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How Much do we need to obey the Law?

Sometimes, I am asked if Allah really expects and demands 100% obedience. Although we can argue about this between humans, this question will be answered by Allah, not by us. So instead, I have picked out verses from Taurat that tell us to what extent obedience to the Law is required and expected. You can find these verses below. Notice how many verses and how clear they are The verses are full of phrases like ‘carefully follow’, ‘ALL commands’, “All your heart”, “commands always”, “everything”, “All decrees”, “fully obey”, “all the words”, and “listen to all”.

Isa (pbuh) confirms 100% obedience

This standard of 100% obedience never changes with the later prophets. In fact, Isa al Masih (PBUH) in the Injil taught that:

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 5:17-19)

And the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the hadith said

Narrated Abdullah Ibn Umar: ..A group of Jews came and invited the Apostle of Allah (PBUH) to Quff. …  They said: ‘AbulQasim, one of our men has committed fornication with a woman; so pronounce judgment upon them’. They placed a cushion for the Apostle of Allah (PBUH) who sat on it and said: “Bring the Torah”. It was then brought. He then withdrew the cushion from beneath him and placed the Torah on it saying: “I believed in thee and in Him Who revealed thee.”  Sunan Abu Dawud Book 38, No. 4434:

Really, this only makes sense. Allah is preparing Paradise – and this is a perfect and holy place – where He is. In Paradise, there will be no police, no armies, no locks. Nor will there be any of the other securities we have today to protect ourselves from the sins of each other. That is why it will be paradise. But for it to remain a perfect place, only perfect people can enter – those who follow ‘all’ commands ‘always’, ‘fully’, and ‘in everything’.

Evidence from the Taurat

See below what the Taurat says about the extent of obedience to the Law that is required.

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