…injustice.
As for the speculative sciences, they maintain that the prophets never divulged the real truths about knowing God or the Resurrection. They merely conveyed to the populace images the latter could picture, so that people might secure their worldly interests, not so that they might arrive at the truth itself. Indeed, they say the prophets meant for the masses to believe matters contrary to how they actually are—-a kind of beneficial falsehood, knowingly employed for the people’s sake. Whether, in their estimation, a prophet himself grasps those theoretical realities is a point on which they differ.
They venerate Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—affirming that no code (nāmūs) superior to his has ever been brought to the world. Many of them rank him above the philosopher, though some set the philosopher above him. In truth, they are bewildered when it comes to the prophets, and for that reason their discourse on the subject is extremely confused. They transmit nothing from Aristotle or his followers on the matter; instead, they cite Plato and others on “codes,” treating the law-givers among the Greeks and elsewhere as belonging to the same class as the prophets whom God mentions in the Quran.
Yet we know that all the messengers called people to worship God alone with no partner, as the Exalted says:
“Ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before you: Did We ever appoint, apart from the All-Merciful, any deities to be worshipped?” (Q 43:45)
and His statement,
“We certainly sent to every nation a messenger [proclaiming]: ‘Worship God and shun all false gods.’” (Q 16:36).
The “codes” they celebrate, however, contain elements of polytheism—something no prophet of God ever enjoined. It follows that anyone they list among the framers of codes that conflict with the unanimous message of the messengers is neither a prophet nor a follower of one; he stands instead among the law-givers drawn from the pagan kings, their ministers, sages, scholars, and devotees.
Although they magnify the prophets and their codes, they do so only because the prophets established the rule of justice on which the world’s welfare depends. They oblige obedience to the prophets and adherence to their codes—the revealed laws they brought—yet they insist that these laws address only practical benefits, not speculative truths. In their view, either the prophet knew those truths but could not reveal them and therefore presented their opposites for the sake of the populace, or he did not know them at all. Consequently, they allow a person to adhere to whatever code he pleases, and they do not deem it obligatory to follow any specific prophet—neither Muhammad nor anyone else—except insofar as doing so serves one’s worldly interests.