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CHAPTER 4

THE NEED FOR A DIVINE MESSAGE

THE ANGEL CAME when Muhammad was in seclusion in the cave of Mount Ḥirā’, and told him to read the first five short verses of the Qur’ān. Muhammad’s prophethood started at the moment he received these first revelations.

Like other scholars, Imam Ibn Hazm defines prophethood as the acquisition of knowledge that is absolutely certain and cannot be gained through human endeavour or experience. Such knowledge can only be bestowed by God, and He gives it only to those of His servants whom He chooses to be Prophets. Some Prophets may be given Divine messages, which they then deliver to the people to whom they are addressed. If a Prophet is not given a message of his own, he works with the message of an earlier Messenger. The Children of Israel had countless Prophets: but the Messengers among them were few. Moses and Aaron are perhaps the clearest examples of this. God chose Moses to relay the message contained in the Torah, whereas Aaron was a Prophet working with Moses’ message. A number of God’s Messengers are mentioned in the Qur’ān by name, but God states that He also sent Messengers of whom He chose not to tell us. Addressing the Prophet, He says in the Qur’ān: “We sent other Messengers before your time; some We have given you an account of, while others We have not.” (40: 78)

Shortly after the beginning of his revelations, Muhammad became God’s Messenger, as God revealed to him the verses: “You, wrapped in your cloak, arise and give warning” (74: 1-2).¹ This meant that the Prophet would advocate the Divine faith in accordance with the message that he would be receiving. Whatever remained intact from previous Divine messages (that is, free from distortion) would be endorsed or amended by the new message. In all previous cases, God’s Messengers were sent to their own peoples, speaking their languages and calling on them to believe in God and to conduct their lives in accordance with the messages delivered to them. The Prophet was declared God’s final Messenger and his message was the last to be given by God to mankind. For this reason, his message is contained in a book – the Qur’ān – which God has guaranteed to preserve intact for the rest of time.

That humanity is always in need of a Divine message is beyond doubt, and this is closely related to the purpose of man’s creation. According to all Prophets and to God’s Messengers, man undertakes the task of building virtuous life on earth. As the Prophet Ṣāliḥ urged his people to worship God alone, he said to them: “He it is who brought you into being out of the earth and settled you therein.” (11: 61) With settlement comes progress and the enhancement of the beautiful and beneficial (as its Arabic equivalent istaʿmarakum, which is used in this Qur’ānic verse, connotes). When we consider our position in the universe, it becomes clear that despite all the discoveries and advancements that we have made over the centuries, we can only move within a limited area and our abilities are finite. Man has always felt that there is a vast world beyond, and it is the endeavour to reach to this and discover its secrets that has motivated his research, scientific pursuit, philosophical theories, poetry and fiction. This has given rise to every advancement made by man. Yet, even those who make the most exciting discoveries are the first to acknowledge that they are only scratching the surface and that there is much more beyond.

This applies to human nature, psychology, feelings and emotions as much as it applies to the material world around us. When we deal with the material world, we may make mistakes. However, we can always revise our methods and correct our errors. The situation is not so straightforward when we regulate for feelings, emotions and human nature. A small mistake in these areas could have far-reaching adverse consequences. The need to avert such consequences by correcting an initial mistake is often resisted by a section of the population, because every human situation has its positive and negative aspects. Those who stand to benefit by its positives will – understandably – resist the change. Moreover, when we try to correct such consequences, we often go too far in the opposite direction, so that after some time another correction is needed. Had there been proper guidance in the first place, many errors of society could be averted.

For example, looking at sexual morality in Western society, and its development over the last two centuries, we find that the nineteenth century applied strict values. The first half of the twentieth century witnessed two world wars, which took away almost all of this strictness. Once the contraceptive pill was deemed safe, the so-called “sexual revolution” of the 1960s was hailed as liberation from arbitrary values. Intellectual discussion contrasting nineteenth and twentieth century values in this area tended to dismiss the earlier strict approaches as hypocritical: it was assumed that the earlier population did not really believe in strict values, but were compelled by society to keep up pretences. Any argument that the literature of the time did not support such a judgement is usually countered by the view that novelists and playwrights had to exercise self-censorship so that their works would not be banned. On the other hand, Western society has moved so far away from the values of those days that some people may wonder whether what remains unacceptable today may be acceptable in future.

In recent years, scientific advancement has posed some very difficult ethical questions, particularly with regard to genetic engineering and medically-assisted conception and pregnancy. Human society has been trying hard to find satisfactory answers to questions such as the following: Who has the rightful claim to the child born by a surrogate mother? If a woman agrees with a couple to bear a baby that is the result of artificial insemination, but later decides to keep the child when it is born, is it enough that she refunds the couple whatever fee they might have paid her in advance? How binding is such a contract? Is it right to use test tube techniques to help an elderly woman to conceive (as in the recent case where a sixty-nine year old woman gave birth through artificial insemination)? To what extent can genetic engineering be used in order to give couples a choice of their prospective child’s sex and characteristics? How about medically assisted suicide: is it right to help terminally ill people to end their lives, if they so desire?

In such matters, it is difficult to determine the extent to which human society can proceed on the basis of trial and error. If the adverse consequences of trials in a particular area are grave and difficult to cure, this may mean that people are subjected to serious problems that they might have been spared if proper guidance was available. We need guidance to avoid areas of danger and to lead a reasonably happy life. Given that human experience cannot provide this guidance, the only source available to us is the Creator: He knows His creation and can determine what will benefit or harm us.

Divine guidance has been given to us ever since humanity came into existence. It is provided in two ways: the first is human nature, when it is sound and uncorrupted by negative influences, and the second is through Prophets. These two work together, as the message preached by Prophets enhances the resources of human nature and ensures that it remains on the right track. We need to remind ourselves here of the definition of prophethood, which is the acquisition of knowledge that is absolutely certain and cannot be gained through human endeavour or experience.

God, according to Islam, is the Creator of the universe and all that exists. He is Absolute, Caring and Compassionate. His knowledge is perfect and encompasses all. In order to appreciate God’s knowledge we may say that it is perfect and independent of time and place. In other words, nothing is added to it as a result of any event in the universe. We cannot say that there has been a point when God did not know something and then learned it: that does not apply to God. As such, God is the only source that can provide us guidance that is perfect and applicable to human life. He has done so through the messages that His Messengers have delivered.

Life after Death

A question that has constantly puzzled humanity is what happens to us after we die. The standpoint of Divine religion is that we will be resurrected for a second, everlasting life when we have to account for what we do in this life and will be richly rewarded if our good deeds outweigh our evil ones. Those people whose bad deeds far exceed their good deeds will be judged by God: He will choose to either forgive or punish them. This Divine judgement will send people to heaven or hell, as God – in His absolute justice and compassion – determines to be fair. He is never unjust to anyone, and His forgiveness may be total. He forgives all sins, including very serious ones, with the one exception of alleging that He has partners of any sort. Therefore, all those who believe in God’s Oneness, accept His message and do good deeds in this present life will be certain to receive God’s forgiveness of their sins and be rewarded for their good deeds.

As this present life of ours is limited and short in duration, while the second life is everlasting, it stands to reason that everyone should prepare for the latter by believing in God and doing good works in this life. When people accept this calling and abide by it, its benefit has a strong influence on man’s life on earth. People who do good are loved and respected by those around them, as they benefit their community. This means that the course promoted by Divine faith will have strong and positive effects on this present life of ours and will at the same time ensure happiness in the life to come.

Some questions may arise here: how can we be sure that there is a second life? What proof do we have of it? People do not come back after their death to tell us what happens after they depart from our world, so how can we talk about the Afterlife in terms of certainty? The proof is found in the fact that God is just and will not allow injustice to triumph. There is much injustice in human life, both at the individual and community levels. Instances of injustice are found everywhere: the master who ill-treats his servants; the employer who pays small wages for highly profitable work; the multinationals who amass huge profits while keeping their third-world workforce under the poverty line; the husband who batters his wife; the parents who abuse their children; and the dictator who tyrannizes over the entire population of a country. The number of injustices in any village, town, city or country is beyond measure. Yet God is just and does not allow injustice to go unpunished.

Unjust situations are prevalent in the world around us, and when an unjust situation develops, attempts are usually made to rectify it. Had this life of ours been an end in itself, these attempts would be successful, and all wrongs would be rectified within it. Man is the most precious of all creatures in our world. Therefore, situations that bring misery in human society should be prevented in the first place and rectified when they occur. However, many remain unresolved, at both the individual and community levels. It is logical, then, to conclude that neither God’s system of creation nor His justice would allow such imperfection in a perfectly designed life system. Therefore, a second life where justice would be established in full is necessary. This is what has been promised by Divine faith ever since the creation of man. This is presented in the clearest terms in the Qur’ān, which embodies the Islamic message.

Furthermore, when we look at life in our world, we find that there are countless balances that must work together in order for life to continue. If any of these balances should be disturbed, even in a small measure, disastrous effects for both man and environment could follow. Such measured balances could not have occurred by themselves, rather they are the product of God’s fine design and perfect tuning of the world we live in. This fine-tuning and balancing also applies to the entire universe. The Creator is unlikely to have established such a perfect design only to abandon it and leave the world to regulate itself without any intervention. This would be like a mechanical engineer who designed a perfect machine then left it to run by itself without considering its maintenance. Rather, God’s guidance provides the insights that man needs to maintain this balance. Such insight cannot be obtained from any other source.

Man has been distinguished from all creatures that live in the world by his free will. We have been afforded the ability to determine how to conduct life. We are certainly affected by the forces of nature and we have little say in their control. However, apart from this, we are able to choose our line of action in practically all situations. This ability places on us a clear responsibility to choose what promotes human life and progress, and what preserves and develops our environment. Responsibility goes hand in hand with accountability. We are accountable to God, and such accountability is held in the life to come. Moreover, it is right that our record is held open before God, because it is He who has given us the means and tools to fulfil the responsibility He has assigned to us. We must not forget that this responsibility serves our own interests, as this requires us to build a happy human life on earth and promote human progress.

The Final Message

God has bestowed guidance upon us in the form of a message, which He delivered to us through a human Messenger who led a normal life in the midst of an ordinary human society. This message was sent to help us discharge our responsibility and to present a good account of our time on earth. Over the centuries, God sent many Messengers with His guidance. They all delivered the same basic message, although there were differences in matters of detail. All religions required people to believe in God’s Oneness, offer their prayers and pay zakāt (i.e. obligatory charity). These are the pillars of Divine faith in all its forms. They constitute the purity of belief, and are based on the acknowledgement of man’s position as servant of God who addresses prayers to Him alone, and maintains social collaboration and security. However, God’s Messengers were initially sent to their own peoples and were also given messages that applied to their communities only. As humanity reached its maturity, it was necessary to place before it a message from God that would equally apply to all mankind in all future generations and everywhere in the world. This message is embodied in the Qur’ān, God’s own word, as delivered to us through the Prophet who received it from the angel Gabriel.

Whenever a Prophet addressed his people, calling on them to believe in God and in the Day of Judgement, they asked him to come up with miraculous evidence in support of his message. The Arabs of Makkah also demanded such miracles from the Prophet. God gave earlier Messengers such miraculous signs: the Prophet Moses transformed his staff into a fast moving serpent, and his hand changed colour when he put it on his chest; the Prophet Jesus cured the blind man and restored a dead man to life; and other Prophets were given miracles that suited their peoples and their standard of civilization. The Prophet Muhammad was given none of these because his message was applicable to all mankind in all generations. To produce a miracle seen by a limited group of people, large as it may be, at a particular time and in a particular place, does not fit with that status of his message and its universal applicability. The Prophet refers to this when he says:

Every Prophet was given such miraculous signs as would make people believe. What I have been given is revelations bestowed on me by God. I hope that I will be the one with the largest following on the Day of Judgement.²