Termination of Prophethood

T

he Arabian Prophet, may God’s peace and blessings descend upon him, was the last of God’s messengers. No other prophet will now come to the world.

All of God’s prophets have taught one and the same religion. They spoke in different languages, but the religion they expounded was one. Since the followers of previous prophets were unable to preserve the prophetic teachings in their original form, messengers of God used to appear frequently in order to revitalize the true religion, and refresh people’s memories of it. Prophet Muhammad for his part initiated a revolutionary process which ensured the preservation of religion in its original form and obviated the necessity for other prophets to follow him by preserving the Book of God intact, in its original form.

God’s final Prophet imparted to the true religion a stability which it had never had before. His own life was exemplary, as has been reliably recorded. It is noteworthy, too, that the community that developed after the Prophet continued to demonstrate Islamic practices, like prayer in a practicable and imitable form. People of every subsequent age have found this religion exactly as it was when God’s messenger preached it.

The preservation and continuity of religion are now ensured without prophets coming to the world. God’s Book and the Prophet’s Sunnah are now serving the same purpose which it had taken a succession of prophets to accomplish. It is the duty of their followers to carry on their mission.