This is the reason why Allah has deemed the warning of the Prophet exclusive to the people of his time, saying: ﴿لِيُنْذِرَ مَنْ كَانَ حَيًّا وَيَحِقَّ الْقَوْلُ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ﴾[1]; “So that he warns those who are alive and justifies the word against the disbelievers.” This means that the duty of the warner is to warn those who are alive during his time, and that warning future generations is not his duty; because, in Allah’s way, future generations will have a living warner from among themselves, whose duty it is to warn them, so that he warns them according to their needs in their time. From here, it is understood that if someone knows a guide from the past but does not know the guide of his own time, his beliefs and deeds based on hadiths narrated to him from the past guide are not adequate. This is because there is no substitute for referring to the guide of the time; considering that if there were any, appointing the guide of the time would not have been necessary—while it is impossible that Allah would do anything in vain. Based on this, the lack of access to the guide of the time, if it has occurred for Muslims, has inevitably resulted from their own negligence in knowing or protecting him. Therefore, it is not considered an excuse for them to act on conjectural narrations; because, considering their action and negligence, attaining certainty through access to the guide of their time may be impossible for them, and at the same time, acting on conjectural narrations may be impermissible for them—considering that the existence of an alternative in such a case is not obligatory, and the resulting predicament is not attributed to Allah, and thus does not conflict with His mercy.

As a result, Hadith, in the sense of a solitary report—even if deemed authentic in terminology—holds no religious value and, like personal opinion, is not among the sources of Islam. A belief or deed that is established based on it is void. The foundation of religiosity is direct reference to the Book of Allah and to the living guide whom He has appointed for people; as He has said: ﴿فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ مِنِّي هُدًى فَمَنْ تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ﴾[2]; “So whenever a guide comes to you from Me, then whoever follows My guide, no fear will be upon him, nor will he grieve,” and: ﴿فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ مِنِّي هُدًى فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا يَضِلُّ وَلَا يَشْقَى﴾[3]; “So whenever a guide comes to you from Me, then whoever follows My guide neither goes astray nor falls into misery.”