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THE ORIGIN OF THE PRINCIPLE OF 'ISMAH: MUJ::IAMMAD'S "IMMUNITY FROM SIN"l

A well-known principle of Islam is the -called '$mah, the "im• munity from sin" ("sinlessness") which is ascribed the prophets. Mubammad, the prophet of Islam, was ma'$um, "immune from sin"; and the same also applies (to larger or lesser extent) to the prophets preceding him. In 'ite Islam the 'i$mah applies also to the Imams. 2 In my opinion, this immunity of certain persons from sin is a genuine Arab, pre-Islamic popular motif, and the Islamic idea which applies this characteristic to Mubammad and the prophets preceding him, is based on this pre-Islamic concept. In the first place, I refer here to a statement which I consider as the oldest recorded instance of the idea of Mubammad's immunity from sin. This passage is contained in a speech, which, according to tra• dition, Abu Bakr, the Prophet's companion and successor (balifah) as head of the Islamic community, delivered on the day after the Prophet's death. The form used in this speech to express the idea of "immunity from sin" Ci$mah) can be identified with .the form in which the analogous pre-Islamic idea usually appears, and thus repre• sents the intermediary between the latter and the ordinary Islamic idea of the "immunity from sin" characteristic of the Prophet. The sentences in Abu Bakr's speech which are of interest to us in this context (they represent the beginning of the speech), read as follows (Tabari, Annales, I, 1845, 17ff.): ayyuha -nasu, innama ana millukum 'inni la adri la'allakum satukallifuni ma kana Rasulu -llahi ($I'm) !iqu. Inna llaha $!afa Mubammadan 'ala l-'alamina

1 Originally published in Le Museon; Revue d'etudes orientales (Louvain), vol. 88 (1975), p. 221-225. Cf. also chapter 50, below p. 572-573. 2 Concerning the historical development of the 'i$mah-principle in Islamic theology see Goldziher, Vorlesungen iiber den Islam, 1. Aufl., p. 220-223; Idem, in: Der Islam, m (1912), p. 238-245; and especially Tor Andrae, Die Person Muhammads in Lehre undGlaube seiner Gemeinde, Upsala 1918, Kapitel III (p. 124-174): "Die Unfehlbarkeit (' i$ma) des Propheten". 456 THE PRINCIPLE OF 'ISMAH

wa'a~amahu min-a I-iifiiti. Wa'innamii ana muttabi'un walastu bimub• tadi'in fa'in-i staqamtu fatiibi'uni, wa'in zugtu faqawwimuni. Wa'inna Rasula-lliihi qubirja walaysa a~adun min hiirjihi l-ummati ya!lubuhu bima?lamati rjarbati sawtin famii dunahii. Alii wa'inna Ii say!iinan ya'tarini fa'irjii atiini fagtanibuni Iii 'al1ir fi as'iirikum wa'abSiirikum .... This should be interpreted as follows: "0, people! I am only like one of you, and I am not certain whether you will not burden with what only the Prophet was able to do. God has elected Mui:lammad over all other human beings, and has protected him (= made him immune) from moral weaknesses (stumblings) ('a~amahu min-a I-iifiiti). And I am only a follower, and I am not an initiator. So, if I act in a strait way, then follow me! But if I deviate (from the truth, or: from. the strait path), then straiten me out! For the Mes• senger of God has been taken away [by God], while nobody in this community accuses him that has committed against him a wrong which would necessitate as expiation a with the whip, or even less. Indeed, I am possessed by a demon (literally: a Satan) who is used to attack me suddenly (and to seduce me to sin). Now, if he comes to me, keep clear of me !-so I will not even scratch your hairs and your faces (i.., I shall not inflict upon you the slightest injury)

The finite verb which in this passage expresses the concept of "protecting, immunizing" is the verb 'a~ama, the characteristic verb used with respect to the Islamic principle of the "immunity from sin" ('i~mah). The noun which (in Abu Bakr's statement) appears as the object of this (transitive) verb 'a~ama, is the noun iifiit-, the plural of iifat-, the ordinary meaning of which is "mishap, distress, damage". In the context of the statement under discussion, I interpret the word iifiit- (pI. of iiJat-) in the sense of "moral weaknesses, stumblings". This meaning of iifiit- (pI.) seems to be clearly present in some of the passages quoted in the sequel, which I consider as testimonies for the pre-Islamic existence of the idea of "immunity from sin". An important evidence for the pre-Islamic existence of the idea of "immunity from sin" as well as for the meaning of iifiit- indicated above, I recognize in the following passage from a poem by an-Nabigah ag-pubyani in honor of the royal family of the tribe of Gassan (an• Nabigah, Diwiin, ed. Ahlwardt, . 25,3-4): (3) humu l-mulUku wa'ab• nii'u I-muluki lahum farjlun 'ala n-niisi fi I-Ia'wii'i wan-'ami (4) a~­ liimu 'Adin wa'agsiidun mUfahharatun min-a I-ma'aqqati wal-iifiiti wal• alami "(3) They are the kings and the sons of kings; they surpass