Mistakes of Messengers

[jtc]

Peace be upon you all.

This question has been in my mind for quite sometime, but I cannot come to an answer. Perhaps there is no way to actually know, but I might be overlooking something and maybe God has blessed someone here with knowledge I have not yet attained.

We all know that messengers and prophets were humans and therefor fallible. We have many examples of mistakes messengers made, including but perhaps not limited to: Muhammad prohibiting something God did not (66:1), turning away from a blind man and giving attention to someone he thought was better (Chapter 80), fearing the people instead of God (33:37); Abraham asking for his father's forgiveness (9:114), arguing about Lot's people (11:74-76); Moses killing a man (28:15-16), Jonah trying to escape from his duties (37:139-144).

In terms of these mistakes we can argue that some are more serious than others, but they were errors nonetheless.

My question is: Is is possible for messengers to be wrong in terms of preaching things and attributing them to God? Sura 21 verse 27 I have understood to mean that when they are acting as the messenger they cannot, but they can state their own opinions which may or may not coincide with the truth. Do we have any precedent or proof that a messenger of God is able to preach something wrong about God to his audience?

I have yet to find any basis for this in the Qur'an and it is a major question I pose to people who believe Rashad Khalifa was a messenger. Some people do not recognize he made any mistakes and fall into idol worship by attributing every word he uttered to God. Some people believe he was a messenger, but then say he was human and made mistakes, but the mistakes are things he preached about God's words and preached as God's truth. How can a messenger of God be correct about telling people to worship God alone, but be wrong in so many ways regarding how to worship Him? Then there are some who reject him as being a messenger of God based on those mistakes or misunderstandings attributed to God.


Please excuse me if I am mixing up issues. The issue of Rashad is merely an example; I am more interested in the overall concept. I myself was convinced Rashad was a messenger, but so many things have come to my attention and I need to reevaluate my beliefs about messengers based on the Qur'an alone.

Peace.

[good logic]

Peace jtc.

GOD has the answer if you believe the Koran is " fully detailed" and HE explains it.

There is nothing wrong in asking others and exchanging views.

Please have a look at:  http://www.total-loyalty-to-god-alone.co.uk/hello-world/

Keep searching, but remember to stay loyal to GOD Alone.

Peace.

[Student of Allah]

Shalom Aleikhem,

How can a messenger of God be correct about telling people to worship God alone, but be wrong in so many ways regarding how to worship Him? Then there are some who reject him as being a messenger of God based on those mistakes or misunderstandings attributed to God.

The way I see it, a messenger is just like you and me. So has to be wrong in many things just like we are.

However, that is not to say that I am justifying whatever any such messenger preaches in the name of God. What would be the point of a messenger if he goes around giving the false message ? When your sole purpose is to be a messenger and you walk around giving the wrong message, not only you, even God should be prosecuted in court for being unreasonable.

I do not see anything "STRAIGHT" about it. Its a total mess of utter confusion and a ticket to get away with whatever people want. Claim your mission is to split the world in half, then upon failure, say that GOD NEVER LIED, the HUMAN messenger made mistake. And the average person like me watches with utter confusion and wonders "HOW DO I TRUST, and WHAT DO I TRUST" ? If a messenger lies about the message !!


Ofcourse other people have different views. And it is ok in their views for messengers to do that. In some of their views, the messenger never did anything like I said. Opinions vary from person to person.


Peace
------------ Student of Allah

[Sir Comcision]

No, otherwise they would be frauds, not messengers.

[Meemz]

I think where people get confused is they atrribute the qualities of the message to the qualitities of the messenger. The message is not created by the person who delivers it. It's created by Allah. People make mistakes. We have from the beginning and we will until the end. I think that giving the prophets the attribute of infaillabilty is in many ways a cop out. It allows us not to try to live up to thier example because it is litterally beyond their control. Allah makes them infaillabe so they can not make a mistake even if they tried. Allah corrects His prophets to illustrate that it is not them who have power and that they are human. That is why they are examples. Fuuthermore if Allah did not expect us to make mistakes why would He inform us reapeatedly that he is Most Merciful?

[Mattah]

In response to:
My question is: Is is possible for messengers to be wrong in terms of preaching things and attributing them to God? Sura 21 verse 27 I have understood to mean that when they are acting as the messenger they cannot, but they can state their own opinions which may or may not coincide with the truth. Do we have any precedent or proof that a messenger of God is able to preach something wrong about God to his audience?

I believe that you already know this answer and that is why you are searching the Quran for the truth and not the Hadith.  We should not just regard the Hadith as something that people invented over time and falsely attributed to the Prophet s.a.w. Some of it I am sure was falsely attributed to him and some of it was probably very close to what he preached or what others remembered of his conversations he had. Nonetheless, the Hadith was from the Prophet and not from Allah.  Does this mean that the Prophet should have stayed quiet when he was not receiving revelation?  Of course not, as there was no mention of that in the Quran so I believe he did his very best to teach others and I am sure he had friends whom he could joke around with and speak casually with and at other times I am sure he was very serious in trying to explain what he had learned himself from contemplating and meditating on the revelations which were revealed to him.  We must remember that he was human and he was in such a position to be severely scrutinized at every moment because probably there were many people at that time that thought everything he said must have been from Allah since I believe it must have been very difficult to distinguish revelation from opinion especially since he had such authority and respect from the community of believers.  Just imagine if it was yourself who had a revelation or you saw the Angel Gabriel or the burning bush, you would still be YOU the next day, you would still converse and talk to people on their level or in the market or at work or your family and friends in different ways than you would talk to someone who was earnestly seeking your knowledge.  I hope this helps.

[mirjamnur]

In response to:
My question is: Is is possible for messengers to be wrong in terms of preaching things and attributing them to God? Sura 21 verse 27 I have understood to mean that when they are acting as the messenger they cannot, but they can state their own opinions which may or may not coincide with the truth. Do we have any precedent or proof that a messenger of God is able to preach something wrong about God to his audience?

I believe that you already know this answer and that is why you are searching the Quran for the truth and not the Hadith.  We should not just regard the Hadith as something that people invented over time and falsely attributed to the Prophet s.a.w. Some of it I am sure was falsely attributed to him and some of it was probably very close to what he preached or what others remembered of his conversations he had. Nonetheless, the Hadith was from the Prophet and not from Allah.  Does this mean that the Prophet should have stayed quiet when he was not receiving revelation?  Of course not, as there was no mention of that in the Quran so I believe he did his very best to teach others and I am sure he had friends whom he could joke around with and speak casually with and at other times I am sure he was very serious in trying to explain what he had learned himself from contemplating and meditating on the revelations which were revealed to him.  We must remember that he was human and he was in such a position to be severely scrutinized at every moment because probably there were many people at that time that thought everything he said must have been from Allah since I believe it must have been very difficult to distinguish revelation from opinion especially since he had such authority and respect from the community of believers.  Just imagine if it was yourself who had a revelation or you saw the Angel Gabriel or the burning bush, you would still be YOU the next day, you would still converse and talk to people on their level or in the market or at work or your family and friends in different ways than you would talk to someone who was earnestly seeking your knowledge.  I hope this helps.

sure, every prophet and messenger makes errors.i think,  that every prophet of Allah receives special knowledge about the message, which he was about to bring. He can not  give false answers about questions of faith, that would be fatal.
I also see the biggest difference between a messenger, which passes over on a message and a prophet who has received special knowledge about this message.
So I see, for example, someone like Rashad Khalifa as a possible messenger, he called to God/quran alone, but was not equipped with prophetic qualities and wisdom from Allah, so he did make  errors in the message (i.e Zakat) .
 However now, we need no more prophets, since the last message is  clear and perfect .
What we  still need are people who exhort and warn us.
just my opinion peace

[donnyw]

In my opinion the most important duty of a messenger is to proclaim that there is no god but God alone.

none of the messengers failed to deliver this duty that I know of.

Messengers are human like us, so it is possible for him to make wrong interpretation of some religious commands.

However, only God can guide us, we will make mistakes too,but as long as we strive with sincerity, make repentance and always seek Allah's help, then it is okay to make mistakes.

Peace.

[DaresBears]

My question is: Is is possible for messengers to be wrong in terms of preaching things and attributing them to God?

Well, in my opinion, yes it is possible, because messengers are fallible, however God chooses messengers who aren't for the most part going to go around preaching their own opinions and attributing them to God. God chooses competent messengers for the job.

[donnyw]

Well, in my opinion, yes it is possible, because messengers are fallible, however God chooses messengers who aren't for the most part going to go around preaching their own opinions and attributing them to God. God chooses competent messengers for the job.

I agree with you.