To begin understanding why we study the ahadith..

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 -The below are notes taken from the following lecture

https://arbaeen.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/234/

:To begin understanding why we study the ahadith

  The ahadith and speech of the Prophet (SAW) is also wahi

The scholars have understood the wahi in two fold.

الوحي المتلو -Quran: The recited revelation

                                                                                                   الوحي  غير المتلو – The non-recited revelation: Sunnah

The Quran is a light and a source of guidance and one of its primer functions is to bring us back to life. This is also true to  the words of the Prophet (SAW) as Allah says

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ

You who have iman! Respond to Allah and to the Messenger when He calls you to what will bring you to life

8:24

Understanding key terms

All the below words had meanings within the Arabic language before the advent of the Message of Al-Islam. Here we will be looking at their linguistic meanings

Shariah

Allahs says in the Quran

شَرَعَ لَكُم مِّنَ الدِّينِ مَا وَصَّىٰ بِهِ نُوحًا وَالَّذِي أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ وَمَا وَصَّيْنَا بِهِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمُوسَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ

He has laid down the same deen for you as He enjoined on Nuh: that which We have revealed to you and which We enjoined on Ibrahim, Musa and ‘Isa

42:13

Like the Arabic word commonly used today for street, it also means a path. Essentially the shariah is that which leads to water

Both meanings are connected, as the shariah is a path that has been initiated to lead us to water. Water, of course, is often symbolic with life. As Allah says we created everything from water

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ

We made from water every living thing

21:30

 It is also a source of rejuvenation as Allah states plentifully in the Quran he sends us down rain as water to drink from

هُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً ۖ لَّكُم مِّنْهُ شَرَابٌ وَمِنْهُ شَجَرٌ فِيهِ تُسِيمُونَ

It is He who sends down water from the sky. From it you drink and from it come the shrubs among which you graze your herds

16:10

And 3rdly water is a source for purification as Allah states

وَيُنَزِّلُ عَلَيْكُم مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً لِّيُطَهِّرَكُم بِهِ وَيُذْهِبَ عَنكُمْ رِجْزَ الشَّيْطَانِ وَلِيَرْبِطَ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتَ بِهِ الْأَقْدَامَ

 and sent you down water from heaven to purify you and remove the taint of Shaytan from you

8:11

So in summary it is the path that leads us to life

Sunnah

Sunnah is a neutral term as the Prophet (SAW) said

من سن في الإسلام سنة حسنة كان له أجرها وأجر من عمل بها من بعده لا ينقص ذلك من أجورهم شيئا، ومن سن في الإسلام سنة سيئة كان عليه وزرها ووزر من عمل بها من بعده لا ينقص ذلك من أوزارهم شيئا

 خرجه مسلم في صحيحه

He who starts a good sunnah will be rewarded for it, in addition to receiving rewards equal to the rewards of those who follow him into it. Whereas he who starts a bad sunnah will be burdened with it, in addition to receiving burdens equal to the burdens of those who follow him into it

Sahih Muslim

The sunnah here does not mean in regards to the sunnah of the Prophet (SAW) rather who ever sets a precedent or practice. Sunnah also means linguistically to take steps

In the shariah sense it is; The Qawl(saying), Taqreer(Tacit approval), fi’l(action) of the Prophet (SAW). Taqreer, as it was compulsory upon the Rasool (SAW) to correct that which is wrong

Imam Nawai was born in 631 in Nawa he gets his eponym in Syria. He passed from away this dunya in 645. In this short span he he has become one of the greatest ulema of al-Islam