What is the Sunnah?

For the new and prospective Muslim, how should one interpret the Sunnah? Should it be considered the emulation (or imitation rather) of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) actions or the striving of the state of his (peace be upon him) character?

Wa `alaykum as-Salam:

Sunna, pl. sunan: "Road" or "practice (s)." Standard practice, primarily of the Prophet sallAllahu `alayhi wa-Alihi wa-Sallam, including his sayings, deeds, tacit approvals or disapprovals. Hadith Scholars add his personal traits - including physical features - to this definition.

The "sciences of the Sunna" (`ulum al-Sunna) refer to the biography of the Prophet (saws) (sira), the chronicle of his battles (maghazi), his everyday sayings and acts or "ways" (sunan) including his personal and moral qualities (shama'il), and the host of the ancillary hadith sciences such as the circumstances of occurrence (asbab al-wurud), knowledge of the abrogating and abrogated hadith, difficult words (gharib al-hadith), narrator criticism (al-jarh wal-ta`dil), narrator-biographies (al-rijal), etc. This meaning is used in contradistinction to the Qur'an in expressions such as "Qur'an and Sunna" and applies in the usage of hadith Scholars.

"The Sunna in our definition consists in the reports transmitted from the Messenger of Allah (saws), and the Sunna is the commentary (tafsir) of the Qur'an and contains its directives (dala'il)" (Imam Ahmad).

The early Sunni hadith Masters such as Abu Dawud and Abu Nasr al-Marwazi also used the term "the Sunna" in the narrow sense to refer to Sunni Doctrine as opposed to the creeds of non-Sunni sects.

In the terminology of usul al-fiqh or principles of jurisprudence, sunna denotes a saying (qawl), action (fi'l) or approval (taqrir) related from (nuqila `an) the Prophet (saws) or issuing (sadara) from him other than the Qur'an.

In the terminology of fiqh or jurisprudence, sunna denotes whatever is firmly established (thabata) as called for (matlub) in the Religion on the basis of a legal proof (dalil shar`i) but without being obligatory, the continued abandonment of which constitutes disregard (istikhfaf) of the Religion and sin, and incurs blame (lawm, `itab, tadlil) - also punishment (`uquba) according to some jurists.

Some made a distinction between what they called "Emphasized Sunna" (sunna mu'akkada) or "Sunna of Guidance" (sunnat al-huda), such as what the Prophet (saws) ordered or emphasized in word or in deed, and other types of Sunna considered less binding in their legal status, such as what they called "Non-Emphasized Sunna" (sunna ghayr mu'akkada) and "Sunna of Habit" (sunnat al-`ada).

The above jurisprudential meanings of Sunna are used in contradistinction to the other four of the five legal categories for human actions - fard ("obligatory"), mubah ("indifferent"), makruh ("offensive"), haram ("prohibited") - and apply in the usage of jurists from the second Hijri century.

More on the Sunna as binding evidence (Hujjiyyat al-Sunna) at:

http://www.sunnah.org/fiqh/usul/probativeness_sunna/Default.htm
http://stormcity.com/salam/haddad/

And Allah knows best.

Was-Salam

Hajj Gibril Haddad