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Prophethood is not unknown to heavenly revealed religions,
such as Judaism and Christianity. In Islam, however, it has a special status
and significance.
According to Islam, Allah created man for a noble purpose: to worship Him
and lead a virtuous life based on His teachings and guidance. How would man
know his role and the purpose of his existence unless he received clear and
practical instructions of what Allah wants him to do? Here comes the need
prophethood. Thus Allah had chosen from every nation a prophet or more to
convey His Message to people.
One might ask; How were the prophets chosen and who were entitled to this
great honour?
Prophethood is Allah's blessing and favour that He may bestow on whom He
wills. However, from surveying the various messengers throughout history,
three features of a prophet may be recognised:
1. He is the best in his community morally and intellectually. It is
necessary because the Prophet's (P.B.U.H.) life serves as a model for his
followers. His personality should attract people to accept his message
rather than drive them away by his imperfect character. After receiving the
message he is infallible. That is, he would not commit any sin. He might
make some minor mistakes which are usually corrected by revelation.
2. He is supported by miracles to prove that he is not an imposter. Those
miracles are granted by the power and permission of God and are usually in
the field in which his people excel and are recognised as superiors. We
might illustrate this by quoting the major miracles of the three prophets of
the major world religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Moses'
contemporaries were excellent in magic. So his major miracle was to defeat
the best magicians of Egypt of his days. Jesus's contemporaries were
recognised as skilful physicians. Therefore his miracles were to raise the
dead and cure the incurable diseases. The Arabs, the contemporaries of the
prophet Muhammed, were known for their eloquence and magnificent poetry. So
Prophet Muhammed's (P.B.U.H.) major miracle was the Qur'an, the equivalent
of which the whole legion of the Arab poets and orators could not produce
despite the repeated challenge from the Qur'an itself. Again Muhammad (peace
be upon him) (peace be upon him)'s miracle has something special about it.
All previous miracles were limited by time and place, i.e., they were shown
to specific people at a specific time. Not so the miracle of Muhammad (peace
be upon him) (peace be upon him)-the Qur'an. It is a universal and
everlasting miracle. Previous generations witnessed it and future
generations will witness its miraculous nature in term of its style, content
and spiritual uplifting. These still can be tested and will thereby prove
the divine origin of the Qur'an.
3. Every prophet states clearly that what he receives is not of his own but
from God for the well-being of mankind. He also confirms what was revealed
before him and what may be revealed after him. A prophet does this to show
that he is simply conveying the message which is entrusted to him by the One
True God of all people in all ages. So the message is one essence and for
the same purpose. Therefore, it should not deviate from what was revealed
before him or what might come after him.
Prophets are necessary for conveying God's instructions and guidance to
mankind. We have no way of knowing why we were created. What will happen to
us after death? Is there any life after death? Are we accountable for our
actions? In other words, is there any reward or punishment for our deeds in
this life? These and so many other questions about God, angels, paradise,
hell etc.. is only known to the Creator and Knower of the unseen. Those
answers must be authentic and must be brought by individuals whom we trust
and respect. That is why, messengers are the select of their societies in
terms of moral conducts and intellectual abilities.
Hence the slanderous Biblical stories about some of the great prophets are
not accepted by Muslims. As for example, when Lot is reported to have
committed fornication while drunk, with his daughters, or that David sent
one of his leaders to death to marry his wife. Prophets to Muslims are
greater that what these stories indicate. These stories can not be true from
the Islamic point of view.
The prophets are also miraculously supported by God and instructed by Him to
affirm the continuity of the message.
The content of the prophet's message to mankind can be summarised as
follows:
a) Clear concept about God: His attributes, His creation, what should and
should not be ascribed to Him.
b) Clear idea about the unseen world, the angles, jinn (spirits), Paradise
and Hell.
c) Why has God created us? What does He want from us what the reward or
punishment for obeying or disobeying Him?
d) How to run our societies according to His will? That is, clear
instructions and laws that, when applied correctly and honestly, will result
in a happy and ideal society.
It is clear from the above discussions that there is no substitute for
prophets. Even nowadays with the advancement of science, the only authentic
source of information about the supernatural world is revelation. Guidance
can neither be obtained from science nor from mystic experience. The first
is too materialistic and too limited; the second is too subjective and
frequently too misleading.
Now one might ask:
How many prophets had God sent to humanity? We do not know for sure. Some
Muslims scholars have suggested 240 thousand prophets. We are only sure of
what is clearly mentioned in the Qur'an, i.e. God has sent a messenger (or
more) to every nation. That is because it is one of God's principles that He
will never call a people to account unless He has made clear to them what to
do and what not to do. The Qur'an mentions the names of 25 prophets and
indicates that there have been others who were not mentioned to the prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) (peace be upon him). These 25 include Noah, the
man of the Ark, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon him)
(peace be upon him). These five are the greatest among God's messengers.
They are called 'the resolute' prophets.
An outstanding aspect of the Islamic belief in prophethood is that Muslims
believe in and respect all the messengers of God with no exceptions. Since
all the prophets came from the same One God for the same purpose - to lead
mankind to God- belief in them all is essential and logical; accepting some
and rejecting others has to be based on misconceptions of the prophet's role
or on racial bias. The Muslims are the only people in the world who consider
the belief in the prophets of God an article of faith. Thus the Jews reject
Jesus Christ and Muhammad (peace be upon him) (PBUH), the Christians reject
Muhammad (PBUH) and in reality reject Moses because they do not abide by his
laws. The Muslims accept them all as messengers of God who brought guidance
to mankind. However, the revelation which those prophets brought from God
had been tampered with in one way or the other. The belief in all the
messengers of God is enjoined on the Muslims by the Qur'an: Say (O
Muslims):We believe in Allah and that which is revealed to us and that which
was revealed to Abraham and Ismael, and Isaac and Jacob, and their children,
and that which Moses and Jesus received and that the prophets received from
their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them and unto Him we have
surrendered. (2:136)
The Qur'an continues in the following verses to instruct the Muslims that
this is the true and impartial belief. If other nations believe in the same
they are following the right track. If they do not, they must be following
their own whims and biases and God will take care of them. Thus we read: And
if they believe in what you believe, then are they rightly guided. But if
they turn away, then they are in disunity, and Allah will suffice you
against them. He is the Hearer, the Knower. This is God's religion and Who
is better than God in religion? (2:1137-38)
There are, at least, two important points related to prophethood that need
to be clarified. These points concern the roles of Jesus and Muhammad (peace
be upon him) as prophets who are usually misunderstood.
The Qur'anic account of Jesus emphatically rejects the concept of his
'Divinity' and 'Divine Sonship' and presents him as one of the great
prophets of God. The Qur'an makes it clear that the birth of Jesus without a
father does not make him a son of God and mentions in this respect Adam who
was created by God without a father and mother.
Truly the likeness of Jesus, in God's sight, is as Adam's likeness; He
created him of dust, then said He unto him, "Be", and he was (3:59).
Like other prophets Jesus also performed miracles. For example, he raised
the dead and cured the blind and the lepers, but while showing these
miracles he always made it clear that it was all from God.
Actually, the misconceptions about the personality and mission of Jesus
found a way among his followers because the Divine message that he preached
was not recorded during his presence in the world, rather it was recorded
after a lapse of about hundred years. According to the Qur'an he was sent to
the children of Israel; he confirmed the validity of the Torah which was
revealed to Moses and he also brought the glad tidings of a final messenger
after him.
And when Jesus son of Mary said, 'children of Israel, I am indeed the
Messenger to you, confirming the Torah that is before me, and giving good
tidings of a Messenger who shall come after me, whose name shall be the
praised one. (61:6) (the underlined portion is the translation of Ahmad
which is Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)'s name).
However, the majority of the Jews rejected his ministry. They plotted
against his life and in their opinion crucified him. But the Qur'an refutes
this opinion and says that they neither killed him nor crucified him, rather
he was raised up to God. There is a verse in the Qur'an, which implied that
Jesus will come back and all the Christians and Jews will believe in him
before he dies. This is also supported by authentic sayings of the prophet
Muhammad (PBUH).
The last prophet of God, Muhammad (peace be upon him), was born in Arabia in
the sixth century C.E. Up to the age of forty, people of Makkah knew him
only as a man of excellent character and cultured manners and called him AL-AMEEN
(the trustworthy). He also did not know that he was soon to be made a
prophet and receiver of revelation from God. He called the idolators of
Makkah to worship the only one God and accept him as His prophet. The
revelation that he received was preserved in his lifetime in the memory of
his companions and was also recorded on pieces of palm leaves, leather etc.
Thus the Qur'an that is found today is the same that was revealed to him,
not a syllable of it has been altered as God Himself has guaranteed its
preservation. This Qur'an claims to be the book of guidance for whole
humanity for all times, and mentions Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the
last prophet of God. |
