Sunnah as source of Islamic Law , Sunnah Role in Islamic Legislation

Introduction:

The second primary source of Islamic law is traditions of Holy Prophet (PBUH). It includes Hadith as well as Sunnah. Hadith means saying of Prophet (PBUH) and Sunnah means path or they way, a manner of life, practices of Holy Prophet (PBUH). Both of these terms are different in meaning, but they are the same when used for the sayings or the precepts of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and include sayings, deeds, all actions, conducts and implied acceptances of Prophet (PBUH). Quran and Sunnah are part and parcel of each other and constitute one complete whole. Sunnah is included in the basic and fundamental sources of Islamic divine law following Quran.

"One who obeys Prophet (PBUH) obeys Allah" (Al-Nisa : 80)

Hadith & Sunnah - Meaning Of:

Generally, People believe that the terms of Hadith and Sunnah connote the same meaning; they regard generally the precepts of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as Hadith or Sunnah. The concept is not altogether correct. Hadith means which is narrated hence it is sayings of Prophet (PBUH) while, Sunnah means a path, the way i.e manner of the life of Prophet (PBUH). Holy Quran declared, 

"And We have sent you  (O Muhammad PBUH) not but as a mercy for the whole Universe" 

(Al-Anbiya: 107)

Sunnah is a wider word having three elements and Hadith is one out of those three. After the death of Prophet (PBUH) only Hadith was collected and Sunnah never collected. In short Hadith is a narration of the conduct of the Prophet (PBUH), whereas Sunnah is the example or the law that is deduced from it. Hadith in this sense is the vehicle or the carrier of Sunnah.

Quran and Sunnah

The Quran is the word of Allah, it is divine order, the dictates of the Almighty; whereas the Sunnah are the words of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). As the Holy Prophet (PBUH) never said anything of His (PBUH) own will, so in other words Sunnah is also the will of supreme Law Giver. In the Quran the word Sunnah and its plural, 'Sunnan' has been used 16 times. To the ulema of Hadith, Sunnah refers to all that is narrated from the prophet (PBUH), His acts, His sayings and whatever He has tacitly approved, plus all reports which describe his physical attributes and character. 

Legal Meaning and Importance of Sunnah

It is believed that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) never say anything unless He (PBUH)was inspired and the utterances of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)had the sanctity of law. The traditions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) constitute following:

• The sayings of Prophet (PBUH).
• Deeds, actions, methods of performance and conduct of daily life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
• All implied acceptances.

God's object was not to give a system of abstract ideas, which could only be discussed and talked about. His object was to make the people practically obey His injunctions. This required concrete precedents to be laid down for every walk of human life. Only the abstract can be explained in a book, concrete cases can only be laid down by human actions. Therefore, God entrusted this job to the Last Prophet (PBUH). As Holy Quran says,

"For you the life of Holy Prophet (PBUH) has got model of  behavior"

(Al-Ahzab : 20)

Due to such a significant position of Sunnah, divine revelation was not limited to the Quran. The life of Prophet (PBUH) which was essentially to be obeyed by the people was not left without divine guidance. As Holy Quran states

"And He (PBUH) does not speak, even on His (PBUH) desire, all is revealed on Him (PBUH)"

(Al-Najam : 03-04)

Classification of Sunnah:

Although Sunnah is classified into Qolia , Failia and Taqreeria and Hadith into many like Mutwatir, Ahad, Mursal etc. yet, we can classify traditions of Holy Prophet (PBUH) or Sunnah in different heads. 

• According to Legal Force

The classification divides traditions into:-

• Obligatory
• Informative

According to which either we are bound to follow the dicta expressed in Sunnah or there is only information provided for us through which we can derive rules for our daily matters

• According to Number of Narrators

This classification is based upon number of narrators connected with the start of traditions till its compilation.

• Continuous (Matwater)
• Famous (Mashhoor)
• Isolated/Solitary (Wahid)

• According to Mode of Narration

This classification is divides traditions into following heads, which is based upon chain of narration starting from the first period till its compilation in the third period. i.e.

• Connected (Muttasil)
• Disconnected (Ghair Muttasil / Mursal)
• According to Authenticity

1. For authenticity, narrators are classified into these categories;
2. Sahaba-e-Karam RA (Companions)
3. Saqqa Sabitoon (those having superior status after the Companions;) 
4. Saqqa means truthful people
5. Sadooq-yheem means truthful but can do mistakes;
6. Maqbool ore accepted;
7. Majhool unknown
8. Fussaq means thoese with doubt of telling lie.

 Hence Ahadees are classified into following

• Sahih
• Hassan
• Za'eef

• According to Legal Authority

We can also classified Sunnah in context of legal authority in which we define two types of Sunnah

• Legal
• Non-Legal

Non-Legal consists of ritual activities of the Prophet (PBUH) such as, the manner in which he ate, slept, dressed and matters which are peculiar to His personality. Whereas, legal are such acts , conduct or sayings which incorporate the rules and principles of Sharia.

• Kinds through which Ahkam are Established

This classification divides traditions as per establishment of Ahkam. They include, 

• Al-Sunnah Al Qawliyyah
• Al-Sunnah Al Failiya
• Al-Sunnah Al Taqreeriah

Rules of Authenticity of Traditions

Jurist have devised many rules for the determination of authenticity of Hadith reaching us through narrators. Some of them may be stated as under:-

Traditions should be narrated in all the three periods (The Companions, Their Followers, The Followers of the followers of Companions).

Qualifications of narrator are Muslim, sound mind, major, just, truthful.

Narration quoted by jurist is preferred over non-jurist.

Narration of well known people is preferred over unknown.

Traditions opposed to Islamic teachings are not accepted.

According to Shias only those Ahadees are authentic which have been narrated by Ahl-Bait AS and they call them, akhbar. It should be noted that a tradition reported by a continuous chain of narrators is called,  sahih , if some of the narrators are short of any of these qualification, the tradition is termed as za'eef or weak. When qualifications of a narrator are unknown, it is majhul and the tradition which is found to be fabricated is called mauzu. A tradition which is contradictory to a text of Quran or text of a tradition narrated through sounder channel, is termed as, shaaz.

Compilation:

In Caliphate period it was not approved by Caliphs to compile the Hadith but in next period people started compiling as Ibne Abbass RA did. In the Abbassid's period some efforts to collect Hadith were started and following collections were made:-

Musaneed: In these an attemp to put all the Ahadees quoted by each and every companion was made. Most famous is collection by Imam Ahmed bin Hunbal.

Mussafat: In these Ahadees are arranged according to the topics of jurisprudence as Imam Malik did in Mo'ta.

Saha-e-Sittah: These are six most famous and authentic collections of Ahadees:-

1. Sahih Bukhari by Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ismail Bokhari (194-256 AH).
2. Sahih Muslim by Abul Hussain Muslim Neshapuri (206-261 AH).
3. Sunnan Ibne Majah by Ibn-e-Majah (Death 273 AH).
4. Sunnan Abu Daood by Abu Daood (Death 275 Ah).
5. Jama-e-Tirmizi by Tirmizi (Death 275 or 279 AH).
6. An-Nisai by Nisai (Death 302 or 303 AH).

According to Shias the most famous are four in number i.e.

1. Al-Kafi by Mohd Bin Yaqoob Kaleeni
2. Man La Yahzar-al-Faqeeh by Ibn-e-Babooya
3. Al-Istabsar Fema Khtlaf Min Al Akhbar by Jaffar Muhammad Toosi
4. Tehzeeb-al-Ahkam by Jaffar Muhammad Toosi.

Legislative Functions

This is a rule of legislation that an authority who can legislate can delegate its power of law making to someone or some institution, in order to frame rules, by-laws or procedural regulations. The whole structure of Sunnah is based on Quran and Sunnah provides a practical explanation of Quranic dicta. Whether Sunnah is an independent source of Islamic law or always follow Quran? This question can be answered considering three aspects:-

1. Sunnah comprises such laws or rules which are propounded by the Holy Quran, in such a case it only declares and ratifies them and Quran is the main source here.
2. Sunnah explains or interprets the Quranic rules, which are not clear
3. Sunnah comprises such rules/laws about which Quran is silent.

In point 1 and 2 Sunnah becomes part and parcel of Quran, while in cases of 3 it becomes an independent source of law Generally Sunnah plays following major legislative functions

Both Quran and Sunnah Constitute one complete whole

According to Quran, the relationship of Quran and Sunnah is that of a book and the light as m a book cannot read without light

"And came to you from Allah , the light (Prophet PBUH ) and the book (Quran)."  (Al-Maida : 15)

Meaning of Quran is general, Sunnah makes it particular

Quran says

And half of what your wives leave belongs to you if they have no children... (Al-Nisa : 12)

Here Prophet ( PBUH ) made it specific by saying that not all husbands will get , only those if they have same religion and are not murderers of their wives.

Sunnah may Add or Supplement Legal Provisions of Quran

Quran says that two sisters cannot be brought in marriage at a time by the same husband; Sunnah adds aunts and marriage during Iddat in the prohibitions.

Absolute Declarations of Quran are Qualified by Sunnah

Quran says,

Hands of thieves must be cut... (Al-Maida : 38)

Sunnah explain he/she must not be lunatic, child, stealing food is not punishable with cutting of hands and punishment should be suspended during wars.

Sunnah is the Commentary of Quran

Sunnah tells us what the actual meaning of Quran is, such as timing of prayers, fasting, zakaat on wealth , performing of pilgrims etc.

Hence, the gradation in the provisions of obligations and prohibition is possible for a jurist only if he has full knowledge of Quran and Sunnah, As Holy Quran hints,

And tech them the scripture and wisdom ( Al- Juma : 02 )

As to challenge its validity amounts to challenge the Quran and God's Order of delegation. So in the light of these explicit verses, it can be said that both Quran and Sunnah are none and the same thing.

Juristic Approach on Sunnah

Quran and Sunnah have the basic and fundamental value and Muslims must obey and follow both of them together, as one cannot be separated from the other. Jurist believe that Holy Prophet (PBUH) was divinely guided in His (PBUH) words and deeds, so in case some problem is not solved through Quran, it is mandatory to see Sunnah before resorting to other methods.

Position of Sunnah as a Source of Islamic LAW

The most important thing is that Sunnah comes after Quran as a source of Islamic law and no other method or source comes in between them. As Quran says;

"And cam you you from Allah the Light (Holy Prophet PBUH ) and the Book" (Al-Maida : 15 )

The central and basic position must be given to Holy Quran and in case there is found any clash between the orders of both efforts must be made to interpret the Sunnah in accordance with the Quran in order to bring it in conformity with Quranic orders or one must have full knowledge of context in which Sunnah makes qualifications and exceptions in the orders of Quran. It is also well settled that generally Sunnah cannot go against Quran.

Comparative Reliability

Another reason for giving Sunnah a secondary position is that of its relative standard of reliability. As the traditions are transmitted through companions and we have to rely upon narration of companions, which is not the case in Quran. Also without Sunnah it is impossible to interpret Quran and solve modern problems, so Sunnah comes just after Quran and without it one cannot understand true spirit of Islamic law.

Concluding Remarks:

The divine book made the obedience of Prophet (PBUH) obligatory as Holy Quran states,

"O Believers! Obey God and His Prophet (PBUH)and do not waste your deeds"  (Al-Muhammad:33)

So Sunnah becomes the primary source of Islamic law. The words , deeds, silences, decisions and practices were all elevated by the Almighty, therefore, their acceptance and submission to them is one of the fundamentals of Muslim faith. Sunnah's authority as a source of law is derived from the Quran itself, therefor it is considered as the commentary and explanation of Quran, without which Quran cannot be understood. Holy Quran categorically states,

"Verily in the Messenger of Allah ( Prophet PBUH ), ye have a good example"  (Al-Ahzaab : 21)