What exactly is Sunnah... and what isn't?
We all know that following the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is an essential part of deen. But did you know that everything that the Prophet said or did is not necessarily Sunnah? There is a chapter in Hujjatullah alBaligah that explores how Hadith and Sunnah are two different things. Every Sunnah is not in the form of Hadith. For instance, we have Mutawatir narrations (verbal or practical), that have been passed on generation after generation, but are not found in any Hadith book, like namaz procedure from start to end. Likewise, every Hadith is not required to be followed as Sunnah. Shah Waliullah Muhaddis Dehlvi lists down 5 categories in this regard: 1) Whatever Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has opined on worldly topics like medicine, horse breeds etc. These, the Prophet said out of his own intuition and experience, not on account of any divine revelation. Hence, it is not mandatory upon Muslims to abide by them. e.g. Pollination of date palms, hijamah etc. The Ansar of Madinah pra...