4.80 – Whoever obeys the messenger has obeyed God
Along with the assertion of verse 79 comes a statement that equates the commands of “the messenger” with the commands of Allah. This seems to be the logical conclusion to the remarkable series of verses in this sūra that associate the messenger with Allah for obedience and disobedience (see v. 13).
How clearly can human leaders know the will of Allah in the heat of battle? Who actually is speaking in this verse that sets both the messenger and Allah in third person? Does the almighty God, the Creator of the universe, declare that the commands of a messenger in battle are the same as his?
This was another of the verses that the jurist al-Shāfi‘ī (d. 820) cited to support his case for the authority of the sunna – the life example and sayings attributed to Muhammad (see also 3.32, 4.14, 4.59, 8.1, 24.54, 33.36, 64.12).