The Emergence and Legacy of the Prophet Muhammad

accepted and patterned their lives upon the truth that he brought to them were made supreme, and that is how they will remain forever in the hereafter if God wills. The wicked, meanwhile, were made to taste the humiliation that they would forever be prey to in the world to come. History shows that those who devote their lives to God always appear in a passive and depressed condition, while those devoted to wealth and power always seem to have their way in the world. Such is the sombre evidence of the history of saints and prophets. This state of affairs is quite contrary to reality, for, eventually, God will bestow everlasting honour and glory upon His faithful servants, while self-worshippers and worshippers of the world will forever be assigned to a pit of humiliation and disgrace. This world is for our trial. Here, people have the chance to act as they please. That is why God does not hold anyone in check in this world. But once, at least, through the prophet of Islam, God has shown on earth the situation that will prevail in its most complete and permanent form in the next world. The companions of the Prophet, whose homes were demolished, for whom the earth had become a place of unmitigated oppression, who were robbed of their properties, who were so victimized and terrorized that they lived in constant fear of extermination—these very people were raised to a position of great honour. The Quraysh and the Jews, the Romans and the Iranians, the Yemenis and the Ghassanis11—those who took pride in their