IJC 102 Introduction to the Sunnah

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course introduces the Sunnah, encompassing the Prophet’s speeches, lifestyle, and practices, as well as Prophetic narratives and traditions. It places the Sunnah in its perspective as a source of legislation and jurisprudence, fiqh. Through lectures, direct instructions, student-centred learning activities, case studies, and scenario-based teaching and learning exercises, students explore questions and issues related to the meanings, authority, and importance of the Sunnah, the Prophet Muhammad’s roles, the divine preservation of the Sunnah, and a range of rulings concerning the Sunnah. Students delve into an analysis of various topics, including the status of the Sunnah in Islam, the Muslims’ duty to the Sunnah, the authenticity of the Sunnah (ath-thubut), the Sunnah as a source for jurisprudence and preaching (da’wah), weak hadiths (al-hadith ad-da’eef), the Sunnah’s role in legislative and non-legislative contexts, the relationship between the Qur’an and the Sunnah, opposing narrations (ikhtilaf al-hadith), abrogation (an-naskh), and contemporary misconceptions, etc.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

1. 1. articulate Sunnah’s respective meanings and usages according to scholars of Fiqh, ʾAqidah, Hadith, and Usul al-Fiqh (Foundation of Jurisprudence).
   2. demonstrate sufficient knowledge of concepts, methodologies, theories and assumptions in studying the Sunnah and its application.
   3. explain the importance of the Sunnah as the second source of Shariʿah and present proofs establishing its authority from Qurʾanic texts and Prophetic statements. 
   4. evaluate and explain the importance of hadith in understanding the Qurʾan and compare the authority of the Sunnah with the authority of the Qurʾan as a source of guidance.
   5. explain how the different roles of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) indicate the necessity of following the Sunnah.
   6. describe the contexts and how the Sunnah was recorded and preserved from the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) until now.
   7. compare and contrast the approach to and interpretation of the Sunnah according to different schools of thought.
   8. collaborate with peers on a research paper and communicate the results of their research lucidly and coherently to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
   9. analyze and critique their and other scholars’ views on the Sunnah.
   10. design and conduct research and use proper scholarly methods (e.g., correct citations, formatting, academic integrity standards, etc.) to present the research findings. 

PREREQUISTIES

None