Question:
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Let none of you sit reclining on his couch saying: ‘This is the Book of Allah; whatever we find in it to be permissible, we permit, and whatever we find in it to be forbidden, we forbid.’ Behold! I have been given the Qur’an and something like it with it.” What is the meaning of his saying: “reclining on his couch” ? Does this Hadith serve as proof for the obligation of following the Messenger ﷺ? If that is the case, what is the meaning of the statement made by the scholars of Islamic jurisprudence: “The Sunnah is that which rewards its doer and does not punish its abandoner”?
Answer:
First, regarding the wording of the Hadith, it is not exactly as the questioner stated, “Let none of you sit on his couch.” Rather, he ﷺ said: “Let me not find one of you reclining on his couch…“
This is a warning from the Prophet ﷺ against a person adopting this characteristic and state—possessing such arrogance and pride that while reclining on his couch, a command reaches him from the Messenger ﷺ and he says: “I do not know; whatever we find in the Book of Allah, we follow,” meaning, we do not follow the Sunnah.
This is a stern warning from the Messenger ﷺ against being in such a state. For this reason, he (ﷺ) said: “Behold! I have been given the Qur’an and something like it with it,” which is the Sunnah, just as Allah the Exalted said: “Allah has sent down to you the Book (The Qur’an), and Al-Hikmah (Islamic laws, knowledge of legal and illegal things i.e. the Prophet’s Sunnah - legal ways), and taught you that which you knew not. And Ever Great is the Grace of Allah unto you (O Muhammad ﷺ).” [An-Nisa: 113]
The scholars of knowledge have stated: What is meant by Al-Hikmah here is the Sunnah, as proven by His saying: “and taught you that which you knew not.”
It is well-known that rejecting the authentic, established Sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ is exactly like rejecting the Qur’an. This is because the rulings brought by the Messenger ﷺ are just like the rulings brought in the Qur’an, since he is the Messenger of ‘Allah the Mighty and Majestic’.
Therefore, to anyone who says, “I accept nothing except what is in the Qur’an,” we say: You have fallen directly into the warning of this Hadith, through which the Prophet ﷺ warned his Ummah against being in this state. Furthermore, we say to him: Your rejection of what the Messenger brought is a rejection of what the Qur’an brought, because Allah the Exalted said: “He who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ), has indeed obeyed Allah” [An-Nisa: 80]
“And whosoever disobeys Allâh and His Messenger, then Verily, for him is the Fire of Hell” [Al-Jinn: 23]
“Say (O Muhammad ﷺ to mankind): “If you (really) love Allah then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur’an and the Sunnah), Allah will love you’“ [Aal ‘Imran: 31]
“And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ) gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it).” [Al-Hashr: 7]…among many other verses that clearly indicate the obligation of following the Prophet ﷺ.
As for the term “Sunnah”, it has two distinct terminological usages: A General Usage and a Specific Usage.
[A General Usage:] In general terms, the Sunnah refers to the entire methodology, way, and guidance of the Prophet ﷺ, which encompasses both the obligatory and the recommended, as well as other rulings. An example of this is the statement of Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him): “It is from the Sunnah that if a man marries a virgin besides a previously married wife, he stays with her for seven nights and then turns by rotation; and if he marries a previously married woman, he stays with her for three nights and then turns by rotation.” This particular Sunnah is obligatory.
The Specific Usage: This is the technical terminology used by the Fuqaha (jurists)—may Allah have mercy on them. They categorized Islamic rulings into five divisions: Obligatory (Wajib), Recommended (Sunnah), Forbidden (Haram), Disliked (Makruh), and Permissible (Mubah). They categorized it this way purely to distinguish what the Sharia strictly mandated. Thus, an act is binding to perform if it is Wajib (obligatory), and binding to leave if it is Haram. Anything below that level is considered Sunnah (recommended) regarding commands, and Makruh (disliked) regarding prohibitions.
Therefore, there is no contradiction. The Sunnah is of two types: General and Specific.
The General Sunnah: Refers to the path of the Prophet ﷺ as a whole, encompassing both the obligatory and the recommended.
The Specific Sunnah: Refers to the technical term used by the jurists when they state: “The Sunnah is that which rewards a person if they perform it, but they are not punished if they leave it.”