The
Wisdom in the Timing of the Last Prophet’s Advent
A deeper consideration will reveal the truth that the point and wisdom in the temporal location of the culmination of Prophethood and imparting perfection to the revealed system of life can also be appreciated with reference to these two expressions viz., Al-Huda and Deen al-Haq. Indeed, the time of the advent of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was the period of human history in which humanity moved from infancy to mental maturity in two respects.
First,
just before the appearance of Islam and its revealed Book, man had reached
rational maturity and had conceived and spelled out all types of philosophies
he could think of solely on the basis of his reason. The late Professor Yousuf
Salim Chishty (d. 1984), a great scholar of religion, philosophy, theology and
mysticism, was of the opinion that twelve hundred years, i.e., from 600 B.C to
600 C.E., is the span of history in which human thought and intellect progressed
from infancy to maturity. All major world religions as well as all of the
influential philosophical schools appeared during this very period. Though, in
later centuries, physical sciences have progressed tremendously and the range
of man’s general information has expanded immensely, no essentially new idea
has been expressed in the realm of metaphysical thought and philosophy, and
neither a new religion nor new thought-system or philosophical school has
appeared during that period. Ideas and thoughts expressed in pompous
phraseology in modern times are, in fact, nothing more than echoes of older
philosophies. Indeed, even though they are wrongly presented as novel thoughts
or fresh ideas of the most original variety, they are, in reality, like old wine
in new bottles.
Now, if
all this is true — and there is no ground whatsoever to challenge this thesis —
it becomes quite understandable that 7th century C.E was the most appropriate
time for the revelation of the last Divine Guidance in the form of Al-Qur’an
for the whole mankind and for all times to come. The protection of its text is
guaranteed by Almighty Allah (SWT) Himself, so that it could serve as a
permanent source of guidance in thought and action. That is the reason why the
Qur’an asserts the following very explicitly:
Say: If
the whole of mankind and jinns were to gather together to produce the like of
this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed each
other with help and support.
(Al-Isra
17:88)
And, time
and again, it offered the whole mankind a challenge in these words:
And if
you are in doubt as to what We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a
surah like thereunto.
(Al-Baqarah
2:23)
It is a
pity that so far Qur’anic scholars have mainly focused on the literary and
stylistic beauties of the Holy Book and its linguistic and rhymic excellences.
Whatever scant attention was paid to the meaning-content of the Book was too,
by and large, misguided and misconceived in so far as either Aristotelian logic
or half-baked scientific theories were made paradigm of truth in the light of
which attempts were made to understand the Qur’an. Little did they realize that
the Qur’an could not possibly accept these ever-changing strait-jackets. The
truth should be clearly borne in mind that the Qur’an is essentially
Al-Huda and its real magnificence lies in its guidance for thought and
practical life; and that it was given to man at a time when his independent
thought, as such, had reached its zenith and he had, so to say, attained mental
adulthood and maturity.
The
second point of wisdom in the timing of the last Prophet’s advent seems to be
the fact that the social consciousness of mankind had also reached maturity in
the 7th century C.E., in that human polity had experienced all the major
evolutionary stages. After passing through the social polities of tribal
organization and city state, human life had entered the phase of great kingdoms
and empires. This, in fact, meant that the hold and domination of socio-political
system on human life had reached its full intensity for the first time, and
that man had begun to face the vexed and multi-dimensional problems of human
society and collective life. Moreover, the time was about to usher in which
humanity had to encounter such unsolvable issues — as those of the Individual
versus Group, Man versus Woman, Capital versus Labour — and in the solution of
which human thought moved from one extreme to another, always adding to human
travail and misery.
Therefore
it was quite in the fitness of things that, at this stage of human history,
Almighty Allah (SWT) bestowed upon man the most balanced system of social
justice and equity that was really Al-Meezan and offered the best and the most
excellent solutions for all the intricate issues and problems of social
existence. In all spheres of collective life — social, economic, and political
— the God-given system of life guided humanity to the straight path and the
most balanced middle way, putting an end to social perversions or discrimination,
economic exploitation and political repression. And thus the sole purpose of
sending prophets and revelation of Books — which was to guide the people to
live with equity and justice — was fully realized in the advent of the Last
Prophet and a concrete example was set for all times to come through the
completion of the true faith, as the Qur’an says:
This day
I have perfected your Deen for you, completed My favour upon you and have
chosen for you Islam as your Deen.
(Al-Mai’dah
5:3)
To Be Continued ....
