Among Muslims, there is rarely much debate about whether Muhammad was a prophet of Allah. Far more often, discussions arise around a different question: which of his words and actions constitute a binding part of the religion for all Muslims, and which belong to the historical circumstances of his life?
At first glance, the question seems simple. If the Prophet said or did something, is that not enough to make it obligatory? However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that this is precisely where one of the most important discussions in Islamic thought begins.
The issue is not respect or disrespect toward the Prophet. The issue is how to distinguish revelation from historical information, religious law from human experience, and binding commands from personal examples.
What Nearly All Muslims Agree On
Virtually all Muslims agree that the Qur’an is the revelation of Allah and the primary source of the religion.
The Qur’an describes itself as guidance for humanity, a criterion between truth and falsehood, and a fully explained Scripture:
“Shall I seek a judge other than Allah when He has sent down to you the Book fully explained?” (Qur’an 6:114)
Through the Qur’an, humanity learns about belief in the One God, the Day of Judgment, moral principles, justice, prayer, fasting, and other foundations of Islam.
Therefore, when a Muslim says, “This is a command from Allah,” it is natural to expect that such a command has a clear basis in revelation.
But what happens when the discussion concerns reports about the Prophet’s words or actions rather than the Qur’an itself?
Is Attribution to the Prophet Alone Sufficient?
Consider two statements.
- The first: “Allah commands justice.”
This statement has a direct Qur’anic foundation.
- The second: “This action is obligatory because the Prophet practiced it.”
At this point, an additional question arises: how do we know that the action was actually performed in that exact manner, and how do we know that it was intended as a religious obligation for all Muslims?
These are two separate questions, yet they are often treated as one.
Even if a report about the Prophet is historically authentic, it does not automatically follow that it establishes a binding law for the entire Muslim community.
For example, most Muslims do not consider it obligatory to wear the same clothing, eat the same foods, or use the same household items that the Prophet used.
This means that Muslims themselves already distinguish between religious prescriptions and aspects of the Prophet’s human life.
The natural question then becomes: by what principle is this distinction made?
The Prophet as Messenger and the Prophet as a Human Being
The Qur’an repeatedly reminds us that prophets were human beings:
“Say: I am only a human being like you. It is revealed to me that your God is One God.” (Qur’an 18:110)
This verse contains two dimensions at once.
- On the one hand, the Prophet is human.
- On the other hand, he receives revelation.
It is revelation that makes him a Messenger.
Therefore, an important distinction arises between what is connected to conveying Allah’s message and what belongs to the personal life of the Prophet.
When the Prophet conveys revelation, Muslims are dealing with religion.
When the discussion concerns daily life, historical circumstances, or personal preferences, the matter is less straightforward.
Without making this distinction, there is a risk of turning virtually every detail of historical life into religious law.
What Can We Learn from the Example of Dates?
A useful example is the widespread practice of breaking the fast with dates.
Many Muslims do this because reports exist stating that the Prophet broke his fast with dates. By itself, there is nothing problematic about that. The question begins when a person stops asking what exactly is being followed.
Is one following a religious command?
Or is one following a practical example?
If we turn to the Qur’an, we do not find any statement declaring dates to be a sacred fruit or requiring Muslims to break their fast specifically with them.
Therefore, dates do not receive a special religious status from the Qur’an itself.
This leads to another question: why did the practice become widespread?
Many people stop at simply repeating the action. Yet Allah repeatedly calls people to reflect, observe, and use reason.
If dates are genuinely beneficial after a period of abstaining from food and drink, then a deeper lesson may be present. Perhaps what matters is not the specific fruit itself but the principle of making a wise nutritional choice after a prolonged fast.
Viewed only through form, the lesson becomes:
“Eat dates because the Prophet ate dates.”
Viewed through meaning, the lesson becomes:
“Be thoughtful about what you use to break your fast.”
In the second case, the Muslim is not merely copying an action but trying to understand its purpose and benefit.
This approach does not diminish respect for the Prophet’s example. On the contrary, it requires a deeper engagement with it. One no longer settles for mechanical imitation but seeks to understand the wisdom that may lie behind the action.
Another important conclusion follows.
To understand the possible benefits of particular foods, knowledge is required. One must study nutrition, physiology, and the effects of food on the human body.
The pursuit of knowledge therefore cannot be limited to religious subjects alone.
The Qur’an repeatedly draws attention to the natural world, creation, and reflection upon what Allah has made.
If the entire universe is Allah’s creation, then studying it also becomes part of reflecting on His signs.
Perhaps one lesson from this example is that following the Prophet does not always mean mechanically reproducing a form. Sometimes it requires understanding the purpose, wisdom, and benefit behind an action.
The Problem of Human Transmission
At this point, another important issue emerges.
The Qur’an reached Muslims as a mass-transmitted text whose preservation is connected by the Qur’an itself to the will of Allah:
“Indeed, We sent down the Reminder, and indeed We will preserve it.” (Qur’an 15:9)
Reports about the Prophet’s words and actions, however, were transmitted by people, recorded by people, evaluated by people, and classified by people.
This does not mean such reports are necessarily false.
But it does mean they belong to the realm of historical knowledge, and historical knowledge always contains an element of human judgment.
Even the most respected collections of hadith are the result of extensive scholarly efforts in which researchers evaluated narrators and reports according to the methods available to them.
Therefore, the statement “this report is considered authentic” is not identical to the statement “this is absolutely proven revelation from Allah.”
There is a fundamental distinction between the two.
When Does Probability Become Law?
This brings us to the central question.
Suppose a particular report is considered authentic.
Is that alone sufficient to declare it binding law for all Muslims?
Or does legal obligation require a stronger foundation?
If a ruling concerns religious duties, prohibitions, or norms affecting millions of people over centuries, it is reasonable to expect the strongest possible basis.
The more serious the claim, the higher the standard of evidence should be.
Otherwise, there is a risk of attributing obligations to Allah that He Himself did not establish.
The Qur’an warns:
“Say: My Lord has only forbidden indecencies, whether open or hidden, sin, unjust oppression, associating with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and saying about Allah that which you do not know.” (Qur’an 7:33)
For this reason, the question of what makes something binding is not a secondary debate but a matter of religious responsibility.
A More Cautious Approach
None of this means that a Muslim must reject everything outside the Qur’an.
What it does mean is that different levels of certainty should be distinguished.
What is clearly established by the Qur’an possesses the highest degree of reliability.
What is supported by historical reports and does not contradict the Qur’an may be regarded as beneficial knowledge, an example, or a probable understanding.
However, turning every historical report into a binding religious law requires separate justification.
It is not enough merely to show that a report exists. One must explain why it should become a religious obligation for every Muslim.
Conclusion
The question is not whether the Prophet should be respected. For Muslims, that question has long been settled.
The question is different: how does a particular statement or action become a binding part of the religion?
If a Muslim claims that something is an obligation, a prohibition, or a law from Allah, a natural question follows:
On what basis?
The closer a claim is to a clear Qur’anic text, the stronger its foundation.
The more it depends on human transmission, evaluation, and interpretation, the more cautiously one should speak in the name of Allah.
That is why questions of obligation cannot be settled merely through appeals to authority, habit, or popularity. They require evidence.
Because religious law is not simply an opinion about religion. It is a claim about what Allah expects from humanity.
