Does the Prophet Speak Only by Revelation? Refuting the Alleged Contradiction in An-Najm 53:3–4
Some delusional people claim that there is a contradiction between the words of God Almighty in Surah An-Najm and other verses which show that the Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — sometimes spoke or acted in matters where revelation had not yet come to him.
“And the star when it goes down. Your companion has neither strayed nor has he gone astray. Nor does he speak from his own inclination. It is not but a revelation revealed.”
They compare this with verses where Allah rebuked the Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — for a decision he made, such as his permission for some of those who stayed behind from the Battle of Tabuk.
“God has pardoned you. Why did you give them permission until it became clear to you who were truthful and you knew the liars?”
Their aim behind this is to challenge the infallibility of the Qur’an from contradiction.
The Face of Invalidating the Doubt
- Whatever is conveyed from God Almighty is revelation, and is not based on whims. This is truth and there is no lie in it.
- Whatever he was entrusted with the effort to do — such as what happened in the Battle of Tabuk — or whatever was in matters of livelihood — such as the incident of pollinating the palm trees1 — is not revelation, but rather an effort that appeared to him, and this is not described as truthful or false.
The mistake in the objection is that it treats every statement, action, judgement, or worldly opinion of the Prophet ﷺ as if it must fall under the same category. That is weak reasoning. The Qur’an is not saying that every worldly judgement, administrative choice, or agricultural opinion was direct revelation. It is speaking about what he conveyed from Allah as religion.
The Words of the Prophet Between Revelation and Ijtihad
Ijtihad is the jurist exerting his utmost effort in seeking knowledge of the Sharia ruling.2
Regarding the speech of the Prophet and its types, Dr. Al-Hadidi wrote that the speech of the Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — is divided into two types.
First Type: Whatever Is Conveyed from God Almighty Is Revelation
Allah the Almighty swears in Surah An-Najm by the star when it sets that Muhammad — may God bless him and grant him peace — has not gone astray, nor has he been misled.
The one who is astray is the ignorant one who does not follow the straight path due to lack of knowledge. The one who goes astray is the one who knows the truth but turns away from it and intends something else. So the Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — is a rightly guided follower of the truth, free from falsehood.
“Nor does he speak from his own inclination. It is not but a revelation revealed.”
His speech does not come from his own inclination, neither the Qur’an nor anything else that he conveys from Allah. What he speaks in conveying the message is nothing but revelation from God Almighty, which He reveals to him.
These verses indicate that the Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — does not speak, when conveying from Allah, except by revelation from God Almighty.
This is a response to the disbelievers who claimed that the Prophet fabricated the Qur’an.
The Messenger — may God bless him and grant him peace — swore that he only spoke the truth as a message from his Lord when some people mentioned that the humanity of the Messenger might cause him to say words while angry.
“I used to write down everything I heard from the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, wanting to memorize it. Then the Quraysh forbade me, saying: ‘You write down everything you hear from the Messenger of God, and the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, is a human being who speaks in anger.’
So I stopped writing, and I mentioned that to the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, and he said:
‘Write, for by the One in Whose Hand is my soul, nothing comes out of me except the truth.’”3
“I only say the truth.”
Some of his companions said:
“You joke with us, O Messenger of God!”
He said:
“Then I only say the truth.”4
Second Type: What Was Entrusted to Him for Ijtihad
As for the other verses that indicate that he — may God bless him and grant him peace — spoke and acted in matters where no revelation had yet come to him, such as his permission for some of those who stayed behind from the Battle of Tabuk, these verses speak about situations in which the Prophet was entrusted with ijtihad.
“Allah has pardoned you. Why did you give them permission until it became clear to you who are truthful and you knew who are the liars?”
Allah pardoned Muhammad ﷺ for what happened from him in giving permission to the hypocrites who asked to stay behind and not go out with him, before he knew who among them was truthful and who was lying.
It was not appropriate for him to give them permission to stay behind when they said, “If we could, we would go out with you,” until he knew who among them had an excuse and who had no excuse. Then his permission would be based on knowledge of the excuse, and he would know that the liar among them was only staying behind due to hypocrisy and doubt regarding the religion of God.
Everything that is not a message from God Almighty, and where the Messenger is entrusted to act based on his own effort, is not a statement based on desire. His permission for those who stayed behind from the Battle of Tabuk did not contradict any prohibition that had been given to him. Rather, it was based on his ijtihad, where it appeared to him that these excuse-makers were unable to go out with him.
The hypocrites often exaggerated in concealing their true nature by swearing oaths regarding what they said.
“They have taken their oaths as a shield and have averted people from the way of God. Indeed, evil is what they have been doing.”
The Messenger — may God bless him and grant him peace — is a human being who has no knowledge of people’s inner realities except what God informs him of. At the time he gave them permission to stay behind, God had not yet informed him that they were lying hypocrites.
The Incident of Pollinating the Palm Trees
Another example is his advice — may God bless him and grant him peace — to leave the pollination of palm trees, which caused the fruit to spoil and become dry.5
“The Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — came to Medina while they were pollinating the palm trees, so he said:
‘What are you doing?’
They said:
‘We used to do it.’
He said:
‘Perhaps if you had not done it, it would have been better.’
So they left it and it was shaken or diminished. He said: So they mentioned that to him, so he said:
‘I am only a human being. If I command you to do something from your religion, then take it, and if I command you to do something from my opinion, then I am only a human being.’”6
His opinion — may God bless him and grant him peace — in matters of livelihood and worldly affairs is like the opinion of others in such matters. Therefore, it is not impossible for something like this to occur, and there is no deficiency in that.
This was a matter of hope, and hope is neither true nor false. It was an issue of conjecture and opinion in matters of livelihood.
Therefore, the sayings of the Messenger — may God bless him and grant him peace — which are based on ijtihad and the application of opinion in matters of livelihood cannot be described as true or false.7
Conclusion
The words of the Prophet — may God bless him and grant him peace — are divided into two types:
- What was revealed by God Almighty, and such a thing never accepts lying, because it is the word of God that cannot be changed or altered.
- What was an effort on his part — may God bless him and grant him peace — or was related to a worldly matter, and this does not fall under truth or falsehood in the same way. In this regard, the Prophet is like the rest of humanity.
The objection collapses because it confuses revelation with ijtihad, and religious transmission with worldly judgement. Surah An-Najm defends the Prophet ﷺ from inventing religion out of desire. It does not claim that every administrative decision, worldly opinion, or matter of livelihood was direct revelation.
Source and Notes
(*) The Statement on Refuting the Imaginary Conflict between the Verses of the Qur’an, Dr. Muhammad Abu al-Nour al-Hadidi, Al-Amanah Library, Cairo, 1401 AH / 1981 AD.
Footnotes
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Palm pollination: its fertilization. ↩
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Ijtihad: The jurist exerts his utmost effort in seeking knowledge of the Sharia ruling. ↩
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Authentic. It was included by Ahmad in his Musnad, Musnad of the Companions who narrated many hadiths, Musnad of Abdullah ibn Amr, may God be pleased with them both, no. 6510; and by Abu Dawud in his Sunan, Book of Knowledge, Chapter on Writing Knowledge, no. 3648. It was authenticated by Al-Albani in As-Silsilah As-Saheehah, no. 1532. ↩
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Authentic. It was included by Ahmad in his Musnad, Musnad of the Companions who narrated many hadiths, Musnad of Abu Hurayrah, may God be pleased with him, no. 8708; and by al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan, Book of Piety, Kinship, and Manners, Chapter on Joking, no. 1990. It was authenticated by al-Albani in Mukhtasar al-Shama’il, no. 202. ↩
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Al-Shees: dates that have not ripened due to poor pollination. ↩
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Narrated by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Virtues, Chapter on the Obligation to Obey What He Said in Sharia, Not What He — may God bless him and grant him peace — Said of Worldly Matters by Way of Opinion, no. 6276. ↩
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Al-Bayan fi Refutation of the Imaginary Contradiction between the Verses of the Qur’an, Dr. Muhammad Abu al-Nur al-Hadid, Al-Amanah Library, Cairo, 1401 AH / 1981 AD, pp. 70–73. ↩