Obey Allah and obey the Messenger - What do we understand?
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Peace to all.
In several places in the Qur'an, we come across verses urging Muslims to obey Allah and obey the messenger. What does Allah mean?
The followers of al-Hadith will claim that 'obey the messenger' means obey the so called al-Hadith. I disagree with this.
I equally disagree with the explanation that obey the Messenger simply means obey Allah because the statement when substituted will become irrational (Obey Allah and obey Allah)
Human beings live as a community. A community has a leader. The Apostles were the leaders of their communities (of believers).
Al-Qur'an provide specific intructions in certain issues and provide general guidelines for many others.
A leader is expected to rule and judge among his peope using the Qur'an alone.
The judgement or instructions given out by the leader must not be explicit verses of the Qur'an though they must be based on al-Qur'an. Consider insturctions like to stay in a place during war and the kinds of weapon to use.
Obey the messenger therefore is to obey the leader of the community as long as he judges by the Qur'an.
While obeying such leaders translates into obedience of Allah, it is not as direct as obey Allah (in the first part of the phrase) connotes.
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Salaamun alaikum Omieza,
Obey Allah and the messenger does equate to the same thing
O ye who believe! Obey God and His Apostle, and turn not away FROM HIM (anHU ) when ye hear (8/20)
We're obeying Allah but the command comes from the messenger.
Ar-rasul has also roles in the islamic movement such as leader in conflicts, economic planning, judgement etc.
So essentially, I do agree with you.