Obey God and the messenger
By AHMED OKLA
 

Many people try to find the excuse of refusing to believe God in His own book, when He commanded us to follow the QURAN ALONE by referring to the verses that repeatedly order us to "Obey God and the messenger." A recent response by Mr. Ahmed Parker reflect this old Inherited thought that anything that the prophet Muhammed did, even turning in his own bed is part of this religion. While this reflects the short sight of those who cannot accept the words of God and prefer the words of the Scholars, it is exactly what we see happening here on this forum. No wonder that God described those who follow the words of the Scholars instead of His words as idol-worshipers, see 9:31  

God Almighty, the author of the Quran, has told us that everything in this universe is under His control. The Quran, being God's final message to the world has to be under complete control of the Almighty. Its Suras, verses, words, letters, numbers, the order of revelation, the order of writing of the Quran, the unique spelling of some words e.g. Becca instead of Mecca, the choice of verbs, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, ... etc., the beginning and end of any specific verse or sura, the length of the individual verses and suras, the naming of the Suras, the names of people mentioned in the Quran, e.g.: Mary, Muhammed, Noah ... etc., everything that has to do with the Quran. Any Muslim (Submitter) who does not believe that God has this kind of control should not call himself a Muslim (Submitter in English). The student of the Quran will always learn as permitted by the Most Gracious, as only He, is the Teacher of the Quran, See 55:1-2.  

"Obey God and Obey Muhammed." Any student of the Quran will object right away to this expression that he/she never heard before. Its music does not go with the rest of the Glorious Quran. We always hear, "Obey God and obey the messenger ... " but never "Obey God and Obey Muhammed."  

What is the difference, if any?  

Let us find out first if God mentioned Muhammed by name, in the Quran. We know, He did, actually four times. In 3:144, 33:40, 47:2 and 48:29.  

How many times did God tell us to "Obey the messenger”? There are more than 25 times in the Quran, where God ordered us to obey the messenger. Not a single time did God say "Obey Muhammed"  

Is this a co-incidnce or a deliberate order?  

Only true believers know that everything in God's world is deliberate, nothing is a co-incidence. Let us find out what God is teaching us about Muhammed.  

"Say, (0 Muhammed) "I am no more than a human being like you .... " 18:110  

God Almighty knowing that the Prophet Muhammed is a human being like we, will live his life and run his business like any human being would. He would make mistakes, get angry, have fears, ... etc. Muhammed the human being was the messenger only because of the message given to him, the QURAN. Muhammed without the Quran is only a human being like us. God wants it to be very distinct to obey the person that has the message, the Quran, for what he has not for who he is.  

Obey the messenger is conditional on having the message, the Quran. Obey the messenger because of the message he has, the QURAN. Obey the messenger means to follow his message that is given to him, the QURAN.  

Muhammed without the message is just a regular human being, he frowned and turned away when the blind poor man came to him, (See 80:1-11), he feared the people when he was supposed to fear only God, (See 33:37), and he prohibited what he should not prohibit, (See 66:1)  

And that is why, there has never been a single order in the Quran from the Most Cognizant to "Obey Muhammed." If we were to obey Muhammed the human being, (not the messenger), we were to frown at the poor, fear the people instead of God and prohibit what God did not. We are required to obey the messenger, because it is the message (QURAN) that made the obedience a requirement, not the person, Muhammed, that made it a requirement. For those who claim to follow the Hadiths books, these books have also enough history showing that the first Muslims followed Muhammed in QURAN ALONE, not in every aspect of life as the scholars claimed. We read of the stories of the Prophet Muhammed telling the people of Medina, not to post the male pollen grains of the Palm trees on top of the female Palm trees and in that year no dates were produced, and when they asked him why? He admitted that he made a mistake and told them "you are more familiar with your own worldly matters." During his battles the Prophet used to consult his military advisors and they used to ask him when he offers a solution, whether his solution is inspiration from God and when he said no, they corrected him. If everything he did was inspiration, they would not have to ask him and correct him. People who believe God in the Quran do not need these stories but for those who prefers stories over the Quran I gave them two.  

Those who study Arabic know that the word (Rasool) in Arabic means both the messenger and the message. So, when God says, obey the (Rasool), He means both the messenger and the message (QURAN). Both are inseparable. When the messenger, the human being is dead, the true messenger among us becomes the message itself, in this case, the QURAN. God Almighty has called the Quran (Rasool) on many occasions, e.g., 5:15, 11: 1-3, 14: 1, 27:2, 32:3, 34:6, 42:52, & 65:11.  

One great example of the distinction between obeying the messenger (For what he has) (the Quran) and obeying the human being, is what God told Muhammed's wives; in Sura 33,  

"0 wives of the prophet, if any of you commits gross sin, the retribution will be doubled for her. This is easy for God to do. Anyone of you who obeys GOD and His MESSENGER, and leads a righteous life, we will grant her double the recompense, and we have prepared for her a generous provision." 33:30-31  

Notice the order here for the prophet's wives to obey the Messenger, not their husband or Muhammed. If God would have said to them to obey their husband, the unconditional obedience of the wife to her husband would have been decreed. If God would have said, obey Muhammed, it would have made the unconditional obedience of Muhammed a decree. God wants them and wants us to obey the messenger (for the message he has, the QURAN). 

Muhammed the human being was given the great honor of being chosen the final prophet of God to deliver the final message, the OURAN, and was described as "blessed with a great moral character" in 68:4.  

We, however, have to remember not to make any distinction between him and the rest of God's messengers, See 2:285  

Those who accept the Quran accept the order from God to "obey the messenger" by following his message, the Quran ALONE. The book that God described as complete, perfect, fully detailed and having details of everything. See 12:111  

" ... this is not a fabricated Hadith, this (OURAN) confirms all previous scriptures, provides the details of EVERYTHING, and is a beacon and mercy for those who believe." 12:111  

SALAM

---Written by Ahmed Okla --
--1995—CompuServe--Islam Forum 

[ back to the top of this page ]