Sunnah and Hadith "And whatever the Messenger gives you, take
it, and whatever he forbids you, leave it. And fear Allah: truly
Allah is severe in punishment. " [Qur'an 59:7] In Islam, the
Arabic word sunnah has come to denote the way Prophet Muhammad
(saas), the Messenger of Allah, lived his life. The Sunnah is
the second source of Islamic jurisprudence, the first being the
Qur'an. Both sources are indispensable; one cannot practice
Islam without consulting both of them. The Arabic word hadith
(pl. ahadith) is very similar to Sunnah, but not identical. A
hadith is a narration about the life of the Prophet (saas) or
what he approved - as opposed to his life itself, which is the
Sunnah as already mentioned. In M. M. Azami's Studies in Hadith
Methodology and Literature, the following precise definition of
a hadith is given, According to Muhaddithiin [scholars of hadith
-ed.] it stands for 'what was transmitted on the authority of
the Prophet, his deeds, sayings, tacit approval, or description
of his sifaat (feat