What in The Qur’an justifies Hadith?

Wa alykum as-salaam,

There is a sequence, starting with the following:

“O you who have attained to faith! Pay heed unto God, and pay heed unto the Apostle and unto those from among you who have been entrusted with authority; and if you are at variance over any matter, refer it unto God and the Apostle, if you [truly] believe in God and the Last Day. This is the best [for you], and best in the end.” [4:59] Muhammad Asad

Not only does The Qur’an underline that a Muslim must obey (Asad writes “pay heed”) God and His Apostle–also, notice that The Qur’an does not command you pay heed onto those in authority, underlining that they, like you, are subject to obeying God and His Apostle–but if The Qur’an was needed alone, and The Prophet was not needed save as a messenger, by which I mean a medium through which to communicate The Qur’an, then why mention the need to obey The Prophet?

Yet, it is the italicized part that is of most interest to us, for The Qur’an commands us to refer to God and The Messenger, and since The Prophet is no longer alive, how should we do this?

The Hadith are that record, and this is further underlined later on in this Surah:

“But nay, by thy Sustainer! They do not [really] believe unless they make thee [O Prophet] a judge of all on which they disagree among themselves, and then find in their hearts no bar to an acceptance of thy decision and give themselves up [to it] in utter self-surrender.” [4:65] Muhammad Asad

Again, there is a clear command to refer to The Prophet in order to settle disputes, and again, since The Prophet has passed, it is the record of The Prophet’s actions, sayings, and rulings that we must refer to, and the fully authenticated sources are what defines the Sunnah.

Later on, again in this same Surah, The Qur’an says the following:

“Whoever pays heed unto the Apostle pays heed unto God thereby; and as for those who turn away – We have not sent thee to be their keeper.” [4:80] Muhammad Asad

Therefore, to follow The Prophet is to follow God, so the question is, what can this mean other than to follow The Prophet Muhammad’s Sunnah (his actions, sayings, and rulings), and the Hadith are a critical and central element of establishing his Sunnah.

The Hadith are not some opposing force to The Qur’an, they are simply a historical record of The Prophet’s life, and in the words of the Hadith scholar, Dr. Jonathan Brown of Georgetown University: “the Hadith tradition is one of the biggest accomplishments in human intellectual history… it’s something Muslims should be very proud of.”

Furthermore, without knowing what was happening during the life of The Prophet, how do you identify Abu Lahab in 111:1? What about Zayd in 33:37? What about what The Qur’an is referring to at the start of Surah Al-Rum?

I have yet to hear an answer to those questions, to be quite frank, and I have not been satisfied by the responses to the ayahs I have offered above.

I hope this helped, insha Allah.

I pray this reaches you and your families in the best of health and Iman, insha Allah.