In most societies...

In most societies, people with questionable records of conduct would be ineligible from becoming presidential or gubernatorial candidates since they would be expected to lead society and set examples of righteousness and honesty. Unfortunately, many distorted stories and images about God's prophets exist.

For example, stories in the present-day version of the Old Testament accuse Prophet David of adultery with Baath-Sheba, Prophet Noah of being drunk, Prophet Lot of having committed incest, and Prophet Moses of committing adultery. Islam adamantly opposes the unethical and immoral writings that have been attributed to the prophets of God.

However, the Quran does mention the errors of some prophets, such as the divine commandment that forbade Adam from eating of the tree.[^1] Nonetheless, the verses should not be literally understood as Prophet Adam having committed a sin. Allegorical and metaphorical verses are common in the Quran.[^2] Prophet Adam did not disobey the obligatory commands of God.

The command that Prophet Adam did not honor was a recommended command; therefore, in Islamic teachings Prophet Adam cannot be considered as having committed a sin. God preordained all the prophets; nonetheless, the prophets had to strive for prophethood. The foremost example of the vocational test that prophets had to endure is told in the life of Prophet Abraham, the father of all prophets.

Prophet Abraham was born into an idolatrous society, but the purity of his nature recognized that the worship of idols was wrong, and he recognized that the idols were incapable of doing any harm or good. One day, when no one was present, Prophet Abraham smashed all of the idols, except for the largest statue. People began to question Prophet Abraham about the destruction of their gods.

Prophet Abraham's reply was for the people to question the remaining statue for the answer since they believed that their stone idols had power. Although the people were aware that their idols were indeed powerless, they did not know how to respond to the situation. Thus, out of embarrassment and anger, they cast Prophet Abraham into a colossal fire.

However, God protected Prophet Abraham from the fire and confounded the plots of the polytheists.[^3] After being tortured for and then saved by his faith in God; Prophet Abraham still had to undergo the hardest test of obedience. A direct order to sacrifice his son Ishmael came from God.[^4] The order came to Prophet Abraham in a dream.