a survey of the meaning of amnesty in the qur an based on relationships and succession with emphasis on answering a question about the prophet s islamic infallibility

the word amnesty and its derivatives have been used in several verses of the qur an. the main question of this article is what exactly does amnesty mean in all the verses of the qur an in the same sense? what is the meaning of pardon based on the relations of companionship and succession? why, god willing, has the prophet forgiven? does god pardon the prophet; he contradicts the prophet s infallibility. for this purpose, in the present study, the semantics of the word amnesty is first addressed by the linguistic method and the scope and semantic domain of amnesty are fully identified. then the broad semantic network of amnesty and its close relationship with other key words of the qur an such as mercy, blessings, and the like are examined. in the end, it is clear that the amnesty that god has used about the prophet (peace be upon him) does not mean forgiving the prophet s (pbuh) sin and does not contradict the prophet (peace be upon him).