World Blog by humble servant.Mistakes of the Messengers

Mistakes of the Messengers 

[14:11]  Their messengers said to them, "We are no more than humans like you...

God gives us numerous examples in the Quran of mistakes made by the messengers—none are mistakes in the message they delivered, but rather in their personal actions. In fact more than half of the messengers who are discussed at any length in the Quran have at least one mistake recorded there.

Adam directly disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden tree:

We said, “O Adam, live with your wife in Paradise, and eat therefrom generously, as you please, but do not approach this tree, lest you sin.”  But the devil duped them, and caused their eviction.… (2:35-36)

Noah questioned God when his son was drowned in the flood:

Noah implored his Lord: “My Lord, my son is a member of my family, and Your promise is the truth. You are the wisest of the wise.”  He said, “O Noah, he is not of your family. It is unrighteous to ask Me for something you do not know. I enlighten you, lest you be like the ignorant.” (11:45-46)

Abraham asked for forgiveness for his father who was an enemy of God:

….A mistake was committed by Abraham when he said to his father, “I will pray for your forgiveness, but I possess no power to protect you from GOD…. (60:4)

Jonah abandoned his mission thinking that God could not control him:

And Zan-Noon (Jonah, “the one with an ‘N’ in his name”), abandoned his mission in protest, thinking that we could not control him. He ended up imploring from the darkness (of the big fish’s belly  (21:87)

Joseph turned to someone other than God for help:

“O my prison mates, one of you will be the wine butler for his lord, while the other will be crucified....  He then said to the one to be saved “Remember me at your lord.” Thus, the devil caused him to forget his Lord, and, consequently, he remained in prison a few more years. (12:41-42)

 

Moses killed a man:

…The one from his people called on him for help against his enemy. Moses punched him, killing him. He said, “This is the work of the devil; he is a real enemy, and a profound misleader.”  He said, “My Lord, I have wronged my soul. Please forgive me,” and He forgave him…. (28:15-16)

Solomon forgot his prayer:

One day he became preoccupied with beautiful horses, until the night fell.  He then said, “I enjoyed the material things more than I enjoyed worshiping my Lord, until the sun was gone….  (38:31-33)

David seems to have ruled using his own opinion when the brothers asked for a ruling on combining their sheep:

He said, “He is being unfair to you by asking to combine your sheep with his. Most people who combine their properties treat each other unfairly….”Afterwards, David wondered if he made the right judgment. He thought that we were testing him. He then implored his Lord for forgiveness, bowed down, and repented.  We forgave him in this matter…. (38:25)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Jesus accuse God of forsaking him.Jesus screamed out father father why have you forsaken me

 It was revealed to me that at that moment Jesus was raised because he not only showed you he was calling on God he showed you there was a chance if his torture would have continued he would have portrayed God I cannot even fathom asking God why he betrayed me and I know him

Image he asked God why did he betray him why has he forsaken him even though he let him raise dead even though he let him heal the lepers he asking why has my God my God why have Thou forsaken me Jesus l'm raising you to me now

If if Jesus wasn't raised right then he might have betrayed God he might have renounced him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Interestingly the messenger who has the most mistakes mentioned in the Quran is the prophet Muhammad. Why should this be? Was God scandalizing him? Of course that does not make any sense, especially when God tells us in 68:4 that he had a great moral character. I can think of some very good reasons. First of all, unlike some of the other messengers his mistakes are of the kind that we are apt to make.

God willing none of us will ever kill anyone like Moses did and we are unlikely to be in a situation where we could issue a judgment like David, but we could easily make the kinds of errors in our personal relationships that Muhammad made and like most of us he was an idol worshiper before he was guided (40:66 and 93:7). So his errors are ones for us to learn from.

He almost leaned towards the disbelievers:

They almost diverted you from the revelations we have given you. They wanted you to fabricate something else, in order to consider you a friend.  If it were not that we strengthened you, you almost leaned towards them just a little bit.  Had you done that, we would have doubled the retribution for you in this life, and after death, and you would have found no one to help you against us. (17:73-75)

He feared the people rather than God:

Recall that you said to the one who was blessed by GOD, and blessed by you, “Keep your wife and reverence GOD,” and you hid inside yourself

what GOD wished to proclaim. Thus, you feared the people, when you were supposed to fear only GOD…. (33:37)

He prohibited something that God made lawful to him in order to please others:

O you prophet, why do you prohibit what GOD has made lawful for you, just to please your wives? GOD is Forgiver, Merciful. (66:1)

He misjudged people, using human standards rather than God’s:

He (Muhammad) frowned and turned away.  When the blind man came to him.  How do you know? He may purify himself.  Or he may take heed, and benefit from the message.  As for the rich man.  You gave him your attention.  Even though you could not guarantee his salvation.  The one who came to you eagerly.  And is really reverent.  You ignored him.  Indeed, this is a reminder.  Whoever wills shall take heed. (80:1-12)

He judged too quickly, before letting God expose the true character of some people:

GOD has pardoned you: why did you give them permission (to stay behind), before you could distinguish those who are truthful from the liars? (9:43)

All of these errors show the same kinds of human weaknesses that we are all subject to, so these verses give us valuable lessons for our own lives. And indeed in verse 18:110 Muhammad is told to say “I am no more than a human like you.”

I believe these verses do more, they provide good examples of why we cannot blindly follow the example of another human being, no matter who that person is. We must follow the scripture, the words of God, not the sunnah of any human being! (The sunnah are practices attributed to a messenger, and usually refer to practices attributed to Prophet Muhammad.)

 

And finally all of the mistakes of the messengers demonstrate to us how human they were. They make it clear that we can be totally human and still be absolutely devoted to God. We can all strive to be as good in our submission as the messengers:

Those who obey GOD and the messenger belong with those blessed by GOD―the prophets, the saints, the martyrs, and the righteous. These are the best company. (4:69)