All Prophets, may Allah bestow peace on them, including Prophet Muhammad, may Allah grant and bless him peace, were human beings. Allah chose them to convey His message to other human beings and guide them accordingly. Apart from reciting the messages received from Allah, the Prophets had to set their own example of the desired behaviour. This was possible solely because they were themselves humans, as humans cannot imbibe the essence of other species. Allah has clarified this position in the Qur’an.
“And what prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them except that they said, ‘Has Allah sent a human messenger?’ Say, ‘If there were upon the earth angels walking securely, We would have sent down to them from the heaven an angel [as a] messenger.” (The Qur’an 17:94-95)
As humans, they were also subject to all the related characteristics and afflictions, including birth, hunger, illness and sleep. They got married, and had children. They were also subject to other human elements like anger, fatigue, and weakness on account of age. They suffered pains, including rejections and physical assaults from their enemies. Many of them were killed, thrown into fire, and sawn in half. Take the case of Prophet Muhammad, may Allah grant and bless him peace, who suffered injury on his head and his teeth were broken in the battle, fell ill, was treated, was poisoned, and a spell was cast on him.
Human beings have gone to two extremes with regard to the humanness of the Prophets. One group denies this and installs divinity in them. Christians, by and large, did this for Prophet Isa, may Allah bestow peace on him. Another group takes them like average human beings without considering the defining difference between them and others. Despite human elements, what made the Prophets different is that they received direct communication, including revelations from Allah, and all the human sufferings did not affect their inner strength of faith in Allah and their primary role of providing divine messages and guiding other human beings in accordance therewith.
It is a fact that Allah provided His Messengers with extraordinary abilities and strength of character. For example, Prophet Muhammad ﷺhad some unique abilities that others did not have. He used to fast for more than one day but forbade his followers from going for this endurance, saying, “I am not like you. My Lord gives me food and drink at night.” Further, he said that his eyes slept, but his heart did not sleep. Regarding forgetfulness, he said that he did not forget, but was made to forget by Allah to create a tradition (Sunnat).
All the human inflictions like disease, hunger, sorcery, poisoning, fatigue did affect the Prophet ﷺ outwardly, but none of these affected him inwardly or overflowed onto his tongue. These did not, at any point in time, have any negative effect on his role as a Messenger of Allah.
The specific cases of human inflictions on the Prophet may be studied to understand the special phenomenon.
When Spell was Cast on the Prophet ﷺ
The Prophet has described what was the effect of the sorcery done on him. It seemed to him that he had done something which actually he hadn’t done. He thought he had come to his wives, although he hadn’t. Further, it is reported that his eyesight was also affected. However, there was no effect on his role of prophethood, the dissemination of the law (Shari’ah) of Allah, and nothing of the sort happened during those days. He was intact as a Prophet. Sorcery is an illness, and like other humans, this sickness affected him. Forgetfulness and confusion of doing or not doing anything, including visiting his wives, was not related to his role as a Prophet; rather, it was an affliction as a human. The magic had power over his outward limbs, his heart and intellect remaining intact. This distinction between the task of the Prophet ﷺ and his human self is very important.
The Prophet and Worldly Affairs
Allah made one event happen so that the distinction between the role of the Prophet as a Messenger of Allah and that of his personal human life may be established for good. The Makkans were mostly traders, while those of Madinah were engaged generally in farming, particularly date-farming. When the Prophet ﷺ came to Madinah and found the Madinans pollinating the dates, he enquired about this. They replied that they do this for increasing the yield of dates. The Prophet ﷺ commented that not doing so might be better. They abandoned the practice, but there was a decline in the yield. The Prophet passed by again, and he said, “What is wrong with your trees?” They said, “You said not to do so.” The Prophet said, “You know better the affairs of your world.” He stated that he was only a man and his opinions on worldly affairs might not be followed because they were based on personal judgment, not based on divine revelation. He commanded people to follow his religious instructions, as they were from Allah, but advised that for matters concerning worldly affairs, his opinion was not binding on them.
The above-mentioned distinction regarding religious matters and worldly affairs is further elucidated in the Battle of Badr. The place where the Muslim army encamped was not ideal. At this, Habbab bin Munzir, may Allah be pleased with him, enquired of the Prophet ﷺ as to whether he had selected that place according to divine revelation? The Prophet ﷺ replied that there was no divine commandment in that regard. Hubbab suggested proceeding further and taking possession of the spring located closest to the dismounting place of the Quraysh. The Holy Prophet approved of this proposal and acted accordingly.
The Qur’an teaches that human affairs be done through consultations. Allah commanded the Prophet ﷺ also to “consult them in affairs.” (The Qur’an 3:159) Several cases of the Prophet’s ﷺ consultation with the companions and accepting their advice are recorded in the Prophetic traditions. One such case is that the Prophet ﷺ was negotiating a deal with Banu Ghatfan tribe to end their participation in the siege of Madinah in the Battle of the Trench (Ahzab) by offering a share of the date harvest of the city. This proposal was not accepted by the leaders of Ansar in Madinah. So, the Prophet ﷺ accepted their advice to desist from this plan.
The Process of Judgement
The Prophet ﷺ has described this aspect of dealing with worldly affairs in his tradition on making judgments on disputes. Any process of adjudication is based on the evidence placed before the Judge through testimony of witnesses and argued accordingly by the dissenting parties. Several cases came for judgment before the Prophet ﷺ, who followed the process of law, making it a tradition for the followers. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “I am only a human being, and you people have disputes. Maybe someone among you can present his case more eloquently and convincingly than the other, and I give my judgment in his favour according to what I hear. Beware! If ever I give somebody something of his brother’s right, then he should not take it, as I have only given him a piece of fire.”
The Prophet ﷺ was in direct communion with Allah, so the possibility of any wrong judgment by him was not possible. But the tradition, as above, is meant to be a warning for persons taking undue benefits through the process of law.