The Telos of Religion and the Scope of the Prophetic Mission of Muhammad

While religion is ultimately individual in its telos, it is comprehensive in its means and theoretical outlook. The Qur’an presents human striving to reform society as a source of personal flourishing. Beyond its moral order, religion comprises legal and social prescriptions designed to lead humankind to the ultimate purpose of creation—felicity and salvation. Philosophers of religion hold that divine acts pursue graded (tashkīkī) aims—initial, intermediate, and ultimate—and that failing to distinguish these generates confusions in the study of religion. This article advances that thesis as a foundational premise in religious epistemology, with applications to Qur’anic semantics. Methodologically, the study is documentary (library-based) and employs content analysis. Its principal finding is an articulation of the reality and telos of religion that orients values, motivations, and religious conduct within the Muhammadan Shari‘a, and furnishes the ground for the salvation of monotheists committed to the Qur’an. Accordingly, the present study offers a fresh construal of the ends of religion and the scope of the Prophet’s mission.