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Sunnah (سنة, plural سنن Sunnah) literally means “trodden path”, and therefore, the sunnah of Muhammad, prophet of Islam, means “the way and the manners of Muhammad”.

Recording sunnah was an Arabic tradition, and once people converted to Islam, they brought the tradition to the religion^[1].

The Sunnah of Muhammad refers to his traditions and actions, including specific words, actions, and practices ^[2]. This is in contrast to the hadith, which contains just his words. However, the two doctrines were closely related in the beginnings of Islam. The Sunnah is significant to the spirituality of Islam because it continues teaching Muslims how their prophet acted during his life, and this allows the continuing generations of Muslims to be able to know his ways. The Sunnah addresses ways of life dealing with friends, family, and government ^[3].

How far the hadith contributes to the sunnah is disputed, and highly dependent on the context.^{[citation needed]} In the context of Islamic Law, Imam Malik and the Hanafi scholars assumed to have differentiated between the sunna and the hadith. In some instances, for example, Imam Malik is supposed to have rejected hadiths that reached him because, according to him, they were against the ‘established practice of the people of Medinah’. According to other opinions^[who?], sunnah constitutes of what Muhammad believed, implied or tacitly approved and was noted down by his companions in form of what is today known as hadith. In Shi’a Islam, the word “Sunnah” means the deeds, sayings and approvals of Muhammad and the twelve Imams who Shi’a Muslims believe were chosen by Muhammad to lead the Ummah – the world Muslim community.

In the context of biographical records of Muhammad, sunnah indeed often stands synonymous to hadith as most of the personality traits of Muhammad are known through descriptions about him, his sayings and his actions, after becoming a prophet at the age of forty.