MORALITY AND THE PROPHET'S STATUS AS A ROLE MODEL

A person cannot be considered to be a role model sent to guide people and at the same time be a person who commits deeds that are against the will of Allah. For this reason, all the prophets have been granted with a particular high-moral quality. They never intentionally or deliberately acted against the consent of Allah. The mistakes that they made and the faults which stemmed from forgetfulness caused Allah to remind or warn them. These mistakes and faults are not reflected to the people as an aspect of their status as role model. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) committed no mistakes that would harm the conveyance of the Quran and this is proven in the Holy Quran and is agreed upon by Muslim community.  Those who accept that it was possible for Prophet Muhammad to make mistakes believe that in such cases he was immediately warned and corrected by Allah. No Muslim doubts the fact that Prophet Muhammad was free from faults in the conveyance of the Shariat (Islamic law) and that his conveyance was dependent on the revelation imparted unto him by Allah. According to the generally accepted perceptions and approaches, the sunnah put forward by Prophet Muhammad resulted from orders found in the revelations. It is understood from the verses of the Quran and the qualities granted to the Prophet by Allah that the revelations imparted to him do not only consist of the Holy Quran. Many verses in the Quran clearly state that each word and behavior of the Holy Prophet is proof of the existence of Allah.

It is clear that the revelations were all conveyed accurately to the Muslims, and that those types of sunnah that are attributed as being free of faults in the Quran are valid guides and examples that are relevant at all times.  However, it is not possible to say that the level of importance for each of these types of sunnah is the same. As a result, from the very start Islamic scholars have drawn attention to the differences between the sunnah.