Prior to the "golden age of classical Islamic jurisprudence", the "ancient schools" of law prevailed. The traditions not directly sourced from hadith or practice of Muhammad and instead traced solely to some Sahabah were also acknowledged as a source of jurisprudence. These were regarded by scholars of Islam – such as Nawawi – as "unrecorded hadith" which, while not explicitly attributed to Muhammad himself – were clearly practiced by the first generation of Muhammad's followers.
Al-Nawawi has listed
Zubayr ibn al-Awwam's ruling regarding ethics of sitting down during eating and drinking in his book,
Riyadh as Shaliheen, by basing the ethic in az-Zubayr practice, which was narrated by his son, Abdulah. Another manners and ethic ruling based on az-Zubayr is the prohibition of sleeping after
Sübuh, as well as the one concerning the ethics of sitting down while drinking. Other examples of this kind of
sunnah also include: • the difference in the number of lashes used to punish alcohol consumption, Caliph
Ali reported that (Muhammad and
Abu Bakr ordered 40 lashes,
Umar 80) — "All this is sunna"; •
Umar's deathbed instructions on where Muslims should seek guidance: from the Qur'an, the early Muslims (
muhajirun) who emigrated to Medina with Muhammad, the Medina residents who welcomed and supported the
muhajirun (the
ansar), the people of the desert, and the protected communities of Jews and Christians (
ahl al-dhimma); hadith of Muhammad are not mentioned. According to historians (particularly
Daniel W. Brown), the classical Islamic definition of sunnah as the customs and practices of
Muhammad (only) was not the original one. In
al-Ṭabarī's history of early Islam, the term "Sunnah of the Prophet" is not only used "surprisingly infrequently", but used to refer to "political oaths or slogans used by rebels", or "a general standard of justice and right conduct", and not "to specific precedents set by Muhammad", let alone hadith.
Four Madhhabs The golden age, starting with the creation of the
Hanafi,
Maliki,
Shafi'i,
Hanbali, and other schools of
fiqh in the second century of Islam, limited sunnah to "traditions traced back to the Prophet Muhammad himself" (
sunna al-nabawiyyah). The ancient regional schools of law, located in several major cities of the new Arab empire of Islam, including
Mecca,
Kufa,
Basra, and Syria, had a more flexible definition of sunnah than is now commonly used. This being the "acceptable norms" or "custom", which included examples of
Muhammad's companions, the rulings of the
Caliphs, and practices that "had gained general acceptance among the jurists of that school". While the sunnah has often been called "second to the Quran", hadith has also been said to "rule over and interpret the Quran". Al-Shafiʿi "forcefully argued" that the sunnah stands "on equal footing with the Quran" (according to scholar Daniel Brown), both being divine revelation. As Al-Shafi'i put it, "the command of the Prophet is the command of God" This, though, contradicts another point Shafi made, which was the sunnah was below the Quran. Sunnah of Muhammad outranked all other, and "broad agreement" developed that "hadith must be the basis for authentication of any sunnah", (according to M. O. Farooq). Al-Shafiʿi's success was such that later writers "hardly ever thought of sunnah as comprising anything but that of the Prophet".
Systemization of hadith While the earliest Muslim lawyers "felt no obligation" to provide documentation of hadith when arguing their case, and the sunnah was not recorded and written during Muhammad's lifetime, (according to scholar
Khaled Abou El Fadl), all this changed with the triumph of
al-Shafi'i and a "broad agreement" that hadith should be used to authenticate sunnah (according to M. O. Farooq), when legal works began incorporating Prophetic hadith. Hadith was now systematically collected and documented, but several generations having passed since the time of its occurrence meant that "many of the reports attributed to the Prophet are apocryphal or at least are of dubious historical authenticity" (according to Abou El Fadl). "In fact, one of the most complex disciplines in Islamic jurisprudence is one which attempts to differentiate between authentic and inauthentic traditions." The literalist
Zāhirī school disagrees holding that there was no sunnah whose fulfillment is not rewarded or neglect punished, while classical Islam holds that following non-binding
al-sunna al-ʿādīyah is meritorious but not obligatory. Sufis see the "division between binding and non-binding" sunnah as "meaningless". Muhammad is
al-insān al-kāmil, the perfect man,
labib-Allah beloved of God, an intercessor, a "channel of divine light". Imitating his every action is "the ultimate expression" of piety.
Modernist Islam In the 19th century, "social and political turmoil" starting with the decline of the
Mughal Empire, caused some Muslims to seek a more humanized figure of Muhammad. The miracle-performing "larger than life" prophetic figure was de-emphasized in favor of "a practical model for restoration of the Muslim community", a virtuous, progressive social reformer. Nasserist Egypt, for example, celebrated the "imam of socialism" rather than the cosmic "perfect man". One who argued against the idea of sunnah as divine revelation, and for the idea that Muhammad's mission was simply to transmit the Quran was
Ghulam Ahmed Perwez (1903–1985). He quoted the Quranic verse "The messenger has no duty except to proclaim [the message]" (Q.5:99), and pointed out several other verses where God corrects something Muhammad has done or said (8:67), (9:43), (66:1), thus demonstrating Muhammad's lack of supernatural knowledge. This era of rapid social and technological change, decline of Muslim power, and replacement of classical madhhab by Western-inspired legal codes in Muslim lands, also suggested a turn away from the "detailed precedents in civil and political affairs", called for by traditional hadith, "for if worldly matters require detailed prophetic guidance, then every age will require a new prophet to accommodate changing circumstances".
Islamic revivalism With de-colonialization in the late 20th century, a new
Islamic revival emerged. Activists rather than theorists, they sought "to restore Islam to ascendency", and in particular to restore
Sharia to the law of the lands of Islam it had been before being replaced by "secular, Western-inspired law codes" of colonialism and modernity. Like modernists, revivalists "vehemently rejected"
taqlid and were not particularly interested in the classical schools of law (
madhhab). But revivalists like
Abul A'la Maududi and
Mustafa al-Siba'i support for "the authority of sunnah and the authenticity of
hadith in general" was "unwavering", as was their opposition to "Hadith denialism".
Shibli Nomani, Abul A'la Maududi,
Rashid Rida, and
Mohammed al-Ghazali being proponents of this effort. ==Alternatives to classical hadith-based sunnah==