Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 1: Imitating the Prophet - pbuh)
Question:
Dear Brother/sister!
Further to our discussion please let me know what do you say about using Miswak, to drink with right hand, etc.? these are sunnahs? As we have been listening since childhood about these sunnahs.
Also what I have read in hadith books that the companions always tried to copy/imitate each and every movement/gesture/posture/walk style of Prophet (PBUH).Even I read somewhere in the books that a companion walking through a tree and he touches the branch of tree just due to the reason that Prophet did that.
Please explain.
Regards.
Answer:
Brushing the teeth (using any appropriate tool like a tooth brush or the traditional Arabic tooth brush that is called Miswak) is a clear Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). It is among those Sunan that are related to hygiene and the Almighty has given it a religious importance, like clipping the nail, etc. Although there are many Hadiths directing Muslims to use toothbrush the real source of understanding this is not the Hadith but the established Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). The Prophet (pbuh) simply endorsed and encouraged a cleaning procedure that was in place in his society (and in fact in all civilized societies) and established it as an etiquette that a Muslim needs to observe. Therefore it became part of the established Sunnah. Same goes with using the right hand for drinking and eating.
The source of all the above and many other acts are not the Hadith. To appreciate this, imagine that for some reasons Muslims never had any books of Hadith (which of course would have been a huge loss of knowledge). In this imaginary situation do you think that Muslims would not brush their teeth and would not drink and eat with the right hand, as the established Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh)? If you have appreciated what I wrote in my previous reply about the method by which the established Sunnah is delivered to us then hopefully you should also appreciate that even in this imaginary scenario we would still know that these acts where among the established Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). This is simply because this knowledge has been reached us by the perpetual adherence of the generations of Muslims to it, starting from the companions of the Prophet (pbuh). This transfer of knowledge was not relying on Hadith. The reason that (as you wrote) "you have been listening since childhood to these Sunan" is the same (although this does not mean that whatever we have been taught from childhood is reliable).
You wrote: "I have read in hadith books that the companions always tried to copy/imitate each and every movement/gesture/posture/walk style of Prophet (PBUH).Even I read somewhere in the books that a companion walking through a tree and he touches the branch of tree just due to the reason that Prophet did that."
To try to answer this in a simplest way, allow me to concentrate on that last example you mentioned. I ask you a very simple question:
Do you know any learned scholar who considers touching the same branch of the tree, that the Prophet (pbuh) touched, to be among our religious practices and Sunnah?
I think your answer to the above is 'No'.
It is narrated that Abdullah ibn Umar used to make his camel going round twice in a point in Mecca before dismounting. This was simply because he had seen once that the Prophet (pbuh) did the same. No other companion and no learned scholar today considers making a camel going round twice on a point in Mecca to be of any religious value.
Acts like the above were only due to the extreme love and extreme passion and cautious of some of the companions. The most knowledgeable companions of the Prophet (pbuh) were in fact those who could recognise which act of the Prophet (pbuh) had religious implications and which of his acts did not have religious implications for others.
Inline with my previous answer, I again define what can be considered as the Established Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), as follows:
The established Sunah of the Prophet (pbuh), that like the Qur'an is a source of understanding Islam, are those religious practices, mostly originated from Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh), that the Prophet (pbuh) established among his companions and have been reached us through the consensus of generations by their perpetual adherence to these practices.
I hope this is clear.
----------
Related Topics:
Sunnah vs. Hadith
Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 2: Criteria for Accepting a Hadith)
----------
March 2013
Dear Brother/sister!
Further to our discussion please let me know what do you say about using Miswak, to drink with right hand, etc.? these are sunnahs? As we have been listening since childhood about these sunnahs.
Also what I have read in hadith books that the companions always tried to copy/imitate each and every movement/gesture/posture/walk style of Prophet (PBUH).Even I read somewhere in the books that a companion walking through a tree and he touches the branch of tree just due to the reason that Prophet did that.
Please explain.
Regards.
Answer:
Brushing the teeth (using any appropriate tool like a tooth brush or the traditional Arabic tooth brush that is called Miswak) is a clear Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). It is among those Sunan that are related to hygiene and the Almighty has given it a religious importance, like clipping the nail, etc. Although there are many Hadiths directing Muslims to use toothbrush the real source of understanding this is not the Hadith but the established Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). The Prophet (pbuh) simply endorsed and encouraged a cleaning procedure that was in place in his society (and in fact in all civilized societies) and established it as an etiquette that a Muslim needs to observe. Therefore it became part of the established Sunnah. Same goes with using the right hand for drinking and eating.
The source of all the above and many other acts are not the Hadith. To appreciate this, imagine that for some reasons Muslims never had any books of Hadith (which of course would have been a huge loss of knowledge). In this imaginary situation do you think that Muslims would not brush their teeth and would not drink and eat with the right hand, as the established Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh)? If you have appreciated what I wrote in my previous reply about the method by which the established Sunnah is delivered to us then hopefully you should also appreciate that even in this imaginary scenario we would still know that these acts where among the established Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). This is simply because this knowledge has been reached us by the perpetual adherence of the generations of Muslims to it, starting from the companions of the Prophet (pbuh). This transfer of knowledge was not relying on Hadith. The reason that (as you wrote) "you have been listening since childhood to these Sunan" is the same (although this does not mean that whatever we have been taught from childhood is reliable).
You wrote: "I have read in hadith books that the companions always tried to copy/imitate each and every movement/gesture/posture/walk style of Prophet (PBUH).Even I read somewhere in the books that a companion walking through a tree and he touches the branch of tree just due to the reason that Prophet did that."
To try to answer this in a simplest way, allow me to concentrate on that last example you mentioned. I ask you a very simple question:
Do you know any learned scholar who considers touching the same branch of the tree, that the Prophet (pbuh) touched, to be among our religious practices and Sunnah?
I think your answer to the above is 'No'.
It is narrated that Abdullah ibn Umar used to make his camel going round twice in a point in Mecca before dismounting. This was simply because he had seen once that the Prophet (pbuh) did the same. No other companion and no learned scholar today considers making a camel going round twice on a point in Mecca to be of any religious value.
Acts like the above were only due to the extreme love and extreme passion and cautious of some of the companions. The most knowledgeable companions of the Prophet (pbuh) were in fact those who could recognise which act of the Prophet (pbuh) had religious implications and which of his acts did not have religious implications for others.
Inline with my previous answer, I again define what can be considered as the Established Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), as follows:
The established Sunah of the Prophet (pbuh), that like the Qur'an is a source of understanding Islam, are those religious practices, mostly originated from Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh), that the Prophet (pbuh) established among his companions and have been reached us through the consensus of generations by their perpetual adherence to these practices.
I hope this is clear.
----------
Related Topics:
Sunnah vs. Hadith
Sunnah vs. Hadith (Follow Up 2: Criteria for Accepting a Hadith)
----------
March 2013
