah, literally meaning is a path, method, way, contains those religious practices that are established by the Prophet (pbuh) among his companions and have passed to us by the consensus of generations. These religious practices have mostly originated from the religion of Ibrahim (pbuh) and the Prophet (pbuh) has made revisions to them or some additions where appropriate.
Hadith on the other hand, literally
meaning something new that comes out, a saying, a statement, refers to narrations that are attributed to the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) who narrate a statement or a story about the Prophet (pbuh) or related to the Prophet (pbuh). The Hadith has reached us through individual or a few narrators in every generation.
The established Sunnah is as reliable as the Qur’an because it has been transmitted in the same way (i.e. general consensus of generations, i.e. Tawatur).
Therefore the Qur’an and the Sunnah remain as our only primary sources of understanding Islam. Hadith is not as reliable as the Qur’an and the established
Sunnah therefore it needs to be verified and understood under the light of the Qur’an and the established Sunnah. While the Qur’an and the established Sunnah are the primary sources of understanding Islam, Hadith is a very rich source of understanding the life of the Prophet (pbuh) and his way of living (Sira) and the history of Islam and the Qur’an. Hadith is also a good facilitator to
study the Qur’an and the established Sunnah although understanding these two sources is not depending on Hadith.

Tayo400

6 years ago

Sunnah translates roughly as “path” or “way,” but more appropriately might be called “example.” It refers to the words and deeds of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), who set the example that all Muslims are to follow. Another word for it might be “precedent.” Mohammed (pbuh) was divinely guided, and therefore by following his example, you can follow the path that Allah has ordained.

Sunnah comes in three types. First are the things the Prophet said (qawliyyah). These statements may not be the direct word of Allah like the Quran, but they are still authoritative. Second are the things that he did (fiiliyyah). Third are the things he observed and tacitly approved of (taqririyya).

The Sunnah refers specifically to Mohammed’s (pbuh) example. The Hadith, however, are how we get the Sunnah. Hadith are the narratives of the Prophet’s life. The Sunnah is told to us via the Hadith. Each is a short vignette (though the length varies tremendously). They relate the words and actions of the Prophet, and can be used by judges to interpret the law.

The Hadith are collected in six books, collectively known as Kutub al-Sittah (which means literally “the six books”). Each contains thousands of stories. They function much like the Christian gospels; there is a great deal of overlap between them, and they each have a particular flavor. The first five are generally undisputed. They are Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawood, Jami Al-Tirmidhi, and Sunan al-Sughra. The sixth book is disputed between schools of fiqh, and could be either Sunan ibn Majah or Mawatta Malik. Sunan ibn Majah is more commonly accepted.

These six books form the backbone of the canon of Sunnah, but before they were written, the Hadith narratives were communicated only orally for centuries. As a result, authenticity is a prime concern in evaluating any Hadith. Because they derive their value from being accurate accounts of the life of Mohammed (pbuh), their authenticity must be unimpeachable for them to have any authority. A complicated system has arisen to evaluate the authenticity of any given narrative; not only must its chain of oral transmission be established, but the character and intelligence of each member of that chain must be as well. A Hadith that comes to us via the word of a known liar or apostate may be worthless.

The best Hadith are known as sahih, or “authentic.” To be sahih, a narrative must fit five conditions:

Each narrator in the chain of narration (isnad) must be trustworthy;
Each narrator must be reliable in passing on what he has heard, either through memory or writing things down;
The isnad must be unbroken (muttasil) back to the origin of the story;
The story’s text and its isnad must be free of flaws (‘illah);
The story’s text must be free of irregularity (shudhoodh) or contradiction with other narratives
Such a Hadith can attain the highest level of support and is the most authoritative it can be. It can be strengthened by having multiple independent chains of narration that agree with each other. Below that level is hasan; a Hadith that is acceptable (literally “good”) but not completely authoritative. This could be because one of the narrators was not considered to be totally authoritative himself.

The third category is da’if, or weak. Such a hadith might have a gap in the isnad (known as mu’allaq, or “suspended”). It might have originated with one of the tabi’un, or Muslims contemporary with the Companions of Mohammed (pbuh) who nonetheless was born after the Prophet’s passing. If it does not mention which Companion (sahaba) it originated from, then it is mursal or “hurried.” There are reasons besides discontinuity which can weaken a Hadith; one that is munkar, or “denounced,” is one that is contradicted by another Hadith with a stronger narrator. A Hadith where numerous narrators disagree on the exact details is mudtarib or “shaky.” And one that is mawdu was likely just made up.

Finally, the strength of an isnad is contingent on the number of narrators. The best category is mutawatir, or “successive.” Such a Hadith was agreed upon by so many people that it cannot possibly be in error. Of course, the exact number of narrators necessary to hit this benchmark is not specified. The narrators can all agree on the exact words, or disagree on wording but all agree on the basic concept.

Hadith can also be ahaad, literally “singular.” This does not require the Hadith to have literally one narrator. Instead, any Hadith that is not mutawatir is ahaad. Some schools argue that Hadith cannot be treated as simply a binary true/not true state; a hadith ahaad can be used as the basis for speculative knowledge, whereas a hadith mutawatir gives certain knowledge.

As you can see, the easy part of the Sunnah is following it. You do what the Prophet did, obey his commands, and use his tacit approvals to judge your actions. The hard part is figuring out what the Sunnah is. There is a great deal of scholarly work in determining which Hadith are authentic, which ones set a good example, and which should be ignored or marginalized. This kind of work, however, is essential in following the Sharia. It also gives an insight into the philosophy behind Sharia. The Law exists; it is out there, perfect, waiting to be discovered. It does not change, though men may err in evaluating it. The purpose of jurisprudence is not to decide the law but to discover it. That is why accurate reporting is so important, and why fiqh is so essential.