The Foundations And Concepts of Islam

 “No wage do I ask of you for this (the Qur’aan), nor am I of those who pretend and fabricate things.”[134]

These Prophets and Messengers whom I have told you something of their qualities and signs of their prophethood, are many. Allaah says,

 “And verily, We have sent among every nation a Messenger (proclaiming): Worship Allaah (alone) and avoid all false deities.”[135]

These Messengers have made mankind happy; the history recorded their stories and the injunctions of their religion were repeatedly transmitted, that they are the truth and just. Likewise, repeatedly narrated is the victory with which Allaah honoured them and destruction of their enemies, like the destruction of the people of Noah with flood, drowning of Pharaoh, punishment for the people of Loot; and the victory of Muhammad over his enemies and the spread of his religion. Whoever knows this will know certainly that they brought for mankind good and guidance; that they directed them to all that could benefit them and warn them against all that could be harmful. The first of them is Adam and the last is Muhammad.

MANKIND'S NEED FOR THE MESSENGERS

The Prophets are Allaah’s Messengers to His slaves; they convey His commandments to them, they give them glad tidings of the bliss which Allaah has prepared for them if they obey His Commandments, warn them of the everlasting punishment if they disobey Him and tell them the stories of the past nations and what befell them of the punishment and torment in this world because they disobeyed the commandments of their Lord.

These Divine Commandments and prohibitions cannot be known independently by human reasoning, that is why Allaah ordained and prescribed commandments and prohibitions as a honour for mankind and to protect his interests. For people tend to obey their desires, thereby violating forbidden things, attacking other people and usurping their rights. It is therefore out of the utmost wisdom too that Allaah should send Messengers among mankind, every now and then, who would remind them of the commandments of Allaah, warn them against disobedience, recite to them admonitions and tell them the stories of past generations. Because, when wonderful stories are heard and marvellous concepts awaken the psyche, the sense of reason embraces that, increases in knowledge and has right perception. The more man listens the more he thinks; the more he thinks the more he reflects; the more he reflects the more he understands and the more he understands the more he acts. So, sending Messengers is inevitable and there is no alternative for them if the truth is to be established.[136]

Shaykhul Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah[137] said, “Divine Message is necessary for reformation of man in his worldly life and his final abode. As there will not be well-being for him in his Hereafter if he does not follow the message, there will also not be well-being for him in his worldly life if he does not follow the Message. He is therefore, bound to follow the Law of Allaah for he lives between two movement: a movement by which he seeks what benefits him and another by which he wards off what harms him. The Law of Allaah is then the light that shows him what can benefit or harm him. That is the Light of Allaah on the earth, His justice between His slaves ad His fortress which provides safety for whoever enters it. What is meant by the Law of Allaah is not physical distinction between the harmful and useful; for even the animals can do that. The donkey or camel can differentiate between barley and sand. What is meant by that is to be able to distinguish between deeds that can harm their doer in his worldly life and his Hereafter and deeds that can benefit him in his worldly life and his Hereafter. Like the benefit of faith, belief in the Oneness of Allaah, justice, righteousness, kindness, honesty, chastity, courage, knowledge, perseverance, enjoining all that is good, forbidding all that is evil, being kind to the kith and kin, being dutiful to parents, being kind to neighbours, fulfilling obligations, purifying deeds for Allaah, putting trust in Him, seeking help from Him, being pleased with His pre-decrees, submission to His rule, believing in Him and His Messengers in all that they inform him and all other deeds that are beneficial to man in his worldly life and his Hereafter. In the opposite of the above lies his misery and harm in his worldly life and his Hereafter.

Had it not been because of the Divine Message, the human intellect would have not been guided to the details of what could benefit or harm him in his worldly life. Among the greatest favours of Allaah upon His slaves is that He sent His Messengers to them, revealed to them His Books and showed them the Straight Path. Had it not been for this, humans would have been like cattle or even worse. So, whoever accepts the message of Allaah and stands firm on that is among the best of all creation. But whoever rejects it and deviates from it, such is among the worst of the creation and worse in condition than the dog and pig and the most contemptible creature. There is no way the inhabitants of the earth can survive except by the effects of the message that is existent among them, for when the impacts of the message become exterminated from the earth and the signs of their guidance become wiped off, Allaah will dismantle the heaven and the earth and bring forth the Resurrection.