The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 337
X - A Glance at the Makkan Life 337 is not correct, as far as principle is concerned, there is no doubt that more light is being shed upon its actuality day by day. In actuality, Allāh the Exalted himself has alluded to this issue at numerous instances in the Holy Qur’ān, and has drawn attention towards it. Furthermore, in the mention of human birth, the evolutionary stages of mankind have been expounded in great detail. 1 In actuality, the principle of evolutionary progress can be prominently seen in all the works of Allāh the Exalted. If one contemplates, this very principle can be seen in the lives of the prophets (peace be upon them). An individual who entertains the notion that the nature of prophets is owed to an instant revolution has misunderstood completely and has not reflected upon the reality of prophethood. The reason being that on the face of this universe, just as everything is produced in stages, similarly, prophets also receive development in their prophethood and are not at all the outcome of a sudden transformation. Quite the contrary, after gradually passing through many intermediate states, they acquire that final status upon which the stages of their journey come to an end. All the prophets went through different stages of physical development, after which they were born, spent the days of their childhood, became adolescents, and then reached their maturity. In the same manner, spiritually speaking, first they are born, and then step by step they gradually reach their maturity. Furthermore, they do not remain idle in their prophetic status, rather, they step forward day by day on a pathway of progress. This evolutionary development is exactly in accordance with nature, and serves as protection from the negative outcomes of a sudden transformation. Moreover, it is beneficial in many other ways, rather, is necessary, but at this place there is no room for further details. At this point, our purpose is merely to describe in brief how this evolutionary development can be seen at work in the life of the Holy Prophet sa. As such, for the purpose of brevity, leaving out the initial stages of his life, we shall only take up a study of the life of the Holy Prophet sa after his claim to prophethood and its respective preliminaries. First and foremost, we see that the Holy Prophet sa took up a life of reclusion in search of the truth, and began to remain in seclusion. After some time, the door of true dreams was opened to the Holy Prophet sa and he began to see true dreams, the constant fulfillment of which served as a means of maturity for him. This series of events continued for many months. When the Holy Prophet sa became familiar with this to an extent, and his disposition 1 Al-Mu’minūn (23:13-15)