Is there an obligatory sunnah and a non-obligatory sunnah, and what are the categories of the Prophet's actions?

The questioner : Honorable Shaykh, is there an obligatory sunnah and a non-obligatory sunnah? What is the criterion for that?

The Shaykh : Is every action of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) considered a sunnah? In the terminology of the jurists, there is no obligatory sunnah and non-obligatory sunnah; rather, all sunnahs are non-obligatory in their view. However, in the language of the Companions, the sunnah includes what is obligatory and what is not obligatory. For example, Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) said: , . Is his statement here from the obligatory sunnah or the recommended sunnah? It is obligatory. This means it is obligatory for the husband, if he marries a virgin while having a previously married wife, to stay with the virgin for seven days, and if he marries a previously married woman while having a previously married wife, to stay with her for three days, as an obligation. Even though Anas ibn Malik expressed it by saying "from the sunnah." The Companions may use the word "sunnah" for something recommended. For instance, it is narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) that "from the sunnah is placing the hands on the left side below the navel." This hadith is weak, but he expressed it as "sunnah" even though the intended meaning of "sunnah" here is non-obligatory. As for the sunnah in the terminology of the jurists, it is not divided into obligatory and recommended, because the jurists divided rulings into five: obligatory, sunnah, forbidden, disliked, and permissible.
As for the actions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are divided into categories. Some of what occurred from him was due to nature and instinct; this has no ruling. What occurred due to nature and instinct has no ruling, such as sleeping, eating, and drinking. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) does these due to instinct. Every person eats and drinks, and every person needs marriage. However, this category may contain a sunnah in one of its characteristics, such as eating, for example.
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) eats due to instinct, so this eating has no ruling. However, characteristics of words and actions are attached to this eating, which are either from the sunnahs or from the obligations. For example, in eating, one says "Bismillah" at the beginning and "Alhamdulillah" at the end, eats with the right hand, and eats from what is closest to him. Now, is the etiquette of eating an obligatory sunnah or a non-obligatory one? There is a difference of opinion. Some scholars said it is obligatory, and some scholars said it is recommended. However, the stronger position is that it is obligatory, and that a person must say "Bismillah" when food or drink is presented to him and he intends to eat or drink. Because if he does not say it, his worst enemy shares in his eating. Who is that? Satan. So, eating with the right hand...
Is it a sunnah or an obligation? Yes, we say it is a sunnah, but the correct view is that it is an obligatory sunnah, and it is forbidden for a person to eat with his left hand or drink with his left hand. But if he says, "I take the cup with the right hand and the bread with the left hand, and I eat from the bread and drink from the cup," eating from the bread with the left hand and the cup with the right hand, we say: Who needs you to eat and drink at the same time? Eat with the right hand, and if you eat with the right hand, put down the bread, for example, and drink with the right hand. Because there is no need or necessity to eat with the left hand and drink with the right hand. Now, if another person says, "If I drink with the right hand, the vessel, meaning the cup, gets dirty because there is food on the right hand. So if I hold the cup with the right hand, it gets dirty. If I eat, what do I drink with? The left hand." We say this is also not an excuse. First, because washing vessels today is easy and available. Second, because sometimes vessels are disposable, like a plastic cup. If it is used, it is thrown on the ground and not washed again. But Satan opens for a person the door of excuses to use so that he may do what Allah has forbidden. We say: The exception to eating is that eating with the right hand is obligatory, and eating with the left hand is forbidden.
Now, this is a category of the actions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). What is it? What he did on the basis of nature and instinct has no ruling, but rulings may be attached to it in terms of characteristics. Second, what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did due to custom, meaning it was the custom of the people in his time, so he did it on the basis of custom so as not to deviate from the people. The ruling for this is permissibility, and rulings may be attached to it that make it recommended in its characteristics or disliked. The important thing is that its ruling is permissibility. Examples include the izar (lower garment), the rida (upper garment), the turban, and hair, according to the correct view, and applying kohl. All these things are done on the basis of custom. It is permissible for a person to do these things if that is the custom of the people of the country. But if it is not the custom of the people of the country, like clothing, for example, he does not do it, because if he did it, it would be showing off, and one may be prohibited from clothing that shows off. If he said, "Now I will go to the post office and go out to the people with a turban, a rida, and an izar," we say this is contrary to the known and familiar, so it is a cause of showing off, so do not do it. Now, how much is this portion?
Now, the third aspect is what he did on the basis of worship, meaning it appears from him that he worshipped with it. This is obligatory for him so that the message is conveyed, and then it becomes recommended for the Ummah. It is obligatory for him to perfect the message, as Allah the Exalted said: . Then it becomes recommended because there is no command in it, so it remains recommended, as Allah the Exalted said: . The fourth category is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did to explain a text from the Qur'an or the Sunnah. This has the ruling of that explained text. If the text indicates obligation, then it is obligatory. If it indicates recommendation, then it is recommended. For example, Allah the Exalted said: . So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) purified himself with water for janabah and the entire body. Is making the entire body subject to ghusl obligatory or recommended? It is obligatory, because it is an explanation of a general term. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did it as an explanation of a general term, so it has the ruling of that general term. Now, if someone says, "What is the evidence for that? Is it not possible that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did this general term in a specific way not to explain an obligation, but to explain the permissibility of this way?" We say if this possibility is valid, it invalidates this division, meaning the division of what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did to explain a general term. Yes.