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The Special Prophethood (Nabuwwat Khassah)
By: Ayatullah al-Uzma Shaykh Husayn Vahid Khorasani
As our Prophet, Muhammad (S), was the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers, and was the possessor of the Final and Everlasting Messengership, and then his miracle must last forever as well.
He was sent in an era when people were boasting and competing in rhetoric and eloquence in poetry and prose. Rhetoric and eloquence was the prevailing criterion for recognising the eminence of remarkable personalities in society. Articulate and eloquent people had significant influence in that society. Consequently, Divine Wisdom demanded the Noble Qur’an to be a miracle in its letter and spirit, so that it can be an everlasting miracle and a continuous proof of the prophethood of Muhammad (S). Thus, his message is everlasting for all ages and eras.
We will suffice with a concise account about the miraculousness of the Qur’an.
Incapability of Man from Bringing the Like of the Qur’an
The Prophet (S) appeared in a time and place which consisted of many nations and beliefs. Some were materialistic atheists who rejected God and the hereafter. Others believed in the transcendental. Some of them worshipped idols, while others worshipped celestial bodies. The ones who dissociated from idol-worshipping and the worship of celestial bodies ascribed to Zoroastrianism, Dualism or Judaism. Jews proclaimed that ‘Uzayr is the son of Allah while Christiansity proclaimed the Trinity.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Khosraus1 [akasirah] and the Roman Caesars [qayasirah] were busy colonising the weak nations and exploiting them, or battling and killing them.
The Prophet (S) was sent at a time when intellects were covered with delusions, hearts were grim with desires, and all those ruling were spreading corruption on earth or shedding blood. The banner of faith in the unseen and Divine Unity was raised.
The world was called to the service of Allah, the Exalted, and to the breaking of the imprisonments of disbelief and oppression. The tyrant kings of the Earth, the king of Iran, the Roman emperor, the Ghassanides2 of Syria, the Himyarites of Yemen and other minor and major rulers were invited to accept Islam, obey Allah and submit to truth and justice.
The Dualism of the Zoroastrians, the Trinity of the Christians, the fabrications of the Jews upon Allah and the Prophets (as), and the practices of the ignorant pagans, which were inherited from fathers and forefathers, were all dismissed.
The Prophet (S) stood alone before all the countries of the world, their nations, leaders and scholars. He declared their beliefs were wrong and challenged them with the miracles which Allah had given him as a proof over his prophethood.
His most outstanding miracle was the Qur’an, with which he challenged the kings, the emperors, the idol-worshippers, the Jewish rabbis and the Christian monks.
And if you are in doubt as to that which We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a chapter like it and call on your witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful.3
It is obvious that if common people, who are prejudiced in their beliefs, priests from different faiths, who hold onto their followers, kings and rulers, who fear the awakening of their nations, could have confronted the Qur’an then they would not have delayed for a moment.
Do you think that if they had the ability to object to this challenge, they would not, which would outbalance their previous religion and world?
Surely they all took pains in encountering the challenge of the Prophet (S) regarding the Qur’an. They had scholars, poets and orators who were outstanding in eloquence and rhetoric. They would compete with each other every year in the famous ‘Ukkadh market and other places. They would hang the most astonishing poems in the Ka’bah. The most famous of these were the seven placards [mu’allaqat].
They strived for the triumph of their religions and this world, which was being threatened by the Qur’an. However, they returned disappointed and disgraced. They did not find any answer except that they said: This is nothing but clear enchantment.4
History records that Abu Jahl went to al-Walid ibn al-Mughayrah, who was an authority for the eloquent Arabs, and put forward to him the challenge of the Qur’an given by Muhammad (S). Thus, he replied, “What should I say in this matter?
By god, there is not a single man among you better than me in poetry, nor is there anyone more knowledgeable than me in poetical metre, thematic sequence and songs. By god, what he (Muhammad (S)) says does not resemble any of these. By god, this Word has a sweetness that will shatter everything below it. It is indeed above all and nothing is above it!”
Abu Jahl said, “By god, your people will not be pleased unless you say something against it.”
He replied, “Give me some time to think.” When he pondered, he said, “This is an enchantment that has information about others.”5
Their allegation that the Qur’an is enchantment is surely due to their surrender to its miraculousness, because enchantment is a result of normal causes that are not outside human powers. Hence, that was an achievable matter for them. Magicians and prognosticators were all over the Arabian Peninsula and the nearby lands.
Nevertheless, history has recorded that they could not find an answer for the challenge of the Qur’an. They thus took refuge in trying to tempt the Prophet (S) with wealth and status. When he rejected all that, they began attempts to murder him (S).
Guidance of the Qur’an
The Noble Qur’an was revealed in an age when a group of people were atheists, who did not believe in transcendental beings. They used to believe that the one managing the astonishing system of creation is not attributed with wisdom and perception. As for the ones who did believe in transcendental beings they used to worship idols of all shapes. On the contrary, the ones that were connected to the heavenly religions were describing God with human characteristics based on their altered books.
History has recorded that the people in such an era were at their lowest in terms of ideas, morals and practices. An Ummi man rose, who had not received knowledge from anyone; yet, he broke the locks of ignorance and misguidance. He opened the gates of knowledge and guidance, revived the dead souls with pure life and took the people out of darkness into the light.
He called the people to the service of Allah, Who is free from all deficiencies. From Him are all perfections and beauties. To Him is all praise and extol. He declared that God alone deserves worship and that whatever other than Him they call onto is like a mirage in the desert, which the thirsty presume to be water. He also declared that Allah is Greater than being restricted with limits and attributed with descriptions.
 ÓÈÍÇä Çááå æÇáÍãÏááå æáÇÇáå ÇáÇÇááå æÇááå ÇßÈÑ 
Glory be to Allah, all praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah and Allah is the Greatest.
The Prophet (S) challenged in an environment in which they were ascribing the Creator with numbers, composition with numbers and Trinity. They were relating need and begetting the One free from partner and son. They had made His likes and associates. They believed that He is in an idol they had carved or that He was in a tree they had sanctified.
The Qur’an was revealed in such an atmosphere. Thus, the Prophet (S) freed Allah from all those delusions. The Prophet (S) declared that Allah is Unique, free from any intellectual, imaginative and sensual composition. He is essentially Self-Sufficient from all things. Everything other than Him is essentially in need of Him. His Holy Being was declared free from all types of mental and physical begetting. He clarified that all beings have come about through His Omnipotence. They were created with His Will. He has no like to Him in His essence, His attributes and His actions.
More than one thousand verses were revealed in the Noble Qur’an about the recognition of Allah, the Exalted, His attributes and His beautiful names. If we contemplate a line from those, the chapter of the Divine Unity, we will come to know the greatness of the guidance he (S) brought: Say: He, Allah, is One. Allah is He on Whom all depend. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him.6
* * *
Moreover, the traditions of the Prophet (S) and his Household (as) are the keys to the treasures of Allah’s recognition. We will suffice with only two traditions from them: Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Sadiq (as) said: Verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, is free from His Creation, and His Creation is free from Him. Whatever can be defined by the word ‘thing’ is a creation other than Almighty Allah. Exalted is He who is beyond compare.7
Imam al-Baqir (as) said: All that you have made distinctive with your imaginations in its complete meanings is created and originated like yourselves. It returns back to you.8
* * *
Indeed, the greatness of what the Qur’an has presented of the guidance in the Divine knowledge manifests when compared with the Old Testament and the New Testament. Hundreds of millions of people, Jews and Christians, still believe in their verses. The faith of every synagogue and church is based on it.
We will suffice with a few examples from their Torah, which exemplifies their ideas about God:
(a)
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done…
The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…
15. The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
16. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
17. But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”9
(b)
Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
But God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.
“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
22. And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”10
The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”11
We will suffice with stating a few remarks
(1)
Their Torah thinks that Allah, the Exalted, stopped Adam and Eve from understanding good and evil. Whereas Allah, the Exalted, created the human being and bestowed him with intellect to understand good and evil, and better and worse. Then how is it sensible to stop them from understanding good and evil?
The guidance of the Qur’an says: Say: Are those who know and those who do not know alike? Only the men of understanding are mindful.12
Surely the vilest of animals, in Allah's sight, are the deaf, the dumb, who do not understand.13
In this brief text we cannot mention the numerous verses of the Qur’an in encouragement of seeking knowledge, recognition, intellect, thinking and contemplation.
Allah created mankind to compete in good, and commanded him to do that. He restrained him from evil and commanded him to refrain from it. The purpose of this formation and legislation does not transpire except by understanding good and evil. The command to perform the preliminary and stop from the preliminary, with both ending in contradiction, cannot occur even from a fool, let alone the Absolute Wise.
(2)
Their Torah claims that God said to Adam and Eve: You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.
If, according to their belief God did not know that they will both die, then He is ignorant. However, if He did know, then He is a liar. How is it appropriate to call an ignorant or a liar, God?
More amazing than that, is that the snake deceived Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of recognition of good and evil. It revealed the lie and deception of God to them.
These are the examples from the guidance of the Qur’an regarding Allah’s Knowledge: He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot comprehend anything out of His knowledge except what He pleases.14
Not the weight of an atom becomes absent from Him.15
Your Allah is only Allah, there is no god but He; He comprehends all things in (His) knowledge.16
(3)
How can a confined being—who could not find Adam between the trees of the Paradise and the trees obstructed him from seeing so that he had to call: Where are you? to learn his place through his voice—be worthy of being the God of the universe, the Knower of secrets and hidden things, the One Who encompasses the Earth and the Sky and is the Creator of the universe and place?
As for the example of the guidance of the Qur’an, then it states: And with Him are the keys of the unseen treasures—none knows them but He; and He knows what is in the land and the sea, and there falls not a leaf but He knows it, nor a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything green nor dry but (it is all) in a clear book.17
(4)
Whilst the Qur’an teaches the people the Unity of God and His deanthropomorphism and says: Nothing whatsoever is like unto Him; and He is the Hearing, the Seeing,18
the Torah teaches the people association with God and anthropomorphism. Thus, it says: The Lord God said: The human has become like us after knowing the good and the evil…
(5)
Their Torah relates to God that He became regretful after creating Adam. He was thus ignorant of the outcome of his creation. How is it possible that a divine book, that came to guide mankind to their Lord, relates ignorance to God. This would necessitate limiting the essence and composing God in the light of knowledge with the darkness of ignorance. The result is describing the Creator with the description of the created.
The guidance of the Qur’an is: Does He not know, Who created? And He is the Knower of the subtleties, the Aware.19
And when your Lord said to the angels, I am going to place in the earth a caliph, they said: What! Wilt Thou place in it such as shall make mischief in it and shed blood, and we celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy holiness? He said: Surely I know what you do not know.20
(6)
Their Torah has related resting, grief, affliction, anxiety and sorrow to God; whereas these are attributes that require body, ignorance and powerlessness.
So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” Nevertheless, He was still regretful of informing them of this. Then why does He say what He will not do it? Is this but ignorance of self and falsifying His own Word?
Glory be to Him, and highly exalted is He above what they ascribe (to Him).21
As for the Qur’an, then it says: Whatever is in the heavens and the earth declares the glory of Allah, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He gives life and causes death; and He has power over all things. He is the First and the Last and the Ascendant (over all) and the Knower of hidden things, and He is Cognizant of all things.22
And we will also portray some beliefs specific to the Christians from the Bible:
(a)
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.
This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.
This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
For there are three that testify: The Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.23
(b)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.24
(c)
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”25
(d)
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, And Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realise where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside.
And said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.26
We will suffice with stating a few remarks:
(1)
Among the principles of Christian faith, the belief in Trinity is unanimously agreed upon by them. However, they would find stipulation in their Bible on the Divine Unity. As it has come in the Bible: Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.27
They are unable to combine the Trinity and the Divine Unity. Hence, they say, as it has appeared in the Bible: The three are one. They are united in reality and distinctive from one another in reality.
In any way, it is a void belief due to a number of reasons: The sequence of numbers, like one and three, are opposites and opposites do not meet. Then how is it possible that the three may be one and one may be three?
The belief in Trinity necessitates belief in five gods. Rather, it would necessitate belief in endless gods, as it was mentioned in the chapter of Divine Unity from Imam al-Sadiq28 (as); thus, the Christians cannot escape from endless gods.
The belief in Trinity necessitates composition and composition requires components and one who composes it.
The belief in Trinity necessitates attributing the Creator with a created number, because the number and the numbered are created. Allah, the Exalted, is free from being numbered even from the number one, because the number one implies two, and Allah does not have second to Him. However, attributing Him with Oneness has already been discussed in the chapter of Divine Unity.
Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely Allah is the third (person) of the three; and there is no god but the one Allah, and if they desist not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall befall those among them who disbelieve.29
The Christians claim that Jesus is the son of God. The Qur’an has rejected their claim saying: The Messiah, son of Maryam is but a messenger; messengers before him have indeed passed away; and his mother was a truthful woman; they both used to eat food. See how We make the communications clear to them, then behold, how they are turned away.30
The Word of the Exalted: they both used to eat food, is an indication that they both were beings in need of food. The one who is in need of food cannot be God.
(2)
The Christians believe that Jesus was the word of God and that this word came to this world and became a human made from body, flesh and blood. Then, he became incarnated in the flesh and blood of his followers. The first miracle Christ performed was to change the water into wine at a wedding in Cana and quench the ones present.
Now, which logic will accept that the one who came to elevate the intellects of the people to perfection and teach them wisdom would perform a miracle to make the people intoxicated and take away their thinking power?
(3)
The Christians believe that Jesus is God. At the same time, they believe he is from the children of the Prophet of God, David. They take back his relation to the wife of David who, they claim, had a husband and the Prophet of God David committed adultery with her. May Allah save us from such belief! Then when her husband was killed, he brought her to his own house and she gave birth to his children.
The summary of the story from the Bible is as follows: Uriah was a commander in David’s army, who had a very beautiful wife. David sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her. The woman conceived. David sent Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest fighters were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. Uriah’s wife mourned for him. When the mourning period was over, David had Uriah’s wife brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.31
As for the Qur’an, Allah, the Exalted, has made it free from these delusions and rectified the belief about Prophet ‘Isa (as) from the two extremes of accusing him of being illegitimate of birth and claiming him of being the son of Allah, the Exalted. Hence, He said: And mention Maryam in the Book when she drew aside from her family to an eastern place; so she took a veil (to screen herself) from them; then We sent to her Our spirit, and there appeared to her a well-made man. She said: Surely I fly for refuge from you to the Beneficent Allah, if you are one guarding (against evil).
He said: I am only a messenger of your Lord: That I will give you a pure boy. She said: When shall I have a boy and no mortal has yet touched me, nor have I been unchaste?
He said: Even so; your Lord says: It is easy to Me: and that We may make him a sign to men and a mercy from Us, and it is a matter which has been decreed. So she conceived him; then withdrew herself with him to a remote place.
And the throes (of childbirth) compelled her to betake herself to the trunk of a palm tree. She said: Oh, would that I had died before this, and had been a thing quite forgotten! Then (the child) called out to her from beneath her: Grieve not, surely your Lord has made a stream to flow beneath you; and shake towards you the trunk of the palm tree, it will drop on you fresh ripe dates: So eat and drink and refresh the eye. Then if you see any mortal, say: Surely I have vowed a fast to the Beneficent Allah, so I shall not speak to any man today. And she came to her people with him, carrying him (with her).
They said: O Maryam! Surely you have done a strange thing. O sister of Harun! Your father was not a bad man, nor, was your mother an unchaste woman. But she pointed to him.
They said: How should we speak to one who was a child in the cradle? He said: Surely I am a servant of Allah; He has given me the Book and made me a prophet; and He has made me blessed wherever I may be, and He has enjoined on me prayer and poor-rate so long as I live; and dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed; and peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life. Such is Isa, son of Maryam; (this is) the saying of truth about which they dispute.32
He freed Dawud (as) from these fabrications and said regarding him: O Dawud! Surely We have made you a ruler in the land.33
He said to our Prophet (S): Bear patiently what they say and remember Our servant Dawud, the possessor of power; surely he was frequent in returning (to Allah).34
We suffice with these examples from the guidance of the Qur’an in recognition of Allah, the Exalted, and the status of the prophets (as).
Notes:
1. Designation of the Persian kings in general. Akasirah is the plural of kisra.
2. The old Arab dynasty in Syria.
3. Holy Qur’an, 2: 23.
4. Holy Qur’an, 5: 110.
5. Jami’ al-Bayan (Tafsir al-Tabari): vol. 29, pp 195, surah 74, verse 24; Al-Itqan fi ‘Ulum al-Holy Qur’an, vol. 2, pp 313.
6. Holy Qur’an, 112: 2-5.
7. Al-Tawhid: pp 105, ch. 7, hadith no. 3.
8. Mashriq al-Shamsayn: pp 398; Bihar al-Anwar: vol. 66, pp 293.
9. Genesis: 2.
10. Genesis: 3.
11. Ibid: 6.
12. Holy Qur’an, 39: 9.
13. Holy Qur’an, 8: 22.
14. Holy Qur’an, 2: 255.
15. Holy Qur’an, 34: 3.
16. Holy Qur’an, 20: 98.
17. Holy Qur’an, 6: 59.
18. Holy Qur’an, 42: 11.
19. Holy Qur’an, 67: 14
20. Holy Qur’an, 2: 30.
21. Holy Qur’an, 6: 100.
22. Holy Qur’an, 57: 1-3.
23. 1 John: 5.
24. John: 1.
25. Ibid: 6.
26. John: 2.
27. Ibid: 17.
28. Refer to page no. 43, fifth proof.
29. Holy Qur’an, 5: 73.
30. Holy Qur’an, 5:75.
31. 2: Samuel: 11.
32. Holy Qur’an, 19: 16-34.
33. Holy Qur’an, 38: 26.
34. Holy Qur’an, 38: 17.
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