Website: www.aaiil.uk

The human nature of the Prophets and their forgiveness for the weak followers

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 29 November 2024

“And when your Lord called Moses, saying: Go to the wrongdoing people —the people of Pharaoh. Will they not guard against evil? He said: My Lord, I fear that they will reject me. And my heart is anxious, and my tongue is not eloquent, so send for Aaron (too).” — ch. 26, Al-Shu‘arā’, v. 10–13	وَ اِذۡ نَادٰی رَبُّکَ مُوۡسٰۤی اَنِ ائۡتِ الۡقَوۡمَ الظّٰلِمِیۡنَ ﴿ۙ۱۰﴾ قَوۡمَ فِرۡعَوۡنَ ؕ اَلَا یَتَّقُوۡنَ ﴿۱۱﴾ قَالَ رَبِّ اِنِّیۡۤ اَخَافُ اَنۡ یُّکَذِّبُوۡنِ ﴿ؕ۱۲﴾ وَ یَضِیۡقُ صَدۡرِیۡ وَ لَا یَنۡطَلِقُ لِسَانِیۡ فَاَرۡسِلۡ اِلٰی ہٰرُوۡنَ ﴿۱۳﴾
“And when Moses returned to his people, angry, grieved, he said: Evil is what you have done after me! Did you hasten on the judgment of your Lord? And he threw down the tablets and seized his brother by the head, dragging him towards him. …” — ch. 7, Al-A‘rāf, v. 150	وَ لَمَّا رَجَعَ مُوۡسٰۤی اِلٰی قَوۡمِہٖ غَضۡبَانَ اَسِفًا ۙ قَالَ بِئۡسَمَا خَلَفۡتُمُوۡنِیۡ مِنۡۢ بَعۡدِیۡ ۚاَعَجِلۡتُمۡ اَمۡرَ رَبِّکُمۡ ۚ وَ اَلۡقَی الۡاَلۡوَاحَ وَ اَخَذَ بِرَاۡسِ اَخِیۡہِ یَجُرُّہٗۤ اِلَیۡہِ ؕ…

In my last Khutba I dealt with the point that the Quran shows that the prophets were mortals, not only in a bodily sense, but in an emotional and behavioural sense also, they were like other humans. The first passage I recited tells us that when God instructed Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell this mighty ruler that he and his people should turn away from the wrong path and guard themselves against committing evil deeds, Moses expressed worry and fear.

The words translated as “my heart is anxious” literally mean: My chest is tightening. One translator of the Quran translates these words as “I feel nervous”, another as “I will feel stressed”, and another as “I will get upset”. There is a natural human reaction. Because of his worry, Moses asked God to give him as helper his brother Aaron to accompany him to go to see the Pharaoh.

The second passage I recited refers to a much later incident. Moses and his followers had successfully escaped from Egypt and the clutches of the Pharaoh, and were now living in the Sinai desert. God asked Moses to leave his people and go to a mountain for the worship of God in seclusion. Moses went, leaving Aaron behind as in charge of the people. There God revealed some of His law to Moses. In the meanwhile, his people whom he had left behind were misled by someone, who was still under the influence of idol-worship from Egypt. He persuaded them to make an image of a god in the form of a calf, either made from gold, or adorned with golden jewellery. This calf they started worshipping.

Moses was informed of this by God, and, as this verse says, he returned to his people angry and distressed at their behaviour. So angry was he, that he threw down on the ground the tablets of stone he had brought with the revealed law from God written on them and he grabbed Aaron by his head and dragged him towards himself. He asked Aaron for an explanation. Aaron said that he had been overpowered by those who wanted to make the golden calf, despite trying to stop them, and he did not want to cause a rift among the people. He added:

“Do not count me among the wrong-doing people” (7:150).

Moses then prayed to God:

“My Lord, forgive me and my brother, and admit us to Your mercy, and You are the most Merciful of those who show mercy” (7:150).

His anger then subsided. The Quran says:

“And when Moses’ anger calmed down, he picked up the tablets; and in the writing thereof was guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord” (7:154).

He also prayed:

“Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? It is only Your trial. You cause to perish by it whom You please and guide whom You please. You are our Protector, so forgive us and have mercy on us, and You are the Best of those who forgive” (7:155).

This, then, is the very human experience of a great prophet of God, losing his temper, throwing something down, and grabbing a person by the hair. But then he calmed down and asked forgiveness, first for himself and his brother, who had not done anything wrong, and then forgiveness for those who had foolishly done wrong.

This asking by Moses of forgiveness for the wrong-doers among his followers was a practice of other prophets as well. Abraham’s prayer for his descendants was as follows:

“So whoever follows me, he is surely of me; and whoever disobeys me, You surely are Forgiving, Merciful” (14:36).

About Jesus, the Quran says that in the next life God will ask him if he told people to worship him and his mother as two gods in addition to Allah. He will reply that he only taught them:

“Serve Allah, my Lord and your Lord; and I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when You caused me to die You were the Watcher over them” (5:117).

Jesus will reply that, during his life, he only taught them the worship of the one God, and that is all he can testify to. What happened to them after his death is known to God but not to him. Then, according to the next verse, Jesus will go on to say:

“If You punish them, surely they are Your servants; and if You protect (or forgive) them, surely You are the Mighty, the Wise.”

Jesus is pleading to God that if You should decide to punish those of my followers who had gone on the wrong path, You should take into account that they are nonetheless Your servants, Your creation. On the other hand, you are the Mighty and the Wise, and with Your power You can bring them to the right path, and that may be the wise thing to do.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad is told in the Quran to ask for God’s forgiveness for those Muslims who did not obey him as they should have done, or those who fell below the standard required of believers and could not perform a certain required duty. Once when some Muslims, during the battle of Uhud, allowed worldly temptation to overcome them and they went against the Holy Prophet’s strict orders, he dealt with them gently and God revealed to him:

“Thus it is by Allah’s mercy that you are gentle to them. And if you had been rough, hard-hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around you. So pardon them and ask protection (or forgiveness) for them, and consult them in (important) matters” (3:159).

The Holy Prophet not only forgave them for disobeying him, but asked God to forgive them, and despite their neglectful behaviour God tells him to still consult them in the community decision-making.

In another place the Quran says to people about the Holy Prophet:

“Certainly a Messenger has come to you from among yourselves; very painful for him is your falling into distress, most concerned (he is) for you, to the believers (he is) compassionate, merciful” (9:128).

The words “falling into distress” are taken by some commentators to mean to suffer the consequences of wrong-doing. It pains him to think that any human being would suffer because of his misdeeds, and he is “most concerned” for people. In addition, to the believers, he is compassionate and merciful.

The Quran mentions, quite often, certain people who claimed to be Muslims but who failed to obey the Holy Prophet, either because they were not Muslims at heart and had embraced Islam for some selfish motive or they had some weakness of faith. The Quran instructs the Holy Prophet as follows about them:

“These are they, the secrets of whose hearts Allah knows; so turn aside from them and admonish them and speak to them effective words concerning themselves. And We sent no messenger but that he should be obeyed by Allah’s command. And if they had, when they wronged themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of Allah, and the Messenger had (also) asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Oft-returning (to mercy), merciful” (4:63–64).

This says that only God can know these people’s intentions. The Holy Prophet is directed to “turn aside from them”, which means not to take any notice of what say, and to caution them about their behaviour, and to speak to them in a way that will affect and penetrate their very souls, so that they realise in their hearts and minds how serious their misdeeds are. Then it is added that if they had themselves realised that they had disobeyed the Holy Prophet and had then come to him and asked God for forgiveness, then the Holy Prophet would also have asked God’s forgiveness for them, then they would have found that God would have accepted their repentance and been merciful towards them.

Another example of forgiving those who cannot fulfil their duty is found in a verse of the Quran which says that when Muslims gather together in the company of the Holy Prophet on some important matter or occasion, where they need to discuss something together or to receive some instructions, the true believers are those who don’t just drift away without permission. They must ask permission for leaving because they have something else important to attend to, which cannot wait. Then, as to those whom the Holy Prophet gives permission to leave, he is told by God:

“ask forgiveness for them from Allah. Surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (24:62).

They genuinely need to go to deal with some unavoidable need of their own, and as a result they cannot complete their duty towards the community matter by staying in the gathering. So the Holy Prophet should ask forgiveness for them from God for this shortfall in duty.

May Allah enable us to learn from these examples of the prophets, in how they dealt with their followers — ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk