Main Points for Hadeeth and Sunnah: Summary of What constitutes sunnah?

What is Sunnah: Definition of Imam Ibn Rajab Al-hanbali. A very famous faqih and muhadith. Wrote the famous book al-jami fil uloomi wal hikam (which is the commentary of arbaeen of imam nawawi but has actually added 10 hadith). In that he wrote: Sunnah : at-tariqa maslook means a well trodden path, a path that is travelled upon which entails holding fast to whatever Prophet (sws) and his rightly guided successors held of doctrines, deeds and sayings (Itiqad/amaal/aqwaal) Ib Rajab has not mentioned bidah at all. This is important to note as some of us today think the opposite of bidah is sunnah and opposite of sunnah is bidah. That is a dichotomy that is not to be found anywhere. Certainly youll find definition of sunnah/definition of bidat. But sunnah is not only and only defined in opposition to bidat and bidat is not only and only defined in opposition to sunnah. There maybe something neither sunnah nor bidah. Many times we think that there is only these 2 categories and then if we dont find it in a sunnah, it immediately becomes bidah. That is a conclusion that we would make if we thought that there were dichotomous categories and any and every aqidah or amal is either sunnah or bidah. Second definition of Sunnah by Imam Az-zahabi (rah), another hanbali scholar; Sunnah is whatever Prophet (sws) made sunnah and the khulafe-e-rashideen made sunnah after him o Now you have the word sunnah being used for actually what wed call fatawa of rashideen or amal of the khulafa-e-rashideen. Either there is qaul or amal but now the word sunnah is being used to include that

..as for ijma ; it is whatever ulema of ummat, both early and late have unanimously agreed upon either explicitly or through tacit consent. Whoever deviates from such ijma amonst the tabai or taba tabai it is tolerated if they are alone. o Notion of sacredness of 1st few generations and notion of value of consensus or ijma of 1st few generations. But there we also see that sahaba or tabai or taba tabai diverged from ijma of contemporaries or predecessors and if you say that this is wrong then tabai,taba tabai

lose their sacredness. So the way he (imam zahabi) phrases this is that this departure from previous ijma will be called tafarrud (isolated opinion). For a jurist sahaba/tabai/taba tabai because of this sacredness, their tafarrudat are viewed as acceptable Interesting to see these were the things they were interested in while discussing sunnah: the 1st three generations, the concept of ijma, they are aware of plurality of opinions and addressing that as well and they are granting the legitimacy of identifying legal sunnah to the 4 mazahib. Again, we dont find any discussion of bidah in discussion on sunnah. So weve two quotations from hanbali scholars on sunnah

2nd stage is Sahabah: There is a hadith sahabah are like stars, whoever one you follow youll be rightly guided. And youll find a lot of literature in contemporary muslims attacking the sanad of this hadith Sanads of this hadith will fall 99% of time in daeef. Some are hasan and only 1-2 are modu. If you take out chains that are modu or hasan, and look at majority of chains which all agree are daeef. What contemporary people do is theyll show you only that chain which 10% of muhaditheen say is modu and theyll quote that scholar saying its modu and youll be led to the opinion that this hadith is modu. There is a book which has collected 20 sanads of this hadith. 1-2 are hasan, 1-2 are modu and 18 are daeef. So it would be fair to put this hadith under daeef. What I really want to show you: o I would wonder why is it that there is a massive movement to falsify this hadith. Its only if its meanings is problem. Whats the meaning? That the sahaba are rightly guided individuals and if you follow them youll be guided. As far as the meaning goes, it is perfectly valid and established through verses of Quran (radi Allahu anhum was radu anhu). If Quran is saying that Allah is pleased with them then they must be rightly guided. In sahih muslim in a hadith sahaba are called stars. The wording is different, its a different text. But youve never ever been shown that. Sayyedina Abu Musa al-ashari (ra) narrates that prophet (sws) said: The stars are trustees of heaven and when the stars wane the heaven

is brought what was promised and I am a trustee for my companions and when I go my companions will be brought what is promised to them and my companions are trustees for my community o Muhaditheen have discussed a lot on this, that what will be brought to them. But no doubt that companions are like stars. And that sahaba are trustees for my community. What is amanat of sahaba? This is another sahih hadiht that anbiya leave wirasah of ilm and who are the waritheen? The sahabah. So this text establishes the same meaning of that text which had all chains that were daeef. Another hadith about sahaba (famous hadith about the sects) when Prophet (sws) mentions that out of 73 who is the rightly guided sect ma ana alayhi wa ashabee that sect on which I am on and my sahaba are on (all of the sahaba). SO this hadith also clearly mentions the issue of sahaba also being a source of practice.

O Any action of sahaba cannot be labeled as bidah; same applies to tabai and taba tabai. This is the only way that the word bidah is going to enter the sunnah, when were expanding it to include the amal of khulafa-e-rashideen. o Famous hadith kharu __ thumma allazina yalunahum, thumma allazina yalunahum This sacredness of 1st 3 generations for our purpose is that nothing they said or did can be a bidat