Hadith is not the Sunnah

If I were to advise you to do something, and then went on to do the opposite, you would rightly accuse me of hypocrisy. 

Nor would you follow me, even if my advice was sound and true. 

This is why Allah t’ala choose Messengers and Prophets from amongst mankind, and did not send down Angels carrying hefty books. 

In Bukhari we find a saying of the Messenger (saw) in which he advised us to get married, and further qualified his statement with higher emphasis by stating  that the one who does not, is not of him. 

This is reported by Bukhari in his Sahih collection. 

But when you study the life of Imam Bukhari, you would find that he never married. *1

This inconsistency cannot be brushed away by lauding his dedication to the Hadeeth sciences, as so often the Muhaddith do, because on the face of it, it would mean that Bukhari is not of the Messenger (saw). 

But those who follow the Sunnah of the Messenger (saw) know that this is not his way. *2

All too often people think that Hadith informs the Sunnah. 

But they forget that the Sunnah is far greater than the Hadith, and so the Sunnah should rightly inform our approach to Hadith. 

For they are not synonymous. 

Indeed the Messenger (saw) told us to hold fast to the Quran and his Sunnah. 

He did not say hold fast to the Quran and my Hadith. 

Further we know that whilst he (saw) encouraged the writing of the Quran, he discouraged the writing of his Hadith. 

So there be the dichotomy- 

That he told us to hold fast to his Sunnah, and concurrently discouraged the writing of Hadith. 

And this alone should wake you to the fact that Hadith are not the same as the Sunnah, however they can of course help inform you of some specific Sunnah practices. *3

So I hope that you will come, alongside me, to the defining question of what is the Sunnah, without the baggage of our Muhaddith heritage?

When we read, in the Seerah, of the pact of the women (the first treaty of Aqabah) that the Messenger (saw) concluded with the Medinese in the late Meccan period, we should note the simplicity of the moral code of the Muslims. *4

The companions at that time were known as the Quranic generation and those few lucky people drank fully from the nectar of revelation. 

From them, they reported that they implemented each of ten verses of the Quran before going further and implementing the next ten. 

This was not solely committing ten verses to memory at a time, but was much more importantly implementing each ten. 

The burning question is that what did they imbibe from the Quran, and what did they implement, when practically all of the directives that inform our way of life were sent down in Medina?

Indeed God’s speech in the Quran commands for us to “obey God” and “obey the Messenger”. 

And the way of the father of our Nation, Ibrahim, is termed “Millatta Ibrahim” in the Quranic speech. 

Whereas the word Sunnah is mentioned several times and in the main in regards to God, himself. 

Classically we have that:

“No change will you find in the Sunnatu’Allah”. 

Which is often translated as “the ways of God”, the Most Merciful. 

It is interesting to note that the language of the Quran often moulded the language of our Messenger (saw). And we deliberated on this in an earlier post in regards to the word Ajeeb*4. 

So what the companions were imbibing during those incredible thirteen years was the Sunnat’Allah- the ways and methods of God, Most Gracious. 

That God loves for you to be kind, generous and giving, because that is exactly who He is, and those are His ways. 

That God loves for you to be merciful and compassionate, because that is exactly who He is except that He is the Most of those. That He wishes for you to be just, true and to uphold your words and your contracts because that is His way. 

Then if the Sunnat’Allah are the ways of God, Most Merciful, the Sunnah of the Messenger (saw) is how he translated these things into the way he lived. 

These are the words of Bibi Aisha (ra), “he was the walking Quran”. 

So where can we learn about the methods that the Messenger (saw) adopted in his day to day life except by studying the Seerah?

For it is here that we gain the joined up picture of the challenges and trials that he faced and how he met them, about his family life and how he treated his wives, about his communal life and how he instructed the companions. And so much more. 

The Sunnah of the Messenger (saw) are the methods that he adopted in all these cases and much much more. 

But do you think that discovering these that you will not have to deliberate nor think?

Because you will need to extract generalities from the specifics, and that is not a definite science and requires interpretation. 

Indeed the Quran, which declares that it is without doubt, itself emphasises so many times the need for interpretation by also declaring, many a time, “this is the best interpretation (ta’wil)”. 

Implying that there are better interpretations, good interpretations, and poor interpretations. 

And that it is our task to fathom them and explore them. 

Alhamdolillah, our religion, Islam is an intelligent religion. 

And the Most Gracious wants for you to think, internalise and understand His ways and will. So that we can act to realise them in each and every way. 

So for those who think that the Sunnah relates to the appearance of the Messenger (saw), are you so sure? *5

And if your argument is that when you see him in a dream how would you recognise him without such knowledge, when you wake into it then you will have woken already knowing who he is. 

And for those of you who think that the Hadith require no interpretation….

Consider simply:

“Amr ibn al-‘As reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If a judge makes a ruling, striving to apply his reasoning and he is correct, he will have two rewards. If a judge makes a ruling, striving to apply his reasoning and he is mistaken, he will have one reward.”” *6

The above which is often used to cement the authority of the Shuyookh, that even when get it wrong they are blessed. 

Now consider who is being addressed?

Who is the Messenger (saw) talking to here? Is it to the people and that they should respect the Qadis, or is it to the Qadis themselves?

May you be guided to see that where you place the emphasis drastically changes the meaning. 

If you place the emphasis on authority, then you will be amongst the vast majority. 

But if you place the emphasis on struggling to reach a correct judgment, that the Messenger (saw) is here recommending that in that struggle there is blessing…

Then consider how many of our Shuyookh struggle with the meaning of our Messenger’s words, and how many simply use them to cement their authority?

There are better meanings and good meanings, may we all be guided towards those which are better, Aameen. 

A story is narrated by the Muhaddith of Imam Malik (rm), that once he travelled far to collect a Hadith from someone. *7

When he arrived he went in and left without asking about the Hadith. 

His student asked him why he travelled so far, only to neglect asking about it once there. He replied, “did you not look at the finger marks on his prayer mat?” That he would not take it from one whom he considered did not pray correctly. 

Now consider this story?

Is this the Sunnah of our noble Messenger (saw)?

Clearly Imam Malik (rm) heard of this Hadith before making the journey and considered it beneficial. And all he wanted was for the line of transmission to be exactingly clear. 

When we deliberate on the pact of the virtuous (hilf ul fadl) that the Messenger (saw) was party to before he received revelation, and that he later said whilst in Medina that if he were called to fulfil it to this day he would answer the call. 

That the Sunnah is to take the good from wherever it is. 

And that is why we do not discount the narration in Bukhari in relation to marriage. 

Because the person who follows the Sunnah takes the best from all sources, and considers with his intelligence the best interpretation of each of them. 

Knowledge is sought through contemplation and deliberation. 

To struggle with the Quran is the height of it. 

NOTES. 

*1 This may be disputed, but as with our tradition we argue to the best that a position purports. And for the Muhaddith this is what they posit as the dedication that Imam Bukhari had towards his goal. That he was so dedicated that he eschewed marriage. 

And having a kunya is not evidence of marriage, nor is having right hand possessed. 

*2 see later in my argument to understand the way and method of the Messenger (saw). 

*3 so for example the method of greeting someone, the method of cutting your nails

Etc… but not the greater Sunnah practices and methods. 

*4 not to associate others with the most Gracious, not to commit adultery or zinna, nor to steal. These are the main ones. 

*5 There are some that believe that to revive a Sunnah is to keep their hair at the same length that the Messenger (saw) had. They extract no generalities from the specifics and believe that to be a man of the Sunnah is to completely emulate the Messenger in all aspects. 

However the Messenger (saw) disliked to eat dessert lizards which were considered a delicacy amongst the Arabs at that time, he informed us that they are not forbidden and just that he disliked eating them. 

In a like manner interpretation is required always. Did the Messenger (saw) keep his hair shoulder length for a reason? And if so what was the reason? Was it Wahiy or was it because that is how he liked to keep it?

*6 This saying whilst addressing the Quadis (whom we lack as a class of people in this present time) also tells us who they are. 

They are the people who struggle with the Quran and Sunnah in trying to reach a religious verdict that can be of benefit to someone with a dilemma that needs a solution. They are not dogmatic, instead they are intelligent in that they should be willing to exercise their intelligence. 

*7 Once again this story is arguing to what they consider their great achievements. That Imam Malik (rm) was so assiduous in his Hadith collection.