Gareth Bryant Writes

al-Muqaddimah/Prelude

Allah states:

“And be patient for your Lord.”

(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.74, V.7)

This-Āyah/Verse was revealed to Muhammad (Peace be upon them), by Allah, as a Divine-Instruction to have as-Sabr/Patience with what Allah commands&prohibits.

Now…as per the Article-Title…

…what’s “Prophetic-Mandate” and “Prophetic-Privilege”?!!!

GoodQuestion…

…#Answer:

Prophetic-Mandate

Anything/everything which has been revealed, by Allah, to Muhammad as per at-Tashrī`/Legislation, which All-Muslims are Islāmically-Obligated to abide by. Such Things include observing anything/everything Islāmically-Obligatory as well as avoiding anything/everything Islāmically-Prohibitory.

https://gbwrites.com/2013/08/17/quranandsunnahjointly/

Prophetic-Privilege

Anything/everything which Muhammad chose to do, tolerate, allow, etc. during their Lifetime which was neither prophibited nor abrogated via at-Tanzī/Revelation.

https://gbwrites.com/2019/11/13/quranism/

An Easy-Way to diffentiate…

…via ash-Sharī`ah (Islāmic-Law)

Anything Mafrūdh/Obligatory:

Prophetic-Mandate

Anything Mustahāb/Recommended:

Prophetic-Privilege

Anything Mubāh/Neutral:

Prophetic-Privilege

Anything Makrūh/Detested:

Prophetic-Privilege

Anything Mahrūm/Prohibitory:

Prophetic-Mandate

Some-Amthāl/Examples via ash-Sharī`ah

Mafrūdh:

Believing in Allah precisely how Muhammad did.

(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.59, V.7; an-Nawawī)

Mustahāb:

Multiple-Wives

(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.4, V.3)

Mubāh:

Wearing Arab/Middle-Eastern Clothing

Makrūh:

Divorce

(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.65)

Mahrūm:

Disrespecting one’s Parents

(al-Kabā’ir/The Major-Sins, adh-Dhahabī)

What’s the Sabab/Reason behind detailing “Prophetic-Mandate” vs. “Prophetic-Privilege”?!!!

#GoodQuestion…

…#Answer:

It’s because as Muslims, via the Modern-World: everyone thinks they’ve Islāmic-Knowledge. Ironically, though, covering a Subject like this will always exposes how much Muslims truly don’t know. The Fact that there’s Muslims who think “Sunnah” either means everything Muhammad did was “Mandatory”, and there’s Muslims who think “Sunnah” means everything Muhammad did was “Optional”, is quite disturbing. It equally directly indicates how comfortable Certain-Muslims are with being ignorant.

To conclude, this is precisely how/why having Authentic-Knowledge is so important. Authentic-Knowledge frees a Person from Comfortable-Ignorance, Apathy, etc.

Gareth Bryant