that restrict the lawfulness of the food of the People of the Book to grains; that restrict the lawfulness of marrying women from among the People of the Book to temporary marriage; that generalize the prohibition of the four foods to the prohibition of animals other than swine; and other such narrations. It is clear that none of these narrations that conflict with the Quran could have been issued by the Prophet, unless they are by way of recommendation or discouragement, as non-binding rulings in cases where they are applicable. This is because deeming something recommended or detested that the Quran has deemed permissible—without making it obligatory or forbidden, in whole or in part—is not considered abrogating or specifying the Quran, given that detestation or recommendation of something permissible does not contradict its permissibility, and adherence to it, and accordingly awareness of it, is not necessary. From here, it is understood that assessing narrations against the Quran is necessary in the limited cases where reliance on them is permissible; because their agreement or non-contradiction with the Quran is a precondition for their authenticity. A narration that contradicts the Quran—even if it is authentic in the view of the Ahl al-Hadith—cannot be binding; because the basis of the authenticity of a narration is not the assumptions of the Ahl al-Hadith, but rather rational certainty about its issuance, which cannot be achieved if it conflicts with the Quran.

The Prophet of Allah

The second source of Islam is the Prophet of Allah. He is the one to whom Allah has privately revealed His will and obligated him to reveal it to others, given that all people need to know Allah’s will in order to attain their perfection by acting upon it, and they have no way to know it except through communication with Allah. However, they are unable to establish such communication on their own; for this reason, it is incumbent upon Allah to establish communication from His side with at least one of them, inform him of His will, and obligate him to inform others of it. In this sense, that person is called a “Nabi,” meaning one who informs.