APPROACHING THE SUNNAH

The Sunnah still provides the stable moral framework ? the grammar ? that enables Muslims, by formal rules and inward sense, to know right from wrong. However, separation from the mainstream of life puts the Sunnah in danger of becoming rigid ? anarchaism. Addressing that danger, this book explains how the Sunnah
can function as the grammar of a living, adaptive language, capable of guiding (and not shying from) the mainstream.
The first chapter sets out the qualities that characterize authentic application of the Sunnah: universality, coherence (so that different spheres of human responsibility are not split), compassionate realism,moderation, and humility. The second explains standards and
procedures for determining the Sunnah in the fields of jurisprudence
and moral instruction. Ihe third chapter illustrates through detailed examples common errors in understanding the Sunnah ? reading hadiths singly without sufficient context, confusing legal and moral
… and it
injunctions, means and ends, figurative and literal meanings ?proposes remedies for these errors.
YUSUF AL-QARADAWI is one of the Islamic world’s most widely
respected and prolific scholars. His works have remained popular
over many decades. Among the best known of his books to appear in
English is The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam (first edition
1994).

• AUTHOR: Y. AL-QARADAWI
• YEAR: 2006
• ISBN 978-156564418-2