What is the legal criterion for distinguishing between the Sunnah of custom and the Sunnah of worship?

The questioner: Shaykh, may Allah reward you, what is the legal criterion for distinguishing between the Sunnah of custom and the Sunnah of worship?

The Shaykh : The criterion requires some knowledge for the one who wants to distinguish between the Sunnah of worship and the Sunnah of custom. It is certain that there are actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that issued from him as a means of drawing near to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He); this type is from the Sunnah of worship. Opposite to it is another section, also certain, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to do that, at the very least, not by way of worship, but by way of custom, or by way of a matter returning to the desire of a person that has no connection to worship. From this section, some is clear that it has no connection to worship, so it is from the section of custom. Between the two sections are matters that are ambiguous.

Another questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. If one looks at it from a certain angle, a person may be inclined to classify it as worship. And if one looks at this middle section from another perspective, he may then be inclined to consider it merely a customary practice. For the student of knowledge, this second section, which corresponds to the first, is sufficient; the student of knowledge should stop there. For example, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had two sandals with toes. It may appear at first glance to the student of knowledge that a sandal having a single toe is contrary to the Sunnah, and that the Sunnah is for it to have two toes. It may appear that this has to do with worship, but in reality, it is an Arab custom; they used to wear this type of sandal and did not wear the sandals known today, which are called shoes, boots, slippers, or similar names that vary from country to country. As for the student of knowledge, the section that might be attached to the first or the second requires knowledge to distinguish, or to be certain that it is attached to the first section rather than the second, or vice versa, attached to the second rather than the first. For this reason, we find that some scholars agreed on matters that are from the customary practices, while they differed on specific items, whether they are from the practices of worship or the customary practices. For example, regarding Hajj, and we are approaching Hajj soon, if Allah wills, it is narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) descended in the Batihah. Some of the Companions, and I think it was Aisha, said that staying in the Batihah is not part of the Sunnah, but rather it happened that a tent was set up for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) there, so he descended. Some of the people from the earlier generations think that staying in the gravelly area there in the Batihah is part of the completion of the rituals of Hajj. Here, there may be disagreement because it is a matter that requires something very clear to attach it to the first section or the second section. Let us now enter into some real examples. Nowadays, many young people, and praise be to Allah, are concerned with shortening their garments and not lengthening them, acting in accordance with the Sunnah. Is this a customary practice or a practice of worship? If we look at the action of the Messenger (peace be upon him) separately from some of his sayings, the view might hesitate in classifying this practical Sunnah as belonging to the first section or the second section. But when hadiths from his sayings (peace be upon him) came, including the hadith , this removes the hesitation in classifying this Sunnah as a practice of worship or a customary practice, and confirms that it is a practice of worship. Because he described the methodology of dress for the believer, saying that it is to the middle of the shin. If it is longer, there is no harm; if it is longer, then to the ankles. But if it is longer than that, it is in the Fire. So this is a practice of worship, not a customary practice. This is contrasted with a confirmed Sunnah from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which is that he sometimes had long hair reaching the earlobes, and if it was longer, it reached the tops of the shoulders. Indeed, it is established that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) entered Makkah, he entered it with four braids. Is this lengthening of the hair, first, and then braiding it and making it into braids, second, a practice of worship or a customary practice? The answer, in my opinion, is that there is no need here, or justification, or excuse for hesitation. This is a customary practice. Why? First, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not the one who established this Sunnah; rather, it existed before the birth of the Messenger, let alone before the mission of the Messenger (peace be upon him). It was from the custom of the Arabs; they grew their hair, and the young men among them, even today in some Syrian deserts, we have seen them; the young men braid their hair and make it into braids. So this custom was not established by the Messenger (peace be upon him); rather, he followed the custom of the Arabs, so he lengthened his hair and took it as such when he entered Makkah; he entered it with four braids. There is nothing that compels us not to consider this Sunnah a customary practice. This is unlike another Sunnah, for example, that the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to wear white. Is this a customary practice or a practice of worship? If his saying (peace be upon him) had not come, we would have said this is a taste, and the Messenger loved white, just as he loved honey, for example, and disliked the meat of the horned viper; it is a taste. But when his saying came, and then he commanded, at least commanded as a recommendation, saying , this Sunnah moved out of being a customary practice and entered into being a practice of worship. With this criterion and this scale, we must measure the actions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So what he established initially, and there is no indication that makes us believe it is a customary practice, is a practice of worship. As for what he (peace be upon him) did in harmony with Arab customs, this is an Arab custom; there is no harm in doing it and no harm in leaving it. And what he (peace be upon him) did that has to do with his nature and his taste, this also has no relation to matters of worship. The example was mentioned earlier: he (peace be upon him) loved honey. We may find some people who dislike honey; what do we say? That they contradicted the Sunnah? Because eating honey in its origin is not worship. So if it was not easy for a person to eat honey, or if he did not desire to eat honey, we do not say he contradicted the Sunnah, but he contradicted the nature of the Prophet, which loved honey. But from another aspect, he (peace and blessings be upon him) disliked the meat of the horned viper, and the Arabs found it palatable. When it was placed on his table (peace be upon him) and it was said to him, "This is horned viper meat," he held back. And one of his famous Companions, namely Khalid ibn al-Walid, was in front of him, eating with great appetite to the extent that it attracted attention. He was eating and the broth was dripping on his beard. When he saw that his Prophet was not eating, he said, "O Messenger of Allah, is it forbidden?" Because he was shocked; he was eating greedily and the Messenger of Allah was not reaching for it. He said, "Is it forbidden?" He said, . So we do not say to the one who loves horned viper meat, "You have contradicted the Sunnah," because the Messenger disliked horned viper meat. And we do not say to the one who may not love honey—and this exists; one of my children, I love honey and sweets in general, but one of my children dislikes honey—what do I say to him? That he has contradicted the Sunnah? Because it has no relation to worship. In this manner, we must look at the actions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And the negligence of people, and especially students of knowledge in this time, regarding this detail has led them to fall into some excess. You find some young people intentionally lengthening their hair, claiming that this is the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Yes, I say that this is from his action (peace be upon him), but there is nothing indicating that this is the best. Indeed, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated, as in Sahih Muslim, he said, . So lengthening the hair is not a practice of worship, but rather a customary practice. So if a person shaves his head his whole life, it is not said that he has contradicted the Sunnah of the Prophet who lengthened his hair his whole life, except in Hajj or 'Umrah, for he (peace be upon him) used to shave his head. And you know the hadith that came in the two Sahihs that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, . But shortening is the lesser of the two, and shaving is the better. So if a person grows his hair as a custom or as a temperament that suits his nature, there is no harm in that. But if he intentionally seeks to draw near to Allah by lengthening his hair like the Messenger (peace be upon him), we say that in this there is a contradiction of the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And here is a subtle point that must be noted: the one who lengthens his hair following the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who lengthened his hair, and thinks that he has followed the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but I say with complete frankness that he has contradicted the Prophet. But the contradiction here is not apparent; rather, it is internal. And the following is apparent: he is lengthening his hair as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did. So what is the aspect of the contradiction? The aspect of the contradiction is that we must observe the saying of our Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him), . The one who went out as a mujahid with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the path of Allah, what is his outward appearance? A mujahid in the path of Allah. But he went out for a worldly thing he would obtain or a woman he would marry. So he has contradicted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his intention. Will he be rewarded with the reward of the mujahideen, having contradicted the master of the mujahideen in what? The intention. The answer is no. Now, the one who lengthens his head hair following his Prophet is like that mujahid who went out with the Prophet as a mujahid, but his intention contradicts the intention of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). How is this? For the one who lengthens his hair, we say to him: Do you know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he lengthened his head hair, intended thereby to draw near to his Lord? If you believe that, then your action is good. But if you do not believe that, then you have contradicted the Messenger in his intention. He does not draw near to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) by his love for honey, nor does he draw near to Allah by his dislike of eating horned viper meat. Likewise, he did not draw near to Allah by lengthening his head hair. So you are drawing near to Allah, and thus you have contradicted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the most noble of the two conditions of worship. The first condition is that the intention be pure for the face of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), and the second condition is that the action conform to the action of the Messenger. You conformed to the Messenger in his action, but you contradicted him in his intention. The Fajr prayer, both the Sunnah and the obligatory part, are two rak'ahs. Two rak'ahs. So if a man prayed the two rak'ahs of the Fajr Sunnah with the intention of the obligatory prayer, did he hit the Sunnah? The answer is no. From the delusions of the Qadiriyyah is that they believe that the Fajr Sunnah is obligatory. So when they pray this Sunnah, in form they conformed to the Messenger (peace be upon him), but in heart and intention they contradicted the Messenger (peace be upon him). So the one who prays the two rak'ahs of the Fajr Sunnah with the intention of the obligatory prayer, his case is that he contradicted the Messenger (peace be upon him) in intention and conformed to him in form. The form here has no value, because actions are by intentions. And the meaning of the hadith is that righteous actions are by righteous intentions. So if we do not know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) drew near to Allah by lengthening his hair, it is not permissible for the Muslim to draw near to Allah by what the Messenger of Allah did not draw near to Allah by. And this is innovation in the religion, as you know from the hadiths that warn most strongly against innovating in the religion, . So this is an innovation in the religion, because he is drawing near to Allah by what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not draw near to Allah by.
Peace be upon you. This is the nature of the innovators, for they come with deeds by which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not draw near to his Lord (Mighty and Majestic). Therefore, the issue here is distinguishing between the Sunnah of worship, in which we follow the Messenger, and the Sunnah of custom, in which we are free to do it or leave it, because it is a custom. However, it is not permissible to add to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the practice of custom anything that he did not do. The greatest of actions are those related to the hearts, for the heart acts as Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) explains in many of his books and letters. I see it necessary now to end the session... We fear that we have overburdened our host who invited us, and may Allah reward him with good.

Another questioner : It is almost time for the midday prayer, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

Another questioner : We will sit until the midday prayer, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you, but we must have our own interests and the interests of others, especially since we have seen some of the eyes being teased by drowsiness.

Another questioner : We came from Yemen for this.

The Shaykh : Do you have questions?

Another questioner : Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : And Sabir, what Allah willed, all this time.

Another questioner : Sabir, the brothers are speaking and I do not want to interrupt them.