The Definition of the Sunnah in the Legal Sense and in the Jurisprudential Terminology

The Shaykh : The Sunnah between its followers and its enemies: We must know that the scholars have two definitions for the Sunnah: the first is the legal definition, and the other is the jurisprudential definition. As for the legal definition, it refers to the methodology and the path that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) followed in calling people to what Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) revealed to him of the Qur'an. As for the other definition, the Sunnah refers to what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did of acts of worship and obedience with the intention of increasing his nearness to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and this is in the category of voluntary and supererogatory acts. The Sunnah in this sense does not include the obligatory duties, unlike the first legal sense, which is broader than that, as it includes, as we mentioned, the methodology and the path that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) followed in explaining the Noble Qur'an. If we understand this legal definition and that jurisprudential definition, some of the confusion is removed from some people when they hear some hadiths in which the Sunnah is mentioned, and they assume that the Sunnah intended is the jurisprudential, terminological Sunnah. In reality, what is intended is the legal meaning, which is the methodology of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his path in explaining the Noble Qur'an. Among those hadiths is what the Imams al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated in their "Sahih"s from the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "A group of men came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) but did not find him; they found his wives, so they asked them about his worship (peace and blessings be upon him): about his standing in prayer at night, his fasting during the day, and his intimacy with women? So they informed them of what they knew of that, and they said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) stands in prayer at night and sleeps, fasts and breaks his fast, and marries women. Anas said: When they heard that, they considered it little," meaning: they found the worship of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to be little—as they claimed!—"so they returned to themselves, excusing the little worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as they claimed, and they said: 'This is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and Allah has forgiven him what has passed of his sin and what is to come.' As for us, we must continue to worship our Lord until we deserve His forgiveness by it. So they agreed that each of them would adopt a specific methodology and path for worshipping his Lord (Mighty and Majestic), hoping thereby to attain the forgiveness of Allah. One of them said: 'As for me, I will stand in prayer at night and not sleep.' The second said: 'As for me, I will fast and not break my fast.' The third said: 'As for me, I will not marry women.' Soon the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) returned after they had left, and his wives informed him of what they had heard from the group. So what did he (may the prayers and peace be upon him) do but gather the people in the mosque and preach to them, saying: What is the matter with a group of people who say such and such? Indeed, I am the most afraid of Allah among you, and the most mindful of Allah among you. Indeed, I fast and break my fast, I stand in prayer at night and sleep, and I marry women; so whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not of me." His saying (may the prayers and peace be upon him) at the end of this hadith: فَمَن رَغِبَ عن سنَّتي فليس منِّي And he who turns away from my Sunnah, he has no relation with MeSahih Muslim 1401, indicates to you the legal meaning I mentioned earlier. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) responded to those men who each adopted a path to worship Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in which they did not know from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and did not recognize, so the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) refuted those paths by his saying and explanation that he stands in prayer at night and sleeps, and it is not as one of the men said that he stands in prayer at night and does not sleep, and that he (peace and blessings be upon him) fasts and breaks his fast, and it is not as the second man said that he fasts and does not break his fast, and he said (may the prayers and peace be upon him): and that he marries women, and it is not as that third man said: that he does not marry women. Then he concluded that (peace be upon him) with his saying: فَمَن رَغِبَ عن سنَّتي فليس منِّي And he who turns away from my Sunnah, he has no relation with MeSahih Muslim 1401 And this hadith does not mean that the Sunnah mentioned by the Messenger (peace be upon him) in it is only the Sunnah in the sense of what is less than the obligatory.