Tafsir of An-Nisa' 4:80

(He who obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah): This is an elucidation of the rulings of his messengership (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), following the declaration of its realization. It is thus because the One who commands and prohibits in reality is the Truth—glorified be He—and the Messenger is only one who conveys the command and the prohibition. Therefore, obedience to him is not in essence, but rather it is for the One who conveyed [the message] through him.

In some traditions attributed to Muqatil, it is stated that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to say: "Whoever loves me has loved Allah Almighty, and whoever obeys me has obeyed Allah Almighty." The hypocrites said: "Do you not hear what this man says? He has committed polytheism, as he forbids that anyone other than Allah Almighty be worshipped, yet he wants nothing but that we take him as the Christians took 'Isa, peace be upon him." Then this [verse] was revealed.

The intended meaning of "the Messenger" is our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), and expressing it as such—placing it in the position where a pronoun would have sufficed—is to indicate the causality. It has been said that the intended meaning is the genus, which includes our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) primarily, but this is rejected by the specificity of the address in His saying: "(...and whoever turns away, then We have not sent you as a guardian over them)."

To consider this as a case of address to an unspecified person is contrary to the apparent meaning. The "wa" (and) is conditional, and the response to the condition is omitted; what is mentioned is a justification for it, standing in its place. That is: "And whoever turns away from obedience, then turn away from him, for We have only sent you as a Messenger who conveys, not as a guardian or a controller who preserves their deeds over them and holds them to account for them." The negation, as has been said, is of his being a hafiz—meaning one who exaggerates in guarding—rather than his being a hafiz (keeper), because messengership is inseparable from guarding, as the conveying of rulings is a form of guarding against sins and transgressions.

The accusative status of the description (guardian) is due to its being a state (hal) of the [pronoun] "ka" (you). To consider it a second object of "We have sent you" by implying the meaning of "We have made you" is unnecessary. "Over them" relates to it, and it was placed first in observance of the verse ending. In using the singular for the nominative pronoun (in arsalnaka) and the plural for the genitive pronoun (in alayhim), there is an observation of both the wording of man (whoever) and its meaning. In the deviation from "and whoever turns away has disobeyed him"—which is the apparent [expectation] in the juxtaposition—to what has been mentioned, there is an exaggeration that is not hidden.