( يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ) (O you who have believed): Certainly, Allah (swt) calls the believers when the matter pertains to religious obligations. Believers are to carry out the requirements to prove their faith in Allah (swt). When seeking Allah’s (swt) guidance for the believers, we refer to every verse in the Holy Quran that begins with: (O you who have believed). In this verse, it is followed by the command:

( أَطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ ) (obey Allah and His Messenger): Obedience to Allah is the reflection of worshipping Him (swt). To express our love to Allah (swt) we have to obey Him (swt) and to follow His Messenger (saws), the one who conveys His (swt) Message. When Allah (swt) commands us to obedient Him (swt) and the Messenger (saws), connecting them with the conjunction (and), it signifies that obeying the Messenger (saws) is essential in obeying Allah (swt). The general rulings come from Allah (swt), while the specifics and details of the commands of the Holy Quran are elucidated by the Messenger (saws), such as the rituals of prayer and zakat….. In other words, the Prophet (saws) either clarifies general commands mentioned in the Holy Quran, or he (saws) issues commands, to which he (saws) is delegated by Allah (swt). For example, when the Prophet (saws) said:

“Two kinds of dead meat and two kinds of blood have been permitted to us. The two kinds of dead meat are fish and locusts, and the two kinds of blood are the liver and spleen.”[1]

It complements the Quranic verse:

 حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةُ وَالدَّمُ

(Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood,) (Al-Maaida: 3)

The Prophet (saws) specified fish and liver, which were not explicitly mentioned in the Holy Quran. In Islam, the sources of legislation are three: firstly, the Holy Quran; secondly, Hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet (saws)) and thirdly, approval and analogy.

( وَلَا تَوَلَّوْا عَنْهُ) (and do not turn from him): The verse does not say: ‘do not turn away from them’ because obeying the Messenger (saws) is obeying Allah (swt), so that the pronoun is unified. This is the eloquent wording of the Holy Quran. On the other hand, no one is able to turn away from Allah (swt) since turning away is to disregard. However, since the Messenger (saws) conveys the Message of Allah (swt), so turning away from the Messenger (saws) means turning away from Allah (swt). There is no division between the two whatsoever. This serves as a response to some contemporary claims made by those who profess modernity while lacking knowledge of the Book of Allah (swt) and His (swt) commands.

( وَأَنتُمْ تَسْمَعُونَ ) (while you hear [his order]): As it is known, listening is rudimentary for learning. It operates consistently at all times and it is the first sense that functions in a newborn, and communication is initially conveyed through hearing rather than writing. When Angel Gabriel first came to the Prophet (saws), he said:

 اقْرَأْ 

(Recite) (Al-Alaq: 1)

Prophet Muhammad (saws) heard then it was recorded. Therefore, hearing forms the foundation of obedience.

[1] Sunan Ibn Majah, Chapters on Food, no. 3314.