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What is the difference between Sunnah pertaining to acts of worship and Sunnah pertaining to customs?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"Sunnah" linguistically means a way of life or a method. In Islamic legal terminology, it has several meanings: that which is in opposition to innovation (bid'ah), that which is in opposition to an obligation (wajib), and the second source of legislation (which includes the Prophet's sayings, actions, tacit approvals, and characteristics). The verbal Sunnah refers to the Prophet's sayings (hadiths), the active Sunnah refers to his actions, and the tacitly approved Sunnah refers to his silence regarding a saying or action, knowing about it, without disapproving it. As for "adah" (custom), linguistically it means something that is repeated frequently. Terminologically, it refers to what people have continually practiced and habitually returned to. A distinction may be made between it and "urf" (common practice) in that "adah" is a practical custom, while "urf" is a verbal custom.

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