Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
7. The Revolution of the Prophet
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martyred at their hands, so that they would no
longer be fit to be bearers of the divine scriptures;
another nation would have to come to replace
them. The Prophet Muhammad, on the other hand,
had to reestablish the dominance of monotheism
over polytheism. This could not be effected
without the necessary antecedents: conditions
conducive to this had to be created in the world; a
nation upright enough to aid the Prophet in its
accomplishment of this task had to come into
existence. All this took two and a half thousand
years to come about, in order that the event could
take place within the bounds of cause and effect, as
is the way of God.
In accordance with this scheme, Abraham was
commanded to leave the civilized territory of Iraq
for the dry, barren reaches of Arabia, where he was
to settle along with his wife Hagar and son
Ishmael.
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This was an uncultivable area, cut off
from the rest of the world. Here, far from the
trappings of civilization, in the lap of nature, a
community could be raised up in which all the
natural abilities were fully preserved. Abraham had
prayed for the emergence of a people submissive to
