Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
17. Manifestation of Prophethood in the Present Day and Age
~ 421 ~
appeared to be attacking the pillars of this
polytheistic power structure. The establishment
rose to resist the threat. With Islam, the world was
shown that no human being is endowed with
supernatural powers: God alone is the source of all
strength. Islam proclaimed to the world the equality
of human beings. It taught that no one has any
inherent superiority over others. Political
institutions were then separated from the realm of
religious creeds. A ruler’s power base would in
future come from below, from among the grassroots
of popular opinion. Laying claim to celestial powers
would no longer qualify a person to rule over
others.
Similar was the case of the antique ‘supernatural’
doctors. If anyone intended to succeed as a
physician in ancient times, he might well pretend
that he had subdued occult forces, and received
knowledge about the mysteries of medicine from a
supernatural source. Imagine that someone were to
say, in such a society, that medicine was learnt, not
from communion with supernatural sources, but in
medical colleges. The first people to oppose such a
theory would be those who made a living out of
