If someone is claiming to be a Prophet of God, you’d think that the Book “given to him by God” would only support and praise him. If the person is a fraud, the last place to get any sort of negative feedback would be in that book, right? 

However in the Qur’an, there are a few incidents where Prophet Muhammad was, in fact, corrected. Now you must know one thing about Islam and Prophets – in the religion and by God Himself, they are held in a very high status. Unlike their portrayal in the bible, in the Qur’an, they are shown to be the epitome of human character. But, at the end of the day, they are still flesh and blood like any of us. Thus, they too can make mistakes. Also, what God does with Prophets is He holds them to high standards even in their mistakes. Things that may seem trivial to us, God wants to make sure the Prophets are corrected, whereas if we did them, we would’ve been easily excused.

Now let’s look at the Qur’an, specifically Surah ‘Abasa. The chapter literally translates to “He frowned”, referring to Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). The first few Ayahs are as follows,

“He frowned and turned away. Because there came to him the blind man, [interrupting]. But what would make you perceive, [O Muhammad], that perhaps he might be purified Or be reminded and the remembrance would benefit him? As for he who thinks himself without need, To him you give attention. And not upon you [is any blame] if he will not be purified.”

[Qur’an 80:1-7]

What happened was, one day Prophet Muhammad was preaching Islam to one of the elites of his society. As the conversation advanced, Prophet Muhammad felt that the person was inching closer and closer to converting to Islam. Eventually, one of the Muslims, ’Abdullah ibn Um Maktum رَضِيَ ٱللَّٰهُ عَنْهُ, approached them. Now ‘Abdullah was of the lower social class. Prophet Muhammad knew that simply seeing ‘Abdullah would be a turn-off for the elite, superficial, arrogant person man because it will remind him that anyone can become a Muslim. That, in result, would negate all the progress made in that conversation. As a result, the Prophet frowned.

But as you can see, Prophet Muhammad didn’t even say anything. After all, ‘Abdullah didn’t do anything wrong. Prophet Muhammad simply frowned because he knew what would happen. That’s exemplary character! However, because God holds his Prophets to high standards, He informed Prophet Muhammad that he shouldn’t have even frowned, so that he can continue to be a great example.

Now ask yourself this – if Prophet Muhammad was a fraud, would it make sense to mention such an incident for all of humanity to read?

One fundamental principle of Islam that Muslims proudly talk about is the lack of the concept of “original sin”, where one bears the burden of someone else’s sins.

As the Qur’an says,

“That no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. That no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another”

[Qur’an 53:38-39]

Muslim scholars like Ibn Kathir and At-Tabari explain that the burden here is the burden of sins.

Allah also says,

“O you who have believed, upon you is [responsibility for] yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you have been guided. To Allah is your return all together; then He will inform you of what you used to do.”

[Qur’an 5:105]

Contrast this with the concept of “original sin” in Christianity, which explains that because Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) ate from the tree, all of his children carry his sin. This concept was started by Paul and became a core belief of many strands of Christianity, including Catholicism and Protestantism. Notables such as Saint Augustine and Martin Luther believed in this. Thus, according to them, newborns – who did not even do a single conscious deed – have the burden of carrying the sin of someone thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of years ago. Contrast that with Islam, where a newborn is considered pure and sinless.