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THE DICHOTOMY IN THE CONVENTIONAL AND ISLAMIC VIEWS
RELATED TO CORPORATE CULTURE
AZHAR KAZMI
Professor, Department of Business Administration, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh (India) presently on contract assignment with International Islamic University
Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 53100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (E-mail:
[email protected])
ABSTRACT
Corporate culture is the buzzword in conventional management today. Since the past
decade and a half there has been much concern about the way corporate culture
develops and shapes the social and economic organizations.
This essay examines the conventional and Islamic perspectives to corporate culture. It
is argued that the conventional view of corporate culture is based on a peripheral
consideration of the developments of the norms and values of society and does not go
deeper into an examination of the basic nature of human beings. In doing so, the
conventional perspectives fall short of leading to a deeper understanding of corporate
culture. The evidence of such lack of understanding lies in the fact the too many of
the efforts in conventional perspective are geared to managing corporate culture that
is often not achieved or not achieved satisfactorily.
Islamic perspectives are, in contrast, based on the fundamental analysis of the nature
of human beings as derived from the revealed sources of knowledge in Islam.
Examining the elements in corporate culture, this essay points out that the belief
systems in conventional perspectives are based on an incomplete understanding of the
reality. Islamic perspectives, in contrast, are based on a complete understanding of the
total reality. The role of the traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is
highlighted in demonstrating how these played the prime role in shaping early Muslim
societies and the social and economic organizations.
The essay concludes that a simple application of the Islamic principles related to
human behavior can obviate the need to manage the corporate culture.
THE DICHOTOMY IN THE CONVENTIONAL AND ISLAMIC VIEWS
RELATED TO CORPORATE CULTURE
For nearly the past two decades, corporate culture has emerged as a significant
concept in management of organizations. The theorization of corporate culture aims at
explaining how corporate cultures are formed and why they matter in the management
of organizations and their long-term success. Commonly, corporate culture is referred
to simply as “the way things are done around here”. (Schein, 1992) Formal definitions
of the term ‘corporate culture’ abound. (Lazaer, 1985) A typical definition states that
corporate culture is the accumulated shared learning of a given group that has worked
well enough to be considered valid enough to be taught to new members as the correct
way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to organizational problems. (O’Reilly,
Chatman and Caldwell, 1991) In management literature the most prevalent view of
corporate culture is that of shared beliefs (or mental models) and values that drive
behavioral norms. (e.g. Burns Stalker 1961, Schwartz and Davis 1981, Peters and
Waterman 1982, Donaldson and Lorsch 1985, Schein 1985, Kotter and Heskett 1992,
Van den Steen 2003)
Corporate culture is not new as an idea (Blunt, 1988) but has emerged at the
conscious level of conventional management as a crucial aspect of managing
organizations and implementing strategies. The difference between successful and
unsuccessful implementation is often largely traced to the corporate culture. So we
have a phenomenon termed as the ‘corporate culture – strategy fit’ meaning that such
a fit is the desired end to ensure implementation of strategies take place smoothly
(Schwartz and Davis 1981). Corporate culture is considered powerful enough to either
facilitate or hinder the implementation of strategies. And since it is powerful enough,
it needs to be managed in a manner that it facilitates rather than hinders the
implementation of strategies.
CONVENTIONAL PERSPECTIVES TO CORPORATE CULTURE
The conventional view of corporate culture in management seems to have been
derived from the area of cultural studies in sociology and psychology. Another term
“civilization” is often used as a synonym to “culture”. Civilization means the mores,
traditions, customs, and the way of life of a people in a region of the world. So we
have the Egyptian or the Chinese civilizations giving rise to Egyptian or Chinese
culture.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines culture as “the totality of socially
transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of
human work and thought”. Civilization is defined as “an advanced state of
intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress
in the arts and sciences, the extensive use of record-keeping, including writing, and
the appearance of complex political and social institutions”. Colloquially, these two
terms are often considered as synonymous.
Hofstede’s (1980, 1984) work on national cultures is considered to be a pioneering
and benchmark one in identifying the dimensions of culture. Hofstede defines national
cultures along four main dimensions (Power distance, Uncertainty avoidance,
Individualism/Collectivism and Masculinity/Femininity), to which was added another
dimension (Long-term/Short-term orientation) to account for the Eastern countries
cultural attitude, too (Hofstede and Bond, 1988).
Culture, in the broader sense, is termed as an amalgam of significant assumptions
shared by a majority of people in a society. Corporate culture, as a subset of society’s
culture, is considered as a collective of important assumptions shared widely by
members of an organization. The assumptions have two dimensions: beliefs and
values. Beliefs are assumptions about reality and are derived and reinforced by
experience. Values are assumptions about ideals that are desirable and worth striving
for. When beliefs and values are shared widely in an organization it gives rise to
corporate culture.
Implicit in the acceptance of corporate culture - as a significant facilitator of
implementation of strategies - is the underlying thinking that the attitudes of
employees matter in the tasks of strategy implementation. If these attitudes were
favorable to the implementation of certain strategies and unfavorable to certain other
strategies, then strategists would be well advised to choose the favorable strategies
over the unfavorable ones. In this manner, the attitude of employees becomes a
significant criterion in making a choice of strategies to implement.
Scholars in conventional management often make a distinction among strong and
weak corporate cultures. (e.g. Deal and Kennedy, 1982) Strong cultures help in the
implementation of strategies through means such as facilitating effective
communication, decision-making, and control. Weak cultures obstruct the smooth
implementation of strategies by creating resistance to change. Strong cultures exist
when employees share a common set of assumptions and identify with organization’s
identity. Weak cultures exist when employees do not have a strong sense of
commitment to the organization and view their relationship with it primarily as a
transaction where they provide labor in return for wages.
The sources, from which the beliefs and values making up the assumptions that create
a distinct corporate culture are derived, are the founder of the organization, an
influential leader or a committed group of individuals who helped shape the corporate
culture of the organization in its infancy. Outside of the organization it is the
prevailing norms and customs in a society that shape the culture. This macro culture
has a deep impact on the corporate cultures of organizations that exist in a society at
any given point of time. After all, as Staune (1996) observes, “The vision of the world
and the vision of mankind which prevail in a society have a determining influence on
social and economic organization”. The beliefs and values constituting the shared
assumptions are generally deeply rooted and not amenable to change in the short-run.
Change - if at all it happens - is a long-drawn process.
The top management of an organization is interested in changing the corporate culture
so that it suits the requirements of a strategy that they wish to implement. Or at least,
they wish to change the corporate culture so that it does not act as an impediment to
the smooth implementation of a strategy. But the ideal is to have a strategy-supportive
corporate culture. When corporate culture supports the implementation of a strategy
we say that there exists a high level of strategy-culture fit. The aim of organizational
change, in the case of corporate culture, is to create a high level of strategy-culture fit.
The better the fit is the smoother the task of strategy implementation is likely to be.
An important point to note, before we move to the next section of this essay, is that
the paradigm governing the management of corporate culture is that beliefs and values
of people within organizations – constituting the assumptions that create corporate
culture - can be suitably changed to suit the requirements of a strategy. This is what
“managing corporate culture” means. Conventional management does not go deeper
into the question of the basis of the generation of these beliefs and values. The bases
of these beliefs and values obviously have roots in the system of ethics and values
nurtured in the organization. So far as the matters of business ethics and values are
concerned, conventional management operates on the secular paradigm that there is
no common code of conduct for all human beings. Ethics is relative and depends on
personal, social and cultural standards. There is no method to determine what is
ethical or how much ethical an action is. In fact, there is no set basis for defining
ethics and it is generally accepted as a consensually defined and accepted standard of
social behavior. In other words, what most people do and are comfortable doing is
acceptable and ethical. Related to ethics is the matter of morality that is social
behavior based on religion or philosophy of life.
ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES TO CORPORATE CULTURE
Civilization, culture, tradition, customs, mores, and way of life have been perennial
issues in Islamic societies and history. From the pagan culture that he was born in, the
Prophet (peace be upon him - pbuh) was guided by the injunctions of the Holy Quran
and his own demonstrations through actions and words to raise the level of Arab
society to a highly civilized Islamic nation. Such a remarkable feat, supported and
guided by the divinity of Allah, was accomplished in a very short time. This
occurrence must be a historical miracle for never before and after has such a
transformation of society taken place on such a large scale in so less a time. For
instance, social leaders realize how difficult it is to bring even a modicum of change
in a small community. Also, any wise manager knows how difficult it is to change the
corporate culture of an organization under limitations of time.
The cultural transformation at Mecca and Medina was a model for future Islamic
nations to develop and thrive. From simple actions of daily life like ablution or eating
to higher philosophical issues of life, the revealed knowledge sources cover a wide
range of matters relating to human existence.
Islam came as a ray of light and hope for the human society in what are now called
the dark ages. For more than five centuries it led the world in terms of laying the
foundations for a civilized society. Christians, Jews, and people of other religions and
civilizations benefited much from Islam. The contribution of Islam to the European
renaissance is well documented in history and acknowledged by non-Muslims
historians and orientalists. In many ways, the developments that we see in modern
society in areas of medicine, science and technology, arts and architecture, and the
like owe much to Islam. The personality of the Prophet (pbuh) shines as a beacon to
guide humanity till eternity.
With such a rich heritage, Islamic revealed knowledge sources offer much in terms of
what is an ideal civilization and culture. Probably, the most significant contribution
that Islam makes is in defining the relationship between human beings and Allah,
human beings and society, and human beings with other human beings. These are the
foundations on which the concept of humanity ultimately rests.
Despite having such a rich heritage, Islam has been under intense scrutiny since the
last more than two centuries. It has been distorted and misrepresented and Muslims all
over the world feel tormented by such prejudices. Young Muslims are bothered by the
inaccurate and unfair caricature of Islam that the global media presents today. On the
other hand, there are Muslims who feel that, pushed to the wall, there is no alternative
but to seek refuge in extremism. Sterile polemics tends to gain the upper hand and
reason is pushed to the background. In between we have the true Muslim who has
hope for the future and is ready to apply wisdom to deal with the world on his own
terms.
All these contributions from Islamic revealed knowledge sources and other means
make it impossible for me to define what an ideal culture should be. Or even in the
limited context of an organization, what should the ideal corporate culture be. The
outlines of an ideal corporate culture range from defining, in the true Islamic sense,
what would the relationship of the organization be to its stakeholders down to how the
payment of wages is to be done.
The relationship of the organization to its stakeholders determines largely how
strategic management is exercised. Such relationship should be a bond of trust,
honesty, and integrity. It should be an association for fair dealing and social justice.
No stakeholder should feel aggrieved that his or her group’s interests have been
ignored. This forms the bedrock of a strong corporate culture to develop.
There are so many other elements within organization that are relevant for the
development and sustenance of corporate culture. Practically, everything that is done
in managing an organization impacts corporate culture in the long-term. Here we will
address the basic components of the corporate culture rather than adopting an
approach of attempting to do the impossible – to cover all the aspects of managing
and discussing their relevance to corporate culture.
THE ELEMENTS OF CORPORATE CULTURE
There should not be any objection to adopting the conventional definition of corporate
culture as consisting of the important assumptions that people share in an
organization. These assumptions, as we saw earlier in this essay, consist of the beliefs
and values. I will attempt to show how these beliefs and values can be shaped
according to the Islamic perspectives so that an appropriate corporate culture
develops. And then I would show how the corporate culture could be adapted to the
needs of a new strategy on the condition that the strategy itself has been formulated
not ignoring the Islamic perspectives.
The beliefs, according to the conventional view, are the assumptions about reality and
are reinforced by experience. This could be the right way of saying what beliefs are.
But the differences in the interpretation of the source of beliefs create some problem.
The conventional approach implicitly assumes reality to be limited to what is
comprehensible through human senses.
According to the Islamic perspectives, the ultimate reality is beyond the
comprehension of human beings. What we have is the temporal reality: a reality that
is limited in terms of time and space and is essentially terrestrial in nature. We are
able to appreciate this temporal reality through our senses. The outcome of utilizing
the senses is experience. Human experience is thus limited to what a person can grasp
through his senses. Consequently, beliefs of human beings could be limited to his
appreciation of temporal reality that is just an insignificant part of the total reality.
The total reality cannot be grasped through reason or rationality. It is here that a major
difference of approach arises among the conventional and the Islamic perspective to
the definition of belief as based on reality. If one assumes reality to be limited then
the beliefs are based on an incomplete picture of reality. Since reason alone cannot
grasp the total reality one has to rely on a divine source to generate a belief. This in
Islam is the word of Allah s.w.t. Allah s.w.t. is the ultimate source of belief. The total
submission of human being to Allah s.w.t. is the primal belief that makes a person
Muslim. The Holy Quran is the sum total of the beliefs that human beings need to
believe in. Exhibit 1 presents an assortment of references to selected Ayats in the
Holy Quran referring to guidance for ethical human behavior.
Exhibit 1: Sources from Quranic Ayats (number of ayat underscored) related to
directing human behavior toward good
argue in a kindly manner with those given earlier revelation 16:125, 29:46
avoid becoming involved in matters you know nothing of 17:36
avoid grave sins and shameful deeds 53:32
avoid guesswork about one another 49:12
be generous 16:90
be just in your opinions 4:58, 5:8, 5:42, 6:152, 16:90 (see Judgment)
be true and equitable 4:135, 5:8, 25:72, 55:8-9, 70:33, 83:1-3,
community should be moderate 2:143, 25:67
conceit discouraged 4:36, 31:18, 57:23
don't:
be unreasonable 16:90
behave shamefully 16:90
betray trust 8:27
cheat trading partner 4:29
chide those who seek your help 93:10
consider yourself pure 53:32
deride others 49:11, 104:1
mention evil things openly 4:148
speak ill of each other 24:12-19, 49:12, 104:1
spy on each other 49:12
each group given a law and way of life 2:148, 5:48, 10:47, 10:74, 13:38, 16:36, 16:63,
16:84
and a prophet 10:47, 16:36
and a way of worship 22:67
God could have made them one community 5:48, 11:118, 16:93, 42:8
one community under God 21:92
forgive Jews who distort the Qur'an 5:13
forgive non-believers 31:15, 45:14
forgive readily 42:37
keep promises 2:177
maligning believers is sinful 33:58
men (toward women) 24:30
pass by frivolous people in a dignified manner 25:72
peacemakers rewarded 42:40
perform excellent deeds 4:58
repel evil with something better 13:22, 28:54, 41:34
thereby perhaps making a good friend of a former enemy 41:34
rulers make decisions after consultations 42:38
speak justly toward those in want, if you can do nothing else 17:28
towards aging parents in your care 17:23
other Muslims 33:6
others 17:26-29, 17:35, 17:53, 25:63, 28:55, 60:8
parents 31:14, 46:15
religious migrants 8:72, 8:75, 33:6
slaves 24:33
do good unto 4:36
share sustenance with 16:71
treat non-belligerent non-believers with equity 60:8
vie with each other to do good deeds 3:133, 23:61
wives of the Prophet 33:28-34,
women (toward men) 24:31
Source:
http://web.umr.edu/~msaumr/topics/
Taking up the issue of values, it is seen that values in the conventional sense are
enduring beliefs that have been applied, have been found to be successful, and are
therefore to be passed on to the next generation. Values address the issue of what
ought and what ought not to be. And since values impart a sense of right and wrong,
they guide action. Right action results from right values. Right values result from
right beliefs. The connection is clear. A discussion is presented in Exhibit 2
demonstrating how considering Allah s.w.t. as the ultimate source of values guides
human behavior.
Exhibit 2: The ultimate source of values in Islam is God
The Qur‘anic attributes of God represent ultimate values. These constitute the ideal that which control
and guide the process of social evolution.
Verses from the Holy Qur‘an emphasize that human life has a purpose. The following verse is
representative of this purpose “And we did not create the heavens and the earth and that which is
between them in sport. We created them not but for a serious end, but most of them understand it not
(xliv. 38-39). Another verse states: “Do you then think that we have created you in vain, and that you
will not be returned to us” (xiii. 115).
What is that purpose? The Godly attributes constitute the purpose. That the attributes constitute ideals
is clear from a verse like this: And that to thy Lord is the goal (liii. 42).
Some of the attributes of God that the Qur‘an describes are Life, Power, Wisdom, Truth, Beauty,
Goodness, Love and Justice. "He is Allah the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. His are the most
beautiful names" (lix. 24).
In Islam it is clear that God is the locus of all ultimate and intrinsic values. His being guarantees the
objectivity of values. But as God is nearer to man than his jugular vein, one carries value-consciousness
with him. It is the "Moral law within" and not "the starry heaven above" that bestows on the individual
his true status and prepares him to be vice regent of God on earth. It is this development of the ethical
personality that the Prophet of Islam, peace be upon him, signified when he enjoined Muslims to
assimilate Divine attributes.
With God as the locus of all values it follows that there is no distinction in Islam between the spiritual
and the mundane, the religious and the secular. Material prosperity is a condition of the spiritual growth
of a people. Islam recommends a positive, seeking attitude towards life in all its manifestations.
The true significance of values in the ever-changing social set-up is discovered gradually by the
advancing consciousness of man. Ultimate values or formal ideals of value need a content to be filled
in by experience.
With God as the locus of all intrinsic values the requirements of morality are fully with. This implies
that moral effort is in tune with reality. A morally developed individual or society is more truly real.
Further, the Qur‘anic emphasis on the continuity of life after death makes moral effort all the more
meaningful. In this moral effort, according to the Qur‘an, God becomes co-worker with man.
Life is not meaningless. It is directed towards ends and goals, as becomes obvious when we reflect on
the working of our own minds. It is true that a well-planned action may not meet with success but that
is no basis for condemning life as meaningless. Failure sometimes goads one on to greater effort.
We start our lives by adhering to the operative values of our group. But it is for us to reflect on these
values and see if they agree with the formal ideals of values. This implies that we have to check if the
operative values continue adequately to guide life.
We do not talk in terms of American or Chinese or Russian moral law. Societies differ in operative
values only, but the formal ideals of values are the same for all. According to Islam these values have
their locus in God. "And to thy Lord is the goal" (liii. 42). Belief in God guarantees the objectivity of
values, and the objectivity of values gives all the meaning and significance to moral efforts.
Adapted / Quoted from “God and Values” by Khawaja Ghulam Sadiq in Philosophy
in Pakistan edited by Naeem Ahmad (Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change
Series IIA, Islam, Volume 3), 1998
Conventional management makes the fundamental error of treating beliefs as limited
to the temporal reality. And with this half-baked idea of belief, proceeds to define
what values are. Since values are based on an ethical system, conventional
management conveniently adopts the secular paradigm of considering ethics as a
generalized system of values that is consensually developed and applied. There is no
firm basis for an ethical system to guide the formation of values.
The Islamic perspective to values does not entertain any such doubt or indulge in
subterfuge. It bases the values on an ethical system that is divinely ordained and
therefore considers the total reality. With this in hand, the Islamic perspective
proceeds to define the beliefs and values that then form the core of culture. Here also
the connection is clear. The simplicity of Islam is astounding once the human being
accepts the fundamental truth that it is total submission to Allah s.w.t. that is at the
heart of any ethical system and beliefs and values need to be shaped according to this
ethical system.
This Quranic Ayat demonstrates the value of traditions of the first prophet, Ibrahim
(peace be upon him):
[4.125] Who can be better in religion than one who submits his whole self to Allah,
does good, and follows the way of Abraham the true in Faith? For Allah did take
Abraham for a friend.
Another Ayat that demonstrates the change in a norm, as ordained by Allah, related to
marriage goes like this:
[4.22] And marry not women whom your fathers married,- except what is past: It was
shameful and odious,- an abominable custom indeed.
The traditions of the Prophet (pbuh) serve to exemplify the application of the ethical
system, beliefs, and values to day-to-day living. The worth of the traditions lies in this
fact. The companions of the Prophet (pbuh) observed his every action and reported it
in the form of traditions. These traditions come down to us to this day. In the
traditions, for instance, the Prophet demonstrated how the five pillars of Islam are to
be observed; how the Islamic system of jurisprudence (fiqh) is to be applied; and, in
general, how life is to be lived. The annexure to this essay contains some Ahadith –
the traditions of the Prophet (pbuh) - to demonstrate how Allah s.w.t. communicated
the matters of ethics, belief, and values to the Prophet (pbuh) and how the Prophet
(pbuh) applied these in practice. The companions of the Prophet (pbuh) relied
faithfully on the traditions set by the words and deeds of the Prophet (pbuh) in their
worldly and spiritual matters. These traditions then led to the formation of the Muslim
societies that spread far and wide. To the extent, that the Muslim societies relied on
the message of the Holy Quran and the traditions of the Prophet (pbuh) they prospered
and spread civilized values among the other societies that they came in contact with.
It is reasonable to believe that the social and economic organizations that developed
in the context of the values of these societies imbibed these norms to build their
corporate culture. Subsequent cultural contacts widened the base of the cultural norms
and thus came into being widely varying Muslim societies that exist to this day.
Continuing the logic of the development of cultural norms of Muslim societies it is
can safely be concluded that the extent to which the social and economic
organizations correspond to the original message in the Holy Quran and the traditions
of the Prophet (pbuh) they are in harmony with the basic nature of human beings. To
the extent that they deviate they move away from the basic nature of human beings
and then need to be managed as we observe in modern, conventional organizations.
CONCLUDING COMMENTS
Any organization contemplating the application of the Islamic perspectives to
corporate culture does not need to manage it as conventional management so
commonly believes in. It needs to simply apply the basic principles of Islam in its
working and what will emerge is the appropriate culture to implement any type of
strategy. There would be no need to manage any resistance to change, as it would not
be there. No human being would resist change that is in line with the fundamentals of
human nature. In fact, they would welcome it. So organizational change is not such a
big issue as conventional management makes it out to be. It is simply a matter of
aligning the organization according to the basic precepts of Islam that is the only
sacred and true religion bestowed by the Creator on the human beings.
Annexure: Selected Ahadiths demonstrating the ethics, beliefs, and values forming the
core of Islamic culture. All Ahadith are taken from Sahih Bukhari.
Volume 4, Book 51, Number 10:
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
The custom (in old days) was that the property of the deceased would be inherited by
his offspring; as for the parents (of the deceased), they would inherit by the will of the
deceased. Then Allah cancelled from that custom whatever He wished and fixed for
the male double the amount inherited by the female, and for each parent a sixth (of
the whole legacy) and for the wife an eighth or a fourth and for the husband a half or
a fourth.
Volume 5, Book 59, Number 335:
Narrated 'Aisha(the wife of the Prophet):
Abu Hudhaifa, one of those who fought the battle of Badr, with Allah's Apostle
adopted Salim as his son and married his niece Hind bint Al-Wahd bin 'Utba to him'
and Salim was a freed slave of an Ansari woman. Allah's Apostle also adopted Zaid
as his son. In the pre-lslamic period of ignorance the custom was that, if one adopted
a son, the people would call him by the name of the adopted-father whom he would
inherit as well, till Allah revealed: "Call them (adopted sons) By (the names of) their
fathers." (33.5)
Volume 6, Book 60, Number 23:
Narrated 'Asim bin Sulaiman:
I asked Anas bin Malik about Safa and Marwa. Anas replied, "We used to consider
(i.e. going around) them a custom of the Pre-islamic period of Ignorance, so when
Islam came, we gave up going around them. Then Allah revealed" "Verily, Safa and
Marwa (i.e. two mountains at Mecca) are among the Symbols of Allah. So it is not
harmful of those who perform the Hajj of the House (of Allah) or perform the Umra
to ambulate (Tawaf) between them." (2.158)
Volume 7, Book 62, Number 84:
Narrated Anas:
The Prophet offered a wedding banquet on the occasion of his marriage to Zainab,
and provided a good meal for the Muslims. Then he went out as was his custom on
marrying, he came to the dwelling places of the mothers of the Believers (i.e. his
wives) invoking good (on them), and they were invoking good (on him). Then he
departed (and came back) and saw two men (still sitting there). So he left again. I do
not remember whether I informed him or he was informed (by somebody else) of their
departure)."
Volume 8, Book 74, Number 279:
Narrated Qatada:
I asked Anas, "Was it a custom of the companions of the Prophet to shake hands with
one another?" He said, "Yes."
Volume 1, Book 12, Number 772:
Narrated Abu Wail:
Hudhaifa said, "I saw a person not performing his bowing and prostrations perfectly.
When he completed the prayer, I told him that he had not prayed." I think that
Hudhaifa added (i.e. said to the man), "Had you died, you would have died on a
tradition other than that of the Prophet Muhammad."
Volume 2, Book 15, Number 76:
Narrated Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri:
The Prophet used to proceed to the Musalla on the days of Id-ul-Fitr and Id-ul-Adha;
the first thing to begin with was the prayer and after that he would stand in front of
the people and the people would keep sitting in their rows. Then he would preach to
them, advise them and give them orders, (i.e. Khutba). And after that if he wished to
send an army for an expedition, he would do so; or if he wanted to give an order, he
would do so, and then depart. The people followed this tradition till I went out with
Marwan, the Governor of Medina, for the prayer of Id-ul-Adha or Id-ul-Fitr.
Volume 2, Book 18, Number 156:
Narrated 'Aisha(the wife of the Prophet (p.b.u.h):
In the lifetime of the Prophet the sun eclipsed and he went to the Mosque and the
people aligned behind him. He said the Takbir (starting the prayer) and prolonged
the recitation (from the Quran) and then said Takbir and performed a prolonged
bowing; then he (lifted his head and) said, "Sami allahu liman hamidah" (Allah heard
him who sent his praises to Him). He then did not prostrate but stood up and recited a
prolonged recitation which was shorter than the first recitation. He again said Takbir
and then bowed a prolonged bowing but shorter than the first one and then said,
"Sami 'a-l-lahu Lyman hamidah Rabbana walak-lhamd, (Allah heard him who sent
his praises to Him. O our Sustainer! All the praises are for You)" and then prostrated
and did the same in the second Raka; thus he completed four bowing and four
prostrations. The sun (eclipse) had cleared before he finished the prayer. (After the
prayer) he stood up, glorified and praised Allah as He deserved and then said, "The
sun and the moon are two of the signs of Allah. They do not eclipse because of the
death or the life (i.e. birth) of someone. When you see them make haste for the
prayer." Narrated Az-Zuhri: I said to 'Ursa, "When the sun eclipsed at Medina your
brother ('Abdullah bin Az-Zubair) offered only a two-Rakat prayer like that of the
morning (Fajr) prayer." 'Ursa replied, "Yes, for he missed the Prophet's tradition
(concerning this matter)."
Volume 2, Book 21, Number 277:
Narrated 'Abdullah Al-Muzni:
The Prophet said, "Pray before the Maghrib (compulsory) prayer." He (said it thrice)
and in the third time, he said, "Whoever wants to offer it can do so." He said so
because he did not like the people to take it as a tradition.
Volume 2, Book 23, Number 384:
Narrated 'Abdullah:
The Prophet said, "He who slaps the cheeks, tears the clothes and follows the
tradition of the Days of Ignorance is not from us."
Volume 2, Book 23, Number 419:
Narrated Talha bin 'Abdullah bin 'Auf:
I offered the funeral prayer behind Ibn Abbas and he recited Al-Fatiha and said, "You
should know that it (i.e. recitation of Al-Fatiha) is the tradition of the Prophet
Muhammad.
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