The Termination of Prophethood

THE TERMINATION OF PROPHETHOOD to happen, there is not a shadow of a doubt that the number of Muslims in the world today would be counted in scores rather than in hundreds of millions. It is challenging to recognize a prophet of God when he comes in the guise of ‘Ibn Abi Kabshah’. On the other hand, accepting one who has become an established historical personality is relatively easy. The Prophet of Islam has now secured what the Quran calls a “position of praise and glory.”160 Small wonder those who sing his praises run into thousands of millions. This factor contributed more than anything to the denial of prophets by their people in previous ages. “This is just an ordinary person,” people would say. “Up till now, we knew him by his common name. How did he become a prophet of God all of a sudden?” “Whenever a prophet comes among his people, this objection is raised, posing a severe impediment to the acceptance by a prophet’s contemporaries of his teachings. At the time of their emergence, all of the prophets were greeted with suspicion and scepticism. The psychological barrier preventing people from believing in one who, in their eyes, appeared like anyone else proved insurmountable for most people. When they failed to believe in the prophets, however, they were punished according to the law of God. Now God decided to send a prophet who would break down this barrier. There would be no room for doubt about whether his claim to prophethood was genuine or the result of over-zealous ambition. He would take his place in