INTRODUCTION

Various sources

of

Islamic

law are

used

by Islamic

jurisprudence to elucidate the Sharia, the body of Islamic law. The primary sources, accepted universally by all Muslims, are the Qur'an and Sunnah. The Qur'an is the holy scripture of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the direct and unaltered word of llah. The Sunnah consists of the reli!ious actions and "uotations of the Islamic #rophet Muhammad and narrated throu!h his $ompanions and Imams% &as per the beliefs of the school of and hle%Shia'. In the ei!hth century, a difference in le!al approach arose amon!st Islamic thin(ers in two prevailin! schools of le!al thou!ht. The traditionalists &ahl al% hadith' relied solely on the Quran and the sunna &traditions' of the #rophet as the only valid sources for jurisprudence, such as the prevailin! thou!ht emanatin! from Medina. The non%traditional approach &ahl al%ra'y' relied on the free use of reasonin! and opinion in the absence of reliable ahadith, which was heralded in Ira". The reason for the difference in techni"ue is that in Medina, there was an abundance of reliable ahadith that scholars could depend on for formin! le!islation, since the #rophet lived the last ten years of his life durin! a period of le!islation in the youn! Muslim community. In Ira", the sources that were available were not as reliable as in Medina and so the jurists had to turn to analo!y because of their circumstances. Therefore, a hadith may have been accepted by Mali( &from Medina' and not by bu )anifa &from Ira"' who had challen!e that jurists had to to use analo!y in the absence of reliable hadith. hle%Sunnah

reconcile was which of the #rophet*s actions and decisions were reli!iously bindin! and which were merely a function of personal discretion of the
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#rophet, In !eneral, ahl al%hadith eventually lent le!islative si!nificance to much of the #rophet*s decisions, whereas other schools tended to distin!uish between the various roles that the #rophet played in his life.

Muhammad ibn Idris al%Shafi'i &d. -+.' was concerned about the variety of doctrine and sou!ht to limit the sources of law and establish a common methodolo!y for all schools of Islamic law./ )is efforts resulted in the systemi0ation of usul al%fi"h, the followin! four sources of Islamic law1

+. The Quran2 3. The Sunna or )adith &tradition of the #rophet' 2 /. Qiyas or analo!ies2 4. Ijma or unanimous a!reement +. Throu!hout history these sources were used in descendin! order by Muslim jurists in determinin! the le!ality of an issue. If the le!ality was not based on an e5plicit command in the Quran, then the jurists turned to loo( for e5plicit commands in the hadith, and so on. 6nfortunately, as we shall discover, not all aspects of the methodolo!y were unanimously a!reed upon2 the Quran could be interpreted differently, some traditions of the #rophet were "uestioned for their authenticity and to what e5tent they were reli!iously imperative, the use of analo!ies was !reatly debated and there was little unanimous a!reement amon! scholars in Islamic history about ine5plicit issues.

Quran
The Qur'an is the first and most important source of Islamic law. 7elieved to be the direct word of 8od as revealed to Muhammad throu!h an!el 8abriel in Mecca and Medina, the scripture specifies the moral, philosophical, social, political and economic basis on which a society should be constructed. The verses revealed in Mecca deal with philosophical and theolo!ical issues, whereas those revealed in Medina are concerned with socio%economic laws. The Qur'an was written and preserved durin! the life of Muhammad, and compiled soon after his death.

8od revealed the Quran in

rabic throu!h the

n!el 8abriel to #rophet

Muhammad over a period of 3/ years. 9or ten years in Mecca and +/ years in Medina the Quran tau!ht the oneness of 8od and !uided believers to the path of morality and justice. s the Muslim community !rew and its needs became more comple5, the Quran addressed those issues and tried to replace old tribal customs with more just reforms. 9or e5ample, the Quran outlawed prevalent customs such as idolatry, !amblin!, li"uor, promiscuity, unbridled poly!amy, usury, etc. It also improved the status of women by proclaimin! women's e"uality to men and providin! women with decreed ri!hts in the areas of marria!e, divorce and inheritance. Muslim jurists a!ree that the Qur'an in its entirety is not a le!al code &used in the modern sense'2 rather its purpose is to lay down a way of life which re!ulates man's relationship with others and 8od. The verses of the Qur'an are cate!ori0ed into three fields1 :science of speculative theolo!y:, :ethical
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principles: and :rules of human conduct:. The third cate!ory is directly concerned with Islamic le!al matters which contains about five hundred verses or one thirteenth of it. The tas( of interpretin! the Qur'an has led to various opinions and jud!ments. The interpretations of the verses by Muhammad's companions for Sunnis and Imams for Shias are considered the most authentic, since they (new why, where and on what occasion each verse was revealed.

The shari'a, foundations of Islamic law, are derived from verses from the Quran. :The bul( of Quranic matter consists mainly of broad, !eneral moral directives as to what the aims and aspirations of Muslims should be, the 'ou!ht' of the Islamic reli!ious ethic.: 4 7ecause many of the directives in the Quran are so broad, interpretation ta(es on such a si!nificant role. There have been so many different interpretations of the Quran, claims widely read and revered Islamic thin(er bul 'ala Maududi, that :there is hardly to be found any nd that doesn't just refer to command with an a!reed interpretation.: ;

modern scholars, but also includes the foundin! schools of thou!ht and even the companions of the #rophet, who :did not all a!ree in every detail in re!ard to $ommands and #rohibitions.:< =evertheless, the authenticity of the Quran has never been "uestioned by any Muslim scholar or institution.

Sunnah
The Sunnah is the ne5t important source, and is commonly defined as :the traditions and customs of Muhammad: or :the words, actions and silent assertions of him:. It includes the everyday sayin!s and utterances of Muhammad, his acts, his tacit consent, and ac(nowled!ments of statements and activities. ccordin! to Shi'ite jurists, the sunnah also includes the words, deeds and ac(nowled!ments of the twelve Imams and 9atimah, Muhammad's dau!hter, who are believed to be infallible. >ustification for usin! the Sunnah as a source of law can be found in the Qur'an. The Qur'an commands Muslims to follow Muhammad. ?urin! his lifetime, Muhammad made it clear that his traditions &alon! with the Qur'an' should be followed after his death. The overwhelmin! majority of Muslims consider the sunnah to be essential supplements to and clarifications of the Qur'an. In Islamic jurisprudence, the Qur'an contains many rules for the behavior e5pected of Muslims but there are no specific Qur'anic rules on many reli!ious and practical matters. Muslims believe that they can loo( at the way of life, or sunnah, of Muhammad and his companions to discover what to imitate and what to avoid. Much of the sunnah is recorded in the )adith. Initially, Muhammad had instructed his followers not to write down his acts, so they may not confuse it with the Qur'an. )owever, he did as( his followers to disseminate his sayin!s orally. s lon! as he was alive, any doubtful record could be confirmed as true or false by simply as(in! him. )is death, however, !ave rise to confusion over Muhammad's conduct. Thus the )adith were established. ?ue to problems of authenticity, the science of )adith & rabic1 @6lum al%hadith' is established. It is a method of te5tual criticism developed by early Muslim scholars in
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determinin! the veracity of reports attributed to Muhammad. This is achieved by analy0in! the te5t of the report, the scale of the report's transmission, the routes throu!h which the report was transmitted, and the individual narrators involved in its transmission. An the basis of these criteria, various )adith classifications developed. Bith re!ard to validity of sunnah two "uestions arises 1 i. ii. Bhether an alle!ed tradition is !enuine, If so, whether it is obli!atory,

The first "uestion is purely a "uestion of fact and should be considered accordin! to the evidence adduced in its support. n e5amination of the evidentiary test used by the !reat compilers of the tradition will undoubtedly show how hi!hly developed were the method of criticism was used. The collectors of the tradition understood of the distin!uishin! the !enuine from the spurious traditions by employin! the e5ternal test% the e5amination of isnad &chain of narrator', and the internal test% the scrutiny of matan &subject matter of the traditions', the only object which was to e5amine the credibility and authenticity of the traditions. The second "uestion is a "uestion of law. The obli!atory nature of the traditions is based on many Quranic verses amo! which are the followin!1% CAbey 8od, and obey #rophetD &41;.' C)e who obeys the #rophet, obeys 8odD &41-E' CBhatever the #rophet !ives accept it and whatever he forbids abstain from itD &;.1F'

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C nd whatever he &Mohammed' utters, it is not of his own whim and fancy 2 it is not else but a divine revelation revealed onto himD &;/1/%4' To establish the authenticity of a particular )adith or report, it had to be chec(ed by followin! the chain of transmission &isnad'. Thus the reporters had to cite their reference, and their reference's reference all the way bac( to Muhammad. ll the references in the chain had to have a reputation for honesty and possessin! a !ood retentive memory. Thus bio!raphical analysis &@ilm al% rijGl, lit. :science of people:', which contains details about the transmitter are scrutini0ed. This includes analy0in! their date and place of birth2 familial connections2 teachers and students2 reli!iosity2 moral behaviour2 literary output2 their travels2 as well as their date of death. 7ased upon these criteria, the reliability &thi"Gt' of the transmitter is assessed. lso determined is whether the individual was actually able to transmit the report, which is deduced from their contemporaneity and !eo!raphical pro5imity with the other transmitters in the chain. H5amples of bio!raphical dictionaries include Ibn )ajar al% s"alani's :TahdhIb al%TahdhIb: or al%?hahabi's :Tadh(irat al%huffG0.: 6sin! this criteria, )adith are classified into three cate!ories1 6ndubitable &mutawatir', which are very widely (nown, and bac(ed up by numerous references. Bidespread &mashhur', which are widely (nown, but bac(ed up with few ori!inal references. Isolated or Sin!le &wahid', which are bac(ed up by too few and often discontinuous references

Hadith
These wor(s are narrations concernin! the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. )adith are re!arded by traditional Islamic schools of jurisprudence as important tools for understandin! theQur'an and in matters of jurisprudence. )adith were evaluated and !athered into lar!e collections mostly durin! the rei!n of 6mar ibn bdul 0i0 durin! the -th and .th centuries. These wor(s are referred to in matters of Islamic law and history to this
day. The two main denominations of Islam, Shi@ism and Sunnism, have different sets of )adith collections .

Definition
In rabic the word hadith means that which is new from amon!st thin!s or a piece of information conveyed either in a small "uantity or lar!e. The rabic plural is adth. Hadith also refers to the speech of a person. s tahdith is the infinitive, or verbal noun, of the ori!inal verb form2 hadith is, therefore, not the infinitive, rather it is a noun. In Islamic terminolo!y, the term hadith refers to reports of statements or actions of Muhammad, or of his tacit approval of somethin! said or done in his presence. $lassical hadith specialist Ibn )ajar al% s"alani says that the intended meanin! of hadith in reli!ious tradition is somethin! attributed to Muhammad, as opposed to the Qur'an. Ather associated words possess similar meanin!s includin!1 khabar &news, information' often refers to reports about Muhammad, but sometimes refers to traditions about his companions and their successors from the followin! !eneration2 conversely, athar &trace, vesti!e' usually refers to traditions about the companions and successors, thou!h sometimes connotes
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traditions about Muhammad. The word sunnah &custom' is also used in reference to a normative custom of Muhammad or the early Muslim community. Sacred hadith Hadith Qudsi' &or Sacred Hadith' are a sub%cate!ory of hadith, which are sayin!s of Muhammad. Muslims re!ard the Hadith Qudsi as the words of 8od & rabic1 llah', repeated by Muhammad and recorded on the condition of an isnad. ccordin! to as%Sayyid ash%Sharif al%>urjani, the )adith Qudsi differ from the Qur'an in that the former were revealed in a dream or throu!h revelation and are :expressed in Muhammad's words:, whereas the latter are the : direct words of God:. n e5ample of a )adith Qudsi is the hadith of Muhammad said1 :Bhen 8od decreed the $reation )e pled!ed )imself by writin! in )is boo( which is laid down with )im1 My mercy prevails over My wrath.: bu )urairah who said that

are referred to in matters of Islamic law and history to this day. The two main denominations of Islam, Shi@ism and Sunnism, have different sets of )adith collections. Jiterally, )adith means a narrative, communication or news consistin! of the factual account of an event. The word occurs fre"uently in the Qur'an &3/ times to be precise' and in all cases it carries the meanin! of a narrative or communication.

Components of a hadith
The two major aspects of a hadith are the te5t of the report &the matn', which contains the actual narrative, and the chain of narrators &the isnad', which documents the route by which the report has been transmitted. The sanad, literally 'support', is so named due to the reliance of the hadith specialists upon it in determinin! the authenticity or wea(ness of a hadith. The isnad consists of a chronolo!ical list of the narrators, each mentionin! the one from whom they heard the hadith, until mentionin! the ori!inator of the matn alon! with the matn itself. The first people to hear hadith were the companions who preserved it and then conveyed it to those after them. Then the !eneration followin! them received it, thus conveyin! it to those after them and so on. So a companion would say, :I heard the #rophet say such and such.: The 9ollower would then say, :I heard a companion say, 'I heard the #rophet.': The one after him would then say, :I heard someone say, 'I heard a $ompanion say, 'I heard the #rophet... " and so on.

Shia and Sunni hadith differences

The Sunni canon of hadith too( its final form more than 3/E years after the death of Muhammad &</3 ?'. Jater scholars may have debated the authenticity of particular hadith but the authority of the canon as a whole was not "uestioned. This canon, called the si5 major )adith collections, includes1 Sahih al !ukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan "bu #awood, "l Sunan al Su$hra, Sunan al %irmidhi and Sunan ibn Ma&ah. Sahih al%7u(hari and Sahih Muslim are considered the most reliable of these collections. In Shia hadith you will often find sermons attributed to li in The 9our 7oo(s or

in the =ahj al%7ala!ha. Shi'a Muslims do not use the si5 major )adith collections
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followed by the Sunni, instead, their primary hadith collections are written by three authors who are (nown as the 'Three Muhammads'. They are1 'itab al 'afi byMuhammad ibn Ka'"ub al%Lulayni al%Ma0i &/3. )', Man la (ahduruhu al )a*ih by Muhammad ibn 7abuyaand "l %ahdhib and "l +stibsar both by Shay(h Muhammad Tusi. 6nli(e (hbari Twelver Shi'a, 6suli Twelver Shi'a scholars do not believe that everythin! in the four major boo(s is authentic. Sunni and Shia hadith collections differ because scholars from the two traditions differ as to the reliability of the narrators and transmitters. =arrators who too( the side of bu 7a(r and 6mar rather than li, in the disputes over leadership that followed the death of Muhammad, are seen as unreliable by the Shia2 narrations sourced to li and the family of Muhammad, and to their supporters, are preferred. Sunni scholars put trust in narrators, such as isha, whom Shia reject. ?ifferences in hadith collections have contributed to differences in worship practices and shari'a law and have hardened the dividin! line between the two traditions.

Hadith as a source of LAW

In the early days of Islam followin! the demise of the #rophet, stories relatin! to the life and activities of the #rophet dominated all other (inds of narratives, so the word be!an to be used almost e5clusively to a narrative from, or a sayin! of, the #rophet. N 0ami, Studies, pp. +%/ O )adith differs from Sunnah in the sense that )adith is a narration of the conduct of the #rophet whereasSunnah is the e5ample or the law that is deduced from it. )adith in this sense is the vehicle or the carrier of Sunnah, althou!h Sunnah is a wider concept and used to be so especially before its literal meanin! !ave way to its juristic usa!e. Sunnah thus preferred not only to the )adith of the #rophet but also to the established practice of the
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community. 7ut once the literal meanin!s of )adith and Sunnah !ave way to their technical usa!es and were both e5clusively used in reference to the conduct of the #rophet, the two became synonymous. Sunnah comin! direct from the #rophet in the form of )adith throu!h a reliable chain of narrators is a source of law. The primary source of Islamic law is ?ivine Mevelation. It has been !iven to human(ind by the #rophet Muhammad &S B' in 3 (inds. Ane is the Quran, the direct word of llah &SBT', and the other is the Sunnah or the teachin!s of the #rophet &S B'. The #rophet &S B' always acted accordin! to the instructions of llah &SBT'. )adith which is usually applied also for Sunnah, is oral custom relatin! to the words and deeds of the Muslim prophet Muhammad saw. Jin!ually the word hadith means that which is fresh from amon!st thin!s or some informations communicated either in a micro amount or lar!e. In Islamic nomenclature, the term hadith refers to report about the statements or actions of Muhammad, or about his implied approval of somethin! stated or done in his presence. The Quran and the Sunnah are complimentary. The meanin!ful of the Quran is in !eneral in nature. The Sunnah !ets it specified and particular. The Sunnah e5plains the instruction manual of the Quran. The Quranic injunction is sometimes implicit and the Sunnah !ets in e5plicit by providin! necessary components and items. ccordin! to Islamic jurists, the Sunnah is second to fard. 9ard means somethin! is obli!atory and it must be done2 to ne!lect it without any e5cuse is a sin. The Sunnah is divided into confirmed &Sunnah mua((adah' and optional &Sunnah !hair mua((adah'. hadith consists of two aspects1 the te5t of the report &matn' containin! the actual narrative2 and the chain of narrators &isnad, or sanad', which documents the route by which the report has been transmitted.
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)adith are !enerally cate!ori0ed as sahh &sound, authentic', da'f &wea(', or mawd' &fabricated'. Ather classifications used also include1 hasan &!ood', which refers to an otherwise sahIh report sufferin! from minor deficiency, or a wea( report stren!thened due to numerous other corroboratin! reports2 and munkar &i!nored' which is a report that is rejected due to the presence of a solitary and !enerally unreliable transmitter. 7oth sahIh and hasan reports are considered acceptable for usa!e in Islamic le!al discourse. $lassifications of hadith may also be based upon the scale of transmission. Meports that pass throu!h many reliable transmitters at each point in the isnad up until their collection and transcription are (nown as mutawGtir.

Muslims who accept hadith believe that trusted hadith are in most cases the words of Muhammad and not the word of 8od. )adith Qudsi forms a partial e5ception2 these &few' hadith are said to recount divine revelations !iven to Muhammad but not included in the Qur'an. )owever, the words &as opposed to the substance' are believed to be Muhammad's own, and not divine. Muslims also use the hadith to interpret parts of the Qur'an when verses are not clear or even when verses are clear to achieve an in%depth understandin!.

Sunnah or )adith is the second source from which the teachin!s of Islam are drawn. )adith literally means a sayin! conveyed to man, but in Muhaditheen's terminolo!y )adith means sayin!s of the #rophet, his action or practice of his silent approval of the action or practice. )adith and Sunnah are used interchan!eably, but sometimes these are used for different meanin!s. To deal with the topic it is necessary to (now the position of the #rophet in Islam, because the indispensibility of )adith depends upon the position of the #rophet.
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naly0in! the problem we can visuali0e three possibilities1 +. The duty of the #rophet was only to convey the messa!e and nothin! more was re"uired from him. 3. )e had not only to convey the messa!e but also to act upon it and to e5plain it. 7ut all that was for the specified period and after his death Qur'an is sufficient to !uide humanity. /. =o doubt he had to convey the ?ivine Messa!e but it was also his duty to act upon it and to e5plain it to the people. )is actions and e5planations are a source of !uidance forever. )is sayin!s, actions, practices and e5planations are a source of li!ht for every Muslim in every a!e. The learned men of the Muslim Millat are of the unanimous view that only the third point is the correct assessment of the #rophet's position in Islam. The Qur'an contains do0ens of reminders of the important position of the #rophet. 9or instance the Qur'an says1 : nd verily in the messen!er of loo(eth unto /+O ccordin! to this verse, every Muslim is bound to have the !ood e5ample of the #rophet as an ideal in life. In another verse he has been made a ')a(am' for the Muslims by llah lmi!hty. =o one remains Muslim if he does not accept the #rophet's decisions and jud!ements1 :7ut no, by thy Jord, they can have no real faith until they ma(e thee jud!e in all disputes between them and find in their souls no resistance a!ainst thy decisions but accept them with the fullest conviction.:N n%=isa1 <;O
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llah ye have a !ood e5ample for him who llah much.: N l% h0ab

llah and the last day and remembereth

Bhile e5plainin! the "ualities of Muslims the Qur'an says1 :The answer of the believers, when summoned to and we obey.: N n%=ur1 ;+O In many places the Qur'an has !iven its verdict on this issue. The Qur'an says1 :Abey llah and obey the Messen!er.: N n%=isa ;.O and :Bhatever the Messen!er !iveth you ta(e it and whatever he forbiddeth abstain from it.: N l%)ashr1 FO Qur'an is very clear in e5pressin! its view on the position of the #rophet. ccordin! to the Qur'an the #rophet has four capacities and he must be obeyed in every capacity. )e is Mu@allim wa Murabbee he is Shaari@ one who e5plains the 7oo(, he is a law%!iver and jud!e, and he is a ruler. In all these capacities he is an ideal e5ample for the Muslims. I am "uotin! a few verses of the )oly 7oo( just to !ive a hint of this topic. : llah did confer a !reat favour on the believers when )e sentamon! them an apostle from amon! themselves rehearsin! untothem the si!ns of manifest error.: N l%Imran1 +<4O : nd Be have sent down unto thee the Messa!e that thou mayest e5plain clearly to men what is sent for them.:N n%=ahl1 44O :9or he commands them what is just and forbids them what isevil2 he allows them as lawful what is !ood and pure andprohibits them from what is bad and
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llah and )is apostle, in

order that )e may jud!e between them, is no other than this1 They say1 we hear

llah,

sanctifyin! them in scripture andwisdom while, before that, they had been in

impure. )e releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yo(es that are upon them.: N l% raf1 +;FO :A you who believeP Abey llah and obey the apostle, and those char!ed with

authority amon! you. If ye differ in anythin! amonst yourselves refer it to llah and )is postle, if you believe in llah and the last day.: N n%=isa1 ;.O :It is not fittin! for a believer, man or woman when a matterhas been decided by llah and )is apostle to have any optionabout their decision. If any one llah and )is apostle, he is indeed on a clearly wron! path.: N l% disobeys h0ab1 /<O In all these verses, the Qur'an has e5plained various aspects of the #rophets personality. Ane can jud!e the importance of the #rophet from these verses. I am reminded of another important verse of the Qur'an, which is actually a verdict a!ainst those who do not believe in )adith as an authentic source of law1 :If any one contends with the #rophet even after !uidance hasbeen plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than that becomin! to men of faith, Be shall leave him in the path he has chosen and land him in )ell, what an evil refu!e.: N n%=isa1 ++EO The Qur'an while pressin! the Muslims to obey the #rophet, !oes a step further when it announces that the #rophethood of Muhammad &peace be upon him' is above all the limitations of time and space. )e is the last #rophet and is a Messen!er of llah for the whole of humanity for all time to come. )adith is nothin! but a reflection of the personality of the #rophet, who is to be obeyed at every cost.

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ny student of the Qur'an will see that the )oly 7oo( !enerally deals with the broad principles or essentials of reli!ion, !oin! into details in very rare cases. The details were !enerously supplied by the #rophet himself, either by showin! in his practice how an injunction shall be carried out, or by !ivin! an e5planation in words. The Sunnah or )adith of the )oly #rophet was not, as is !enerally supposed, a thin! of which the need may have been felt only after his death, for it was very much needed in his lifetime. The two most important reli!ious institutions of Islam are prayer and 0a(at2 yet when the injunction relatin! to prayer and 0a(at were delivered, and they were repeatedly revealed in both Mecca and Madina, no details were supplied. Leep up prayers &a"imoo as%salaah the Qur'anic injunction and it was the

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#rophet himself who by his own actions !ave details of the prayer and said1 &Salloo (amaa ra'aytamoonee usaallee' :#ray as you see me prayin!.: #ayment of 0a(ah is a!ain an injunction fre"uently repeated in the Qur'an yet it was the #rophet &peace be upon him' who !ave the rules and re!ulations for its payment and collection. These are but two e5ample2 but since Islam covers the entire sphere of human activities, hundreds of points had to be e5plained by the #rophet &peace be upon him' by his e5ample in action and in words. The 6lama have discussed the "uestion of )adith in detail as a :wahyun (hafee: and prophetic wisdom. I do not want to !o into the details, but one thin! must be stated clearly that there were cases when the #rophet, not havin! received a revelation, made a personal effort to formulate opinion throu!h his own wisdom. Hither it was corrected by revelation or it was approved. The importance of the Sunnah even as a second source of Islam was a settled issue for the $ompanions of the #rophet. I "uote only one of the many e5amples1 that of Mu@a0 ibn >abal who said to the #rophet that he would decide accordin! to the Sunnah if he did not find the solution of a problem in the 7oo(. To "uote ?r. )amidullah1 :The importance of )adith is increased for the Muslim by the fact that the #rophet Muhammad &peace be upon him' not only tau!ht, but too( the opportunity of puttin! his teachin!s into practice in all the important affairs of life. )e lived for twenty three years after his appointment as the Messen!er of llah. )e endowed his community with a reli!ion, which he scrupulously practiced himself. )e founded a state, which he administered as the supreme head, maintainin! internal peace and order, headin! armies for e5ternal defense, jud!in! and decidin! the liti!ations of his subjects, punishin! the criminals and le!islatin! in all wal(s of life. )e married and left a model of
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family life.

nother important fact is that he did not declare himself to be

above the ordinary law which he imposed on others. )is practice was not mere private conduct, but a detailed interpretation and application of his teachin!s.: &Introduction to Islam pa!e 3/' The man, therefore, who embraced Islam stood in need of both the Qur'an and the Sunnah. practice ctually )adith is so important that without it one cannot fully understand the )oly 7oo( and Islam or be able to apply it to one's life and

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Difference between sunna and hadith :The majority of the contents of the hadith corpus is, in fact, nothin! but the Sunna%Ijtihad of the first !enerations of Muslims, an ijtihad which had its source in individual opinion but which in course of time and after tremendous stru!!les and conflicts a!ainst heresies and e5treme sectarian opinion received the sanction of Ijma, i.e. the adherence of the majority of the $ommunity. In other words, the earlier livin! Sunnah was reflected in the mirror of the )adith with the necessary addition of chains of narrators. There is, however, one major difference1 whereas Sunnah was lar!ely and primarily a practical phenomenon, !eared as it was to behavioral norms, )adith became the vehicle not only of le!al norms abut of reli!ious beliefs and principles as well.: &Mahman, p. 4;' The hadith constitute the recordin! in writin! everythin! that #rophet Muhammad was to have said, such as his opinions or decisions on issues, his responses to Muslims* "uestions or re"uests, as well as his silent or tacit approval of acts he had (nowled!e of. :The hadith sayin!s are in fact a veritable panorama of daily life in the seventh century, a vivid panorama, e5tremely varied because there are various versions of the same event. 9inally, one also finds side by side subjects as different as 'how to perform one's ablutions,' 'how to behave on one's weddin! ni!ht,' and 'what is to be done in case of civil war.': &Mernissi, /;'

>ust as durin! his life, Muslims could !o the #rophet for answers2 after his death, they loo(ed to the hadith for #rophetic !uidance, a means of searchin! out what was or not acceptable in areas where the Quran had not left specific rulin!s. )owever, many scholars believe that ahadith were not compiled in authoritative collections until the middle of the ninth century, :by which time a
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!reat mass of diverse ahadith reflected the variety of le!al opinion developed over the past two centuries of juristic reasonin! in the le!al schools. Meco!nition that the hadith literature included many fabrications led to a concerted effort to distin!uish more clearly authentic traditions.: &Hsposito, <' The sunna of the #rophet differs from the hadith in that

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Syed Lhalid Mashid*s Muslim Jaw, V.#. 7hartiya, ;th Hdition, Meprinted 3E+E, Hastern 7oo( $ompany Muslim Jaw, S.M. . )abibi, llahabad Jaw !ency http1QQwww.mwlusa.or!QtopicsQsourcesQsources.html http1QQislam.about.comQodQlawQaQsources.htm http1QQwww.le!alserviceindia.comQarticleQl/E3%Sources%of%Islamic%Jaw.html

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