Moral Principles as the Basis of Islamic Culture — Page 7
people. All systan~ of cultute which base themselves aJ>on a religion revolve round the status, personality and character of the prophet who ,. was the principal exponent of that religion. A prophet is the ideal that a reJ. i&ioo presents to its adherents to look· up to and to imitate. The culture based upon that religion· will thus reflect in all its aspects the personality and the character of its prophet. It is not my purpose to assess. the position occupied by a prophet in the hierarchy of the faith that he teaches and propounds. I wish to draw attention to the inftuence that the position occupied by him and his personality and character would exercise upon the pattern of the culture that his people are likely to develop. Assqme, for the sake of illustration, that a prophet occupies in the minds of his followers the position of an ab- solute authority everyone of whose dictates must be carried into effect. One inevitable r. onsequence would be that all persons in a position of authority among that people would begin unconsciously to regard themselves as being vested with absolute authority in their respective spheres. It stands to reason that human nature in striving after per~ fection should seek in every respect to copy that which it has been taught to regard as perfect. It as necessary, therefore, to consider the conception of prophethood as taught by Islam in order to determine the principal features of the culture that Islam desires to promote and develop. First and foremost, Islam teaches that a prophet is only one of the people. :Regarding the Holy Prophet of Islam the Qur. an says: ''Say to the p~ople. d Prophet, 'I am b111 a man lilu 111110 yoll'" (Ch. XVIII, v. 110) This means that the highest spiritual authority (and in Islam the Holy Prophet was eventually vesttd with the highest sa:ula. r authority also) is equally responsible with every other member of the community or society and that, so far as human judgment is concerned. . he is Ct)Ually liable to error•. The Holy Prophet of Islam uttered repeated and clear warnings against supernatural powers or capaciti~s being attributed to him. He 1&id on one occasion, "I am like anyone of you. Two of you may bring a dispute to me for ad· • •fl. 'OTE: Islam teaches, howe,·er, that 111/ prophets a~ safeguarded against moral error and are thus free from sin. -. , -