What the Sunnah is

The word Sunnah means a way or a path. In Islam it means the way of Nabi ﷺ: what he said, what he did, and what he saw others do and approved. It comes to us through the hadith (reports about him). You can read how the Quran and Sunnah work together in Where belief comes from.

Allah tells us many times to follow His Messenger:

• Say: if you love Allah, follow me, and Allah will love you and forgive your sins¹.
• Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it. Whatever he forbids you, stay away from it².
• Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah³.
• In the Messenger of Allah you have the best example⁴.

So following the Sunnah is not a hobby for a few very religious people. It is how every Muslim shows love for Allah. The Quran tells us to pray. The Sunnah shows us how. The Quran tells us to give zakat. The Sunnah shows us how much. Without the Sunnah, we could not practice Islam.

The Sunnah is balance

Following the Sunnah does not mean doing as much as you can, as hard as you can. It means doing things the way Nabi ﷺ did them, and his way was balanced.

Once three men decided to do more than him: one would pray all night, one would fast every day, and one would never marry. Nabi ﷺ said: I fast and I eat, I pray and I sleep, and I marry. Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not from me⁵.

When he had to choose between two things, Nabi ﷺ always chose the easier one, as long as it was not a sin⁸. And he told us: make things easy, do not make them hard⁹.

The religion is complete

Allah says: today I have completed your religion for you¹⁰. Nothing is missing that we need to add.

That is why Nabi ﷺ said: whoever brings something new into this matter of ours that is not from it, it is rejected¹¹. "This matter of ours" means the religion.

In his Friday khutbah he used to say: the best speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. And he warned: the worst things are newly made-up matters, and every bid'ah is going astray¹².

Near the end of his life he gave a talk that made the Companions cry. They said: it is like a farewell talk, so advise us. He told them that after him there would be many differences, and said: hold on to my Sunnah, and the Sunnah of the rightly guided caliphs after me. Hold on to it tightly, and keep away from newly made-up matters in the religion¹³.

Bid'ah (in this sense) means a new act of worship, or a new belief, added to the religion, as if it were part of Islam, with no proof from the Quran or Sunnah.

Worship needs a proof. Life is open.

This is one of the most useful rules in Islam. It divides things into two kinds:

Worship needs a proof

We worship Allah the way He wants, not the way we feel like. That is why Umar kissed the Black Stone and said: I know you are only a stone. You cannot harm or help. If I had not seen Nabi ﷺ kiss you, I would not kiss you¹⁴.

And once, during a khutbah, Nabi ﷺ saw a man standing in the sun. He was told: this is Abu Israil. He made a vow to stand and never sit, never go in the shade, never speak, and to fast. Nabi ﷺ said: tell him to speak, to go in the shade and to sit, and let him finish his fast¹⁵. Fasting is worship, so he kept it. Standing in the sun and silence were not worship, so he was told to stop.

Everyday life is open

When people in Madinah were working on their palm trees, Nabi ﷺ made a suggestion that did not work. He said: you know better about the matters of your world¹⁶. And he said: what Allah made halal in His Book is halal, what He made haram is haram, and what He was silent about is forgiven, so it is allowed¹⁷.

So cars, phones, microphones in the masjid, prayer time apps, printed Qurans, schools and hospitals are not bid'ah. They are new things in life, not new acts of worship. Many of them even help us worship.

Clear examples

Scholars of every school agree on these examples.

This would be bid'ah

• Adding a sixth required daily prayer, or praying Maghrib as four rakat (units of prayer) on purpose.
• Calling an adhan for the Eid prayer. Nabi ﷺ prayed Eid many times with no adhan and no iqamah¹⁸.
• Treating something halal as worship to give up, like never marrying, never sitting in the shade, or never speaking, as Abu Israil did¹⁹.
• Making up a new belief about Allah or the unseen with no proof.

This is not bid'ah

• New tools: phones, cars, apps, loudspeakers.
• New ways to teach: madrasahs, books, websites, courses like this one.
• Collecting the Quran into one book. Abu Bakr did this after many Quran reciters were killed in battle. At first he asked: how can I do something Nabi ﷺ did not do? Then he saw it was good, because it protected the Quran Allah had already given²⁰.

Two ways scholars use the word bid'ah

You may hear one person say: every bid'ah is wrong. And another say: there is good bid'ah and bad bid'ah. Both are speaking about real words from great scholars. Here is the difference, calmly.

It starts with Umar. Nabi ﷺ had led the night prayer in Ramadan in the masjid for a few nights. Then he stopped, worried it would be made required on people²¹. Years later, Umar saw people praying in small separate groups, so he gathered them behind one imam. Looking at them, he said: what a good bid'ah this is²².

The first way

Some scholars, like Imam al-Shafi'i, and later al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam and al-Nawawi, use the word bid'ah for anything new. Then they say: a new thing that fits the Quran, Sunnah and their aims can be good. A new thing that goes against them is bad. They also point to the hadith: whoever starts a good way in Islam gets its reward, and the reward of all who follow it²³.

The second way

Other scholars, like al-Shatibi and Ibn Rajab, use the word bid'ah only for a new thing in worship or belief with no proof. In that sense, they say, every bid'ah is wrong, as the hadith says²⁴. They explain that Umar meant "new" only in the everyday language sense, because Nabi ﷺ himself had already led that prayer.

What both agree on

• Adding new worship that goes against the Sunnah is rejected²⁵.
• Useful new things that serve the religion, like collecting the Quran or building schools, are good.
• So much of the difference is about words. The real disagreement is only about some practices: is this one rooted in the Sunnah or not? On those, scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah have differed, sometimes for centuries.

Unity and good manners when we differ

Allah says: hold on to the rope of Allah all together, and do not split apart²⁶. And: do not argue with each other, or you will lose heart and your strength will go²⁷.

The Companions themselves sometimes understood an order of Nabi ﷺ in two ways. He did not blame either group²⁸.

Nabi ﷺ also said: when a scholar works hard to find the right answer and gets it right, he has two rewards. If he works hard and gets it wrong, he still has one reward³⁰.

So, when Muslims differ:

• Do not condemn whole communities or countries because of how they practice. Most Muslims follow what their local scholars taught them, in good faith.
• Speak gently. Advice is part of the religion³¹, but advice given with anger in front of people rarely helps.
• Keep the bigger things big. Salah, tawhid, honesty and kindness to family matter more than winning an argument.
• Do not break ties with family or friends over a difference that scholars have had for a thousand years.

Follow trusted scholars

Allah says: ask the people of knowledge if you do not know³². Most of us are not scholars, and that is fine. Our job is to learn the basics and ask the right people.

Nabi ﷺ warned that knowledge is not taken away by being pulled out of people's hearts. It goes when the scholars die, until people take ignorant people as leaders, who give answers without knowledge, go astray, and lead others astray³³. Today, the loudest voice online is not always the most knowledgeable one.

Signs of a scholar you can trust:

• They studied with known teachers, not only from videos.
• They teach from the Quran and Sunnah, and respect the great scholars of the past.
• They are humble, and say "I do not know" when they do not know.
• They are gentle with ordinary Muslims, and do not spend their time attacking other Muslims.
• They make things easy where Islam made them easy³⁴.

Following one of the well-known madhhabs (schools of fiqh), or the scholars at your local masjid, is a normal and safe way to follow the Sunnah.

Common questions

Is using a phone app for prayer times or a tasbih counter a bid'ah?

No. These are tools, not new acts of worship. The dhikr itself is from the Sunnah. The counter only helps you keep track.

My family does something at the masjid that a friend says is bid'ah. What should I do?

First, find out. Ask a scholar you trust what the proof is. Many practices that look new to one person have a basis that another scholar knows. If it is a matter scholars differ on, keep good manners with your family. If it is clearly against the Sunnah, explain gently, at a good time, not in front of everyone.

My community holds a gathering for the Mawlid (the birth of Nabi ﷺ). Some say it is good, some say it is bid'ah.

This is one of the practices Sunni scholars have long differed on. Some allow a gathering to remember his life, send salawat on him and feed people, as long as nothing wrong is added. Others say it was not done by the Companions, so it is better to leave it. Both sides love Nabi ﷺ. Follow a scholar you trust, and do not let it break the unity of your family or masjid.

Can I make my own dua in my own words?

Yes. Making dua in your own words, in any language, is allowed and good. What scholars warn against is fixing a made-up dua or dhikr with a set number or a set time and teaching it as if it came from Nabi ﷺ.

A friend says I must leave my madhhab and only follow the Quran and hadith directly.

The madhhabs are themselves ways of following the Quran and hadith, built by great scholars. Most ordinary Muslims follow one, and that is a sound way. Learning the proofs is good, but you do not need to throw away the scholars to follow the Sunnah.

How do I start following the Sunnah more in my daily life?

Pick one small Sunnah at a time: saying Bismillah before eating, using the right hand, smiling, the morning and evening adhkar, the sunnah prayers before Fajr. Keep it for a month, then add another. Small and steady is itself the Sunnah³⁵.