The Position Of the Sunnah in the Islamic Legislation

The Position Of the Sunnah in the Islamic Legislation

By way of these various means, the Qur’an calls the people to believe in the Sunnah and act upon it, and that it, along with the Qur’an, is [one of] the true foundations of this religion. Since belief in the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is a foundation from the foundations of īman, then belief in his Sunnah is a necessary component of īman in him, because he is Sahib as-Sunnah (the Possessor of the Sunnah), and because īman, as Imam Ibn al-Qayyim has defined it, is: “…a certain reality (emanating) from cognisance of what the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came with of knowledge, and affirmation of it, believing in it, affirming it with ones tongue, submitting to it out of love and humility, acting upon it outwardly and inwardly, considering it authoritative, and calling to it in proportion to one’s ability.”