Question:

Does the scholar Fakhr-ud-Din Ar-Razi agree with the followers of Umar who claim that Abraham (a.) lied and made mistakes?

Answer:

Fakhr-ud-Din Ar-Razi writes: “The first question is: Why did Abraham (a.) say: “And of whom i desire?” (26:82) While desire is an expression of assumptions and hope and yet he is certain about it? The answer to this is that this statement is sincere only according to our school of law, because we say that God does not commit anyone to anything and everything is good from Him and no one can protest against Him regarding His work. Al-Jaba’i responded with two interpretations: The first is that by saying: “And from Whom i desire, that He forgives me for my wrongdoing.” (26:82) All other believers would be referred to because they are the ones who hope and have no certainty about it, and the second is that desire means certainty, which is reported by Al-Hasan Al-Basri and Az-Zamakhshari replied that Abraham (a.) expressed in this way as an instruction to his community how to formulate a supplication prayer, but know that these interpretations are weak! In the first one it is because God first praised him and then the supplication prayer was made and it is the statement of Abraham (a.) from the beginning of the praise to the end of the supplication prayer, so it is the one thing which is his statement:”And of whom i desire to be forgiven my wrongdoings on the last day.” (26:82) To the statement of someone other than himself, and therefore declares the structure of the statement to be false and invalid, and as for the second interpretation, which interprets desire as certainty, this contradicts the linguistic usage, and as for the third, that he intended to instruct the community, this is just as wrong, because the result of this returns to the point that he would make himself a liar, even if he intended to instruct the community, and this is certainly wrong. The second question is: “Why does he attribute wrongdoing to himself, even though the prophets (a.) are certainly free from error?” There are three answers to this: According to one of them, it should be interpreted that Abraham (a.) lied when he said: “The great one of them did it.” (21:63) As well as his statement: “I am sick.” (37:89) As well as his statement about Sarah: “She is my sister.” But this is weak, because it is not allowed to describe him by lying! The second answer says that he said it out of modesty and humility, but that too is weak, because if he was truly in that humility, then it would cause a problem, and if he had lied, then the result of the answer returns to attributing sin to him, but the point is to free him from sin. The third answer, which is the correct one, is to interpret that he has neglected the more excellent (At-Tark-ul-Awla), which can be described as wrongdoing, because if someone owns jewels that he could sell for a million dinars, and then he sells them for one dinar, then one says, “He did wrong.” And the omission of the more excellent is permissible among the Prophets (a.)” [At-Tafsir-ul-Kabir, Volume 24 Page 145 – 146]

قال فخر الدين الرازي: السؤال الأول لم قال والذي أطمع والطمع عبارة عن الظن والرجاء، وإنه عليه السلام كان قاطعا بذلك جوابه أن هذا الكلام لا يستقيم إلا على مذهبنا، حيث قلنا إنه لا يجب على الله لأحد شيء، وأنه يحسن منه كل شيء ولا اعتراض لأحد عليه في فعله، وأجاب الجبائي عنه من وجهين: الأول: أن قوله: والذي أطمع أن يغفر لي خطيئتي أراد به سائر المؤمنين لأنهم الذين يطمعون ولا يقطعون به الثاني: المراد من الطمع اليقين، وهو مروي عن الحسن وأجاب صاحب الكشاف: بأنه إنما ذكره على هذا الوجه تعليما منه لأمته كيفية الدعاء واعلم أن هذه الوجوه ضعيفة، أما الأول: فلأن الله تعالى حكى عنه الثناء أولا والدعاء ثانيا ومن أول المدح إلى آخر الدعاء كلام إبراهيم عليه السلام فجعل الشيء الواحد وهو قوله: والذي أطمع أن يغفر لي خطيئتي يوم الدين كلام غيره مما يبطل نظم الكلام ويفسده، وأما الثاني: وهو أن الطمع هو اليقين فهذا على خلاف اللغة، وأما الثالث: وهو أن الغرض منه تعليم الأمة فباطل أيضا لأن حاصله يرجع إلى أنه كذب على نفسه لغرض تعليم الأمة، وهو باطل قطعا. السؤال الثاني: لم أسند إلى نفسه الخطيئة مع أن الأنبياء منزهون عن الخطايا قطعا؟ وفي جوابه ثلاثة وجوه: أحدها: أنه محمول على كذب إبراهيم عليه السلام في قوله: فعله كبيرهم وقوله: إني سقيم وقوله لسارة: إنها أختي وهو ضعيف لأن نسبة الكذب إليه غير جائزة وثانيها: أنه ذكره على سبيل التواضع وهضم النفس وهذا ضعيف لأنه إن كان صادقا في هذا التواضع فقد لزم الإشكال، وإن كان كاذبا فحينئذ يرجع حاصل الجواب إلى إلحاق المعصية به لأجل تنزيهه عن المعصية وثالثها: وهو الجواب الصحيح أن يحمل ذلك على ترك الأولى، وقد يسمى ذلك خطأ فإن من ملك جوهرة وأمكنه أن يبيعها بألف ألف دينار فإن باعها بدينار، قيل إنه أخطأ، وترك الأولى على الأنبياء جائز