Muhammad a Prophet For all Humanity
9. The Prophetic Method
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Muhammad, you know well that there is no
country poorer or drier than ours. You know
how hard it is for us to make a living. So pray
to your Lord on our behalf that He should
remove these dry mountains that have made
life so difficult for us; that He should make
our land fertile and make rivers, like those of
Syria and Iraq, flow in its valleys.
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In order to understand what made the leaders of the
Quraysh speak to the Prophet in this manner, one
has to understand the geographical situation of
Arabia. A chain of mountains that stretched along
the coastline of Hijaz as far as Najd prevented sea
winds from penetrating inland, with the result that
rainfall in the Arabian Peninsula, in contrast to that
of Iraq and Syria, was minimal. This geographical
situation was at the root of Arabia’s economic
problems. Any budding leader could instantly have
attracted people’s attention by exploiting these
problems. The Prophet, however, did not choose
this path. In fact, he did not pay any direct attention
to problems of this nature and devoted his efforts
entirely towards preaching the oneness of God.
History shows that the Prophet’s struggle in the
