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From: zeeshan@occs.cs.oberlin.edu (Zeeshan Hasan)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: the nature of the Prophet
Message-ID: <1991Apr26.215310.5015@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 26 Apr 91 21:53:10 GMT
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	It seems to me that this board has been somewhat lacking in 
serious discussion about Islam, which I think is a pity.  There are 
plenty of things out there that we as Muslims need to discuss, and 
the fact that we are not all scholars does not mean that we should 
keep quiet.  
	With this in mind, I would like to start a discussion about 
about the ways in which the Prophet is viewed.  I ask this as it is 
an extremely important issue, with many consequences for the ways in
which we view the Hadith and Quran.
	I hope that no one will be offended by this.  My point is not
to insult Islam or the Prophet in any way.  I would rather that we 
all learn something through discussion that will make better Muslims
of all of us.
	To begin, I would like to point out the following Hadith, from
the Sahih Bukhari:
		
	"I am only a man.  He who takes something from me must
	 beware, for he may have taken a portion of the Fire."

	This Hadith would appear to indicate that the Prophet was 
capable of making mistakes in the matter of religious guidance.  If 
that is the case, the Hadith themselves must be abandoned as a source
of Islamic law, as their authority stems from the infallibility of the
Prophet.  In that case, the vast majority of what is now known as 
"Islamic Law", which has its foundations in the Hadith, must be revised.
The Quran would be the only reliable source.
	Besides the obvious legal implications, the ideas presented
above seem to conflict with the common traditional view that the Prophet 
was a perfect man whose divinely guided life was free from error and sin.
This has usually been thought to be a necessary assumption, as without it
we must face the possibility that errors were made in the prophets 
transmission of the Quran to us.  It may seem that by acknowledging his
fallibility we lose our assurance that Islam is indeed based on the word 
of God.  However, this is not the case.  It is possible to hold that, 
though he was a human being as fallible as are all others, his function 
as a conveyor of the divine word was done completely according to God's 
wishes, and therefore free from error.  Thus the Quran may still be the 
perfect divine word, even if the prophet was not a sinless man.

	I'll continue this later.  Again, I apologize for offending anyone.
But I think some things are important enough that they must be discussed.  
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   Zeeshan Hasan              zeeshan@occs.cs.oberlin.edu 
                              skh7063@oberlin.bitnet     
      "Of course I love mankind... it's people I can't stand!"   
                                         - Linus Van Pelt    
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