THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE CONSIDERATIONS ON THE SOURCE OF SUNNAH

The source of sunnah, in other words, the question of what the sources of Prophet’s knowledge were, throughout the history of Islamic thought, has been a matter of debate. The issue of the source of sunnah wasn’t focused on in the period of the Companions (Sahaba). By the end of the first century or the beginning of the second century, it came into question. In terms of those who advocate different ideas about the relationship between sunnah and revelation, it is believed that the question that “What is the importance of that the source of the Prophet’s words and practices is revelation” can create the common ground for the issue and contribute to the perception of the concept. The practises of the Prophet and the Companions -after the Prophet’s death- show that there is a correlation between that the features of oral text as being revealed and being written form and reading for worship. All these features are directly related to the thought of that the revelation is guarded verbal (lafzan). In the beginning of the period, the stages which hadith went through in its process of recording were keep going opposite to stages of Qur’an in its process of coming down (nuzul) and being compiled into a book (Mushaf). However, after that Qur’an was compiled into a book (Mushaf), its main features were transferred and adapted to sunnah, which were suitable to sunnah’s nature. In the following periods, the transfer of these features has been renewed in the new frameworks. This subject has a direct effect on issues such as the imagination of the prophet, the hierarchical order of resources, the relationship between sunnah and hadith, the definition of sunnah and the understanding of hadiths. Moreover, theological and ideological approaches to the source of the sunnah didn’t stay in theoretical framework but caused fundamental differences in thought of sunnah and produced a number of conclusions about the idea and practice