Sunnah is broader than we think

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Sunnah (the practices of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)) is very important for the Islamic life. The duty of a Muslim is to strive to live every sunnah in his life. Because Allah commands us to follow sunnah in the following verse:

“Say, [O Muhammad], “If you should love Allah, then follow me,” (Al Im’ran 3:31)

When we talk about the sunnah, common people suppose they are nafilah (voluntary acts of worship) or some traditions in regards to manners. However, the sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is complete and comprises the fardh (obligatory), first of all, and vajeeb (necessary), then the mustahab (desired, approved) sunnahs in worships and daily traditions.

It is not something true that we only think of the mustahab sunnahs of worships and daily traditions when we talk about our Prophet’s sunnah.

Because, in that case, people only remember the sunnahs of worships and traditions when there is a speech or an article on sunnah saniyya.

But the most important ones of sunnah are the fardh and abstaining from haram (forbidden). Imam Said Nursi expresses this as follows:

“It is compulsory to follow fardh and vajeeb parts of sunnah. And about the mustahab sunnah of worships, although it is not a sin to give up them, it would be a great loss. (The Letters)

At this point we can write down some of the most important sunnah in our daily life as follows:

1. to rightly perform the 5 times prayer and with jamaah (in congregation)
2. to abstain from every kind of sin (small or grave sins) and haram
3. to endeavour to live practicing the morality of our Prophet [here many sunnahs can be counted]
4. to command the goodness, to warn against bad
5. to abstain from haram (illicit) food; to look for halal
6. to perform the voluntary prayers like “tahajjud, duha, awwabin”
7. to say “bismillah” (in the Name of Allah) before starting a good work
8. to have wuduu (ablution) all the time
9. to give salam (greeting) to the people we meet
10. to learn and recite the prayers that our Prophet used to recite before sleeping, after waking up, and during other daily works
11. to practice the sunnahs which are called adab (good manners) while eating, sleeping, meeting people, shopping and the like