In Islamic ideology, obeying the prophet is an obligation. This has been mentioned at many places in the Qur\u2019an. Some references in this context are as under:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sent not any Messenger, but to be obeyed, in accordance with the will of Allah.\u201d\u00a0[Qur\u2019an 4:64]<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>\u201cAnd whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it).\u201d\u00a0[Qur\u2019an 59:7]<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>\u201cObey Allah and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you, If you differ in anything among yourselves refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you do believe in Allah and the last day, that is best and most suitable for final determination.\u201d\u00a0[Qur\u2019an 4:59]<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>\u201cIt is not fitting for a believer, man or woman when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option in their decision. If anyone disobeys Allah and His apostle, he is indeed on a clearly wrong path.\u201d\u00a0[Qur\u2019an 33:36]<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>\u201cBut no, By the Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make you\u00a0(Muhammad\u00a0<\/em>\ufdfa<\/em>)<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against your decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction.\u201d\u00a0[Qur\u2019an 4:65]<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>\u201cSay (O Muhammad\u00a0<\/em>\ufdfa), If you do love Allah, follow me.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>[Qur<\/em>\u2019<\/em>an 3:31]<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>\u201cHe who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad\u00a0<\/em>\ufdfa<\/em>) obeys Allah.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/em>[Qur<\/em>\u2019<\/em>an 4:80]<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cObey Allah and obey the Messenger\u00a0and make not your deeds vain!\u201d\u00a0[Qur\u2019an 47:33]<\/em><\/p>\n Obeying the Prophet is as important as obeying Allah since Allah Himself has ordered us to obey him. The other reason why he has to be followed and obeyed is that Qur\u2019an was revealed to the Prophet and we are dependent on his guidance regarding the correct interpretation of directives given to us. Without his guidance it is not possible to comprehend the commandments of Allah in the Qur\u2019an. Since Prophet is guided by Allah, his verdict is the right verdict and in order to understand things in their correct perspective, the Prophet has to be obeyed and followed.<\/p>\n Therefore, we cannot exclude the traditions and regulations (i.e. Sunnah according to Islamic terminology) established by the Prophet while interpreting and following the commandments of the Qur\u2019an. This was warned by the Prophet himself when he said:<\/p>\n \u201cBeware! I have been given the Qur\u2019an and something like it, yet the time is coming when a man replete on his couch will say: Keep to the Qur\u2019an; what you find in it to be permissible treat as permissible, and what you find in it to be prohibited treat as prohibited. Beware! It is not permissible for you to eat the meat of a domestic donkey (perhaps indicating that this directive cannot be inferred from the Qur\u2019an only).\u201d\u00a0[<\/em>Abu Dawud #4604]<\/em><\/p>\n Obedience to the Prophet was not restricted to his lifetime only. It remains an obligation even after his death as it relates to all mankind and not only to those who were present in his time. In Qur\u2019an Allah says:<\/p>\n ” And We have not sent you but as a bearer of good news and as a warner to all mankind, but most men know not ”\u00a0[34:28]<\/em><\/p>\n ” … And this Quran has been revealed to me that with it\u00a0I may warn you and whom so ever it reaches… ”\u00a0[6:19]<\/em><\/p>\n Prophet himself said:<\/p>\n ” Everyone from my ummah will go to heaven except for that person who denies. The companions of the Prophet asked, who that person could be. Allah’s Messenger replied: whoever obeys me, will go to heaven and whoever disobeys me, denies\u00a0(i.e. denies going to heaven)”\u00a0[Bukhari]<\/em><\/p>\n Obedience to the Prophet in his lifetime was straightforward in a sense that one could resolve the ambiguities by directly asking him. However, after his death his obedience can only be accomplished by following what he said and did during his lifetime. This is commonly known as \u201cHadith\u201d or \u201cSunnah\u201d according to Islamic terminology. In other words, one has to rely on historical accounts to follow the Prophet after his death.<\/p>\n Since it\u2019s a matter of faith, Muslim historians did a great deal in preserving history that relates to Hadith of the Prophet. The profiles of narrators were established and scrutinized before anything could be accepted from them since attributing anything towards the Prophet which he never said or did is considered a great sin in Islam. Anas bin Malik (a companion of the Prophet) is reported to have said:<\/p>\n “What prevents me from reporting many ahadith (traditions of Prophet)\u00a0is that I heard Allah’s Messenger saying: He who intentionally attributes lies to me, surely, will find his abode in Hell-Fire”\u00a0[Bukhari & Muslim]<\/em><\/p>\n Nevertheless, there are many unauthentic, weak and fabricated narrations along with the authentic ones for which one has to be very careful. The detailed criteria of sorting out the correct and incorrect narrations is not within the scope of this discussion and requires a separate article.<\/p>\n It is a common misconception that all historical accounts of the Prophet were written down 200 years after his death. There is substantial evidence to support the fact that writing and preserving the traditions of the Prophet had started in the lifetime of the Prophet by his companions which continued afterwards. Whereas it is acknowledged that incorrect and doubtful narrations do exist but it does not mean that the whole lot of historical account regarding the Prophet\u2019s life is unreliable. There are sufficient authentic and uncontroversial narrations that help us to follow the Prophet even after his death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Islamic ideology, obeying the prophet is an obligation. This has been mentioned at many places in the Qur\u2019an. Some references in this context are as under: \u201cWe sent not any Messenger, but to be obeyed, in accordance with the will of Allah.\u201d\u00a0[Qur\u2019an 4:64] \u00a0\u201cAnd whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatsoever he … Continue reading Obeying The Prophet<\/span>