Sam Shamoun "NOTES FOR TAUHID DEBATE WITH YAHYA PT. 2"

Sam Shamoun "NOTES FOR TAUHID DEBATE WITH YAHYA PT. 2"

In the lifetime of the prophet, a blind Muslim man came to him to have his eyesight restaured. He begged him to supplicate God on his behalf, being the most righteous and closest to God from all people. The noble and humble prophet first told him the preferred course of action which is to bear the trials of life with patience 

"Can you not bear it?’ and the man replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I do not have anyone to lead me around, and it is a great hardship for me." 

Being full of empathy, one whom the Quran describes in many places as grieving for the fate even of the disbelievers, he could certainly not refuse a needy faithful's request to supplicating God for help. The prophet however did this on the condition that there be no ambiguity to pure monotheism. The prophet in fact stated that those who will earn his intercession wont be those that will call upon him, rather 

"The luckiest person who will have my intercession on the Day of Resurrection will be the one who said sincerely from the bottom of his heart "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah". 

The prophet thus proceeded by teaching the blind man the proper etiquette in doing so. The blind man was to first show spiritual submission to God alone 

"Go make ablution, perform two rak'as of prayer". 

This first step is aimed at dispelling any doubts as to God's unequivocal superiority and power over all things. Once that notion is firmly established, the person may introduce the prophet in the prayer but in a manner making it clear he is only a means by which the prayer to God is uplifted, on account of him being a most virtuous individual. This is no different than what is commonly done when someone invites honorable and righteous people to join in praying to God. The implicit notion is also that when righteous people join a person in prayer, it means this person must have some spiritual merit of his own. This is because the righteous and virtuous will certainly not assist a deviant sinful person in making a request to God 

"0 Allaah I ask You and turn to You by means of Your Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy". 

Now that God's superiority is established, that the prophet is introduced as a virtuous co-supplicant, with the assumption that the praying person has some spiritual merit of his own to be joined in prayer by a virtuous individual, a formal request is made to the prophet directly, inviting him to join in supplication to God 

"0 Muhammad I have turned by means of you (i. e. your du'aa) to my Lord in this need of mine, so that it may be fulfilled for me". 

The blind man was uttering this prayer in the prophet's presence, asking him to join. After that the prayer, as taught by the humble prophet refocuses on God, making sure that whoever the co-supplicant is, he has no power in and of himself, that no matter how virtuous the interceding person is, the acceptance of his prayer is God's decision ultimately 

"0 Allaah accept him as a supplicant on my behalf, and accept my supplication for him (to be accepted for me)."

 That portion is an authentic part of the hadith as reported by al Albany on behalf of Ahmad and al-Haakim, who authenticated it. Here it is literally the blind man who is interceding for the prophet, asking God to accept the prophet's prayer on his behalf.

Acceptance of prayer is thus completely in God's hands because although a virtuous might join others in prayer, it might well be that the person is undeserving of such honor and thus the intercession is cancelled. The noble prophet for instance, the "prophet of mercy" was told to desist from interceding on behalf of unworthy people 

9:80"Ask forgiveness for them or do not ask forgiveness for them; even if you ask forgiveness for them seventy times, Allah will not forgive them".

As can be seen the noble and humble prophet taught the man the correct etiquette of requesting another to join in prayer to God so as to dispel any ambiguity as to God's supreme authority. The blind man's and the prophet's combined prayers to God were realized and he was cured.

This story was reported by Uthman bin Hunaif. The story that after the prophet's death, the same Uthman bin Hunaif advised a man in need to seek the prophet's assistance in prayer to Allah is weak and rejected by al Albani due to the presence of Shabeeb bin Saeed who reported it.

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2:113"And the Jews say: The Christians do not follow anything (good) and the Christians say: The Jews do not follow anything (good) while they recite the (same) Book. Even thus say those who have no knowledge, like to what they say".

The verse concisely reflects the overall state of confusion and disunity among those claiming to adhere to the same Books. It does not specify the topics of disagreement as these are endless among Jews and Christians; ranging from the most fundamental like God's essence, to the trivial like the genealogical requirements of the end times king messiah, whose nature itself they disagree upon, whether it will be a man or a god-man.

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Sam Shamoun "Forbidden to Eat from the Tree of Life? Another Quranic Blunder Exposed"

Within the HB account itself, just as is made clear in the Quran 2:30, the primary purpose for which Adam and Eve were created, was to fill the earth and rule over the living creatures Gen1:28-29,2:5. They were created from the ground of the earth (not heaven) Gen2:7-8. Adam and Eve's "immortality" was tied to eating from the Tree of Life, which they could freely access as the Garden of Eden's caretakers Gen2:15-17. Since their "immortality" was conditioned on their staying in the Garden of Eden, it means that they were actually mortal human beings who were able to benefit from the privilege of eating the fruit of the Tree of Life to stay alive indefinitely. 

Their transgression, marked by the eating from another tree, the tree of knowledge, which imbued them with consciousness of both good and evil resulted in their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. With that expulsion, their ability to eat from the fruit of the Tree of Life stopped. Had they kept eating from the tree of life, now that they are aware of not only good, but also evil, the result could have been that spiritually degenerate people and criminals might live forever. That is why they were only forbidden from the Tree of Life after their transgression Gen3. A type of angel, an angel of destruction, the cherubim was tasked with guarding the garden's entrance to prevent that eventuality.

Thus the result of their expulsion is that they eventually died. 

Despite certain important variations, many fundamental aspects remain in the HB and parallel with the Quranic account, including the fact that it must have been God's plan from the beginning to ultimately place mankind on the earth, as His vicegerents. The main areas where the Quran disagrees with the Torah is that in the latter, the knowledge of good and evil were concealed from man in a "tree of knowledge" whereas the Quran clearly states that this spiritual feature is ingrained and hardwired in man. Mankind was meant to live on the earth, was put in a situation of potential transgression in the garden, given commands to abide by, what sense does it then make for him to be ignorant of good and evil?

According to the interpolated HB, when man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good an evil, man "became like one of us", against God's will and desire. According to the Quran, which by the way omits the idea of a "tree of knowledge", that inner distinction of good and evil was already ingrained in mankind's spiritual fabric when Allah "breathed into man of his spirit". Allah in sura Shams, defines it as "He inspired the soul with the knowledge of evil and good", meaning Adam was meant to "become like us" even before he was introduced to the garden and its trials. The HB still contains elements of this reality when it states that man was created in the "image of God".

This is one of many examples of Quranic intertextuality, the Quran's purposeful engagement with the biblical narrative, correcting it in a profound manner in accordance with its own distinctive theological message.

We thus see the Quran giving a consistent, comprehensive picture of creation from the beginning. Mankind were made mortals from the start 2:30 so as to allow them to be tested in their spiritual resolve and ultimately held accountable in the afterlife 

67:1-2"Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion, and He is over all things competent - who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed - and He is the Exalted in Might, the Forgiving". 

All tools are put at man's disposal to pass this test; both inner and outward. Senses of spiritual perception to derive the higher meaning from the constant processes of this universe, and direct guidance through chosen individuals who communicate the will of the Creator. All these arrangements do not necessitate that man will succeed, or else there would be no test. Rather man was created as a volitional creature, with a neutral spiritual nature 30:30 that is shaped and developed according to one's moral choices throughout life 91:7-10. Death is therefore not an accident, nor is mankind of flawed spiritual disposition. In the Christian model, the purpose of man was redefined in the course of history. Although he was first made to live forever in heaven, man's disobedience sent him to this world and caused him to wander aimlessly as all his thoughts and deeds became stained with sin. At one point God created a device to compensate for that inherent human flaw, which is a divine sacrifice, thereby giving man a new purpose; accepting Jesus' sacrifice.

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Although revealed in an environement where poetry and oratory speeches were loaded with explicitly lustful and indecent language and allusions, the Quran never departs from its pattern of using respectable language and concepts. 

This is particularily made clear in sura Yusuf, the "best of stories", when detailing the mistress' attempted seduction of Yusuf. The Quran beautifully combines in that context, precision in expression with a dignified vocabulary, and despite the fact that it talks about lust, utilizes the principles of piety, morals and respect without being paralysed in the process. 

When the Quran addresses the themes of sex or sexual organs, its eloquence necessitates that it does not directly speak of testicles, penis or vagina. This is an established Quranic pattern accross several topics. 

Contrary to the Bible with its known rude language and unsophisticated imageries, as is amply found in modern pop culture, news, and magazines, the Quran seeks not to flood the imagination with crude details so as to not trivialize certain themes. 

There are ample examples, such as 2:222 where it refers to sexual intercourse by using the imagery of the farmer cultivating his tilth with tenderness and deep consideration aforehand, or as "touching" the mate 2:236,237,4:43,5:6,33:49etc. The word for 'touching' is laamastum from the root L-M-S that means skin feeling an object interactively. It is used to mean mainly sex, or at least some form of foreplay. Other terminologies used in the Quran to refer to sexual intercourse is "covering" the mate 7:189 or in the context of refraining from sex it says 

"guarding the private parts" 23:5,33:35. 

Farj means the space between two things. In this instance the legs. It is an eloquent, indirect reference to both men and women's sexual organs, as is used elsewhere for Mary 66:12.

In some instances where the Quran refers to women's sexual organs it literaly speaks of 

60:12"what lies between their legs and hands"

 among other apellations. 

There is no literal equivalent word in Arabic for the ambiguous word "marriage". The Quran instead refers to "marriage" by what defines it; companionship and lawful sexual interraction. It uses 2 words; nikah and zawaj. See 2:232 where both are used. Zawaj literally in the context of the relationship between a man and woman is "coupling". Nikah literally means the sexual act and the Quran has defined what constitutes lawful sex. Whenever nikah is used as an ordinance or condoned practice it always carries this connotation of "lawful sex" instead of simply "sex" and that is why it became synonymous with "marriage", with or without consumation 

33:49"O You who have believed, when you do nikah with believing women and then divorce them before you have touched them, then there is not for you any waiting period to count concerning them. So provide for them and give them a gracious release". 

The word is still used today during formal marriage ceremonies between the future husband and wife, as well as by the religious figure or Islamic judge during their sermon.

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The Quran and the traditions put great emphasis on the eminence of the prophets as epitomizing spiritual uprightness, all the while making sure that no ambiguity exists as to their servitude to the One God worthy of worship. 

Nothing encapsulates that notion more than the shahada which places God as the only entity worthy of worship, side by side with Muhammad who is nothing but His messenger.

The Quran requires from the prophet in turn, to declare belief in God and the past prophets equally 2:285. The Shahada is a testimony in which the fundamental principles that concentrate all tenets of the Book are mentioned. It isnt meant at listing all the tenets of Islam, but at mentioning the aspects that encapsulate them most. This is very similar to the Biblical notion of the "10 sayings", erroneously rendered 10 "commandments" in Christian Bibles. These 10 sayings encapsulate the entire 613 mosaic commandments revealed at Sinai for the Jewish people. In the case of the shahada, the fundamental tenets mentioned are; belief in only one entity worthy of worship, Allah, and obedience to His messenger Muhammad. The first part stresses uncompromising monotheism. That part is stated in the negative rather than the positive. This is because the true challenge is not to believe in a single creator but to cleanse oneself of partnering with Him, whether it is another deity, worldly authority, or personal desire. The second part of the shahada stresses belief in all that was brought by that divinely appointed human being, as well as adherence to the community established through him. If these 2 components are understood and accepted, one has uttered the complete testimony to Islam. 

Of course a hypocrite or liar can testify outwardly without inner conviction 49:14-17,63:1. Their disregard and lowly opinion for that which they claim belief in, does not however diminish anything of its truth and value so long as God is testifying to the truth. Even if the most noble witnesses attest to the truth of those principles, God remains the supreme and most valuable witness, because He is the highest standard of Truth 

4:166"But Allah bears witness by what He has revealed to you that He has revealed it with His knowledge, and the angels bear witness (also); and Allah is sufficient as a witness".

The Quran hardly has a page which does not address the central religious issue of striving in God's way through trials of ease and hardship, where one will have to assert his will freely and choose to act within the limits of Allah. This hard struggle will go on, uninterrupted until the day where all will return to Him 84:6 and the road to the highest places is sometimes compared to an uphill climb 90:4-18, or as Jesus says to a tight path leading to a narrow door Matt7:13-14. This verse 90:4 does not speak of evil or of a wicked human nature, it is referring to the difficulties that will come in man's life as an inevitable consequence of him being a volitional creature, as stated in the following verses 

90:8-10"Have We not given him two eyes, And a tongue and two lips, And pointed out to him the two conspicuous ways?"

 Elsewhere the Quran eloquently uses the image of life being a vast ocean upon which man is constantly trying to remain afloat, and the manner to do so is given as spiritual strengthening through righteous deeds 

73:1-10,29:2-3"Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, We believe, and not be tried? And certainly We tried those before them, so Allah will certainly know those who are true and He will certainly know the liars".   

This purification process is necessary for a soul's success in the Hereafter 87:14. The success will only be possible when one, out of conviction stands before God in an attitude called ihsan 

4:125"And who has a better religion than he who submits himself entirely(in ihsan) to Allah? And he is the doer of good (to others) and follows the faith of Ibrahim, the upright one". 

This is the purest definition of Islam -willful servitude to God- and no other way is acceptable to Him. Mere declaration isnt enough, one must be able to withstand the requirements of that obedience despite the moments of hardship and ampleness, until his last breath 3:102. The key to that successful end is to have the quality of sabr/steadfastness and constancy, epitomised by the greatest prophets and the manner in which they endured the trials of life while maintaining spiritual uprightness in words, intentions and deeds not once, but throughout their lives, striving to maintain it as a prominent spiritual trait 16:127,13:28. 

The importance of being entirely submitted to God is emphasized in past scriptures too 2Chron30:8,Job22:21. After the prophet Muhammad, submission to God entailed accepting His revelations and laws which have reached their ultimate form with the Quran. Of course some may hypocritically submit without sincere belief and the Quran repeatedly speaks of, and exposes this behaviour 

49:14"The dwellers of the desert say: We believe. Say: You do not believe but say, We submit; and faith has not yet entered into your hearts..". 

The prophet said 

"Faith/iman consists of more than sixty branches (i.e. parts). And Haya (This term "Haya" covers a large number of concepts which are to be taken together; amongst them are self respect, modesty, bashfulness, and scruple, etc.) is a part of faith." 

The early Muslims in particular who were threatened by the phenomenon of religious hypocrisy, distinguished between one that enters Islam and one that implements it with sincerity 

"I asked, "O Allah's Messenger! Why have you left that person? By Allah I regard him as a faithful believer." The Prophet commented: "Or merely a Muslim."

Iman literally means "to feel secure". It entails complete trust, in a religious context, to God besides Whom there is no protector. The word is most appropriate considering the objective of the religion, which is to build a relationship between the individual and his Creator. Through pondering on the signs surrounding the individual, external and internal, as well as the divine revelation, one progressively increases in iman 4:136,47:17,48:4 until a level of submission is reached that entails a detailed and entire dedication of one's life to that new system

 43:69,2:208"O you who believe/alatheena amanu, enter into submission one and all". 

Iman and that ultimate level of submission therefore express themselves through one's deeds 

49:15,2:25"And give glad tidings unto those who believe and do good works; that theirs are Gardens underneath which rivers flow" 14:31"Say to My servants who believe/alatheena amanu that they should keep up prayer and spend out of what We have given them secretly and openly before the coming of the day in which there shall be no bartering nor mutual befriending".

 Allah also describes the high status of Muhammad and his companions, and then ends 48:29 with 

"Allah has promised those among them who believe and do good, forgiveness and a great reward". 

The phrase "among them" is highly significant and shows that even among these high ranked people, the honour and respect with Allah depends on real, concrete deeds, and most of all steadfastness and constancy on the straight path

 16:110"Definitely, your Lord unto those who have migrated after being persecuted, then they struggled and patiently persevered; verily your Lord, after that, is forgiving Merciful" 

3:136"As for these, their reward is forgiveness from their Lord and Gardens beneath which rivers flow; therein they will abide forever. How blissful will the reward of (such) workers/aamilin be!". 

The basic principle that the spiritual felicity does not depend on name or nomenclature, that no one can get honour with Allah except by true faith in, and total servitude to Him throughout one's life is reiterated many times 

20:112,33:29,2:112"whoever submits his self entirely to Allah and he is the doer of good, he has his reward with his Lord".

The submission to Allah is therefore the merging of the correct belief, with the correct deeds 

29:7,35:10"To Him do ascend the good words; and the good deeds, lift them up".

The shahada itself is not found mentioned in a single Quranic verse. But the repeated axiom throughout the Book of what constitutes correct faith is belief in Allah and unconditional obedience to His messenger. Although one is free to add any other tenet within the testimony, like the prophethood of a specific individual such as Jesus or Noah, or belief in the previous books, or the entities of the unseen such as the angels, the testimony of faith would remain incomplete if belief in Muhammad's prophethood isnt expressed. It would still leave many principles of the Book as unattested for. As well it would give the ambiguity that one has not fully adhered to the community established by Muhammad, or that Muhammad is a true prophet. On the other hand to testify to Muhammad's divine appointment, automatically entails belief in all that is propounded in the message he brought, which includes every single principle and tennet of the Book, indiscriminate honoring of all of God's prophets of whom Muhammad is part of, as well as adherence to the Islamic community. That is why one may only add specific testimonies of faith once the 2 main components have been uttered and accepted. Some may choose adding an aspect in relation to a previous belief system, such as Jesus being nothing but a prophet of God so as to stress one's dissociation from trinitarian Christianity, as is typically done by a former Christian.

In every day speak Muslims very often utter one or another aspect of the shahada in an isolated manner. A Muslim will often express that God is the only deity worthy of worship in a discussion, or that Muhammad is the messenger of God. It is even seen in all types of arts and engravings, past and present. This does not mean that a partial or incomplete shahada is being expressed. Nothing in any of those art works hint at or claim to be declarations of faith. 

Jesus taught his followers the testimony of faith similar to the Muslim shahada

Jn17:3"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent".

Once again, 2 basic components for a clear testimony of faith, uncompromising monotheism on one side and adherence to a community established by a divinely appointed human being, distinct from the One God who sent him. That community must accept Jesus' leadership only, reorienting their past emotional and spiritual affiliations for new norms they are expected to live by

Lk14:26"If any man comes to me and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers and sisters, and yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple".

The Quran, when referring to the most honourable experiences of the prophet still calls him a slave, such as in the context of his chosenness, possessor of a miracle and taken on the israa and miraj 2:23,17:1,18:1. Therefore the Quran continuously stresses the prophet Muhammad being a slave of Allah like any Muslims 7:194, not possessing the keys of the unseen except what Allah granted him 7:188 and him being nothing but a warner and giver of glad tidings.

The issue of aqeedah/aqida is one that developed between the 8th-10th century by the likes of ibn Hanbal, abu Hasan al Ashari, al Shafi'i, al Maturidi or al Ghazali. These are the schools that have survived within sunni Islam. However, historically there have existed many more schools than these. Even today, there are minority schools within Sunni Islam, as well as major schools of thought outside of Sunni Islam. The scholars who formulated their aqeedah, felt the need to answer questions raised by new adherents to Islam with different cultural backgrounds and by non-Muslim critics, as the empire spread far beyond Arabia. A aqida or creed, takes the well established aspects of belief/iman, as stated in the Quran 2:177,4:136 such as God's oneness, resurrection, angels, books and prophets, and expounds upon each aspect in details. Sunnis have included qadar/predestination as a sixth point in light of the hadith of Gabriel 

"Inform me about Iman (faith)." He (the Prophet) answered, "It is that you believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in fate (qadar), both in its good and in its evil aspects". 

Having the correct aqeedah consists for a large part of practicing Tawhid. Tawhid means Allah is One in His Lordship and no one has the power over the creation but Him. He is One in the right to be worshipped. He has Names and Attributes unique to Him. The prophet and the companions did not have to establish detailed creeds as they did not have to contend with the questions and doubts raised after their time. Not a single scholar or adherent to a particular creed negates those points, from Sunni to Shia. So, although the aqeedah of the prophet and the companion was very concise, the later scholars of Islam developed extremely detailed formulation of it. A Aqeedah became more like a lengthy argumentation in light of a particular scholar's philosophical, intellectual, vocabulary tools at hand. The vast majority of the points discussed in a aqeeda do not explicitly go back to the prophet or the companions, but are the result of a particular scholar's deductions, hence the divergences in aqeedas. One therefore doesnt need to agree on every single point of a scholar's articulation of the pillars of belief, if one is able to show that the point one disagrees with doesnt necessarily follow the premise, just as scholars disagreed among themselves on those details. The fact is throughout the centuries there were nuances on the fine points of aqeeda among scholars of the same school. The detailed articulations of the pillars of belief did not lead any Muslim group to deviate from worshiping one entity, to several, as happened to Christianity. Christians went as far in the development of their creeds that they had to invent new vocabulary, including the notion of "persons" to mask the reality of the tri-theism they fell into. The divergences between schools pertain, among other things to whether the descriptions of certain of God's attributes likes eyes and hands, should they be understood literally, metaphorically or one of the two depending on context and language? Does qadar cause human deeds directly by affecting human will, indirectly by causing freewill to exist or sometimes one or the other depending on context? As to the hadith on the 72 sects, the part stating that only 1 will be admitted to heaven is highly controversial in its isnad and even contradicts the plain meaning of many Quranic passages about the resurrection and judgement, where each individual will be raised alone to account for his own beliefs and actions.

Aqeeda differences are nothing like the differences in creeds within the Christian Church tradition for instance, where differences affect the nature of God, the hierarchy of the godhead, human nature, or the hereafter. For example does the holy spirit issue from the father or from both the father and son (who was "begotten" by the father)? What is the relation of humans with divine grace, do Christians become partakers or not of the divine nature? Will the dead go through a purgatory in the afterlife? Is sin a hereditary condition making all humans totally depraved, and that initiated with Adam or did his descendants inherit the state of mortality?

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Like the prophets of old, the prophet Muhammad never asked for any compensation or reward for the priceless mission he was undertaking 6:90, his reward being with Allah 34:47. He is told to convey his message in a manner that can never compromise the integrity, honnor, exaltedness of the revelation 80:11-16. This instruction doesnt apply to the message only, but the messenger himself who shouldnt go on beseeching the people, discrediting his own honnor in doing so. In 2:104 believers are urged to approach the Prophet with respect and to subordinate their personal desires and expectations to the commandments of the Faith revealed through him. 

These instructions meant at exalting both the message and the message-bearer in the people's eyes is reflected among other places in the command to offer money prior to consulting him 

58:12"when you consult the Messenger, then offer something in charity before your consultation; that is better for you and purer; but if you do not find, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful". 

That money was to be given in charity, not to him personaly. What the verse also reveals is that precedence is given to the poorest elements of society in approaching and consulting with the prophet since no pre-condition is required of them, contrary to the affluent. Traditions reflect how the injunction reduced the number of requests by the richer elements. Because their objective in approaching him wasnt to seek guidance. Like every materialistic and spiritually deprived individuals, they thought this could be another opportunity to increase their sphere of influence in society, upon a new emerging community. The way they tried to achieve their purpose was by attempting negotiations with the prophet to make him compromise some of his principles with theirs. This was normal in their mind, since to them everything could be bargained, including spiritual and moral values for the sake of material gains. But in this corrupt pursuit, they werent even prepared to step down from their apparent superiority and mingle on an equal footing with the prophet's followers who came from a wide variety of backgrounds. The instruction to give to charity prior to consulting with him was another obstacle as it meant they valued him above their own pride, thus giving them less leverage in negotiations. This lead to less counsels and the purification of the intellectual and social milieu of the Muslim community.

It is to be kept in mind that the prophet was very often denigrated by the affluent because of his mainly poor followers. They would tell him to distance himself from them so that they could approach him 

18:28,6:52"And do not drive away those who call their Lord in the morning and the evening, they desire only His favour; neither are you answerable for any reckoning of theirs, nor are they answerable for any reckoning of yours, so that you should drive them away and thus be of the unjust". 

At no point however did the prophet do so. Neither do any of those verses hint at him wanting to. These type of verses of which the Quran abounds, admonish Muslims of all times through their prophet in case they are confronted to a similar situation. The commentators have given several different contextual reasons for the revelation of these verses, and all of them having to do with the elite of Mecca coming to him at different times asking for him to dissociate momentarily from his poor followers so that they might sit and listen to his message. In some contexts he is described as internally desiring to do so but was prevented by the descent of revelation upon him. In other contexts he is shown as verbally agreeing with the Meccans until Jibril stopped him. Somewhere else it is Umar who insisted on him doing so just so it can be established whether the Meccans were sincere in their quest for the truth, but later Umar repented when revelation came. 

The bottom line to all these stories is that the prophet never turned down his poor assemblies. We see this kind of exegisis in many cases, especially as regards the concept of "occasion of revelation". The companions used to describe the reasons for revelation of the verses in form of stories or events that had occurred during the prophet's time, which are somewhat relevant to the verses without them actually having any connection to the particular story or stories. The companions many times did so while conjecturing on what they imagined the prophet was thinking within himself on those particular occasions, so as to better fit the verses.

Similar story retrospectively applied to the Quran is that of the prophet, once being annoyed (internally, without expressing it verbally) as he was inadvertendly interrupted by a blind man of low social status that approached him for consultation while he was in a dialogue with some influential people 80:1-10. 

The prophet was a man of noble character, uninterested in materialistic pursuits as reflected both in the Quran and the traditions, as observed by both his friends and foes 

68:4"And most surely you conform (yourself) to sublime morality". 

The opening passage of sura abasa, if addressed to the prophet, reveals several things. Firstly, nothing is said of the social level of any of the persons alluded to. Secondly, the high standard of morality required of him as a divine envoy is unlike that of a normal human being; simply frowning from being interrupted, which anyone would usually find annoying, but not even frowning at the person causing the interruption nor did the concerned person notice the frowning, is considered unbefitting of a prophet of God. As noted, the facial expression of the prophet was hardly noticable, much less to the blind person. Which interest did the prophet have in exposing himself to his followers as even mildly, by the most far fetched standards of behavior, as having been inconsiderate, if the incident was known only to him? Also, how would this self-rebuke do anything to enhance his credibility to his detractors, had it been his purpose by integrating it into the Quran, considering that they didnt believe in his prophethood in the first place? Just as they said he was making up revelation before, they would now say he was passing off this rebuke as divinely inspired to look more credible. 

The fact is, the Quran was not sent to change the minds of those that werent open to even considering its arguments. It repeatedly tells the prophet to turn away from them after effectively transmitting the warnings. The same observation could be said of other instances that could have remained unknown to the audience, but that the Quran brings to light at the risk of exposing the prophet to the people's antagonizm.