Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 81
81 regular consultation with his people, and made it obligatory on the State to consult the people in all important matters. That the Prophet was a much-consulted person is evident from the Quran. We have: O ye who believe, when you consult the Messenger, give alms before your consultation. That is better for you and purer. But if you find not anything to give, then know that Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 95 The rule about giving in charity before consulting, makes it clear that consulting the Prophet had become a regular institution, and a voluntary fee had been introduced to raise money for the poor. The rule was meant for those who could afford it. The Prophet had come to have so many calls on his time that it seemed possible and desirable to make a suitable charge on individual applicants. The charge was justified because the Prophet’s time had to be devoted to the benefit of mankind at large; if individuals applied for the use of his time, it was meet they should pay something into the public treasury. Consulting the Prophet, therefore, had become a regular institution. The Prophet more than anybody else deserves to be called the Counsellor. The Prophet also instituted the system of consultation as an essential condition of good government. Says the Quran: And whose affairs are decided by mutual consultation. 96 General measures and administrative rules are not to be initiated until the people’s representatives have been consulted. Following this injunction, the Holy Prophet laid down consultation as an important duty of the Khalifah, or elected head of Muslims. He is reported to have said, "There is no Khilafat without consultation. " 97 A State administered without consulting the people would be un-Islamic. Compared with this, what did Jesus do as counsellor? He never consulted on any considerable scale. Nor did he encourage counselling as an institution. The Holy Prophet, therefore, was the counsellor of the prophecy and not Jesus. The third name in the prophecy is mighty God. The Old Testament points to a resemblance between God and Moses. Thus in Exodus (7:1) we have: And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a God to Pharaoh. And again in Exodus (4:16) And thou shalt be to him (Aaron) instead of God. In the Bible Jesus is called son of God and Moses a "like of God". Whenever, therefore, a human being is spoken of as a "like of God," it would mean Moses or someone like Moses. Moses, we have shown above, foretold of a prophet like himself, 98 and he is no other than the Holy Prophet of Islam, he being the one who really answers to the description of the prophecy. It is the Prophet of Islam, therefore, who can most legitimately be called God or, better, a Manifestation of God. We have references relevant to this in the Quran. At the Battle of Badr, the Prophet took a