Title: Relating to the Infallibility of the Prophet (pbuh)... Question: I want to see what are the limits of infallibility? What is the level of infallibility that we ascribe for the holy Prophet? Being protected in delivering the revelation of God; Being protected in saying any thing, no matter if he is in the state of anger or just in the state of giving an opinion; Being protected from committing any sort of sin, even the minor ones. What I understand from Quran is that the infallibility of the prophets is only at the first level and not the other levels. There are many verses in Quran that can be used as evidences that it is possible for a prophet (including our prophet) to say something by mistake (unless it is revelation) or to commit a sin (although not a major sin). There are a number of verse in which the holy prophet is being corrected by God. There is also Hadith from the prophet that says he is but a human being, will get angry some times and might say things, or in other Hadith (the story of the farmers) the prophet said something to the effect that I only gave you my opinion and I am only a human and you know your work better. However there are some ahadith that contradict the above. Like ahadith in Ahmad and Daremi that says the prophet said: Write because nothing comes from me but truth. The companion that narrates this hadith is using it to explain why he was writing everything he had heard from the prophet (others had told him that he shouldn't do so because the prophet was a human being capable of being angry, etc.). Other versions of the hadith assert that even in the state of anger the prophet tells truth (as far as I remember). So what is your opinion about the correct concept of infallibility, as can be derived from Quran and Sunnah ? Which groups of ahadith in your view are more reliable? Am I right to say the first group of ahadith (those that imply not all the things that the prophet says should be taken as absolute truth) are more inline with the Quran? My next question is that if you agree with me on the above then what is our criterion to decide whether something that the prophet has said should be taken as 100% truth or should be counted as an opinion or expression of feeling from a human being? (For instance I remember that in another reply you said some thing to the effect that the ahadith in which the prophet is praising his family cannot be taken literally and many of them are just the expression of feeling and love of a father for his family). Appreciate your time in replying the above issues. Rahim United Kingdom Answer: I have explained the concept of infallibility of the Prophet in a few of my earlier responses to related questions. For a quick reference, please see my response titled ' Did the Prophet (pbuh) ever Commit a Mistake? '. In the referred question, I have written: The Prophet (pbuh) never committed any mistake in the deliverance of God's message. It is in this sphere that, according to the Qur'an God closely guards His prophets Himself as well as through His angels to see whether His message is accurately delivered or not ( Al-Jinn 72: 27 - 28). Besides this sphere, as a human being, a prophet may commit a mistake. However, if this mistake has even an indirect effect on the message of God that the prophet is deputed to deliver, then God corrects him of such a mistake, without any delay. Subsequently, in my referred response, I have also given a few examples of incidents where the Prophet (pbuh) committed a human error. You ask: Which groups of ahadith in your view are more reliable? As I understand it, if each narrative is seen in conjunction with the others, it would seem that in the first kind of narratives, the issue under consideration was more of a normal worldly issue in nature. Thus, relating to normal worldly issues, the Prophet (pbuh) has told people that he can, like others, commit mistakes, ascribe to an incorrect opinion on a particular issue and thus give an incorrect counsel on that issue. In contrast to these narratives, it seems that the second kind of narratives relates purely to religious issues and directives. Thus, in the second kind of narratives, the Prophet (pbuh), on the confidence that God is actively protecting him from all mistakes in his religious teachings and in his deliverance of God's revelations, has allowed people to write his sayings, emphasizing the point that he is secure from all faults, in contrast to other humans, in this particular sphere. You write: ... what is our criterion to decide whether something that the Prophet has said should be taken as 100% truth or should be counted as an opinion or expression of feeling from a human being? The foregoing answer to your first question should help in answering this question as well. Because the Prophet's special and infallible position relates specifically to the sphere of delivering God's guidance to man, therefore, we should concentrate primarily on those narratives which report a religious teaching ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh). Narratives reporting a worldly, a cultural, a personal matter etc. provide us information regarding the life of our revered Prophet (pbuh), but do not entail religious significance. Nevertheless, even in the first kind of narratives, we still face the possibility of misreporting, misinterpretation and false judgment on the part of any one or more of the narrators of such reports. Thus, in view of this intricacy, we have to define such principles on the basis of which we can safely accept or turn down a narrative as one which is accurately narrating the incident which took place during the life of the Prophet (pbuh) and from which a religious directive, interpretation or application is being derived. Yet these principles, however logical they may be and however diligently they are applied on each narrative, can never give us "100%" assurance that a particular narrative precisely and accurately reports the actual saying of or incident relating to the life of the Prophet (pbuh). I hope this helps. Regards, Moiz Amjad January 18, 2003