ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islamic Thought (Ma‘arif Islami) Book Two Section One: The Necessity of Prophethood General objectives After studying this discourse, the students are expected: To realize the rational necessity of prophethood; To be acquainted with the views of philosophers and scholastic theologians about revelation; and To understand the perspective of the Qur’an and the Sunnah regarding revelation.

Introduction The issue of prophethood [ nubuwwah ] or apostleship [ risālah ] is the subject of many pages of voluminous history books—the accounts of men who spent their lives conveying the message of God to His servants and experienced different afflictions along this way. Here, we do not need to scan the pages of history to ascertain their existence because the signs of their existence are so obvious for us that there is no room for doubt.

When our eyes are attracted to the architectural magnificence of churches or mosques, when our ears are drawn to the melodious recitation of the Qur’an or the call to prayer [ adhān ], and when we observe faithful men and women sincerely and earnestly treading the path shown by the apostles of God ( ‘a ),[^1] we can see within ourselves the luminous visage of the prophets ( ‘a ).

By hearing the sound of the invitation of the prophets ( ‘a , seeing their celestial countenances and observing their saintly conduct, so many men and women were attracted to and believed in them. This faith [ īmān ] is based on the testimony of human nature [ fiṭrah ] which smells the familiar scent of the celestial world in the persons of the prophets ( ‘a ) and acknowledges their truthfulness or rightfulness without the need for rational investigation.

However, this faith does not close the door for reflection [ ta’ammul ] and thinking. In fact, it opens it wide. For those who have not yet embraced the faith, thinking can be a fertile ground for the growth of the seeds of faith while for those who have faith, it serves as a means of defending the faith and nurturing and cultivating the bud of belief [ ‘aqīdah ].

This point shows that the rational study or examination of prophethood is not an indispensable condition of faith in the prophets ( ‘a ) but only substantiates or supplements this faith. As the door for thinking about prophethood is now open, questions must be given answers which the intellect or reason [ ‘aql ] can grasp well.