Text copied Link copied

Al-Fatawa – home

﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

Scholar
Search mode

Both are revelations that have guaranteed for us the highest of knowledge with the utmost clarity (Explaining that the Sunnah is a revelation from Allah, just like the Qur'an)

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh :"Both are revelations that have guaranteed for us the highest of knowledge with the utmost clarity"
The pronoun "both" refers to the Book and the Sunnah. They are two revelations that have guaranteed for us the highest of knowledge with the utmost clarity. If someone were to say, "There is no doubt that the Qur'an is a revelation, but regarding the Sunnah being a revelation, we find some hadiths indicating that the Sunnah is not a revelation. For example, the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Were it not that I would be overburdening my community I would have ordered them to use a tooth-stick لولا أن أشق على أمتي لأمرتهم بسواك عند كل وضوء
Muwatta Malik 2:114
or
with every prayer عند كل صلاة
with every ablution, with every prayer. This indicates that it is not a revelation, because if it were a revelation, to whom would the command belong? To Allah. And he said regarding the 'Isha' prayer:
This is the proper time for it; were it not that I would impose a burden on my people إنه لوقتها لولا أن أشق على أمتي
Sahih Muslim 638c
and
A man asked him about the testimony, and he said: "It expiates sins." And he said that it expiates everything. So when the man left, he called him back and said: "Jibril came to me just now and said: 'Except for debt.'" سأله رجل عن الشهادة قال : تكفر الذنوب وقال إنها تكفر كل شيء فلما انصرف الرجل دعاه فقال : آتاني جبريل آنفا فقال : إلا الدين
This also indicates that it is not a revelation, because revelation is complete. The important point is that there are hadiths indicating that the Sunnah is not a revelation from Allah. So what is the answer? We say: The scholars stated that the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) approval of something is part of his Sunnah. His approval of something is like a revelation, like a revelation, because Allah approves what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said as being legislation. If something occurred from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and Allah did not approve it, He clarified it to him, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted:
May Allah pardon you, [O Muhammad]; why did you give them permission [to remain behind]? [You should not have] until it was evident to you who were truthful and you knew [who were] the liars. عَفَا اللهُ عَنْكَ لِمَ أَذِنْتَ لَهُمْ حَتَّى يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكَ الَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا وَتَعْلَمَ الْكَاذِبِينَ
[At-Tawbah 9:43]
And as in His saying:
O Prophet, why do you prohibit [yourself from] what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking the approval of your wives? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ لِمَ تُحَرِّمُ مَا أَحَلَّ اللَّهُ لَكَ تَبْتَغِي مَرْضَاتَ أَزْوَاجِكَ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
[At-Tahrim 66:1]
The important point is that the answer to this objection is to say: What occurred among the hadiths whose apparent meaning is that it is not a revelation, it is a revelation in another sense. What is that? Allah's approval of it. As the scholars said, the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) approval of something is considered part of the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Good.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

Similar fatwas