16:82 But if they turn away from you,
your only duty is a clear delivery of the Message
4:79-80 Say: ‘Whatever good betides you is from God and whatever evil betides you is from your own self and that
We have sent you to mankind only as a messenger
and all sufficing is God as witness. Whoso obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys God.
And for those who turn away, We have not sent you as a keeper.
"
17:53-54 And tell my servants that they should speak in a most kindly manner. Verily, Satan is always ready to stir up discord between men; for verily; Satan is mans foe....
Hence, we have not sent you with power to determine their Faith
24.54. Say: "Obey God, and obey the Messenger,
but if ye turn away, he is only responsible for the duty placed on him and ye for that placed on you.
If ye obey him, ye shall be on right guidance.
The Messenger's duty is only to preach the clear (Message)
.
88:21 22; And so, exhort them
your task is only to exhort; you cannot compel them to believe.
42:6 48 And whoso takes for patrons others besides God, over them does God keep a watch.
Mark, you are not a keeper over them
. But if they turn aside from you (do not get disheartened), for
We have not sent you to be a keeper over them; your task is but to preach
64:12 Obey God then and obey the Messenger,
but if you turn away (no blame shall attach to our Messenger), for the duty of Our Messenger is just to deliver the message.
28.55-56 And when they hear vain talk, they turn away there from and
say: "To us our deeds, and to you yours
; peace be to you: we seek not the ignorant,"
It is true thou wilt not be able to guide whom thou lovest; but God guides those whom He will
and He knows best those who receive guidance
39:41 Assuredly, We have sent down the Book to you in right form for the good of man.
Whoso guided himself by it does so to his own advantage, and whoso turns away from it does so at his own loss. You certainly are not their keeper.
67:25 26 And they ask, "When shall the promise be fulfilled if you speak the Truth?" Say, "The knowledge of it is verily with God alone,
and verily I am but a plain warner
."
As we can clearly see, many of the verses that talks about obeying the prophet also emphasizes the prophet's limited authority, something that the Islamic sects do not recognize. The ruler to them has the authority to punish people for what they consider sins like drinking alcohol, eating pork, not fasting Ramadan, watching porn etc.
The Koran meanwhile focuses on crimes against another like stealing, killing, slandering of women falsely and oppression. It gave the believers the right to fight against those who fight them but not to transgress. It also gave people the right to defend themselves against evictions from their lands. There is no talk about punishing people for something that does not concern somebody else right.
Adultery is the only place where the Koran diverted from this due to the fact that a adultery affects another party. Here the Koran sees adultery as affecting the other partner in a marriage. It’s a betrayal and a breaking of oath. But even then it placed strict standards on that but was lenient when it came to punishing slanders of women. Adultery needs four witnesses but the slander can get punished just from opening his mouth without four witnesses. It’s clear that the verse made it very difficult to implement on adultery but very easy to implement on the slanderer. Further reading of the verse about the Zani and Zania shows us that the issue came up concerning slandering of one of the prophet’s wife presumably. But adultery still affects another party as its a breaking of an oath between a man and a woman and is an act of betrayal.
The Koran cannot order the prophet to punish people for sins, that God's job. The Koran gave people the right and freedom to disbelieve let alone sin. Plus how the Koran understands sins is very different than how the sects understand sins.
In the end the sects had no choice but to abrogate many of these verses, usually invoking the "sword verse". They claim that many of these verses that gave the prophet limited authority(over those who chose to disobey him) has been abrogated by verse 9-5 or verse 9-29.
However these verses were about the wars with the pagans, and verse 9-13 and many other verses makes it clear who instigated these battles and why. The Jizya verse (9-29) also was claimed by the sects to be a tax to be paid by non Muslims in an Islamic state for protection. However Jizya never came concerning the Medina community where the prophet and his followers had a community. And only came upon the believers entering of Mecca. Jizya could have easily been compensation for the loss of property and homes that the believers suffered after being forced into exile. The Koran forbade prophets from seeking any form of reward. They can however accept charity on behalf of the believers.
But the Sunnah claimed otherwise. In it the prophet was ordered to fight the people till they acknowledge monotheism and also in it the prophet ordered the execution of those who apostate.