The Prophet of Islam

between Mohammad and the other prophets, for this is something that is not found in others. The reason for this difference is that Mohammad was the last of the Prophets. Since no prophet was going to come after him, it was essential that the religion which he brought should be preserved. No power should be able to alter it. When the Book of God is altered, another prophet has to come to the world. Since, according to God’s scheme, no other prophet was destined to come, it was imperative that permanent and reliable arrangements be made for the preservation of the Book that was revealed to Mohammad. This aim was achieved by means of political domination. This was the special reason that Mohammad and his followers were granted supremacy over Arabia and the neighbouring countries. In this way, a government which was powerful enough to ensure the preservation of the final Book of God for centuries was established. If this had not happened, the enemies of Islam would surely have destroyed the Quran, or changed it so much that it ceased to be the Book of guidance that it was really meant to be. The Prophet Mohammad was granted power so that the religion which he brought could be preserved. History shows that, through political domination, this aim was fully achieved. This is the picture of the Prophet Mohammad which we obtain from the Quran, and the picture provided by the Quran can be the only accurate and true picture of him. NOT BEING DECEIVED BY PRAISE Dhiba Ibn Mahsan, a follower of the companions, says that he once said to Umar that he was a better man than Abu Bakr. On hearing this, Umar started weeping. “By God,” he said, “one night and one day of Abu Bakr’s are better than the whole life of Umar. Shall I tell you which night and day they were?” Dhiba asked him to do so. “It was the night the Prophet fled from the people of Makkah, along with Abu Bakr; and the day the Prophet died and Arab tribes apostasized, saying that they would pray but would not pay the poor due. I went to Abu Bakr and asked him, as successor of the Prophet, to be lenient with them. He told me that I had been brave in the time of ignorance, but had become a coward in the time of Islam. He swore a solemn oath that, if they refused to pay even one piece of rope that was due from them, then he would fight against them as long as he had the power to hold a sword in his hand.