The defining mark of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama’at is that, together with accepting the Holy Qur’an as the foundation of religion, they understand the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), that is to say his statements and his practice, to be its exposition and the elaboration of what it sets out in principle, and that whatever has not been explained in the Holy Qur’an itself is then to be found in the Sunnah. They therefore regard the Sunnah as also being an intrinsic part of religion and something that has to be followed.