Allah says,O you who believe, obey Allah and His Messenger ... [Al-Quran8:20]Say: obey Allah and obey the Messenger ... [Al-Quran24:54] He says,Obey Allah and the Messenger and perhaps you will be shown mercy.[Al-Quran3:132]If you obey him, you will be guided ... [Al-Quran24:54]Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah ... [Al-Quran4:79]That what the Messenger brings you and leave what he forbids you ... [Al-Quran59:7]Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger is with those whom Allah has blessed.[Al-Quran4:68]We did not send any Messenger but for him to be obeyed by the permission of Allah.[Al-Quran4:63] He made obeying His Messenger tantamount to obeying Himself, and He placed obedience to Himself alongside obedience to His Messenger. Allah promises that doing this will result in an abundant reward and threatens a severe punishment for opposing it. He made it obligatory to obey the things that the Prophet commanded and to avoid those he prohibited. The commentators and Imams have said that obeying the Messenger means to cling to hisSunnahand submit to what he brought. They said that Allah did not send a Messenger without obliging those to whom he was sent to obey him and that obeying the Messenger in hisSunnahis equivalent to obeying Allah in His obligations. Sahl at-Tustari was asked about theShariahof Islam and he quoted,Take what the Messenger brings you.[Al-Quran59:7] As-Samarqandi said that it was said: obey Allah in His obligations and the Messenger in hisSunnah. It is also said: obey Allah regarding what He makes forbidden for you and obey the Messenger regarding what he conveys to you. It is said that it means to obey Allah by testifying that He is the Lord and to obey the Prophet by testifying to his prophethood. Abu Salamah ibn Abdur-Rahman heard Abu Hurayrah say that the Messenger of Allah said,Whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah. Whoever rebels against me has rebelled against Allah. Whoever obeys my Amir has obeyed me. Whoever rebels against my Amir has disobeyed me.[Muslim and al-Bukhari] Obeying the Messenger is part of obeying Allah since Allah commands that he be obeyed. True obedience is obedience to Allahs command and therefore obedience to His Prophet. Allah talks about the unbelievers in the depths of the Fire saying,On the day when their faces are turned over in the Fire, they will say, Would that we had obeyed Allah and that we had obeyed the Messenger. [Al-Quran33:66] They will wish they had obeyed when the wish will not profit them. The Prophet said,When I forbid you to do something, avoid it. When I command you to do something, then do it as much as you are able.[Muslim and al-Bukhari] In thehadithof Abu Hurayrah we find that the Prophet said,All of my community will enter the Garden except for those who refuse to.They asked, O Messenger of Allah, who will refuse? He replied,Whoever obeys me will enter the Garden. Whoever rebels against me has refused.[Al-Hakim] In another soundhadiththe Prophet said,My likeness and the likeness of what Allah has sent me with is like a man who comes to a people and says, O people, I have seen the army with my own eyes and I am a sincere warner, so save yourselves! One group of his people obey him and they travel at the beginning of the night, go at their leisure and are saved. Another group reject him and remain where they are and the army arrives in the morning and wipes them out. Such is the likeness of those who obey me and follow what I bring and the likeness of those who rebel against me and deny what I bring.[Al-Bukhari] In a similarhadithwe find,It is like someone who builds a house and lays out a fine feast in it and sends out a summoner. Whoever does not answer the summoner does not enter the house and eat from the feast.[Muslim and al-Bukhari] The house is the Gardens and the summoner is Muhammad,may Allah bless and grant him peace. Whoever obeys Muhammad has obeyed Allah. Whoever rebels against the Messenger of Allah has rebelled against Allah. Muhammad distinguishes between people. The Obligation to Follow Him and Obey HisSunnah As for the obligation to follow him and obey hisSunnahand follow his guidance, Allah says,Say: if you love Allah, follow me and He will love you and forgive you your wrong actions.[Al-Quran3:31]Believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet who believes in Allah and His words. Follow him, perhaps you will be guided.[Al-Quran7:157]No, by your Lord, they will not believe until they ask you to judge between them in what they disagree about and then they shall find in themselves no impediment touching your verdict, but shall surrender in full submission.[Al-Quran4:64] i.e. obey your judgement. Allah also says,You have a good model in the Messenger of Allah for one who hopes for Allah and the Last Day.[Al-Quran33:21] Muhammad ibn Ali at-Tirmidhi said,To take the Messenger as a model means to emulate him, follow hissunnahand abandon opposition to him in either word or action.Several commentators said words to that effect. It is said that this was intended as a criticism of those who fail to follow him. Sahl said that theayatfrom theFatihah(Surah1),The path of those whom You have blessed,means to follow thesunnah. Allah commands this and promises they will be guided by following him by reason of the fact that Allah has sent him with the guidance and theDinof the truth to purify them, teach them the Book and the Wisdom, and to guide them to the straight path. In the firstayatmentioned, Allah promises His love and forgiveness to those who follow the Prophet and prefer him to their own passions and inclinations. Soundness of belief is based on submission to the Prophet and satisfaction with his judgement and abandoning opposition to him. It is related from al-Hasan al-Basri that some people said,Messenger of Allah, we love Allah,so Allah revealed,Say: if you love Allah, follow me and Allah will love you.[Al-Quran3:31] It is related that this verse was revealed about Kab ibn Ashraf and others. They said,We are the sons of Allah and His beloveds,[Al-Quran5:20] andWe are stronger in love for Allah,[Al-Quran2:165] so Allah revealed thisayat. Az-Zajjaj says that the meaning of,Say: if you love Allah, is if you desire to obey Him, then do what He had commanded you to do since the love of the slave of Allah and the Messenger lies in obeying both of them and being happy with what they command. Allahs love for them is His pardon to them and His blessing them with His mercy. It is said that love from Allah manifests itself in protection and success. Love on the part of the slaves manifests and in obedience. A poet (al-Mahmud ibn al-Hasan al-Warraq): Do you rebel against God when you claim to love Him? By my life, this is an extraordinary example! If your love had been true, then you would have obeyed Him. The lover obeys the one he loves. It is said that the slaves love for Allah is to exalt Him and be in awe of Him, and the love of Allah for him is His mercy to him and His beautiful concern for him. It can also mean praise. Al-Qushayri said,When love means mercy, desire and praise, it is one of the attributes of Allahs essence.More will be said concerning the slave loving something else by the power of Allah. Al-Irbad ibn Sarriyah relayed the warning of the Prophet,You must follow my sunnah and the sunnah of the Rightly-Guided Khaliphs. Cling to it fiercely and beware of new things. These new things are innovations, and every innovation is misguidance.Jabir added,Every misguidance is in the fire.[Muslim] Abu Rafi reported that the Prophet said,Do not let any of you be found reclining on his bed when he hears an injunction from me which is from among those things which I myself commanded or forbade so that he says, I do not know. We only follow what we find in the Book of Allah. [Ash-Shafii inal-Umm, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah. A soundhadith] Aisha said,The Messenger of Allah did something as an example in order to make things easier for people but some people still refrained from doing it. When the Prophet heard about that, he praised Allah and said,What do you think of people who refrain from anything that I myself do? By Allah, I am the greatest of them in knowledge of Allah and the strongest of them in fear of Allah.[Muslim and al-Bukhari] It is related that the Prophet said,TheQuranis hard and difficult for anyone who hates it. It is judgement. Whoever clings to what I say and understands it and retains it, then it will be like the Quran for him. Whoever considers the Quran and what I say unimportant and neglects it loses this world and the Next. My community is commanded to take my words and obey my commands and follow my sunnah. Whoever is pleased with my words is pleased with the Quran. Allah says,Take what the Messenger brings you.[Abush-Shaykh, ad-Daylami and Abu Nuaym from al-Hakam ibn Umayr. TheayatisAl-Quran59:7] The Prophet said,Whoever follows me is of me and whoever wants to abandon my sunnah is not of me.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 18:06:22 +0000
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