Allah, exalted is He, has informed us of the repentance of Adam, Noah, and all those who followed them down to the Seal of the Messengers, Muhammad ﷺ. Among the very last revelations granted to him were the words of the Most High: “When the help of Allah comes and the victory, and you see people entering the religion of Allah in multitudes, then glorify your Lord with praise and ask His forgiveness; surely He is ever Accepting of repentance.” (1)

The author then cited numerous texts about the Prophet’s ﷺ seeking forgiveness and said: “The texts of the Qur’an and the Sunnah on this topic are abundant and mutually reinforcing, and reports from the Companions, the Successors, and the scholars of the Muslims are plentiful. Yet the objectors reinterpret these texts in the same fashion adopted by the Jahmiyyah and the Bāṭiniyyah. Anyone who reflects on their interpretations will see that they are unsound—no more than a twisting of words from their proper places—just as when they explain His statement, ‘that Allah may forgive you your earlier sin and your later sin’ (2) to mean that the earlier sin was Adam’s and the later sin belongs to the Prophet’s community. This is clearly false.”

He also said: “The majority who allow that minor sins may occur to the prophets maintain that they are divinely protected from persisting in them. In that case they have attributed to the prophets only what perfects their virtue, for deeds are judged by their conclusions. The opposing view would entail that the Prophet did not repent to Allah …” —end of the relevant citation.

This issue may be summed up as follows:

1. There is unanimous agreement on the prophets’ infallibility in what they report from Allah Most High and in conveying His messages, for this protection is what secures the very purpose of the mission and prophethood.
2. They differed regarding the prophets’ infallibility from sins; some held that the prophets are protected from them