the Hour. Some Muslims mistakenly thought that the very rank of messengership must include knowledge of the Hour and other matters of the unseen. Likewise, a few of those newly entered into Islam imagined that the Messenger could, by his own power, attain what no human effort can reach: drawing benefit, warding off harm from himself and from whomever he loved or wished; or withholding benefit and bringing harm upon whomever he disliked or wished. Therefore Allah commanded him to clarify that the office of prophethood entails none of this. The task of the Messenger is to teach, guide, and purify; apart from conveying revelation from Allah, he is a human being like all other humans:
“Say, ‘I am only a human being like you. It is revealed to me that your deity is but One God.’” (18:110)

The Prophet ﷺ possesses no independent power to bring benefit or avert harm for himself or for anyone else. Whatever share of either he does possess is only by the granting of the Creator—exalted be His power. This is the meaning of the exception: he owns nothing of benefit or harm “except what Allah wills,” that is, whatever benefit Allah enables him to obtain, or harm He enables him to repel and whose means He places at his disposal.

Similarly, he holds no portion of the unseen realm, which belongs solely to the Creator, not to any created being. From the time of Noah’s people onward, humans have been tried by those whom Allah has specially chosen; they made them partners with Allah in the hopes His servants place in Him—benefit they seek to obtain and evil they fear and beg to have removed. They began invoking them just as they invoke Allah, either independently or in association with Him.

Since the power to bring harm or benefit is exclusive to the Lord and Creator of His servants, and since seeking benefit or relief from harm is an act of worship that may never be directed to anyone besides Him—no matter how virtuous that person may be—Allah ordered His Messenger ﷺ to convey explicitly that he owns no benefit or harm, neither for himself nor for anyone else. The Qur’an reiterates this point time and again for greater emphasis and confirmation.

6 – In Sunan Abū Dāwūd (3627), on the authority of ʿAwf ibn Mālik, the Prophet ﷺ judged between two men, whereupon the one against whom judgment was passed turned away saying, “Allah is sufficient for me, and He is the best Trustee.”