The Prophet in the Quran

Four Responsibilities The Prophet of Islam is said to be the answer to Abraham’s prayer. When Abraham settled his son Ismail and his wife Hajira in the deserts of Hijaz, according to the Quran he prayed thus: Our Lord, send forth to them a messenger of their own to recite Your revelations to them, to teach them the Scripture and wisdom, and purify them. You are the Mighty, the Wise One. (The Quran, 2:129) The first task of the Prophet was to receive God’s revelations and communicate them to man, i.e. he had to recite the verses of the Quran and explain them to his hearers. Innumerable signs within human nature and in the outside world have been placed there by God so that man may realize Him through them. The second task of the Prophet was, therefore, to reveal these signs, and give man the insight to enable him to experience his Lord. Insight implies wisdom, so that when man has developed the insight to see God’s signs; when he has moulded his mind to the teachings of the Quran, a kind of intellectual light begins to shine within him. His cerebral level is raised to a point from which he is able to experience higher realities. In all matters he is able to arrive at the right conclusions as desired by God. Tazkia means purifying the soul of unfavourable elements in order that a man may, in a favourable atmosphere, elevate himself to the culminating point of spiritual development. Then finally the Prophet strove to prepare people whose souls should be free from all preoccupations except their devotion to God, who should be free also from psychological complexities, so that they might be capable of finding the spiritual sustenance placed by God in the universe for His devoted servants. These four tasks were the four basic parts of the mission of the Prophet of Islam. All his activities were directed solely to achieving these objectives enumerated above. After the Prophet those who rise to the task of reforming the people have to work along the same lines as were followed by the Prophet on the basis of divine guidance. Communicating God’s Message The Prophet was thus addressed by God in the Quran: O Messenger, deliver whatever has been sent down to you by your Lord. If you do not do so, you will not have conveyed His message. God will defend you from mankind. For God does not guide those who deny the truth. (The Quran, 5:67) This verse shows that, the actual basic task assigned by God to the Prophet was communication of His message. This task had two aspects: firstly, the duty assigned to him as a Messenger of God entailed the performance of the task of communication of the divine message, and secondly, the same task served to protect the Prophet. Whenever a prophet calls for an uncompromising acceptance of truth, he has to face a severe reaction from his madu, or congregation. But this reaction is not shown by the secular people. In