Encyclopedia of Islam

sunna

 

(Arabic: custom, tradition, 

precedent; pl. 

sunan)

In Islam the body of idealized precedents for reli-

gious and moral behavior that go with the q

Uran

is known as the sunna. It is one of the four “roots” 

of Islamic law (

fiqh

). First systematized in the 

ninth and 10th centuries, the sunna was based on 

the exemplary words and actions of m

Uhammad

(ca. 570–632), Islam’s prophet, as reported in the 

hadith

. In addition to its collective meaning, the 

term sunna can also mean an individual precedent 

found in the hadith.

In order to authenticate the hadith, which are 

narratives that were first transmitted orally and 

then compiled in books, Muslims developed a tra-

dition of critical inquiry that assessed individual 

hadiths according to the reliability and continuity 

of the reported sequence (isnad) of individuals 

said to have transmitted it. Sunni Muslims hold 

the hadith collections of al-Bukhari (d. 870) and 

Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (d. 875) to be the most 

authentic (sahih) ones, but there are others from 

which they derive the sunna, too.

As an example of how a sunna can be con-

veyed by a hadith, let us examine the following 

hadith from al-Bukhari’s collection: Zayd ibn 

Aslam’s father said, “I saw U

mar

 

ibn

 

al

-k

hattab

kiss the [Black] Stone and say, ‘If I had not seen 

God’s Messenger kiss you, I would not have kissed 

you’ ” (Sahih, Kitab al-hajj). This hadith informs 

us, according to a reliable witness, that Muham-

mad kissed the b

lack

  s

tone

  of the Kaaba while 

performing the hajj and that the second caliph, 

Umar (r. 634–644) also did it, because he saw 

Muhammad perform the action. The sunna to 

be drawn from this is one that instructs Muslims 

that they are permitted to kiss the Black Stone 

when they perform the 

haJJ

, based on the prec-

edent set by Muhammad and confirmed by his 

companion Umar. This practice is not mentioned 

in the Quran, so it constitutes an elaboration of 

the Quran’s rulings concerning the hajj. A single 

sunna may be supported by one hadith, as in this 

case, or many. Conversely, a single hadith may 

authorize more than one sunna, depending on the 

content of the report.

K  644  

sunna

---

In the early decades of Islamic history, the idea 

of the sunna had a broad range of meanings that 

became narrower with the passage of time and the 

consolidation of Islamic belief and tradition. In 

the Quran, prophets are represented as exemplary 

figures and Muhammad is called the “beautiful 

model” (al-uswa al-hasana) for those “who hope 

for God and the last day” (Q 33:21). The Quran 

also repeatedly urges believers to “obey God and 

his messenger” (for example, Q 5:92; 8:20, 46). 

However, it does not associate the term sunna with 

Muhammad’s words and deeds. Rather, the Quran 

uses sunna in two senses: (1) with reference to the 

wrongful ways of peoples of earlier generations 

(for example, Q 3:137; 8:13; 18:55), and (2) with 

the rightful way of God’s judgments (Q 33:60–62; 

40:85). After Muhammad’s death, Muslims found 

that God’s laws and prohibitions as stated in the 

Quran were often too general to give guidance in 

real-life situations, even in matters of worship, 

such as 

prayer

 and 

almsgiving

. While many Mus-

lims continued to follow their own tribal customs 

and judges relied on individual legal opinion, the 

piety-minded advocated reliance on accounts of 

Muhammad’s life (sira) and the good example of 

his Companions and their heirs (“the successors”) 

in m

ecca

 and m

edina

, as well as those who had 

migrated with them to the cities and towns of 

Syria and Iraq. Contending notions of legal prec-

edent and correct religious practice gave rise to a 

variety of living local traditions, or “precedents” 

(sunan) to be emulated.

The efforts of a

rab

 Muslim rulers to consoli-

date their power and centralize the administration 

of the newly conquered lands also prompted 

efforts to standardize the diffused community’s 

traditions and laws. Some claimed that the “liv-

ing” sunna of Medina was identical with that of 

Muhammad, a position that was conveyed in the 

teachings of m

alik

 

ibn

 a

nas

 (d. 795), the eponym 

of the m

aliki

  l

egal

  s

chool

. Because Muslims 

living elsewhere in Islamdom did not favor elevat-

ing the practice of Medinan Muslims above their 

own, they found that reliance on the exemplary 

authority of Muhammad and other individuals 

in the early Islamic community as transmitted in 

the hadith, not the living example of Medinese 

Muslims, was an especially suitable alternative. 

This led to the creation of a vast body of hadith, 

including fabricated ones. Modern scholars have 

argued that these hadith embodied not only the 

sunna of Muhammad, the early caliphs, and the 

Companions, but that they also gave legitimacy 

and religious sanction to pre-Islamic Arab prac-

tices (sunan) that continued to be followed in 

the broader Muslim community during the first 

centuries of Islamic history. The elevation of the 

hadith also appealed to newly converted non-Arab 

Muslims in Iran and elsewhere who could not 

claim to embody the “living” sunna of Muhammad 

and his Companions. This may be why so many of 

the collectors of hadith, such as al-Bukhari, al-Tir-

midhi (d. 892), and ibn Maja (d. 892), were Per-

sians by heritage. However, it was m

Uhammad

 

ibn

i

dris

 

al

-s

haFii

 (d. 820), the eponym of the s

haFii

l

egal

 s

chool

, who most forcefully argued that the 

sunna be grounded in hadith rather than in the liv-

ing practice of Muslims. Along with the Quran it 

became the basis for jurisprudence recognized by 

all the major Islamic legal schools (sing. madhhab). 

Moreover, both the Quran and the sunna have 

come to be seen as forms of 

revelation

 from God, 

which is analogous to the Jewish rabbinic belief 

in both the written and oral Torah of m

oses

. The 

Quran embodies God’s word, Muhammad’s sunna 

is inspired by God. Any practice or belief that 

could not be validated by the Quran and sunna 

was liable to be condemned as an unauthorized 

“innovation” (

bidaa

), especially by Muslims with a 

highly literalistic understanding of their religion.

The distinction between Sunni and Shii Mus-

lims hinges in part on their different understand-

ings of the sunna. The Shia define it in relation to 

Muhammad and his household (the 

ahl

 

al

-

bayt

),