Sunnah or Ḥadīth (the practice and the sayings of Holy Prophet Muḥammad) is the second and, undoubtedly, secondary source from which the teachings of Islām are drawn.1 In its original sense Sunnah indicates the doings and Ḥadīth the sayings of the Holy Prophet; but in effect both cover the same ground and are applicable to his actions, practices, and sayings, Ḥadīth being the narration and record of the Sunnah but containing, in addition, various prophetical and historical elements. There are three kinds of Sunnah. It may be a saying of the Holy Prophet (qaul) which has a bearing on a religious question, an action or a practice of his (fi‘l), or his silent approval of the action or practice of another (taqrīr).
We have now to consider to what extent the teachings of Islām, its principles and its laws, can be drawn from this source. Any student of the Holy Qur’ān will see that the Holy Book generally deals with the broad principles or essentials of religion, going into details in rare cases. The details were supplied by the Holy Prophet himself, either by showing in his practice how an injunction was to be carried out, or by giving an explanation in words.
The Sunnah or Ḥadīth of the Holy Prophet was not, as is generally supposed, a thing whereof the need may have been felt only after his death, for it was as much needed in his lifetime. The two most important religious institutions of Islām, for instance, are prayer and the compulsory charity of zakāt; yet when the injunctions relating to these were delivered — and they are repeatedly met with both in Makkah and Madīnah revelations — no details were supplied. “Keep up prayer” (aqīmu al-ṣalāta) is the Quranic injunction and it was the Holy Prophet himself who by his own actions gave the details of the service. “Pay the zakāt” (ātu al-zakāh) is again an injunction frequently repeated in the Holy Qur’ān, yet it was the Holy Prophet who gave
1 Sunnah literally means a way or rule or manner of acting or mode of life, and ḥadīth, a saying conveyed to man either through hearing or through revelation. Hence the Holy Qur’ān is also spoken of as ḥadīth (18:6; 39:23). The word sunnah is used in the Holy Qur’ān in a general sense meaning a way or rule. Thus sunnat al awwalīn (8:38; 15:13; 18:55; 35:43) means the way or example of the former people, and is frequently used in the Holy Qur’ān as signifying God’s way of dealing with people, which is also spoken of as sunnat Allāh or God’s way. Once, however, the plural sunan is used as indicating the ways in which men ought to walk: “Allāh desires to explain to you, and to guide you into the ways (sunan) of those before you” (4:26).