The idol-worshippers of Mecca barred them from entering Mecca...

The idol-worshippers of Mecca barred them from entering Mecca; after much discussion, they agreed to a ten years peace treaty with the Prophet (S). Allah described this peace treaty as a “manifest victory”. Then He goes on to explain why He gave this “manifest victory” to the Prophet (S). He gives three reasons: The first reason is very interesting as well as controversial.

“So that God may forgive thee thy sins of the past and those to follow.” This clearly implies that (S) had committed sins in past and could commit sins in future; he was not a ma'sûm . * * * The problem is that this interpretation of the verse creates other problems: It goes against the verses we discussed earlier about ' ismah in general. The first reason, as commonly translated, seems out of place and irrelevant to the issue of the peace treaty.

There is no clear connection between granting a manifest victory and forgiving of sins. Moreover, it would seem ridiculous to help a messenger to spread the word of Islam (“to submit to God's laws”) and then grant absolute license for committing sins to that very messenger! It would seem that in Islam, the Prophet (S) is above the law: we are forbidden from committing sins but he is allowed!

* * * In light of these problems with the common translation, many exegetists have attempted other interpretations: Some say it means “sins of Adam and sins of the Muslims”; Others say it means “past sins of your ummah are forgiven and their future sins will be forgiven by your intercession”; Yet others say it means “your past and future at-tarku 'awla is forgiven”.

Besides lacking any credible basis, such interpretations fail to relate the particular sentence to the event of Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. * * * The best interpretation that I have seen is of 'Allamah at-Tabataba'i in his al-Mizan. At-Tabataba'i goes to the literal meaning of the words: dhanb which is commonly used for “sin” and ghafara which is commonly used for “forgiving”.

The word dhanb is from the verb- form dhanaba which means “to follow”; its noun form dhanab means “tail; something that follows”. So the main idea in the word dhanb is the concept of something following the other. “Sin” is known as ” dhanb ” because it is an act that entails evil consequence in form of Allah's displeasure and punishment. The word ghafara actually means “to cover or conceal something” which also implies the meaning of protecting something.

This word is used in its original meaning in our hadith literature.