Adibah Sulaiman et al./ Elixir Soc. Sci. 58A (2013) 15084-15086 15084 Introduction The Sunnah of the Prophet is one of the sources of the Islamic epistemology and it plays a key role in assisting the Muslims to understand the Islamic precepts. This is because the Sunnah gives explanation to the Qur’an, lays out legislation on which the Qur’an is silent or contains a general order of God, shows an example of how to perform God’s commandment and the like. Without exemplary models demonstrated by the Prophet, known as Sunnah, the execution of Muslims’ duties to God, like prayer, fasting and pilgrimage, can be in futile and vain. For the Hadith to be regarded as authentic, the Muslim jurists explained a principle that would differentiate the reliable Hadith from the unreliable. Sunnah is derived from its root verb, sanna, which means to form, to fashion, or to shape, and by extension, to institute, establish, or prescribe. Sunnah cannot simply refer to the customs of a tribe or group, but must be associated with a specific individual who instituted it (Brown, 1996). The Sunnah comprises everything from the Prophet; whether his sayings, action, practice or tacit approval, to be an exemplary model in every aspect of human life. The Sunnah, as mentioned by Siddiqi (1993) was employed by the early Muslims for the accepted practice of the community, and, in later years, for the practice of the Prophet only. Azami (1977) further explains that at the end of second century, legal books referred to the term as either norms set by the Prophet or norms deduced from the Sunnah of the Prophet’s norms. It is claimed that Shafi‘i was the first to define Sunnah as the model behaviour of the Prophet. Literally, Sunnah refers to a way (good or bad), course, rule, mode, manner of acting or conduct of life. It also bears the sense of precedent and custom. In the early Hadith-Fiqh books, it has been used with different meanings (Azami, 1977; Siddiqi, 1993; al-Salafi, 1989). The term is technically different from one scholar to another scholar due to their aim and field of study, but it does not imply a diversity of connotation to the meaning of Sunnah. For the usuliyyin, Sunnah is everything which comes from the Prophet, with exemption of the Qur’an, in terms of his sayings, deeds and tacit approval. The muhaddithun regards physical features, likewise Hadith, as Sunnah too as to them, Hadith and Sunnah are synonymous (al-Salafi, 1989). Although the terms can be used interchangeably, there is a slight difference between them (Azami, 1977). The action of Sunnah is in itself normative, hence forming the basis of legal codification afterwards and not vice versa (Yusuf, 1996). The Position of the Sunnah: An Islamic Outlook According to al-Salafi (1989), the Sunnah of the Prophet has its great significance in Islam as it is regarded as one of the major sources of Islam. Muslim scholars unanimously agree on the reliability of the Sunnah, without any doubts, as there are several Qur’anic verses that ask the Muslims to obey the Prophet and to accept his teachings. As such, one’s obedience to the Prophet is obligatory. His sayings, deeds and tacit approval should be acknowledged by the Muslims and this should be coupled with one’s recognition of Him as the Messenger of Allah. Brown (1996) maintained that for the adversaries of the Sunnah, one’s obedience to the Prophet means the former is to imitate every single word and act that comes from the latter as the term ita‘at that is used in the Qur’an entails a total obedience of man. He, as mentioned by al-Salafi (1989), is to uphold the Sunnah, to practice the Prophetic sayings and to regard it as the main source of the Islamic law. Having guided permanently and absolutely by Allah, Faridi (1996) further explained that the Prophet’s task is not restricted to receiving and transmitting the Qur’an only but it is extended to several other responsibilities as Allah says in Surah Ali ‘Imran, verse 164: “Allah has been gracious to the believers, sending among them a Messenger from among themselves to recite them His Revelations, to purify them and to teach them the Book and the Wisdom” Tele: E-mail addresses: adibah@usim.edu.my © 2013 Elixir All rights reserved Islam and the west: critical perspectives on the position of the sunnah Adibah Sulaiman 1 , Ezad Azraai Jamsari 2,3 and Mohd Azmir Mohd Nizah 1 1 Centre of Core Studies, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, 71800 Bandar Baru Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. 2 Department of Arabic Studies and Islamic Civilization, Faculty of Islamic Studies, 3 Institute of West Asian Studies (IKRAB), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43650 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. ABSTRACT This article examines the position of the Sunnah of the Prophet in both Islamic espitemology and Western scholarship. The purposes are to scrutinize the perspectives of Islam and the West on the issue of Sunnah’s authenticity and to analyze its position in the Islamic espitemology and the Western scholarship. The method used to complete the writing is library study, which involve the collection of data and information, followed by their analysis to compare and contrast the differences. It is found that Islam firmly recognized the position of the Sunnah and the role that Prophet Muhammad played in bringing and teaching it. The West, however, are reluctant to acknowledge the position of the Sunnah and their denial is closely associated with their denial of Prophet Muhammad. The article implies that one needs to arm himself with a sound understanding of the Sunnah and to be well-versed in the knowledge to ensure that he is clear about the position of the sacred source of Islam, i.e the Sunnah. © 2013 Elixir All rights reserved. ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received: 26 November 2012; Received in revised form: 15 May 2013; Accepted: 21 May 2013; Keywords Quran, Sunnah, Prophet, Islamic epistemology, Western scholarship. Elixir Soc. Sci. 58A (2013) 15084-15086 Social Science Available online at www.elixirpublishers.com (Elixir International Journal)