Assalamu alaykum,

For the laymen like you and me, it’s better to stick to a madhhab if possible. However, if you have a trusted scholar in your area and you ask him questions, you can follow his fatawa even if they don’t agree with your madhhab (if you follow one), and as long as they are based on sound evidences. If you don’t have such a scholar, a good website that you can go to for fatawa is IslamOnline.

And Allah knows best.

Assalamu alaykum,

Sunnah in this context refers to all that is narrated from the Prophet (sw): his acts, his sayings, and whatever he tacitly approved. Sunnah as a whole falls under this verse in the Qur’an:

“Whatsoever the Messenger gives you then take it and whatsoever he prohibits you from then refrain from it.” (al-Qur’an 59:7)

The Sunnah of the Prophet (sw) has reached us by the means of al-ḥadīth. The aḥadīth (pl. of ḥadīth) consists of a combination of a text (matn) and a chain of narration (isnaad) beginning from the Prophet (sw) and ending at the scholar who is narrating the ḥadīth.

Note: in different connotations, the term Sunnah can mean different things. To the scholars of Fiqh (Islamic Law), Sunnah refers to recommended acts and to the scholars of Uṣūl al-Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence), Sunnah, along with the Qur’an, is the primary source of legislation from which Islamic rulings are derived.

And Allah knows best.