LESSON FOUR
D EFINITION

Literally, Sunnah means a clear path or a beaten track
‫الطريقة المتبعة‬but it is also used to imply normative
practice, or an established course of conduct.

A sunnah may be a good example or a bad example,
and it may be set by an individual, a sect or a
community.

The opposite of sunnah is ‫بدعة‬, or innovation, which is
characterized by ;lack of precedent and continuity
with the past.

According to al-Shafi’i’s interpretation, which also
represents the view of the majority, the word ‘hikmah’
in this context means the Sunnah of the Prophet.

To the uluma of usul al-fiqh, Sunnah refers to a source
of the Shariah and a legal proof next to the Quran.

To the uluma of fiqh, ‘Sunnah’ primarily refers to a
shar’i value which falls under the general category of
mandub.

To the uluma of hadeeth, Sunnah includes all that is
narrated from the Prophet, his words, acts, and tacit
approvals, whether before or after the beginning of
his prophetic mission, regardless of whether it may
contain a ruling of the Shariah or not.
H ADEETH

Literally, means a narrative, communication or news
consisting of the factual account of an event.

Hadeeth differs from Sunnah in that hadeeth is a narration
of the conduct of the Prophet whereas Sunnah is the
example or the law that is deduced from it. hadeeth in this
sense is the vehicle or the carrier of Sunnah,

The terms ‫ خبر‬and ‫ أثر‬have often been used as alternatives to
hadeeth. Literally, khabar means ‘news or report’, and
athar, ‘impression, or impact’.

The word khabar' in the phrase 'khabar al-wahid' ‫خبر الواحد‬
for example, means a solitary Hadith. ‫حديث اآلحاد‬
 The
majority of uluma have used hadeeth, khabar and athar
synonymously, whereas others have distinguished khabar
from athar.
 The
majority of the uluma have upheld ‫عمل الصحابى‬the
precedent of the Companions as one of the transmitted (naqli)
proofs.
 According
to al-Shafi’i, the Sunnah, coming direct from the
Prophet in the form of hadeeth through a reliable chain of
narrators, is a source of law irrespective of whether it was
accepted by the community or not. He emphasized the
authority of the hadeeth from the Prophet in preference to
the opinion or practice of the Companion. Even if it is a
solitary Hadith.
P ROOF -VALUE (‫)حجية السنة‬
OF
S UNNAH

The uluma are unanimous on the point that Sunnah is a source of
Shariah and that in its rulings with regard to halal and haram, it
stands on the same footing as the Quran.

The Prophet’s acts and teachings were meant to establish a rule of
Shariah constitute a binding proof.

The proof of authenticity of hadeeth may be definitive (‫)قطعى‬, or it
may amount to a preferable conjecture (‫ ;)الظن الراجح‬in either case,
the Sunnah commands obedience of the mukallaf.

All the rulings of the Prophet, especially those which correspond
with the Quran and confirm its contents, constitute binding law.

The Companions have reached a consensus on this point: both
during the lifetime of the Prophet and following his demise, they
eagerly obeyed the Prophet’s instructions and followed his
examples regardless of whether his commands or prohibitions
originated in the Quran or otherwise.
II. C LASSIFICATION
AND
VALUE : (A)

Two of the most commonly accepted criteria for such
classifications are the subject-matter ‫ )المتن‬of Sunnah and the
manner of its transmission (‫)االسناد‬.

The Sunnah is divided into three types, namely verbal (‫)قولية‬,
actual (‫ )فعلية‬and approvales (‫)تقريرية‬.

The verbal Sunnah consist of sayings of the Prophet on any
subject, such as the hadeeth; the actual Sunnah consists of the
Prophet’s deeds and instructions; the tacitly approved
Sunnah consists of the acts and sayings of the Companions
which came to the knowledge of the Prophet and of which he
approved. The tacit approval may be concluded from his
silence and lack of disapproval, or from his express approval
and verbal confirmation.

The sayings of Companions such as ‘we used to do such and
such during the lifetime of the Prophet’ constitute a part of
Sunnah ‫ تقريرية‬only if the subject is such that it could not
have failed to attract the attention of the Prophet.

Non-legal Sunnah (‫ )غير تشريعية‬mainly consists of the natural
activities of the Prophet (‫ )االفعال الجبلية‬such as the manner in
which he ate, slept dressed and other such activities as do
not seek to constitute a part of the Shariah.

Sunnah relating to specialized or technical
knowledge, such as medicine, commerce and
agriculture, is held to be peripheral ‫ ثانوية‬to the main
function of the Prophetic mission and is therefore not
a part of the Shariah.

As for the acts and sayings of the Prophet that related to
particular circumstances such as the strategy of war,
including devices that misled the enemy forces, etc. these are
considered to be situational and not part of the Shariah.

There are certain matters which are peculiar to the person
of the Prophet so that his example concerning them does not
constitute general law, such as polygamy above the limit of
four, marriage without a dowery, prohibition of remarriage
of the widows of the Prophet, connected fasting (‫)صوم الوصال‬
and the fact that the Prophet admitted the testimony of
‫خزيمة بن ثابت‬as legal proof. The rules of Shariah concerning
these matters are as stated in the Quran, and remain the
legal norm for the generality of Muslims.
T HE
LEGAL
S UNNAH (‫)السنة التشريعية‬

The legal Sunnah (‫ )السنة التشريعية‬incorporates the rules and
principles of Shariah.

The variety of Sunnah may be divided into three types, namely
the Sunnah which the Prophet laid down in his capacities as
Messenger of God, as the head of state or imam, or in his
capacity as a judge.
(1) In his capacity as Messenger of God, the Prophet has laid
down rules which are, complementary to the Quran, but also
established rules on which the Quran is silent. In this
capacity, the Sunnah may consist of a clarification of the
ambiguous (‫ )مجمل‬parts of the Quran or specifying and
qualifying the general and the absolute contents of the
Quran.

If the ambiguous of the Quran is known to be
obligatory, the explanatory Sunnah will carry the
same value.

Alternatively, the Sunnah may
provide a clear
indication as to whether a particular rule it prescribes
is wajib, mandub, or merely permissible.

An act may require the belated performance (‫ )القضاء‬of
a wajib or a mandub, and as such its value would
correspond to that of its prompt performance (‫)االداء‬.

If a Prophetic act is intended as a means of seeking the
pleasure of God, then it is classified as ‫ مندوب‬and
according to a variant view as ‫واجب‬.
2- SUNNAH
IN HIS CAPACITY AS AN IMAM
All the rulings of Sunnah which originate from the
Prophet in his capacity as imam or head of state, such
as the distribution and expenditure of public funds,
decisions pertaining to military strategy and war,
appointment of state officials, distribution of booty,
signing of treaties, etc., partake of the legal Sunnah
which does not constitute general legislation (tashri’
‘amm).
Sunnah if this type may not be practiced by
individuals without obtaining the permission of
competent government authorities first.
3-S UNNAH
IN HIS CAPACITY AS A JUDG
Sunnah which originates from the Prophet in his capacity
as a judge in particular disputes usually consists of two
parts:
the part which relates to claims, evidence and factual proof,
and the judgment which is issued as a result. The first part
is situational and does not constitute general law, where
the second part lays down general law, however, that it
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 ‫القاضى‬.

To distinguish the legal from non-legal Sunnah, it is
necessary for the mujtahid to determine the original
purpose and context in which a particular ruling of the
Sunnah has been issued and whether it was designed to
establish a general rule of law.

That explains why there is sometimes juristic
disagreement even with the presence of the hadeeth.

Ex. a Hadith on the reclamation of barren land which
reads, 'whoever reclaims barren land becomes its
owner.[46. Abu Dawud] . The ulema have differed as to
whether the Prophet uttered this Hadith in his prophetic
capacity or in his capacity as head of state.
II.I Q URAN
AND
S UNNAH D ISTINGUISHED

The Prophet clearly expressed the concern that nothing of his
own Sunnah be confused with the text of the Quran. This was the
main reason why he discouraged his Companions, at the early
stage of his mission from reducing the Sunnah into writing lest it
be confused with the Quran.

The Companions used to verify instances of doubt concerning the
text of the Quran with the Prophet himself, who would often
clarify them through clear instruction.
This manner of
verification is, however, unknown with regard to the Sunnah.

The entire text of the Quran has come down to us through
continuous testimony (tawatur) whereas the Sunnah has for the
most part been narrated and transmitted in the form of solitary,
or ‫احاد‬, reports. Only a small portion of the Sunnah has been
transmitted in the form of ‫متواتر‬.

Disagreement over the Sunnah extends not only to questions of
interpretation but also to authenticity and proof.
II.2 T HE P RIORITY OF THE Q URAN OVER THE
S UNNAH

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 be given priority over any ruling of the Sunnah.

The Quran wholly consists of manifest revelation (wahy zahir)
whereas the Sunnah mainly consists of internal revelation
(inspiration)(wahy batin) and is largely transmitted in the words of
the narrators themselves.

If a conflict is seen to exist between the Quran and Sunnah, they must
be reconciled as much as possible and both should be retained. If this
is not possible, the Sunnah in question is likely to be of doubtful
authenticity and must therefore give way to the Quran.

No genuine conflict is known to exist between the mutawatir hadeeth
and the Quran.

The fact that the Sunnah explains and determines the precise meaning
of the Quran means that the Quran is more dependent on the Sunnah
than the Sunnah is on the Quran.
.

According
to
the
majority
opinion,
before
implementing a Quranic rule one must resort to the
Sunnah and ascertain that the ruling in question has
not been qualified in any way or given an interpretation
on which the text of the Quran is not self-evident.

In all cases where the Sunnah specifies or qualifies the
general or the absolute terms of the Quran, the Sunnah
in effect explains and interprets the Quran.

In no instances is the Quran abandoned in favour of the
Sunnah.
) ‫( السنة قاضية على القران‬

The word qadiyah (arbite) in the expression
)‫ (السنة قاضية على القران‬means mubayyinah
(explanatory) and does not imply the priority of
the Sunnah over the Quran.

The correct conclusion drawn from passages
from the Quran such as the verse in surat al-Nahl
ِّ َ‫( َوأَ ْن َز ْلنَا إِلَ ْيك‬16:44)
‫ون‬
َ ‫س َما نُ ِّز َل إِلَ ْي ِه ْم َولَ َعلَّ ُه ْم يَتَفَ َّك ُر‬
ِ ‫الذ ْك َر لِتُبَيِّ َن ِللنَّا‬
where the Prophet is addressed, that the Sunnah
is explanatory of the Quran, and is subordinate to
it.
II.3 I S S UNNAH AN I NDEPENDENT S OURCE ?

The Sunnah may consist of rules that merely confirm and
reiterate the Quran, in which case the rules concerned originate
in the Quran and are merely confirmed by the Sunnah.

A substantial part of the Sunnah is, in fact, of this variety:
all hadeeth pertaining to the five pillars of the faith and other
such matters like the rights of one’s parents, respect for the
property of others, and hadeeth which regulate homicide, theft
and false testimony, etc., basically reaffirm the Quranic principles
on these subjects.

The Sunnah may consist of an explanation or clarification of the
Quran; it may clarify the ambivalent (‫ )المجمل‬of the Quran, qualify
absolute statements, or specify the general terms of the Quran.

The Sunnah also qualifies the absolute (‫ )المطلق‬of the Quran.

The Sunnah may consist of rulings on which the Quran is silent,
This variety of Sunnah, referred to as ‫السنة المؤسسة‬, or ‘founding
Sunnah’, neither confirms nor opposes the Quran, and its contents
cannot be traced back to the Holy Book. It is only this variety of
Sunnah that lies at the centre of the debate as to whether or not the
Sunnah is an independent source of law.

There is some disagreement among jurists as to whether the Sunnah,
or this last variety of it at any rate, constitutes an independent source
of Shariah.

In his capacity as Messenger of God, the Prophet has introduced laws,
some of which originate in the Quran while others do not. But all
Prophetic legislations originate from divine authority. The
Sunnah and the Quran are of the same provenance, and all must be
upheld and obeyed.

The majority explain that some of the rulings of the
Sunnah consist of analogies with the Quran. The Quran
is indeed more than comprehensive and provides
complete guidance on the broad outline of the entire
body of the Shariah.

Since the Quran provides ample evidence that the
Prophet explains the Quran and that he must be obeyed,
there is no need to advance a theoretical conflict
between the two facets of a basic unity.
II.4 D ISTORTION

AND
F ORGERY
The attribution of false statements to the Prophet may be divided into
two types:
(I) deliberate forgery, which is usually referred to as ‫;’الحديث الموضوع‬
(2) unintentional fabrication, which is known as ‫الحديث الباطل‬and is due
mainly to error and recklessness in reporting.

The fabrication whether deliberate or otherwise must in all cases be
abandoned.

The initial forgery in hadeeth is believed to have occurred in the context
of personality cult literature ‫ )فضائل األشخاص‬which aimed at crediting (or
discrediting) leading political figures with exaggerated claims. The
earliest forgery in this context was committed by the Shi’ah.

The Kharijites ‫ الخوارج‬are on the whole considered to have avoided
fabricating hadeeth, which is due mainly to their belief that the
perpetrator of a grave sin is no longer a Muslim

Signs of forgery in the text (‫ )المتن‬of a hadeeth are identified by
reference to at least seven factors:
Racial, tribal and linguistic fanaticism was yet another context in
which hadeeth were fabricated. Forgeries relating to the virtues or
superiority of certain tribes, cities, and periods of time over others
have been isolated by the ‘uluma of hadeeth and placed in the category
of ‫الموضوعات‬.

Known among the classes of forgers are also professional storytellers
and preachers whose urge for popularity through arousing an
emotional response in their audience led them to indulge in forgery.
They made up stories and attributed them to the Prophet.

Juristic and theological differences constitute another theme of
forgery in hadeeth.

Another category of fabricated hadeeth is associated with the
religious zeal of individuals whose devotion to Islam led them to the
careless ascription of hadeeth to the Prophet.
signs of forgery in hadeeth

Just as the ‘uluma classified hadeeth into various categories in
order to identify its strength and weakness from various
viewpoints, they also identified the signs of forgery in hadeeth
from the viewpoints of transmission (isnad) and subjectmatter (matn).

The branches of the science of hadeeth known as
‘‫( علم الطبقات‬genealogy) and ‫(أسماء الرجال‬personal
biographies) pay particular attention to the dates of
birth, dates of transmission, residence and pupilage, and
the information useful in tracing signs of forgery in the
narration of hadeeth.
Signs of forgery in (isnad) are identified mainly by reference to
the reputation and biography of the transmitters. There is a
wealth of literature on the names and biographies of the
transmitters of hadeeth and those who are known to have
indulged in lying and forgery.
Another tool in identifying forgery in the isnad is to determine
the time factor and dates in the transmission of hadeeth. This
is achieved by verifying whether the reporter has actually met
the person he has quoted as his immediate source.
Sign of forgery in transmission are also detected by reference
to personal interest and motive.

Corruption in the purpose and meaning of a reported
hadeeth also provides evidence of its fabrication.

A report maybe unhistorical and fail to qualify the test
of historical reality.

hadeeth may smack a scholastic fanaticism such the
report by Habban ibn Juwayn that ‘I heard ‘Ali saying
that I and the Prophet worshipped God six or seven
years before anyone of this Ummah.’ It is known that
Habban was a fanatic Shi’i and careless in the
treatment of hadeeth.
III. C LASSIFICATION
AND
VALUE (B)

Hadeeth is classified into tow categories: continuous
(‫ )متصل‬and discontinued (‫)غير متصل‬.

A continuous hadeeth is one which has a complete
chain of transmission from the last narrator all the
way back to the Prophet.

A discontinued hadeeth, also known as ‫مرسل‬, is a
hadeeth whose chain of transmitters is broken and
incomplete.

The majority of uluma have divided the continuous
hadeeth into the two main varieties of ‫ متواتر‬and ‫احاد‬.
III.I T HE C ONTINUOUS HADEETH ‫المتواتر‬

It means a report by an indefinite number of people related in
such a way as to prevent the possibility of their agreement to
perpetuate a lie.

A report is classified as ‫ متواتر‬only when it fulfills:
1.
The number of reporters in every period or generation must be large
enough to preclude their collusion in propagating falsehood.
2.
The reporters must base their report on certain knowledge, not
mere speculation.
3.
The attainment of certainty; can be obtained even through reports of
non-Muslims, profligates and even children who have reached the
age of discernment‫ التمييز‬, that is, between seven and fifteen.
4.
The reporters should not be biased in their cause or associated with
one another through a political or sectarian movement.

The authority of a mutawatir hadeeth is
equivalent to that of the Quran. Universal
continuous testimony (‫ )التواتر‬creates certainty
(‫)يقين‬

When the reports of a large number of
transmitters of hadeeth concur in their purport
but differ in wording or in form, only their
common meaning is considered mutawatir,
known as ‫ متواتر بالمعنى‬or conceptual mutawatir.
E XAMPLES OF THIS KIND OF M UTAWATIR

the verbal and actual Sunnah which explain the manner of
performing the obligatory prayers, the rituals of hajj, fasting,
the quantities of zakah, rules relating to retaliation (qiyas) and
the implementation of hudud, etc., all constitute conceptual
Mutawatir. For a large number of the Companions witnessed
the acts and sayings of the Prophet on these matters, and their
reports have been transmitted by
multitudesofpeoplethroughout the ages

The other variety of Mutawatir, which is of rare occurrence
compared to the conceptual Mutawatir, is called ‫ متواتر باللفظ‬or
verbal Mutawatir.
III.I T HE C ONTINUOUS HADEETH
‫ (المشهور‬WELL - KNOWN ) HADEETH

It is defined as a hadeeth which is originally reported by one, two
or more Companions from the Prophet or from another
Companion, but has later become well-known and transmitted by
an indefinite number of people.

The hadeeth became widely known during the period of the
Companions or the Successors.

The difference between them ‫ المتواتر‬and ‫ المشهور‬lies mainly in the
fact that every link in the chain of transmitters of the ‫المتواتر‬
consists of a plurality of reporters, whereas the first link in the
case of ‫ المشهور‬consists of one or two Companions only. As for the
remaining links in the chain of transmitters, there is no difference
between the mutwatir and mashur.
T HE
SOLITARY
(‫)أحاد‬
HADEETH

The solitary hadeeth (also known as ‫ )خبر اآلحاد‬is a hadeeth
which is reported by a single person or by odd individuals
from the Prophet.

ahaad hadeeth does not impart positive knowledge on its own
unless it is supported by irrelevant or circumstantial evidence.

ahaad hadeeth may establish a rule of law provided that it is
related by a reliable narrator and the contents of the report
are not repulsive to reason.

ahaad engenders speculative knowledge, acting upon which is
preferable only. In the event where supportive evidence can be
found in its favor, or when there is nothing to oppose its
contents, then acting upon ahaad is obligatory.
‫ اآلحاد‬may only form the basis of obligation if
it fulfills the following requirements:
1) The
transmitter is a competent person, meaning that reports
communicated by a child or an insane are unacceptable.
2) The
transmitter of ‫ اآلحاد‬must be a Muslim. The reporter must fulfill
this condition only at the time of reporting the hadeeth, but not
necessarily at the time when he received the information.
3) The
transmitter must be an upright person ‫عدل‬at the time of
reporting the hadeeth. The person must not have committed a
major sin and not persist in committing minor ones; nor is he
known for persistence in degrading profanities, such as eating in the
public, associating with persons of ill-repute or indulgence in
humiliating jokes. This is referred to as acts which indicated a lapse
in one’s probity or ‫المرؤة‬.

The ‫ عدالة‬of a narrator may be established by various means
including ‫التزكية‬, that is, when at least one upright person confirms
it, or when the transmitter is known to have been admitted as a
witness in court, or when a ‫ فقيه‬or a learned person is known to
have relied on or acted upon his report.

Tazkiya may consist of affirmation of honesty )‫ )التعديل‬or of
expunction of integrity and uprightness (‫)الجرح‬.
The grounds of ‫ الجرح‬to be ten, namely fabrication of hadeeth,
attribution of lies to the Prophet, gross error, negligence (‫)الغفلة‬,
transgression (‫ )الفسق‬other than lying, (‫)الوهم‬, ignorance (‫)الجهالة‬,
heresy and pernicious innovation (‫)البدعة‬, bad memory, insertion of
one’s own statements in a report so that it causes confusion ( ‫تدليس‬
‫)المتون‬, and indulgence in outlandish reporting that goes against
more reliable information.
The narrator of ahaad must possess a retentive memory so
that his report may be trusted.
The faculty of retention, or ‫ضبط‬, is the ability of a person
to listen to an utterance, to comprehend its meaning as it
was originally intended and then to retain it and take all
necessary precautions to safeguard its accuracy.
The narrator should not be implicated in any form of
distortion (‫)تدليس‬, either in the textual contents (matn) of a
hadeeth or in its chain of transmitters.
Tadlis in the isnad is to tamper with the names and
identity of narrators, which is, essentially, not very
different from outright forgery.
III.2 T HE D ISCONTINUED
(‫)غيرالمتصل‬
HADEETH
This is a hadeeth whose chain of transmitters does not extend all
the way back to the Prophet.
 It occurs in three varieties:
‫المعضل‬-‫المنقطع‬-‫المرسل‬
The mursal, is a hadeeth which a Successor
‫ التابعى‬has directly
attributed to the Prophet without mentioning the last link,
namely the Companion who might have narrated it from the
Prophet.
Because
of the doubts in transmission, the uluma do not
accept the mursal.
A MURSAL TRANSMITTED BY
S UCCESSORS ARE ACCEPTED ,
KNOWN PROMINENT
PROVIDED IT FULFILLS
THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS :
1.First,
that the mursal is supported by another and more
reliable hadeeth with a continuous chain of transmitters.
2.Secondly,
that one mursal is supported by another mursal,
and the latter is accepted and relied upon by the uluma.
3.Thirdly,
it is in harmony with the precedent of the
Companions, in which case it is elevated and attributed to
the Prophet. The process is called ‫ الرفع‬and the hadeeth is
called ‫مرفوع‬.
4.Fourthly,
the mursal has been approved by the uluma and
they have relied on it.
5.Fifthly, that the transmitter of mursal has a reputation not to
have reported weak and doubtful hadeeth.
The other two varieties of disconnected hadeeth
are the munqati’ and the mu’dal.
1. The ‫المنقطع‬
is a hadeeth whose chain of
narrators has a single missing link
somewhere in the middle.
2. The
‫ المعضل‬is a hadeeth in which two
consecutive links are missing in the chain of
its narrators.

Neither the munqati’ nor the mu’dal hadeeths
are acceptable.
IV.
‫الصحيح والحسن والضعيف‬
The narrators of hadeeth have been graded into the following categories:
(I) the Companions;
(2) thiqat thabitun)‫(ثقات ثابتون‬, or those who rank highest in respect of
reliability next to the Companions;
(3) thiqat‫ ثقات‬those who are trustworthy but of a lesser degree than the
first above two;
(4) saduq,‫ صدوق‬or truthful, are not known to have committed a forgery
or serious error;
(5) saduq yahim, truthful but committing errors;
(6) maqbul,‫ مقبول‬accepted, implying that there is no proof to the effect
that his report id unreliable;
(7) majhul, ‫مجهول‬a narrator of unknown identity

A hadeeth is classified as ‫ صحيح‬authentic, when its
narrators belong to the first three categories mentioned
above.

The ‫ الحسن‬hadeeth differs from the sahih in that it may
include among its narrators a person(s) who belongs to the
fourth, fifth or sixth grades on the foregoing scale.

The weak, or ‫ ضعيف‬hadeeth is when a narrator does not
possess the qualifications required in sahih or hasan. It is
called weak owning to a weakness that exists in its chain of
narrators or in its textual contents. Its narrator is known
to have bad memory, or his integrity and piety has been
subjected to serious doubt.
T HE
WEAK , OR
‫الضعيف‬
There are several varieties of ‫ضعيف‬:
 Shadhdh‫الشاذ‬
is a poor isnad hadeeth
 Munkar
‫المنكر‬is a hadeeth whose narrator cannot be classified to
be upright and retentive of memory
 Mudtarib
‫المضطرب‬is a hadeeth whose contents are inconsistent
with a number of other reports.

Mudall ‫المعضل‬is a hadeeth in which the narrator has quoted
someone he has not met or one who lived in a distant time and
place.

Maqlub‫ المقلوب‬is a hadeeth in which the name of one of the
narrators is substituted with another and their reports are
patched up.

Mawdu ‫ الموضوع‬refers to an outright forgery