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Muslim Claims to Follow Allah's Orders without Following Hadeeth

Question

Can a Muslim believer claim that he should only follow what ALLAH (s.w.t.) orders him to do without any other guidance from the Hadiths of the Prophet (Blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) on how to do things? In one word only, what does Qur'an say?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Allah sent the Prophet Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) with the Quran and the Sunnah, by which He completed His Blessings on this nation. Allah Says (what means): {Just as We have sent among you a messenger from yourselves reciting to you Our verses and purifying you and teaching you the Book and wisdom and teaching you that which you did not know.} [Quran 2:151]

Allah also Says (what means): {And remember the favor of Allah upon you and what has been revealed to you of the Book and wisdom by which He instructs you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is Knowing of all things.} [Quran 2:231]

Allah further Says (what means): {And We revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them and that they might give thought.} [Quran 16:44]

In another verse Allah says (what means): {It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom - although they were before in clear error -} [Quran 62:2]

The jurists  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them interpreted the word wisdom in the verses to mean the Sunnah; this is the view of Imam Ash-Shaafi‘i and others  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them.

Furthermore, Allah has commanded the people in forty places in the Quran to follow the Prophet Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) as Allah Says (what means) {He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah; but those who turn away - We have not sent you over them as a guardian.} [Quran 4:80] There are many verses in this regard.

The Prophet Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) drew attention to this kind of people, as he said: "Soon there will come a time that a man will be reclining on his pillow, and when one of my Ahadeeth is narrated he will say: ‘The Book of Allah is (sufficient) between us and you. Whatever it states as permissible, we will take as permissible, and whatever it states as forbidden, we will take as forbidden.’ Verily, whatever the Messenger of Allah has forbidden is like that which Allah has forbidden.” [Ibn Majah]

Another narration reads: “It [the Sunnah] is indeed like the Quran”. [Al-Bukhari, Muslim, At-Tirmithi, Abu Dawood, Ibn Majah and An-Nasaa’i]

Therefore, it should not be said that the Sunnah is not like the Quran in regard to the way of narration, because Allah has distinguished this nation with chain and narration by which the truth and falsehood can be distinguished. This heritage has always been carried from scholars to scholars, and they protected the Sunnah from all kinds of forgeries, alterations and misinterpretations. The best person among the people is he who clings to the Sunnah in all matters of life.

Allah knows best.

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