The Sunna and the Hadith
Belief in the Sunna (or Sunnah) and the Hadith is
undeniably part of the Islamic faith. It is the second authority for
Muslims. The Sunna is the practice and example of Prophet Muhammad; it is the
way Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) lived his life. The Hadith is either the narration about
the life of Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) or of things that he did, said, approved (even tacit or
silent approvals), his physical appearance or traits, which is in contrast
the Sunna which is about his life.The Hadith encompasses approximately
20,000 sayings of Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) that were passed on by word of mouth (although
some conservatively estimated at 10,000 ). The Arabic word Hadith
literally means "Tradition." The plural of Hadith is called
Ahadith, in Arabic.
The Hadith contains incidents about Prophet Muhammad(PBUH), stories like the time when he spat into a dry well and
then it watered 1,400 men (Al-Bara). Orthe water which flowed from the finger
nails of Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) (Abdullah). Or the time when the moon was cut in halves
(Ibn Masud and Abdullah).the assurance of Paradise for
those who dies fighting for Islam (Abu Huraira). These examples can be found in
Sahih Bukhari.
There are six generally accepted
Sunnite Ahadith and these are called "Al-Kutubu's-Sitta" in English,
"The Six Books
- Al-Bukhari (AD 870)
- Muslim (AD 875)
- Abu Dawud (AD 888)
- Al-Tirmidhi (AD 892)
- Al-Nasa'i (AD 915)
- Ibn Madja (AD 886)
The most important Hadith collection
for Shi'ites, on the other hand, is called "Al-Kafi fi usuli'd-din.
The Hadith can be classified four
fold according to authority, these are:
(1) "Qudsi" - Divine; a
revelation from Allah; relayed with the words of the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH);
(2)
"Marfu" - elevated; a narration from Prophet Muhammad(PBUH), e.g. I heard the prophet
saying ...;
(3) "Mauquf"- stopped: a narration from a companion only,
e.g., we were commanded to ...;
(4) "Maqtu" - severed: a narration
from a successor.
It can also be classified four fold
according to reliability:
(1) "Sahih" which is sound or acceptable;
(2)
Hasan which is good and the source is known;
(3)"Da'if" which
is "weak," and; (4) "Maudu" which is fabricated or forged
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