Concept Center: The Sunna

The links around “the Sunna” revolve around distinguishing between the messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna, and between what is connected to the message and the rites and what remains historical and interpretive. The concept also appears in its relation to reading hadith through the Qur’an and to the limits of obedience and example.

Direct answer

For Shahrur, the Sunna is read through distinguishing between two stations: the message and prophethood. It is therefore divided into a messengerly Sunna tied to the message and the rites, and a prophetic Sunna that is historical and interpretive. This page gathers the links for this distinction, connecting them to reading hadith through the Qur’an, to the limits of obedience and example, and to what is binding or nonbinding.

Key concepts

• The Sunna is divided into messengerly and prophetic.
• The messengerly Sunna is tied to the message and the rites.
• The prophetic Sunna appears as historical and interpretive.
• Reading hadith passes through the Qur’an on this page.
• The limits of obedience and example are central questions of the concept.

Where does the tracing begin?

• The Sunna
• The Sunna
• The Sunna is divided by station into a messengerly Sunna and a prophetic Sunna

Shared entry

• The Sunna

Lexicon

• The Sunna

Its appearance in the books

• The Sunna
• The Sunna

Related verses

• This page does not begin from a single verse, but from the distinction between the station of the message and the station of prophethood, and what follows from that in understanding the Sunna.

Conceptual relations

• The prophetic Sunna includes the Prophet’s interpretations and his historical narratives
• The Sunna is divided by station into a messengerly Sunna and a prophetic Sunna
• The Sunna is divided into a messengerly Sunna and a prophetic Sunna
• The essential rites fall within the messengerly Sunna
• The overarching relations

Nearby claims

• The messenger and the prophet differ
• The prophet does not know the unseen
• The destruction of towns is tied to collective injustice
• The Prophet’s daily actions are not a binding Sunna
• Those in authority have legislative power
• Unseen reports are rejected by him
• Contradictory reports are rejected
• Reports that contradict the Qur’an are rejected
• The model is in the station of the message
• Human interpretation lies within divine limits
• Prophetic history became a revolution for building the state
• The heritage contains universal moral wisdom
• Distinguishing between the messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna
• The Hajj is a communal rite
• Qur’anic wisdom is not the prophetic Sunna
• The Muhammadan message is fixed in its origin
• Qur’anic approval is not restricted to the Companions
• Human Sunna is changeable
• The messengerly Sunna is tied to the message
• The messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna
• Contemporary Sunna is read through the Qur’an
• The prophetic Sunna is historical and interpretive
• The prophetic Sunna is historically conditioned
• The prophetic Sunna and the field of narrative
• The Sunna is divided into a messengerly and a prophetic Sunna
• The Sunna is not a second revelation
• The Sunna is a tool of sectarian conflict
• The rites are the domain of the messengerly Sunna
• Prophetic obedience is historical and limited
• Obedience is to the law, not to coercion