Sunna and hadith:the difference
They say that things are revealed by their opposites. You know a woman by a man and an animal by a human. But, it is also how we learn the meaning of Sunna. In Islamic practice, the opposite of Sunna is bid’a while in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), the antonym of Sunna is makruh. So, if you know what bid’a is, or the meaning of fard and wajib, it simplifies understanding the meaning of Sunna. Perhaps, even better than the definition of Sunna itself.
But this breakdown also helps us understand the difference between Sunna and hadith, two terms that are often juggled around. They are indeed related, which is the reason for much confusion, but they are also worlds apart.
Read on and you will know why.
Neither makruh nor bid’a are the opposites of hadith, which proves that hadith is most certainly not the same as Sunna.
We can understand this pronounced difference in another way. A synonym for hadith is athar and khabr. Muhaddithun often used one for the other. In fact, many hadith collection titles use athar in place of hadith like Imam Tahawi’s Sharah Ma’ani al-Athar. Both athar and khabr are not interchangeable with Sunna. One cannot say athar and khabr and mean Sunna.
In terms of definition, the Sunna is the standard the Prophet (sa) established in every aspect of our life while the hadith is:
any word, deed of the Prophet (sa) [whether it be his standard or not] his tacit approval and/or any description of him.[1]
In simpler terms: hadith are the road while Sunna is the destination. This is why the Prophet (sa) enjoined adherence to the Sunna while never even implying adherence to the hadith. Here are some examples (note: the word Sunna in these narrations is not a translation but the actual wording of the hadith).
The Prophet (sa) said, “Hold fast to my Sunna and the Sunna of my guided khalifahs.”[2]
In another narration, “After me will be leaders who will not be led by my guidance, and they will not rule by my Sunna[3].”
In another narration, “Glad tidings to the strangers who will correct what people will corrupt after me from my Sunna.”[4]
In another narration, “Whoever revives a Sunna from my Sunna that has disappeared, he will receive the reward of those who act upon it without any decrease in their reward at all.”[5]
In another narration, “If you are able to spend your day and night without holding any ill-intent in your heart toward anyone, then do it!” Anas g goes on to say that the Prophet (sa) said, “My son, this is of my Sunna, and whosoever revives my Sunna, it is because he loves me.”[6]
The Prophet (sa) enjoined the Sunna, not the hadith.
Let’s be more pragmatic. Pick up Bukhari and the first hadith you come across, see if the hadith is a Sunna. Here is one: the Prophet (sa) once came upon the [garbage] of a people. He urinated there while standing. Then, he called for water and I [Hudhayfa] brought it for him. Then, he performed wudu.[7]
Standing while urinating is a hadith, but it is not the Sunna.
Why?
The following anecdote explains:
Once, the Prophet (sa) was leading the salat when he suddenly removed his slippers and placed them to his left. Seeing this, the Sahaba followed suit. When the Prophet (sa) completed his salat, he turned around and asked, “What happened? Why did you remove your slippers?”
They replied, “We saw you remove your slippers, so we did the same.”
The Prophet (sa) said, “Jibril informed me that there was something [impure] in them.”[8]
What the Prophet (sa) did was a hadith, but it was not his Sunna, and he made that clear to the Sahaba so that they understood the distinction.
This hadith also highlights that Sunna are derived from the hadith. But to do so, one needs context and background. You also need to know subtleties in the wording, other narrations on the topic, and the multiplicity of reasons behind why the Prophet (sa) said what he said or did what he did before we take a hadith as Sunna. This was the subject matter of the fuqaha (jurists) [like the four imams].
In addition, one needs tafaqquh (profundity), a God-given gift that comes to those whom He chooses. It is oversimplistic to think that one can simply open a hadith book and claim to know the Sunna based on a hadith being authentic.
This is how we conclude that the Prophet (sa) urinating in a standing position is a hadith, but not a Sunna though the hadith is authentic. Authenticity of hadith proves nothing more than that the hadith chain is authentic.
It nowhere authenticates what is or is not Sunna.
Here is another example from Bukhari. Once, the Prophet (sa) passed by two graves. He said, “They are both being punished, but not because of anything major. As for one, he did not save himself from the splatter of urine while the second one would spread nameema (slander).” Then he called for a fresh twig and broke it into two. He placed one on one grave and the other half on the other. Someone asked, “Why did you do this, O Prophet of Allah?”
He replied, “Maybe they [the fresh twigs] will ease their punishment until they dry up.”[9]
This is a hadith, but it is not Sunna to place fresh twigs on graves. This is why Allah Himself enjoins the Sunna: “If you really love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you and forgive you your sins” (3:31). To this, Allama Mazhari states, “Whoever claims love of Allah while opposing the Sunna of the Prophet (sa) is a kaddab (profligate liar), discredited by the Book of Allah.”[10]
Such a difference may seem too nitpicky and unworthy of a dedicated article. But there is a reason. Ignorance toward this subtle difference has given rise to a methodology in the study of traditional text that is unprecedented among our predecessors. This form of study is literal. It starves the hadith of context, background, and deprives it of the critical analysis of the Islamic sciences that develop a deeper, more comprehensive framework to understand what the hadith topic entails.
While the simplistic approach is convenient, requiring no teacher and no formal education in the sacred sciences, the eventual outcome is deviation from the Sunna.
The more one thinks they are following the deen, the less they are.
What do you mean by Islamic sciences?
It’s a long topic, but here is a brief example that applies many sciences [Arabic syntax, Balagha (rhetoric), Consensus of the Sahaba and opinions of the predecessors from the Golden Era (khayr al-qurun), Science of hadith, History] to examine the scope of a hadith.
The Prophet (sa) said, “Salat in my masjid, this one, is greater than a thousand salat in any other masjid except Masjid Haram” (Bukhari: 2/60). Meaning that if one prays one compulsory salat in Masjid Nabawi, they receive the reward of 1000 compulsory salat in any other masjid except for Masjid Haram.
But the question is which masjid are we talking about when we say Masjid Nabawi. Is it the Masjid as we know it today or the original Masjid Nabawi as it was during the prophetic era?
The Prophet (sa) in this hadith uses both the proper noun [my masjid] and a demonstrative noun [this one] to identify the boundaries of Masjid Nabawi. The proper noun indicates that any extension to the Masjid will be included in the definition of Masjid Nabawi since that is what is meant when we say Masjid Nabawi. The demonstrative noun, on the other hand, points to the masjid as it was during the prophetic era. To take the demonstrative noun means that any worshipper who prays salat outside of the original masjid, though it is called Masjid Nabawi, will not receive the reward stated in the hadith.
Which noun should we take then, the demonstrative or the proper?
The answer to this question is answered by the science of Balagha which says that it all depends on which one is more definitive.
Why?
Because the more definitive something is, the less ambiguity involved. Since the demonstrative noun is more definitive, Imam Nawawi held the opinion that the reward equivalent to a 1000 salat in any other masjid is only for those who pray in the original masjid.
But Ibn Taymiyya and Muhibb Tabari disagreed, and they employed yet another set of sciences to counter the opinion of Imam Nawawi. Two of these main sciences are the corpus of hadith and consensus of the Sahaba/ opinions of the predecessors. They argued that the Prophet (sa) only pointed toward the Masjid to exclude any other masjid by the same name as Masjid Nabawi in the future. They further argue that the same question was put to Imam Malik. He said, “If this was the case [that Masjid Nabawi referred only to the original masjid] then the four Khalifa would never have allowed any extension to the Masjid in the presence of all the Sahaba as it would deprive many who would unknowingly pray anywhere in Masjid Nabawi of the reward of a 1000 salat. It is also narrated in Tareekh al-Madina that after Umar (ra) extended Masjid Nabawi, he said, “If the Masjid extended all the way to Jabbana [a place far from Madina], it would still be the masjid of the Prophet (sa). In another narration by Abu Huraira the Prophet (sa) said, “If this masjid is extended any, the whole of it would be my masjid.”[11]
This discussion has been condensed as my point here is only to demonstrate how the Islamic sciences are put to work by both sides to solve a single question raised in a hadith. It also helps us understand that discovering the Sunna takes some digging using the tools of Islamic sciences.
This is only because Sunna is the destination. It is where every believer needs to be.