The Termination of Prophethood

THE TERMINATION OF PROPHETHOOD stone unturned in discharging their duty to communicate the word of God to their people. In the process, they proved that God had sent them by performing wondrous acts. If people did not believe despite all this, then there was no more that the prophets could do. It was now time for God’s angels to take action, bringing down punishment on the disbelievers. With the final Prophet, however, it was decided that the people he addressed should not be subjected to this form of divine punishment. Instead, the Prophet and his companions were told that the Muslims would punish those who did not believe and attacked Islam.167 In other words, the task which used to be performed by angels would be accomplished by the hands of men. It was due to this divine verdict that even after emigration and after having fully communicated the word of God to them until there remained no rational ground for denial, yet, unlike the peoples in the times of the previous prophets, they were visited by no all-consuming manifestation of the wrath of God. Instead, the Prophet and his companions were made to confront them on the battlefield. God’s succour assisted the believers against their foes, and they emerged victorious. So it was that God’s religion was established on the Arabian Peninsula in the form of a State. It is God’s way of revealing His commandments in the context of relevant circumstances. Since the religion the Prophet left to the world had to be complete in every detail,