THE PROPHET AND HIS MISSION — From The Quran

highest standard of conduct in all matters. Had he been cast in some superhuman mould, his exemplary character could not have served as a model for human beings to emulate. The Prophet — A Test for People The Quran refers to objections raised by opponents of the Prophet: Thy ask ‘Why has no angel been sent down to him?' If We had sent down an angel, their fate would have been sealed and they would have never been reprieved. If We had made him an angel, We would have given him the semblance of a man and would have thus added to their confusion. (THE QURAN 6: 8-9) In chapter 25 the Quran records a similar objection raised by doubters: They say, How is it that this Apostle eats and walks about the market-place? Why has no angel been sent down with him to warn us? or (why) has no treasure been given him, no garden to provide his sustenance? (THE QURAN 25: 7-8) At another place, the Quran says: Nothing prevents men from having faith when guidance is revealed to them but the excuse: 'Could God have sent a human being as an apostle?' (THE QURAN 17: 94) According to an Arabic saying 'Things can be understood properly only by their opposites.' In the light of this principle, two pictures of the Prophet, very different from each other, appear before us. One picture, according to the above verses, is that which was before his contemporaries. The other, the one we have today, has grown tremendously in stature over the fifteen centuries that have elapsed since his coming to the world. In the former picture, the Prophet appears as a common man, standing all alone. In vivid contrast, the picture of him that has emerged after 1500 years has become so sublime that modern attempts to describe him, if they are to do him justice, have to include such expressions as 'the pride of all existence', 'the emperor of both the worlds', 'the leader of the Universe', 'the crown king of Arabia', and so on.