Al-Nasāʾī and others relate that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—once noticed a sheet from the Torah in ʿUmar b. al-Khattāb’s hand. He said:

“Are you, O son of al-Khattāb, falling into the same bewilderment as the Jews and Christians? I have brought it to you shining and pure. Were Moses alive, and were you to follow him while leaving me, you would surely go astray.”

In the mursal reports of Abū Dāwūd we read: “It is sufficient misguidance for any people that they follow a scripture other than their own, one sent down to a prophet other than their prophet.”

We know with absolute, self-evident certainty, from the very fundamentals of Islam, that Muḥammad—peace and blessings be upon him—is the Messenger of Allah. Allah Most High has made obedience to him obligatory in all that he commands and belief in all that he conveys, and He has not enjoined obedience to anyone else—prophet or otherwise—except where that person’s obedience coincides with obedience to him.

Hence, when we state that “the law of those before us is law for us so long as our own law does not contradict it,” that holds only because such rulings have been legislated on the tongue of Muḥammad himself, as the evidences make clear. We also know with necessary certainty from his religion that whoever obeys him will enter Paradise; therefore there is no need, in addition, to obey anyone else—neither prophet nor muḥaddath. Those who adhere to his prophethood have no need to follow another prophet, much less a muḥaddath. Allah, exalted is He, said: “Today I have perfected your religion for you…” (Q 5:3)