The purpose of the mission of the prophets is generally described in our tradition as follows: in the beginning, human beings were upon the right path. Gradually, however, corruption increased among them; they became estranged from religion; instead of monotheism they adopted polytheism; they began violating moral boundaries; and they initiated patterns of oppression and injustice toward others. When this moral and religious decay intensified, God took humanity by the hand and granted them His guidance. This, as commonly understood, is the general explanation for the sending of prophets and the revelation of scriptures. Shah Wali Ullah, in fact, opens his work Hujjat Allah al-Balighah with precisely this idea:
الحمد ّٰلله الذي فطر األنام على ملة اإلسالم واالهتداء، وجبلهم على الملّة الحنيفية السمحة السهلة البيضاء ثم إنهم غشيهم الجهل، ووقعوا أسفل السافلين، وأدركهم الشقاء. فرحمهم ولطف بهم وبعث إليهم األنبياء، ليخرجهم بهم من الظلمات إلى
النور، ومن المضيق إلى الفضاء All praise belongs to God, who created the morally responsible beings—humans and jinn—upon the religion of Islam and upon guidance, and fashioned them upon the straight, gentle, easy, and radiant path. Then ignorance overtook them, they fell to the lowest depths, and misery encompassed them. So God showed them mercy, bestowed His grace upon them, and sent His prophets to them so that, through them, He might bring them out of darkness into light, and from constriction into expansiveness. (1/21)
I view this matter from a somewhat different angle. In my understanding, God has embedded within the human being a foundational guidance in his fitrah (innate disposition). This means that the human being possesses the capacity—if he seeks his path without deviating from the illuminations of fitrah—to discover, at least in broad outline, the right way. On this basis, he shall be held accountable; he shall be questioned.
Thus, we know that there are many peoples throughout history to whom no prophet was sent or to whom the prophetic call never reached. The Quran states that on the Day of Resurrection some will plead that neither they nor their ancestors received any warner—that the message never came to them. I therefore accept as a principle that the directives embedded in the fitrah also constitute a basis for human accountability. It is not the case that one becomes answerable only after the arrival of a prophet; rather, the human being is accountable for that inspiration which God has placed within his very nature.
In Australia, for instance, large populations have lived since ancient times, untouched by the modern world. When Christian Europeans reached them, they encountered people entirely outside prophetic traditions. Similarly, in the Americas, various communities lived for centuries removed from the civilized world. Beyond these, there are many other regions where the legacy of prophets is not visible. It appears, outwardly at least, that such peoples were left upon the guidance of fitrah. Their reckoning in the Hereafter will take place on the basis of this innate inspiration—examining the kind of life they lived under the direction of their fitrah. Those who adhered to its guidance will merit reward; those who deviated from it will be subject to accountability. Yet, because they were never enriched by prophetic guidance, they will be granted leniency. This is similar to how God takes some in childhood, others in youth, and others after long life. Each person is responsible only to the extent of the opportunity he was given.
The inspiration of fitrah is principal and general in nature; it does not contain details like the law (shariah). And because human beings do deviate from this innate guidance, God sent prophets to warn and correct them. God granted Adam this inspiration and also endowed him with prophethood; the initial human communities received through him the guidance required at that stage. The descendants of Adam carried this legacy as they spread across the earth. When disputes later arose among humankind, God sent prophets and revealed scriptures. The Quran states:
ِكٰانَ النَّاسُ اُمَّۃً وَّاحِدَۃً ۟ فَبَعَثَ اللّٰہ ُ النَّبِيٖنَ مُبَشِّرِيۡنَ وَمُنۡذِرِيۡنَ وَاَنۡزَلَ مَعَهُمُ الۡكِتٰبَ ب ِالۡحَقِّ لِيَحۡكُمَ بَيۡنَ النَّاسِ فِيۡمَا اخۡتَلَفُوۡا فِيۡه (al-Baqarah 2:213) People were one community. Then (when differences arose among them) God sent prophets, as bearers of glad tidings and as warners, and with them He sent down the Book containing the truth, so that it may judge between the people in matters over which they differed.
The implication is that religion is not something external imposed upon human beings from above; rather, it is the very expression of their nature. If one quarrels with it, one quarrels only with oneself and deprives oneself of the hidden treasure within one’s own being. When the Quran says kana al-nasu ummatan wahidah, it means that humanity originally possessed one religion and one guidance—the very guidance with which they came into the world. Prophetic guidance, then, is not an alien addition but a detailed elaboration of the principial guidance God has placed in human fitrah. The guidance of the fitrah is like a seed, and the guidance of the prophets is like the branches and fruits that grow from that seed. God says:
فِطْرَتَ اللّٰہ ِ الَّتِيْ فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَاۚ ِ الَ تَبْدِيْلَ لِخَلْقِ اللّٰہۚ ُ ذٰلِكَ الدِّيْنُ الْقَيِّم. Follow the nature created by God [O Prophet!] on which He has created people. This nature created by God cannot be changed. (Surah al-Rum 30:30)
Prophetic guidance is detailed: it furnishes a complete intellectual, moral, and practical system. Most of humanity has benefited from it. There is an extensive history of prophethood: in the first phase, God sent prophets to every nation; in the second phase, He restricted prophethood to the progeny of Abraham and established centers of monotheism in the central regions of the world, conveying His message to all nations through the communities of Israelites and Ismaelites. The guidance vouchsafed through prophets is preserved in the form of their scriptures, their established practices, and the enduring traces of their teachings.
Alongside these two sources of inspiration—fitrah and prophethood—God has granted the human being intellect. This intellect is naturally harmonious with fitrah, and when exposed to prophetic guidance it uncovers the principles underlying that guidance. These principles form a coherent intellectual system. Once discovered, they remain applicable to every era and every circumstance. As new contexts emerge through the changing of times, the work of applying God’s guidance to these changing situations begins. This is what we call ijtihad.