Listen to your argument with the Sunnis!
Basma Khalifa
17 August 2012
In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
4:26 GOD wills to explain things for you, and to guide you through past precedents, and to redeem you. GOD is Omniscient, Most Wise.
Quran, the Best Hadith (39:23) and the Most Accurate History (12:3) was revealed by God to all generations and eras (38:87, 68:52, 81:27). It is a guide and a divine, verifiable document that establishes the detailed laws needed for our wellbeing as societies and our salvation as individuals. In Quran, God has set the most beautiful examples and the most righteous precedents for mankind to reflect, take heed, judge and make choices.
Of all the many precedents set in Quran, we find the true history of God’s messengers and those who believe speaks loud and clear and sets the most beneficial lessons. We always have the choice to either repeat that wonderful history by following its guidance or repeat the history of the disbelievers, the idol worshipers and the hypocrites. Which history is the vast majority of Muslims repeating? and which history should we, submitters, choose to repeat?
6:34 The history of My messengers thus sets the precedents for you.
12:111 In their history, there is a lesson for those who possess intelligence. This is not fabricated Hadith; this (Quran)confirms all previous scriptures, provides the details of everything, and is a beacon and mercy for those who believe.
A living example of overlooking the righteous precedents in Quran and following some man-made doctrines instead is the existing practices and beliefs of the majority of Muslims based on what they refer to as “Hadith and Sunna”.
As submitters and followers of Quran alone, we often argue with the Sunnis about the Quran’s concepts of “obey God and obey the messenger- 47:33”, “following the good example of the prophet- 33:21” , “we hear and we obey- 2:285”, or “he is not speaking on his own- 53:3”. Such verses have been widely abused by religious leaders to justify why Muslims must follow the man-made “Hadith and Sunna”. We know full well that such abuse is nothing but a twist of the word of God beyond its general context and a selective application of Quran. When we argue with them, we all try to get their attention to certain crystal clear facts from Quran:
- The sole duty of the messenger as defined by God is nothing but to DELIVER the message of God (29:18, 16:82, 88:21). Thus, obeying the messenger is simply established by obeying and following Quran.
- Quran is proclaimed by God as the ONLY divine, fully detailed and infallible source of laws and guidance that contains everything we need for our salvation (6:19, 6:114, 17:46, 18:27, 6:51).
- God commanded His prophet to strictly preach, promote, recite/utter and follow NOTHING but Quran (5:48-50, 6:19, 27:91-92, 50:45, 69:40-45, 75:18).
- God clearly stated that Quran is the ONLY and the BEST Hadith (52:34, 77:50, 39:23), and that the ONLY sunna we must follow is GOD’S SUNNA (15:13, 17:77-twice- 33:38, 33:62 -twice- 35:43 -twice- 40:85, 48:23 -twice).
- God teaches us that following other sources besides His is what defines idol worship (3:79, 39:29, 6:112-113, 39:45). Idol worship is unforgivable if we maintain until death (4:116).
- Furthermore, we often direct their attention to examine the righteous example and precedent set by Prophet Muhammad within Quran. That way, they can have a better grasp of what actually constitutes a “good example” based on Quran itself.
The following are just a few from among many examples that set a righteous precedent of how we obey and adopt the path of a messenger, and what good examples we should follow in the messengers’ history. All audience & followers of God’s messengers should heed the guidance of these examples. Moreover, these examples are so applicable to some of us, who have been blessed to live in the era of God’s Messenger of the Covenant, Dr. Rashad Khalifa:
Prophet Muhammad was commanded to do his best in delivering God’s message, without haste and without adding his own “understanding/explanations”. He thus uttered and preached nothing but Quran. Why would any messenger after him be commanded differently? We are all to follow such an example. We would be obeying the messenger when we recite, promote and follow nothing but what God has revealed:
5:67 O you messenger, deliver what is revealed to you from your Lord – until you do, you have not delivered His message – and GOD will protect you from the people. GOD does not guide the disbelieving people.
Quran, the Whole Quran, and Nothing But the Quran
6:19 Say, “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. Indeed, you bear witness that there are other gods* beside GOD.” Say, “I do not testify as you do; there is only one god, and I disown your idolatry.”
5:49 You shall rule among them in accordance with GOD’s revelations to you. Do not follow their wishes, and beware lest they divert you from some of GOD’s revelations to you. If they turn away, then know that GOD wills to punish them for some of their sins. Indeed, many people are wicked.
5:50 Is it the law of the days of ignorance that they seek to uphold? Whose law is better than GOD’s for those who have attained certainty?
20:114 Most Exalted is GOD, the only true King. Do not rush into uttering the Quran before it is revealed to you, and say, “My Lord, increase my knowledge.”
Muhammad Forbidden from Explaining the Quran
75:16 Do not move your tongue to hasten it.
75:17 It is we who will collect it into Quran.
75:18 Once we recite it, you shall follow such a Quran.
75:19 Then it is we who will explain it.
33:2 Follow what is revealed to you from your Lord. GOD is fully Cognizant of everything you all do.
Muhammad Forbidden from Issuing any Religious Teachings
69:44 Had he uttered any other teachings.
69:45 We would have punished him.
69:46 We would have stopped the revelations to him.
69:47 None of you could have helped him.
When we grasp the divine context of the above verses, we realize that it would be only abuse of the word of God to believe that the processes of explanation in 5:19, or teaching in 2:151, or clarification in 14:4, meant by God, is to add volumes of words to the word of God. What is meant by God is that teaching, explaining or clarifying the scripture is nothing but its delivery and recitation to bring it in the forefront and spot light. This is basically the literal meaning of the word “yobayyen” used by God in 5:19, and translated as “explain”. When Quran is recited, the teachings are delivered, taught and explained. Quran, itself, is a book of teachings from the Supreme Teacher. When it is recited, we are simply listening to nothing but the teachings and the explanations of the Most Gracious.
- Prophet Muhammad was commanded not to prohibit lawful things. When he wrongly did that (33:37, 66:1), he was exposed by God almighty and his mistakes were rendered as lessons for us. We should do the same and never issue any prohibitions without the guidance of Quran.
- Prophet Muhammad was commanded to strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, be stern with them and to never obey them. This is an example that we, too, must follow in obeying the messenger (9:73, 33:1).
- A good example is set for us by the prophet and those who believe to never waver or surrender in the face of those who unjustly wage war against us (33:21-22).
- Also, there are numerous verses in Quran that command the messengers to “say” certain things for their audience. These verses speak directly to all believers and followers of Quran, and set many other good examples to follow:
- The example of being stern but humble at the same time: (3:64)
- Setting the truth straight but with humility: (6:50), (6:66), (46:9)
- Placing the monotheistic concept in the spot light: (2:135)
- Dealing with man-made laws: (10:59)
- Positively delivering the good news: (3:15)
- Using good logic: (6:14-15), (6:46)
- Respecting God’s given gift of freedom to each and every human on earth irrespective of their belief: (6:135), (6:147), (109:1-6)
And many more, all over Quran… What God’s messengers are instructed to “say” sets the precedent for all generations, teaching them what to say and how to deal with similar situations.
All the above guides us in our arguments with the Sunnis and illustrates how to “hear and obey” and how to follow the “good example” of Prophet Muhammad.
The questions are now for us, community of submitters and followers of Quran alone:
- Are we actually reflecting on our very own argument with the Sunnis?
- Can we use it as a righteous scale to determine our very own deviation?
- Can’t we see that sometimes we fall into the deception that we are above the rules, that we got it all and we are not candidates for that same Satanic trap?
Isn’t contradictory to claim Quran as the only divine and verifiable source of guidance, then place man-made translations as the ultimate source of reference and neglect what God says in black & white in His Quran?
Isn’t disturbing that we advise the Sunnis that they need nothing but Quran, and that Quran is the Best and Infallible Hadith but it is permissible for us to promote and declare some man-made materials of the messenger to be perfect teachings from God? Doesn’t this remind us with the old Satanic jock, “Hadith Qudsi”, or the group of the so-called “Divine Hadiths” that all Sunnis unshakably believe they were given to prophet Muhammad, by God, to complete Quran, thus, considered equal to the Quran?
Are we listening to ourselves? to our arguments with the Sunnis?
Unfortunately, we often meet submitters who choose to repeat the same exact history of those they put down all the time (Sunnis) without perceiving. They amazingly abuse the same exact verses/statements the Sunnis have been abusing and they spread the falsehood of considering the materials left by the messenger from God since they are “original” – do we remember the term “Authentic Hadith”? Do we notice the resemblance, the pattern? Why can’t they choose the righteous history narrated in Quran to repeat?
In conclusion, here is a sincere reminder for all of us : while we take it on our shoulders to invite the Sunnis to examine the good example of prophet Muhammad within Quran and to learn how to obey him by obeying and following Quran, we should listen very carefully to ourselves. We might be the ones in need of learning from these good examples and precedents how to respect, follow and obey God’s Messenger of the Covenant.
Peaceful Friday,
Salaam and God bless,
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