4:80

Salaam all,

This is 4:80
مَّنْ يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللّهَ وَمَن تَوَلَّى فَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظًا
Man yutiAAi alrrasoola faqad ataAAa Allaha waman tawalla fama arsalnaka AAalayhim hafeethan

The Aya says:
Whoever willingly obeys the messenger then he indeed willingly obeyed Allah. And whoever follows otherwise then We have not sent you (O Muhammad) upon them (as) safe keeper.

My personal note:
The Aya established that obeying Allah happens through obeying his envoy and messenger to us. This is because the message from Allah cannot come but through the messenger.

The Aya continues that for those who decide not to obey Allah and his messenger, then it is not the job of the messenger to hold onto them or safe keep them. That is their job. The job of the messenger is to deliver the message and to explain it and implement it. The job of the receiver is to follow.

This brings the principle of Islamic law: the extreme respect for the privacy of individuals. So punishments are always done on public acts of breaking the law and not private acts of breaking the law. This is because although the Muslim state is not a safe keeper of an individual who acts against his or her own good, it is the safe keeper of other individuals and the society from the harm or potential harm done by others in the public sphere.

Translation of the transliterated words:

Man: who
yutiAAi: obeys/ willingly comply with
Note: the root is TTa-W-Ain and it means willing compliance or obeying willingly. YUTiAAi is an action that is being completed or will be completed. It means: the action of obeying or willingly complying with the object (Alrasool= the messenger/envoy) is happening or will be happening by the subject (third person singular).
Alrrasoola: the messenger/ the envoy
Note: ALRRASOOLA is derived from the root R-S-L and it means to envoy someone or a group of people or animals. The concrete word is RASL and it means a group of people or animals that were sent by their owners or senders. ALRRASOOLA means the envoy or the messenger.
Faqad: then indeed
ataAAa: obeyed/ willingly complied with
Note: the root is TTa-W-Ain and it means willing compliance or obeying willingly. ATaAAa is an action that completed. It means: the action of obeying or willingly complying with the object (ALLAH) happened by the subject (third person singular).
Allaha: Allah
Waman: and whoever
Tawalla: moved away/ refused/ followed his own direction instead
Note: the root is W-L-Y and it means direction or following direction with some guarantee. It comes close to guardianship. TAWALLA is an action that is completed that is derived from the root. It means: the action of making oneself follow own direction with one’s own guarantee, happened by the subject (third person singular). This is used here to mean directing oneself away from what is offered and the guarantee that is offered. In this context, it carries the meaning of disobeying the messenger for his or her own direction.
Fama: then not
Arsalnaka: We sent you (singular)/ envoyed you
Note: ARSALNAKA is derived from the root R-S-L. The concrete word is RASL and it means to envoy someone means a group of people or animals that were sent by their owners or sender. ARSALNAKA is an action that is completed. It means: the action of sending the object (KA= singular you) as envoy or messenger happened by the subject (first person plural).
AAalayhim: on them/ upon them
Hafeethan: safe keeper
Note: the root is Ha-F-THa and it means preservation and protection, and within that concept, also maintenance and upkeep. In one word, the concept of safe keeping comes to mind. This concept of safe keeping will then depend on the context to understand it’s specific meaning in the sentence. HAFEETHAN means safe keeper.

Salaam all and have a great day.

Hussein