Sunnah
Sunnah names both a source of law — the Prophet's recorded example — and a ruling for a recommended, not required, act.
What it means for me: Context decides which sunnah you are hearing about. In a discussion of evidence, it points to a source alongside the Qur'an. In a ruling, it points to something rewarded, not required of you. Reading the context first keeps you from mixing up a citation with a category.
Example: One answer says, 'the evidence comes from the sunnah'; another says, 'this act is sunnah.' The first names where the ruling comes from. The second names the ruling itself.
Do not confuse with: Sunnah as a ruling differs from *hadith*, the recorded report itself. It also differs from *bid'ah*, an innovation with no basis in the Prophet's recorded example.
If scholars differ: The majority use sunnah, *mustahab*, and *mandub* interchangeably for a recommended act. The Hanafi school marks out a confirmed sunnah as weightier than an ordinary recommended one. This scale is set out further in Wajib, sunnah, mubah, makruh, and haram, explained.
Often appears in
See the term in context
Which is better when the time for 'Isha prayer begins: performing the confirmed post-Maghrib Sunnah or the unconfirmed pre-'Isha Sunnah, if the Maghrib Sunnah has not been prayed?
If the time for 'Isha' has begun and you have not prayed the ba'diyah (post-Maghrib) Sunnah of Maghrib, it is legislated to make it up at any time. If the time before the iqamah (call to commence prayer) for 'Isha' is…
Is the creed of the People of the Sunnah and the Community (Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah) the only correct one, or are some of the current Sufi orders considered permissible, and what their followers do correct, taking into account that calling oneself “Ja’fari” or “Shadhili” is an innovation, as no one called themselves by similar names during the era of the Companions and the Successors?
The Saved Sect is that which follows what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and his Companions were upon, and adheres to his Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and follows the path of the…
How can the word "سن" (to establish/initiate) be interpreted in the second part of the noble Prophetic Hadith: "Whoever establishes in Islam a good Sunnah will have its reward and the reward of whoever acts upon it thereafter, without anything being diminished from their rewards; and whoever establishes in Islam a bad Sunnah will bear its burden and the burden of whoever acts upon it thereafter, without anything being diminished from their burdens," taking into consideration that Islam did not come with bad Sunnahs, and what is the most accurate interpretation of the word in both parts?
A "good Sunnah" is initiating an act of obedience that others follow, or reviving a neglected Sunnah, or when an action serves as a means to a permissible matter. As for a "bad Sunnah," it is initiating an act of…
Questions that use it
Can a husband lead his wife in the supererogatory (Sunnah Ratibah) prayers, such as those associated with Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, Shafa, and Witr? Is performing the supererogatory (Sunnah Ratibah) prayers at home better than in the mosque? Is it disliked to perform them in the mosque? Is the preference based on reward?
Am I correct in understanding that there is no Sunnah (recommended prayer) before the Friday prayer, and that whoever prays in the mosque prays four rak'ahs of Sunnah after the fard (obligatory) prayer, and whoever prays at home adds two rak'ahs of Sunnah before the four rak'ahs? And what is the classification of these rak'ahs, and are they Sunnah Mu'akkadah (confirmed Sunnah)? And is it permissible for me to pray two rak'ahs of nafl (supererogatory prayer) after the Friday adhan and before the khutbah, even if it is not a Sunnah Ratibah (regular Sunnah), to avoid embarrassment?
What is the explanation of the Hadith: "Whoever revives my Sunnah at the time of the corruption of my Ummah will have the reward of a martyr"?