As the Only Source of Religious Law
Shall I seek other than God as a source of law,
when He has revealed to you this book fully detailed? (6:114)
The majority of today’s traditional Muslims insist on following the hadith (sayings) and sunnah (actions, deeds, or way) of Prophet Muhammad. They think that doing so would bring them closer to God, or make them more pious. What they forget is that these hadith and sunnah were recorded and attributed to the prophet some 200 years after his death even though the prophet did not allow any body to record anything other than the Quran during his life time.
The prophet himself was an example for the believers because he followed only the Quran, God’s revelations to him.
Here are a dozen reasons why believers also should follow the Quran and nothing but the Quran:
1) The Quran commands all Muslims to follow the Quran Alone, this command is found in numerous verses, the following are examples:
These are God’s revelations that We recite to you truthfully. In which hadith other than God and His revelations do they believe? (45:6)
Note the usage of the word hadith in this verse.
Shall I seek other than God as a source of law, when He has revealed to you this book fully detailed? (6:114)
2) The prophet lived his life according to the Quranic principles. No where in the Quran is there any mention of Sunnah of Muhammad! The Quran confirms that the only Sunnah is the Sunnah of God:
This is God’s eternal system, and you will find that God’s system is unchangeable. (33:62)
Literally, this verse says, “You will find that the Sunnah of Allah (God) is the only Sunnah.” Note the usage of Sunnah by God. Is this coincidence? (See also 35:43, 48:23)
3) The Quran confirms that the only duty of Muhammad (or of any messenger) is to deliver God’s message, and not to teach any other teachings:
The only duty of the messenger is to deliver God’s message. (5:99; see also 5:92, 16:35, 16:82, 24:54, 29:18, 42:48, 64:12)
4) God commands the believers to obey the prophet, but God also makes sure that the obedience to the prophet is linked to obeying the message he delivered and nothing else. Obeying the prophet does not mean that he had a Sunnah to be obeyed.
The confirmation that the obedience to the prophet is linked to obeying the message he delivered (the Quran) is confirmed in the following verse:
Obey God and obey the messenger. If you shall turn away then the sole mission of the messenger is to deliver the message (the Quran) (64:12)
Note how the obedience to the prophet and the deliverance of the Quran are linked in the same verse.
5) You will never read any where in the Quran words like “Obey God and obey Muhammad” or obey Jesus, or Moses. It is always the word “messenger” that is used in order to emphasize that what is to be obeyed is the message of God and not the personal words of any messenger.
6) The Quran also confirms that Muhammad was commanded not to teach any other teachings, otherwise he would incur severe punishment from God:
This (the Quran) is a revelation from the Lord of the universe. Had he (Muhammad) uttered any other teachings, We would have punished him, and We would have stopped the revelations to him. None of you could have helped him. (69:43-47)
7) Muhammad was made to swear that the only revelation he received from God was the Quran. The following verse confirms that all of what is known as “hadith al-qudsy” (sacred sayings) are practically lies that the prophet is innocent of:
Say (O Muhammad) “whose testimony is the greatest?” Say “God’s.” He is the witness between me and you that this Quran has been inspired to me to preach it to you and whomever it reaches… (6:19)
If the “hadith al-qudsy” was indeed God speaking to Muhammad as they falsely claim, wouldn’t the verse carry a testimony to that??
Nowhere in the Quran is there any indication that Muhammad received from God anything other than the Quran.
8) Prophet Muhammad himself commanded his people not to write his hadiths (sayings). This is historically recorded in the books of Sahih Muslim and other hadith books:
“Do not write down anything of me except the Quran. Whoever writes other than that should delete it” (Ahmed, Vol. 1, page 171; also in the books of Sahih Muslim)
9) For the first 150 years to 200 years after the death of the prophet the writing of his hadith was forbidden, in accordance with his commands. The first one to document a comprehensive collection of hadith was Al-Bukhari. Note that Al-Bukhari was born in the
year 198 after Hijrah (prophet’s emigration to Medina). What does that make you think??
Even if we were to follow the hadith, how accurate can a collection of sayings documented two centuries after the death of the prophet be??
10) God commands the prophet in the Quran to say that he is infallible in the revelation he delivers, but that he may commit errors in his personal words and hadiths:
Say “If I go astray, I go astray because of my shortcomings, and if I am rightly guided it is due to the revelation I receive from my Lord.” (34:50)
In spite of that confirmation and also six incidents in the Quran when the prophet is reprimanded by God for the errors he committed, the idolizers of Muhammad claim that he was infallible!! These incidents are found in 8:67-68, 9:43, 9:113-114, 33:37, 66:1 and 80:1-11.
11) The Quran confirms that every prophet will have enemies of the human and jinn devils who will fabricate fancy sayings and attribute them to the prophet to deceive the people:
We have permitted the enemies of every prophet, human and jinn devils, to inspire in each other fancy sayings, in order to deceive. (6:112)
God also asserts that only the disbelievers will listen to such fabrications (see 6:113)
12) Finally, we are told that the Quran is totally sufficient for the genuine believer as a source of law for the following reasons:
A- The Quran is not in need of an annex since it is complete:
“The word of your Lord is complete in truth and justice” (6:115)
B- The Quran is not in need of an explanatory supplement since it is clear and is not ambiguous:
A.L.R. These are the signs of the clear book. (12:1)
We have made it (the Quran) easy to understand and in your own tongue (language) may you take heed. (44:58)
C- The Quran is not in need of a correction manual since it is perfect and harbors no contradictions:
A.L.R. This is a book whose verses have been perfected. (11:1)
D- The Quran is not in need of a step by step guide since it is fully detailed (6:114).
For all these reasons, all Muslims should follow the Quran, the whole Quran and nothing but the Quran.
PRAISE GOD
A. Muhammad