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A Reminder to the Sunnah Police
Check Back With the Chief!
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By
Altaf Husain, MSW**
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Dec.
12, 2005
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A
common reaction among young people when it comes to matters of
the religion is “I’m so confused.” An even more
common reaction among young people when it comes to judging
others on matters of religion is “what type of
Sunnah are you following?” or even worse, “are
you even on the Sunnah?”
These
types of questions are not new. What is troubling, however, is
that passing judgment upon one another simply for the sake of
self-gratification and self-praise is self-destructive and has
the potential of destroying the very brotherhood and sisterhood
that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)
encouraged so passionately for us to form. It is through
following the model of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings
be upon him) and manifesting the most sublime of qualities and
characteristics such as being merciful, kind, compassionate,
tolerant, and moderate in our outlook that we are raised in
stature. In reality, every Muslim is a member of the Sunnah
police—those who ensure personal and societal adherence to the
Sunnah. However, unfortunately, in the process of
“policing,” some of us betray through our personal behavior
the very ideals that we are encouraging others to uphold. And so
it is that some members of the Sunnah police force need to be
reminded to check back in with the chief of all of us, the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
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You
and I have come across people in our lifetime who make it their
mission to define what the Sunnah is. These self-appointed
scholars or, even worse, self-appointed spokespeople of
authentic scholars go to great lengths to show how you and I think
we are following the Sunnah. According to them, we are not
following the Sunnah or at least not their particular
interpretation of the Sunnah. We appear to them lax,
compromising, and in some cases, outright off the path—the
straight path, of course. Fear not. Even during the life of the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), there were
people who thought they knew best what it meant to follow his
Sunnah and often imposed that interpretation upon themselves and
attempted to impose it on others. The Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him) urged such people to maintain the
middle path, the balanced path.
Whether
we talk about the past or the present, al-hamdu lillah,
one point remains consistent: Everyone who wants to make sure
that everyone else is following the Sunnah does so purely out of
love for the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
Throughout the centuries following the death of the Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), there have been
people who never saw him, were not fortunate to spend time in
his company, to be led in prayer by him, to receive from him the
revelation, fresh, direct. And yet, through the mercy of Allah,
all of us fall in love with the Prophet Muhammad (peace and
blessings be upon him) and desire so much to follow him in our
pursuit of the pleasure of Allah Most High.
When
we reflect on what it means to follow the Sunnah, we should
therefore understand that the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him) is inseparable from the
Qur’an. Together, the Qur’an and the Sunnah are whole and
comprehensive because negating the importance of one renders the
other incomplete. The importance of the Qur’an might be too
obvious, but it is in fact the Qur’an we turn to in order to
appreciate how Allah Most HIgh describes the ultimate role of
the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him): [He
orders them with that which is good and forbids them that which
is bad. And He makes allowed for them that which is clean and
good, and forbids them that which is unclean and detestable]
(Al-A`raf 7:157). Every time we follow the Sunnah, we should be
grateful to Allah for sending us the Prophet Muhammad and
thankful to the Prophet for undertaking the overwhelming task of
separating for us the good from the bad, the clean from the
unclean, and the healthy from the unhealthy.
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He
(peace and blessings be upon him) was sent as a mercy to
mankind. Human beings needed, need today, and will always need a
role model, a teacher, and a guide. Allah Most High sent the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), whose every
word, every action, and every acquiescence carries meaning, is
full of wisdom, and, most of all, facilitates for us our daily
lives.
Indeed,
the Companions (may Allah be pleased with all of them) found
themselves in his presence to be as if they knew nothing and
wanted to learn everything from him and about him! What pleased
him? What upset him? What did he like to eat? How did he rest?
How long did he rest for? What was his private life like? Why
did he say such and such? Why was he silent at such and such
time? Why did he smile? Why did he frown? What was his outlook
on this matter or that matter? Was it in fact his outlook or
opinion alone or was he conveying revelation? And on and on. We
are grateful to all of the Companions for their thirst for
knowledge and their unparalleled love for the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him).
We
also give thanks to Allah for blessing us with the scholars who
sacrificed their lives to document the Sunnah through rigorous
methodology. We are all familiar with the voluminous treasures
of wisdom such as Sahih Al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu
Dawud and the Muwatta’ of Imam Malik. And we are grateful as
well to the founders of the four schools of jurisprudence, who
painstakingly documented, analyzed and structured the Islamic
teachings—inclusive of the Sunnah. Due to the founders’
sacrifices, a majority of the world’s Muslims lay claim to
either the Hanafi, Shafi`i, Hanbali, or Maliki school. Each of
the founders of these schools of thought were pious and
righteous men whose sole purpose in life was to seek the
pleasure of Allah. These eminent scholars possessed a profound
love, admiration, and unqualified respect for the Sunnah of the
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
So
what’s stopping us? Why aren’t we learning systematically
about the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be
upon him)? In order to be the best Muslims, we need to
understand that our goal is to help people to appreciate the
Qur’an and the Sunnah. Of course, before teaching or telling
anyone else to follow the Sunnah or what type of Sunnah
to follow, we need to have a thorough understanding of the
Sunnah. In sha’ Allah, spending more time with learned
people who can help us to contextualize the life and teachings
of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) will
impart on us a sense of awesome responsibility so that we never
again make light of the Sunnah and what it means to follow the
Sunnah.
Whenever
someone expands our horizons by sharing with us some aspect of
the Sunnah, we should receive this information with a clean,
sincere heart and aim to apply that information in our daily
lives. After all, we are the inheritors of the Sunnah, so
shouldn’t we spend more time learning it and applying it in
our lives rather than spending inordinate amounts of time
attempting to define for ourselves what the Sunnah is and who is
and is not following it! There are already enough untrained,
self-proclaimed Sunnah police. You and I need to make sure to
remind these Sunnah police to check back with their chief.
Let’s make du`aa’ that once they reflect upon the
life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), in
sha’ Allah, they will realize that his approach was
comprehensive and that he almost never judged people for the
sake of judgment. He made excuses for people; he forgave people;
he was merciful towards people; he reminded people; he did not
chastise people but gave general reminders; he helped the poor,
the weak, and the orphans and widows. He did so much more! That
is a description of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be
upon him), our chief teacher, our guide, and being like him is
what we mean by following the Sunnah!
Read
More:
**
Altaf Husain is a licensed social worker in the United States and has been a contributing writer to IslamOnline since its inception. He can be contacted at
youth_campaign@iolteam.com.
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