"Corruption doth appear on land and sea because of (the evil) which men's hands have
done, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they
may return." [Qur'aan 30:41]
NEED OF A NEW PROPHET
The old world was completely disarranged by the middle of the sixth century and man had
fallen to such a depth of depravity that no reformer, revivalist or religious preacher could
have hoped to put a new life in the humanity worn to its bones. The problem was not to
fight any particular heresy or to its reshape a given mode of divine service, nor the question
was how to curb the social evils of any society; for, there has never been any dearth of
social reformers and religious preachers in any age or place. How to clear the contaminating
debris of idolatry and fetishism, superstition and paganism, piling up from generation to
generation during the past hundreds of years over the true teachings of the Prophets sent
by God, was indeed a task, exceedingly toilsome and unwieldy. It was a Herculean task to
make a clean sweep of this wreckage and then raise a new edifice on the foundations of
piety and godliness. In short, the question was how to remake man who could think and feel
differently from his predecessors as a changed an, re-born or brought back to life again.
"Is he who was dead and we have raised him unto life, and set for him a light wherein
he walketh among men, as him whose similitude is in utter darkness whence he can-
not emerge?” [Qur'aan 6:123]In order to solve the problem of man once for all, it was necessary to root out paganism so
completely that no trace of it was left in his heart, and to plant the sapling if monotheism so
deeply that it should be difficult to conceive of a more secure foundation.
It meant to create a penchant for seeking the pleasure of God and humbling oneself be-
fore Him, to bring into existence the longing to serve humanity, to generate the will to keep
always to the right path and to sow the seeds of that moral courage which restrains all evil
passions and desires. The whole problem, in a nutshell, was how to rescue humanity, then
too willing to commit suicide, from the misery of this world as well as of the next. It was an
endeavor which makes a beginning in the form of a virtuous life, like that of an elect and
godly soul, and then leads on to the paradise promised by God to those who are God-fearing
and just.
The advent of the Prophet (r) was thus the greatest Divine blessing on mankind; that is
why it has been so elegantly clothed in words by the Writ of God.
"And remember Allah's favor unto you: how you were enemies and He made friend-
ship between your hearts so that you became as brothers by His grace; and (how) you
were upon the brink of an abyss of fire, and He did save you, from it." [Qur'aan 3:103]