Characteristic of the prophets
We have understood that God guides humans with general and specific guidance towards perfection and that the innate human nature and intellect are effective in the pursuit of perfection. but without the existence of revelation they cannot deliver the human to his complete state of perfection. Accordingly, God appointed for every nation a prophet, or prophets, who invited the people towards truth and monotheism. The Holy Quran also refers to this point in numerous verses, including the following:
(وَ لَقَدْ بَعَثْنا في كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَسُولاً أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَ اجْتَنِبُوا الطَّاغُوتَ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ هَدَى اللَّهُ وَ مِنْهُمْ مَنْ حَقَّتْ عَلَيْهِ الضَّلالَةُ فَسيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كانَ عاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبين)
“Certainly We raised an apostle in every nation ]to preach:]‘Worship Allah, and keep away from the Rebels.” Then among them were some whom Allah guided, and among them were some who deserved to be in error. So travel over the land and then observe how was the fate of the deniers.” (16:36)
(إِنَّا أَرْسَلْناكَ بِالْحَقِّ بَشيراً وَ نَذيراً وَ إِنْ مِنْ أُمَّةٍ إِلاَّ خَلا فيها نَذير)
“Indeed We have sent you with the truth as a bearer of good news and as a warner; and there is not a nation but a warner has passed in it.”(35:24)
(وَ يَقُولُ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا لَوْ لا أُنْزِلَ عَلَيْهِ آيَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّه إِنَّما أَنْتَ مُنْذِرٌ وَ لِكُلِّ قَوْمٍ هاد)
“The faithless say, ‘Why has not some sign been sent down to him from his Lord?” You are only a warner, and there is a guide for every people.” (13:7)
This was in order that they deliver the divine message, which includes the program of how to live, reach perfection and secure prosperity for humanity, to different peoples in their different languages. All the prophets have been monotheist, guided people toward monotheism and were pioneers of all people in observing divine orders. Their actions were the best examples for the life of all people. Teaching and educating people and freeing them from ignorance was among their most important duties.
Guiding humanity toward absolute perfection and fighting with ignorance and oppression can be considered the most important goal of all prophets.
they ate food, wedded, lived among the people and were confronted with poverty and other social problems. The Qur'an mentions this point:
Say. 'I am just a human being like you. It has been revealed to me that your God is the One God. So whoever expects to encounter his Lord -let him act- righteously, and not associate anyone with the worship of his Lord.’ (18: 110)
This enabled them to have a good understanding of the conditions of the people to whom they had been sent. They were familiar with the people's difficulties and needs and thus took measured actions in performing their missions. On the other hand, the people did not perceive any distance between themselves and the Prophets and felt close to them. If prophets were chosen from among angels or jinn, it would not have had this result.
Divine Law and Holy Books
The Holy Qur'an, speaks of itself and other revealed books: the Book of Abraham, the Psalms of David; the Torah of Moses and the Gospel of Jesus. A Muslim must believe in all the Holy Books and in all the Prophets. As we will see later, all the Prophets were necessarily infallible and sinless prior to and during their mission. From what can be deduced from the Holy Qur'an, it can be concluded that all the prophets of Allah did not bring divine law. Rather, five of them: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the Prophet Muhammad, are 'possessors of determination- (ulul-'azm) those who have brought divine law. Other prophets followed the divine law brought by these prophets. There have been several reasons cited for the large number of prophets. The most important of which are given below:
- In ancient times, it was not possible to propagate the invitations of the prophets (as), and it would have been impossible for the entire world to be informed of their message.
- With the passing of time, and due to various factors, the instructions given by a prophet to the people of his era would face alterations and incorrect interpretations, so after some time the original religion changed into a deviated one.
Plurality of Religion
Why is there the plurality of prophets and certain differences in some devotional and social instructions of the divine religions?
The conditions of people's lives in different places and times are not the same; such differences can influence the quality as well as the quantity of social rules and regulations. It is therefore necessary in some cases for new regulations to be issued.
The Final Prophet
Although human intellect due to the aforementioned points realizes the rationale behind the plurality of the prophets and the differences between divine religions, it cannot discover the exact formula for the number of prophets and divine religions, and cannot decide when and where a new prophet would be appointed and a new religion introduced. It is. however, understood from the above points that while the conditions of man's life are such that a prophet's invitation can reach all the people of the world and his message can be protected and secured for future generations, and as long as the social regulations do not need any fundamental changes, no new prophet would be necessary.
It is for this reason that the Prophet of Islam had been the final divine prophet. The Holy Quran, which is Prophet Muhammad's (s) eternal miracle, explicitly mentions this point that Muhammad (s) is the final prophet and after him there will be no other prophet.
(ما كانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبا أَحَدٍ مِنْ رِجالِكُمْ وَ لكِنْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَ خاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَ كانَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَليما)
"Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the Apostle of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets, Allah has knowledge of all things."(33:40)
The world has always been a place where veracity and fallacy, and the supporters of truth (the pre-eminent ones being the Divine Prophets) and falsehood have clashed. Difficulties can only be overcome with patience and endurance. A study of the lives of the Prophets shows that the greatest difficulty that these persons encountered was the ignorance of people. The eradication of ignorance and the development of knowledge were their main objectives and they went through hardship in achieving these goals. Accordingly, the majority of historians religious and non-religious have attributed knowledge, civilization, culture and advancement in human societies, to the campaigns of the Divine Prophets against ignorance and superstition.
How One's Prophethood Is Established
One of the important issues related to prophethood is how to establish the truthful claims of the authentic prophets and the false claimants to prophethood?
If a person is immoral and contaminated with sin, undoubtedly this person would be untrustworthy. Given the condition of infallibility of the Prophets. the falsity of their claim can be proven, especially if they encourage people to do an action which is opposed to a human's innate nature and intellect, or if there are contradictions in their speech.
On the other hand, it is possible for the character of a person to be so sound that an impartial person would believe in their honesty and sincerity and would readily accept their claims. It is also possible for a prophet's advent to have been foretold by another prophet, so that those in pursuit of the truth would have no doubt in their minds.
However, if a people did not have any reassuring signs nor any approval from another prophet, naturally there would have to be another way to prove his claim to messengership. God, the All-Wise, has provided them with miracles as a way to prove the truthfulness of prophethood.
The veracity of the claims of genuine prophets can be proven in three ways:
1 - From reassuring indications, such as the person's honesty, and consistency in pursuing truth and justice throughout their life.
Prophethood is an onerous task; thus, acquisition of these attributes needs to definitely be made through a deep knowledge of the one who claims to be the prophet. People in the society need to have a good knowledge of this person and become certain that he is at the peak of sincerity, piety and wisdom. It should not be forgotten that some false prophets during history
pretended to be pious and attracted the hearts of simple-minded people to themselves.
2 - Introduction by a previous or contemporary prophet. This is, limited to those people who have known the previous prophet and have knowledge of their approval of the current claimant. This would not be suitable in the case of the first prophet.
3 - Presentation of a miracle, which can also have a wide and ever-lasting impact. This method will be discussed in more detail.