Infallibility and Praying Forgiveness; Divergence, Convergence or Correlation?

One of the most important issues in the field of religious beliefs is the question of infallibility of prophets and Imams which makes up a considerable portion of religious literature and field Islamic sciences. However, there are phrases in the Holy Prophet and Imam's supplications and whispered conversations with God in which they attribute sins to themselves and ask God to forgive them. Those who deny Imam's infallibility argue that this act of the Prophet and Imam contradicts the idea of their being infallible. Explaining the meanings of repentance and praying forgiveness and casting light on their different aspects, the present paper tries to make explicit the relationship between this act of the Holy Prophet and Imams and infallibility, and show that not only there is no contradiction between seeking God’s forgiveness and infallibility but also there is a complete convergence between them. Furthermore, some instances of praying forgiveness indicate that besides the convergence between infallibility and praying forgiveness, there is a close correlation between the tow.