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THE PROPHETHOOD
We believe that prophethood is a Divine duty and a mission from Allah; He appoints to it those whom He selects from among His good servants, from those who are exalted among mankind. He sends them to the rest of humanity to be a guide to what is of benefit to them and is in their interest in this world and the next; to purify them from immorality, evil deeds and harmful customs, and also to teach people wisdom and knowledge and the ways of happiness and goodness until they attain to the perfection for which they were created, and reach the highest position in both worlds. We believe that the Grace of Allah (lutf) requires that He send His messengers to His servants to guide them, to carry out reforming work, and to be intermediaries (sufara', pl. of safir) between Allah and his gerents (khulafa', pl. of khalifah). For we believe that Allah does not allow mankind to appoint, nominate or select a person as a prophet; indeed only Allah can choose and appoint someone as a prophet, because: Allah knoweth best with whom to place His message. (6;125) It follows that people have no right to dispute over those whom Allah sends as guides, bringers of good tidings and warners of what is to come, nor over that which they bring, i.e. the commandments and religious laws.
Man is a changeable creature, a complex structure containing his being, his nature, soul and intelligence. Every individual personality is similarly of a complex nature, in which there are causes of good and evil. On the one hand, man has been created with emotions and instincts, such as self-love, desire and pride; he obeys the call of his desires, has a natural disposition to show his superiority over others, to own things, and to take for himself that which belongs to others; he rushes recklessly at the objects and ornaments of this world. As Allah has said: Lo! Man is in the way of loss. (103;2) and: Surely man waxes insolent, for he thinks himself self-sufficient. (96;6&7) and also: Surely the soul of man incites to evil. (12;53) There are other verses which clearly talk about and point to the desires and feelings of the human soul which was created with man. On the other hand, Allah has given intelligence (aql) to man to guide him to what is in his interest and to the way of goodness, and He has also bestowed on him a conscience which prevents him from doing evil and oppressing others, and which also upbraids him when he has sinned. There is continual enmity and struggle between man's desires and his intelligence. One whose intelligence overcomes his desires will attain the highest position among mankind and a perfect spirituality, but one whose desires to conquer his intelligence will be among the great losers, the lowest of mankind and comparable in nature to the beasts. The desires and their legions are stronger than intelligence and its armies, and this is why most people go astray and wander far from the straight path of guidance, through obeying their desires and answering the call of their emotions. As is said in the Qur'an: And though thou try much, most men will not believe. (12;103) Besides, man is reluctant and unaware of all the facts and secrets of the world around him, and since he is also ignorant of his own self, how can he know all that will make him prosperous and what will make him suffer. how can he know everything that is in his own interest or in the interests of mankind as a whole? Whenever he advances with a new discovery, he sees his own ignorance and realises that he knows nothing. It is because of this that Man has an insistent need for someone to show him the clear, straight path to prosperity and to give support to his intelligence, so that it may overcome its unruly, persistent enemy, and so that he may prepare to fight his emotions. Man is desperately in need of
someone to help him to the path of goodness and happiness, especially when his emotions
deceive him, disguising his bad actions as good and his good actions as bad, as a result
of which his intelligence is confused and cannot find the right path to prosperity and
distinguish between the real good and the real evil. When all people co-operate and consult with one another and deliberate together they are still unable to understand what is useful and what is harmful for themselves and for society. So Allah through His Grace and Mercy for mankind sends them a messenger. The Qur'an says: He it is who sent among the unlettered ones a messenger of their own, to recite unto them His signs, and to purify them and to teach them the Book and Wisdom. (62;2) and he (the messenger) warns them concerning what is evil and gives glad tidings to them about what is good for their welfare. (The giving of) this Grace is
necessary for Allah, because it is a sign of His Perfection, and He is Kind and Generous
to His servants. When a man deserves His Mercy and Grace, Allah must grant it to him,
because there is no deficiency or withholding in the Being of Allah. The meaning of
"necessary for Allah" is not that anyone forces Him to act in this way and that
it is necessary for Him to obey, but it means that this is an inseparable attribute of
Allah, i.e. Mercy and Grace cannot be separated from Him, in the same way as we say that
His Existence is inherent in Him, or that He is Necessarily Existent, i.e. His Existence
is co-existent (with Him) and cannot be separated (from Him).
We believe that when Allah
appoints someone as a leader and a messenger for His creatures, He must point him out to
them. In the perfection of His Grace and Bounty, He must give His prophet some evidence
and a testimony for His message to show to the people, and this must be of a kind that is
only within the capability of the Creator of all beings and Provider for all creatures,
and beyond the ability of man. When the men of knowledge and the experts are unable to repeat the miracle, people can understand that it is beyond human ability and that it is 'supernatural', and thus that the prophet, through a spiritual relationship with the Provider of all beings, is above mankind. Consequently, when such a prophet brings his miracle and calls people to his prophecy, it is incumbent upon all to accept his call, believe in his message, and obey his command; but some shall believe and some shall deny him. We therefore see that the miracles of each prophet are in accordance with the important arts and sciences of his time. For example, the miracle of Musa (A.S.) was a rod which swallowed up the lies of the magicians, for magic was the most popular art of his time. His rod destroyed what the magicians had done, and they understood that it was beyond their ability and their skill, and humanly impossible, and that science and art were worthless in comparison with it. Also the miracle of 'Isa (A.S.) was his curing of those born blind and leprous and his restoring to life the dead, because he lived in times when medical science was well thought of among the people, and scientists and physicians held high esteem in society. But all their science could not equal his miracle. The miracle of our Prophet,
Muhammad (S.A.), is the glorious Qur'an, which silenced by its eloquence and fluency all
those who were eloquent, at a time when rhetoric was the art of the day and orators were
held in high esteem. The Qur'an humiliated and astonished them, warning them that they
were unable to produce anything like it, and they surrendered to it. The occasion for
their inability was when the Qur'an challenged them to produce ten comparable surahs, but
they could not; then it challenged them to produce one such surah, and they could not. We
know that they failed the challenge to produce a surah like those contained in the Qur'an,
and we know that they took refuge in fighting with the sword instead of the tongue. We
understand that the Qur'an is a miracle and that Muhammad (S.A.) brought it with him
calling the people to his message. So we know that he is Allah's messenger, and that he
brought the truth.
We believe that all the prophets are infallible, and also that the Imams (A.S.) (the successors to the Prophet of Islam) are infallible, but some non-Shi'a Muslims do not believe in the infallibility of the prophets, let alone of the Imams. Infallibility means purity from all sins, both major and minor ones[1], and from mistakes and forgetfulness. It is necessary that a prophet should not even do what is contrary to good manners. that is, he should not behave vulgarly, for example by eating in the street, by laughing aloud, or by doing anything which may be unacceptable to public opinion. The reason for the necessity of the infallibility of a prophet is that if he commits a sin or mistake, or is forgetful or something similar, we have to choose between two alternatives: either we obey his sins and mistakes, in which case, in the view of Islam, we do wrong, or we must not obey his sins and mistakes, which too is wrong, because this is contrary to the idea of prophethood where obedience is necessary; besides, if everything he says or does has the possibility of being either right or wrong, then it is impossible for us to follow him. The result is that the benefit of his mission is lost; it becomes unnecessary, and the prophet becomes like ordinary people whose acts and speech do not have the excellent worth that we seek, with the result that there will be no obedience and his actions will be unreliable. The same reason is adduced for the infallibility of the Imams (A.S.), because we believe that the Imam is appointed by Allah as the Prophet's representative (khalifah) to guide mankind. This will be explained in the section on the Imamate.
Just as we believe in a prophet's
infallibility, so also we believe that he must be endowed with the most perfect human
attributes - bravery (ash-shaja'ah), diplomacy (as-siyasah). sagacity (at-tadbir),
patience (as-sabr), intelligence (al-fitnah) and quick-wittedness (adh-dhaka'),
so that there is no-one who excels him in such qualities. Otherwise, it is not fit th at
he should lead people and administer the affairs of the whole world.
We believe, in general, that all prophets follow the right path, are infallible and pure, and that to deny their prophecy, to revile or deride them, results in a loss of faith and insincerity in belief For the denial of them entails the denial of our Prophet Muhammad (S.A.) who spoke concerning them and confirmed them. As for the prophets whose names and shara'i' (pl. of shari'ah) are well-known, i.e. Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Dawud, Sulayman, Musa, 'Isa and others that are mentioned in the Qur'an, we must believe in each of them. In truth, one who denies one of them has denied them all, and he has especially denied the prophethood of our own Prophet. Likewise, we must believe in their books and in what has been revealed to them. But the Torah ( Turah - the Book of Musa (A.S.) and the Gospels such as we have them in our hands now have been proved not to be what was revealed to Musa and 'Isa (A.S.). some persons who were confused by their own desires and by covetousness have changed them by adding to them, so that most of them, or all of them, were compiled after their time by some of the followers of the prophets Musa and 'Isa (A.S.).
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