Question:
Your Eminence Shaykh! I notice in our brother’s letter that he repeatedly says: “This is not mentioned in the Qur’an, this is not mentioned in the Qur’an.” Do you have a comment on this? May Allah reward you with goodness.
Answer:
Yes. This is the stance of a group of people (such as deviant sects like the Quraniyoon, Tolu-e-Islam, Submitters, etc) who believe that the Sunnah cannot be used as a legal authority, and that authority belongs strictly to the Qur’an alone. They argue that the Sunnah contains both weak and authentic narrations, making it confusing to them and thus unreliable as a source of law.
This view essentially means disobeying the statement of Allah—Almighty and Sublime: “Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ)” [An-Nisa’: 59]. Following their logic, it would mean: “Obey Allah only, and do not obey the Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ).”
However, the Sunnah consists of the commands and prohibitions of the Messenger ﷺ. Allah Almighty says: “And let those who oppose the Messenger’s (Muhammad ﷺ) commandment (i.e. his Sunnah - legal ways, orders, acts of worship, statements) (among the sects) beware, lest some Fitnah (disbelief, trials, afflictions, earthquakes, killing, overpowered by a tyrant) should befall them or a painful torment be inflicted on them.” [An-Nur: 63]
And Allah, Almighty and Sublime says: “And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad ﷺ) gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it).” [Al-Hashr: 7].
The Prophet ﷺ also said: “Indeed, I have been given the Qur’an and something similar to it along with it.”
Therefore, this group which believes that the Sunnah cannot be used as an authority at all is a disbelieving, misguided group. It is obligatory upon anyone who knows them to boycott them, to make them realize that they are upon falsehood, and that they have committed disbelief by this action. By denying the Sunnah, they commit disbelief and leave the fold of Islam.
Rather, it is obligatory upon every Muslim to accept the Sunnah, to act upon what is authentic within it, and to beware of denying it. Rejecting it entirely and claiming that authority belongs only to the Qur’an is the ultimate falsehood and the gravest form of disbelief. We ask Allah for safety.