Class 1 – Sunnah

Class 1

Sunnah

It is common for most Muslims to utter their love for their Prophet Muhammad , but yet when it comes to following his guidance, they hesitate and choose to follow anything other than it. Oh muslim! Indeed the Prophet’s  guidance is the best of mankind for you to follow as he  used to say in his khutbah’s:

“For verily the best speech is the Book of Allaah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad.” (Saheeh Muslim)

 Our beloved Prophet ﷺ would repeat these words over and over again in his speeches so as to teach his followers the importance of following his Sunnah. 

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Verily I have left with you two things, if you hold unto them you will never go astray! The BOOK  of Allaah and my Sunnah!” (Al-Mishkaat 1/66)

By following the Sunnah of our prophet ﷺ we will gain the love of Allah . When you gain the love of Alla, you will get closer to him. Following the sunnah of the Prophet makes you a better person. You will have better manners and ethics. Read more about the Prophet fall in love with your Messenger. After all, he was a mercy to all mankind. Allah says so in the Qu’ran:

“Say, (O Muhammad, to mankind): If ye love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. (3:31)”.

 (Say (O Muhammad to mankind): “If you (really) love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you…”) meaning, what you will earn is much more than what you sought in loving Him, for Allah will love you.

Abû Bakr Al-Siddîq – Allâh be pleased with him – said:

I will not leave anything Allâh’s Messenger – Allâh’s ﷺ – did, except that I will also do it; for I fear that if I were to leave any of his commands and ways I would deviate. (Al-Bukhârî, hadîth no. 3093).

After recording this narration, Ibn Battah states:

This, my brothers, is the greatest Siddîq (true believer i.e. Abû Bakr), fearing that he would fall into deviation if he were to leave any of the commandments of his Prophet – Allâh’s ﷺ. What then is to happen in a time in which people deride their Prophet and his commandments, and compete with each other and show off in contradicting him and mock his Sunnah? We ask Allâh to protect us from slipping and to save us from evil deeds. 

The Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ is a ship of salvation and a haven of safety. The Prophet  ﷺ urged us to adhere to it and not neglect it. He said: “You must adhere to my Sunnah and the way of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs who come after me…” Narrated by Abu Dawood (4607)

When evil and corruption become widespread and innovation and fitnah prevail, the reward for the one who adheres to the Sunnah will be greater, and the status of those who follow the Sunnah will be higher, for they are living as strangers with the light that they bear in the midst of that darkness and because of their efforts to set the people’s affairs straight. 

The Prophet ﷺ said:

• “Islam began as something strange and will revert to being something strange, so glad tidings to the strangers.” It was said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allaah? He said: “Those who are righteous when the people are corrupt.” (Saheeh Muslim 145). 

• “Ahead of you there lie days of patience, during which being patient will be like grasping a hot coal. The one who does good deeds then will have a reward like that of fifty men who do such deeds. – And someone else added – They said: O Messenger of Allaah, the reward of fifty of them? He said: “The reward of fifty of you.”  (Abu Dawood & al-Tirmidhi).

In some reports of the hadeeth it says: “They are the ones who will revive my Sunnah and teach it to the people.” 

In a lecture by Shaykh Ibn Jibreen about the true meaning of religious commitment, he said: 

Undoubtedly the Sunnah of the Prophet  ﷺ is written down and is close at hand and easily accessible to the one who seeks it. All we have to do is look for it. If we learn a Sunnah we must act upon it so that it will be true when it is said of us that So and so is religiously-committed. We should pay no attention to those who put us down, despise us or mock us etc. 

The religiously-committed person is the one who, every time he hears a hadeeth, rushes to apply it and is very keen to act upon it, whether it is mustahabb or naafil. 

So for example, you may see him going to the mosque early and feeling sad if someone else gets there before him, or you may see him striving to read more Qur’aan and recite more dhikr than others, or you may see him doing a lot of different kinds of acts of worship, striving to ensure that all his deeds and acts of worship are in accordance with the Sunnah, with no element of bid’ah, so that these deeds and acts of worship will be acceptable to Allaah, because when a deed is accepted the Muslim attains the good pleasure of his Lord. We ask Allaah to make all our deeds acceptable to Him, for He is the All-Hearing, Ever-Responsive. End quote. 

Importance of the Sunnah

The Qur’aan speaks of the importance of the Sunnah

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allaah…” [al-Nisaa’ 4:80]

Allaah described obedience to the Prophet (ﷺ) as being a part of obedience to Him. Then He made a connection between obedience to Him and obedience to the Prophet (ﷺ): “O you who believe! Obey Allaah and obey the Messenger . . .” [al-Nisaa’ 4:59]

 The Sunnah itself indicates the importance of the Sunnah

(a) The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “I do not want to see any one of you reclining on his couch and, when he hears of my instructions or prohibitions, saying ‘I don’t accept it; we didn’t find any such thing in the Book of Allaah.’” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi).

(b) al-’Irbaad ibn Saariyah, may Allaah be pleased with him, that “the Messenger of Allaah (ﷺ) led us in prayer one day, then he turned to us and exhorted us strongly . . . (he said), ‘Pay attention to my sunnah (way) and the way of the Rightly-guided Khaleefahs after me, adhere to it and hold fast to it.’” (Abi Dawud). 

 REVIVE A SUNNAH

“Whoever revives an aspect of my Sunnah that is forgotten, he will have a reward equivalent to that of the people who follow him, without it detracting in the least from their reward….”

[Reported by al-Tirmidhi]

So let us together learn and practice as many Sunan as possible!