Did Prophet Muhammad PBUH Interpret The Message Of God?
Prophets are always under continuous protection and guidance of Allah, if by any chance Prophet (SWS) had done any wrong ijtihad, Allah would’ve corrected it. That is why, it is being said that Knowledge of Prophet Muhammad (SWS) was infallible. The verse quoted above is not in the context as implied: مَا كَانَ لِنَبِيٍّ أَنْ يَكُوْنَ لَهُ أَسْرَى حَتَّى يُثْخِنَ فِي الْأَرْضِ تُرِيْدُوْنَ عَرَضَ الدُّنْيَا وَاللّهُ يُرِيْدُ الْآخِرَةَ وَاللّهُ عَزِيْزٌ حَكِيْمٌ. لَّوْلَا كِتَابٌ مِّنَ اللّهِ سَبَقَ لَمَسَّكُمْ فِيْمَا أَخَذْتُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيْمٌ. [These people object that you have launched this offensive to capture prisoners and take ransom from them. In reality,] it is not befitting for any prophet that he capture prisoners so that he even causes bloodshed in the land [for it]. [40] [People of the Quraysh!] It is you who want the goods of this world; God only wants the Hereafter. And God is powerful and very wise. Had God’s verdict not been written down before [that you should be given some more respite,] a great torment would have visited you because of the attitude you have adopted . (Quran 8:67-68) (Excerpt from Quranic Exegesis: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi) (Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem) Footnote [40] : The verse begins with the words مَا كَانَ. This style can be adopted to blame as well as to dispel blame. Here it is used in the latter sense. The Quraysh had attacked Madinah on the excuse that Muslims wanted to plunder their trade caravan. When they lost the battle of Badr, then in order to protect their people from its evil effect they stirred the propaganda that their fear was true: when these Muslims were not able to loot the caravan, they captured prisoners and demanding ransom from them; slaves of this world have always stuck to these ways while prophets of God never do such things. Here the Qur’an has answered this propaganda: prophets of God never wage war to capture prisoners and to obtain money from them; it is only when they are compelled to wage war for a justified objective do they do so to capture prisoners and get hold of spoils of war in order to punish criminals against whom they were compelled to wage war. Thus, at this instance too, if bloodshed ensued it was not to capture prisoners on ransom but to punish the leaders of the Quraysh for their rebelliousness and this will continue until the persecution they were guilty of is eliminated and only God’s religion reigns supreme in Arabia. It is this fate that they have now become worthy of once a messenger of God has conclusively conveyed the truth to them . ___________________________________________________________ For further details on Prophet’s (SWS) infallible knowledge and Prophet’s (SWS) Ijtihad , please refer to the video below from 10:51 to 16:40 https://youtu.be/rveZ0p1M5BA?t=651