Prophethood of Muhammad SA: Journey from Captivating Miracles to Convincing Motivation
By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan
Garden Grove, CA
While Adam AS ignored the majesty of Allah swt even after seeing Him and ate from the forbidden tree, Allah sent him down to the life on earth so that his desperation of life on it will make him search Him, find Him and follow Him with self-effort; for what is achieved through self-effort is not lost as easily as what is bequeathed. Man has the canny knack of denying what he does not want to accept under one or the other pretext. Adam saw the majesty and glory of God with the eyes of his head and still he disobeyed Him and we his progeny disobey Him because we do not see Him. This expediency of man originates from his crass cupidity.
Prophet Abraham (PBUH) realized the reality of the existence of Allah swt and the life of The Hereafter at an intellectual level (Ch 6 V74-79 & Ch2 V258-260). Those who wanted to become gods themselves and exploit people for their personal gains diluted this understanding of Allah swt by Abraham (PBUH) at an intellectual plane. They diverted peoples’ attention to frivolities of magic, fairytales and superstition to carry on their deceit on the misled masses. Allah sent His messengers with captivating miracles to wean the people away from the sway of prevailing atmosphere of heedlessness and to authenticate His message and His messengers. Muhammad SA as His last messenger shifted the paradigm to its original form by basing Islam on reasoned motivation as was done by Abraham (Ch 26 V71-85 Ch 21 V52-67).
Earlier Moses (Musa AS) was made a prophet with a simple message backed with powerful miracles. The first message to him from Allah swt was: I am the Allah (which literally means The One to Whom everything belongs) and there is none worthy of servitude except Me therefore serve Me and establish prayer for My remembrance. The Hour is sure to come. But I have concealed it to reward or punish the people appropriately for their efforts. Let not those who disbelieve in Me and The Hereafter, and follow their own desire swerve you from this message lest you perish (Ch 20 V13-16). With this simple message Moses (PBUH) was given the miracle of staff turning to python, and several other powerful miracles (Ch7 V131-136) to establish the authenticity of his prophethood and aid him in his mission of securing the release of children of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh (Ch 27 V 10-12).
Jesus (Isa AS) was born to Virgin Mary (PBUH) through a miracle without a biological father (Ch19 V16-30). Jesus (PBUH) spoke to his detractors as an infant thus: I am the servant of Allah. Allah has given me the book and made me His prophet. Allah blessed me and advised me to establish prayer and be charitable as long as I live. Allah has made me dutiful to my mother and has advised me not to be arrogant and cruel (Ch19 V30-36). Jesus (PBUH) was sent to restore the children of Israel who had gone astray under the influence of the Pagan civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia, Persia and Rome and to bring them back on the teachings of their prophets (Ch3 V 49, Matthew Ch5 V17). He was a prophet of simple and profound sermons backed by numerous powerful miracles that are listed in Bible and in Qur’an (Ch 5 V110-115).
Some people believed in the prophets, but most people detested them and harmed them ignoring their simple, inspiring, universal and beneficial message and the powerful miracles (Ch3 V112). These people did not want to believe in the messengers because their moral teachings restricted their freedom to exploit and enjoy their lives at the expense of others. They ridiculed the message and dismissed the miracles as magic. They considered the prophets to be magicians and lunatics (Ch 11 V50-100). These so-called wise people forgot that no magician and no lunatic has ever stood steadfastly and suffered for the cause of reforming mankind.
Muhammad SA, the Final Messenger:
Because of the treatment meted out to Jesus and John the Baptist (peace be upon both of them) by the people of their time, no messenger was sent for about five hundred years. When humanity was at the ebb of destruction in that period of history called “Dark Age”, there was a genuine yearning in some quarters for a prophet to guide them out of it (Ch 5 V19). Muhammad SA was sent as the last prophet. He was the fulfillment of prayer of Abraham (Ch2 V 129). All the prophets mentioned in the Holy Bible were from the children of Isaac and Jacob (PBUT). Muhammad SA was from the progeny of Ishmael, the other son of Abraham. In making Muhammad SA a prophet with a following of more than 1.5 billion people in the progeny of Ishmael AS spread all across the world, God fulfilled His promise which He made to Hagar (Hajira AS), the mother of Ishmael: I (God) will make him (Ishmael) a great nation (Genesis Ch 21 V18).
It is unfortunate that the following verses from The Holy Bible which prophesy about the coming of Muhammad SA are either ignored or wrongly interpreted: Deuteronomy, Ch.18, V 15-19, Gospel of John, Ch. 14, Verse 16-17, V 25-26, and V30, Gospel of John, Ch. 15, Verse 26, Gospel of John Ch. 16, V12-14.
After forty years of living a normal life in the city of Mecca as a child, an honest businessman, a family man, a loving husband, a caring father, and a respectable member of his society, Muhammad SA was anointed as prophet. The only thing which differentiated him from the others in society was his deep contemplative mood that was essential to understand things in proper perspective by connecting himself with source of all-knowing Allah.
Prophet Muhammad SA has told about himself in a Hadith: He was first to be created and last to be anointed as prophet (Al Badaya Wan Nahya Vol 2). It is mentioned that when Adam AS suffered the ignominy after eating from the forbidden tree, he sought forgiveness from Allah swt in the name of Muhammad SA. When Allah swt asked Adam AS about how he knew about Muhammad SA, Adam AS told Allah swt that he saw Muhammad’s name on the Allah’s Arsh (Throne) on which it was written thus: There is no one worthy of worship but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger (Al Badaya Wan Nahaya Vol 1).
When one thinks about the purpose behind the creation of the consciousness (Noor) of Muhammad SA first and sending him as a prophet at the end the following becomes evident. Consciousness of Muhammad SA got an opportunity to absorb and utilize the experiences of all the previous prophets to present the most comprehensive religion at the end of time when consciousness of man was also ripe to receive it. That is why Jesus (PBUH) said before he was lifted by God: I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself, but what he shall hear, that he speak (John Ch 16Verse 12-13).
Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad SA little by little over 23 years of prophetic life explaining to him all the situations he faced. Al Qur’an argued on an intellectual level about the existence of God, purpose of life, accountability before God, the authenticity of prophethood, prowess and weakness of man, destiny etc. It explained some of the enigmas and dilemmas which man faces but is unable to fathom, and gave some basic rules of life to live a life of knowledge and fulfillment for eternity.
Nabi SA has told about Qur’an in one of his Hadith: In it (Qur’an) is the news of what happened before you, information about what comes after you, and judgment for what happens between you. It is the criterion between right and wrong without jest. Oppressors who abandons it, Allah will crush them, whoever seeks guidance from source other than it Allah will allow him to go astray. It is the strong rope of Allah, it is a wise remembrance, it is the straight path, and it is the one which desires can’t distort, nor tongue twist. Scholars are never satiated and they never get bored by its repeated study as its amazement does not diminish. Whoever speaks according to it speaks the truth, Whoever acts according to it has his reward, whoever judges according to it has judged justly, whoever invites to it is sure to be guided (Tirmizi 2906).
Through Qur’an Muhammad SA performed the miracle of establishing faith using sound argument instead of captivating miracles. Even though several miracles are authentically attributed to his life, their authenticity is recognized only by those who have accepted him as prophet. Those who have accepted him as prophets and live as practicing Muslims did so not because of his miracles but because of the sound teachings of Qur’an which had transformed many lives and created a better society. While Allah swt sent the other prophets with miracles to motivate people, He sent Muhammad SA with the book of motivation to bring about the miracle of ending the Dark Age of history. As the most read and memorized book of the world transforming and reforming lives of billions of people unto this age Qur’an is a proof that Nabi SA was a prophet of persuasive motivation.
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Arguments which Qur’an makes are acceptable only to those minds that are unbiased and to those hearts which are pure. Those who have darkened their hearts through a life of sin and extravagance and polluted their mind with selfish thoughts and desires get no guidance from this book. Allah ridicules such people who do not ponder in His books and reject the messengers in the following words: He (Allah) throws filth on the minds of those who do not use their common sense to see His signs in the universe (to understand this message) which are so vital to understand life correctly and to live a good life (Ch10 V100-102). Allah swt further says that He will soon make it evident through the signs in universe and in their own lives that what Qur’an is telling is the truth (Ch41 V53).
The discoveries in the various disciplines of physical and social sciences in modern times have given an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the human mind to all the right thinking people. They have understood that there is a Creator and Absolute Administrator of this world and we have limited capacity to play our role in it according to His plan. While possibilities of our intellect are predicated by its judicious use, its indiscriminate abuse has thrown us into quagmires in every aspect of our personal and collective life and this seems to have brought us to our senses and brought us closer to prophetic teachings than at any time before.
The first revelation to Muhammad SA after forty years of his life with purity of thought and sincerity of action was: Read with the name of your Lord who created you from a clot. Read the name of your Lord who is Kind to teach man through pen what he knew not. But man becomes rebellious with this knowledge and thinks that he is independent of the need of his Lord (V1-7 Ch.96).
This first revelation to Muhammad SA was a declaration of the end of the age of dogma and heralding the era of learning, reason and knowledge. Knowledge being the product of observation, thought, analysis and synthesis, it was likely that Satanical influences could mislead us to believe in our skewed understanding of things and our prejudices as knowledge. To save mankind from this predicament, Allah cautioned us through this first revelation to Muhammad SA to be wary of becoming arrogant with the dawning of few facts of life and ignoring Him. At present stage of our history we are in this phase of arrogance where our discoveries and our inventions have made us not only neglectful in remembrance of the Lord who has gifted us with the intelligence and means to make these discoveries, but even go to the extent of denying Him and ridiculing those who believe in Him. Mankind is paying a heavy price for neglecting the principles of universal good given to us by His messengers and following our vain and base desires to the detriment of our personal well being and collective harmony despite all the material progress we have made (Ch30 V41).
When people demanded miracles from Muhammad SA, Allah told them: We refrain from sending miracles because the people before you rejected them as magic and therefore faced severe collective punishment (V59 Ch.17). By corollary it means, that Muhammad SA was sent without any miracle as a mercy to mankind (Ch 21 V107) so that mankind may be spared from across-the-board punishment for denying the prophet even after seeing the miracles. Thus Almighty Allah gave enough opportunity to the people to understand the truth through their life experiences in their life time under the guidance of Qur’an (Ch41 V53).
Satanical forces are trying to take Islam back from this enlightened path of honest intellectual enquiry into the dogmas of distant past to wean mankind away from the charm of real Islam which is winning the hearts and minds of people in great numbers in all parts of the world. Those who are aiding and abetting in this might be thinking that they are doing a great service to our modern civilization by such antics, but the fact is that they are jeopardizing its bright future by this deceit.
Muhammad SA suffered the most to receive and convey this revelation in its final and the fullest form and Allah consoled him by saying that this revelation is not made to put him into hardship (Ch26 V3). It is a blessing of Allah that He preserved this revelation in form of Qur’an for posterity (V9 Ch.15). Much more than this, Allah swt preserved the record of prophet’s words and deeds (Sunnah), and the practices of faithful companions of the prophet SA to preserve the letter and spirit of His message. The honest scholars and the practicing Muslims who followed the Nusoos (clearly understood verses of Qur’an and texts of Hadith without any explanation) have kept the religion in its pristine form even today. It is a perfect testimony to the authenticity of the divine message of Islam (which means loving Allah with all their heart, soul and mind), which Muhammad SA brought one last time. Billions of Muslims still cling to this message in its minutest detail in spite of all the hardship that goes with it. Having made all the arrangement to preserve His last revelation, Allah put a seal on the prophet hood by His mercy (V40 Ch.22). No prophet is going to come after Muhammad SA because no more prophets are needed. Allah is not like we human beings who want to reinvent the wheel again and again. Anyone who claims to be a prophet after Muhammad SA is a misguided megalomaniac who is serving his ego more than the need of guidance of the people.
Why Muhammad SA Was Made the Last Prophet?
The process of analyzing our stray thoughts invoked by our erratic sensory perception and arriving at a correct conclusion to the benefit of both the self and society is not an easy job. To separate the substance of reality from the chaff of our stray thoughts is not an ordinary exercise. This becomes all the more difficult when it pertains to understanding of metaphysical and abstract realities like God, purpose of life, the correct way to live our life etc. When preferences and prejudices poison this process, which is usual with all of us, this becomes impossible. Only an Omniscient entity who owns and controls everything can give this point of universal reference with due consideration to uniform and unflinching justice to all irrespective of gender, race and nationality. Prophets were endowed with the capacities to secure this code of universal reference from Allah who has all the knowledge and who owns everything. What is strange in the behavior of those who deny revelation is that they believe in dot and dash message which was deciphered for them by the one who understood this language of telegraph while denying the revelation made to prophets. If they are waiting to confirm the authenticity of revelation like they do for the telegram it is not going to happen till we go to see God and then it is of no use. Greater irony is that some of those who believe in other prophets deny prophethood of Muhammad SA because he does not belong to their clan.
When prophets contemplate to find solution to the problems of mankind, Satan to whom Allah has given respite to mislead progeny of Adam (Ch7 V15-17), interjects with his distractions. The dilemma of this double jeopardy of personal limitation and satanical intervention is referred to in Ch22 V52-54 of Qur’an. True prophets alone can sail out of this quandary and understand the universal principles on which mankind can solve its problems. The solution suggested by prophets is not the one that is given by the pundits on talk show to change the governments, to wage wars or to adopt a certain economic model; but to reform the individuals by instilling God consciousness and the consciousness of accountability before Him. After substantiating this important tenet through sound argument in 114 chapters of Qur’an and preserving it for eternity (Ch 15 V9), the door of prophethood was sealed (Ch33 V40). All our understanding outside the pale of the correct understanding of Qur’an and authentic Sunnah is only waywardness (Ch10 V32) and a path to hell, both in this world and in the Hereafter (Ch2 V119). To those who do not want to believe in prophet and follow their teachings, Qur’an says: I am responsible for my deeds and you for yours; I am not accountable for what you do nor you are for my deeds (Ch10 V41). We all return to Him and He will show us the reality of our deeds (Ch10 V23). This assertion by Allah and His messenger should make it clear that there is no place in Islam to force beliefs and practices on others. Some of the allegations which are made against Islamic laws and practices stem out of ignorance and others out of sheer dislike of values and some are genuinely true and abhorring. It is important that we address to all of them appropriately in a spirit of educating the masses about true Islam.
Those who are unable to fathom the reality of divine inspiration and satanical whispers, succumb to satanical whispers under the influence of their prides and prejudices. The skewed understanding of these false prophets may appears genuine for a short period of time, but very soon the absurdity and fallacy of their promises comes to haunt all those who believed in them. We have seen enough of these false prophets and prognosticators in the last few decades. To keep mankind safe from the predicament of falling prey to these false prophets, Allah ended the prophethood after giving Muhammad SA His last message which encompassed and authenticated the true teachings of earlier prophets (Ch 10 V37). As mankind needed no more than what was given to it through Muhammad SA to live their lives in peace and in comfort till the end of time, Allah stopped sending any more prophets and sealed the institution of prophethood (Ch 33 V40).
If the Muslim world is presenting an image different than this, it is not because of the deficiency in Islam but because of its faulty understanding, wrong implementation and media portrayal. Muslims need to use the principles enunciated in Qur’an and Sunnah in accordance with the consciousness and needs of our time to solve our problems and present the real image of Islam that is above rebuke and ridicule. If we adhere to the understanding of the scholars of previous centuries who practiced Islam in accordance with the consciousness of their time we will lose the dynamism of Islam and thus force Muslims to abandon their faith as irrelevant relic of bygone era. Muslims need to address this internal weakness to be safe from the media bias which is exacerbating their problems.
