Gifts of Knowledge

See previous post here.

One Has  to Refer Back to the Sunnah to Understand Many Rulings

Anyone who studies the Book of Allaah and the Prophetic Sunnah, especially the verses and hadiths pertaining to religious rulings, will fully realise that the Sunnah plays a significant, undeniable role in clarifying the general rulings of the Noble Quraan. It qualifies what is unrestricted, specifies what is general, and clarifies what abrogates and what has been abrogated.

Examples

If we were to give examples of rulings that are stated in general terms in the Quraan and which are then explained and elaborated upon by the Sunnah, as well as other rulings that are established exclusively by the Sunnah and have no mention in the Quraan whatsoever, we would find a great many examples in the various categories of acts of worship, transactions, prescribed punishments, and other matters.

First: Purification

Among the rulings that have been mentioned in the Quraan in a general form and where the Sunnah then supplemented their explanation and clarification are the areas of ablution and dry-ablution [wuḍūʾ and tayammum].

Wuḍūʾ and tayammum are mentioned in the Quraan with a certain degree of detail. Allaah, Most High, says, addressing the believers who wish to stand for prayer, “O believers! When you rise up for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, wipe your heads, and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of ˹full˺ impurity, then take a full bath. But if you are ill, on a journey, or have relieved yourselves, or have been intimate with your wives and cannot find water, then purify yourselves with clean earth by wiping your faces and hands. It is not Allaah’s Will to burden you, but to purify you and complete His favour upon you, so perhaps you will be grateful.” [5:6] In this noble verse from Surah Al-Māʾidah, Allaah details the method of wuḍūʾ to some extent, specifying which parts are to be washed and which wiped, along with the boundaries of the hands and feet. It then mentions tayammum, specifying that it involves the face and hands rather than other wuḍūʾ parts like the feet or head. However, the need for the Sunnah’s clarification remains, even with this detailed explanation.

Further Clarification of This

The Sunnah came with the following explanations:

(a) When a person performing wuḍūʾ begins his wuḍūʾ, he washes his hands three times. He then rinses his mouth, sniffs water into his nose, and blows it out, three times.

(b) The Sunnah explains that a person performing wuḍūʾ may wash the limbs that are to be washed once, twice, or three times, with three times being the most complete. He may also wash some of them once, some twice, and others three times.

(c) The Prophet’s ﷺ actions demonstrated that the head is wiped once in a specific manner: beginning from the front of the head with both hands, moving them to the back of the head, and then bringing them back to where one had started, doing this only once. He does not repeat the wiping of the head. Similarly, the ears are not wiped repeatedly according to the correct view, and no new water is required for them, they are wiped alongside the head using the same water.

This is the description of wuḍūʾ in light of both the Book and the Sunnah.

Regarding Tayammum: the Quraan established that it involves only the face and hands. What remains is to define the boundary of the hands: is it up to the elbows like wuḍūʾ, and is it done with one strike or two? The authentic Sunnah answers both of these questions, and there is no answer to them except in the Sunnah, and in the Sunnah it is established that tayammum is performed with one strike.

It is also established therein that the limit of the hands here is the wrists, i.e., the hands themselves.

Furthermore, the noble verse that discusses wuḍūʾ and tayammum goes on, incidentally, to address another ruling: purification from janābah [major ritual impurity], where Allaah says, “… and if you are in a state of ˹full˺ impurity, then take a full bath.” [5:6] So the verse states this purification in general terms. The Sunnah explains that it is purification with water when water is available, in the following manner: one washes the extremities and whatever impurity has touched him, then he performs wuḍūʾ as he does for prayer, then he washes his head and pours water over his entire body, running his fingers through any thick hair so that the water reaches the roots. This is when water is available. But if water is unavailable, or a person is unable to use it, then clean earth is sufficient: he strikes the ground with his hands and wipes his face and hands once, and that is enough.

This is the explanation recorded by the Sunnah about this issue. We have, of course, conveyed its meaning here [i.e., not quoting the exact wording that occurs in the hadiths]. So this is a detailed explanation of Allaah’s general statement, “… and if you are in a state of ˹full˺ impurity, then take a full bath.” [5:6]

Prayer [Ṣalāh]

So we have concluded our brief discussion on purification, but I hope it was not so brief as to be inadequate, and now we move on to prayer and the explanation, clarification, and elaboration provided about it by the Sunnah, an elaboration and detail the like of which is not found in the Quraan itself.

Prayer is the second pillar of Islam. It is mentioned in the Quraan simply in the command, “Establish the prayer.” But how, one might ask, is it to be established?

The Sunnah alone is what answers this important question.

We learned in our study of the Sunnah that Allaah prescribed prayer for His Messenger and his followers on the night of the Isrāʾ and Miʿrāj, when he ﷺ was taken up until he reached a place where he could hear the scratching of the pens, the pens of the Angels as they recorded what they had been commanded to write. It was there that the noble Prophet was addressed by his Lord and Guardian, Glorified is He. He allowed him to hear His speech but did not allow him to see Him, rather, He veiled Himself from him by His light [as clarified in a hadith where the Prophet ﷺ said], “Light, how could I see Him?” and “His veil is light.”

On that momentous occasion, Allaah prescribed fifty prayers for him. The Messenger of Allaah ﷺ accepted that and departed in order to began his descent except that one of his brothers among the Messengers of Firm Resolve [Ulul-ʿazam], Moses ﷺ, stopped him and advised him to return to his Lord and ask Him to lighten the burden.

The Prophet ﷺ returned to where he had been when his Lord first addressed him and asked Him to reduce the obligation for his Ummah and so Allaah reduced it for them partially. The request and intercession were repeated, and the reduction was repeated, until the prayers were reduced from fifty to five.

The Messenger of Allaah ﷺ then descended and returned to Makkah with this general obligation.

Allaah then sent His messenger Jibrīl to him who taught him the [detailed] actions of the prayer: the number of rakʿahs, where and when to recite out aloud and quietly, and also taught him how to purify himself for it.

So this, briefly, is how the Sunnah explained the manner of performing the prayer.

Tagged: quraniyoon