and their chains of transmission. Despite the differences among them, these are the means to that knowledge and the path Muslims have followed. After the Book of Allah, they have served as their guide in religion: from them they draw knowledge; by them they judge and issue fatwas; upon them they rely; and with them they adorn themselves. Each generation passes them on to the next, and those present convey them to those absent, establishing proof and seeking Allah’s reward by transmitting them to those who have not heard them. They call them the Sunnah, transmitted reports, religious understanding, and knowledge. In pursuit of them, they travel east and west across the earth.

Through them they declare lawful what Allah has made lawful and unlawful what He has forbidden. By them they distinguish truth from falsehood and the Sunnah from religious innovations. They use them as evidence in explaining the Quran, its meanings, and its rulings, and through them they recognize the error of those who have strayed from guidance.

Whoever turns away from them is only turning away from the reports and guidance of the early generations. He seeks to oppose them, making his religion a matter of personal whim and interpreting the Book of Allah according to his own opinion, contrary to what Allah intended by it. So if you are among the believers and follow the path of their predecessors, draw knowledge from their transmitted reports and guidance from their way.