Re: Biddah and Quran !
Word Sunnah is from root SEEN, NOON and NOON. It has many meanings eg path, tradition, habit, age, era, formula, rule, law etc etc.
Within itself the word carries the meaning of being prompted to act on something and leave a trace for others to follow eg some one decides to do something so he sets things in motion in reaction to his thought of doing something or some one tells some one to do something so in reaction to that some one does something and leaves clues or traces to this effect.
In relation to islam sunnah could be of Allah, the prophet or even shaitan ie a person who does harmful or destructive things against the interest of common humanity.
Here I am going to explain the sunnah in context of prophetic mission ie the reaction of prophet top divine constitution and commandments etc.
Islam in quranic context is all about freedom, justice, fairness, compassion, brotherhood, progress and prosperity of humanity.
Islam=peace mainly between people in the land or earth and peace is impossible between human beings unless they have some agreement between them which contains conditions or terms of their agreement. The quran is that constitution that provides that basis for all human beings.
Freedom means no man can be master or slave of another man be he a prophet of Allah. In fact according to quran it is not fitting for a prophet that Allah gives him his book and yet he tells people be my slaves or servants 3/79. All people are bound in brotherhood of humanity ie no masters no slaves. No imperialism nor priesthood ie no malukiyat nor mullaiyat. None can rule people in the name of country as a king nor in the name of religion as a mullah.
Since the quran is divine constitution for mankind and people need a constitution for organising their societies for a set purpose or goal so anything that is told in the constitution has to be interpreted in that context. So any terms used in the quran must be interpreted within this context.
Since the quran is constitution of islam for the whole mankind, word sunnah of the prophet can only have a specific meanings. Any other meanings will not fit in or will cause problems. For example, some mullahs defined sunnah of the prophet as all his words, deeds and approvals by his silence etc as his sunnah. Any muslim who has a some information about this subject and has sense of reality of life will be able to see a lot of things wrong with definitions of sunnah of the prophet by all the mullahs of all the sects. One has to ask what went wrong? The answer is only given by sir syed and iqbal like people not mullahs. Sir syed draws our attention to rationality and iqbal to deen v mazhab and fasaad by malukiyati mullahs in the ummah in the name of mullah made shariat of islam.
Mullahs told ummah to live like the prophet by being like or doing exactly what he did in 7th century arabian settings. If he travelled by camel then that is the sunnah and if he used smoke signals so should we. If he wore a dress we should dress like him and so on. Allah this is not at all islam. Why not? Because it goes directly against the goals, aims and objectives or terms and conditions of islamic constitution=the quran. By following mullahs’ islam people can never achieve the set goal of peace. There can never be peace in the world between human beings if we followed mullahs interpretation of islam which they did to please their kings long way back in time.
1)The fact is that people live as they live each according to his own nature or personality.
2)No two people are alike nor are they expect to be.
3)It is not possible to know each and every move of anyone ever.
4)It is not possible to have information about anyone to each and every minute detail
5)It is not possible to transmit vast information perfectly.
6)The prophet was a man not a woman, he lived like a man not like a woman. Women cannot grow beard and they have periods and give birth etc etc.
So any information of this nature cannot be called sunnah of the prophet because most of such information does not even exist.
The quran telling us the life of the prophet is best example for us to follow cannot mean this because the quran was not sent for us to do the impossible. So anyone who interprets the quran in an impractical way is misinterpreting the quran.
Even in the quran there are verses which according to existing interpretations tell us that certain things were only and only for the prophet and not for his followers. This tells us very clearly that the whole life of the prophet is not an example for us to follow but only certain of his actions in reaction to divine commandments for a set purpose.
The other factor is the changing world in which we live ie we all were born babies but we did not remain babies. So things that change with time and place cannot be defined as sunnah either. In sotiry of the quran as interpreted by mullahs Adam and eve wore leaves of the trees as clothes. Does that mean all their children should do that because that is sunnah of our parents, whop were parents of all the prophets? Why then our prophet did not wear tree leaves as his clothes because that is what his parents wore? Why did he not live in caves like prophets before him? All such like recorded incidences tell us these do not come under definition of sunnah of the prophets.
All these things force us by way of reason to define sunnah objectively. So the question is what is sunnah purpose wise?
The only answer is that Allah sent the prophet with his mission like a king sends his general for a battle to the battle ground to fight the war.
The question is, what role his followers ought to play? They are supposed to learn his goals, principles for his ways and means and help accomplish the goals. The followers are supposed to be supporters of their prophets ie they are supposed to help them do what they came to do. Like children help their parents or army helps its general to win the battle he comes in the battle field for.
This has nothing to do with kurta pajaama or pagdi per se because a man has to wear clothes. People live as they see their societies living. The fight is all about what is right and what is wrong and why?
In this context if we have to do things we should do them the right way ie we must have right goals and use right ways and means to achieve them.
Now coming to beard it is not the sunnah of the prophet at all rather that is the way his society used to live. All he did was told people to do things such a way that they look right and good. You wear clothes but ensure they fulfil their purposes eg they cover your body, they provide needed protection eg from heat and cold etc, they are nice and clean and and they look great on you when you wear them.
You have a beard then look after it ie don’t make it look terrible on you because that will reflect badly on your personality. You wash your beard, comb it, trim it properly etc etc.
I hope my explanation helps understand the definition of word sunnah It will be good idea for us to question our mullahs and expose them for what they really are ie people who follow others in doing things without any research and exploration of their own. For more, please see my other posts eg
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/religion-and-scripture/522010-have-we-understood-the-quran-properly.html
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/religion-and-scripture/533498-to-mughal1-re-ghulam-ahmed-pervez.html
