Page 122 - New English Book L

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person or people intended.” It is evident that a divine
message need not necessarily be a foretelling of past and
future events. In the same way verb “prophesy” does not
necessarily mean to reveal the past or future occurrences,
but rather to preach or promulgate the message from God.
Consequently to prophesy is to deliver and utter a new
oracle, its nature or character being quite immaterial. To
read the words of a prophet would be to prophesy no more
than would a prophet deliver an oracle when making
a discourse or public speech of his own accord. In the
Quran God orders His beloved servant Muhammad (pbuh) to
declare: “I am flesh like unto yourselves; only revelation
comes to me,” etc., so that we may be careful not to
attribute to any of the prophets the quality of knowing
and saying everything through the revelation. The divine
revelations used to come at intervals, while the prophets
in their personal intercourse and knowledge might be
liable to mistakes and errors. A prophet is not appointed
by God to teach humanity physics,

Mathematics or any other positive science. It would
be very unjust on our part to blame a prophet for a slip of
language or a mistake committed as a man.

A prophet, therefore, is the subject of test and
examination only when he officially and formally delivers
the message he has received from his Lord. His private
affairs, his family concerns, and his personal attainments do
not concern us as much as his mission and office. In order
to find out whether a prophet is genuine or an impostor, it
is not fair to give a verdict against his prophetical character
because he is reported to have been a little harsh or rude to
his mother or because he believed in the literal inspiration
and the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. While making
this observation, I have in mind the case of Jesus (pbuh) Christ,
and many others in the history of Israel on other points.