Ash-Shaatibi said (1): (the Quran and Sunnah being in the Arabic language, none was to give an opinion therein but the Arab. Furthermore, he who does not know their objectives, it is not permissible for him to discuss in them, as he would not be able to give an opinion until he becomes knowledgeable in them; if he was so, nothing from the law would confuse him).
In the light of this introduction, in which the points of discussion in the noble verses were set out, I come back to them after disregarding the causes of their descent, and what the commentators said therein.
The important matter in this research is the elucidation of the necessity of embodiment in all that is issued from the Apostle - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him - whether Quran or Sunnah.
To this end, I limited the discussion on the points I mentioned, so that I may avoid recurrence and repetition in the discussion.
The verses of the first type, in which Allah associated the obedience to the Apostle with His obedience by means of the conjunction “waw” without recurrence of the factor sympathetic, as well as in the prohibition from disobedience; the conjunction therein implies absolute association and joining up the two conjoined, because they are dually singular (2).
What is intended by absolute association is, that it does not imply more than partnership; it does not imply indication of chronological order between the two conjoined at the time of occurrence of the sense, nor accompaniment, nor retraction and respite (3).
(Obey Allah and the Messenger), (and obey Allah and His Messenger) the conjunction “waw” implied partnership in obedience, as there is no comparison to oppose partnership in the factor, which is obedience; the obedience of the Apostle is ordered, as is obedience to Allah.
Allah Almighty also mentioned the opposite of command for obedience, which is prohibition of disobedience, although it was understood from the command for obedience. However, the indication of quotations is stronger than that of the concept or indication of necessity, and that is due to the greater interest in this Apostle - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him -, who had the honour of being included with Him in the command to obey Him and prohibit His disobedience.
Linguists and commentators have agreed that the recurrence of the factor, which is ‘obey’, indicates confirmation of His universal obedience in all that is issued from Him. Obedience to Allah in this kind of verses is achieved by following what came in His Quran, and from thence the command to obey the Apostle - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him – in what emanates from him, and obedience of the Apostle is achieved by obeying him - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him – in what he set as precedent, which was not cited in the Holy Quran by its wording, was not a commentary, or a statement, or a specific mention, or a detailed one ... But came additional to what is in the Holy Quran, and this is the secret of revealing the wording of obedience, and conjunction of obedience on obedience, and Allah knows best.
As (recurrence of the factor) indicates that what the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him – set as precedent has to be followed, complied with, acted upon, as well as comply with and obey the command of Allah - the Almighty, the Exalted – due to Allah commanding that, since the power of that was taken from the command of Almighty Allah by obeying His Apostle - peace and blessings of Allah be upon him - whether that was according to came in the rule of Allah, or was in addition to what is in the book of Allah the Almighty.
In conclusion: The recurrence of the factor in the verses in which it recurred, is an indication that Allah decides this meaning in the minds of those who throw a glimpse on His Holy Book, so that it is known to people the necessity of obedience of the Apostle in what he orders, whether it is a Quran to be recited, or other than a Quran.
Obedience of Allah would be by going back to His Holy Book, and obedience of the Messenger would be by going back to his Tradition, since if the objective was the obedience of the Holy Book, there would be no need for this recurrence.
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(1) The Congruences (3/31).
(2) What is intended by singular, that which is neither a sentence nor a prepositional phrase, such as the singular in the section on the predicate, the adjective and the accusative.
(3) The Adequate Grammar by Dr. Hassan Abbas (412:3), and Al-Ashmouni in Annotations of As-Sabban (76:3).
(4) Annotations of As-Sabban (3/77).