The Termination of Prophethood

THE TERMINATION OF PROPHETHOOD protection, its immunity from all attempts to change or destroy it is thus ensured. The Quran was preserved for one thousand years in this way, with one generation passing it on to the next under the protective wing of an Islamic government. Then humanity entered the age of the printing press, and there was no further danger of the Quran being destroyed. It would be a mistake to think that all this was accomplished smoothly. To establish Islam as the ruling religion, thus ensuring the preservation of the Book of God, the Prophet and his companions had to suffer torments of unbearable intensity. The pagans wanted to see miracles. The Prophet, too, would have liked to have been able to produce miraculous signs of his prophethood. But it was not to be. Instead, the Prophet’s character and demeanour had to replace miracles. The Prophet’s opponents were not visited by any celestial or terrestrial punishment from God, as had been the case with those who denied the prophets of old. Instead, the Prophet and his companions had themselves to do what earthquakes and volcanoes had previously been used for—punish the disbelievers. The Book of God was not revealed all at once; the period of revelation extended over twenty-three years. During this time, the Muslims, under the leadership of the Prophet, had to cross all the deep rivers and climb every high mountain of life so that the path God desired His servants to follow could be fully mapped out.