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29 Mar 2024

Following Complete Sunnah

By - Shaykh Tauqeer (db) Monday, December 7, 2015

Following Complete Sunnah

Sunnah means a way of conduct or a mode of life. Allah ta'ala wants that our way of conduct or mode of life should be like the one of His beloved Prophet Muhammad salallaho alaihe wasallam. Allah ta'ala has said that the Prophet salallaho alaihe wasallam is our role model.

لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ

“Indeed, in the messenger of Allah is a perfect example for all of you.” (33:21)

When one follows the Prophet salallaho alaihe wasallam, it attracts the mercy of Allah ta'ala and His love and forgiveness.

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

“Say, If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins, and Allah is forgiving, merciful.” (3:31)

The reason is that the Prophet salallaho alaihe wasallam is the beloved of Allah ta'ala, and when somebody resembles your beloved, then it is natural to love that person as well. Another reason is that the Prophet salallaho alaihe wasallam is made out of the dust of Paradise and all the actions that he does are also the acts of Paradise. So when somebody brings those actions in his life, he in reality is doing the actions of people of Paradise, thus attracting the mercy and love of Allah ta'ala.

One follows the sunnah of the Prophet salallaho alaihe wasallam in three ways:

Outwardly: One follows him the way he was outwardly i.e. the way he looked, the way he ate, drank, dressed, talked, walked, etc. This is the first level of following the sunnah, and is the way of the saliheen (righteous ones).

Character: There is a second level of following the sunnah, and that is following his character - the way that he was loving to his wives, his daughters, all women, children, widows, old and weak people. Even though people physically and mentally harmed him, but he still forgave them. He smiled at people and hardly showed his anger. Following the first two levels of sunnah is the way of the awliya (friends of Allah ta'ala).

Spiritual states: There is a third level of following the sunnah, and that is to try to achieve some level of spiritual states of the Prophet salallaho alaihe wasallam - the way he loved Allah ta'ala, his depth in prayers, his absolute reliance on Allah ta'ala, his state of gratefulness, his deep patience, his love for the Hereafter and hatred for this world, etc. To try to attain some level of these states, thus following all three levels of sunnah, is the way of the siddiqeen (truthful ones), which is the highest rank in the sight of Allah ta'ala after the prophets. 

In order to follow the sunnah completely, an effort has to be made, and that effort is twofold. First is to learn about all levels of sunnah. Ilm (knowledge) is the foundation of everything. Second is to try to bring these into our lives, and that is achieved by having a living role model in our lives who follows these sunnahs. This living role model should be our shaykh (spiritual guide) who can help us in bringing these different levels of sunnah. It may be a possibility to implement the first level of sunnah by mere learning, but the second and the third level can only be truly acquired by observing and being in the company of a shaykh.

So we all must have a shaykh, a person of sunnah himself, who can help us in achieving different levels, thus making us the beloved of Allah ta'ala.

Tauqeer Chaudhary

On behalf of the beautiful students of Nur ul Ilm Academy

Monday, Dec 7th, 2015 | Safar 25, 1437 H