The texts that describe the words, deeds and behaviors attributed to the last Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) are referred as “hadith”. These texts contain information regarding the Prophet’s worship, family life, moral principles and personal life. Additionally, they address his political actions as a statesman, the agreements he made, the decisions he rendered as a judge, and his role as a mediator in guiding the parties involved. Therefore, hadiths have a broad spectrum of diversity and richness in terms of subject matter. Regardless of the subject matter, the common point of hadiths is that they contain information about the Prophet.
Hadiths were transmitted by the Companions, who had direct encounters with the Prophet and accepted his prophethood. This first generation of Muslims, who had unhesitant faith in the Prophet as a requirement of their faith in Islam and as a result of what they had learned from the Qur’an, carefully observed and listened to the Prophet and tried to learn and understand his words, deeds and moral principles. They passed on to the next generation what they had learned from the Prophet, either by seeing or hearing him. This way, those who had not seen the Prophet, could also learn from him.
Here are some examples on the hadith structure and the information they contain about the Prophet:
For instance, Anas b. Malik was a companion who served the Prophet for ten years in Medina. He narrated that the Prophet said: “Make things easy and do not make things difficult. Give glad tidings and do not repel people” (Bukhari, “Ilm”, 11) This saying of the Prophet are considered as “hadith” when transmitted by a companion, Anas b. Malik. This transmitted information is a saying of the Prophet.
In some cases, the information concerning the Prophet is associated with his behavior. The following is an example of a hadith on the description of his behavior: The Prophet’s wife Aisha said that “Whenever Rasulullah was given the choice of one of two matters, he would choose the easier of the two, as long as it was not sinful to do so.” (Abu Dawud, “Adab”, 5) When the Prophet's preference for the easy option was narrated by Aisha, a “hadith” text was formed.
The companions also transmitted information regarding the Prophet’s moral character and physical attributes. On the moral qualities of the Prophet, Abdullah b. Abbas, the son of Prophet’s uncle, said that: “The Messenger of Allah was the most generous of people and he was even more generous in Ramadan.” (Bukhari, “Bad’u’l-wahy”; Muslim, Fadhail, 50). This text, in which the Prophet's generosity is described by Ibn Abbas, is also referred as a “hadith."
Some hadith describe the physical attributes of the Prophet. One example is narrated by Hind b. Abi Halah, the Prophet’s stepson from his first wife Khadijah’s (ra) first marriage: “Rasulullah was imposing and majestic. His face shone like the full moon. He was of medium height, neither tall nor short.” (Tirmidhi, Shamail, 8)
Another term frequently associated with hadith is “sunnah.” The term sunnah was used by the Prophet himself to describe his way of life. For example: The Prophet said, “Your duty is to adhere to my sunnah” (Abu Dawud, “Sunnah”, 5). In another hadith, he said, “Marriage (nikah) is my sunnah” (Ibn Majah, “Nikah”, 1). In these two hadiths, the word “sunnah” refers to the entirety of the Prophet's words, attitudes and behaviors that should be followed by Muslims. The Sunnah is the main source of Islam after the Qur’an.
We would like to elaborate on this final point further… The principles and teachings of Islam regarding belief, worship and morality are derived from the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad. In other words, the Prophet’s life model is the determining factor of religion for Muslims. The fundamental requirement of belief in the Prophet is to accept his way of life as a guide.
How did the Prophet worship? How did he exemplify the qualities of a father? Or a husband, a statesman, a teacher, a commander and a judge? What principles guided his interactions with both friends and enemies, Muslims and non-Muslims? How did he communicate with women and children? What was his view on nature and natural phenomena as well as property and wealth? Every word and deed of the Prophet in every aspect of life falls within the scope of the sunnah, despite of the varying degrees of religious binding force. The sunnah is essentially the reflection of expressions conveyed to the Prophet through divine revelation. In this respect, sunnah functions as the practical complement to the Qur’an.
At this point, the following questions may arise: Does every hadith describe a sunnah? Does every hadith constitute an indisputable model of life for Muslims? The definitions of these two terms appear to be very similar, but what is the difference?
Sunnah is the Prophet’s way of life which is narrated by a companion. When this narration is converted into a text, this text is referred as hadith. In order to learn about the sunnah we refer to hadith the sources. Therefore, the definitions of sunnah and hadith are highly analogous. The fundamental distinction between these two concepts is that the sunnah is the evidence whereas the hadith is the textual record. As mentioned in the examples of hadith given above, the Prophet’s role as a facilitator and his generosity is the sunnah. Therefore, a Muslim strives to embody facilitating and generous qualities. The texts that convey these qualities of the Prophet are the hadiths. Hadith is the text that transmits the Prophet’s sunnah through the narrators (rawi). In this regard, the definition of hadith includes “the attribution to the Prophet.” These attributions may be correct, or not. Accordingly, the term “fabricated hadith” is used for texts that were fabricated in the later periods in the name of the Prophet Muhammad, even though they have no connection to him. The term “weak hadith” is used for texts that claimed to belong to the Prophet Muhammad but their authenticity is not certain. For all these reasons, there is a possibility that certain texts are transmitted as hadith but do not contribute to the establishment of a sunnah. For instance, “Eggplant cures every ailment” is a text from the later periods and transmitted as a hadith. Yet, it is not possible to consider eating eggplant as a sunnah encouraged by the Prophet based on this text. Another example for a very weak hadith is: “Consult women, but do the opposite of what they say.” On the basis of this text, it is not possible to say that doing the opposite of that women say is a sunnah. Conversely, the Prophet placed significant value on the opinions of Khadijah and Umm Salama and took their words into consideration. Hadith scholars, have distinguished “fabricated” and “weak” texts from the authentic ones. The sunnah is determined by considering the entirety of reliable hadiths.
Note: This article constitutes a component of a broad-perspective study conducted by the Meridyen Association, for the benefit of Muslims, particularly in the context of hadith, sunnah and related subjects. The issues addressed were discussed in detail by a group of experts in their respective fields, and each article was written independently by the relevant author. The following researchers were consulted for this study: Prof. Dr. Ahmet Yücel, Prof. Dr. Ayşe Esra Şahyar, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatma Kızıl, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rahile Kızılkaya Yılmaz, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dilek Tekin, and Dr. Betül Yılmazörnek. (Translated by Merve Tosun)
