Question:

I was of the impression that the Holy Prophet (s) more or less knew everything from birth. Is this the Shia belief, and if not, what is?

And how does this comply with the following verse in the Quran:

“And thus did We reveal to you an inspired book by Our command. You did not know what the Book was, nor (what) the faith (was), but We made it a light, guiding thereby whom We please of Our servants; and most surely you show the way to the right path”.

Answer:

We don’t say the Prophet knew everything from birth. Obviously his knowledge was increasing during his life as there are narrations to support this. The above Ayah (verse) doesn’t mean he had no faith beforehand. I don’t think Sunnis even say that.

The Ayah means the level of faith and information which were given to him by the Quran was unknown to him beforehand. This is if we say ‘the Book’ means the Quran, but if we say it means the Torah, as it is referred to in the Quran with this title, and hence Christians and the Jews are called ‘the people of the Book’, then it is to negate the idea that the Prophet has copied the Quran for the Book; i.e. the Bible

Answered by: Sheikh Mansour Leghaei