Muslims:Do you seriously believe that the Prophet of God was a sinner (fallible)? Why do you follow him then?

Question

I, personally, will NOT believe in a man who claims to be sent by Allah (God), the Creator of the Universe, and then sins. Was Allah (God) so incapable as to make His prophets and messengers sinless?

Why would Allah (God) even bother to send a sinning prophet to be an example to a community?

If sin is something that even the prophets and messengers can not avoid, then what is the purpose of sending a religion to the mankind any way?

Does God expect the ordinary people to follow his instructions when his own deputies can not?

A prophet or messenger is an interpreter of Allah's commands. As such, if the prophet is the first to violate these commands, who among the Ummah will abide by these commands? Or if he is in a state that deprives him of his mental faculties causing him to err, then he will MISinterpret the commands of Allah (God). If that happens, then surely Allah (God) is playing a game with His creation! For He (God) sends them a man to interpret the religion for them, yet this man is subject to magical spells, as the Israelites reports claim, and mental hallucinations that cause him to become unaware of his own behavior (See Sahih Bukhari, Arabic version, v7, p29)! What kind of interpreter is that?

Exalted be Allah (God) from such allegations against His Prophet (s)!

Aishah and perry l our catholic friend seems to have more reasons then you 2, i hope God guides you on the right path, inshallah.

For perry who says that the Prophet (s) is sinless or infallible ONLY in the delivery of Allah's message, and other than that, just like any other man, he (s) sins and makes mistakes in many things, such assertion is full of logical holes.

For instance, some scholers narrated that once the Prophet gave advice on agriculture, and people did it, but they suffered a big loss by following that advice!! Then Prophet told them that what he said was his personal advice and not revelation!!! (which is, by the way, in contradiction with the verse: "Nor does he (prophet) speak out of his desire. What he says is nothing but revelation that is revealed.[53:3-4]")

How do we know which of the Prophet's sayings are from Allah, and which are his personal sayings? He (PBUH&HF) may say something which the companions take as Allah's command, but it may be that he (Mohammad) was only expressing his OWN opinion. If that happens, then all of Allah's laws will be in chaos and disarray! That is why, even the Prophet's OPINION has to conform with Allah's orders, for fear of misinterpretation by the people. In fact the Prophet had a perfect reason and his Ijtihad was in perfect compliance with the Allah's orders and satisfaction and that is why Quran orders us to obey WHATEVER he states without condition.

Also, how can we understand which acts of the Prophet are wrong, and which are right? What is the measure for us? Isn't a part of this measure the practice of the Prophet (s) himself?

Since the practice of the Prophet (s) is considered to be one of the sources of deriving the rules of Islam, we can NOT evaluate the Prophet's actions by the rules which are derived from his actions! As such all the actions of the Prophet should have been protected.

Perry L may allah guide you and from what you have told me you still do not know how to pray, read and open your mind and keep questioning don't be content with blind belief,

Answer 1

because Allah sent His prophets as Humans not Angels or any other thing..... God sent a prophet who is from us, created from mud and flesh, a Man with all characteristics of humans but is more elevated..... a prophet that can think,act and behave like humans....... Allah didn't send us aliens.
Subhan Allah, the unbelievers said on prophets which means that : see,how he can be a prophet while he is walking and eating like us, He is no different from us, he is even inferior to us, not rich, not strong.

Subhan Allah.

Answer 2

Mohamed, please understand this well: Prophets sometimes err; but this is done by them out of good will. The reasons for this are:

1- They maybe asked a question to which they did not find a clear and definite answer from God, so they thought deeply of it, and then gave an answer that their conscience could trust. However, God would send His answer that would overrule theirs. This sin or error from their part is already forgiven by God, yet prophets out of love, fear and respect to their Creator keep on asking forgiveness from Him.

2- Prophets (including Jesus) are human beings. They may forget or do a wrong move unintentionally. God warns them quickly and they correct themselves at once. Again, they ask forgiveness for what they've done.

3- Prophets know that the key to God's forgiveness is His mercy, and not their own verbs. This is why they keep ask God forgiveness. Remember that no matter how good our verbs are, these are not enough to payback God's countless graces over us. This is why we ask for His forgiveness and mercy continuously; prophets are not different.

4- The level of prophet's belief is rated as "always increasing and never decreasing" (unlike the belief of normal believers which "increases and decreases"). Knowing that, prophets regard their former days as being "not up to the level" and they know that today they "are still not up to the level of tomorrow" and so on...this is why they ask God forgiveness for their "sins".

dj, regarding Jesus being sinless, this was he was like Moses and Mohamed; a prophet of God. Islam does not repeat what Judaism and Christianity claimed about Lot's adultery with his daughters and David's adultery with Bethseba; in fact Islam was strict in condemning these stories as lies. Also Islam condemns the story of Mary asking for more wine, while Jesus rebuked her for doing so! Again, there are no such things as fallen angels in Islam, no prophets that cursed God, no God who was described as being of folly, no God or angel wrestling with Israel (Jacob), and no God incarnate stuff.

I have been convinced that Islam is the one true religion. Whenever I tried comparing Judaism and Christianity to Islam, I always found them corrupt and far from complete. Islam is truly a complete religion, and this proves that it is the final religion. I am 100% sure of that!

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Mohamed is the messenger of Allah. Prayers and peace be upon you, great messenger of Allah.

Answer 3

The Prophet was "sinless" when he received the revelation of the Qu'ran. During those 23 years he remained on the correct path without straying. Before he purified himself with meditation, prayer and sincere pursuit of only the will of God in his place of seclusion it is likely he did sin as would be consistent with most other Prophets of God. They are chosen above all others of their time not because they are blameless but because they SEEK to be blameless and have the potential to walk the correct path and to become proper vessels to deliver God's message.

I follow the Prophets because they ARE Prophets. Not just anyone is declared a Prophet...they must pass the tests described in the Torah that tell the people how to distinguish a Prophet from a liar. Any Prophet of Islam must also pass these tests and is therefore a legitimate source of God's Word.

Indeed the stories of the Prophets (especially in the Torah) ARE the instructions from God of how to walk the correct path. Anyone can walk correctly by understanding the stories and striving to follow the examples of the Prophets. What did Jonah do when he received instructions from God? He ran away trying to escape God and shirk his duties and endangered a bunch of innocent people in the process. Was he then blameless? Is he not still considered a Prophet of God?

Like I've said Jesus was, is and will be the only Blameless Prophet of God. Jesus is the Messiah because He is the only one qualified to do the job. Jesus was created directly by divine intervention with a blameless woman (Mary the virgin) and was therefore born without sin. He received his instructions until age 30 when he was thoroughly tested (every sin possible was his temptation from the whole army of Jinn) for forty days in the desert. When he was proved infallible he received the direct Word of God when he was baptized by John.

As Muslims we ONLY follow GOD . We DO NOT place any of the Prophets next to God or declare "divine" that which God has not.

Answer 4

The thing one must understand about Islam, is that they see themselves as "fiercely monotheistic." Monotheism, in fact, is one of the most emphasized concepts in their religion. In their eyes, anything that even remotely resembles something on the level of God is considered a heresy. Thats' why you have a lot of interesing muslim artwork, none of which resembles anything created. There idea of God is abstract. You don't even see pictures of Muhammad because 100% of their focus is on the one God. So the idea of sending an infallible prophet like Jesus, is impossible in muslim theology. This propeht cannot be divine, and therefore, by default, fallible. Unlike Christians, they do not beleive that something like the Trinity is possible.

And to be honest I don't remember reading any accounts of Muhammad being a great sinner, or any kind of sinner for that matter.

I am a Catholic so if there is a muslim here that wants to correct me feel free.

Answer 5

God makes prophets infalliable, however it does not mean that they do not make any mistakes. There is at least one instance where a prophet made a mistake in their life time, but never really a 'sin' per say; however they still ask for forgiveness anyways and are forgiven. It could be something like, frustration with people not receiveing the message, etc. It is not a sin, they understood that is was God's will, but they became emotional. they are still human.

And who said that they werent infalliable? Have you been talking to a shia who believes the rasoul shouldn't have been Prophet? They slander his name severely. This is one of their arguments...

Some naseeha brother -- stay away from those who make you emotional like this. They impact your iman negatively and get you off the thought of tawheed and onto concentrating on tiny things until you loose faith. This fitnah was been spoken about in the Quran and in Hadith.

Answer 6

I do not believe that the Prophets were sinners. That is a Judeo-Christian belief, which has infiltrated the Muslim way of thinking. Any hadith which contradicts the Quran and common sense is false, no matter who is claimed to have narrated it.

Answer 7

It is written in Quran all messngers/prophets are 'masoom'. Allah sent 124,000 and all are masoom. masoom means innocent and sinless.
In the desert of Arabia was the Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS) born, according to Muslim historians, on April 20, 571 . The name means "highly praised". He is to me the greatest mind among all the sons of Arabia. He means so much more than all the poets and kings that preceded him in that impenetrable desert of red sand. When he appeared Arabia was a desert -- a nothing. Out of nothing a new world was fashioned by the mighty spirit of the Prophet Muhammad (SAAWS) -- a new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new kingdom which extended from Morocco to Indies and influenced the thought and life of three continents -- Asia, Africa and Europe.
And more wonderful still is what the reverend Bosworth Smith remarks:
" Head of the state as well as the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but, he was pope without the pope's claims, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue. If ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by a right divine It was Muhammad, for he had all the power without instruments and without its support. He cared not for dressing of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life."

Answer 8

Prophets don't sin... that is why God chooses them for the mission...

Also us Shiats believe that there were 14 ppl in Islam that NEVER sinned... we call them the 14 Ma'soom...
You would know them :D the Prophet (pbuhahd) + Lady Fatima (s.a.a.) + 12 Imams (a.s.)...

Answer 9

40:55 Therefore have patience; God’s promise is surely true. Implore forgiveness for your sins, and celebrate the praise of your Lord evening and morning.

48:2 ... so that God may forgive you your past and future sins, and perfect His goodness to you; ...

Below is the Quran 47:19 in five English translations, (NOTE: Muhammad is asking for forgiveness for both himself and his followers).

"Know that there is no deity but God. Implore Him to forgive your sins and to forgive the true believers, men and women. God knows your busy haunts and resting places." Dawood [3]

"So know (O Muhammad) that there is no God save Allah, and ask forgiveness for thy sin and for believing men and believing women. Allah knoweth (both) your place of turmoil and your place of rest." Pickthall [4]

"Know thou therefore that there is no god but God, and ask forgiveness for thy sin, and for the believers, men and women. God knows your going to and fro, and your lodging." Arberry [5]

"Know, then, that there is no god but God; and ask pardon for thy sin, and for believers, both men and women. God knows your busy movements and your final resting places." Rodwell [6]

"Know therefore that there is no god but Allah and ask forgiveness for the fault and for the men and women who believe: for Allah knows how ye move about and how ye dwell in your homes." Ali [7]

"Oh God, I acknowledge and confess before You, all my sins, please forgive them, as no one can forgive sins except You. Forgive my mistakes, those done intentionally, or out of my ignorance, with or without seriousness. Oh God, forgive my sins and my ignorance, forgive my sins of the past and of the future, which I did openly or secretly. Forgive the wrong I have done, jokingly or seriously. I seek Your protection from all the evil I have done. Wash away my sins, and cleanse my heart, from all the sins as a white garment is cleansed from the filth, and let there be long distance between me and my sins, as You made the East and West far from each other."

Do you think that this man was a sinner?

That prayer was prayed by Muhammad. It is a synthesis of his personal prayers found in Sahih Bukhari Volume 8: #s 335, 379, 407, and 408, [1]. Muhammad knew clearly he was a sinner; thus he makes his confession public. Over and over again he stated he was a sinner. The Quran he spoke identifies him as a sinner. Yet many Muslims today say that Muhammad was not a sinner.

Allah seemed to think that Muhamad was a sinner..Muhammad seemed to think so too...
The Qu'ran teaches as the the Bible does that Jesus was without sin.

The Bible does teach that all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God..If the prophets of God were sinless then all would be required to be perfect.
It is the reason a righteous God did come in the form a man Jesus Christ to overcome temptation and to remain perfect and to fufill the requirements of the law with his blood. the wages of sin is death God can not be joined to a sinful man th epnalty had to be paid and God did pay the penalty for us he is not indebt to his creation but we are forever in his debt.
God Bless You, my friend Muhammad in your search for truth.

Answer 10

Muslims can't ask such question. To question Muhammad's authority as a prophet is tantamount to blaspheme and warrants a death penalty in islam. Muslims prefer not to ask such questions and stick with the status quo. As such, the only defense is to mock or insult the person who raise such a question, then change the topic of discussion. Something like this,


You evil lying scumbag, do you know how many people bush killed when he invaded Iraq. You christians are all the same, you do not care for the lives of muslim. The prophet (pbuh) is the most gentle and tolerant man ever, a shining example for all muslims.