The status of Sunnah in Islam.

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

"O My Lord! expand me My breast , Ease My task for Me And remove the impediment from My speech,
 So They may understand what I say" (20:25-28)

This is what Moses (pbuh) said when he was ordered by his lord to go to Pharaoh who has transgressed all bounds of disbelief and disobedience towards his creator , when he said those words he was granted the guidence , strength and boldness to face the first creature who declared himself as God.

I hope that by repeating Moses words that Allah shall grant me the strength and power to persuade all those who are deviated from the right path , the path of the prophets.

So I say :

"Ye have indeed In the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of conduct) for any one whose hope is In Allah and the final Day, and who engages much In the Praise of Allah." (31:22)

What is a pattern ?

If you google it , you'll find that it means in plain enlgish "a model considered worthy of imitation"

Hmmm, Immitation , does that sound like doing like what someone else is doing? of course..right?
So, the Quran is actually asking us to immitate the Prophet(pbuh) but of course in the context of what he actually came for , delivering the final message , the word of God , what he likes and dislikes and so on..
Since the Aya did not mention what type of immitation should we adopt then it should be taken in its general form , I mean either his actions or words.

For example  pray like he prayed , deal with people like he dealt , say what he said in similar situations and so on.

If you take a look at the Quran you'll find that it constitues different types of topics , but can be categorized in the following :

1- Stories of the preceding prophets , which takes a very large portion of the Quran (I can say more than 50% of the Quran ) , of course there is a great wisdom in mentioning their stories , like reminding us of what happened when their nations deviated from their path (lesson/warning) , how much they suffered to deliver God's words and many other things that can take a whole book to mention , take a look at this verse :

"There is, In their stories, instruction for men endued with understanding. it is not a tale invented, but a confirmation of what went before it,- a detailed exposition of all things, and a guide and a Mercy to any such As believe." (12:111).

2- Refutation/Falsification of the wrong beliefs , adopted by mankind specially the holders of the old scriptures since they are closer in undesrating the concpet of a message than the pagans , this also takes up a large portion of the Quran and is the main reason why the Prophet Mohammed had to be sent :

"O people of the Book! there hath come to you Our Messenger, revealing to you much that ye used to hide In the Book, and passing over much (That is Now unnecessary). there hath come to you from Allah a (new) light and a perspicuous Book, wherewith Allah guideth all who seek His good pleasure to ways of peace and safety, and leadeth them out of darkness, by His will, unto the light,- guideth them to a path that is straight."(5:15-16) .

I can say confidently that this takes up to another 20-25% of the whole Quran.

3 - Laws , which comes in a general form , like Pray , Perform Haj , Give Zakah , but never mentions the "How to..." . which of course is taken from the Sunnah.

4 - Declaring the identity/nature of God (Allah)  that was subject to so much deformity in the old scriptures , like the invention of the trinity concept , the helplesness of God , for example read this verse in the bible :

Jacob Wrestles With God ( This title is written in the bible , I did not fabricate it )

Source :

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2032&version=NIV


22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.
24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.
25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.
28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, [e] because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
29 Jacob said, "Please tell me your name."
But he replied, "Why do you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, [f] saying, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared."  (Genesis 32:22-30)

And a counltess number of insults towards God almighty , In Contrast take a look at the Quran where it says:


"No just estimate have They made of Allah. for Allah is He who is strong and able to carry out His will"


Or how God regreted that he created mankind - as if he didnt know what they were going to do - take a look at (Genesis 6:8) :

"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD"

Or how he NEEDED to rest after creating the heavens and earth !!!

In Contrast take a look at the Quran where it says:

"We created the heavens and the earth and all between them In six days, nor did any sense of weariness touch us." (50:38)


Anyhow , this takes up like another 15-20% of the whole Quran.

What im trying to say here is : How in the world can we immitate the Prophet if his actions does not take even 2% of the Quran ? There is only one answer : The Sunnah !

"But no, by the Lord, They can have no (real) Faith, until They make Thee judge In all disputes between them, and find In their souls no resistance against Thy decisions, but Accept them with the fullest conviction."

Isn't it clear that Allah asks them to judge him in all the disputes and then accept his decisions?
Where is his decisions in the Quran if the most of the Quran is composed of what is mantioned above?

One last thing , The Quran says :

*"Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and beware (of evil): if ye do turn back, know ye that it is Our Messenger.s duty to proclaim (the message) In the clearest manner."

Notice the word "And"

*"He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah. but if any turn away, we have not sent Thee to watch over their (evil deeds)."

The verse implies that there is obedience for both , and that obeying him is actually obeying Allah since he speaks not of his own words.

*"So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which He withholds from you. and fear Allah. for Allah is strict In punishment."

This is a drop from the ocean of what I can say about this matter ... and it all goes back to the fact that the Sunnah is a crucial part of Islam ....

To be continued ....