Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullah.
Did the Prophet (s) receive any communication from Allah Almighty outside of the Qur’an and if so where is this “extra-Qur’anic” revelation recorded?
A study of the Qur’an itself shows that Allah Almighty gave specific religious commandments to the Prophet (s) that were sometimes not referred to in the Qur’an until much later, often years after the Muslim community had been enacting those commandments based solely on a directive from the Prophet (s) without any Qur’anic injunction to support it.
I’ll use the incident of the switching of the Qibla from Jerusalem to Makkah as an example to show the validity of such extra-Qur’anic instructions.
Allah Almighty says:
“**We appointed **the qiblah which ye formerly observed only that We might know him who followeth the messenger…” (2:143 - This is Pickthall’s translation. Other translations are posted below).
There is no instruction in the Qur’an telling the Prophet (s) and the community of believers to face the Qibla at Jerusalem in prayer, yet Allah states that He is the one who appointed this Qibla in the first place: *"**We appointed *the qiblah which ye formerly observed…" So how did the Prophet (s) know that Allah had wished him to turn towards Jerusalem if he wasn’t commanded to do so anywhere in the Qur’an?
The point is that the Muslims had been praying towards Jerusalem for at least three years before Allah revealed the verses in Surah al-Baqarah ordering the switch to Makkah. For this three year period there was no mention in the Qur’an that Allah had commanded the Muslims to face Jerusalem, it was only when the Surah al-Baqarah verses were revealed after the migration to Madinah that the community would have realised that in fact it was Allah who initially asked them to pray towards Jerusalem - *"**We appointed *the qiblah which ye formerly observed… " - yet prior to this they were content to face Jerusalem simply because the Prophet (s) had asked them to do so even though there was nothing in the Qur’an to support it.
The initial command to face Jerusalem must have been given to the Prophet (s) outside of the Qur’an and is proof that there is another source of Islamic legislation that we need to refer to. The earliest community of Muslims obviously appreciated this additional extra-Qur’anic legislation. They were happy to carry out the Prophet’s (s) every instruction irrespective of whether that instruction was explicitly mentioned in the Qur’an or not. The switching of the Qibla is a classic case in point. When the Muslims were told to face Jerusalem (they were still in Makkah at the time) no one refused to do so by saying that there is no verse in the Qur’an that tells them to face Jerusalem. No one at that time hinted at the fact that the Prophet’s (s) instructions should first be compared to the Qur’an and if nothing is found in the Qur’an then his instruction should be rejected.
Consequently, it is understood that commands issued by the Prophet himself, even if they might appear to us not to have any Qur’anic precedent, are binding on his community. This extra-Qur’anic revelation came to be recorded in the hadith literature, and if authentically related back to the Prophet (s), these hadith constitute both an authoritative explanation of the Qur’an and a valid basis for Islamic law.
The Prophet Muhammad (s) said: “Verily I was given the Qur’an and something similar to it. There may be a man, his stomach is full and he is reclining on his couch whilst saying: ‘Hold fast to this Qur’an. Whatever you find permissible in it, take it as permissible, and whatever you find in it of prohibitions, consider it as prohibited.’ However, whatever the Messenger of Allah renders impermissible is the same as what Allah renders impermissible.” (Musnad Ahmed, Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, and al-Hakim in al-Mustadrak who authenticated it)
It is only by careful and detailed study of hadith, and the life and example of the Prophet (s) that we can fulfil Allah’s order to obey the Prophet (s). There is little value in Allah instructing us to obey the Prophet (s) and take him as an example to be followed when we do not have any record of what the Prophet (s) said and did!
And Allah knows best.
Iqbal
- I’m not mocking, as many would like to think. This is, like everything else, and honest inquiry.