Qul in dalaltu fa-innama adillu AAala nafsee wa-ini ihtadaytu fabima yoohee ilayya (surah Saba: 50)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(34:50) Say: 'If I go astray then the hurt of straying will come only upon me. But if I am rightly-guided, that is only because of the revelation that my Lord makes to me. He is All-Hearing, Ever Nigh.' *71

Qul in dalaltu fainnamaaa adillu `alaa nafsee wa inih-tadaitu fabimaa yoohee ilaiya Rabbee; innahoo Samee`un Qareeb

*71) From this verse some people of the modern age have argued thus: According to it the Holy Prophet also could go astray: rather used to go astray. That is why Allah has made the Holy Prophet himself say: `If I have gone astray, I am myself responsible for this. And I am on right guidance only when my Lord sends down Revelation (i.e., verses of the Qur'an) to me." By this wrong interpretation these unjust people in fact want to prove that the Holy Prophet's life was, God forbid, a combination of guidance and error, and Allah had made him confess this before the disbelievers Lest one should adopt his obedience completely, taking him to be wholly on right guidance. The fact however is that whoever considers the theme in its correct context will know that here the words, 'If I have gone astray', are not meant to give the meaning that the Holy Prophet actually used to go astray, but it means: `If I have gone astray, as you accuse I have, and my claim to Prophethood and my this invitation to Tauhid are the result of the same deviation, as you seem to imagine, then the burden of my going astray, will be on me alone; you will not be held responsible for it. But if I am on right guidance, as in fact I am, it is because I receive Revelation from my Lord, by virtue of which I have obtained the knowledge of the guidance. My Lord is near at hand and is hearing everything. He knows whether I have gone astray or am on right guidance from Him. "