The Quran

188

قُل لا أَملِكُ لِنَفسي نَفعًا وَلا ضَرًّا إِلّا ما شاءَ اللَّهُ ۚ وَلَو كُنتُ أَعلَمُ الغَيبَ لَاستَكثَرتُ مِنَ الخَيرِ وَما مَسَّنِيَ السّوءُ ۚ إِن أَنا إِلّا نَذيرٌ وَبَشيرٌ لِقَومٍ يُؤمِنونَ

Muhammad Asad

Say [O Prophet]: "It is not within my power to bring benefit to, or avert harm from, myself, except as God may please. And if I knew that which is beyond the reach of human perception, abundant good fortune - would surely have fallen to my lot, and no evil would ever have touched me. I am nothing but a warner, and a herald of glad tidings unto people who will believe."¹

See 6:50, as well as the corresponding note. The repeated insistence in the Qur'an on the humanness of the Prophet is in tune with the doctrine that no created being has or could have any share, however small, in any of the Creator's qualities or powers. In logical continuation of this argument, the next passage (verses 189-198) stresses the uniqueness and exclusiveness of God's creative powers.