By Sunna, says Dr. Sprenger, is meant Usage, or the Law of custom.
There is, he thinks, among Oriental nations an irrepressible craving, unknown
to us in the West, after " the positive"; they must have, not only
their religious duties, but the law civil and criminal, and even the commonest
details of life-eating, drinking, dress, etc.-prescribed for them by Divine
command.1 The Coran failed to fully satisfy this need; and so
resort was had to the precepts and practice of the Prophet himself ; and hence
the authority of the Sunna, which professes to hand down the tradition of
Mahomet's utterances, habits, and actions.