Posted at Oct 11/2007 01:41AM:
aviad: The sunna, literally "example of the prophet," is the second of three sources of Islamic scripture. It is made up of two components that set a standard Islamic way of living based on the Prophet's own life. The first section includes the Prophet's habitual actions, and the second section, called the Hadith, includes sayings of the prophet not included in the Q'uran.

The sunna is significant because it is the basis for much Islamic ritualistic practice. As the first record of the Prophet's life, it is also an important historical record of early Islam in Mecca and Medina (against which there is little archaeological data to work with).

Posted at Oct 15/2007 03:39PM:
Ian: It is important not only for ritual practice but for all fomrs of social action. In this way it can serve as unique aid to archaeology in trying to recognize the social behavior of Muslim groups. Does it then become a lens for reading the archaeological record if we know what Msulims should be doing?