Concept of Infallibility of Prophet and 'Qadyaniat' (5)

     

Qadyani/ ahmadiya also pick some sayings/incidents relating to life of our Nabi (saww) to try to prove that prophets may not be infallible. One such incidence is relating to first ‘wahi’ at Cave of Hira. According to hadith, hazrat Gabriel (a.s) came to our Nabi (s.a.w) in the Cave and said to our Nabi (s.a.w): ‘iqra’/ read; our Nabi (s.a.w) replied he (s.a.w) did not know how to read. On receiving reply from our Nabi (s.a.w), Gabriel got hold of our Nabi (s.a.w) and pressed him (s.a.w). In short, Gabriel three times asked our Nabi (s.a.w) to read; each time, our Nabi (s.a.w)  replied he (s.a.w) did not know how to read; and each time Gabriel (a.s) pressed our Nabi (s.a.w). Third time when Gabriel (a.s) pressed our Nabi (s.a.w), Gabriel revealed the first verse to our Nabi (s.a.w). Qadyanis argue that our Nabi (s.a.w) was unable to understand the ‘wahi’ first time and second time; he (s.a.w) could understand ‘wahi’ only after Gabriel pressed our Nabi (s.a.w) third time. Therefore QAdyanis conclude prophets may not be infallible.

Let us analyze this view of ‘Qadyanis’. Before exposing the fallacy of Qadyanis’ view, it may be appropriate to understand the process of revelation of ‘wahi’. The ‘wahi’ to prophets is carried by Gabriel and revealed onto the ‘qalb’/ mind of prophets. Quran states:

“Say, "Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel - it is [none but] he who has brought this (wahi) down upon your 'qalb', [ Muhammad (s.a.w)], by permission of Allah , confirming that which was before it and as guidance and good tidings for the believers” (al-baqra-97).

“And indeed, this (wahi) is the revelation of the Lord of the worlds. The Trustworthy Spirit has brought it down. Upon your 'qalb', [Muhammad (s.a.w)] - that you may be of the warners” (al-shua-ra-192-194).

 These above mentioned verses show that following steps/features are involved in the revelation of ‘wahi’:

i.             The first step/feature is that ‘wahi’ is carried down by Gabriel;

ii.           The ‘wahi’ is revealed onto the qalb/mind of the prophet;

iii.           The third step/feature is the prophet understands the ‘wahi’. The revelation of wahi onto qalb/ mind of the prophet implies that the prophet intellectually understands what has been revealed to him.

When the prophet has received wahi on his qalb/mind; when he has  understood what has been revealed to him, he further communicates such ‘wahi’ to other people. It is not possible for a prophet to communicate his ‘wahi’ to other people without understanding it. Only a bogus prophet may communicate his so called ‘wahi’ to other people without understanding it. There is NOT a single Quranic verse which may be quoted as non-understood by our Nabi (s.a.w); similarly there is NOT a single saying of our Nabi (s.a.w), which may be quoted as non-understood by our Nabi (s.a.w). Whereas Mirza Qadyani seems to be habitual to express his views first in the name of so called ‘wahi’ but, later on, backs out from his previous views, putting forth excuse that he, previously, could not understand his so called ‘wahi’.

Now we turn to our Nabi’s (s.a.w) saying quoted in the beginning. In this hadith, word ; ‘iqra’/read has been used. It may be appreciated that this word ‘iqra’ is always used in Quran to read something written in words. It means when Gabriel was asking our Nabi (s.a.w) to read, he (Gabriel) was actually showing to our Nabi (s.a.w) the ‘wahi’ written in words. Because our Nabi (s.a.w) did not know how to read, he (s.a.w) replied Gabriel that he (s.a.w) did not know how to read. It may be appreciated Gabriel was not using the word ‘iqra’/read to make our Nabi (s.a.w) speak; obviously if Gabriel was asking our Nabi (s.a.w) to speak, our Nabi (s.a.w) did not reply him (Gabriel) that he (s.a.w) could not read.  By using word ‘iqra’/read Gabriel was actually asking our Nabi (s.a.w) to read the ‘wahi’ which was in written form (that is why Quran is Words of Allah). As we stated above, the process of revelation involves i. carrying wahi by Gabriel ii. revealing ‘wahi’ onto the qalb/mind of the prophet so that the prophet must understand what has been revealed to him. It means as long as our Nabi (s.a.w) has not read the wahi, Gabriel had not revealed that ‘wahi’ to our Nabi (s.a.w); the process of revelation of ‘wahi’ was completed only after our Nabi (s.a.w) started reading that ‘wahi’. It was through reading the ‘wahi’ that wahi was revealed onto our Nabi’s (s.a.w) qalb/mind; it was through reading the ‘wahi’ that our Nabi (s.a.w) learnt ‘wahi’ by heart; it was through reading the ‘wahi’ that process of revelation of ‘wahi’ was completed. Quran has mentioned this fact as below:   

“Move not your tongue with it, [ Muhammad (s.a.w)], to hasten with recitation of the Qur'an. : Indeed, upon Us is its collection [in your mind] and [to make possible] its recitation” (al-qiyamah-16,17).

Because at the time of revelation, our Nabi (s.a.w) used to read the ‘wahi’ in haste to memorize it so that any part may not be missed out, in the above mentioned verses, Allah is suggesting our Nabi (s.a.w) not to read the ‘wahi’ in haste. In other words, it was NOT due to non-understanding of ‘wahi’ by our Nabi (s.a.w) that our Nabi (s.a.w) refused to read the ‘wahi’; there was no point of non-understanding of ‘wahi’ when the ‘wahi’ had not yet been revealed to our Nabi (s.a.w); there was no point of non-understanding of ‘wahi’, when the process of revelation of ‘wahi’ had not yet completed. The wahi was revealed to our Nabi (s.a.w) when our Nabi (s.a.w) started reading the wahi; the wahi was revealed to our Nabi (s.a.w) when the process of revelation of wahi was completed and the process was completed when our Nabi (s.a.w) learnt the ‘wahi’ by heart by reading it. In other words, when Gabriel pressed our Nabi (s.a.w) twice, he (Gabriel) was in the process of revealing the ‘wahi’ to our Nabi (s.a.w). When Gabriel pressed our Nabi (s.a.w) for the third time, he (Gabriel) had completed the process of revealing the wahi to our Nabi (s.a.w). Actually it was a miracle that our Nabi (s.a.w) who did not know how to read started reading the wahi when Gabriel pressed our Nabi (s.a.w) for the third time; the revelation of wahi to our Nabi (s.a.w) was a miracle.
Similarly in case of 'wahi' which is not Words of Allah (i.e. words of Nabi or words of Gabriel. plz see for details my article " Wahi, Intuition and their Implications), wahi is revealed onto the qalb/mind of the prophet so that the prophet is able to understand it. In such type of wahi too, process of revelation of wahi is not completed until the prophet is able to understand what has been revealed to him. The verses quoted above (i.e. al-baqra-97 & al-shu-ara-192-194) are applicable to this type of wahi as well. Prophets cannot express their wahi to other people until they have received and understood the wahi.

Therefore we may say that Qadyanis cannot justify the lies spoken by their false prophet; they cannot justify the wrongs done by their bogus prophet by pointing finger at true prophets. Prophets cannot express their wahi to other people until they have received and understood the wahi. There is no justification if a person claims to have received a wahi, but puts forth excuses that he is unable to understand his so called ‘wahi’. As we have seen wahi is revealed onto mind/qalb of the prophet, there is no justification if a so called prophet says he is unable to understand his so called wahi; such a so called prophet is a big lair. 

We may conclude that prophets are always infallible. They are infallible in the sense that they cannot commit a mistake with intent or a wrong. A mistake with intent is an act which is false/wrong at the time when the act is committed, whether or not fallacy of the act is known to the actor. If the fallacy is not known to the actor at the time of commission of the act, such act is called mistake with intent, if the act is committed in the way the actor intends to commit it; if fallacy of the act is known to the actor at the time of commission, such an act is not only mistake with intent but also wrong liable to be punished for.

A mistake without intent is an act which is NOT wrong/false at the time of commission but later on turns out to be wrong/false. Such an act may not be called a mistake. Such an act may be more rightly called an accident. Prophets may not commit a mistake with intent or wrong liable to be punished; but they may fall a prey of accident which is no mistake. Qadyanis do not believe in infallibility of prophets because they cannot justify the wrongs done by their so called prophet (Mirza Qadyani), if they believe in infallibility of prophets (continued).