More Evidence: Forecasting The Future Of Islam
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The forecast of this would be an impressive evidence on the truthfulness of Mohammad, because the future of the whole faith and its followers seemed to be very dark at the time of revelation.
Chirri: The Holy Qur'an contains definite prophecies dealing with the future of Islam and its followers.
One of those prophecies deals with the future of the Muslims. It assures the Muslims of a future religious freedom and promises them a mighty state:
When this prophecy was revealed, the followers of Islam were a very small minority of the inhabitants of Al-Hijaz. It was revealed, approximately, in the fifth year after the Hijrah when the Muslims were a few thousands, bitterly antagonized by all the inhabitants of Hijaz and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. None of the Muslims at that time had a feeling of security, nor were they able to practice their religion freely. There was nothing indicating that such a hated and bitterly fought minority would survive, nor was the future of this new religion humanly predictable.
In spite of all these facts, the prophecy was revealed in a definite and unconditional form.
More prophecies are contained in the following verses which predict the triumph of Islam and the defeat of its opponents.
The first verse predicts that the opponents of Islam will
Both verses predict definitely and unconditionally the victory of Islam over its opponents.
When this prophecy was revealed, the small Muslim community was defending itself against the Polytheists and other hostile elements in Arabia. Afterwards it had to defend itself against the Persian and Byzantine Empires.
Each of these powers was incomparably greater and richer than the Muslim state. The Persian and Byzantine Empires were the outstanding forces in the world. To defeat them both is to defeat all considerable forces in the world and to become the world's superior power. This would fulfill completely the meaning of the prophecy, but this was seemingly impossible. We always expect the defeat of any single and relatively weak army when forced to combat on more than one field more than one superior power. This becomes clear when we remember that the mighty German army had been defeated twice in the twentieth century, only because it was fought by stronger allies on more than one front.
It may be the most remarkable military event in history, that the inhabitants of Madina and Mecca, whose number did not exceed a few thousands, could defend themselves, after the death of the great Prophet, against the attacks of the apostate Arabs. With the exception of the Muslims of these two cities, almost all the Arab nation had apostatized after the death of the Prophet.
The Muslim state was compelled, afterwards, to fight
The Prophet, relying on the heavenly information, had forecast this triumph which took place after his death. Speaking to Odey, son of Hatam (a Christian chief who joined the new faith afterwards), the Prophet Mohammad uttered the following:
The verse assures the Prophet Mohammad a full protection against all human beings. No human power, according to the prophecy, can destroy the life of Mohammad. Should the Prophet die in the battlefield or be assassinated, the
With the conditions under which the Prophet lived, the prophecy was contrary to human expectancy. From the time Islam was publicly proclaimed, the Prophet was faced with a public hostility. He was singled out as the sole enemy of the Meccans. His life became surrounded with dangers. He lived constantly under threat and for many years without any physical protection. When his defender, Abu-Talib, died, he could not even find a temporary protection in the holy sanctuaries in order to deliver his message to the pilgrims.
The important leaders took a solemn pledge to hunt him down and kill him. When he escaped, a great reward was announced for his capture, dead or alive. Before departure to Madina, Mohammad's life was certain to be taken, and Islam was expected to be wiped out while it was still only a spark.
After arriving in Madina, the battles began and the Muslims were thrown into open and violent conflict, in which they were always greatly outnumbered. The Meccans managed to set the desert tribes against the Muslims. Moreover, he rulers of the Non-Arab nations were vehemently exasperated by the very strong language Mohammad used in inviting them to embrace Islam. An example of these invitations is his message to Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor:
Despite the dangers with which the Prophet was surrounded, he lived an ordinary life. He had no bodyguards and fought in battle, sometimes in the front lines. He walked the streets after dark and dwelt in an unguarded home. There was abundant opportunity for assassination, and numerous attempts were made. A few of these attempts will be mentioned, and they are selected from many occurrences:
One day he was sleeping alone at the foot of a tree, at some distance from his camp. He was awakened by a noise and lo! he beheld Durthur, an enemy warrior, standing over him withdrawn sword. "0 Mohammad," cried he, "Who is there to save thee?" "God," replied the Prophet. For some unknown reason, Durthur let his sword fall, which was instantly seized by the Prophet. Brandishing the weapon, he exclaimed in turn, "Who is there now to save thee, 0 Durthur?" "Alas! No one," replied the soldier. "Then learn from me to be merciful." So saying, he returned his sword to him. The heart of the soldier was overcome. He acknowledgedHad Mohammad been trying to perpetuate a lie, he might have chosen a prophecy more likely to prove true than that he would be protected against harm in such situations. Mohammad was sure of God's protection, and the prophecy was fulfilled.
Wilson: Does the Qur'an offer any information about the future of the prophethood in general?
Chirri: The declaration which states the finality of the Prophet Mohammad is a clear information about the future of prophethood:The word Khatam, as advanced, means the seal which closes a container or the seal whose imprint confirms the authenticity of certain contents of a written document or a message. Sealing for closure or for confirmation comes at the end of what it closes or confirms.
The Prophet Mohammad said to his cousin Ali:
To declare that Mohammad is the final of the prophets is, actually, an information about the very far future of the prophethood. It informs that the world shall not witness a prophet after the death of Mohammad, and that God will not send any messenger to mankind, subsequent to him. Thus the long history of the prophethood will come to a close by the death of Mohammad.
This is a prophecy in an entirely unexpected direction. We should expect God to continue sending His prophets to mankind. He sent many prophets before Mohammad, and we normally expect Him to continue doing so after the death of the Prophet Mohammad. The human generations, before Mohammad, were not more entitled to heavenly messages than the generations subsequent to him. As a matter of fact, Materialism in the modern age is much greater than it was before Mohammad; therefore, a spiritual revelation would be much more needed than ever before.
The complexity of the causes in this area is entirely beyond the human knowledge. No human being is able to
Wilson: An impressive prophecy usually deals with some specific event that may take place at a certain time. The information which the verse contains does not deal with a specific event that will take place at a particular time. It does not tell us of something that will happen. It is a negative information, telling us that no prophet will come after Mohammad.
Chirri: To give a positive information is much easier than to give a negative one. Let us illustrate that by an example of information that deals with the past rather than the future: It is much easier to say that Mr. Smith drove a car than to say that Mr. Johnson never drove a car. To be truthful in the positive one, one needs to see Mr. Smith once driving a car. To say truthfully that Mr. Johnson never drove a car, one needs to know all the past of Mr. Johnson.
Let us deal with a future information. We may predict that there will be, within fifty years, a genius scientist from among the people of Detroit. This is much easier than to say that there will be no genius scientist in Detroit within fifty years. Such information requires an extensive knowledge about the millions who will live in Detroit within that period. Such knowledge is actually beyond our reach.
Suppose that we make a wider prediction. Let us state that the United States of America or the whole world will not have any genius scientist for fifty years. Such a prediction would obviously be absurd. If we predict that the whole world will not have such a scientist forever, the
Such is the declaration of the finality of the prophethood of Mohammad. It deals not only with a limited future of a particular nation; it deals with the unlimited future of the whole world. The whole world, it actually says, will not witness another prophet after Mohammad, until the end of the world. Mohammad himself was humanly unable to foresee such a future. The prediction was not his. It is a revelation of the only One Who knows the future of mankind.
This prophecy has been fulfilled. The world, for the last thirteen centuries, did not witness one single prophet.
Wilson: Many individuals after Mohammad claimed prophethood. some of them lived in this century and some of them are still living. Does not their claim affect the truthfulness of the prophecy?
Chirri: The claim of prophethood does not amount to anything and will not affect the truthfulness of this prophecy, unless such a claim has been proven. It is a fact that hundreds of individuals proclaimed their prophethood, and some of them had lived at the time of the Prophet Mohammad himself. It is also a fact that none of those individuals could prove their prophethood. Most of them have been disproved, and their claims died with them. The disproval of their claims is, by itself, another evidence on the truth and the fulfillment of this prophecy.Wilson: The absence of prophethood in the last thirteen centuries is not a conclusive evidence of the end of prophethood. This vacuum in the past does not mean that mankind will not receive more prophets in the future.
Chirri: The finality of the prophethood of Mohammad was not evident at the time of the Prophet himself because the advent of other prophets was highly probable. And so it seemed within the first few centuries, subsequent to his death. By the lapse of a thousand years from the death of the Prophet, the advent of more prophets became less probable. Separation between two prophets before the time of Mohammad never reached a thousand or even seven hundred years. There was only about four hundred years between Abraham and Moses. Hundreds of prophets came successively between Moses and Jesus. The separation between Jesus and Mohammad did not reach six hundred years.
The need for prophets is always standing. The absence of the prophethood within a thousand years, in spite of the need of the human race for guidance, is very unusual. It suggests a certain relation between this long vacuum and the finality of the Prophet Mohammad. The relation between the finality of the Prophet Mohammad and the absence of the prophets for such a long period is very obvious. By the lapse of more than thirteen centuries, the truthfulness of the prophecy has become more evident. The older this prophecy becomes, the clearer its truth will be. The truth of the declaration has passed the stage of any reasonable doubt. The probability of the advent of future prophets now has become negligible.
Wilson: I may agree with you that though the advent of more prophets is possible, it is less probable than before;
Chirri: I do not know the exact reason for the conclusion of the prophethood. It may be the universality of the prophethood of Mohammad. All the previous prophets were sent to particular communities or nations. All the Israelite prophets were sent to the Hebrews. None of them were sent to the whole human race. Even the great Jesus, according to the Gospel, said:
Only Mohammad came as a universal prophet who was sent to no particular nation or region but to all mankind. From the Holy Qur'an:
By reaching the degree of universality, the prophethood has reached its highest stage. It may end at that stage. The message is directed to the whole human race. Mankind no longer lacks the spiritual guidance. The guidance has become available to all nations and to every individual. What mankind needs is not a new guidance, but the acceptance of the available guidance.
