The status of the sunnah in Islam
shaikh salim al amry explains a very important subject that every muslim needs to know and that is - the Status of Sunnah in Islam. He explains why we should follow the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as we are to follow the Qur'an, the book of Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/E9UdYNFv9Gs&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/E9UdYNFv9Gs&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
Uloom al Hadith
The Status and Authority of the Sunnah in Islam
a beautiful lecture explaining the importance of obeying Allah and obedience to Allah means to obey his messenger salAllahu alleyhi wa salam.
Say (O Muhammad SAW to mankind): "If you (really) love Allâh then follow me and Allâh will love you and forgive you of your sins. And Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Obey Allâh and the Messenger (Muhammad SAW)." But if they turn away, then Allâh does not like the disbelievers
surah al imran ayat 31-32
And obey Allâh and the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) that you may obtain mercy
surah al imran ayat 132
O you who believe! Obey Allâh and obey the Messenger (Muhammad SAW), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allâh and His Messenger (SAW), if you believe in Allâh and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination.
surah nisaa ayat 59
And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers' way. We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell - what an evil destination
surah nisaa ayat 115.
But no, by your Lord, they will not beleive, until they make you (O Muhammad ) as a judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission
surah nisaa 65
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dCdon8nPayg&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dCdon8nPayg&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
Why are the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) counted as proof?
Praise be to Allaah.
Hadeeth means the words, actions, approval or attributes that have been narrated from the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
A hadeeth may either confirm things that are mentioned in the Qur’aan, such as prayer, zakaah, etc., or it may give details of things that are mentioned in the Qur’aan in general terms, such as the numbers of rak’ahs in each prayer, the thresholds for paying zakaah, the details of Hajj, etc. It may also explain rulings which are not mentioned in the Qur’aan, such as the prohibition on being married to a woman and her (paternal or maternal) aunt at the same time.
Allaah revealed the Qur’aan to His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and commanded him to explain it to the people, as He said (interpretation of the meaning):
“And We have also sent down unto you (O Muhammad) the Dhikr [reminder and the advice (i.e. the Qur’aan)], that you may explain clearly to men what is sent down to them, and that they may give thought”
[al-Nahl 16:44]
The hadeeth of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is a revelation (wahy) from his Lord. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Your companion (Muhammad) has neither gone astray nor has erred.
Nor does he speak of (his own) desire.
It is only a Revelation revealed”
[al-Najm 53:2-4]
Allaah sent His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to call mankind to worship Allaah alone, and to disbelieve in any (god) apart from Him, and (He sent him) to bring the glad tidings of Paradise and warnings of Hell:
“O Prophet (Muhammad)! Verily, We have sent you as witness, and a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner,
And as one who invites to Allaah [Islamic Monotheism, i.e. to worship none but Allaah (Alone)] by His Leave, and as a lamp spreading light (through your instructions from the Qur’aan and the Sunnah the legal ways of the Prophet)
[al-Ahzaab 33:45-46 – interpretation of the meaning]
The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was anxious over this ummah; he did not know of anything good but he told them of it, and he did not know of anything evil but he warned them against it:
“Verily, there has come unto you a Messenger (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty. He (Muhammad) is anxious over you; for the believers (he is) full of pity, kind, and merciful”
[al-Tawbah 9:128 – interpretation of the meaning]
Every Prophet was sent only to his own people, but Allaah sent His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to all of mankind:
“And We have sent you (O Muhammad) not but as a mercy for the ‘Aalameen (mankind, jinn and all that exists)”
[al-Anbiyaa’ 21:101 – interpretation of the meaning]
Because the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) conveyed the revelation that was sent down to him from His Lord, it is obligatory to obey him. Indeed, obedience to him is obedience to Allaah:
“He who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad), has indeed obeyed Allaah”
[al-Nisaa’ 4:80 – interpretation of the meaning]
Obedience to Allaah and His Messenger is the way to salvation and victory, and to happiness in this world and in the Hereafter:
“And whosoever obeys Allaah and His Messenger, he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hell‑fire and will be admitted to Paradise)”
[al-Ahzaab 33:71 – interpretation of the meaning]
Hence it is obligatory for all people to obey Allaah and His Messenger, because therein lies their success and salvation:
“And obey Allaah and the Messenger (Muhammad) that you may obtain mercy”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:132 – interpretation of the meaning]
Whoever disobeys Allaah and His Messenger only harms himself, he does not harm Allaah in the slightest:
“And whosoever disobeys Allaah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and transgresses His limits, He will cast him into the Fire, to abide therein; and he shall have a disgraceful torment”
[al-Nisaa’ 4:14 – interpretation of the meaning]
Once Allaah and His Messenger have decided a matter, no one has the right to choose concerning that or to object to it; rather it is obligatory to obey and to believe in the truth:
“It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allaah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allaah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed into a plain error
[al-Ahzaab 33:36 – interpretation of the meaning]
A person's faith is not complete until he loves Allaah and His Messenger, and love implies obedience. Whoever wants Allah to love him and forgive his sins must follow the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him):
“Say (O Muhammad to mankind): ‘If you (really) love Allaah, then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur’aan and the Sunnah), Allaah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful’”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:31 – interpretation of the meaning]
Love of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is not simply the matter of words to be repeated, rather it is the matter of belief and conduct, i.e., obedience to what he commands, belief in what he tells us, avoidance of what he forbids, and avoidance of worshipping Allaah in any way except that which he prescribed.
When Allaah had perfected this religion and the Messenger had conveyed the message of his Lord, Allaah took him to be with Him. The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) left this ummah with clear proof in which there is no ambiguity. No one deviates from it but he is doomed:
“This day, those who disbelieved have given up all hope of your religion; so fear them not, but fear Me. This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion”
[al-Maa'idah 5:3 – interpretation of the meaning]
By the grace of Allaah, the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) preserved the ahaadeeth of the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon them), then the righteous salaf who came after them compiled them in books which are known as the Sihaah (Saheehs), Sunan and Musnads. The most sound of them are Saheeh al-Bukhaari, Saheeh Muslim, the four Sunans, the Musnad of Imaam Ahmad and the Muwatta’ of Imaam Maalik, etc.
Allaah has perfected this religion. The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not know of anything good but he taught it to his ummah, and he did not know of anything evil but he warned them against it. So whoever introduces anything into the religion, of bid’ah (innovation) or myths, such as praying to the dead or circumambulating (tawaaf) their tombs, or praying to the jinn and awliya’ (“saints”), and other things that have not been prescribed by Allaah and His Messenger, all of that is to be rejected and not accepted, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever innovates something in this matter of ours (Islam) that is not a part of it will have it rejected.” (Narrated by Muslim, 1718)
From Usool al-Deen al-Islami, by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem al-Tuwayjri
Imam Bukhari
Imam Bukhari was called the “Commander of the Faithful Hadiths”, Amir al Mu’minin fi al Hadith, and his sahih collection of hadiths is known as the most authentic of all books after the Qur’an. His powers of retention were such that he was called Hafiz al Dunya, or the possessor of the most powerful memory in the world.
His name was Muhammad ibn Isma’il, known also as Abu Abd Allah. He was born on the day of jumu’ah just after salah on the 13 Shawwal 194 A.H. at Bukhara, now a city in Uzbekistan. While still a small child, his father Isma’il died and left him and his older brother Ahmed in the care of their mother.
His father was himself a narrator of some repute; Ibn Hibban mentioned him in his book of reliable narrators, Kitab al Thiqat, and recorded that Isma’il had heard hadiths from Imam Malik, had shaken the hand of Abd Allah ibn Mubarak, and that the scholars of Iraq had related the hadiths they heard from him.
Evidently, in addition to his learning, Isma’il was an industrious and upright man as well, he left his sons a good deal of wealth, all of which was carefully gathered by lawful means. Uhayd ibn Hafs reported, ‘I went to see Isma’il, the father of Abu Abd Allah at the time of his death. He said to me, ‘ I do not know of a single dirham in my wealth that is haram and not a single dirham that may be considered questionable.’
At the age of ten years or even earlier Imam Bukhari began memorizing hadiths and sitting in the company of hadith narrators. Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim recorded that Imam Bukhari wrote, concerning those early years; “I began to go regularly to al Dakhili and others. One day he (Sheikh Dakhili) said, as he was reading his hadiths to his students, “Sufyan reported from Abu Zubayr from Ibrahim.” I said to him, “AbuZubayr never related anything from Ibrahim.” But he rebuffed me, I replied, “Go back to your original copy, if you still have it.” So he went and looked at it and then came back and said, “Alright! Then howis it supposed to read, young man?” I said, “It is actually Zubayr ibn “Uday, and he narrated the hadith from Ibrahim.” Then he (al Dakhili) took his pen and corrected his book, saying, “You are right!”
Hashid ibn Isma’il and another person reported to Muhammad ibn Hatimthat when Imam Bukhari was young, he went to the same hadith lesson that the two of them attended on a regular basis. When they noticed that several days had passed and that the boy was not writing anything down, they asked him about it. He (al Bukhari) told them, ‘You two have been here longer than I have. Why do you not tell me what you have written?’ They did so, and the total came to over fifteen thousand hadiths. When they finished reading, al Bukhari repeated from memory every word of every hadith they had read to him and asked them, ‘Do you still think that I come here for nothing or that I am wasting my time?’
In his early teens, Imam Bukhari memorized the hadith collections of Abd Allah ibn Mubarak and learned the fiqh of Waqi’ and of the Hanafi scholars in his area. In 210 A.H. he traveled wit his mother and brother to Makkah for hajj. For the next year he lived on his own in Medina and studied hadiths. He told Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim, ‘Then I spent five years in Basra with my books, going for hajj, and then returning from Makkah to Basra. I never related hadiths unless I knew the authentic from the objectionable and until I had studied the books of the rational jurists (for what they had to say about those hadiths).
I know of nothing considered essential, whether it be in regard to legislation, etiquette, or society that cannot be found in either the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His prophet, peace be upon him.’
Thus began the great Imam’s career of travel in pursuit of hadiths. During this time, he visited every important center for learning in theMuslim world: Balkh, Merv, Nisabur, Rayy, Baghdad, Basra, Kufa, Makkah, Madina, Wasit, Egypt, Damascus, Qaysariya, ‘Asqalan, Palestine, and Syria. He said “I have written hadiths of one thousand eighty people,
all of whom were scholars of hadith.”
Mahmud ibn Nasr reported: ‘I went to Basra, Syria, the Hijaz and Kufaand met scholars there. Whenever Bukhari was mentioned, every one of them stated that he was their better.’
Hafiz Salih ibn Muhammad Jazarah reported: ‘When Bukhari sat inBaghdad, I used to dictate hadiths to him. Twenty thousand people at a time would attend those sessions.’
Another interesting aspect of his life was that he was an avid archer. His biographer wrote: ‘He would often ride out to shoot arrows. I do now think I ever saw him, for as long as I accompanied him, miss the target more than twice. Otherwise he was always on target. No one ever beat him in a contest.’ Yet for all his learning, personal integrity, and righteousness, in the end he denied the opportunity to return to his home in Bukhara to pass his last days there. May Allah have mercy on him.
Sahih al Bukhari
Sahih al Bukhari is considered the most authentic of all hadith collections. Few people are equipped to deal with his works including this collection. In the traditional Islamic educational system, for instance the study of this collection came only after the student had
spent years learning the classical disciplines: the Arabic language, rhetoric and literature, the rational sciences of logic and philosophy, the legal disciplines of fiqh and usul al fiqh, the various Qur’anic sciences from tajwid to tafseer, and the study of usul al hadith. Only
after the student masters these subjects was he allowed to attend the dars (lessons), usually given by the most learned and respected of all teachers on Sahih al Bukhari.
The book is so full of technicalities related to usul al hadith and ilmal rijal that a throughout knowledge of those subjects is needed if this collection is to be appreciated fully. Sahih al Bukhari is to be learned and lived and is an experience than a book. In the traditional setting, there is a special place for the Bukhari lesson and the students will sit on the ground in a semi circle around the sheikh an the sheikh will interject his comments, corrections and learned tafseer. Nothing will be left out, every hadith every narrator every
chapter heading is discussed.
It is no wonder that many scholars were opposed to its translation in English. The majority of shuyukh had no difficulty in accepting translation of the text of Qur’an into local languages because the meanings of the Qur’an are clear and no one who reads them with an open mind will go astray. But the hadith literature is a different story.
What results when an unprepared non-scholar attempts to read the hadith literature is fitnah, in the sense that the person would be so confused and overcome after taking such an uninformed and one dimensional reading of that literature. This is bound to occur in translation
without the presence of a sheikh to guide him or her through the obstacles, that he or she would face a crisis in their religion.
Imam Bukhari left a great legacy of learning to generations of Scholars. His contributions to the preservation of the Sunnah were paramount. Unfortunately not all his works have survived the passage of time.
Here are some of his major works: al tarikh al kabir, al tarikh al awsat, al tarikh al saghir, al du’afa al saghiral tawarikh wa al ansab, kitab al kuna, al adab al mufrad, rafa’al yadayn fi al salah, kitab al qira’ah khalf al imam, khalq af’al al ibn, al tafsir al kabirkitab al
ashribah, kitab al hibbah, qadaya al sahabah wa al tabi’in wa aqawilihum, kitab asami al sahabah----
1) Ibn Mubarak was a great muhaddith an a companion of abu Hanifah, his best work was kitab al zuhd and his love for jihad.
2) Kitab al Du’afa al Saghir, page 5
3) Kitab al Du’afa al Saghir, page 6
4) Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al Huffaz 1:556
5) Fadl Allah al Samad fi Sharh al Adab al Mufrad, introduction
6) Kitab al Du’afa al Sahgir
7) Kitab al Du’afa al Sahgir, page 7
vBulletin® v3.7.2, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.