Introduction

INTRODUCTION Before Muhammad, history did not carefully record the lives of the prophets. From a strictly academic and historical point of view, their prophethood was difficult to establish. The Prophet Jesus was the last of the ancient prophets and had a following of millions, yet so tenuous is his historical position that Bertrand Russell remarked: “Historically, it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all.” This is not the case with the Prophet Muhammad, the last of the prophets. His life is so well-documented and laid down in history that anyone who studies his life is forced to agree with Professor Philip Hitti that “Muhammad was born in the full light of history.”2 The factor that makes the most significant contribution to the permanence of Muhammad’s prophethood is the Quran, that enduring miracle revealed to him by God. If this miracle had been of the same order as those bestowed upon his prophetic predecessors, its effects would not have outlived him, and his prophethood would not have been accepted in the way that it was by subsequent generations. A miracle is an extraordinary event that man, on his own, cannot produce. This definition applies in full measure to the Quran: it is beyond man even to emulate it. Therefore, there is no doubt that the Quran is a miracle wrought by the Almighty. Muhammad’s role was exceptional in that he was to be the last of the prophets. God had so ordained it. The final revelation of God’s will was to be conveyed to the people by him, and, for posterity, the scriptures had to be preserved by