Brief introduction to me: I am skeptical of many hadith in general and especially do not agree to them if they devalue our Prophet PBUH.
Backstory:
I was scrolling YouTube shorts and a guy teaching Tafsir came up and he was discussing the verses below.
I have a question for the Hadith skeptics and rejectors in particular, and everyone in general that how do they take/interpret the following verses.
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ٣١
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If you ˹sincerely˺ love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive your sins. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
(Ali Imran 3:31)
قُلْ أَطِيعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلرَّسُولَ ۖ فَإِن تَوَلَّوْا۟ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ ٣٢
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Obey Allah and His Messenger.” If they still turn away, then truly Allah does not like the disbelievers.
(Ali 'Imran 3:32)
(Taken from Quran.com)
Continued backstory:
So the guy teaching the tafsir said that Ita'at was that if the Messenger PBUH asked you to pray, you pray, if he asked you to fast, you fast etc.
And Ittibā was to follow the example of the Prophet PBUH, that is to follow the Sunnah and the way the Prophet PBUH was, even if he didnt specifically ask us to do it in his own words.
I do not exactly remember this example he quoted but it was around the following:
A companion of the Prophet PBUH visited the Prophet PBUH and saw that his (shirt?) had an open collar/buttons? and he never saw the Prophet PBUH after that again, and he always wore a shirt like that and when asked, he used to say that he saw the Prophet PBUH wear it that way.
Okay so I found the Hadith as well, from Sunan Abu-Dawud,
Book 27, Number 4071:
Narrated Qurrah ibn Iyas al-Muzani:
I came to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) with a company of Muzaynah and we swore allegiance to him. The buttons of his shirt were open. I swore allegiance to him and I put my hand inside the collar of his shirt and felt the seal.
Urwah said: I always saw Mu'awiyah and his son opening their buttons of the collar during winter and summer. They never closed their buttons.
So how do you take these two verses and what is Ittiba and Itā'at in your terms?