“It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom - although they were before in clear error.”

(Surah al Jumuah, verse 2)

The above verse presents four reasons for the advent of the Prophet ﷺ.  They are-

1. To convey Qur’an,
2. To purify the followers ( of their sins and evil habits),
3. Teach them the Book (Islamic jurisprudence, history etc) and
4. Teach them Wisdom.

Why is a Prophet sent along with the book?

 There are two types of verses in Qur’an -

1. Those which present (Allah’s) orders or which provide advice
2. Those which introduce Allah

The prohibition of alcohol, gambling, idolatry and pork fall under the first category. The verses of advice include all the teachings that are offered in the form of stories of other Prophets (peace be upon them).

The other category of verses can be called the ‘Ayat of Kauniya’ which testifies and argues about the existence of Allah. In these verses, Allah Presents the proof of His Lordship, His supremacy and His attributes. 

For example,

“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.”

(Surah al-e-Imran, verse 190)

These orders and concepts cannot be understood completely all by one’s self. Therefore a teacher is essentially required to teach the people the core content of the Book of Allah, and so Allah Sent Prophets as teachers to teach people the Book of Allah.

Prophets purify their people -

The purification of people means inculcating good habits and removing the bad ones.  This includes building of  good Akhlaq (character) and eliminating all the morally wrong habits like greed, miserliness, anger, thriftlessness, dishonesty etc from society, as these cause the collapse of human society, if left unchecked.

 A Teacher in every aspect of religion -

Ibn Umar ( May Allah be pleased with him) said, “We used to learn five verses from the Prophet ﷺ and then after we had memorised them, we used to learn how to implement those verses.”

Those verses imparted the orders of performing salah, ablution etc, but they were expalined and taught by the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ was their teacher in every aspect of Religion.  

 Hikmah is wisdom in deciding a life style

Here, Hikmah refers to the Sunnah. These four purposes are elaborated and highlighted in many places in Qur'an

Without building character of the followers, the divine message cannot be spread; And the same is applicable, even today.