A day with the Prophet

"And whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and

whatever he forbids you, abstain (from it)" (59: 7)

Many Muslims are well acquainted with the sunnah of the Prophet

as a terminus techniques and all that it stands for in

Muslim history and legal thought. How many though, one

wonders, try to model their lives on the sunna, every day, from

morning till night? The almost complete adoption of the

'modern,' that is, Western way of life by many people of

Muslim origin suggests that the number is small indeed.

Nevertheless, it is accepted among Muslims that the sunna

is the key to understanding the message of the Holy Our'an

and to the implementation of the guidelines and laws laid

down in it. While revealed scripture explains the basic principles

and laws of Islam as a way of me, the Sunna teaches

Islam through explanation and demonstration of those principles

and laws; it makes them part of man's experience by

showing how they work in practice. The sunna is thus in·

dispensable if one wants to practise Islam and be a true

Muslim. It is in this sense that the Holy Our'an states:

"He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah..." (4 :80)

. Thus whether or not to follow the sunna has not been left

to the discretion of the Muslim, and to practise Islam on the

lines given by the -Prophet himself has been made an obligation,

as the Our'an says:

"And whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and

whatever he forbids you, abstain (from it)..." (59: 7)

. Bearing this in mind,the following pages are meant as an

invitation, to Muslims and non-Muslims alike, to consider

leading their lives according to the sunna of the Prophet.

For many reasons, this may seem to be too difficult task.

To live by the sunna would certainly make a difference: but

whether it is, in fact, more difficult to live by God-given rules

than by the man-imposed and alienating patterns and norms

of behaviour that are at the basis of today's way of life, can

only be discovered if one tries it for oneself.