everything; whatever Allah wills comes to pass, and whatever He does not will does not come to pass; and He has power over all things. They do not declare those who pray towards the qiblah to be unbelievers merely because of sins, and they believe in intercession for those who commit major sins, along with other tenets of Ahl al-Sunnah. Thus, they called the foundations of their creed their sharī'a and distinguished their sharī'a from that of others.

The beliefs that these scholars call sharī'a are those which others largely call “rational doctrines” and “speculative theology,” or which all call “the foundations of religion.” Some call them “the greater understanding of religion.” This is comparable to other authors in this field entitling their works Kitāb al-Sunnah (The Book of the Sunnah), such as the works entitled al-Sunnah by 'Abd Allāh ibn Ahmad, al-Khallāl, al-Tabarānī, al-Ju'fī and al-Athram, and those of many others who wrote on these subjects. They called these works books of the Sunnah to distinguish the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah from the creed of the people of innovation.

Thus, the Sunnah, like the sharī'a, is what the Messenger instituted and prescribed. The term may refer to the beliefs he instituted and prescribed, to the deeds he instituted and prescribed, or to both. Hence, the word sunnah has several meanings, as does the word shir'a.

For this reason, Ibn 'Abbās and others explained Allah’s words, “a law and a clear way,” as “a sunnah and a path.” They thus explained shir'a as sunnah, and minhāj as a path. The terms sunnah and shir'a may concern beliefs and statements, or they may concern intentions and actions. The former pertains to the path of knowledge and discourse