What is the meaning of Infallibility(Masoom)?
- By Martyr Ayatullah Murtadha Muttahheri
Compiled : www.baabeilm.com

Sometimes man tends to think that Allah keeps a watch on certain selected people and does not allow them to commit a sin. Whenever they intend to commit it, He prevents them from carrying out their intention. Of course that is not infallibility and even if that be, it does not bring any credit to anybody. If somebody always keeps a watch on a child and does not allow him to do anything wrong, that cannot be considered to be a merit of the child. But there is another meaning of infallibility which can be deduced from the Qur'an. In the story of Prophet Yusuf whom a particular woman tried to seduce him, the Quran says: "She verily desired him and he would have desired her if it had not been that he saw the argument of his Lord." (Surah Yusuf, 12: 24) .

Prophet Yusuf after all was a human being. He was young and had innate impulse. That woman advanced towards him but he did not advance towards her. If it had not been that he' knew that he was being watched by Allah, he also would certainly have advanced. The perfect faith with which he was endowed by Allah prevented him from during a wrong thing and made him conscious of its harmful consequences.

Each one of us without the intervention of any outside force desists from committing many sins and lapses because we all are fully convinced of their dangerous consequences. For example it is a sin to fling oneself from the top of a four-storeyed building or throw oneself into a burning fire. We never commit such a sin, because we are fully conscious of the danger which it involves. We know to touch an electric live wire means instant death. We commit this sin only when we ignore its underlying danger. A child touches fire without hesitation, because he does not realize its danger as we the grown ups do. Piety becomes a trait of a righteous man's character and therefore he does not commit many sins at all. This trait of his character makes him infallible to a certain extent. Therefore infallibility depends on man's faith and his conviction. We have accepted certain acts to be sinful because they are prohibited by our religion. We say that as Islam has forbidden drinking wine, we do not drink it, and as Islam has forbidden gambling, we do not gamble. We more or less know that these things are bad. But the risk that these sins involve is not as clear to us as the risk involved in throwing ourselves into a burning fire. If we had been as much convinced of the harm of these sins as we are convinced of the harm of throwing ourselves into a fire, we would have been infallible as far as these sins were concerned. Therefore infallibility means perfect faith and conviction. He who has said: "Even if the curtain was lifted, my conviction would not increase" [39] , was certainly infallible, for while this side of the curtain, he could clearly see the other side of it. He could feel that if he used foul language against anyone he would be creating a scorpion for himself, and for that reason he would not talk abusively. The Quran itself mentions some examples of the faith of this degree. That is why it is said that infallibility is relative term and infallibility has several degrees and stages. Those who are infallible never commit those sins which we sometimes commit and sometimes avoid. They are impeccable. Still they have stages and degrees and all of them are not alike. In certain stages they are like us. As we are not immune from committing sins, they are also not immune from committing certain types of mistakes. They do not do anything which we regard as a sin, but they may do certain things which they themselves regard as sins although we may not regard them as such at all, for we have not reached that stage which they have. If a student of class V solves a question of class VI, it is creditable to him and he may get a reward for that, but if a student of IX class solves the same question, it does not bring him any credit. What is meritorious to us may be sinful to the infallible. As the proverb goes, one man's food is another man's poison.

That is why we find that in the Qur'an disobedience has been ascribed to some Prophets also. "And Adam disobeyed his Lord and went astray." (Surah Taha, 20:121)

To the Holy Prophet Allah says: "So that Allah may forgive you of your sin, that which is past and that which is to come." (Surah al Fath 48:2)

These verses show that infallibility is a relative term. The Prophets and the Imams are infallible according to their capacity and we are according to our capacity. The very nature of infallibility protects one against sins. The scope of this protection depends on the degree of the perfection of one's faith. A man is as much near the stage of "if it had not been that he saw the argument of his Lord" as much his faith is perfect. Infallibility is automatic. It is not that an infallible person desires like us to commit a sin, but someone is sent by Allah to hold his hand and prevent him from carrying out his intention. Had that been the case, there would have been no difference between me and Imam Ali. Like me he also would have desired to commit sins.

At the most he would have been prevented from actually committing them by someone sent by Allah, whereas for me no such arrangement exists. If someone from outside prevents a man from committing a sin, that is not creditable to that man. Suppose someone committed theft, but I did not merely because I was always being escorted by a watchman. In this case I am as good a thief as that man is, with the difference that no watchman prevented him from committing the crime whereas a watchman prevented me. This can bring no credit to me.

The main ingredient of infallibility is the incapability of making a sin. The incapability of making a mistake is quite a different matter. Anyhow, we cannot say that the Holy Prophet might have made a mistake in conveying the commandments of Islam or might have conveyed anything contrary to what was revealed to him, as often happens in the case of ordinary messengers, who sometimes deliver a wrong message. In regard to the Holy Prophet it is not possible to say that in the delivery of his message he might have made a mistake.

Explanation by Beheshti and Bahonar

Infallibility means immunity from sins and errors. The prophets neither commit sins nor are they liable to fall into any error with regard to their action and mission. It is because of this immunity that maximum confidence can be reposed in them.

Now let us see what is the nature of this infallibility. Does it mean that whenever they are inclined to commit a sin or an error, an invisible Divine messenger comes to them and stops them from doing so?

Or is their nature such that they are not capable of com­mitting a sin or an error, just as, .for example, an angel does not commit adultery because he has no sexual urge, or a calculating machine does not make a mistake because it has no brain or is the infallibility of the prophets due to their insight and the degree of their faith?

As we have already said, in our opinion the infallibility of the prophets is of the third type. Man has the power of choosing. He chooses his action on the basis of the advantages and the disadvantages and the gain and the loss involved in it. It is impossible that he would choose any­thing which has no advantage for him or involves some serious disadvantage. A sensible man interested in his life will never throw himself down off a hill or take any deadly poison.

The individuals vary in regard to the strength of their faith and the degree of their consciousness of the conse­quences of sins. The stronger their faith and the greater their consciousness of the disadvantages involved in the sins, the keener they are to avoid the sins. We personally know a number of persons who are highly pious and it is second nature with them to keep away from sins. Should anyone attribute a sin to them, we would automatically jump to contradict the imputation, for we are absolutely sure that the charge is false.

The higher the degree of faith and the greater the tendency of being morally good, the less is the possibility of committing a sin. If the faith is absolutely perfect, this possibility is zero. A man who attains this degree of faith feels that to commit a sin is as bad as taking a deadly poison or throwing oneself down off a hill. This is the state that we call infallibility.

Thus infallibility is the result of the perfection of faith and moral excellence. For being infallible no outside force is required nor is it necessary that by nature one should have no tendency to commit a sin. It is not creditable for anyone not to be capable of committing sin or being forcibly prevented from doing that. Such a person-is just like a prisoner who cannot steal because he is confined in a prison. Does he deserve any credit for his honesty and integrity?

As for the immunity from error, it is an outcome of the insight of the prophets. A man makes a mistake when he is unable to observe the truth direct and finds it out only through mental calculations. Such calculations may go wrong. But if he has the power of seeing the truth direct, there is no possibility of any mistake.

That is the case with the prophets. They have a direct contact with the reality. As the reality itself is well-defined, there can be no mistake in identifying it. Take an example. If we put 100 grains of wheat in a utensil and repeat the same action 100 times, we will have 10,000 grains in it. Neither more nor less. But at the time of counting we may go wrong. We may have a wrong impression that we have put the grains 99 times or 101 times. Consequently we may think that there are 9,900 or 10,100 grains in all. But this misunderstanding cannot change the reality. The number of grains will still be 10,000. Neither more nor less. One who knows the truth, will be sure of that number, and will find it exactly the same on counting.

Difference between a prophet and a genius

From the above the main difference between a prophet and a genius may be deduced. A genius is a person endowed with extraordinary intellectual and calculating power. He perceives things by means of his senses, works on his data perceives thing by means of his calculating power, and thus arrives at new and interesting results. He may occa­sionally make mistakes in his calculations. But a prophet, besides being endowed with intellect and thinking and calculating powers, is also equipped with an additional power called revelation which acquaints him with reality direct. Only the prophets have this power, and that is why the case of a prophet is quite different from that of a genius. As the two .belong to two different categories, there can be no comparison between them. If we compare the power of seeing of one person with that of another, that is right. But if we compare the power of seeing of one person with the power of hearing of another, that is wrong. The eminence of a genius lies in his intellectual and thinking powers, whereas the superiority of a prophet is largely the result of his contact with the Source of Existence and having an entirely different power known as revelation. Hence the cases of the two are quite different.