RELATION
OF THE SUNNAH
TO THE QURN
Muslim scholars unanimously agree that the
Sunnah of the Messenger is the second
primary source of Islm after the noble Qurn
the Sunnah can also be considered to be the
practical manifestation of the Qurn
The Qurn and the Sunnah is very closely
associated, to the extent that without the
Sunnah, the Qurnic injunctions could not be
properly understood.
1- confirmation and support for the Qurn
the Sunnah confirms and affirms Qurnic injuctions
For instance, there are adth confirming the obligation
of the five daily prayers, zakt, pilgrimage to Makkah (alhajj), fasting etc
For example, the Messenger is reported to have
mentioned the five pillars of Islm, all of which have
been outlaid in the Qurn
:
Islam is based on [the following] five [principles]: To testify that
none has the right to be worshipped but Allh and Muammad is
Allah's Messenger; to perform the [obligatory] prayers; to pay
zakt; to perform ajj; and to fast during the month of Raman.
2- explanation of the Qurn's
concise and ambivalent texts
a large portion of the Sunnah is of this form, which
justifies the characterising of the Sunnah as being
the explainer of the Qurn
These interpretation and explanation can take one
of the following forms:
i)
Elaboration of concise or ambivalent (mujmal)
texts
...
[As for] the thief, the male and the female, amputate their hands
The verse mentions the punishment of stealing without
specifying the amount stolen. The Sunnah however has
specified the amount deserving punishment:
The hand [of a thief] should not be cut off but for a quarter of a dinar
and what is above that.
ii) Clarification of obscure and ambiguous texts of the
Qurn
The Messenger explained the meaning of ulm
(injustice) in the following verse:
They who believe and do not mix their belief with injustice those will
have security, and they are [rightly] guided.
The Messenger responded to his companions who
asked for clarification regarding what is meant by ulm
The verse does not mean this. But that [lm] means to associate others
with Allah. Don't you listen to what Luqmn said to his son when he was
advising him, O my son, do not associate anything with Allah. Indeed,
association [with him] is great injustice.
iii) Limitation of the absolute
In the Qurn, Allh mentions about the distribution of
wealth after a person dies, for which the law of
inheritance applies after any bequest the deceased may
have made and the settling of debt
...
...
after any bequest he [may have] made or debt
The Messenger limited the amount of wealth one
could bequest to a third
. . . !
. : : : :
.
O Allh's Messenger, you can well see the pain with which I am afflicted and I
am a man possessing wealth, and there is none to inherit me except only one
daughter. Should I give two-thirds of my property as adaqah [i.e. charity or
gift]? He said, No. I said, Should I give half [of my property] as
adaqah? He said, No. He (further) said, Give one-third [as adaqah] and
that is quite enough. To leave your heirs rich is better than to leave them poor,
begging from people.
iv) Specification of the general statements
the Messenger specified what is intended by
dead meat and blood in the following verse
He has only forbidden to you dead animals [i.e. those not
slaughtered or hunted expressly for food], blood, the flesh of
swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allh.
. .
It is made permissible for you two [kinds] of dead [animals] and
two [kinds] of blood. As for dead [animals], [permissible for you
are] fish and locust. And as for two [kinds] of blood, [permissible
for you are] liver and spleen.
v) Establishment of new rulings based upon the
principles mentioned in the Qurn
In the case of those whom a man is prohibited
from marrying
...
Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, your
daughters, your sisters, your father's sisters, your mother's
sisters
The Messenger established a subsidiary ruling
That is unlawful by reason of fosterage [i.e. suckling
relations], what is unlawful by reason of genealogy [i.e.
blood relations].
3- establish legal rulings,
for which the Qurn is silent of
Muslims are to obey all the commands of the
Messenger and this include rulings which were
established by the Sunnah, although it is not
mentioned in the Qurn. It is sufficient for the
Qurn to establish the authority of the Messenger
to support the notion that the Sunnah is by itself
a source of binding rulings
A key role of the Messenger was not only to pass on the
verses of the Qurn, but also to show to Muslims how the
Qurn is to be applied to human existence
Certainly did Allh confer [great] favour upon the believers when He sent among them a
Messenger from themselves, reciting to His verses and purifying them and teaching them
the Book [i.e. the Qurn] and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error.
The hikmah (wisdom) mentioned; this process of purification and
this instruction in the meaning of the Qurn, are all available to
Muslims in the form of the Sunnah.
Without the hikmah, which is in fact the Sunnah, the Qurn
would have been at the mercy of all who wished to misinterpret it.
Consequently, since the Qurn is the basis of the sharah, it has
to be interpreted by the one to whom the Qurn was revealed to.
