Qualities of the Prophets

The prophets of Allah shared a set of essential qualities that distinguished them from ordinary human beings and qualified them for their divine mission. Al-Ashqar's treatment of these qualities is grounded in Quranic description and scholarly consensus, and it addresses both the qualities that were granted to all prophets and those that varied among them according to their specific missions and circumstances.

The first and most fundamental quality is truthfulness (as-sidq). Every prophet communicated only what Allah revealed to them, without addition, omission, or distortion. The Quran describes the Prophet Muhammad as 'he does not speak from desire — it is nothing but revelation revealed.' This truthfulness was not merely an ethical virtue but a functional necessity: a prophet who could distort the message would render the entire institution of prophethood unreliable and the transmission of divine guidance impossible.

The second quality is trustworthiness (al-amanah). The prophets were entrusted with the greatest responsibility in human history — the conveyance of divine guidance — and they fulfilled this trust with complete fidelity. The Prophet Muhammad's pre-prophetic reputation in Makkah was itself that of 'Al-Amin' (the Trustworthy) — a title given to him by his community based on his observable character before prophethood began. This established credibility made his subsequent claims more compelling to those open to truth.

The third quality is the conveyance of the message (al-tabligh). The prophets were obligated to deliver the divine message to their communities without concealment or hesitation, even when doing so resulted in persecution and suffering. The Quran repeatedly quotes prophets declaring that they have conveyed what they were sent with, placing the responsibility for acceptance or rejection on the receiving community.

Fourth, prophets possess intelligence and wisdom (al-fatanah) beyond the ordinary. This quality was necessary to navigate the complex social, political, and theological challenges they faced, to respond to opponents with compelling arguments, and to manage the diverse personalities within their communities with wisdom and patience.

Fifth, prophets were protected from committing the major sins (al-'ismah from kaba'ir) and from conveying incorrect information about the religion. This protection (isma) does not mean prophets could not make errors in worldly judgment — the Quran records several occasions when Allah corrected prophets in such matters. Rather, it means that their religious conveyance was guaranteed to be accurate and that their character was protected from the major moral failures that would have undermined the credibility of their mission. Al-Ashqar distinguishes carefully between prophetic infallibility in matters of revelation and the acknowledgment that prophets were fully human in other dimensions of their experience.