Were the Prophets not to be protected from pollution by sin...

Were the Prophets not to be protected from pollution by sin and infection by moral disease, and were they not to gain immunity from all kinds of impurity, the possibility would always exist that they would stumble when confronted with the deceptive allure of the material world and pursue personal goals such as wealth and power. This would be true even if they had lofty human attributes to a superior degree.

It is obvious that the existence of such a possibility would cause their followers to hesitate before implementing the commands and pronouncements.

The one who claims prophethood and the right to lead human beings, whom human beings must follow in order to attain the pinnacle of perfection in all aspects of their life - if such a one were to have the slightest record of deviance, dishonesty and inclination to sin, could it be totally excluded that he would never again live, betray or speak an untruth? Could he be accepted as a model of virtue and purity? Without doubt, intelligence and logic compel us to answer this question in the negative.

No one could accept with complete confidence as revelation and the Command of God the words of someone whose life did not shine with purity, who had fallen into the whirlpool of sin and openly engaged in corruption and moral turpitude before claiming prophethood, even though later a spiritual revolution and transformation had occurred in him.

No one could accept his teachings as an unquestionable message from heaven, particularly with regard to matters that lie beyond the experience of the human being. The Prophets must also be completely removed from anything that causes doubt to arise or impairs the completeness of God's proof.

The Qur’an proclaims: "Before this, you were unable to read or to write; this was lest the deniers should doubt concerning your prophethood." (29:48) "Say: God is the best and most eloquent proof." (10:47) "We sent the Prophets as givers of glad tidings and warnings so that no excuse should remain thereafter for human beings." (4:165) Therefore the first necessary condition for the appearance of revelation is the absolute sincerity and inner purity of the Prophets.

The burning love of human beings for the Prophets and their devotion to them which arises from the deepest layers of their inner being as well as their belief in absolute values, in God, and the guardians of religion - all of this is made possible by the inerrancy and perfection of those Divinely guided personages.