What Are Divine Sunnahs?
Sunnah is an Arabic word that means method, way, habit, and nature. It comes from the rood Sunn and indicates repetition and continuation.
The Holy Quran says in Verse 38 of Surah Al-Anfal: “Tell the unbelievers that if they abandon their ways He will forgive them what is past; but, if they return, that was indeed the Sunnah (way) of their forefathers who have passed away.”
Divine Sunnahs are rules in God’s actions or methods by which God conducts the affairs of the world and human beings.
When one speaks of a divine Sunnah, it does not mean that a particular action was taken directly by God, but there may be many causes and means involved, including natural, supernatural, and Ghaybi (unseen), and yet the action is attributed to God.
According to the verses of the Quran, including Verse 23 of Surah Al-Fath, “This is the tradition of God which existed before, and you will never find any change in His tradition,” one can point out three features for divine Sunnahs:
1- Divine Sunnahs are not spontaneous and accidental but they are a pre-planned flowing current and rule.
2-Divine Sunnahs and rules are beyond time and place and the limited human intellect. They are not based on trial and error and, therefore, they are comprehensive and unchanging.
3- Divine Sunnahs do not become obsolete and outdated or ineffective with the passage of time.
Some Divine Sunnahs are related to this world and some to the hereafter. Those related to this world are either personal or social. Social Sunnahs are divided into two groups of general and special (conditional). General Sunnahs are not dependent on the wills of people and are rules that cover both those following the truth and falsehood. But Special Sunnahs are either for the followers of the truth or followers of falsehood.
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Some of the General Sunnahs include: the Sunnah of guidance through sending prophets for all nations and human groups, the Sunnah of Ibtila and trial through hardships or joys, and the Sunnah of Imhal (giving time and avoiding haste in punishment).
And these are some of the special Sunnahs: The Sunnah of increase in blessings after thankfulness and decline in blessings after ingratitude, the Sunnah of social power collapse after rejecting prophets, and the Sunnah of gradual deviation of the followers of falsehood.
