The Prophet ﷺ passed by some people who were pollinating date palms and said, "If you did not do this, they would still turn out fine."The dates came out shriveled and poor. He passed by them again and asked, "What is wrong with your palm trees?"They replied, "You said such and such."He said, "You know best about the affairs of your worldly life."
أن النبي ﷺ مر بقوم يلقحون فقال: لو لم تفعلوا لصلح. قال: فخرج شيصا، فمر بهم، فقال: ما لنخلكم؟ قالوا: قلت كذا وكذا. قال: أنتم أعلم بأمر دنياكم.
Muslim narrated it in the Book of Virtues (2363) through several routes from Aswad bin Amir, who said, "Hammad bin Salama narrated to us, from Hisham bin Urwa, from his father, from Ayesha," and also from Thabit, from Anas, and both of them mentioned it. His words, "it came out as shees," refer to the poor-quality unripe dates that, when they dry, become worthless dried dates (hashaf).Among the distinguishing qualities of the prophets and messengers, Allah's blessings be upon them all, is that they are protected from error in what they report about Allah Almighty. Beyond that, people differ, and the position held by the majority of scholars is that the prophets are protected from major sins but not from minor ones.Sheikh Islam bin Taymiya, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "This is the view of most scholars of Islam and of all the various groups, even the view of most theologians, as Abu Hasan Amidi mentioned that this is the view of most of the Ashariyyah. It is also the view of most scholars of tafsir, hadith, and jurisprudence. Indeed, nothing has been transmitted from the early generations, the imams, the companions, their successors, or the successors of the successors except what agrees with this view." Majmu Fatawa (319/4).He, may Allah have mercy on him, also said, "The people of the sunnah are agreed that the prophets are never permitted to persist in any error in religion whatsoever, nor in immorality, nor in lying. In sum, they are unanimously agreed in absolving them from anything that would undermine their prophethood and their conveying of the message from Allah. And most of the majority who allow that minor sins may occur from them say that they are protected from persisting in them. So nothing harmful proceeds from them, as it is reported in the tradition, 'Dawud, after his repentance, was better than he had been before the sin.'" Minhaj Sunnah (1/472).The summary of the discussion on the infallibility of the prophets is as follows.1. The people of the sunnah and the majority of Muslims agree that the prophets, peace be upon them, are protected from error in what they report from Allah Almighty and in conveying His message, because it is this protection from error that secures the very purpose of the message and of prophethood.2. The people of the sunnah also agree that minor sins occurred from them, but not major ones, in matters of action, as shown by what is mentioned in the Quran and in sahih reports. However, they did not persist in them, but rather hastened to repentance and seeking forgiveness. In this respect they are protected from persisting in sin, and the example to be followed lies in their repentance from it, since we have been commanded to follow their example. And with Allah lies the enablement to succeed.