Prophet vs Philosopher

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

Salutations and Peace upon You, Apostle of Allah

My Master, the Holy Prophet Muhammad, sall Allahu alaihi wasallam, said:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَنْظُرُ إِلَى أَجْسَادِكُمْ وَلاَ إِلَى صُوَرِكُمْ وَلَكِنْ يَنْظُرُ إِلَى قُلُوبِكُمْ

“Indeed, Allah does not look at your bodies or at your appearances but He looks at your hearts” (Sahih Muslim)

The condition of the heart is what matters most to Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. While Allah has, out of His generosity, provided every human with intelligence, save those He has excused in this world, the level and condition of that intellect differs from person to person just as the condition of their hearts differ person to person. Yet guidance from Allah to Faith and the Truth is not contingent upon a person’s degree of intelligence, rather it is contingent to the condition of his or her heart. Otherwise, we would observe that only those among mankind with the sharpest minds call themselves Muslims, while only those whose minds are dulled reject belief in Allah and His Apostle, sall Allahu alaihi wasallam. So the one who despite being unintelligent has a clean heart is dearer to Allah while a prodigy is deprived of guidance and the blessing of Faith due to the blackness and corruption of his heart.

Some Muslims are impressed with and deeply admire the ancient Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and even go to the extent of considering them Believers. Some even dare suggest those individuals were Prophets of God! This state of affairs is especially true of some of those Muslims who have become obsessed with metaphysics, philosophy and ilm al-kalam. The Batini Isma’ilis are particularly partial to Plato, while the Mu’tazilites are partial to Aristotle. Undoubtedly, those Greek philosophers were men of intelligence and made remarkable contributions to human understanding. But to understand such intellectual contributions as indicative of a divine, prophetic role is manifest error. Prophets of God do not come into this world to teach the people worldly sciences, rather they are sent to call the people to the worship of One God, to prophesy about the Resurrection and to command repentance. Theirs is a message that can be comprehended by all people regardless of degree of apparent intelligence. With all that has been documented as the original teaching of those Greek philosophers, the absence of any of the essential teachings of true Faith from them such as that concerning Angels, Resurrection and repentance is sufficient to dismiss any notion that they were Prophets sent by the One God. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of Prophets and Apostles of God were from the progeny of Abraham, and the children of Israel. Therefore, one ought to be skeptical of claims that Buddha, Confucius, or some Greek philosopher was a Prophet. This is especially due to the fact that there is glaring omission of any teaching concerning Angels, Resurrection and repentance from the aforementioned figures. When it comes to a Prophet of God, we should picture an individual warning of imminent doom on the basis of personal revelations to him either directly from God or through an Angel, the Holy Spirit or a vision. Such an image does not come to mind when we consider Buddha, Confucius or one of the ancient Greek philosophers. Allah says:

وَمَا نُرۡسِلُ الۡمُرۡسَلِیۡنَ اِلَّا مُبَشِّرِیۡنَ وَمُنۡذِرِیۡنَ

And We send not the Messengers except as bearers of glad tidings and warners

(Surah 6, Ayah 48)

Then in this Ummah, despite the cessation of Prophesy after sayyidina Muhammad—sall Allahu alaihi wasallam—the best are those who reflect in themselves the prophetic role and persona and inferior to them are those theologians and thinkers who have busied themselves with the same intellectual pursuits that the philosophers of old embarked upon.