in them. By Muslim consensus, none of these scholars is to be declared an unbeliever. For they maintain that the prophets are protected from being allowed to persist in such things. Were these scholars judged to be unbelievers, this would entail declaring many Shāfi‘īs, Mālikīs, Hanafīs, Hanbalīs, Ash‘arīs, scholars of hadith and Quranic commentary, and Sufis to be unbelievers, although Muslims agree that they are not. Indeed, the leading authorities among these groups hold this view.

The view he attributed to Shaykh Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī was also expressed by leading Shāfi‘ī jurists qualified to derive rulings within the school, whose standing in the Shāfi‘ī school exceeds that of Abū Hāmid. Thus Shaykh Abū Hāmid al-Isfarāyīnī, the school’s foremost authority after al-Shāfi‘ī and Ibn Surayj, said in his commentary:

“Our position is that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, may make mistakes just as we may. The difference between us, however, is that we may be left in error, whereas the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is not left in error. His lapses of memory serve only to establish the Sunnah. It is reported that he said: ‘I only forget in order to establish the Sunnah for you.’”

This question was discussed in the field of legal theory by this Shaykh Abū Hāmid, Abū al-Tayyib al-Tabarī, and Shaykh Abū Ishāq al-Shīrāzī. It was likewise discussed by the other scholarly groups among the followers of Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, and Abū Hanīfah. Some claimed that the early generations were unanimously agreed upon this view, as has been related from Abū Sulaymān al-Khattābī and others like him.

Nevertheless, Muslims agree that none of these leading scholars is to be declared an unbeliever. Whoever declares them unbelievers on this account deserves a severe punishment that will deter him