him and grant him peace—said:

“A believer is not stung twice from the same hole.” (1) \ 70. .

One meaning of this is that he is not caught out in the same way twice. Once a person has tasted the pain inherent in sin and that pain has passed, he fears committing another sin and suffering the same pain again. This is like someone who became ill after eating a certain food and then recovered. If he is subsequently invited to eat something, he may fear that it will be like the first food and refrain from eating it, saying, “What befell me because of that food has already befallen me, and I fear that this may be like it.” These matters are discussed more fully elsewhere.

The point here is that those who (2) claimed that the prophets are protected from anything requiring repentance based their position principally on the argument that, if the prophets committed sin, they would rank below the disobedient members of the Muslim community: since their rank is higher, sin is more reprehensible when committed by them. They further argued that such a person would necessarily be deemed a flagrant sinner, and his testimony would therefore be inadmissible; that he would then deserve punishment, so harming him would not be forbidden, whereas harming the Messenger is expressly forbidden by the revealed text; and that the prophets must be followed, while no one may be followed in committing a sin.

It is well known, however, that punishment and loss of rank arise only when there is no repentance, and the prophets are undoubtedly protected from persisting in sin.

Moreover, this argument applies only to certain major sins, not to minor sins (3). And the majority of