What are the dictates of God? These are preserved in the sources of Islam: the Quran and the Sunnah. Both the Quran and Sunnah were transmitted to us through the last Messenger of God, Muhammad bin Abdullah. The Quran is no new heavenly scripture. It is only an original edition of the previous heavenly scriptures. In this respect, the Quran is a book for all human beings of all nations. It is the expression of God’s mercy for one and all. It is a comprehensive message sent by God to each one of us. The Quran is a light of guidance for the world, just as the sun is the source of light and heat. The Sunnah can be described as the sayings and the actions of the last prophet of God: Prophet Muhammad. Through the Sunnah, we obtain examples from the life of the Prophet, who is a model for a believer. Whatever the Prophet did, said, or approved of is a source of Islam, just as the Quran. The Prophet’s role is not overemphasized: his life was dictated by what the Creator desired, and the Messenger did not add or subtract to Islam according to his whim.
According to a hadith: Copy Arabic text (Muwatta Imam Malik 3338) The Prophet said: I have left two heavy things amongst you. As long as you hold fast to them, you won't go astray. They are: God's Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet. If you want to know about any matter, you should refer to the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. You can also add the Sahaba's model to this. We need to see the Quran, Prophet's Sunnah and the actions of the Sahaba. This is the model on the basis of which we should judge matters. We make the mistake of forming an idea or criterion based on our mindset, and try to follow that. We don’t try to understand whether the step we are taking is according to the Quran. Consider, debate for example.
In debates, people clap jubilantly and feel happy when they listen to the speakers. The criterion is whether people clapped and if they became overjoyed when they heard speeches at the time of the Prophet. Did the speeches feed people's pride? This wasn’t so.
You will know what happened there if you read. People used to become quiet after listening to the Prophet's speeches. They would go into introspection. The criterion of an Islamic speech is that people should go into introspection after listening to it. If they start clapping, that's a deviation. This is not according to the Prophet's model. We have to follow this in every matter: in belief, worship, morals, gatherings and so on.
