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INTELLECT
Intellect is another
important attribute of Prophethood. We mean by intellect, as attributed to the
Prophets, a composite of reasoning power, sagacity, intelligence, sound
judgement and wisdom far-exceeding the capacity of ordinary people. The
intellect of a Prophet is a faculty that overpasses ordinary reasoning through a
sublime power of understanding; it encompasses and co-ordinates all human
abilities, whether of the heart and soul or of the mind.
Under the influence of
some passing trends, some take a reductive view of Islam as a rationalistic
system. They regard reason as the ultimate authority without distinguishing
between the judgement of a sound reason and the excesses and shortcomings of
rationalism. All the principles of Islam, being a revealed religion originating
in an All-Encompassing Knowledge, can certainly be confirmed by reason. But it
should never be forgotten that a full understanding of Islam as revealed by God
requires Prophetic intellect able to grasp the meaning of the universe and man
overall and in detail. Islam does, indeed, admit the ultimate authority of
reason, not the mortal reason of each individual, limited by his particular
capacity and, in most cases, conflicting with the reason of other individuals,
but of the universal reason of the Prophet, for Islam is the name of the Divine
universal order.
God manifests His Names
through veils. Although His absolute Unity demands that we attribute the effects
directly to His creative Power, His Transcendence, Grandeur and Majesty require
‘natural’ causes to veil His acts, so that people should not ascribe to Him
some things and events seeming unagreeable to them. He therefore raised the
Prophets as ‘the means’ by which to communicate His Revelations to people.
As it is impossible for everyone to receive His Revelations directly from Him,
the Prophets functioned as a ‘prism’ to receive and reflect the Divine
Revelations. They modulated them according to the understanding capacity of
individuals in different ages and under different circumstances. That is, the
Prophetic intellect through which a Prophet understands people in their diverse
characters, mental capacities, moods and other personal distinguishing traits
and so answers the questions and solves the problems put to him. If we study the
achievement of the Last Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, in all the
diverse aspects of his life and mission, we see that he was both a statesman and
commander of the highest order. As the embodiment or most comprehensive
manifestation of the Divine Attribute of Speech, he is the most influential
orator of all times; one whose words strike everyone and, however simple they
may appear at first sight according to the mental capacity of the persons
hearing them and the scientific level of the time, they are, in fact, like an
ocean, whose depth is only appreciated the more deeply one dives into it, or
like a rose with petals one within the other, each full of meanings. Also, his
level of understanding was such that Wahb ibn Munabbih, who knew the Torah and
Gospels very well, said:
When compared to
that of God’s Messenger, the total mental capacity and perception of all
people is like a single particle of sand as compared to all the sand in a
vast desert.1
1. Qadi Iyad, Shifa’,
1.67.
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