Al-Sunna — Rawzat

The Quranic Grounding of the Sunna

The Quran itself commands adherence to the Prophet’s example:

“And whatever the Messenger has given you — take; and what he has forbidden you — refrain from.” (59:7)

“Verily, in the Messenger of Allah you have a beautiful example (uswah hasana) for whoever hopes in Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah often.” (33:21)

“Say [O Muhammad]: ‘If you should love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.’” (3:31)

This last verse — known as ayat al-mahabbah (the verse of love) — establishes the Sunna’s spiritual significance: following the Prophet is not merely a legal obligation but the path to the divine’s love. The Prophet’s example is the vehicle of the divine’s love descending to the human being.

Types of Sunna

1. Al-Sunna al-Qawliyya — Verbal Sunna

The Prophet’s sayings (hadith) — everything he said that was preserved and transmitted. The hadith corpus is enormous: the six major collections of Sunni hadith (Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, Ibn Majah) contain approximately 30,000 narrations between them after deduplication, and the broader hadith literature is far larger.

The hadith are classified by their chain of narrators (isnad) and their content (matn) into:

Sahih (sound): authenticated through multiple reliable chains
Hasan (good): good chains but slightly fewer confirming narrators
Da’if (weak): problematic chains but still sometimes cited in non-legal contexts
Mawdu’ (fabricated): identified as invented, rejected entirely

2. Al-Sunna al-Fi’liyya — Practical Sunna

Everything the Prophet did that was observed by companions and transmitted. His way of praying, his manner of eating and drinking, his dress, his conduct in marriage, his behavior in battle, his justice in governance, his tenderness with children, his courtesy toward guests. These actions are the living embodiment of Quranic guidance.

3. Al-Sunna al-Taqririyya — Approving Sunna

Actions that companions performed in the Prophet’s presence that he neither commanded nor forbade — his silence constituting approval. This form of Sunna has legal weight: if the Prophet saw something and did not prohibit it, the legal assumption is that it is permissible.

4. Al-Sunna al-Sifatiyya — Character Sunna

The Prophet’s character, disposition, and inner nature as described by his companions. Aisha (RA): “His character was the Quran.” — The Prophet’s character was the lived embodiment of the Quran’s teaching. This form of Sunna is not primarily about specific actions but about the qualities to be cultivated: his gentleness, his generosity, his truthfulness, his patience, his justice, his humility.

The Hadith Literature — Preservation and Methodology

The hadith were initially transmitted orally — companions memorized what they heard, and transmitted it to the next generation (tabi’un) who transmitted to the generation after (tabi’ al-tabi’in). The major written collections were compiled approximately 200-250 years after the Prophet’s death, after centuries of oral transmission and careful criticism.

The science of hadith criticism (‘ilm al-hadith or ‘ilm al-rijal) developed specifically to authenticate or reject narrations:

‘Ilm al-rijal (the science of transmitters): biographies of every narrator in every chain, assessing their reliability, memory, and integrity
‘Ilm al-jarh wa al-ta’dil (the science of disparagement and approval): the process of evaluating individual narrators
Ilzam (compulsion): cross-referencing narrations to identify fabrications

This science is among the most sophisticated systems of historical authentication in human history: no other pre-modern tradition developed such a rigorous methodology for assessing the reliability of oral reports.

The Shi’i/Ismaili hadith tradition: The Shi’i tradition has its own hadith collections (the Four Books: al-Kafi, Man la Yahduruhu al-Faqih, Tahdhib al-Ahkam, al-Istibsar) which prioritize narrations transmitted through the Prophet’s household (Ahl al-Bayt). The Ismaili-Tayyibi tradition further emphasizes the Imams’ teaching as the primary vehicle of the Sunna’s batin.

The Prophet’s Character — Al-Akhlaq al-Nabawiyya

The Companions’ descriptions of the Prophet’s character provide the most vivid portrait:

Al-Jabir ibn ‘Abdillah: “He was the most generous of people in giving and the most pleasant in face.”

Anas ibn Malik (who served the Prophet for ten years): “I served the Prophet for ten years. He never said ‘uff’ to me. He never said ‘why did you do that?’ about something I had done, or ‘why didn’t you do that?’ about something I had not done. The Messenger of Allah was the best of people in character.”

Khadijah (RA) (his first wife, when he returned frightened from the first revelation): “Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You uphold family ties, you speak truthfully, you support the weak, you give to the poor, you host the guest, and you help those afflicted by hardship.” — Even before prophethood, his character was established.

The Prophet’s specific character traits documented in the Sirat:

Truthfulness (sidq): Known before prophethood as al-Amin (the Trustworthy) and al-Sadiq (the Truthful)
Gentleness (rifq): “Gentleness is not added to anything but it beautifies it, and it is not removed from anything but it diminishes it.” (Muslim)
Generosity (karam): He never refused a legitimate request; he gave to the point of having nothing left
Humility (tawadu’): He would sit with poor people, answer their questions first, help with domestic work
Justice (‘adl): “If Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad, were to steal, I would cut her hand.” (Bukhari) — Justice without favoritism even for his own family
Mercy (rahma): “I was only sent as a mercy.” (Hakim) He wept for his community; he made the prayers shorter when he heard a baby crying

See also: Tawadu, Adl, Muhabbah Divine Love

The Prophet’s Daily Sunna — Specific Practices

The Prayer (Salah)

The Prophet’s way of praying is detailed across thousands of hadith. Key aspects of prophetic salah practice:

The opening takbir (Allahu Akbar) with hands raised to the ears
The recitation of al-Fatiha and a surah in the first two rak’at
The specific postures: ruku’ (bowing), sujud (prostration), tashahhud
The 5 obligatory prayers + the sunnah prayers attached to each
The late-night prayer (tahajjud): “The best prayer after the obligatory prayers is the night prayer.” (Muslim)

Etiquettes of Eating and Drinking

Beginning with Bismillah
Eating with the right hand
Not eating until the food has cooled
Not blowing into food or drink
Sitting while drinking; the hadith against drinking standing

Interpersonal Conduct

The greeting of Assalam ‘Alaykum initiated by the mounted toward the walking, the walking toward the sitting
Visiting the sick
Attending funerals
Respecting elders; being merciful toward the young
The 3-day rule for visiting: staying no more than 3 days as a guest without specific invitation

The Prophet’s Relationship with the Quran

“His character was the Quran.” — Aisha (RA)

The Quran was not merely revealed through the Prophet; it shaped him and was shaped by his life. The Prophet’s most intimate relationship with the divine was through the Quran: he recited it constantly, wept over it, stood in night prayer with it. His companions described the sound of his recitation carrying beyond the walls of his house.

The Prophet’s personal practice with the Quran:

Annual review of the Quran with Jibril during Ramadan; in his last year, he reviewed it twice
Regular night prayer (qiyam al-layl) with extended recitation
Deep reflection (tadabbur) on individual verses — he is reported to have stood on a single verse for hours in night prayer
Teaching companions to recite with precise tajwid (articulation)

Bid’ah and the Sunna — What the Prophetic Way Excludes

“Every newly invented matter [in religion] is a bid’ah (innovation), and every bid’ah is going astray, and every going astray is in the Fire.” (Muslim)

The concept of bid’ah (religious innovation) is defined relative to the Sunna: an addition to religious practice that was not established by the Prophet or his rightly-guided successors. The principle: the form of ‘ibadah is established by the Sunna; what the Prophet did not prescribe as ‘ibadah should not be added as ‘ibadah.

However, Islamic scholarship has refined the concept significantly:

Bid’ah hasana (good innovation): Scholars like al-Shafi’i and al-Nawawi argued that innovations in non-worship areas (compilations of hadith, the tarawih prayer’s congregation organization) can be permissible or even praiseworthy if they serve the goals of the Sunna
Bid’ah sayyia (bad innovation): Additions to worship that contradict the spirit or letter of the Sunna, or that introduce something the Prophet explicitly prohibited

The Ismaili tradition’s position: The living Imam’s guidance constitutes the living Sunna — the batin of the Prophet’s Sunna as carried through the chain of Imams and Da’is. Following the Da’i’s direction in ‘ibadah (including forms of ‘ibadah that post-date the Prophet’s lifetime but are grounded in the batin of his teaching) is thus following the Sunna in its deepest sense.

See also: Bidah, Dai Al Mutlaq Institution

Ta’wil of the Sunna

The zahir of the Sunna is the specific practices, sayings, and character of the historical Prophet Muhammad ibn ‘Abdillah (SAW) as preserved in the hadith and Sirat literature.

The batin of the Sunna is the prophetic way as a template for every soul’s relationship with the divine: the prophet’s journey from ordinary human (the state before revelation) to the Seal of Prophethood (the complete human embodiment of divine guidance) is the journey of every soul in miniature.

In the Ismaili ta’wil: the Prophet’s mi’raj (ascent through the heavens) is the batin of the soul’s ascent through the levels of ta’wil toward the Haqiqah. The Prophet’s standing before the divine on the night of the mi’raj — described as qaba qawsayn aw adna (the distance of two bows’ length or closer — 53:9) — is the supreme expression of the soul’s possibility: the closest a created being can come to the divine’s presence. The Imam who teaches the ta’wil guides the disciple’s soul on its own mi’raj.

The Prophet’s character (khuluq) — “And indeed, you are of a great moral character.” (68:4) — is the fullest human realization of what the divine intended when it breathed of its ruh into Adam. The soul that follows the Sunna is not merely performing a legal obligation; it is participating in the divine’s intention for humanity.

Al-Sunna — The Prophetic Way