Manifestation of Prophethood in the Present Day and Age

MANIFESTATION OF PROPHETHOOD IN THE PRESENT DAY AND AGE them about their religion. Ja’far’s response provides a vivid picture of the feelings which moved the companions. He said: “O king, we were a people steeped in ignorance, worshipping idols, eating unsacrificed carrion, committing abominations, and the strong would devour the weak. Thus we were until God sent us a Messenger from out of our midst, one whose lineage we knew and his veracity, trustworthiness and integrity. He called us unto God that we should testify to his Oneness and worship Him, and renounce the stones and idols that our fathers and we had worshipped; and he commanded us to speak truly, to fulfil our promises, to respect the ties of kinship and the rights of our neighbours, and to refrain from crimes and bloodshed. So we worship God alone, setting nought beside Him, counting as forbidden what He has forbidden and as licit what He has allowed. For these reasons have, our people turned against us and have persecuted us for making us forsake our religion and revert from the worship of God to the worship of idols. That is why we have come to your country, having chosen you above all others, and we have been happy in your protection, and it is our hope, O king, that here, with you, we shall not suffer wrong.” We can see from Ja’far’s words how much Islam meant to him and those on whose behalf he was speaking. Islam was, for them, a life of enlightenment as opposed to ignorance; it was a discovery of One God and abandonment of idols. They had abandoned an unruly life for a life of divine guidance, revealed to them through the Prophet