contradiction in the Qur’an regarding what the Messenger conveys from his Lord (Is everything that Muhammad utters revelation?)

 Content of the doubt:

Some delusional people claim that there is a contradiction between the words of God Almighty: (And the star when it goes down (1) Your companion has neither strayed nor has he gone astray (2) Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination (3) It is not but a revelation revealed (4)) (An-Najm), and some other verses that indicate that he - may God bless him and grant him peace - spoke and uttered things without any revelation to him, to the point that God Almighty rebuked him for what he did, such as his permission for some of those who stayed behind from the Battle of Tabuk, and his Lord rebuked him for this permission in His words Almighty: (God has pardoned you. Why did you give them permission until it became clear to you who were truthful and you knew the liars (43)) (At-Tawbah).

They ask: How does the Qur’an indicate in one place that Muhammad only spoke by revelation from his Lord, and then rebuke him in another place for what he did?! Their aim behind this is to challenge the infallibility of the Qur’an from contradiction.

The face of invalidating the doubt:

The words of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - are divided into two parts:

· Whatever is conveyed from God Almighty is revelation, and is not based on whims. This is truth and there is no lie in it.

· Whatever he was entrusted with the effort to do - such as what happened in the Battle of Tabuk - or whatever was in matters of livelihood - such as the incident of pollinating the palm trees[1] - is not revelation, but rather an effort that appeared to him - may God bless him and grant him peace - and this is not described as truthful or false.

 

Details:

The words of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - between revelation[2] and independent reasoning[3]:

Regarding the speech of the Prophet and its types, Dr. Al-Hadidi wrote, saying: The speech of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - is divided into two types:

1. Whatever is conveyed from God Almighty is revelation, and is not based on whims:

Allah the Almighty swears - in Surat An-Najm - by the star when it sets that Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - has not gone astray nor has he gone astray. The one who is astray is the ignorant one who does not follow the straight path without knowledge, and the one who goes astray is the one who knows the truth but turns away from it and intends to go to something else. So he - may God bless him and grant him peace - is a rightly guided follower of the truth, so he avoided falsehood. (Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination (3)) (An-Najm), and his speech does not come from his own inclination, neither from the Qur’an nor from anything else. (It is only a revelation revealed (4)) (An-Najm). What he speaks is nothing but a revelation from God Almighty, which He reveals to him. So these verses indicate that - may God bless him and grant him peace - does not speak except from a revelation from God - the Almighty and Majestic.

Whatever the Messenger - may God bless him and grant him peace - says, if it is a message from God Almighty, then it is not from his own desires. Rather, everything he conveys from his Lord is a revelation from Him, glory be to Him. He does not say anything about God from himself. This is a response to the infidels who claimed that the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - fabricated this Qur’an. The Messenger - may God bless him and grant him peace - swore that he only spoke the truth - a message from his Lord - when some of them mentioned that the humanity of the Messenger might cause him to say words when angry that would be affected by his anger.

It was narrated on the authority of Abdullah bin Amr that he said: “I used to write down everything I heard from the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, wanting to memorize it. Then the Quraysh forbade me, saying: ‘You write down everything you hear from the Messenger of God, and the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, is a human being who speaks in anger.’ So I stopped writing, and I mentioned that to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and he said: ‘Write, for by the One in Whose Hand is my soul, nothing comes out of me except the truth.’”[4]

On the authority of Abu Hurairah, on the authority of the Messenger of God - may God bless him and grant him peace - that he said: “I only say the truth.” Some of his companions said: “You joke with us, O Messenger of God!” He said: “Then I only say the truth.”[5]

 

2. What was entrusted to him - may God bless him and grant him peace - to exercise independent reasoning in is not revelation, but rather an independent reasoning that appeared to him - may God bless him and grant him peace:

As for the other verses that indicate that he - may God bless him and grant him peace - spoke and uttered things without any revelation to him, to the point that God Almighty rebuked him for what happened from him, such as his permission for some of those who stayed behind from the Battle of Tabuk, God rebuked him for this permission, saying - Glory be to Him -: (Allah has pardoned you. Why did you give them permission until it became clear to you who are truthful and you knew who are the liars (43) (At-Tawbah), these verses talk about situations in which the Prophet was entrusted with diligence, and the meaning of the previous verse - as Ibn Jarir said - is: Allah has pardoned you, O Muhammad, for what happened from you in giving permission to these hypocrites who asked your permission to not go out with you, and to stay behind from you, before you knew their truthfulness from their lies, and it was not appropriate for you to give them permission to stay behind from you, when they said to you: If we could, we would go out with you, until you knew who among them had an excuse for staying behind, and who among them had no excuse, so your permission for whomever you gave permission from them was based on your knowledge of his excuse, and you knew who... The liar among them is the one who is backward in hypocrisy and doubts the religion of God.

Everything that is not a message from God Almighty, and the Messenger is entrusted with it based on his own effort - such as his permission - may God bless him and grant him peace - for those who stayed behind from the Battle of Tabuk, his statement in it is not a statement based on desire, as it does not contradict a prohibition that was given to him, but rather based on his own effort in which it became clear to him that these excuse-makers could not go out with him. The hypocrites often - exaggerating in concealing their true nature - swear by God on what they say: (They have taken their oaths as a shield and have averted [people] from the way of God. Indeed, evil is what they have been doing (2)) (Al-Munafiqun). The Messenger - may God bless him and grant him peace - is a human being who has no knowledge of people’s inner thoughts except what God informs him of from them, and even at the time of giving them permission to stay behind, God had not informed him that they were lying hypocrites.

And from that also is his advice - may God bless him and grant him peace - to leave the pollination of palm trees, and to leave it to spoil their fruit and make it dry [6]. On the authority of Anas, “The Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - came to Medina while they were pollinating the palm trees, so he said: ‘What are you doing?’ They said: ‘We used to do it.’ He said: ‘Perhaps if you had not done it it would have been better.’ So they left it and it was shaken or diminished. He said: So they mentioned that to him, so he said: ‘I am only a human being. If I command you to do something from your religion, then take it, and if I command you to do something from my opinion, then I am only a human being.” [7]

This - as the scholars said - is hope, and hope is neither true nor false, and it is a matter of conjecture and opinion in matters of livelihood. Al-Nawawi said: The scholars said: This statement was not news, but rather conjecture, and his opinion - may God bless him and grant him peace - in matters of livelihood and his conjecture is like any other, so it is not impossible for something like this to happen, and there is no deficiency in that.

Therefore, the sayings of the Messenger - may God bless him and grant him peace - which are based on ijtihad and the application of opinion in matters of livelihood cannot be described as true or false [8].

Conclusion:

There is no contradiction between the verses that these people used as evidence of the existence of a contradiction between the verses of the Qur’an regarding the words of the Prophet. The words of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - are divided into two types:

· What was revealed by God Almighty, and such a thing never accepts lying, because it is the word of God that cannot be changed or altered.

· What was an effort on his part - may God bless him and grant him peace - or was related to a worldly matter, and this does not allow for truth or falsehood, and the Prophet in this regard is like the rest of humanity.

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(*) The Statement on Refuting the Imaginary Conflict between the Verses of the Qur’an, Dr. Muhammad Abu al-Nour al-Hadidi, Al-Amanah Library, Cairo, 1401 AH/1981 AD.

[1] Palm pollination: its fertilization.

[2] Revelation: is God Almighty informing one of His prophets of a legal ruling or something similar, whether through an intermediary or otherwise.

[3] Ijtihad: The jurist exerts his utmost effort in seeking knowledge of the Sharia ruling.

[4] Authentic: It was included by Ahmad in his Musnad, Musnad of the Companions who narrated many hadiths, Musnad of Abdullah ibn Amr, may God be pleased with them both (6510), and by Abu Dawud in his Sunan, Book of Knowledge, Chapter on Writing Knowledge (3648), and it was authenticated by Al-Albani in As-Silsilah As-Saheehah (1532).

[5] Authentic: It was included by Ahmad in his Musnad, Musnad of the Companions who narrated many hadiths, Musnad of Abu Hurayrah - may God be pleased with him - (8708), and by al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan, Book of Piety, Kinship, and Manners, Chapter on Joking (1990), and it was authenticated by al-Albani in Mukhtasar al-Shama’il (202).

[6] Al-Shees: dates that have not ripened due to poor pollination.

[7] Narrated by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Virtues, Chapter on the Obligation to Obey What He Said in Sharia, Not What He - may God bless him and grant him peace - Said of Worldly Matters by Way of Opinion (6276).

[8] Al-Bayan fi refutation of the imaginary contradiction between the verses of the Qur’an, Dr. Muhammad Abu al-Nur al-Hadid, Al-Amanah Library, Cairo, 1401 AH/1981 AD, pp. 70: 73.