Islam Rediscovered
4. Religion
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distorted form, or they vanished without leaving
any trace. Moreover, contemporary historians failed
to attach any importance to these prophets or their
teachings. For this reason few of these prophets
found their place in the annals of history. The only
exception is that of the final prophet, Muhammad,
peace be upon him.
This blackout of history was so complete that even
the prophets of later periods of history received
scant mention in contemporary records. For
instance, Jesus Christ came to the world two
thousand years ago, and so little is known about his
life that a western scholar was once constrained to
remark: “Historically, it is quite doubtful whether
Christ ever existed at all.”
Due to the paucity of reliable documentation, all the
previous religious scriptures, except that of Islam,
have lost their historical credibility. By rational
standards all other religions have assumed the
status of a set of dogmas rather than that of a
chronicled event. One can believe in them only as a
matter of faith and not as a fact of history. However,
the position of Islam in this regard is totally
