The prophethood mission of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) provides guidance for a perfect balancing of individual and spiritual life with social and material life. In accordance with the requirements of their beliefs, Muslims accepted Prophet Muhammad’s guidance in both fields and were more interested in his guidance for individual and spiritual life than his activities as the founder of a new social order. Thus the literature about his life developed within the scope of these developments. As a matter of fact, the establishment of the social life throughout the history in Muslim societies around the basic rules specified in Quran and sunnah (practices of the Prophet) proved to be effective and was regarded as a goal to be reached for an orderly and peaceful social life as well as for a virtuous individual life.

Within the framework of the common viewpoint separating the material fields of religion and life, the consideration of prophethood by the western world as only guidance for individual and spiritual life is one of the leading problems encountered in understanding the social mission and historical role of the Prophet. Thus, his teachings are considered to have been too much engaged in social and political issues.

Furthermore, western society still holds prejudices and negative thoughts shaped throughout the Middle Ages in relation to Prophet Muhammad who founded a rival civilization which they battled for centuries.

The extraordinary success of the Prophet as the leader of a movement which had worldwide implications can be explained by two aspects, one spiritual, the other material. The first aspect, generally accepted by religious scholars and other Muslims, holds that Muhammad was chosen as a prophet by Allah, thus the source of his success was divine. The second, embraced by western researchers and historians, supports the idea that his success resulted from historical and other experiential motives as well as his distinctive leadership skills and charismatic personality. These aspects of the Prophet reflecting both ideal personality and historical personality are regarded as models in Islam. They do not contradict each other, and each requires separate examination following the research and analysis methods. The help and support from Allah to His messenger is undisputable, but failing to consider Muhammad’s great skills when explaining the success of the Prophet thus risks decreasing his greatness as a person to a level of being a minor instrument conveying merely a divine message.

It must be pointed out that with his great individual skills and virtues the Prophet led a life of simplicity which was witnessed by other people. If not, his life would not have been considered a perfect model for humanity as stated in the Holy Quran. Since he was sent as a guide to all people with a wide variety of characteristics including moral as well as emotional and aspirational needs, he was granted with the spiritual and mental maturity that embraced the individual and social needs, and problems of these people. His policies contained such breadth and depth that they applied to all individuals and societies, and with great sensitivity to the enormous range of human nature. In the history of man, Prophet Muhammad was the first prophet and leader to have succeeded in personally putting into practice his policies in the political, legal, economic and social fields. Such implementation of his guidance and leadership mission to humanity was testament to the sublime quality of the Prophet.

The mission of the Prophet did not just consist of the revelation granted to him by Allah. Inviting people to his religion, explaining the principles of the religion, personally practicing them (Al-Baqarah 2/151, Al-i Imran 3/164, Al-Jumua 62/2), directing and managing the society to which he was sent and establishing a new model of society were important aspects of his mission. In fact, the purpose of prophethood is not to just convey certain principles to people but to also achieve individual and societal transformation. In other words, he had to lead by example.

Prophet Muhammad had to personally practice the religion and demonstrate to people how this was to be performed. (shehid-shahid: Al-Baqarah 2/143, An-Nahl 16/89, Al-Hajj 22/78, Al-Ahzab 33/45, Al-Fath 48/8, Al-Muzammil 73/15). Believers had the responsibility to obey him (obedience: Al-i Imran 3/32, An-Nisaa 4/64, 80, Al-Maida 5/92, An-Nur 24/54), submit to his orders and restrictions (submission) (Ibn Madje, “Introduction”, 6; Ahmad bin Hanbal, al-Musnad, v. IV, p. 126). They were ordered to become subject to his actions and exemplary attitudes (Ittiba: Al-i Imran 3/31, Al-A'raf 7/157) and to take him as a role model (taassi: Al-Ahzab 33/21)

Although Prophet Muhammad is a human and a worshipper of Allah, the mission given to him, and the moral personality coming from this mission, make him unique among others. The Holy Quran mentions the Prophet’s human nature, but clearly points out his special status and authority among other people. The fact that Allah orders people to obey Himself and Prophet Muhammad, and to refer to Himself and His messenger on occasions of conflict (An-Nisaa 4/59) shows that the acceptance of Prophet Muhammad’s authority in political and legal fields is a condition for both faith and obedience and related to each other.

Forming a model Islamic society by the Prophet was only possible because of his authority. As mentioned above, his authority over the Muslims for being the leader of the ummah (Islamic community) is stated with hukm (provision) and similar terms in the Holy Quran (An-Nisaa 4/60, 65). These verses indicate the requirement of obedience to the Prophet along with acceptance of his decisions without argument, and thus consider him as a judge. While obedience to Allah is a foundation for the obedience to Prophet Muhammad, the obedience to Prophet Muhammad is the sole tangible evidence of the obedience to Allah: “Whoso obeyed the messenger has obeyed Allah” (An-Nisaa 4/80). Obedience to Prophet Muhammad is not only binding the religious field but also the social life because his prophethood mission is not limited with intellectual and spiritual advice. It also includes social, political and military activities in terms of the aim of founding an Islamic society.

The framework of a traditional negative image is filled with false and improper attributions to the personality of Prophet Muhammad. This continues and includes several new prejudices. These are regarded as baseless, ruthless and even ridiculous by many Westerners. These attributions claimed that the Prophet was a tolerant and kind messenger during his Mecca period but turned into a political figure by the political power he gained in Medinan period. Furthermore, he inclined to violence, and his real purpose was political.

These claims are a consequence of misperceiving the mission of Prophet Muhammad that is in fact also inclusive of establishing a new social order in contrast to the mission of Jesus. They also originate from the lack of an objective evaluation of the historical and political circumstances concerning the era. As one of the Western researchers who find them baseless, Rudi Paret states that historians should not evaluate Prophet Muhammad from a Christian point of view and the model introduced by Jesus Christ who said his sovereignty does not belong to this world. According to Paret, Prophet Muhammad never acted with force in the formation process of the Arab-Islam ummah in Medinan period. Instead, he considered with great modesty that his most important military and political successes were accomplished thanks to Allah. There never occurred a change in his basic behavior and his mission concept remained the same. Authors like R. Bosworth Smith and Edith Holland state that conditions and necessities in Medinan period required the Prophet to use force. In a book written in 1914 during which his country was battling with the Germans, English E. Holland depicts Prophet Muhammad and his companions as role models and tells that they desire the patriotism of the first Muslims who were ready to give their lives and possessions for the sake of their faith. Edward Gibbon, pointing out that every human being has a right to protect himself and his belongings and to counter an enemy attack, says that Prophet Muhammad was subject to unfair exile and robbery from his own countrymen while performing a peaceful and beneficial mission. His choice of an independent society raised Meccan immigrants to a ruler status and they had complete authority to form alliances and make defensive wars.

Many authors from the Western world state that indeed the spiritual side of Prophet Muhammad, that is his prophethood, always dominated his worldly activities; his ruler status had a secondary importance and it was shaped by his spiritual side. The point of view that presents him only as a successful statesman or claims that he depicted two different personalities in Meccan and Medinan periods is wrong. Furthermore, this approach is contradictory to historical truth and misrepresents not only Prophet Muhammad but also Islam.