Importance of Following the Sunnah

[ShamilB]

Importance of Following the Sunnah
Harun Yahya

The Qur'an is the last divine book, which was revealed from Allah as a declaration and guidance to mankind. It is an explanation of all things and means for men to be rightly guided. In many verses of the Qur'an, it is commanded to obey the prophet of Allah. This is quite a significant point because understanding the Qur'an fully can only be possible with following the Sunnah of the prophet.

The Sunnah is the explanation of the Qur'an. It is the creed of ahl-i Sunnah, which has been constituted with collecting true hadiths of the prophet Muhammad (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam), and interpretation of these hadiths by great scholars in later times.

It's worth dwelling upon a point here. The Sunnah is not a concept that can be dealt with separately from the Qur'an. In the Qur'an, it has been mentioned that the prophet removes heavy burdens, makes rules, teaches the ummah (society) the open and hidden meanings of the Qur'an. As a matter of fact, when we look at the practices of Sunnah, we see that the prophet of Allah gave His companions a lot of information about numerous subjects. This information was then interpreted by scholars of the time, continued to be practised in daily lives and has passed on to us generations to generations.

Allah has informed in the surah Al-e Imran that the Prophet had the characteristic of teaching the Qur'an and purifying mankind:

"Certainly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error." (Surah Al-e Imran, 164)

It would be useful to attract attention to the phrase "teaching the book and the wisdom". Because, It is not possible to understand the Qur'an fully and practise its commands without following the sunnah of the prophet of Allah. Our religion is a whole only with the Qur'an and the Sunnah. At that times when the Qur'an was revealed, the people around the prophet learned and practised the commands of our religion as required by looking at the examples of the prophet. Indeed, the prophet has been an important example with His life, where he practised the commands of the religion, for us to understand the Qur'an.

We can give "salat" (ritual prayers) as a clear example to understanding the commands of the religion. As well known, in Islam, performing salat 5 times a day is an obligation and there are verses giving general information about how to perform it, how to perform ablution (wash). However, we can understand how exactly we should perform prayers only by looking at sunnah. Because there is no detailed information in the verses about the way of praying, what to say in prayer, the way of man and woman's performing the prayer, the degree of importance of the prayers, the details of ablution, what nullifies ablution. We can learn such details only by looking at Sunnah of the prophet.

As another example, we can mention the suggestions of the prophet about Friday and the things He said about Friday prayer. Beside the subjects such as speaking that which is best, cleanness, foods, modesty, there are verses in the Qur'an about obligations such as fasting, ablution and hajj (pilgrimage). However, there is no detailed information about those worships in the verses. We learn the detail information about how to perform these worships from the interpretations of the scholars about the words and habits of the prophet.

Sunnah has ected the lives of Muslims throughout the history, of all past scholars of Islam, shaping their worships. Since the era of our prophet, which has been hundreds of years, the Muslims have worshipped in compliance with the Sunnah. Worships like praying five times a day, fasting, giving charity and sacrificing have not changed until today as they have been always performed according to the Sunnah. For this reason, starting discussions upon the worships, which have been practised for hundreds of years without change, and speculating about the subjects like time of the prayers, the number of the rakaats (units) are completely unnecessary. All of them are obligatory worships, whose details are described in the Sunnah. As a matter of fact, when we look at the Qur'an, we see many verses in the Qur'an about following the Messenger. In a verse, for example, Allah commands us to obey the Messenger as follows:

"Surely We have sent you as a witness and as a bearer of good news and as a warner, That you may believe in Allah and His Messenger and may aid him and revere him; and (that) you may declare His glory, morning and evening. Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is above their hands. Therefore whoever breaks (his faith), he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfils what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward." (Surah Al-Fath, 8-10)

"Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah, and whoever turns back, so We have not sent you as a keeper over them." (Surah An-Nisa, 80)

The point one needs to pay attention in the verses is that they emphasise on the concept of "obeying the Messenger". This point shows us that following the Messenger, in other words following His commands and rules is a worship that Allah brought as an obligation. When we look at the verses, we again see that our prophet has the authority to enjoin and forbid things. For example, the verse ".... and whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, keep back, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah. (Surah Al-Hashr, 7) shows that the prophet may forbid certain things for His ummah, apart from those things that are forbidden in the Qur'an. Besides, it is again informed in the verses that the believers took the matters that they did not understand to the prophet and the prophet judged for them.

Those conducts, on the other hand, such as opposing the Messenger's being a judge, or disrespecting His judgements are described in the verses as "transgression". The certainty of the judgement of our prophet and the need for obeying His judgement is stressed in another verse as follows:

"It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path." (Surah Al-Ahzab, 36)

As seen up to here, Allah commands in His verses a strict obedience to His prophet. For this reason, Islam can only be lived through practising the Sunnah along with the Qur'an. The explanations made in the verses related to this subject are certain. Therefore, putting forward a claim of turning away from the sunnah of the prophet is completely opposite to the essence of the Qur'an.

Imam Malik, one of the greatest Islam scholars, compared the Sunnah of the prophet to the ark of Noah and said : The Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammad (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) is like the Ark of Noah. Whoever embarks upon it reaches salvation and whoever refuses is drowned.". The true salvation will be realised only when the creed of ahl-i Sunnah is understood by everybody and prevails in the society.

Harun Yahya - Articles - Importance of Following the Sunnah

[Dubai3000]

your are taking these qoutes out of the quran out of contexts, same thing what people do when they say quran is violent. Stop pretending to a scholar if you have no idea what your are talking about

[ShamilB]

Dubai3000 said

your are taking these qoutes out of the quran out of contexts, same thing what people do when they say quran is violent. Stop pretending to a scholar if you have no idea what your are talking about

Huh? What the heck are you talking about? Last time I checked, I didn't write the article. And I never claimed to be a "scholar".

[AceOfHearts]

What is the article trying to prove? I already pray like the Prophet did and all the Prophets before him.

[ameen]

ShamilB said

Huh? What the heck are you talking about? Last time I checked, I didn't write the article. And I never claimed to be a "scholar".

salam,

you may not be a scholar, but you are spreading misleading information about Verses of the Qur'an by twisting them out of context. It takes less than a scholar to see the clear deceit in such disproportionate interpretations, and this is simply what he was pointing out in his post.

[Revert]

ameen said

salam,

you may not be a scholar, but you are spreading misleading information about Verses of the Qur'an by twisting them out of context. It takes less than a scholar to see the clear deceit in such disproportionate interpretations, and this is simply what he was pointing out in his post.

wasalam

HE was spreading opinions by a "scholar" that you and aceofhearts seem to enjoy. If you don' t like it then don't bite to the obvious bait.

[ameen]

Revert said

HE was spreading opinions by a "scholar" that you and aceofhearts seem to enjoy. If you don' t like it then don't bite to the obvious bait.

salam,

Unlike most Sunni Muslims, neither me nor AceOfHearts subscribe ourselves to particular scholarly individuals, such that we have to accept everything they say. We enjoy most of Harun Yahya's work because they are based on the Qur'an, not because we are followers of Harun Yahya. A Sunni on the other hand seems to treat their scholars' words like undeniable God's words, which is what has led you to make the assumption that we'd also have to accept misleading work from Harun Yahya.

wasalam

[Revert]

ameen said

salam,

Unlike most Sunni Muslims, neither me nor AceOfHearts subscribe ourselves to particular scholarly individuals, such that we have to accept everything they say. We enjoy most of Harun Yahya's work because they are based on the Qur'an, not because we are followers of Harun Yahya. A Sunni on the other hand seems to treat their scholars' words like undeniable God's words, which is what has led you to make the assumption that we'd also have to accept misleading work from Harun Yahya.

wasalam

How can you accept one side of his argument then dismiss his "misleading" ideas? It seems illogical to me. Like accepting a doctors prognosis even though he has killed patients before.

Also you are no different to "most" sunnis in the way you make sweeping generalisations about people who don't ascribe to your beliefs.

[ameen]

Revert said

How can you accept one side of his argument then dismiss his "misleading" ideas? It seems illogical to me. Like accepting a doctors prognosis even though he has killed patients before.

salam,

your analogy is extremely faulty because this article is like an outcast-anomaly in the work of Harun Yahya. It is as if he is trying to be accepted by the Sunni majority by pleasing them with this article, so that they don't reject him as a Qur'an-only innovator. So a better analogy in this case would be a doctor who has saved hundreds of lives in the past (most of Harun Yahya's work), but then suddenly kills a patient (this article).

wasalam

[Revert]

ameen said

salam,

your analogy is extremely faulty because this article is like an outcast-anomaly in the work of Harun Yahya. It is as if he is trying to be accepted by the Sunni majority by pleasing them with this article, so that they don't reject him as a Qur'an-only innovator. So a better analogy in this case would be a doctor who has saved hundreds of lives in the past (most of Harun Yahya's work), but then suddenly kills a patient (this article).

wasalam

If you consider it misleading then it would be the same as if the Doctor killed the patient by malicious means. Either way its still illogical to accept one view then dismiss another.

Harun Yahya has never been one to play upto anyones expectations from what I have read of his work and what I know of his character.

[ShamilB]

ameen said

salam,

Unlike most Sunni Muslims, neither me nor AceOfHearts subscribe ourselves to particular scholarly individuals, such that we have to accept everything they say. We enjoy most of Harun Yahya's work because they are based on the Qur'an, not because we are followers of Harun Yahya. A Sunni on the other hand seems to treat their scholars' words like undeniable God's words, which is what has led you to make the assumption that we'd also have to accept misleading work from Harun Yahya.

wasalam

That is such a weak cop-out. Ok wise one, what are the verses that are being "taken out of context" and what is so "misleading" about this article compared to the other ones that you and AceOfHearts love to post? Let's be honest here - you guys love to quote Harun Yahya and this is what Harun Yahya says about following the Sunnah. I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine here.

[AceOfHearts]

ShamilB said

Let's be honest here - you guys love to quote Harun Yahya and this is what Harun Yahya says about following the Sunnah. I'm just giving you a taste of your own medicine here.

ameen has hit the nail on the right spot. We dont quote Harun Yahya because he is Harun Yahya, we post his work after verifying it is in conforminity with the Qur'an, most of his work is in conforminity with the Qur'an.

If any other scholar produces a piece of writing or documentary that I feel portrays the Qur'anic message and values and invited people to follow it, I would happily put it up.

The fact that Harun Yahya wrote the article does not validate what he is saying. Just because he made lots of other works which I agree with does not dictate I have to agree with everything he says. Again, this notion arises from a common Sunni mentality where one views their revered scholars as divine infallible source of religion, knowingly or unknowingly. Whereas for me, the Qur'an remains the focal point and if their work matces with my understanding of the Qur'an, I will spread it. The scholar does not become my yardstick, the Qur'an is.

As for the article, it is a huge anomaly in HY's work. Given the vast misinterpretation and twisting of Verses in this single article, and how HY has always intepreted the Qur'an in its context and with wisdom, one wonders if this article was ever written by HY.

I noticed HY recently started putting these articles up and editted many of his existing works to include "Ahlus-Sunnah" views and sources. I can only conclude this is to tune in the majority Ahlus-Sunnah followers who have become skeptical on his quoting of Qur'an without Hadith. So perhaps this is the ploy.

[ameen]

ShamilB said

Ok wise one, what are the verses that are being "taken out of context" and what is so "misleading" about this article compared to the other ones that you and AceOfHearts love to post?

salam,

you are asking as if you are very willing to accept any convincing answer you read, even if it is against the opinions of the Sunni scholars. The sad thing is that no matter how conspicuously inaccurate a Sunni interpretation is shown to be, you are unlikely to let go of those opinions. To take an obvious example, let's take a look at Verse 59:07, which in its natural context, can be seen to be regarding the Prophet dealing with the spoils and booties of war by sharing them between people:

"Whatever Allah has given to His Messenger as war-booty from the people of the townships, is for Allah and His Messenger, and the relatives and the orphans, and the poor and the wayfarers, so that they may not become a fortune used by only the rich among you. So whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it, and be conscious of Allah. Indeed, Allah is severe in punishment." - (59:07)

Just by reading this Verse in its context, we can see that when Allah says: 'whatever the Messenger gives you / forbids you...', the Verse is referring to whatever he assigns of the booties and spoils of war to the people. In other words, the Prophet had a duty to fairly share the booty between those who need it most, so that as the Verse explains, they don't become an exploitation of greed by being a 'fortune used by only the rich among you.'

Despite this clear post-war context given in the Verse, the article you have posted makes an overtly blatant misinterpretation by quoting only a PART of the Verse. As should be clear to you now, this cropped out part has been used in the article to allow for the introduction of NEW PROHIBITIONS and laws which have nothing to do with the Qur'an, but are rather found in Hearsay and Hadith.

Here is the relevant quote from the article:

"For example, the verse ".... and whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, keep back, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah. (Surah Al-Hashr, 7) shows that the prophet may forbid certain things for His ummah, apart from those things that are forbidden in the Qur'an."

The quoted part in bold emphasises the tendency of the article to direct others away from the teachings of the Qur'an, and shows an underlying motivation to encourage Muslims to follow other books as their source of religion. Such a tendency is totally uncharacteristic of the works of Harun Yahya, as virtually all his other work is heavily sourced in the genuine use of Qur'anic Verses. It's hardly a surprise then, that it's not very difficult to realise the clear anomaly in this piece of writing, compared to countless other works of Harun Yahya which have been successfully written in the true Qur'anic spirit.

wasalam

[ShamilB]

ameen said

salam,

you are asking as if you are very willing to accept any convincing answer you read, even if it is against the opinions of the Sunni scholars. The sad thing is that no matter how clearly inaccurate a Sunni interpretation is shown to be, you are unlikely to let go of those opinions. To take an obvious example, let's take a look at Verse 59:07, which in its natural context, can be seen to be regarding the Prophet dealing with the spoils and booties of war by sharing them between people:

"Whatever Allah gave as booty / spoils to His Messenger from the people of the townships, is for Allah and His Messenger, and the relatives and the orphans, and the poor and the wayfarers, so that they may not become a fortune used by the rich among you. So whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it, and remain conscious of Allah. Indeed, Allah is severe in punishment." - (59:07)

Just by reading this Verse in its context, we can see that when Allah says: 'whatever the Messenger gives you / forbids you...', the Verse is referring to whatever he assigns of the booties and spoils to the people. In other words, the Prophet had a duty to fairly share the booty between those who need it most, so that as the Verse explains, they don't become an exploitation of greed by being a 'fortune used by the rich among you.'.

Despite this clear post-war context given in the Verse, the article you have posted makes an overtly blatant misinterpretation by quoting only a PART of the Verse. As should be clear to you now, this cropped out part has been used in the article to allow for the introduction of NEW PROHIBITIONS and laws which have nothing to do with the Qur'an, but are rather found in Hearsay and Hadith.

Here is the relevant quote from the article:

"For example, the verse ".... and whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, keep back, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah. (Surah Al-Hashr, 7) shows that the prophet may forbid certain things for His ummah, apart from those things that are forbidden in the Qur'an."

The quoted part in bold emphasises the tendency of the article to direct others away from the teachings of the Qur'an, and shows an underlying motivation to encourage Muslims to follow other books as their source of religion. Such a tendency in the article is certainly uncharacteristic of the work of Harun Yahya, as virtually all his other work is heavily sourced with genuine use of Qur'anic Verses. It's hardly a surprise then, that it's not very difficult to realise the clear anomoly in this piece of writing, compared to countless other works of Harun Yahya which have been successfully written in the true Qur'anic spirit.

wasalam

First of all, your claim that this article is an "anomoly" in Harun Yahya's work shows either your ignorance of his works or your stubborn denial of the truth and authenticity of the Sunnah. If as you claim this was an "anamoly" then we should have seen many articles from Harun Yahya where he has argued against the following of Sunnah but we see no such thing. His position has never changed. Harun Yahya has never been of the belief or opinion that the Quran is a stand-alone document and has always maintained that the Sunnah should be followed in conjunction to the Quran. Here is another Harun Yahya article on this subject where he outlines proofs and evidences for why the Sunnah should be followed:
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE AHL AL-SUNNAH - Harun Yahya

Remember, Harun Yahya is an authority on the Quran as he has spent many years studying the book. It is natural for him to write articles on a subject he is most familiar with. But even he realizes how incomplete the Quran would be without the Sunnah.

As far as your attempt to interpret the verse, it is clear you are just grasping at straws. That is quite a leap from the tafseer of the verse. The "whatsover" can be best understood by the message from the Prophet (SAW) because this is consistent with other verses where Allah (SWT) commands us to obey the Prophet (SAW).