The difference between Hadith and Sunnah is very large.

The difference between Hadith and Sunnah is very large.

What is the Hadith?

The Hadith encompasses everything that was said by the prophet (pbuh)during  his teachings during 23 years .

Hadith are classified by Hadith Scholars in different categories:authentic, Hassan (good) ,Maqbool( accepted), (Weak) , (fake). So the degree of authentication differs, depending on the transmission chain of all Hadith has been written so far after the death of the prophet, as he prohibited the writing of Hadith at first for fear that amalgam is made between the Quran and the Hadith, for lack of means at the time. But he omitted to defend Some few companions to write it, Because He Was assured of them, he later lift the ban when companions where mature in Islam to distinguish Quran and Hadith. Hadith.

Most authenticated Hadith were written by [Al- Boukhari (810 - 870) as an orphan, his father passed away when he was 2 Y old,before age of ten he learnt the Quran by heart.

He loved science of theology from an early age. Thus,he memorized the Hadith teached by his sheikh Ibn Al- Mubarak as a child. He read books deemed as he was sixteen, as it was said that being young ,he memorized seventy thousand hadith by heart. What helped this, is that he knew the biographies of those who relate the hadith and he sought their state also, he knew. He knew the Sheikh of those from whom he takes the Hadith as well as their students and different chains of transmission.

Imam Al-Bukhari is the author of many books, but the best known is Sahih Al-Bukhari which is a collection of hadith. His book contains 7563 Hadith with repetition and about 2,230 without repetition.]

And Muslim[( 821-875)wrote the second of the two safest collections of Hadith of Sunni Islam. This collection is called Authentic Collection frequently called Sahih Muslim . He trip to Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and Syria. During his travels, he collected Hadith that seem to him most valables. The authenticity of this hadith collection is recognized. The author states that he shot his collection of 300,000 hadiths in 15 years.]

Altogether they are seven to write the Hadith, other than Al-Boukhari and Muslim, there is also Imam Ahmad, Abu Daud, Ettermidhi, Ibnu Maja, Enissai.
Hadith which include everything that encompasses the life of a Muslim, the present (the companions of the prophet and what will happen to the Ummah in the future (we and future generations). As you can see they have a lifetime with prohibitions and permits "lawful" good habits to have, manners, so do not lose sight of that everything that has been said in the Hadith can not be translated into facts on the ground .

What is Sunna?

The Sunna refers to the actions, statements and way of life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). 

It is an essential aspect of the entire system of Islam. 

God Himself in the Quran has ordered Muslims to take the Prophet as their role model and to listen and obey his words.

4 \ (59)   O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result.
4 \ (80)   He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah; but those who turn away - We have not sent you over them as a guardian.
59 \ (7)... And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.

The Sunna is the ultimate normative practical expression of Islam.  It is also the definitive explanation of the Quran itself.  Without it there can be no true understanding of how to implement Islam.

The Prophet’s Sunna was preserved in what is known as the Hadith literature.  The question of the preservation of the Sunna and the Hadith is actually an issue concerning the preservation and purity of the religion of Islam itself. 

This issue becomes even more important given the fact that, unfortunately, many have a false conception of how the Hadith were preserved and, therefore, they do not possess full confidence in the authenticity of the Hadith of the Prophet.

Some of the Means by Which God Preserved the Sunna.
God, through humans, used many means by which He preserved the Sunna. 

Some of these aspects are unique to the Muslim nation.  Most importantly, these means of preservation were followed from the earliest times, without any interval available for the original material and sayings to be lost.

Some of the factors and means that contributed to the preserving of the Sunna include the following:
The Companions’ Understanding of Their Heavy Responsibilities.

It is clear in the Quran that the earlier peoples had distorted, tampered and generally failed to minutely preserve the message that they received.

The Companions of the Prophet understood that the Prophet Muhammad was the final messenger sent for humankind and that the task of preserving his teachings would fall upon their shoulders. 

It was up to them to make sure that what happened to the previous prophets’ teachings would not happen to the Prophet Muhammad’s message.

Additionally, the Prophet himself impressed upon them the fact that they had the responsibility of taking from the Prophet and conveying to others. 

For example, the Prophet told them, in front of the throngs of the people at the time of pilgrimage:
“Let the one who is present inform the one who is absent.  Perhaps the one who is present may convey it to one who can grasp it more than he can.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim).

This instruction from the Prophet can be seen in a number of his statements, some of which have been narrated from numerous Companions. 

For example, the Prophet said:
“May God make radiant the man who has heard what I said and has preserved it in his memory until he conveys it to another?  Perhaps the one he conveyed it to have a better understanding than him.”

The Prophet also warned them in a very stern fashion about conveying anything from him which may not be correct.  Using the Arabic word "kadhab", which in the dialect of the Prophet did not mean “to lie” but meant to convey something which is not correct, the Prophet stated:
“Convey from me, even if it is just a verse.  And narrate [stories] from the Tribes of Israel and there is no harm.  And whoever falsely attributes something to my authority shall take his seat in the Hell-fire.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari).

It seems that the Prophet stated that warning on a number of occasions, as those words have been recorded from the Prophet by over fifty Companions.

Thus, the Companions realized that they had to be very careful in their narratives.  They understood the warning stated above concerning one who falsely attributes something to the Prophet as applying to one who does so intentionally as well as unintentionally. 

In a report recorded in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Companion al-Zubair was asked why he did not narrate as many Hadith as some of the others did.  He replied, “As for me, I never parted from him [that is, the Prophet]. 

However, I heard him say, ‘Whoever falsely attributes something to me shall take his own seat in the Hell-fire.’ Commenting on this statement, ibn Hajar noted that al-Zubair was obviously not speaking about him forging something in the Prophet’s name.  Instead, he feared that if he narrated a lot, he would make mistakes.  And those mistakes would put him under the warning mentioned in that Hadith.

Anas ibn Malik also said, “If I did not fear that I may make a mistake, I would narrate to you some of the things I heard from the Messenger of God.  However, I heard him say, ‘Whoever falsely attributes something to my authority shall take his own seat in the Hell-fire.’'

This, once again, implies that Anas, a Companion, understood that the threat stated in that Hadith also applies to the one who makes unintentional mistakes while narrating Hadith.

In reality, some of the Companions, like Abu Hurayrah, continued to study and memorize the Hadith they learned from the Prophet.  Therefore, they did not have as much to fear with respect to making mistakes.  On the other hand, those who were not dedicated to such study had more to fear because their memories may fail them when they narrated from the Messenger of God.