Explanation of the Sunnah Part 3: The believers who lived among the Prophet

Among the reliable methods of finding, learning and following the most effective theology to connect self with Creator, is to build knowledge on evidence from primary sources. Assuming a piece of scripture is an original preserved and unchanged source (such as the Quran) then we can say this is a primary source of evidence for building knowledge of, and connection to, our Lord. First person testimony by a reliable witness of the coming of scriptural revelation upon a prophet might also be considered a primary source for theology study.

An example of a textual evidence which is not a primary source might be the Synoptic Gospels, the books known as Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which the majority of Christian scholars agree were not testimonials written by first person witnesses. Rather they were biographical constructs written from oral traditions by authors who did not witness the prophet 'Isa (Jesus, upon whom I invoke peace and blessings).

The testimony of the companions of the prophet Muhammad (upon whom I invoke peace and blessings) are known and corroborated by a rigorous science of narrative studies(a science which actually influenced the academic standards of citations to support an argument).

The study of Islamic theology, gaining knowledge of how to connect with our Creator, is reliable when it is build on the Qur'an and the hadith (narrative statements) of first person testimony of pious individuals who witnessed the revelation of scriptures. This means the Sunnah, must be learned according to the understanding of the Sahaba.