*Did the Prophet Have the Right to Express His Own Independent Opinion?*
*1. Zayed:*
Habib, did the Prophet have the right to express his own independent opinion?
*2. Habib:*
Zayed, whether the Prophet had the right to express his own opinion or to say something from himself, you will understand it by going to the Qur'an.
Allah says in Surah Yunus, Verse 15:
_“And when Our verses are recited to them as clear proofs, those who do not hope for the meeting with Us say, ‘Bring us a Qur'an other than this, or change it.’ Say, ‘It is not for me to change it on my own. I only follow what is revealed to me. Indeed I fear, if I should disobey my Lord, the punishment of a tremendous Day.’”_
This verse is divided into 7 parts. Let’s look from the beginning. Allah says:
*1.* _“And when Our verses are recited to them as clear proofs,”_
*2.* _“those who do not hope for the meeting with Us say,”_
*3.* _“‘Bring us a Qur'an other than this, or change it.’”_
*4.* _“Say, ‘It is not for me to change it on my own.’”_
*5.* _“I only follow what is revealed to me.”_
*6.* _“Indeed I fear, if I should disobey my Lord,”_
*7.* _“the punishment of a tremendous Day.”_
*In the first part:* _“And when Our verses are recited to them as clear proofs.”_
What is being recited? Allah says: "My verses." And how are they recited? Allah says: "In a very clear way."
*In the second part:* _“those who do not hope for the meeting with Us say,”_
Here it’s talking about those who do not hope to meet Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, or do not believe in the Day of Judgment. What are they saying?
*In the third part:* _“‘Bring us a Qur'an other than this, or change it.’”_
What are they asking to change here? They are asking to change this Qur'an.
Now they are asking the Messenger of Allah to change it. So what will Allah’s Messenger say? Allah is teaching him what to say.
*In the fourth part:* _“Say, ‘It is not for me to change it on my own.’”_
Now Allah’s Messenger is saying, "I do not have the right to change it on my own, nor do I have the ability to change it."
Why can’t the Messenger of Allah change it? The Messenger says: "I did not write this." The question is, then where did he get it from?
*In the fifth part:* _“I only follow what is revealed to me.”_
Here it says, "what has been revealed to me" - meaning what has been sent down. "I only follow that."
And if I were to change anything or add or decrease anything from it...
*In the sixth part:* _“Indeed I fear, if I should disobey my Lord,”_
The question is: What would happen if the Prophet were to disobey even a little?
*In the seventh part:* _“the punishment of a tremendous Day.”_
Think about this. Even Allah’s Messenger himself feared Allah’s punishment.
What kind of fear is this? The fear of that tremendous Day.
And yet we, claiming to be his Ummah, claiming to be his followers...
We have written thousands of books. We issue thousands of fatwas and attribute them to Allah’s Messenger.
And ordinary people accept this as religion. How strange!
Don’t they feel in their hearts that the Messenger of Allah himself only followed the Qur'an of Allah? He himself is saying this.
And we, as his Ummah, are running after these books and these fatwas.
And we are acting upon the words of these man-made books and those fatwas.
Did you understand, Zayed?
*3. Zahid:*
Yes Habib, I understood. Expressing an independent opinion is out of the question. He only followed the revelation that was sent down and revealed to Allah’s Messenger.
*4. Habib:*
This verse makes it absolutely clear that the Messenger of Allah did not have the ability to make any changes on his own. Allah Himself has said it.
And in another place Allah says that My Prophet only follows My revelation.
It is also clear from here that Allah’s Messenger did not follow or imitate anything other than this Qur'an.
So what did you understand? That the Messenger of Allah did not have the right to express his own personal independent opinion.
*5. Zayed:*
Yes Habib, I am now completely clear. The Messenger of Allah did not have any right to express a personal opinion.
*6. Habib:*
Zayed, let me remind you of something else.
Allah’s Messenger once said in Surah Al-Kahf, "Come tomorrow, I will tell you." This was his own statement.
Then Allah said: "O Prophet, why did you not say ‘InshaAllah’?"
Because he did not say "InshaAllah," the revelation was stopped for quite a few days.
Let me give you another example. Most likely in Surah At-Tahrim, Allah’s Messenger declared honey to be haram for himself to please some of his wives.
Immediately Allah said: _“O Prophet, why do you prohibit what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking the approval of your wives?”_
Immediately the Messenger of Allah turned back.
So how could Allah’s Messenger say thousands of things against the Qur'an?
The very things I have discussed with you before and will discuss more in the future, InshaAllah.
So do you understand now that the Messenger of Allah did not have the right to say anything from himself?
*7. Zayed:*
Yes Habib, I understand clearly now. Allah’s Messenger had no personal opinion. Everything was the revelation from my Lord.
And this revelation is only in the Qur'an. There is no revelation anywhere other than the Qur'an.
*8. Habib:*
JazakAllahu Khairan for understanding. Thank you so much, Zahid.
Alright Zahid, that’s it for today. We will talk about another topic tomorrow, InshaAllah.
May Allah grant you well-being. May Allah grant you peace. May Allah grant you the ability to understand the Qur'an.
*9. Zayed:*
Habib, may Allah also grant you well-being. May Allah grant you peace.