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“O people of the scripture, our messenger has come to you, to 'yubbayyin' to you, after a

period of time without messengers, lest you say, "We did not receive any preacher or warner."

A preacher and warner has now come to you. God is Omnipotent.”

5:19

As with many other Quranic verses presented in this section, the content of 5:19 has also been manipulated in order to legislate the upholding of the hadith of the messenger as a second source of religious law.
The claim is that the word “yubbayyin” means to explain, and thus they add that it confirms that the we must follow all the teachings of the messenger which can be found in his hadith, for in the hadith we find the explanation to the Quran.

However, it can be shown in the light of the Quran that this claim is false.
In order to do so we review two main issues:

1- The word used in 5:19 and which is "yubbayyin" is the same word used in 3:187, as follows:

"God took a covenant from those who received the scripture: "You shall TUBBAYYINNUNNAHU it to the people, and not conceal it." However, they cast it behind their backs, and traded it away for a cheap price. Miserable indeed is what they trade." 3:187

The word "yubbayyin" used in 3:187 is the same word used in 5:19 "tubbayyinnunnahu", the only difference is that in 5:19 God is speaking about His messenger, but in 3:187 God is speaking about all who received the scripture. The meaning we get out of this is very significant.

If God is telling all who received the scripture (3:187) to "tubbayyinnunnahu" to the people, this cannot mean that every single person who received the scripture has to explain it to the rest of mankind, nor that every receiver of the scripture will have his own hadith which in turn must be followed by all other believers! Otherwise we would have millions of hadith from millions of believers, all to be followed by all believers!

There can only be one meaning for the word "tubbayyinnunnahu" in 3:187 and also in 5:19, that being that to declare the scripture and proclaim it to all people. Indeed, it is the duty of all who received the scripture, one of whom is the messenger of God, to openly declare and proclaim it to all people.

2- But even if we momentarily regard the meaning to be "explain", then this will also have its correct meaning. Here we must also read 16:64 and the message contained therein. This is because 5:19 on its own does not give the complete message regarding this issue but when we add the content of 16:64 the picture becomes complete. The words in 16:64 say:

"We have revealed this book (Quran) to you, to point out for them what they dispute, and to provide guidance and mercy for people who believe."

The words in 16:64 clearly state that the messenger can only clarify to the people by means of what is revealed to him in the book. This is also confirmed in 6:114 which states that the only source of law is the book. In addition, the messenger is prohibited from adding his own teachings to the message he received from God. If he does he would be committing a great error that would incur a severe punishment from God (see 69:44-46).

What this means is that the messenger is authorised only in delivering the message of the Quran and nothing else. All what he preaches to us from the Quran must be obeyed, but not any other teachings that do not have reference or authorisation in the Quran. To obey the messenger blindly in every word he ever uttered is the work of those who are intent on making an idol out of the messenger, and they do so by corrupting yet another Quranic verses which says “obey God and the messenger”.

Please see: “Obey God and obey the messenger”.

The moment they uphold the personal sayings of the messenger or any kind of personal teachings which are not authorised in the Quran they immediately become guilty of idol worship:

"They follow idols who decree for them religious laws never authorized by God. If it were not for the predetermined decision, they would have been judged immediately. Indeed, the transgressors have incurred a painful retribution." 42:21

One more claim made by the advocates of hadith is that the Quran contains the headlines only, and that the the hadith offers the guidance on how to apply the specific details of the religion.

Needless to say, not only does this claim show total disregard for the Quranic assurances that the book contains all the details (6:114), and that nothing has been left out of the book (6:38) and that the Quran has explanations for all things (16:89), but it also shows total disregard for the Quranic words which confirm that:

1- The only duty of the messenger is to deliver the message:
“the sole duty of the messenger is to deliver the message (Quran)” 5:92

2- The prophet Muhammad was commanded to specifically proclaim to the people that he cannot guide them:
“Say (O Muhammad), "I possess no power to harm you, nor to guide you." 72:21
“I only deliver God's words and messages." 72:23

Verily, if the messenger cannot guide the people, so much for the claim which states that the hadith offers guidance!

3- In 45:6 we are told not to believe any hadith other than the Quran:

“These are God's revelations (Quran) that We recite to you truthfully. In which hadith other than God and His revelations do they believe?” 45:6

It follows that all who say we need the hadith because it explains the Quran are in fact showing their utter rejection of the command in 45:6 for not accepting any hadith other than the Quran.

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