ࡱ> Z\Yq` ;bjbjqPqP .>::.......B B   h L . ..p  ^..  ..  ( . 0 XE .X X. 4"   s  BBBdBBBBBB...... THE SUNNAH: IDENTIFYING WITH THE MIDDLE PATH By Shaykh Fakhruddin Owaisi (Lecturer in Hadith IPSA) About 85 % of all Muslims in the world today officially identify themselves with the Sunnah by describing themselves as Sunni Muslims, and this has been the case since the beginning of Islamic history. Throughout the 1400 years since the blessed Prophet left this world, the great majority of his Ummah consciously decided to hold on to the Way that is described as that of the Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jam ah (i.e. the People of the Sunnah and the Majority). What is this  Way ? And why did it become the Ummah s preferred course? To understand this, one must reflect on the early history of Islam. A few decades after the Prophet s departure from this temporal world, fragmentations and cracks began to appear in the Ummah, eventually leading to a depressing civil war. Although these differences were primarily of a political nature, it nevertheless disturbed the great majority of simple and pure-hearted believers in Islam that Muslims should be at each others throats. Furthermore, these political crises also gave birth to two distinct understandings of Islam. One was that of the Khrijites who believed that the  solution to these crises lay in a strict literalist adherence to  the Book of Allah alone , without any human interpretative  interference . The other was that of the  Sh+ ites who believed that the  solution lay in an absolute allegiance to the Family of the Prophet and that all temporal and spiritual leadership of Muslims should be reserved exclusively for the divinely guided and infallible descendants of Ali (R.A.). Needless to say, the great majority of the Ummah did not accept these courses of action and considered them as extremist and emotionalist. They felt that between the Book that was revealed to him, and the men that descended from him, it was the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) who was the definitive focal point of Islam. Safety therefore lay in holding on to his Way, which was termed the Sunnah, which was the best of ways and the middle path. Consequently, those who decided to hold on to the Sunnah became known as the Ahl al-Sunnah, and as they were the majority of Muslims, they also became known as the Jam ah (the majority group). The essence of being a Sunni was following the ethos of the Prophetic Sunnah. Indeed, the example of the Prophet (S.A.W.) belied the extremist ideologies of the time. While the Prophet (S.A.W.) had exhorted the Ummah to love his relatives, it was also true that he had assigned important duties to pious Muslims who were not from his clan, such as asking Abu-Bakr to lead the prayers during his pre-death illness, or asking Bilal to give the Adhn, or requesting Usamah to lead the army. While he had exhorted his followers to hold on to the Qur an, he had also advised them to look for solutions in his Sunnah or use one s own reasoning (Ijtihd) in the absence of a clear-cut Qur anic verdict. Following the Sunnah therefore meant following a path of moderation amidst a plethora of radical ideologies. For the Ahl al-Sunnah, it also meant, following a path of tolerance, as the Sunnah had set a precedent for this. One reads in a Hadith in Bukhr+ that when the Sahabah differed in their interpretation and implementation of a certain command of the blessed Prophet, he deemed the interpretations of both parties as correct, as both had tried their best to understand his command. Therefore, unlike the extremist sects, the Ahl al-Sunnah accommodated various juristic opinions and Madh-habs in their framework. A Sunni was therefore free to follow any of the great Jurists of Islam in their interpretations of the Sunnah, without being chastised or excommunicated. This was a unique feature of the Islam of the Sunnah, especially in an age where extremist groupings considered any difference of opinion with their chosen Imam as constituting kufr. Extreme caution in making takf+r (considering someone as kfir i.e. disbeliever) was another hallmark of the Sunni Way. Again, this was directly derived from the Sunnah. The blessed Prophets kind and compassionate treatment of sinners was well known. For, example, once when some of the Sahabah were cursing a habitual drunkard who was being lashed, the Prophet (S.A.W.) reprimanded them by saying that he (i.e. the drunkard) is a man who loves Allah and His Messenger (Musnad Ah$mad). With such examples abounding in the Sunnah, how could the majority of Muslims accept the Kharijite version of Islam where a person was considered a kafir if he committed any major sin?! Another feature of Sunnah-based Islam was striking a balance be/12LXegh  Z  tGfkr24BDZG Xd l!"""@"F"6#@###$*L+پUh+ 6OJQJ]ha!hkkh+ ]hkk h+ 6]h+ CJOJQJ hkk>* h+ >*h+ 6>*]h+ J./23Lgh  "$00 788;$a$$a$$a$;tween outward ritualism and inward spirituality. The Sunnah was clear on this. The Prophet (S.A.W.) had recommended Muslims to wear their beards and comb their hair (Nas +), but he had also stated that  Allah does not look at your outward features and wealth but He looks at your hearts and actions (S$ah$+h$ Muslim). At the same time, a Muslim could not simply rely on his spirituality and neglect the outward duties. The Prophet (S.A.W.) had also advised us to,  Tie the camel, then trust (in Allah) (Tirmidh+). He had stated that  Be in this world like a traveler (Bukhr+), but he also,  liked Honey and sweet things (Sham il). Later Sunni scholars and Sufis expounded on this balance between ritualism and spirituality, worldly caution and faith in God. Another aspect of Sunnah-based Islam was its matter-of-fact attitude towards the Sunnah itself. Not all that was narrated from the Prophet (S.A.W.) was equal. There was those reports that were mass-transmitted and those which was narrated by a few only. Furthermore, not everything that was claimed to be a Sunnah was really so. Therefore, painstaking research was done by countless Sunni scholars to identify the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet (S.A.W.), which included his sayings, actions, approvals and states of being. The backdrop of this was the firm belief that the Prophet (S.A.W.) was the divinely chosen channel through which God revealed His Will to humanity, and that he (S.A.W.) was Islam personified. The great Persian jurist, Imam Abu-Hanifah (d.150 A.H), articulated this belief of the early Muslim masses in his Fiqh al-Akbar, the first book to be written on Islamic theology:  And I believe in everything that the Prophet (S.A.W.) came with, whatever I know of it and whatever I don t know of it.  Unlike the Jews who identified themselves with the  Chosen Family , and the Christians who identified themselves with the  Chosen Man , the majority of this blessed Ummah chose to be identified with the  Chosen Path , that of the Sunnah. However, the Ummah should remember that the Sunnah is not merely an identity to be proud of; its implementation ought to be the living reality of our lives. 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