CIMS discussion on: ‘The Concept of Sunnah in the light of Shia and Sunni perspectives’

On Saturday 13th June 2015, The Centre for Intra-Muslim Studies (CIMS) held a scholarly discussion inviting scholars from different Muslim schools of thought to discuss and disseminate their findings on ‘The Concept of Sunnah in the light of Shia and Sunni perspectives.’ Held at Al-Mahdi Institute, the discussion was very well received by renowned Ullama and scholars from Al-Mahdi Institute and Babul Ilm, Birmingham.

Representing the Sunni perspective of Ahle-Sunnah, Shaykh Abdul Hamid Kusuri spoke about ‘The concept of Prophetic Sunnah in the light of Ahle Sunnah.’ In which he explained the definition of Sunnah being a ‘road’ or a form of ‘practice’ in simple terms. However, it means to ‘follow’ the Qawl (sayings), fi’il (actions) and taqreer (approval) of acts by others in hadith terminology. He added that the Sunnah of the Prophet was the second main source of guidance after the holy Quran for the Ahle-Sunnah which is mentioned in the holy Quran ”[We sent them] with clear proofs and written ordinances. And We revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them and that they might give thought” (16:44) and is derived from the Sahaba (companions) and Ahlul-bayt (family) of the Prophet. He concluded by saying that the Quran and Sunnah go hand in hand and one cannot be understood without the other.

On the other hand, Shaykh Mohammad Bahmanpour spoke about the ‘Shia path to the Sunnah of the Prophet’ in which he agreed that the Sunnah of the Prophet has to be followed alongside the holy Quran with reference to the same verse as above. He explained that the Sunnah is derived from the Companions of the Prophet and the Ahlul-Bayt i.e. the holy Prophet, his daughter; lady Fatema (as) and the 12 Imams (as) who are the source of the Sunnah rather than a link in a chain of transmission.

The presentations were followed by an interactive Q&A session allowing the scholars to voice their beliefs and knowledge on the topic in order to understand each others viewpoints and discuss how the common misconceptions between the different Muslim schools of thought come about and how they can be eradicated.

The scholars who participated in the discussion were; 

Mufti Muhammad Farooq Alvi

Hafiz Abdul Ghafoor

Shaykh Abdul Hameed Kusuri

Dr. Khurram Bashir

Shaykh Muhammad Sajjad

Shaykh Mahmud Fozi

Shaykh Kabirud Din

Shaykh Saeed Bahmanpour

Shaykh Ayub Rashid

Shaykh Abu Jaffar

Brother Maqbool Rahim

Brother Niaz Ahmad

Brother Idrees Shareef

Brother Sabir Mir

Shaykh Arif Abdulhussain

Dr. Ali Reza Bhojani

Shaykh Mahmud Dhalla

Dr Muhammad Khalid

To view the images from the discussion, please click here.