Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) - Part 2

Is the Prophet sinful?

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُّبِينًا

لِيَغْفِرَ لَكَ اللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن ذَنبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ وَيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكَ وَيَهْدِيَكَ صِرَاطًا مُّسْتَقِيمًا

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

[48.1] Lo! We have given thee (O Muhammad) a signal victory,

[48.2] That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come, and may perfect His favour unto thee, and may guide thee on a right path,

The Holy Prophet is pure and infallible, but here the Quran is referring to the Prophet as having sinned, and may also continue to sin! What we actually see here is that the Prophet was seen to be 'sinful' in the eyes of Meccan infidels. They used to say Muhammed 'has ridiculed our beliefs and insulted our gods'. With the
help of Allah, when Mecca peacefully surrendered to Muhammed and he won over the infidels, his 'sins' or 'crimes' against the infidels were 'dropped' or forgiven, thanks to Allah Almighty who prepared the ground for this sudden change.

Furthermore, after the fall of Mecca the Prophet Muhammed went on to demolish more than 300 'god' idols which were sacred to the infidels of Mecca. Needless to say, the 'sin' as defined by the infidels and referred to in the verse is not regarded as sin in the eyes of God Almighty, but the Almighty is stating that not only He has given His Messenger Prophet Muhammed, a victory, but in fact through this victory He has brought about the circumstances in which even the 'sins' he is attributed to by the infidels are null and void.There are factions of Sunni Muslims that base their opinion on the traditions (hadiths) narrated in their books about how the Prophet (PBUH&HF) commited sins by which he falls asleep and forgets the prayer time, and even forgets to perform the necessary ablution (wudhu) for prayer [Sahih al-Bukhari, Arabic version, v1, p37,44,171].

Furthermore, they claim that he (PBUH&HF) used to sit with Aisha and watch a dance with music [Sahih al-Bukhari, Arabic version, v3, p228]. [Related from Sahih al-Bukhari vol. VII pg.29] That the Prophet (PBUH) was bewitched, remaining so for several days not knowing what to do, to the extent that he was imagining making sexual intercourse with women and not doing so. (Istagfurallah! - what a degradation!). [Sahih al-Bukhari vol. II pg's 232, 234] - Claims that the Prophet would enter upon the masjid in the morning ritually impure in the month of Ramadan, missing dawn prayers! (Istagfurallah! - such an insult to the pure Prophet of Islam)... besides other strange traditions that no reason, or religion nor conscience is ready to accept or approve of!All these narrations found in the so called 'sahih's', the most authoritative & authentic hadith books in Sunni Islam; The Shia Muslims hold that Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) is impeccable and immune against all minor and major sins, wrongs and insubordinations. They believe in his being infallible against error, forgetfulness, absence of mind, sorcery and whatever causing mind to be disordered because Allah maintained the Prophet to perfection. All the above Hadiths are therefore considered to be fabricated lies by those who would like to justify their actions by saying even the Prophet of Allah did these bad things which are in fact below that which an average Muslim would do!

مَّنْ يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعَ اللّهَ وَمَن تَوَلَّى فَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظًا

"Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah." (Quran 4:80)

In the above verses as well as many other verses of the Quran, obedience of Allah has become synonymous with the obedience of the prophets. Such assertion would have been impossible if the Prophets were not
infallible (Ma'soom). Now, note the following verse:

فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ وَلَا تُطِعْ مِنْهُمْ آثِمًا أَوْ كَفُورًا

"...and obey not from among them a sinner or an ungrateful one." (Quran 76:24)

The picture is complete! "The prophets are to be obeyed," and "the sinners are NOT to be obeyed". The only
conclusion is that the Prophet was NOT a sinner or wrong-doer. In other words, he was infallible (Ma'soom) and sinless. Allah is capable of All, so why would he send us a sinning Prophet as a guide and example which we should follow? And if he doesn't pursue the good while telling us to, doesn't that make him a hypocrite! (Isagfurallah!) Also, if the Prophet was a sinner then how can we understand which acts of the Prophet are
wrong, and which are right? What is the measure for us? Also the Prophet's actions and words are the sunnah of the Prophet, explaining the rules that has come down by Allah, and if he is not perfect the message is thus not perfect because how do we know that the practice of the Prophet was correct when deriving the
rules of the Quran from his actions?

The Messenger of Allah recited "Verily Allah intends to keep off from you every kind of uncleanness O' People of the House (Ahlul-Bayt), and purify you a perfect purification". (Quran, the last sentence of Verse
33:33) and then the Messenger of Allah said: "Thus Me and my Ahlul-Bayt are clear from sins." [Al-Durr al-Manthoor by Jalaluddin al-Suyuti, v5, pp 605-606,198 under the commentary of Verse 33:33
of Quran; Dala'il al-Nabawiyyah by al-Bayhaqi; Others such as al-Tabarani, Ibn Mardawayh, Abu Nu'aym,
Sahih al-Tirmidhi etc]

In conclusion, I repeat the question: If Allah (SWT) had inspired "sinful" Prophets and Messengers to lead people to the Right Path, it would mean that Allah (SWT) approves of sinfulness! Why then does He (SWT)
prohibit sinning? NO DOUBT, the Prophet is sinless, and is as Allah has stated: A perfect example, a mercy to the world and one who has sublime morals.

Did the Prophet show ill-manners?

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

عَبَسَ وَتَوَلَّى

أَن جَاءهُ الْأَعْمَى

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

[80.1] He frowned and turned (his) back,

[80.2] Because there came to him the blind man.

Some Muslims claim that the person who frowned and turned away when a blind man approached (or interrupted him) was no other then the Prophet himself! However, the fact is that Quran does NOT give any evidence that the person who frowned at the blind was the Prophet (PBUH&HF), and does not state who is being addressed. In the above verses of Quran, Allah (SWT) did NOT address the Prophet either by name or title (i.e. O Muhammad, or O Prophet, or O Messenger). Moreover, there exists switching in the pronoun from "he" in the first two verses to "you" in the later verses of the chapter. Allah did NOT state: "You frowned and turned away". Rather, Almighty stated: He frowned and turned away (while he was with the Prophet), Because there came to him the blind man., And what would make you know, but that, per chance, he (the blind man) might grow in purity;

Even if we assume that "you" in the third verse addresses the Prophet (PBUH&HF), then it is clear from the above three verses that the words "he" (the one who frowned) and "you" address two different individuals. The following two verses support this as well: (5) As for him who considers himself free from need (rich), (6) To him do you address yourself?

Thus the one who frowned was other than the Prophet himself due to distinction between "him" and "you". In
Verses 80:6 Allah addresses his Prophet (PBUH&HF) saying that preaching to arrogant members of Quraish who frown at the blind is not necessarily preferred over preaching to a blind man, even though the blind man came later on during the sermon. The reason is that preaching to anyone who does not intend to purify himself (to the extent that he frowns at a believer) is not fruitful.

Moreover, frowning is not from the manners/descriptions of the Prophet (PBUH&HF) even with his obvious enemies, let alone believers seeking guidance! One may question how can a Prophet (PBUH&HF) who was sent as a mercy to mankind be cruel when an average Muslim does not act with such bad manners? This allegation is also in contradiction with the announcement of the sublime morals and the ethics of the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) by God himself:

وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ

"And most certainly you are on sublime morality (exalted standard of character)." [Quran 68:4]

The commentators of Quran who follow the school of Ahlul-Bayt further argue that even the questioning in the third and forth verses of the Chapter concerning the doubt about Abdullah being benefited by the talk with the
Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) or not, has been in the mind of one who had not yet embraced Islam, and was not aware of the spirit of Islam. This could never have occurred in the mind of the Holy Prophet (PBUH&HF) who had been sent to preach the faith to every one and all, irrespective of any worldly position of the People. Based on that, they conclude that the word 'you' in the third verse does not still apply to the Prophet, rather it applies to one of the Umayad attendees, and that NONE of the first four verses of this chapter (80:1-4)
addresses the Prophet (PBUH&HF) even though the latter verses address the Prophet (PBUH&HF).

Those who are familiar with the language of Quran and read the original Arabic Quran are aware of the constant jumping between the first, second, and third person writing style of Quran. In many verses in Quran Allah changes the address sharply, and as such, it is not always easy to figure out who is being addressed when the name of addressee is not mentioned. That's why the Prophet has ordered us to refer to Ahlul-Bayt (AS) for the interpretation of the verses of Quran since they are "firmly grounded in knowledge" (Quran
3:7) and are "The People of Reminder" (Quran 16:43, 21:7) and the are the purified people who have touched the meaning of Quran (see 56:79).

It is narrated that Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (AS) said: It came down regarding a man from the Umayad; he was at the Prophet's (PBUH&HF) presence, then Ibn Umm-Maktoom came, when he saw him he despised him, withdrew himself, frowned and turned his face away from him. So Allah said what He said in disapproval of his action. (Appologies; no source cited)

In Tafsir of Sayyid Shubbar it is reported from al-Qummi that: The verse was revealed about Uthman and Ibn Umm-Maktoom, and he was blind. He came to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HF), while in the company of companions, and Uthman was there. The Messenger introduced him to Uthman and Uthman frowned and turned his face away.

If a Christian came and said 'when a blind man comes to your Prophet Muhammed he frowns and turns away, while our Prophet (Jesus PBUH) would gently heal him and make him see again. So our Prophet (Jesus PBUH) is greater'; Now, I ask, with what logic do some of you Muslims refute this claim O those who support such degradation to the pure Prophet of Allah Muhammed (PBUH)?!

Did Muhammed establish Islam with the sword?

 

The answer to this question is taken from the book: 'The Bible and Christianity An Islamic view' by Imam Muhammad Shirazi.


A person once asked:
"How do you believe in his Prophet-hood when Muhammad was not a Prophet?". I (Muhammed Shirazi) said, "On what ground do you say he was not a Prophet?". He said, ''It is clear that he established his religion
with the sword, whereas God is merciful and does not resort to such measures!". I said, "Firstly, just for the sake of argument, if we were to assume that claim is true. I would like to ask you, do you believe in the
Prophet-hood of Moses (PBUH)?". He replied in affirmative. Then I related to him the story of Moses mentioned in the Bible, Deuteronomy 13:15-16, Numbers 31:7-35, when he resorted to measures worse than the sword. He was (supposedly) ordered by God to set the cities he conquered on fire, killing not only the men, but also the children and the animals.


He admitted the fact and said, "That is why I came to you to make it clear and to find another religion for myself because our Bible has got many such ridiculous stories".


I continued, "but in fact Islam was not established by the sword!", then I went on to ask him, "Have you studied the battles fought by the Prophet of Islam? Do you know that all of them were defensive ones and not even a single one was ever offensive?". He said, "It is for the first time I hear this".


I said, you have to consult authentic history references to see the records of these facts and to satisfy yourself of the truth of my claim. At this stage I gave him my book "In the Shadow of Islam" and advised him to study it, especially the chapter dealing with the battles of the prophet Muhammad (S).


The Christian youth started studying the book... Having finished reading the relevant chapter of the book, he was profoundly surprised as to how the distorted history of Islam had been presented to them. Then he accepted that Muhammad did not rise up with the sword! (End of Quote)


It was the Prophet of Allah's order that in Islam no one must be forced to accept Islam or religion at all by force because Allah had said: [Quran 2:256] 'There is no compulsion in religion'. In Islam this is how spreading Islam must be done and was done:

ادْعُ إِلِى سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَالْمَوْعِظَةِ الْحَسَنَةِ وَجَادِلْهُم بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ

"Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious." [Quran 16:125]

The battles of the Prophet were only for self-defence and not for increasing the number of converts, and anybody familiar with Arab history would know how absurd a suggestion of forced conversion would be! A famous historian of the Arabs, De Lacy O'Leary gives good judgement to the misconception that Islam was
spread by the sword in one of his books:


"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing
Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever repeated." [Islam at Crossroads by De Lacy O'Leary, p8]


Also it is worth noting that in all of these defensive wars, no innocent people were to be killed, no children or women are to be killed, no one is to be killed if they are not holding the sword up against you to kill you! And that no land or crops of the enemy or innocent people should be harmed! Also the common way of the Prophet was to try best not to resort to violence and his philosophy was to treat good those who treat you bad. Thus Islam became successful and spread throughout the world thanks to the brilliant and most adored character that is the Final Messenger of God, Muhammed (SAW)!