Gifts of Knowledge

After this brief introduction, we delve into the core of the subject, seeking help from Allaah Alone, so I say:

[The word] al-Manzilah means position and rank, and what is meant by it here is the rank that the Prophetic Sunnah occupies in the field of legislation [tashrī], as you cannot do without it in any way whatsoever, it is either independent [i.e., a Sunnah standing on its own] or it explains and clarifies the Quraan. Since lots of the aayahs that have rulings have to be referred to the Sunnah so that it may explain the ambiguous, restrict the absolute, and specify the general, among other purposes fulfilled by the Sunnah and the role it plays.

The Sunnah in the linguistic sense

Linguistically the Sunnah means a way or method, whether that way be praiseworthy or blameworthy. This meaning is attested to by the hadith of Jarīr ibn ʿAbdallāh al-Bajalī, “Whoever establishes a good sunnah will have its reward and the reward of those who act upon it until the Day of Resurrection. And whoever establishes a bad sunnah will bear its sin and the sin of those who act upon it until the Day of Resurrection,” reported by Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ.

The meaning of the hadith is that whoever introduces a good practice will have its reward as well as the reward of everyone who follows his example and does likewise, because he has opened the door to goodness and directed others toward it through his actions. The same applies to a bad sunnah: whoever introduces a bad practice and is followed by others will bear its sin, as well as the sin of everyone who follows his example thereafter, because he has opened the door to evil and called others to evil through his actions and initiative.

And the scholars of language say, “The Sunnah [linguistically] is the way or course of life [sīrah], whether good or bad.”

Tagged: Hadith Rejectors, quraniyoon