[We were informed by Bishr bin Moosaa that al-Humaydee said to us: We hold that the Sunnah is when a person believes in al-Qadr (divine decree), the good or the bad, the sweet or the sour, and that he understands that whatever befalls him would never have skipped him and that whatever skips him would never have befallen him and that all of this is the divine decree of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.]Explanation: In the printing of Husayn Asad the wording is, “and that all of this is the divine decree of Allah” but in the manuscript copy it says, “and all of this is from the blessing of Allah”, so it contains the word “blessing” instead of “divine decree”. Its explanation will follow in the rest of this lesson.
The author begins by saying, “We hold that the Sunnah is…” What he means by the word “as-Sunnah” here is a correct and sound belief that corresponds with what the righteous Muslims of the past were upon regarding the fundamentals of the religion and creed. What is not meant by the word “as-Sunnah” here is the opposite of what is ‘obligatory’ or an opposite meaning, according to some of the people of knowledge, of what is contained within the Quran. According to them the Quran and the Sunnah means only that which the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, established. However, the actual meaning used in the text is the sound general creed and the methodology of the pious Muslims of the past. This designation was defined in the third century of the migration when various sects and innovations appeared and the beliefs of the people of desires began to spread. The scholars of the religion and pure monotheistic belief then began to explain in-depth the issues related to the Islamic creed and the fundamentals of the religion using the word “as-Sunnah” as a separate distinction from the statements of the people of innovation.
They clarified this meaning completely whenever we look at the works that the Imams authored concerning the issue of Islamic creed. They would name their books with “the books of the Sunnah” or “as-Sunnah”.
From those works are as-Sunnah of Ibn Abee ‘Aasim, as-Sunnah of Imam al-Marwazee, as-Sunnah of Imam ‘Abdullah the son of Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy upon all of them. And then there is as-Sunnah of his father Ahmad, Imam Ahmad, as-Sunnah of al-Khallal, Usool-us-Sunnah of Imam Ibn Abee az-Zamanayn, as-Sunnah of al-Muzanee, Sareeh-us-Sunnah of Ibn Jareer, and as-Sunnah of many others.
Based on this, we find Imam al-Barbaharee saying in his tremendous book Sharh-us-Sunnah on page 59, “You should understand that Islam is the Sunnah, and the Sunnah is Islam. One is not established without the other.”
And he also says on page sixty two, “You should understand, may Allah have mercy upon you, that the Sunnah does not contain deductions based on one’s thoughts or reasoning by delving into examples. Desires are not to be pursued rather only affirmation in the statements of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, without explaining or asking ‘how’ or ‘why’?
And using philosophy, disputing, debating, and arguing are newly invented matters. They cause doubt to occur within the heart, even if the person may convey the truth and the Sunnah.” End of his words.
Therefore, the objective, may Allah have mercy upon you, of all of this is to clarify what Imam al-Humaydee meant when he used the word “as-Sunnah” which is the explanation of the correct and sound Islamic creed.
As for his statement “we hold”, using the plural pronoun, this indicates that he means that which the people of the Sunnah were upon from those who taught them, may Allah have mercy upon them all. They used to use this type of speech and believe in this creed. One who reflects into the texts that have been transmitted by his contemporaries from the Imams of the Sunnah will understand the correctness of what has been mentioned in relation to the usage of “we” as it appears here. It is an ascription to a body of people. His usage of this personal pronoun in the plural form does not mean he was trying to ‘big himself up’ or 'call to himself' rather he meant what I had said beforehand and that was to ascribe himself to the Imams of the religion and pure monotheistic belief from those who were contemporary to them and took from what they taught.
Taken from Tamaam-ul-Minnah bi-Sharh Usool-us-Sunnah by al-Humaydee and explained by Shaykh ‘Abdullah ‘Abdur-Raheem al-Bukhaaree, assistant professor of Hadeeth in the College of the Noble Hadeeth in the Islamic University of Madeenah, pages 17 – 18, and translated by Aboo ‘Imraan al-Mekseekee-may Allah guide him.
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