What are the sunnahs of custom and the sunnahs of worship? (Clarification of the issue of unbuttoning the shirt)

The questioner : Shaykh, regarding unbuttoning the shirt, it was mentioned in al-Shama'il a hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn Qarah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to unbutton his shirt. Also, Ibn al-Jawzi mentioned it in the Virtues of Imam Ahmad, and Ibn Khuzaymah and al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kabir mentioned that Ibn Umar used to do that, as did al-Sha'bi and Qarah ibn al-Yas.

The Shaykh : In winter?

The questioner : In summer and winter.

The Shaykh : Did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) do that in winter?

The questioner : Allah knows best, but I have not seen it in the hadith.

The Shaykh : ... Do you have an idea about the sunnahs of custom and the sunnahs of worship?

The questioner : I do not know them, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Do you have it or not?

The questioner : I do not have it.

The Shaykh : How much you are relieving us, you do not have it, okay... Did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) dislike eating the meat of the monitor lizard, or did he like it?

The questioner : He disliked it.

The Shaykh : Is its dislike part of the Sunnah?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : Now I am clarifying. Now is the place for clarification, speak. Now is the place for silence, be silent. Now say, why?

The questioner : When the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) disliked this, he allowed them to eat it, perhaps this is from the sunnahs of custom as you mentioned.

The Shaykh : So it became a sunnah of custom. Okay, do you know that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) loved honey?

The questioner : I did not know except from you.

The Shaykh : This is well known in the authentic Sunnah. So if someone disliked honey, would he have contradicted the Sunnah?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : Do you know that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) had long hair that sometimes reached the earlobes and sometimes the shoulders? I do not know, are you following this sunnah or leaving it?

The questioner : Leaving it.

The Shaykh : Leaving it. Contradicting the Sunnah?

The questioner : You are not contradicting it.

The Shaykh : So why was the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) doing that?

The questioner : This is from the sunnahs of custom; the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not command it.

The Shaykh : So there is a sunnah of custom and there is a sunnah of worship. These examples confirm that not every action the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) performed is a sunnah of worship, because he may do something by nature or temperament, liking one food and disliking another. This has no relation to religion. Similarly, growing hair, for example, he did that because it was the custom of the Arabs. To this day, they braid their hair, and they also make it into braids and locks. You know this, and you must know that when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) conquered Makkah, he entered it with four locks of hair. No one among the scholars of knowledge and jurisprudence says that it is from the Sunnah. I am not saying now that he says it is from the Sunnah to grow hair to here or to here, but no one says to lengthen this hair into locks and braids. No one says this, even though the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did it. Similarly, today we wear, I do not know what you call them, sandals or slippers, but they have two straps, one for the big toe and the other for the rest of the toes. Even so, the Messenger's (peace and blessings be upon him) sandal was like that, as in Sahih al-Bukhari. So if we wear a sandal like my five-toed sandal with one opening, it is not said that we have contradicted the Sunnah or worn the kandra. Do you know the kandra? It is a shoe, meaning the fully covered shoe. It is not said that we have contradicted the Sunnah. Why? Because these are ordinary matters concerning the people in hot countries, where wearing this covered kandra shoe or the jizmah is not suitable. Do you know the jizmah? Yes. So this detail relieves the student of knowledge from many matters, including the issue of unbuttoning the shirt. It is possible that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), by way of relaxation and activity in a hot atmosphere, would unbutton his shirt to relax, but there is no harm in that, but we do not make it a worship, like cutting the garment to the middle of the calf, and if it is long, to the ankles. No, we say in hadiths from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) where he said So he made it a sign of the believer. So that is one thing, and unbuttoning the shirt is another. So if you know this rule that the Sunnah is two types: a sunnah of worship and a sunnah of custom, it is obligatory for the student of knowledge to look at what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did: did that action come from him with the intention of worship and drawing near to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, or was it a custom or nature, or so on, from the motives and factors there? If you know this rule, you are relieved from many matters, including the buttons of the shirt.

Another questioner : How do we distinguish between the sunnah of worship and the sunnah of custom?

The Shaykh : I referred earlier to the answer to this question. When I gave the example of the short garment, we said that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) made it a sign of the believer that his garment should be to the middle of the calves, then he permitted him to lengthen it to above the ankles. So if there is in what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did a verbal or practical indication that takes that action out of being from the sunnahs of custom, it is said to be a sunnah of worship; otherwise, it remains a sunnah of custom. There must be an indication there that points to it being a sunnah of worship.The questioner : In this context, there is a necessary question: if it is a sunnah, is it a matter of disagreement and discussion?