Sunnah and Hadith

The men and women of the first generation of Muslims are known as "Sahaba" or "Companions" of the Prophet, since they had direct contact with the Prophet Muhammad.

They are the source of the Sunna, the words and actions of the Prophet.

Hadith is a saying of the Prophet. It begins with an "isnad" or "chain of authority" and the second part is the actual report of the event.

The hadiths have been collected into 6 main collections including the Sahih al-Bukhari, the earliest and most famous. Hadiths are classified as sound, good or weak (sahih,hasan, da'if).

The material gathered from the Sunna, together with the Qur'an forms the root of Shariah or Islamic Law.

Sira is the biography of the life of the Prophet Muhammad.

Ilm means knowledge. One who studies the religion is known as alim (the plural, ulema).

Fiqh is an Islamic term meaning understanding. It refers to the task of understanding the duties incumbent upon Muslims as revealed in the Qur'an and the Sunna, and the implications of these two sources for the individual and social actions.

A specialist in this Islamic science is known as faqih (plural fuqaha).

Shariah is the system of Divine Law that governs worship,ritual conduct, and legal matters such as contracts, marriage, divorce and inheritance.
Shariah means "Path" or "way".

There are four major schools of Islamic Law: Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi and Hanbali.

Qadi means judge.

Human actions are classified by the specialists in Islamic Law as: obligatory, recommended, disapproved, forbidden and permissible.

Religious authority in Islam resides in the Qur'an and the Sunna. There is no organized "church" and nothing comparable to the priesthood.

A mosque or masjid is the place of worship.

Caliph means "Successor" (those who followed the Prophet in leading the Islamic community).

The Islamic Community is called the Ummah.