The Second Daleel: As Sunnah An Nabawiyah Ash Shareefah
Definition of As-Sunnah:
As-Sunnah linguistically means: The path that is trodden (or the way that is followed) and its origin comes from their (the Arabs) usage:
‘I forged something with a grindstone’ (i.e. like carving a path).
This is in the case where I passed a thing through it (the grindstone) until a ‘Sannan’ i.e. a Tareeq (path) was effected within it (i.e. like etching a path).
The meaning of As-Sunnah in the view of the ‘Ulamaa of Usool ul-Fiqh:
The Sunnah is all that was issued or came from the Messenger (saw) other than the Qur’aan, represented in a Qawl (speech), a Fi’l (action) or Taqreer (approval, consent, silence).
Based on this definition the intrinsic divisions of the Sunnah are three: As-Sunnah Al-Qawliyah, As-Sunnah Al-Fi’liyah and As-Sunnah At-Taqreeriyah.
1 - As-Sunnah Al-Qawliyah:
The Sunnah Al-Qawliyah is all that the Messenger (saw) uttered or stated or said (Nataqa) related to the Tashree’ (legislation). The name ‘Hadeeth’ has been given for this whilst some (‘Ulamaa) have made the Hadeeth synonymous with the Sunnah comprising of all three categories of the Sunnah.