Excerpt: On Legal Knowledge
29. Someone asked me: What is [legal] knowledge and how much should men know of it?
30. Shafi’i replied: Legal knowledge is of two kinds: one is for the general public, and no sober and mature person should be ignorant of it.
31. He asked: For example?
32. [Shafi’i] replied: For example, that the daily prayers are five, that men owe it to God to fast the month of Ramadan, to make the pilgrimage to the [Sacred] House whenever they are able, and to [pay] the legal alms in their estate; that He [God] has prohibited usury, adultery, homicide, theft, [the drinking of] wine, and [everything] of that sort which He has obligated men to comprehend, to perform, to pay in their property, and to abstain from [because] He has forbidden it to them.
This kind of knowledge may be found textually in the Book of God, or may be found generally among the people of Islam. The public relates it from the preceding public and ascribes it to the Apostle of God, nobody ever questioning its ascription or its binding force upon them. It is the kind of knowledge which admits of error neither in its narrative nor in its interpretation; it is not permissible to question it.
33. He asked:
What is the second kind?
34. Shafi’i replied:
It consists of the detailed duties and rules obligatory on men, concerning which there exists neither a text in the Book of God, nor regarding most of them, a sunna. Whenever a sunna exists [in this case], it is of the kind related by few authorities, not by the public, and is subject to different interpretations arrived at by analogy.
35. He asked:
Is [legal knowledge on this kind as obligatory as the other, or is it not obligatory so that he who acquires such knowledge performs a supererogatory act, and he who neglects it falls not into error? Or, is there a third kind, derived from a narrative (khabar) or analogy?
36. [
Shafi’i] replied: There is a third kind [of knowledge].
37. He asked: Will you explain it, give its source, and state what [portion] of it is obligatory, and on whom it is binding and on whom it is not binding?
38. [Shafi’i] replied: The public is incapable of knowing this kind of knowledge, nor can all specialists obtain it. But those who do obtain it should not all neglect it. If some can obtain it, the others are relieved of the duty [of obtaining it]; but those who do obtain it will be rewarded.
ON THE OBLIGATION OF MAN TO ACCEPT THE AUTHORITY OF THE PROPHET
A Declaration Concerning the Duty Imposed by God, as Laid Down in His Book, [Ordering Men] To Follow the Prophet’s Sunna
86. Shafi’i said: God has placed His Apostle—[in relation to] His religion, His commands and His Book—in the position made clear by Him as a distinguishing standard of His religion by imposing the duty of obedience to Him as well as prohibiting disobedience to Him. He has made His merits evident by associating belief in His Apostle with the belief in Him. For God, Blessed and Most High, said:
So believe in God and His Apostles, and do not say: “Three.” Refrain; [it will be] better for you. God is only one God. Glory be to Him. His having a son is something alien to him [Q. IV, 169].
And He said:
The believers are only those who have believed in God and His Apostle, and who when they are with him on some common affair do not go away until they ask his permission [Q. XXIV, 62].
Thus [God] prescribed that the perfect beginning of the faith, to which all other things are subordinate, shall be the belief in Him and then in His Apostle. For if a person believes only in Him, not in His Apostle, the name of the perfect faith will never apply to him until he believes in His Apostle together with Him.
So the Apostle laid down the sunna [of reciting the Prophet’s name together with that of God] for testing the faith of every man [as the following tradition indicates]:
Imam Shafi'i - Fons Vitae Publishing - Al Shafi'i's Risala - Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence ( Majid Khadduri ) Islamic Texts Society
This is the innovation Shafi introduced to Islam. Here Shafi claims a second revelation came with Muhammad and the knowledge of that is with a few authorities. This is after almost 160 years after Muhammad. One wonders where this revelation, they call the Sunnah, was hiding all this time.
Shafi seperates the term God and messenger in the Koran claiming God is the Koran and messenger is this sunnah. He also seperates The Koran from the term wisdom where he claims the wisdom mentioned in the Koran is the sunnah. Thus in this way Shafi introduced a new revelationalong with the Koran and that revelation is the Sunni and Shia sects. Each of course have their own sunnah, and why not? If its hidden all this time then why shouldn't we expect a sunnah for every sect
So how do Koranist interpret the verses of the Koran about "obey God and obey his messenger"? Well first of all the Koran uses obedience for many prophets
Chapter 26
106. Behold, their brother Noah said to them: "Will ye not fear ((Allah))?
107. "I am to you an apostle worthy of all trust:
108. "So fear Allah, and obey me.
109. "No reward do I ask of you for it: my reward is only from the Lord of the Worlds:
110. "So fear Allah, and obey me."
123. The 'Ad (people) rejected the apostles.
124. Behold, their brother Hud said to them: "Will ye not fear ((Allah))?
125. "I am to you an apostle worthy of all trust:
126. "So fear Allah and obey me.
141. The Thamud (people) rejected the apostles.
142. Behold, their brother Salih said to them: "Will you not fear ((Allah))?
143. "I am to you an apostle worthy of all trust.
144. "So fear Allah, and obey me
For a more complete analysis about the Koran and its use of "obey the messenger" term:
Obey God & the Messenger truth booth online
Real Islam is only Koran