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Q1- What is Sunnah? What is the difference between Sunnah and Hadith?
Ans: Sunnah is the word, action or taqreer (silence when something is done in front of him) of our beloved Prophet (S.A.W.). Whereas Hadith is the narration of a companion of the Prophet (sahabi) who is describing that Sunnah.
Q2- What is the source of Sunnah?
Ans:The source of Sunnah is the Prophet (S.A.W.) himself. Today we can find his Sunnah in the books of Ahadith.
Q3- How do we know which ahadith are authentic?
Ans: Hundreds of scholars have worked on this very issue. These scholars have devised a whole subject on the science of Hadith where the text of hadith and its chain of narrators are examined on the basis of certain rules. Based on these rules, a grade is assigned to the hadith which describes its authenticity. There are about twenty grades that can be assigned to a hadith. Most famous grades are sahih (authentic), hasan (good), da'eef (weak) and mawdu (fabricated). This science of hadith is far far superior to any other method of recording and authenticating history.
Based on this science of hadith, today we have a large collection of Ahadith on which there is consensus (Ijmah) of Ahl uss Sunnah about their authenticity.
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One thing we need to observe is that the fact that some misguided people tried to fabricate ahadith to achieve their goals is a proof that Sunnah is a definite source of law in Islam. If Sunnah had no value, then there was no need to go through all this effort.
Q4- Why are there are so many ahadith? How do we know which hadith to follow in case of a conflict?
Ans: Alhumdulillah we are proud that there are thousands and thousands of ahadith about the life of our beloved Prophet (S.A.W.). This shows the love this Ummah has for his Prophet (S.A.W.) that every minute detail of his life has been preserved.
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A casual reader may think that there are conflicting ahadith on a particular topic and he may get confused in deciding which hadith to follow. But such a casual reader can also get confused from apparent conflicts in the verses of Quran as well. But when one studies the explanation of those verses or ahadith, then he can understand the whole picture completely.
Q5- What about the people who reject ahadith?
Ans: Today there are certain individuals that deny ahadith completely and claim that the only source of knowledge of Islam that we can trust completely is the Quran. Many scholars have presented evidences and written books to refute these people and and they have shown their misguidance to the public. Reading these books can help us understand the fallacy of the arguments put forth by such misguided people and help others find the right path.