Role of the prophet
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salaam,
this has probably been discussed pretty thoroughly already, but i don't want to sift through everything trying to find it. my question is regarding everyone's views on the role of the prophet. what does it mean to obey the messenger? i know some of you believe that he said absolutely nothing outside of quranic revelation regarding islamic law. do some of you believe him to have had some divine inspiration outside of the quran? or perhaps "obey the messenger" means to follow the moral code? or follow him as a leader of the muslim ummah of the time? also, if he was given divine inspiration outside of the quran, is it possible that things like ritual salaat and hajj were divinely inspired to him, and we may follow those ways of worship? if it's true that the prophet prayed the way sunnis do, then i imagine it would be more valid to believe because it was passed down through tradition rather than oral narration. also, to what extent do you all believe in the torah? was the torah a direct revelation from God? are we obligated to study that too, since it's part of "the Book" and we are to believe in the revelations to all prophets? one more question- i heard about a book about the division of islam. supposedly there were some jewish or christian tribes at the time who educated themselves in islam and purposfully brought about the sunni/shiite division because they were afraid of the spread of islam. does anyone know of a book addressing that issue? so much to learn..... thanks!
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