Obeying the Message

Obey and Obey: ONE or Many?

We see many people prop up one or more hadith reports with the claim that we must obey such reports because Allah says “Obey Allah and obey His Messenger”. Let’s look at this more carefully.

Are these two separate sources that we are to obey?

When the Qur’an says that we have to obey the Messenger it does not stop there; it also clearly identifies exactly what it is that the Messenger is told to command. It is not what we today call ‘a blank check’.

The following verses inform us what is that divine teaching that the Messenger received from Allah and that he is then delivering to mankind;
what is the Message that we are to obey?

In Surah Al-Ma’idah, the Messenger is ordered to deliver the Divine revelation received by him, otherwise he would not have fulfilled his mission:

• “O Messenger! Deliver what has been revealed to you from your Sustainer; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from the people; surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving people.”
  — al-Ma’idah 5:67

In the above verse we see that the Messenger of Allah is ordered to deliver what has been revealed onto him.
(Or what the Qur’an identifies as “ma unzila ilaika mir…