. V૤I<

-1:, ) /. / _)""" J • િ if) _,, / ) / B ! B ෬ "The Tribes of Israel broke up into seventy-two sects. My Nation will break up into seventy-three sects. All of those sects will be in the Hell-fire except one group." They said, "Who are they, 0 Messenger of Allah?" He answered, "[Those who follow] what I and my Companions are following."1 "So stick to my sunnah" In the face of all of the different views, opinions and groups, one must tum to the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) if one wants to be rescued from the confusion that exists. If one ignores all of the different voices and sticks to the way of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his rightly­ guided successors, one will be safe. One will then not even have to worry about all of the different opinions being bandied about. The person will know where to find the truth and he will be able to follow it. The word "sunnah" means, "way of life, pattern of behavior, path." It also means, "the clear path". 2 It encompasses beliefs, manners, deeds, manner of worship and statements. All of these are included in the word sunnah. Hence, sticking to the sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him) means that one ensures that his beliefs, manners, deeds and statements are consistent with those of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). According to ibn Raj ab, the early scholars used the term "sunnah" only if it encompassed all these aspects. In other words, a person cannot be considered as truly following the way of the sunnah unless he is following the Prophet (peace be upon him) in all of those different aspects. 3 1 The wording above is from al-Tirmidhi. The hadith has been recorded by many compilers. According to al-Albaani, it is hasan with this wording. See al-Albaani's footnotes to ibn Abu al- - ෭෮ . 2 Al-Haitami, Fath, p. 220. The word sunnah is also used by the jurists to mean a deed which is praiseworthy and to be rewarded but it falls short of being obligatory. Ibn al-Arabi points out that he knows of no instance of the word being used in that sense in any of the texts of the Quran or hadith, except for the hadith, "Whoever prays twelve rakats of sunnah [daily], Allah will build for him a house in Paradise." See ibn al-Arabi, vol. 10, pp. 145-146. 3 lbn Rajab, Jaami, vol. 2, p. 120. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi "and the sunnah of the right-principled and rightly-guided successors."· The Prophet (peace be upon him) mentioned his own sunnah and then mentioned the sunnah of his rightly-guided successors. These successors are called raashideen because they know the truth and they judge or act in accordance with it. Raashid (ȷ1.;) is the opposite of ghaawa (-sJU:.). Ghaawa implies recognizing the truth but not following it. The Prophet (peace be upon him) also described them as mahdiyeen. This means that Allah has guided them to the truth and has not led them astray from it. This is the opposite of dhaal (Jl..;.) or one who is astray from the truth and does not know the truth. For these successors to be true examples for others to follow, it is a must that they had to have recognized the truth, were guided and followed it. Otherwise, they are not worthy of being followed.1 Who are the "Rightly-Guided Successors"? Most of the commentators on this hadith state that the term "rightly­ guided successors" is a reference to Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthmaan and Ali, who were the leaders of the Muslim community after the death of the Prophet (peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) knew that they would follow his teachings and his way. Hence, he guided his followers to follow their path. him), The proof for that position is the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon ,; ,;. J U ... > ... ,,,. , J ,,, gb ઽ ઼ G 0yŻ ¹I J JJાI "The successorship (khilaafah) will last for thirty years among my Nation and then there will be a kingship after that. "2 When one adds up the terms of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthmaan and Ali, the total comes to thirty years. The khilaafah of Abu Bakr was for two years and three months, the khilaafah of 'Umar was for ten and a half years, the khilaafah of 'Uthmaan was for twelve years, the khilaafah of 'Ali was for four years and nine months.3 There are hadith that talk about the khilaafah in a more general sense, for they include other than the aforementioned Companions. Those hadith make it clear that the khilaafah in general was for more than thirty years. Hence, these thirty years of these Companions are something special in the sense of khilaafah. Their special aspect is that they were headed by the rightly­ guided successors as mentioned by the Prophet (peace be upon him). 1 Cf., al-Rasheed, p. 342.