Sacred writings
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The significance and purpose of the Sunnah and Hadith
The Sunnah refers to the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad and is the second source of knowledge for Muslims.
Muhammad is considered to be a perfect model. This can be seen at prayer time or Salat - whilst the Qur’an explains when and how one should pray, Muslims use the example of Muhammad to know what words and movements to use during prayer.
Muslim men at prayer
There are two types of Hadith:
The sacred - these are sacred sayings in which Muhammad quotes words from Allah which are not included in the Qur’an.
The prophetic - these are wise sayings which the Prophet himself gave.
They do not have the same authority as the Qur’an as they are not direct revelation from Allah, but are inspired sayings.
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