The Companions of the Prophet

THE COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET and strengthens it, so that it rises stout and firm upon its stalk, delighting the sowers. Through them, God seeks to enrage the unbelievers. God has promised forgiveness and a rich reward for those who will believe and do good works.194 The simile is presented like this in the New Testament: And he said, So is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, and then the whole corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle because the harvest comes. And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the air’s fowls may lodge under its shadow.195 This parable in both the Quran and the Bible tells how the social evolution of the Companions of the Prophet would be like that of a tree. Starting as a tiny seed, the pillar of their society would develop as a tree trunk, gradually