The Roles of the Messenger

(Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)

Being the last messenger of Allah [ ‫ ]سبحانه وتعالى‬، The

Prophet Muhammed [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬had many important roles to
fulfill towards the Muslim nation. Furthermore, these
roles show the importance of the Sunnah in Islam and
that it is of equal importance to and compliments the
Quran as a source of the Shariah.
There were numerous roles he fulfilled but we will
discuss four of them:
1) Explainer of the Qur’an
2) Independent legislator
3) Perfect example
4) Object of obedience

1) THE PROPHET MUHAMMED [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬AS THE

EXPLAINER OF THE QUR’AN:
The Prophet [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬received the revelation
from the Angel Jibreel [AS] and recited it to the
Muslims. At the same time, he also taught them the
meaning of the revelation. The role of the Prophet [ ‫]ﷺ‬
didn’t end with the conveying of the verses of the
Quran. He taught his companions, and through them he
taught us, the importance of the verses, their usage,
and how to implement them in practice.
‘Indeed, Allah has done the believers a ˹great˺ favor by
raising a messenger from among them—reciting to
them His revelations, purifying them, and teaching
them the Book and wisdom. For indeed they had
previously been clearly astray.’ [3:164]
Whenever the Messenger of Allah [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬explained any
verse, this explanation was based on Allah’s intention
or knowledge behind the verse, which Allah [ ‫]سبحانه وتعالى‬
had bestowed unto the Prophet [ ‫]ﷺ‬. Therefore, it is
clear that this explanation was not from the Prophet's
personal reasoning rather from Allah [ ‫]سبحانه وتعالى‬.
The various aspects of the Quran that he explained
includes:
● Words whose meanings were unclear or had many
possible meanings.
● Words that were misunderstood and needed to be
understood as per the context.
● Unrestricted and general commands that needed
to be particularized or specified - He [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬showed
the extent to which the verses are to be applied.
● Clarification of verses that were abrogated.
● Provided more details of the essential portion of
Quranic Ordinances – The majority of the laws of the
Qur’an are stated without their required details. It is
the Prophet [ ‫]ﷺ‬, who provided us the finest of all
details.
● Emphasizing and stressing by his own speech
numerous verses in the Quran – many of Prophet [
‫’]ﷺ‬s statements have the same meaning as some
verses of the Qur’an and they simply highlight or
further clarify the meaning of the verse.
● Provided more details of the incidents mentioned
in the Quran.

2) THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬AS AN

‘INDEPENDENT SOURCE OF LAW’:
Allah [ ‫ ]سبحانه وتعالى‬did not include all of the laws
of Islam in the Qur’an. Allah constituted some of the
Islamic laws only through the sayings and deeds of His
Messenger [ ‫]ﷺ‬. Hence, one of the roles of the
Prophet [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬was to be a source of law and what he
directed must be accepted as part of the Islamic law
or Sharee ’ah.
“˹They are˺ the ones who follow the Messenger, the
unlettered Prophet, whose description they find in their
Torah and the Gospel. He commands them to do good
and forbids them from evil, permits for them what is
lawful and forbids to them what is impure, and relieves
them from their burdens and the shackles that bound
them. ˹Only˺ those who believe in him, honor and
support him, and follow the light sent down to him will
be successful.” [7:157]
From this verse it is evident that the Messenger
[ ‫ ]ﷺ‬came to bring legislation and that this legislation
was sanctioned by his Lord and it upon the Muslim to
take this legislation.
There are many things not mentioned in the
Qur’an but were commanded by The Prophet [ ‫]ﷺ‬. For
instance, the command to pray is given in the Qur’an
but how to pray is known only through the Sunnah.
Also, there are many places in the Qur’an
where the rules established by the Prophet [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬as
part of the religion are approved by Allah [ ‫]سبحانه وتعالى‬.
For instance, the rule for funeral prayers and Adhaan.
They were commanded by the Prophet [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬even
before the revelation of verses affirming their
existence and permissibility. There are many more
examples like banishing the unmarried fornicator for
one year, the prohibition of men wearing gold or silk
etc.

3) THE PROPHET MUHAMMED [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬AS A

MODEL OF BEHAVIOUR:
“Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have an
excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah and
the Last Day, and remembers Allah often.” [33:21]
The above verse sheds light to another important role
of the Prophet Muhammed [ ‫]ﷺ‬, i.e., a perfect example
for mankind.
The Muslim nation, by the grace of Allah [ ‫]سبحانه وتعالى‬
has the hadith of the Messenger of Allah [ ‫]ﷺ‬
recorded and can practically visualize the actions of
this perfect model. This is a special blessing that has
been granted to the nation of Prophet Muhammed [ ‫]ﷺ‬
only.
 Allah [ ‫ ]سبحانه وتعالى‬has stated that the Prophet [
‫ ]ﷺ‬is the perfect example along the straight path. If
one refuses to follow the Prophet, no matter how pious
he may claim to be or how much he may claim to believe
in the moral teachings of Islam, he has actually missed
the point of what it means to act and behave in the
proper moral fashion
It is easy, for humans, to talk about good
virtues and practices. But, to have a real idea of how to
behave or act, something more is needed and Allah [
‫ ]سبحانه وتعالى‬has blessed us with that ‘something more’
through the Prophet Muhammed [ ‫]ﷺ‬. Hence, if one
truly believes in Allah and the Last Day, puts his hope
in Allah and remembers Allah often, he should pattern
his life after the one whom Allah Himself called “the
excellent example”

Qatadah reported: I said to Aisha, “O mother of

the believers, tell me about the character of the
Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon
him.” Aisha said, “Have you not read the
Quran?” I said, “O course.” Aisha said, “Verily,
the character of the Prophet of Allah was the
Quran.”
 Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 746
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according Muslim

4) THE PROPHET MUHAMMED [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬AS A

RECIPIENT OF OBEDIENCE:
The final role of the Messenger [ ‫]ﷺ‬, is one
to whom obedience is due. This is the basis of the
second half of the Shahadah, that one must believe,
love, obey and accept all that the Messenger [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬came
with. It is not enough for a person to claim just by his
tongue that he is a believer but he also must
demonstrate his truthfulness by willingly submitting to
the truth of the Qur’an and the sunnah and Allah is
knower of all things, even what is in the hearts.
“Do people think that they will be let go merely by
saying: “We believe,” and that they will not be tested,”
[29:2]
““for We indeed tested those who went before them?
Allah will most certainly ascertain those who spoke the
truth and those who lied.” [29:3]
The only true way to get close to Allah [ ‫ ]سبحانه وتعالى‬and
to receive His love is by following the Messenger [ ‫]ﷺ‬
and Obedience to Allah is equivalent to obedience to
His Messenger [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬as seen in His statement:

‫َّم ن ُيِط ِع الَّر‌ُس وَل َفَقْد َأَطاَع هَّللا‬

Without Prophet Muhammad [ ‫’]ﷺ‬s explanation and

He who obeys the Messenger thereby obeys Allah;

implementation of the Quran there is no way for

anyone to know exactly how the Quran is to be applied
correctly. Indeed there is no real Islam without the
Sunnah.

The Authority of The Sunnah vis-a-vis

The Quran
After establishing the authority of the sunnah, now we
need to know what place or rank the sunnah has with
respect to the Qur’an legally. There are three opinions
among the scholars:
 The Qur’an takes precedence over the
Sunnah:
This opinion states that the sunnah is in second ranking
to the Qur’an.
They argue that the Qur’an is:
 A Miracle, Mutawaatir (definitely confirmed),
Reciting Quran is an act of Worship. While these
things are not true for the Sunnah.
[Being a Miracle or an act of worship doesn't make the
Quran an authority over the Sunnah as far as deriving
legal issues is concerned. Also, Being definitely
confirmed or authentic doesn't make it definite and
conclusive with respect to its legal implications.]
 They state the practices of the companions giving
the impression that they would first resort to the
Qur’an and if they couldn’t find anything, they
would then turn to the sunnah.
[ On the contrary, the companions use to apply both
the Quran and the Sunnah as one integrated unit.
Whenever they heard anything of the Sunnah they use
to implement it immediately. In fact they appled the
Sunnah when they came across abrogated or restricted
verses of the Quran.]
 The Qur’an is the asal [root] and the Sunnah is it’s
far’ [branch] and the asal takes precedence over
the far’.
[This argument is faulty because it is only through the
testimony of the Prophet [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬that one knows what
forms part of the Qur’an or the Sunnah. Hence, it is
the sunnah that states what is in the Qur’an and not
vice versa.]
 What came from the Prophet may have been the
result of his Ijtihad and may be subject to
mistakes.
[Allah [ ‫ ]سبحانه وتعالى‬chose Prophet Muhammad to convey
His Message to us, And if he would have made any
mistakes Allah would not allow him to continue and
propagate that mistake to others; instead, the Prophet
[ ‫ ]ﷺ‬would be immediately corrected by Allah.]
 The sunnah is an explanation of the Qur’an and
hence, comes second to the thing being explained
i.e., the Qur’an.
[In General, an explanaion and clarification of
something is in less need of the original, explained text
than vice-versa.]

 The Sunnah takes precedence to the

Qur’an:
The basis for this opinion is that:
 The Qur’an is in need of the sunnah to explain it
and demonstrate how it is to be applied. However,
without the Quran one can still apply the Sunnah
which encomapasses the teachings of the Quran.
If the Sunnah shows that a certain verse does not
apply to a particular issue, inspite of an apparent
meaning showing that it does, then the ruling of
the sunnah takes precedence over the apparent
meaning of the Quran.

 One only knows what the Qur’an is based on the

statements of the Prophet [ ‫]ﷺ‬. Therefore, the
sunnah [the Prophet’s statements] is the entire
basis for knowing what is the Qur’an. Hence, it
takes precedence.
This opinion has more evidence than the first. But,
most scholars would hesistate to go this extreme.

 The Qur’an and the Sunnah are equal

in authority:
[ strongest of all opinions]
Both the Qur’an and the Sunnah are to be taken
together as the sources of the Shareeah.
The proofs for this position are:
 Allah [ ‫ ]سبحانه وتعالى‬has ordered for the Messenger
to be obeyed independent of whether he has
received a book or not. The basis of his authority
is that he is a messenger of Allah and not that he
has a book.
 The Qur’an and the sunnah are both in reality,
revelations from Allah. Thus, saying the Quran
takes precedence over the Sunnah would mean
that ‘This revelation (Quran) from Allah to the
Prophet [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬takes precedence over another
Revelation (The Sunnah) from Allah to the Prophet
[ ‫]ﷺ‬, which is unreasonable.
 There are many verses in the Qur’an that command
an unrestricted obedience to the Prophet [ ‫]ﷺ‬.
Also, in reference to obedience to Allah and the
Prophet [ ‫]ﷺ‬, the conjunction “ ‫( و‬and)” is always
used and not “ ‫( ثم‬then)”.
 “Obey Allah and the Messenger, so you may be shown
mercy.” [Al Imran-132]
  “Believers! Obey Allah and His Messenger and do not
turn away from him after you hear his command.”
[Surah Al-Anfal 8:20]

Conclusion:
By looking at the roles of the Messenger [ ‫]ﷺ‬, one
sees how the Qur’an and Sunnah are equal in
authority.
As an explainer of the Quran, the Messenger [ ‫]ﷺ‬
informed the Muslim how to implement the Qur’an.
Without his explanation and implementation of the
Qur’an, there would be no way for anyone to know
how exactly and correctly the Qur’an is to be
applied.
The Messenger of Allah [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬as an independent
source of law in the Shariah, shows that a legal
ruling in Islam does not have to be found in both
the Qur’an and Sunnah. If found in any one it is
valid, hence both the Qur’an and Sunnah are equal
sources of laws.
The Prophet Muhammed [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬is a perfect example
for the mankind. There is no way of life better
 than his. There is consensus in Islam that if the
life of the Messenger [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬can be used to derive
virtuous acts, it is a source of guidance equal to
the Qur’an. Therefore, its intended meaning was
conveyed, this shows that both are needed
together to convey a message.
The fact that both the Qur’an and Sunnah
command the obedience of the Messenger [ ‫]ﷺ‬
along with Allah [ ‫ ]سبحانه وتعالى‬together shows the
equal standing of both.

The clear and final conclusion from above

is that the Qur’an and the Sunnah are equal in status
when it comes to being authorities in Islamic Laws.
Following the book of Allah as well as following and
obeying the Prophet are acts of worship - not to the
prophet but to Allah Himself. Hence, what the Prophet
conveys of revelation from Allah - be it Qur’an or
Sunnah - is to be obeyed unquestionably as a worship
of Allah.

NAME: N.Safiya Fathima Sheikh

URL: https://en.kiu.org/
KIU Id: 2110014
EMAIL: safiyafathima720@gmail.com
COURSE DETAILS: Authority of the Sunnah 201.
TOPIC: The Roles of the Messenger [ ‫ ]ﷺ‬and their
contribution to one’s understanding of the position of
the Sunnah vis-à-vis the Quran.