The Promised Messiah (as) said: “All of the Prophets commit errors of judgement and none of them are any different to me in this regard. This is necessary so that a human being is not given the status of God. One may observe that even in the case of Jesus (as), the Jews vociferously alleged that this man claimed that he had brought a kingdom, but this turned out to be false. It is possible that the Messiah (as) thought at some point that he would become a king and in view of this, swords were purchased as well. However, this was an error of judgement on his part. Afterwards, God informed him of the truth and Jesus (as) then announced that his kingdom would be a spiritual one. Simplicity is a man’s pride. Whatever Jesus (as) had previously claimed was out of genuine simplicity. This is not a means of disgrace and dishonour for him. Similarly, the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, had initially thought that he would migrate to Yamamah, but ultimately he migrated to the holy city of Medina. The Prophet (sas) also thought that his dream about the grapes related to Abu Jahl, but later it became clear that this referred to Ikrimah. Even the Prophets grow in their knowledge by stages. It is for this reason that the Holy Quran states:
قُلْ رَّبِّ زِدْنِیْ عِلْمًا1
Say, ‘O my Lord, increase me in knowledge.’
The fact that the Holy Prophet (sas) would admit his mistake is proof of his excellence and purity of heart. This does not disgrace the Prophets in any way. A physician treats thousands of patients, so what if one of them should die; this does not taint his expertise as a physician. At times, even a Hafiz needs to be reminded of the correct verse when they recite the Holy Quran in the Prayer, but when this happens, it is not said that now the individual is no longer a Hafiz. Matters are decided based on general conditions that are applicable consistently and more often.”
The Promised Messiah (as) said: “God does not waste those who are sincere. Our Holy Master, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was born in a forsaken land, but observe the manner in which God furnished him all sorts of means. It is a challenging task to win over even one person, but reflect on the number of people who joined the Holy Prophet (sas). Allah the Exalted has revealed in my connection: ‘Kings would seek blessings from thy garments.’ Obviously, it is when people of such rank become my followers, that this will be the case. In the present era, you can see how people disrespect me, and so the spiritual reward of accepting me at this time will not be the same in times to come.”
1 Taha, 20:115