Fourthly...

Fourthly, with the process of time, and due to various factors, the instructions given by a Prophet to the people of his time would face alterations (to familiarise with such alterations refer to: Al-Huda ila Dīn al- Mustafa, by ‘Allamah Shaykh Muhammad Javād Balāghī) and incorrect interpretations, so that after some time the original religion would change into a deviated one.

The same thing has happened to the monotheistic religion presented by Jesus (a), which later changed into the concept of the trinity. The above discussion makes the reason for the plurality of prophets and the differences in some devotional and social instructions of the Divine religions clear (refer to al-Māi’da:48, al-Hajj:67).

This is in line with the fact that all Divine religions are not only the same in their principles of belief and ethical foundations, but they have also been in agreement with reference to their personal and social instructions (refer to al-Baqarah:131-137,285, Āl-‘Imrān:19-20). For example, Prayers (salāt) have existed in all religions, although the way to perform them and the direction towards which they were performed (qiblah) have been different.

There has also been poor-rate (zakāt) in all religions; however, its amount and the cases for which it would be necessary have not been the same. Therefore, it is a necessity to believe in all of the prophets and to admit their prophecy without any discrimination, aswell as accepting their messages and information provided by them, and recognising them as being unique individuals (refer to al- Shūra:13, al-Nisā’:136,152, Āl-‘Imrān:84-85).

Moreover, it is not permissible to deny any of the prophets (a) or any of their instructions, because denying one Prophet is tantamount to the denial of all the instructions issued by God (refer to al-Nisā’:150, al-Baqara:85). However, the practical duties of every Prophet’s nation at any time are to obey the instructions provided by the same Prophet and at the same time.

It is worth mentioning that although human intellect due to the aforementioned points realises the rational behind the plurality of the prophets and the differences between Divine religions, it cannot discover the exact formula for the number of prophets and Divine religions, and cannot decide when and where a new Prophet would be appointed and a new religion introduced.