Sunna
Definition
Sunna encompasses the totality of the Prophet's ﷺ practice — his words, his actions, his tacit approvals and disapprovals, and the character and values that animated all of these. Al-Ghazali distinguishes between the Sunna of actions (specific things the Prophet ﷺ did that Muslims should also do), the Sunna of character (the inner qualities that produced the actions), and the Sunna of orientation (the fundamental direction of the heart toward Allah that underlay everything else). He argues that following the Sunna of actions without developing the Sunna of character is incomplete — it produces outward conformity without inner transformation.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
How the scholars use Sunna.
-
"love of leadership nor appetite can move them to prefer this world to the next. And the way to this is that they hold fast to the Book and the Sunna, seek help through patience and prayer, and reflect on this world — its passing away and its meanness — and on the Hereafter, its approach and its permanence. Those others, however, must inevitably introduce innovations into the religion along with corruption in their deeds, so that the two evils meet in them. For following one's passion blinds the eye of the heart, so that it cannot distinguish the Sunna from innovation — or it inverts it, so that he sees innovation as Sunna and the Sunna as innovation."
— Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume One
-
"Come up to me, Ali." He rose and went to him and stood beneath the pulpit, and Abd al-Rahman took his hand and said: "Will you pledge allegiance to me upon the Book of God and the Sunna of His Prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him, and the practice of Abu Bakr and Umar?" He said, "By God, no; but according to my effort in that and my capacity." He said: So he let go of his hand and said: "Come up to me, Uthman." He took his hand and said: "Will you pledge allegiance to me upon the Book of God and the Sunna of His Prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him, and the practice of Abu Bakr and Umar?""
— Ibn Kathir, Uthman ibn Affan
-
"The nearest of means to God is clinging to the Sunna, standing with it outwardly and inwardly, constant need of God, and desiring His face alone in words and deeds. No one has ever reached God except through these three, and no one has ever been cut off from Him except by being cut off from them, or from one of them. The foundations upon which the servant's happiness is built are three, and each of them has an opposite; whoever loses that foundation falls into its opposite: Tawhid, whose opposite is associating partners with God; the Sunna, whose opposite is innovation;"
— Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume One
Appears in
1 book in the library
Hear the term in context.
Every book above uses Sunna the way the classical scholars meant it. Listen with the full Study Kit in the app.