inspired prophetic example (sunnat al-nab ̄ı). The most com-
mon literary vehicle of the sunnat al-nab ̄ı, the h:ad ̄ıth, func-
tioned to maintain proximity to Muh:ammad’s sunnah in
much the same way as the ayya ̄m, a pre-Islamic literary form
for preserving noble tribal exploits, had kept tribal sunnah
alive. The early Muslim community, whose sunnah was
based on that of Muh:ammad, preserved the sunnat al-nab ̄ı
through the memorization and transmission of h:ad ̄ıth. Some
Muslims said that sunnat al-nab ̄ı had been revealed along
with the QurDa ̄n, as has sometimes been said of the oral law
and the written law (Torah) in Judaism; others have even re-
lied on sunnah more than on the QurDa ̄n.
The range covered by the sunnat al-nab ̄ı was as broad
as that of oral law too: food and eating, manners, clothing
and jewelry, hygiene and grooming, social behavior, forms
of greeting, and etiquette, as well as weightier religious, polit-
ical, or economic matters. Consequently, the sunnah of the
Prophet and the early community came to play a major role
in the development of the Islamic legal system (shar ̄ıEah) and
systematic discussion about God (kala ̄m). (This usage of the
term sunnah should not be confused with the technical sense
in which it is also used within the shar ̄ıEah for a certain level
of permissibility of acts.)
Sunnah also came to function in various extralegal, ex-
tratheological ways. The quoting of h:ad ̄ıth could have a per-
formatory quality: the mere act of citing an apt h:ad ̄ıth could
help one manage a given situation or display one’s piety.
Through literary presentations of Muh:ammad’s life pattern,
or s ̄ırah, which also came to be the name of a biographical
genre, the sunnah was spread even wider. The use of h:ad ̄ıth
as primary sources for the writing of historical narrative be-
came common. Muh:ammad’s various roles, especially that
of societal reformer, became paradigms for the behavior of
many later leaders. At the popular level and especially among
S:u ̄f ̄ıs (mystics), Muh:ammad became the soul’s guide and the
perfect universal human, showing people how to behave in
the presence of God; numerous poetic genres emerged to
capture this side of him. Above all, the cultivation of the sun-
nat al-nab ̄ı, not just in legally binding matters but in the
smallest details of mundane daily existence, took on the salvi-
fic quality present in orthodox Jews’ observance of h:alakhah
(law).
Until recently, most Western scholars have focused on
the authenticity and reliability of these materials. There is an
old academic tradition that views the h:ad ̄ıth-based picture
of the sunnat al-nab ̄ı as a post hoc creation of the second and
particularly third centuries of Islam, when the major authori-
tative collections of h:ad ̄ıth were compiled. More recent
scholarship has argued that h:ad ̄ıth emerged very early, in
written as well as oral form, and that the very earliest Muslim
community assumed sincerely that its sunnah was continu-
ous with that of the Prophet.
Scholars have also disagreed about how closely to con-
nect h:ad ̄ıth and sunnah. Although the derivation of sunnah
for legal purposes depended heavily on the study and explica-
tion of h:ad ̄ıth, the two were not coterminous. The h:ad ̄ıth
were simply verbal reports, tens of thousands of them, about
something Muh:ammad said or did. They contained many,
many potential norms or standards, but those had to be de-
rived or actualized to have legal force. Some matters that
were traditionally agreed upon as sunnah were contradicted
by particular h:ad ̄ıth or had no basis in h:ad ̄ıth. Furthermore,
individual Muslims could easily disagree with one derivation
of a norm and prefer another or prefer one h:ad ̄ıth to another
or reject one and accept another. Finally, the h:ad ̄ıth format
came to be used for conveying all sorts of information not
directly related to the life of the Prophet.As the sunnah gradually acquired the meaning of the re-
ceived, recognized, normative practice of Muh:ammad and,
to an extent, his companions, its opposite came to be repre-
sented by the word bidDah (literally, “starting new,” “innova-
tion”). It first became significant as a critique of the behavior
of the Marwanid caliphs (685–750), who were seen to have
deviated from the ideal of Muh:ammad and his companions.
Some Muslims always used the word in a negative way—to
refer to something beyond the parameters of the acceptable.
For others, bidDah, like sunnah, can be good or bad—bad if
it contradicted the accepted sunnah, good if it was consistent
with it, even if not contained in it, and promoted the good
of the community.
Western scholars often translate bidDah as “heresy” when
applied by Muslims to unacceptable religious practices and
beliefs. However, “heresy” obscures the pragmatic bent of
the Islamic tradition in favor of a dogmatic bent more appro-
priate to a tradition such as Christianity, which had, unlike
Islam, institutionalized theological ways in order to judge
and control deviation. The charge of bidDah referred not so
much to the content of beliefs as to their practical conse-
quences; it was often made by rulers to reprove certain mem-
bers of society and dissuade them from adopting socially ap-
pealing ideas that disrupted the status quo.
SUNN ̄I AND SH ̄IE ̄I. During the first 120 years of Islamic histo-
ry, disagreements emerged about how best to derive, under-
stand, and be true to the Prophet’s sunnah. Through a series
of internal conflicts, sides and positions shifted frequently.
By the time the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs overthrew and
replaced the Umayyads (750), two major orientations had
begun to crystalize, both of which were addressed by the Ab-
basid platform. For some, Muh:ammad’s unifying and law-
giving function was primary to his sunnah and would be best
preserved if his community (jama ̄Dah) were kept together at
all costs, in two ways: (1) by providing a system of rules
(shar ̄ıEah) as close as possible to those he brought, with a
body of learned men (Eulama ̄D) to manage it; and (2) by pro-
viding a “nomocratic” leader (khal ̄ıfah) who would “stay
close” to Muh:ammad by uniting the community physically,
by guaranteeing its security, and by ensuring a proper Mus-
lim environment through protection of the shar ̄ıEah and its
learned managers. Muh:ammad’s charismatic function would
not be imitated by a person but, rather, routinized in the law.SUNNAH 8853