Discarding the Sunnah

Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam) said: “Let me not find one of you, reclining on his couch, when he hears something regarding what I have commanded or forbidden saying: ‘We do not know. What we found in Allah's Book we have followed.’ [Abu Daud]

This is a good description of the casual attitude with which some Muslims, unfortunately, discard the Sunnah of our Prophet (sal Allahu alaihi wasallam). Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) repeatedly links obedience of Allah to obedience of His Messenger. Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) says: “And whoever obeys the Messenger, thereby obeys Allah.” (4:80) and “Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, refrain from it.” (59:7) Innumerable ayaat of the Quran itself condemn having a ‘Quran only’ approach. To divorce the Sunnah from Islam is to render Islam ineffective. For example, the Quran says to pray but without the Sunnah how would we know how to pray?