Answering Islam - A Christian-Muslim dialog

More Proof from the Quran that Jesus is God Incarnate! Pt. 2

Sam Shamoun

We continue from where we left off.

 

The sins of the Prophets

The Quran not only recognizes that humans in general are imperfect sinners who need to receive mercy and forgiveness, it even acknowledges that prophets themselves have sinned who have fallen short of attaining moral perfection.

The following is a list of some of the prophets whom the Quran testifies fell short and sinned against Allah.

 

Adam

"O Adam! dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and enjoy (its good things) as ye wish: but approach not this tree, or ye run into harm and transgression." Then began Satan to whisper suggestions to them, bringing openly before their minds all their shame that was hidden from them (before): he said: "Your Lord only forbade you this tree, lest ye should become angels or such beings as live for ever." And he swore to them both, that he was their sincere adviser. So by deceit he brought about their fall: when they tasted of the tree, their shame became manifest to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: "Did I not forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy unto you?" They said: "Our Lord! We have wronged our own souls: If thou forgive us not and bestow not upon us Thy Mercy, we shall certainly be lost." (God) said: "Get ye down. With enmity between yourselves. On earth will be your dwelling-place and your means of livelihood, - for a time." He said: "Therein shall ye live, and therein shall ye die; but from it shall ye be taken out (at last)." S. 7:19-25 Y. Ali

And verily We made a covenant of old with Adam, but he forgot, and We found no constancy in him… But the devil whispered to him, saying: O Adam! Shall I show thee the tree of immortality and power that wasteth not away? Then they twain ate thereof, so that their shame became apparent unto them, and they began to hide by heaping on themselves some of the leaves of the Garden. And Adam disobeyed his Lord, so went astray. Then his Lord chose him, and relented toward him, and guided him. He said: Go down hence, both of you, one of you a foe unto the other. But when there come unto you from Me a guidance, then whoso followeth My guidance, he will not go astray nor come to grief. S. 20:115, 120-123 Pickthall

 

Noah

And Noah cried unto his Lord and said: My Lord! Lo! my son is of my household! Surely Thy promise is the truth and Thou are the Most Just of Judges. He said: O Noah! Lo! he is not of thy household; lo! he is of evil conduct, so ask not of Me that whereof thou hast no knowledge. I admonish thee lest thou be among the ignorant. He said: My Lord! Lo! in Thee do I seek refuge (from the sin) that I should ask of Thee that whereof I have no knowledge. Unless Thou forgive me and have mercy on me I shall be among the lost. S. 11:45-47 Pickthall

My Lord! Forgive me and my parents and him who entereth my house believing, and believing men and believing women, and increase not the wrong-doers in aught save ruin. S. 71:28 Pickthall

 

Abraham

"Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents, and (all) the believers on the Day when the reckoning will be established." S. 14:41 Hilali-Khan

And Who causeth me to die, then giveth me life (again), And Who, I ardently hope, will forgive me my sin on the Day of Judgment. S. 26:81-82 Pickthall

 

Moses and Aaron

Musa (Moses) said: "O my Lord! Forgive me and my brother, and make us enter into Your Mercy, for you are the Most Merciful of those who show mercy." S. 7:151 Hilali-Khan

He said: "My Lord! Verily, I have wronged myself, so forgive me." Then He forgave him. Verily, He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful. S. 28:16 Hilali-Khan

 

David

Said he, 'Assuredly he has wronged thee in asking for thy ewe in addition to his sheep; and indeed many intermixers do injury one against the other, save those who believe, and do deeds of righteousness -- and how few they are!' And David thought that We had only tried him; therefore he sought forgiveness of his Lord, and he fell down, bowing, and he repented. S. 38:24 Arberry

 

Solomon

Certainly We tried Solomon, and We cast upon his throne a mere body; then he repented. He said, 'My Lord, forgive me, and give me a kingdom such as may not befall anyone after me; surely Thou art the All-giver.' S. 38:34-35 Arberry

 

Jonah

And Dhul Nun -- when he went forth enraged and thought that We would have no power over him; then he called out in the darkness, 'There is no god but Thou. Glory be to Thee! I have done evil.' So We answered him, and delivered him out of grief; even so do, We deliver the believers. S. 21:87-88 Arberry

And the fish swallowed him while he was blameworthy; And had he not been one of those who glorify (Allah) He would have tarried in its belly till the day when they are raised; S. 37:142-144 Pickthall

 

Muhammad the doubtful sinner

Muslims in general, and Muhammad’s companions in particular, were/are not the only ones who had/have no assurance of being saved because of their sinfulness. Even their own prophet didn’t know whether Allah would be pleased with him at the end, or condemn him to an accursed and shameful death and judgment.

For example, Muhammad was not only reprimanded and ordered to seek forgiveness for his sins, and the sins of his followers,

And ask forgiveness of Allah; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. And do not plead on behalf of those who act unfaithfully to their souls; surely Allah does not love him who is treacherous, sinful; S. 4:106-107

Allah pardon you! Why did you give them leave until those who spoke the truth had become manifest to you and you had known the liars? S. 9:43

Then have patience (O Muhammad). Lo! the promise of Allah is true. And ask forgiveness of thy sin, and hymn the praise of thy Lord at fall of night and in the early hours. S. 40:55 Pickthall

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. S. 47:19 Pickthall

Lo! We have given thee (O Muhammad) a signal victory, 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, S. 48:1-2

Then celebrate the praise of your Lord, and ask His forgiveness; surely He is oft-returning (to mercy). S. 110:3

He was also reprimanded severely for frowning upon a blind man in order to appease and give his undivided attention to a wealth pagan disbeliever:

He frowned and turned (his) back, Because there came to him the blind man. And what would make you know that he would purify himself, Or become reminded so that the reminder should profit him? As for him who considers himself free from need (of you), To him do you address yourself. And no blame is on you if he would not purify himself And as to him who comes to you striving hard, And he fears, From him will you divert yourself. Nay! surely it is an admonishment. So let him who pleases mind it. S. 80:1-12

The Muslim scripture further speaks of Allah finding Muhammad lost in darkness and misguidance, and of having to remove Muhammad’s burden of sin:

Did He not find you astray, and guide you? S. 93:7 Ali Quli Qara’i

Contrast this with the following versions:

And He found you misguided so He guided (you)? Muhammad Ahmed – Samira 

And for the longest time (years) you were lost in darkness and live like a pagan and He revealed you the truth about the meaning of the life, why you are here, etc. Bijan Moeinian 

And now this next verse:

And We raised from you your sin/load/burden. Which weighed heavily (on)/burdened your back. S. 94:2-3 Muhammad Ahmed – Samira 

Notice the explanation given by Muslim scholar and Quranic translator Muhammad Asad concerning this text:

2 I.e., "the burden of thy past sins, which are now forgiven" (Tabari, on the authority of Mujahid, Qatadah, Ad-Dahhak and Ibn Zayd). In the case of Muhammad, this relates apparently to mistakes committed before his call to prophethood (ibid.), and is obviously an echo of 93:7 – “Has He not found thee lost on thy way, and guided thee?" (Asad, The Message of the Qur’an; bold emphasis ours) 

As if that wasn’t enough, Muhammad’s lord would constantly threaten to violently kill him, and subsequently torment him in hell, if he ever reverted back to his idolatrous ways, or if he failed to carry out his orders:

And surely they had purposed to turn you away from that which We have revealed to you, that you should forge against Us other than that, and then they would certainly have taken you for a friend. And had it not been that We had already established you, you would certainly have been near to incline to them a little; In that case We would certainly have made you to taste a double (punishment) in this life and a double (punishment) after death, then you would not have found any helper against Us. S. 17:73-75

O Prophet! be careful of (your duty to) Allah and do not comply with (the wishes of) the unbelievers and the hypocrites; surely Allah is Knowing, Wise; S. 33:1

And certainly, it has been revealed to you and to those before you: Surely if you associate (with Allah), your work would certainly come to naught and you would certainly be of the losers. S. 39:65

And if he had fabricated against Us some of the sayings, We would certainly have seized him by the right hand, Then We would certainly have cut off his aorta. And not one of you could have withheld Us from him. S. 69:44-47

Say: Surely no one can protect me against Allah, nor can I find besides Him any place of refuge: (It is) only a delivering (of communications) from Allah and His messages; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Apostle surely he shall have the fire of hell to abide therein for a long time. Until when they see what they are threatened with, then shall they know who is weaker in helpers and fewer in number. Say: I do not know whether that with which you are threatened be nigh or whether my Lord will appoint for it a term: S. 72:20-25

It therefore comes as no surprise that Muhammad remained uncertain regarding his final outcome:

Nay! they say: He has forged it. Say: If I have forged it, you do not control anything for me from Allah; He knows best what you utter concerning it; He is enough as a witness between me and you, and He is the Forgiving, the Merciful. Say: I am not the first of the apostles, and I do not know what will be done with me or with you: I do not follow anything but that which is revealed to me, and I am nothing but a plain warner. S. 46:8-9

The following supposed authentic narrations demonstrate that the above passage is speaking of Muhammad’s uncertainty concerning his eternal destiny:

Narrated 'Um al-'Ala: An Ansari woman who gave the pledge of allegiance to the Prophet that the Ansar drew lots concerning the dwelling of the Emigrants. 'Uthman bin Maz'un was decided to dwell with them (i.e. Um al-'Ala's family), 'Uthman fell ill and I nursed him till he died, and we covered him with his clothes. Then the Prophet came to us and I (addressing the dead body) said, "O Abu As-Sa'ib, may Allah's Mercy be on you! I bear witness that Allah has honored you." On that the Prophet said, "How do you know that Allah has honored him?" I replied, "I do not know. May my father and my mother be sacrificed for you, O Allah's Apostle! But who else is worthy of it (if not 'Uthman)?" He said, "As to him, by Allah, death has overtaken him, and I hope the best for him. By Allah, though I am the Apostle of Allah, yet I do not know what Allah will do to me," By Allah, I will never assert the piety of anyone after him. That made me sad, and when I slept I saw in a dream a flowing stream for 'Uthman bin Maz'un. I went to Allah's Apostle and told him of it. He remarked, "That symbolizes his (good) deeds." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 58, Number 266)

And:

Narrated Abu Huraira: When Allah revealed the Verse: "Warn your nearest kinsmen," Allah's Apostle got up and said, "O people of Quraish (or said similar words)! Buy (i.e. save) yourselves (from the Hellfire) as I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment; O Bani Abd Manaf! I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment, O Safiya, the Aunt of Allah's Apostle! I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment; O Fatima bint Muhammad! Ask me anything from my wealth, but I cannot save you from Allah's Punishment." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 51, Number 16

Hence, Muhammad was the farthest thing from being the perfect man since he himself recognized his utter depravity, which is why he is reported to have stated that he would seek forgiveness for his sins up one hundred times a day! He is even depicted as constantly beseeching his deity to remove and wash away his sins from him:

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle used to keep silent between the Takbir and the recitation of Qur'an and that interval of silence used to be a short one. I said to the Prophet, "May my parents be sacrificed for you! What do you say in the pause between Takbir and recitation?" The Prophet said, "I say, 'Allahumma, ba'id baini wa baina khatayaya kama ba'adta baina-l-mashriqi wa-l-maghrib. Allahumma, naqqim min khatayaya kama yunaqqa-ththawbu-l-abyadu mina-ddanas. Allahumma, ighsil khatayaya bil-ma'i wa-th-thalji wal-barad (O Allah! Set me apart from my sins (faults) as the East and West are set apart from each other and clean me from sins as a white garment is cleaned of dirt (after thorough washing). O Allah! Wash off my sins with water, snow and hail.)” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 12, Number 711)

Narrated 'Aisha: The Prophet used to say FREQUENTLY in his bowing and prostrations, "Subhanaka-Allahumma Rabbana Wabihamdika, Allahumma Ighfir-li (I honor Allah from all what (unsuitable things) is ascribed to Him, O Allah! Our Lord! All praises are for You. O Allah! Forgive me).” In this way he was acting on what was explained to him in the Holy Qur'an. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 12, Number 781)

Narrated Abu Huraira: I heard Allah's Apostle saying: “By Allah! I ask for forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 75, Number 319)

Al-Agharr al-Muzani who was from amongst the Companions of Allah's Apostle reported that Ibn 'Umar stated to him that Allah's Messenger said: O people, seek repentance from Allah. Verily, I seek repentance from Him a hundred times a day. (Sahih Muslim, Book 035, Number 6523)

Muslims should therefore really be troubled by the foregoing since their very own prophet himself, the man who founded their religion, wasn’t absolutely sure where he would spend eternity. How, then, can any of them ever know if they will be spared from Allah’s wrath after they die?

This brings us to the final section of our analysis.