Take Whatever the Messenger gives you ?
The verse 'So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you.' is often used by the proponents of hadeeth and sunnah to justify the institution of hadeeth and sunnah in Islam. They say that since Allah tells us to take 'whatever the messenger gives us' , the messenger has the capability of making something halal or permissible for us and since Allah tells to 'deny ourselves what the messenger withholds from us', the messenger has the capability of making something haram or forbidden to us.
Let us analyse this claim :
Is this verse correctly quoted ? The answer is NO ! This is only HALF A VERSE. Let us see the whole verse :
What God has bestowed on His Messenger from the people of the townships,- belongs to God,- to His Messenger and to kindred and orphans, the needy and the wayfarer; In order that it may not (merely) make a circuit between the wealthy among you. So take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you. And fear God; for God is strict in Punishment. (Quran : 59.7)
The phrase 'so take what the messenger assigns to you' is obviously linked to the rest of the verse and thus refers to the context- war spoils. Reading the context, 59.6-8 also gives us a clearer picture of the context.
This brings us to the question, can the messenger act as independent law-maker besides Allah ?
Say: "Shall I seek for judge other than God? - when He it is Who hath sent unto you the Book, explained in detail." (Quran : 6.114)
The acceptance of Allah alone as a judge cannot be separated from taking The Book, the quran alone as our source of law.
One must wonder why the proponents of hadeeth and sunnah need to rely on half a verse in order to justify the institution.
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