with those whom Allah has blessed: the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous. What excellent companions they are!”

Allah Most High also said:

“Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, He will admit them to Gardens beneath which rivers flow.”

Through to His words:

“Whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses His limits, He will admit them to a Fire, remaining there forever.”

Allah Most High also said:

“Whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger will have the Fire of Hell, remaining there forever.”

Allah Most High also said:

“On the Day their faces are turned about in the Fire, they will say, ‘If only we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger!’”

“And they will say, ‘Our Lord, we obeyed our leaders and our great ones, and they led us astray from the path.’”

“‘Our Lord, give them double the punishment and curse them with a mighty curse.’”

Allah Most High also said:

“And on the Day the wrongdoer bites his hands, he will say, ‘If only I had followed a path with the Messenger!’”

“‘Woe to me! If only I had not taken so-and-so as a close friend!’”

“‘He led me away from the Reminder after it had come to me.’ And Satan always abandons mankind.”

These texts make it obligatory to follow the Messenger even if we do not find what he said explicitly stated in the Book, just as those verses make it obligatory to follow the Book even if we do not find what the Book says explicitly stated in a hadith from the Messenger apart from the Book. We must therefore follow the Book, and we must follow the Messenger. Following either is following the other, for the Messenger conveyed the Book, and the Book commands obedience to the Messenger.

The Book and the Messenger never contradict one another, just as no part of the Book contradicts another. Allah Most High said:

“Had it been from anyone other than Allah, they would have found much contradiction in it.”