The claim: the Qur'an says "obey God, the Messenger and those in authority" (4:59); "whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and abstain from what he forbids" (59:7); in the Messenger there is "a beautiful example (uswa)" (33:21). So the Prophet's extra-Qur'anic sunnah is an independent and binding source.
The Messenger's defined task in the Qur'an
The Qur'an repeatedly frames the Prophet's duty as conveyance/clarification:
- "The Messenger's duty is only to convey." (5:99; also 16:35; 24:54)
- "Upon you is only the conveying." (42:48)
- "You are only a reminder; you are not a controller over them." (88:21-22)
What does "obey the Messenger" cover?
- "Whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed God." (4:80) — since he judges by revelation, obeying him is obeying the revelation he brings.
- "We sent down to you the Book in truth, that you may judge between people." (4:105) — the basis of the Prophet's judgement is also the Book.
- The context of 59:7 is Sūrat al-Ḥashr, the distribution of fayʾ/spoils; "what he gives you" there is the material share — generalising it, torn from context, to "his every saying" is a stretch.
An honest limit
These verses command obedience to the Prophet — that is undisputed. What is disputed is the interpretation: does this obedience require an independent, binding corpus of sunnah outside the Qur'an, or is it the conveying and applying of the revelation? The traditional reading says the former, the Qur'an-centred reading the latter. We give both with their sources; we do not declare either "settled."
Source: Qur'anic verses (M. Okuyan meal). Presented with a text/interpretation distinction.