Mission of the Prophet

The ability of the Prophets to communicate with Almighty Allaah, to receive and pass on messages from the world of the unseen without the help of any material and tangible aids, can in no way be considered inferior to the working of a transmitter and a radio receiver. On the contrary, the effectiveness of a message of Almighty Allaah conveyed through the agency of a Prophet is much greater than one delivered through a man made instrument. Let us illustrate this with an example.

At night, the ships crossing the seas make use of radar in order to find out the position of other, approaching vessels. Radar is also used to send pilotless planes to the desired destinations. If the human mind can produce radar waves, why can’t it also emit and receive other waves that are unknown and unrecognized by us? Is the human potential less powerful than the instrument he has created?        

Once we understand the truths suggested by these queries, we can no longer assume an attitude of denial when faced with mysterious and complex phenomena. A profound understanding of these phenomena, and an understanding aided by a wide plethora of possibilities spread in front of us, the human beings will lead us to a point, where many truths and mysteries will be unveiled to us.
     
Islam was the new force or idea which woke up the Arabs and filled them with self-confidence and energy. This was a religion started by a new Prophet, Muhammad. Within seven years of the flight, Muhammad returned to Mecca as its master. Even before this he sent out summons from Medina to the kings and rulers of the world to acknowledge the one Almighty Allaah and His Prophet, Heraclius, the Constantinople Emperor, got it while he was still engaged in his campaign against the Persians in Syria; the Persian King got it. And it is said that even reached to Tai-Tsung in China. These rulers must have wondered who this unknown person was who dared to command them. From the sending of these messages we can form some idea of the supreme confidence in himself and his mission, which Muhammad (Peace be upon him) must have had. It is this confidence and faith he bestowed on his people, till now a desert community of no great consequence, who however, after embracing Islam managed to conquer half of the known world.

In the mission and summons of the Prophet’s, the human being’s free will and choice are the first subject to attract our attention. If the human being had no share of free will and choice, he would never have any need of prophet; he would travel along a predetermined path, advancing automatically.

Thus, in accepting the mission of the Prophet’s, we must necessarily accept also the freedom of the human being; otherwise, the fundamentalist themes in the mission of the prophets could never be put forward, and it would not be possible to find any justification for their message, a message which, in reality, awakens the human beings who are asleep and transforms them into free and conscious beings, not torpid masses without will.

The general law of guidance is a universal law that covers the entirety of being, Given the insufficiency of the instinctual guidance the human being contains within himself, given the fact that his motion is not predetermined, given the various defects that negate the idea of reason being an adequate guide to perfection and happiness- given all this, it is necessary that the deficiency within the human being be made Almighty Allaah, that the vacuum within him be filled.

Therefore, the scheme of creation lays open before the human being the path of prophet hood which will enable him to reach his unchanging goal. With the tools and resources that he has at his disposal to acquire knowledge and consciousness, he can then discover, within the sphere laid out by the Prophet, precise, clear and infallible instructions for the attainment of happiness, and find answers to both his long-standing and increasing needs.

It is a fundamental principle that nobody’s claim can be accepted without proof, particularly if it is a big and lofty claim. Then more decisive and convincing proofs must be offered for the claim being advanced.

Therefore, for those who have accepted the worldview based on Diving unity as the foundation for their beliefs and their mode of viewing the world, whenever someone claims a particular relationship with Almighty Allaah, the importance of the matter necessitates that it be examined carefully. One must look for the properties and characteristics that are necessary in guides of humanity in order to be able to recognize a true Prophet.

Given the significance of the rank of Prophet-hood, the great responsibility borne by the Prophets and the role of their message in determining the different concerns of human life, Prophets must be able to furnish a decisive proof for their claim to Prophet-hood. The proof must be of such a nature that it could be obtained only by means of Almighty Allaah’s infinite power, of forces that lie beyond nature.

History bears witness that the Prophets came to show the path of salvation to the human being who had become empty, and to remove the great obstacles that were standing in the way of his intellectual development and his innate perceptions, causing him to become alienated from his own self. Thus, the human being was enabled to find anew what he had lost, and the ground work was laid for the establishment of justice, a society based on equity, and an environment conducive to spiritual advancement.

The fulfillment of such a commitment was without doubt dependent on the possession of great spiritual capacities. The Prophets had first to be armed with the weapon of miracles, which provided them with a divisive force for entering the arena and beginning their mission.

A miracle is a deed performed by a Prophet, by the will of Almighty Allaah, in order to demonstrate the truth of his claim to prophet hood. The proof that the miracle constitutes is without any doubt an indication of the Prophet’s relationship with the source of revelation, the Creator of being.

For the one who claims to possess a mission from Heaven, to have a message from Almighty Allaah, and to be in contact with another world, must perform a deed that lies beyond the confines of nature, a deed that will serve as his letter of credentials from the Creator and confirm his claim to be in contact with revelation.

To prevent His servants from falling into the trap of false claimants to prophet-hood. Almighty Allaah has placed this blazing lamp. This decisive proof, in the hands of his envoys to mankind, so that the face of truth should never be obscured by veils of trickery and deceit. Just as the form of the entire scheme of being and the existence of all phenomena is a clear proof of the existence of Almighty Allaah and His pre-eternal unity, the miracle is a clear and manifest proof of the relationship of the Prophet with the source of revelation. Religion cannot be interpreted correctly except with reference to and worthless once severed from revelation.

A Prophet who loudly claims prophet hood for himself is, in reality issuing the human beings with a challenge to enter the field of struggle against him with greater seriousness and energy than his, through mobilizing all their capacities and resources. But despite their desperate efforts, they get nowhere in their in their confrontation with him, and in their utter impotence they are obliged to surrender.

Finally the appointed moment arrived, the moment which had been foretold by previous prophets to their followers. At the age of forty, the orphan son of Abdullah attained the exalted station of messenger hood. It was he alone that time had prepared for guiding the world with his message for only this great and heavy responsibility could call for such qualities and virtues as he possessed. He was prepared to undertake the grave task of prophet hood. If he had not been prepared, in the best possible way, to assume that sacred and fateful responsibility, there would have been none other in the world capable of conveying the Divine mission in all its dimensions. It was only the being of Muhammad (peace be upon him) that was capable of stilling the thirst of the world.

While engaged in worship in a corner of the cave of Hira in the heart of the night , the Prophet who had never studied or attended a school, was suddenly shaken by the summons, “O Muhammad!” followed by the command to recite , this being the beginning of revelation. A wave arose from the limitless ocean of Divinity, rent the breast of the Prophet, bewildered and anxious, and filled to the brim the cup of his spirit.

The shining of a light from the realm of the unseen covered and enveloped his being and shone forth on his fair features, giving rise to new and bright life in the shoulders the heaviest responsibility conceivable , he set out for home from the cave of Hira, destined to become the teacher of all human beings and to assume the leadership of humanity on its long march forward.

What force was it that had disquieted him despite his infinite patience, made him anxious despite all his tranquil courage, and plunged his whole being into painful turmoil?

His conduct, on the one hand, and the verses of Quran, on the other, both testify that he made no compromises in conveying his message. He conveyed the message that he had been ordered to deliver. The factor that had this profound effect on Muhammad, that changed that quiet and reflective man into an explosive source of revolutionary energy and enabled him to bring about such a profound transformation of humanity, from within the intense darkness of the Arabs Age of Ignorance, was nothing other than revelation. It was a call that penetrated the very depths of the souls of human beings that melted the marrow of their bones, and directed all their strivings to attainment of perfection.

The command of revelation negated all the false and lying criteria which human beings had regarded as the measures of goodness and considered the sole means of evaluating human characteristics and habits, while in fact, clothing falsehood in the garment of truth. The veil of ignorance and silence was torn apart, the human beings energies were set to work, the power of thought within them was aroused, and their spirits were borne aloft toward the infinite summit of being.

The Program for reforming systems of thought and culture that had become corrupt was laid down by a man who had never studied, who was unlettered, and who knew nothing of the religious books or the civilization of his age.

Islam is not a religion for a certain season or place or race; it belongs neither to the Arabs nor to the non Arabs. The words of the Quran are addressed to the whole of humanity. “O mankind, We have created you out of a man and a woman and made of you different lineages so that you might recognize each other. The greatest of human beings in Almighty Allaah’s sight is the most Pious.” (49:12) “Oh sons of Adam! Let not Satan deceive you, as he drove your father and mother from Paradise and stripped from them the garment of dignity.”