He also said that he would leave behind him the N able Quran and his family (ahl al-bayt). Actually the Blessed Prophet left behind not only the Book of God and his family, which must be understood both biologically and spiritually, but also his Sunnah and Ifadith which are intimately related to both. The Blessed Prophet left behind a vast treasury of examples of behaving and acting in various circumstances which are called his Sunnah and sayings which comprise the Ifadith, traditions that in Shi'ite Islam include also the sayings of the Imams who are of course the leaders of the ahl al-bayt.
The Sunnah and Ifadith of the Blessed Prophet are complements to the Noble Quran and a commentary upon the Book of God. Without them, it would not be possible to understand much of the Book nor even practice the fundamental rites of Islam mentioned in the Noble Quran but only to know their principle and general outline. For example, in the case of the daily prayers, the Sacred Text commands Muslims to perform them, but the detail s of the daily prayers are based on the Sunnah of the Blessed Prophet. The same is true of fasting, pilgrimage and the like. That is why the Sunnah and Ifadith are, along with the Book of God, the basic pillars of Islam and its Divine Law and have been always considered to be extremely precious and guarded with great zeal . That is also why the attack of modern scholars, including some Muslims mesmerized by the pseudo-scientific claims of historicism, against Ifadith is so insidious, striking as it does at the very foundation of the Islamic tradition.
The Sunnah of the Blessed Prophet as traditionally understood and emulated by generations of Muslims for fourteen centuries is the precious legacy of the founder of Islam and remains inviolable despite all the supposedly scientific and scholarly, but in reality petty and trivial criticisms against it by modernists and agnostics today. This Sunnah has many dimensions and facets reaching all the way from the manner of cutting one's nails to facing God in prayer. Some of it is Arab custom, Islamicized through the fact of its adoption by the Blessed Prophet since whatever a prophet, especially a major one, does and says has a significance beyond the historical moment and cultural context in which it originally took place. Other elements of the Sunnah are more directly connected with the person of the Blessed Prophet and yet others with the specific form and genius of the Islamic tradition. There is, one might say, a quintessential Sunnah which must always be observed in all climes and times in order for the integrity of the Islamic tradition to be preserved and there is a less essential hut recommended Sunnah which is of course always revered but which does not possess the same absolutely essential nature. The possibility of the spread of Islam throughout history to different parts of the world and among different peoples is itself proof of this distinction. The essential Sunnah has traveled wherever Islam has spread but not certain recommended but non-essential ones which in fact would be sometimes difficult or impossible to follow in certain circumstances. This is of course particularly true in the case of the modern world and of Muslims who have to live in a society which is neither totally Muslim nor even predominantly religious according to another of God's religions.
The Foundation of Islamic Law
