Anyone who loves the Prophet (saws) must follow his sunnah.

                   

                   Anyone who loves the Prophet (saws) must follow his sunnah.

There are different kinds of sunnah - his (saws) manners, practices, actions, words and his approvals. 

When it comes to his manners there are three types. 

The First is the As- Sunnatul Qawliyyah - The sayings or statements of the Messenger of (saws).

The Second is As- Sunnatul Faeliyyah - the deeds and actions of Prophet (saws).

The Third kind is As- Sunnatul Taqreeriyyah - the approvals of the prophet (saws). 

An examples of Sunnatul qawliyyah can be understood from this hadith.

We learn that Aisha reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “When one of you eats a meal, let him begin in the name of Allah. If he forgets to say it in the beginning, let him say: In the name of Allah, in its beginning and its ending.

Any deed of the prophet (saws) is considered as AsSunnatil Faeliyyah - Some of the sunnahs of the prophet (saws) is to straighten our rows and standing shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot before the congregational prayer. The prophet saws would say the takbeer after the rows were straight. This was the action of our prophet (saws).

As an example of  As sunnatul Taqreeriyyah a report narrated by al-Tirmidhi (422) and Abu Dawood (1267) from Qays ibn ‘Amr  said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came out when the iqaamah for prayer had been given, and I prayed Fajr with him, then the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) finished and found me praying. He said, “Take it easy, O Qays. Two prayers together?” I said, “O Messenger of Allaah, I did not pray the two rak’ahs before Fajr.” He said, “No, then.” According to the version narrated by Abu Dawood, the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) remained silent. This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi. 

Al-Khattaabi said: 

This shows that the one who misses the two rak'ahs before the obligatory prayer may offer them after the prayer, before the sun rises.

Because the silence of the prophet (saws) meant his approval. 

Because technically when the Fard Salah is established then there is no other sunnah prayer. We must pray the Fard immediately first. But here the prophet saws did not do this action himself either and neither did he ask others to do it. But what happened in this instance is he approved the action of praying the two missed sunnah after the Fard of Fajr prayer when someone else did it - this is an example of As-Sunnatul Taqreeriyyah.

To start the process of growing a plant we have to put in the seed first. Hence the foundation of our actions is the intention behind it.

Therefore we must always intend to follow the sunnah. Intention is the basis of reward for deeds. 

The good intention we have for our deen is sometimes clear in our head and sometimes it is not. But either way it will be accepted in sha Allah because we intend to please Allah by following the sunnah. 

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Verily Allah does not look to your faces and your wealth but He looks to your heart and to your deeds.

Hence we must practice our deeds according to the Sunnah and not be focused on beautifying only the appearance of ourselves,homes or rides. 

Because Allah SWT is not concerned with our outward superficial appearance. 

We always focus on things we find interesting and important. Similarly Allah is focusing on what He thinks is important. He focuses on our deeds and character. This is indeed something to ponder about. It shows how valuable our deeds are than any of our material wealth ,appearance or any other thing in the world.