And whatever the Messenger has given you, take it: Someone will ask me: What is the meaning of the Almighty’s saying: {And whatever the Messenger has given you, take it, and what he has forbidden you, refrain from it.} I say: First, this is part of the verse of Al-Hashr 7, which talks about the spoils of war and their uses. God Almighty says: {Whatever Allah has bestowed upon His Messenger from the people of the towns is for Allah and for the Messenger and for the near relatives and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer, so that it will not be a circulating share among the rich among you. And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.} Second: Allah the Almighty says: {And whatever the Messenger has given you - take it}. Giving is giving as in His saying: {And give the orphans their property} and in His saying: {And give the women their dowries as a free gift}. It is bringing as in His saying: {Give us our food} and in His saying: {Bring me sheets of iron}. It is the action as in His saying: {And those of your women who commit lewdness}. All of these fall within the scope of the verse, i.e. the spoils and their uses. Therefore, we see that the specificity of the context does not allow us to generalize it and apply it to everything mentioned in the books of hadith. However, on the other hand, we do not deny that obeying the Messenger in matters such as rituals is obligatory just like obeying Allah exactly, because it comes coupled with them as in His saying: {And obey Allah and the Messenger} and that obeying him in his life is obligatory in all matters. From this aspect, the aspect of obligatory obedience to the Messenger, I say that the Messenger generally has a basic mission that God Almighty has entrusted to him, which is to convey the message revealed to him with its commands and prohibitions to the people, after he convinces them of the truth of his prophethood, armed with the clear signs that his Lord chose him with. We note that all the Messengers before the Arab Prophet (PBUH), their signs were outside the messages revealed to them. Abraham’s sign was the fire, which God made cool and peaceful, Moses had nine signs, the number of which He Almighty has listed in the Wise Revelation, and Jesus’ sign was that he was born from a mother without a father, and that he revived the dead and healed the sick with God’s permission. So after the people believed in the prophethood of the Prophet by witnessing his signs, they obeyed him, took what he gave them and refrained from what he forbade them from taking, may God’s prayers be upon them all. As for the Arab Prophet (PBUH), the sign of his prophethood was for a matter that God wanted, included in the folds of the revelation that he was charged with conveying, announcing and communicating to the people. That is, the inspired wise revelation includes between its covers the signs of prophethood and the message of the Arab Messenger Muhammad bin Abdullah (PBUH). Hence, the mission of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was to convey to the people the cosmic signs and the news of the first creation that proves that he is a prophet, in light of what his people know about him of truthfulness and illiteracy. This explains to us to some extent the absence of the legislative aspect of orders and prohibitions from the Meccan verses and their clear appearance in the Medinan verses, and if they exist, they are moral and human in content. As a prelude to the people’s belief in his prophethood, the role of the Messenger begins in conveying the message, and we understand all of this completely when we differentiate between prophethood and message, as prophethood can be believed or denied, while message can be obedience or disobedience. ........ Dr. Muhammad Shahrour, may God have mercy on him.