Qur'an. a compilations of all revelations from Allah to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through arch angel Jibraeel (Gabriel). Qur'an, the last of the four Divine Scriptures, is the main pillar of guidance for all mankind for there would be no more prophets and no more Divine Revelations. Qur'an in fact is conglomeration of Divine Instructions, Directives and Commandments for the guidance of the man.
However, there are many instructions which are mentioned in Qur'an giving no details or verses for these need to be physically demonstrated for explanation and further elaboration. It has been commanded in the 59th verse of Surah 4. An Nisa that whenever believers dispute on something they should refer to Allah (for prophets) and Qur'an for ordinary Muslims and the Messenger of Allah:
(4:59) Believers! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, and those from among you who are invested with authority; and then if you were to dispute among yourselves about anything refer it to Allah and the Messenger if you indeed believe in Allah and the Last Day; that is better and more commendable in the end.
Here comes then the importance of Sunnah and Hadith of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. These Sunnah and Hadith do not add anything more to Qur'an but add modalities which have been left out in Qur'an for Qur'an only provides guidance and instructions for undertaking actions and adopting our lives as per the Divine Wishes.
It is therefore incumbent upon us to understand what Sunnah and Hadith mean and how they are clarifying means for practical manifestation of instructions, commandments of Allah.
Sunnah
Let us begin with Sunnah first. Sunnah shows how the Islam should be practiced and it completely voids all those arguments which challenge the practicality of the teachings of Quran. Sunnah according to the Arabic means a conduct, a way of life or a manner in which someone acts. According to the science of Hadith, it terms as whatever acts, statements, and a physical conduct or a physical action done by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ during his prophethood is specifically and exclusively termed as Sunnah. According to the legal side of the Fiqh the recommended actions are termed as Sunnah.
Thus in short, Sunnah are the physical actions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to elaborate the instructions contained therein the Qur'an. For example, believers are commanded to perform Salat / Prayer five times a day. But how to perform the Salat, it is not mentioned in the Qur'an. Therefore Angel Gabriel was sent don to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and he demonstrated the Prophet of Allah as how to perform Salat. In return, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ demonstrated the performance of Salat physically to his companions and as long as he lived, he led the prayers in congregation so that his followers should continue to pray Salat as demonstrated by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The Prophet of Allah has been quoted as saying:
“Pray as you saw me pray,”[ Sahih Al-Bukhari, vol. 1, no. 604.] and he specified that surplus wealth, unused for a year, should be given as zakat
Thus the revered Prophet ﷺ also showed how may cycles each Salat should have. And also what is to be recited in various positions of Salat, like Standing (Qiyam), Bowing (Ruku) , Prostration (Sajda) and Jalsa (Sitting position till the end of the Salat)
From left to right: (1) Qiyaam, (2) رکـــــــوع Ruku (3) سجـــــــدہ Sajdah (4) Jalsa