Allaah is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He created everything not because He depends on them but out of His Divine Will and Wish. Allaah says, "He to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and Who has begotten no son (children or offspring) and for Whom there is no partner in the dominion.
He has created everything, and has measured it exactly according to its due measurements". [Q 25:2] , As human-beings it is not for us to question Him on why He created us the way we are, rather, what is expected of us is to submit ourselves to His instruction in total submission by obeying His instruction and "AND WHO EVER OBEYS ALLAAH AND HIS MESSENGER HE HAS INDEED ACHIEVED A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT [I.E. HE WILL BE SAVED FROM HELL-FIRE AND MADE TO ENTER PARADISE].[Q 33:71] staying way from the things that He has forbidden for us. We should also ponder about the purpose of our creation. Obeying Allaahs instruction will bring us happiness in this world and success in the Hereafter.
Allaah says, "And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hellfire and made to enter Paradise).[Q33:71] What is obedience to Allaah? Before we discuss obedience to Allaah the first thing we need to know is the definition of obedience. Obedience is from the word obey. It is defined as the act of following instructions, complying with rules and regulations, or submitting to somebodys authority.
Therefore, we can say obedience to Allaah is the act of following the instructions of Allaah, complying with His rules and regulations and submitting to His authority. Obedience to Allaah means the dutiful and submissive [Islam means to submit] compliance with what Allaah has revealed in His Book, the Quran; and the Sunnah of His last Messenger Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] ..As a matter of fact it will be wrong for anyone to think that he can obey Allaah by looking into the Quran and applying it the way he understands it. It will be worse if someone thinks that he does not need the Sunnah [words, actions and approval] of the Prophet [peace and blessings of be upon him] and that the Quran is solely sufficient for him as a guide.
Why do we need the Sunnah of the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him]? Sometimes people ask: "Why do we need to use the Sunnah of the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] when the Book of Allaah is amongst us and we understand Arabic and therefore, can apply it ourselves?" The simple answer is that the very Book of Allaah [the Quran] commands us to follow the Sunnah! It is in the Quran itself that Allaah instructs us to follow the Sunnah or ways of the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him].
Let us look at some of the things Allaah says concerning following the Sunnah of the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him];
Render not your deeds in vain! Allaah says; "0 you who believe! Obey Allaah, and obey the Messenger (Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] ) and render not vain your deeds." [Q 47:33]. In this verse, Allaah issues a warning to the believers concerning following their Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him]. The simple meaning is that whoever does not follow or obey the instruction of the Messenger of Allaah will only render his deeds in vain.
Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] is the teacher. Allaah says; "He [Allaah] it is who sent among the unlettered ones a messenger (Muhammad peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) from among themselves, reciting to them His verses, purifying them (from the filth of disbelief and polytheism), and teaching them the book (this Qur'an, Islamic laws and Islamic jurisprudence) and Al-Hikmah (As-Sunnah: legal ways, orders, acts of worship, etc. of prophet Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him]). And verily, they had been before in manifest error."[Q 62:2] In this verse, Allaah tells us that the reasons that He has sent the prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] is; to teach us Qurﾒan and purifying us from all the evil of disbelieve and sins.
Therefore , we can see clearly that it will be wrong to say you will only act by what Allaah, says and not act by what the prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] has said.
Obeying Muhammad = Obeying Allaah: Allaah says;"He who obeys the messenger (Muhammad SAW), has indeed obeyed Allaah, but he who turns away, then we have not sent you (O Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him]) as a watcher over them." [Q 4:80]. This verse gives up a simple instruction as to the way to obey Allaah.
So whoever wants to obey Allaah should do so by simply obeying the prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him]
Disobedience to the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is plain error: Allaah says; "it is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allaah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allaah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed in a plain error."[Q33 :36}. In this verse Allaah makes it clear to us that disobeying the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] will only lead a person into misguidance and error. Disobedience leads to Hell-Fire Allaah says; "And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him]) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers way. We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell- what an evil destination. [Q4: 115]
Obedience of Muhammad =Love of Allaah: AlIaah says; "Say (O Muhammad): "Obey Allaah and the Messenger (Muhammad)." But if they turn away, then Allaah. does not like the disbelievers." [Q3:32]
All Muslims will enter Paradise except. ..! The Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] said; "All my followers will enter Paradise except those who refuse." They [the companions] said, "0 Allaahs Messenger! Who will refuse?" He said, "Whoever obeys me will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys me is the one who refuses (to enter it). " [Bukhari]
These are some of the evidences that show that It is compulsory for us to follow the instruction of the Prophet [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him]. This is where true obedience to Allaah lies. We can also see that not obeying the Prophet of Allaah [peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him] will lead to punishment in this world and most certain in the Hereafter.
To show this, here is a story of a community in the past that disobeyed Allaah.
The Sabbath-Breakers Allaah the Almighty says: "And ask them (O Muhammad (peace and blessings of AIlaah be upon him )) about the town that was by the sea; when they transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath (i.e. Saturday): when their fish came to them openly on the Sabbath day, and did not come to them on the day they had no Sabbath. Thus We made a trial of them, for they used to rebel against AIlaah's Command (disobey AIlaah). And when a community among thein said: Why do you preach to a people whom AIlaah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe torment?" (The preachers) said: "in order to be free from guilt before your Lord (AIaah), and perhaps they may fear AIlaah. " So when they forgot the reminder that had been given to them, We rescued those who forbade evil, but We seized those who did wrong with a severe torment because they used to rebel against Allaahs Command (disobey AIlaah). S when they exceeded the limits of what they were prohibited. We said to them: If you monkeys, despised and rejected." (Q 7:163- 166).
Allaah says in another verse, "And indeed you knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath (I.e. Saturday). We said to them: "Be you monkeys, despised and rejected." So We made this punishment an example to their own and to succeeding generations and a lesson to those who are AI-Muttaqun (the pious)". (Q 2: 65-66)
Who are the Sab -Breakers? Abdullah Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, lkrimah, Qatadah, As-Sadiy and 0thers said that they were the people of Aylah. Ibn Abbas [RA] added that it was located between Madyan and At-Tur.
According to the above, the people of aylah were adhering attentively to the teaching of the Torah and the prohibition of fishing on the Sabbath at that time. Amazingly, the fish used to appear openly on Saturdays and disappear on the other days of the week. " ..when their fish came to them openly on the Sabbath day, and did not come to them on the day they had no Sabbath". Almighty Allaah says, "Thus We made a trial of them for they used to rebel against AIlaah's Command (disobey AIlaah)". That is, We test them by sending great numbers of fish on the Sabbath because of their disobedience and rebellion.
Their Trick! When the people saw this, they devised a trick to harness the fish of Sabbath day. They fixed their fishing nets and ropes and drugs streams that would allow the seawater to run through and the fish to enter but never go back to sea. They made all this on Friday, in preparation for the coming of the fish on Saturday. And thus, the fish came on the supposedly peaceful day, not knowing what had been prepared against them. They were caught in the nets ,ropes and artificial streams.
The curse of Allaah and the groups! when the Saturday came to an end , the people of Aylah were present to take their fat catch. Consequently, Allaah the almighty was angry with them, and He cursed them for their trickery and their deception. When this was done by a group of them, the rest who had not participated in their sinful action were divided into two groups. One group rejected their actions and trickery against the Law and Command of Allaah the almighty at that time.
The second group did not reject or forbid them; rather they disapproved of the reaction of the first group that forbade the sinful ones, saying; Why do you preach to a people whom Allaah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe torment ? In the other words , what is the gain in preaching to a people who inevitably be punished by Allaah the Almighty? But the first group, the preachers, replied: ﾓIn order to be free from guilt before your lord (Allaah). And perhaps they may fear Allaah. That is we are commanded by Him to enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil.
Thus, we do this out of our fear of His Torment. And perhaps those who committed these sins may repent to Allaah and regret what they have done and thus be saved from the. punishment of Allaah and He will forgive them all. Allaah the Almighty says: "So when they forgot the reminder that had been given to them We rescued those who forbade evil". That is, when they were heedless towards the godly preachers, We rescued the preaching group. But "We seized those who did wrong with a severe torment". That is, We seized the doers of the sinful deed with a painful punishment "because they used to rebel against Allaah's Command (disobey Allaah)". `Be you Monkeys" Then Allaah explains the torment that befell them: So when they exceeded the limits of what they were prohibited ,We said to them: Be you monkeys, despised and rejected.
Here, the point is that Allaah the Almighty informs us that, He destroyed the wrong-doers, saved the preaching believers, and left the believers who did not enjoin the good and forbid the evil. The third group of people was not punished by Allaah because they tried to prevent the people from the evil that they were doing. Thus ,Allaah did not punish them. It should be noted here that the second group of non-sinners were not mentioned with those rescued, even though they despised the sinful deed with their hearts. This is because they should have compelled their organs (tongue & hand) to act and declare their rejection of the wrong-doers act.
So , they were saved with the preachers because they themselves did not commit the sinful deed, but rather rejected it with their hearts. Those who committed the sinful deed were abandoned by the rest of the people of the town. Some of them , the preachers, declared their rejection and denial of their deed. The sinners did not listen to them. Afterwards , they used to say the night apart from the rest of the people of the town, and there were doors or barriers between them and the rest of the people, were anticipating the punishment to befall .them. One day, their doors did not open till the noon.
The people became anxious and sent someone to look over the barrier to see what had happened to the sinners. When he looked, he found them turned into monkeys with tails, shouting. They opened the doors of the barrier, and the monkeys recognized their relatives while their relatives could not recognize them. At that the preachers said, "Did not we forbid you from doing this?" The monkeys made a sign with their heads denoting yes.
Then, Abdullah Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) wept and said: Verily, we see many wrongdoings which. we do not reject or deny or even make a comment! Al-`Ufi narrated after Ibn `Abbas (may Allaah be pleased with him): The young men of the town were turned into monkeys, while the old men were turned into pigs.
Moreover , Ibn Abu Hatim narrated from Muhajid from Ibn `Abbas his saying: They did not live long and they left no offspring . Also ,Ad-Dahhaq narrated from Ibn `Abbas (may Allaah be pleased with him): No Monster lived more than three days. In addition, they did not eat , drink or leave offspring.
From this history we can see that as Muslims it is very important for us to stay away from what Allaah has forbidden us from and do what we have been commanded to do. We should also know that we cannot play tricks with Allaah because Allaah knows every of our actions even before we perform those actions. It is also important to know that we should reject evil and forbid it in as much as Allaah has given us the ability to be able to do it.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited