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Islam is the guidance which the Almighty
has sent down for mankind through His Prophets. The Prophet Muhammad (sws)
is the last of these Prophets. Consequently, it is now he alone who in
this world is the sole source of this religion. It is only through him
that man can receive guidance and it is only he who, through his words,
deeds or tacit approval, has the authority to regard something as part
of Islam until the Day of Judgement. The Qur’an says:
It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger
from amongst themselves who rehearses upon them His verses and purifies
them and for this he instructs them in law and in wisdom. (62:2)
It is this Shari`ah (law) and this Hikmah (wisdom) which is termed as
"Islam". This religion has been given to the Ummah by the Prophet
(sws) through the consensus of his companions and through their perpetual
practice and perpetual recitation in two forms:
1. The Qur’an
2. The Sunnah
1. The Qur’an
Every Muslim knows that the Qur’an was revealed by Allah to the Prophet (sws) – the last of the
Prophets – and which has since then remained with the Ummah with
the unanimous verdict from the Ummah itself that it is this very
book which was revealed to the Prophet (sws), and which his companions,
through their consensus and through their perpetual recitation, delivered
to the world without the slightest alteration. Allah says:
Indeed, We have sent down this Reminder and We shall
assuredly guard it. (15:9)
2. The Sunnah
By Sunnah is meant that tradition
of the Prophet Abraham (sws) to which the Prophet (sws) gave religious
sanction among his followers after reviving and reforming it and after
making certain additions to. The Qur’an has directed the Prophet (sws) to obey this Abrahamic tradition in
the following words:
Then We revealed to you to follow the ways of Abraham,
who was true in faith and was not among the polytheists. (16:123)
The following portion of Islam has been
given to us through the Sunnah:
1. Remembering Allah’s name
and then eating and drinking with the right hand
2. Greeting one another with
Assalamu Alaykum and Wa`
alaykum al-salam
3. Saying Alhamdu
lilah after sneezing and replying it with Yarhamu kallah
4. Saying Adhan in the right ear of a new born baby and saying Iqamah
in his left ear
5. Tadhkiah1
6. Nikah2
7. Delivering the Nikah sermon
8. Keeping moustaches trimmed
9. Shaving the hair below the
naval
10. Shaving the hairs under
the armpits
11. Circumcising the male offspring
12. Cutting nails
13. Cleaning the nose, the mouth
and the teeth
14. Cleaning the body after
excretion
15. Ghusl-i-janabah3
16. Bathing the dead before
burial
17. Shrouding a dead body and
preparing it for burial
18. Burying the dead
19. Wudu (ablution)
20. Tayammum
21. Adhan
22. Iqamah before the prayers
23. Building and overseeing
of mosques for prayers
24. The five obligatory prayers
25. The Jum`ah prayers
26. The Eid Prayers
27. The Janazah Prayers
28. Fasting
29. Ay`tikaf
30. Eid al-fitr
31. Sadqah
of Eid al-fitr
32. Zakat
33. Hadi4
34. Tawaf 5
35. Sanctity of Makkah
36. The Sacred Months6
37. Hajj
and Umrah
38. Eid al-Adha
39. Sacrificing animals on Eid
al-Adha
40. Saying Takbirs
after prayers during the days of Tashriq7;
This is all what the Sunnah is
and it can be said with certainty that there is no difference between it
and the Qur’an as far as their
authenticity is concerned. Just as the Qur’an has been received by Ummah through the consensus of the Prophet’s
companions and through their perpetual recitation, the Sunnah has
been received by it through their consensus and through their perpetual
practice. It shall stand validated like the Qur’an in every period of time through the consensus of the Ummah.
Consequently, there is no doubt or confusion about it now.
All that is Islam is constituted by
these two forms. Nothing besides these two is Islam or can be regarded
as its part.
A narrative of the words, deeds or
tacit approvals of the Prophet (sws) called Hadith
does not add anything to the content of Islam stated in the Qur’an and Sunnah.
Ahadith
only explain and elucidate what is contained in these two sources and
also describe the exemplary way in which the Prophet (sws) followed Islam.
This only is the sphere of Hadith
which falls within the ambit of Islam.
(Translated and adapted from Ghamidi’s
"Mizan")
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