Roles of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) Prophet Muhammad being the Last Messenger of

Allah had many important roles to fulfil which he did and these roles establishes the indespensibilty of
following the Sunnah and Hadith. There were numerous roles he fulfilled but we will discuss four roles
here. 1) Explainer of the Quran 2) Independent Legislator 3) Perfect example 4) Object of obedience
Prophet Muhammad as explainer of the Quran One of the most important roles of the Prophet
Muhammad was to convey the wordings of the Quran to mankind as it was revealed to him and at the
same time explain its finer details as well as demonstrate how the Quran is to be applied through his
own actions and words. This explanation was not from the Prophet's personal reasoning rather from
Allah. This means that both the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet are Revelations from Allah. The
various aspects of the Quran that he explained includes: ● Words whose meanings were ambiguous 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 particularised or specified. ●
Clarification of verses that were abrogated ● Provided more details of the essential portion of Quranic
Ordinances ● Emphasising and stressing by his own speech numerous verses in the Quran ● Provided
more details of the incidents mentioned in the Quran. The Messenger as an “Independent Source of
Law” This was due to the fact that some commands from Allah were only known through the Prophet
and were not mentioned in the Quran. Examples: ● Funeral Prayer and Adhan before Salah were
sanctioned by the Prophet even before the verses affirming its existence and permissibility. ● Banishing
the unmarried fornicator for one year ● Prohibition of men wearing gold or silk. Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) as a Model of Behaviour The Quran mentions Prophet Muhammad to be an
excellent Model for mankind. It is in Prophet Muhammad that we have a Perfect Example as to how the
Message of the Quran is to be implemented practically in our daily affairs. This is a special blessing
granted to the Nation of Prophet Muhammad that we have every aspect of his life recorded and
preserved which we can refer to. Hw was known as “The Living Quran” by some of his companions.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a Recipient of Obidience Allah has sent the Messenger of
Allah who is to be obeyed and this obidience to the Prophet is part of our test. It is not enough to claim
verbally that we believe in Allah and His Book. Rather it is more important to demonstrate that by
submitting to the Quran and the Sunnah. Without Prophet Muhammad’s explanation and
implementation of the Quran there is no way for anyone to know excatly how the Quran is to be applied
correctly.Indeed there is no real Islam without the Sunnah. Authority of The Sunnah vis-a-vis The Quran
Once the Authority of Sunnah is established we now need to see what place or rank the Sunnah has with
respect to the Quran legally. There are three opinions among the Scholars : The Quran takes precedence
over the Sunnah They argue that the Quran 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. Being definitely confirmed or authentic doesn't make it definite and conclusive with respect
to its legal implications). ● They state practises and statements of the companions giving the impression
that the companions first turned towards the Quran and if they couldn't find anything they would 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). ●
Quran is the asal (root) and Sunnah is Far (branch) and the asal takes precedence over the far. (This
aurgument is faulty coz it is only through the Prophet’s testimony one can know what forms part of the
Quran or the Sunnah. Hence, it is the sunnah that states what is the Quran and not vice versa). ● What
came from the Prophet may have been the result of his Ijtihad and may be subject to mistakes. (Allah
chose 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). ● Sunnah is the explaination of
the Quran and hence comes second to the thing being explained that is Quran. (In General, an
explanaion and clarification of something is in less need of the original, explained text than vice-versa).
The Sunnah Takes precedence over the Quran The basis of this opinion is that: ● The Quran is in need of
the Sunnh 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. ● The Sunnah
- Prophet’s statements - is the entire basis for knowing what the Quran is. It was Prophet Muhammad
who clarified what forms part of the Quran and what forms the part of Hadith Qudsi which is also Allah’s
statement however not verses from the Quran. Probably this opinion has more evidence than the first
opinion. However, most scholars would hesitate to go this far. The Quran and the Sunnah are Equal in
Authority (strongest of all the arguments) They are to be taken together as the sources of Shareeah. The
Proofs for this postion are: ● The obligation to obey the Messenger is independent of whether he has
recieved a book or not. And the basis for his Authority is that he is a messenger of Allah and not that he
has a book. ● Both the Quran and the Sunnah are in reality revelations from Allah. Hence those who say
that the Quran takes precedence over the Sunnah would mean that This revelation (Quran) from Allah
to the Prophet takes precedence over another Revelation (The Sunnah) from Allah to the Prophet, which
is unfounded. ● The verses of the Quran command an unrestricted obidience to the Prophet.
Furthermore, In reference to Obidience to Allah and the Prophet the conjuction ‫ )و‬and) is always used
while the conjunction ‫ )ثم‬then) is never used. Conclusion: The clear conclusion from the above is that The
Quran 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 Quran or Sunnah -
is to be obeyed unquestionably as a worship of Allah.