Sunna

For Muhammad Shahrur, the Sunna is not a single unit; rather, it is divided into a messengerly Sunna and a prophetic Sunna, and each has its own domain, function, and limits. With this division, the Sunna becomes a framework for understanding obedience and following, not a parallel source to the Revelation.

• Those in authority have legislative authority
• Contradictory hadith are rejected
• Distinguishing between the messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna
• The Sunna is divided into messengerly and prophetic
• Pilgrimage is a communal rite
• Human ijtihad within divine limits
• The prophetic Sunna is historically conditioned
• Obedience is to law, not coercion
• Prophetic history became a revolution for building the state
• Prophetic obedience is historical and limited
• The prophetic office guides social organization
• Prophetic reports may be historical arrangements
• The messengerly Sunna is linked to the message
• The Qur’an and reality are the criterion of acceptance
• Some prophetic reports are rejected
• The heritage contains universal ethical wisdom
• The Prophet’s daily actions are not binding Sunna
• Rereading the Sunna in modern and political terms requires critiquing inherited sacralization and placing consciousness above authority
• Unseen matters in hadith are rejected by him
• Hadith that contradict the Qur’an are rejected
• Hadith are used to justify political domination
• The model example is in the position of the message
• The hadith heritage is a probabilistic human product
• Early political change turns into despotism
• Intellectual change precedes political change
• Qur’anic wisdom is not the prophetic Sunna
• The Muhammadan message is fixed in its اصل
• Qur’anic approval is not exclusive to the Companions
• Human Sunna is changeable
• The messengerly Sunna has its own specific domain and limits
• The messengerly Sunna is binding in the domain of the message and legislation, not as a second revelation
• The messengerly Sunna is binding because it is connected to the message and legislation
• The messengerly Sunna and the prophetic Sunna
• Contemporary Sunna is understood through Qur’anic terms, not inherited sacralization
• Contemporary Sunna is read through the Qur’an
• The prophetic Sunna is historical and based on ijtihad
• The prophetic Sunna is historical and circumstantial; it is not followed as permanent legislation
• The prophetic Sunna, political history, and hadith are a human domain open to criticism
• The prophetic Sunna and the realm of stories
• The Sunna is divided into messengerly and prophetic
• The Sunna is divided into messengerly and prophetic according to the respective office
• According to the office, the Sunna is divided into binding messengerly Sunna and historical prophetic Sunna
• The Sunna is not a parallel source to the Revelation
• The Sunna is not a second revelation
• The Sunna is a tool of sectarian conflict
• Rituals are the domain of the messengerly Sunna
• The Qur’an is the Prophet’s only miracle
• The Qur’an is the governing reference over the Sunna and hadith
• The Book alone is a text free from doubt
• In Shahrur’s view, prophethood is a historical function in organization, ijtihad, and state-building
• Abrogation is confined to the heavenly messages
• The authority of the Sunna and its limits are built on the primacy of the Qur’an, criticism of hadith, and distinguishing between the two offices
• Shahrur rejects equating saying with utterance
• Shahrur reads hadith as history open to criticism, not as an ultimate criterion
• The mythical image of the Messenger
• The office of the message and the rules of obedience
• The office of prophethood and the office of the message

Cross-book concept: See Sunna for the unifying axis across the books.