(10) “Say...

(10) “Say: I am not the first of the apostles, nor do I know what will be done with me or with you: I do not follow anything but that which is revealed to me, and I am (nothing) but a plain warner. (11) All the prophets, as is understood from the above verses, offered to mankind the same religion and the same belief that Allah considered, to be the base and the starting point for the reformation of man.

It would deliver him from the dark labyrinth of ignorance which has resulted from the ages of legends and myths fabricated by primitive peoples. Man has suffered from this ignorance as he has suffered from the oppression of tyrants, and from poverty, injustice and corruption. He will continue to suffer unless he turns to the path of the prophets who all shared the same call.

This call aimed at the salvation of humanity – generation after generation, nation after nation – from its sufferings and tragedies. Allah the Exalted, willed that all His messengers should pour their offerings into the same stream and that their flames should unite into a single illumination. This was the call of Islam, the message of Muhammad (PBUH&HP), as the eternal religion, the final message, and the theme dominating and encompassing all other missions of the apostles.

“And We have revealed to you the Book (Qur’an) with the truth confirming whatever of the Book (s) was before it and a guardian over it, so judge between them by what Allah has revealed, and do not follow their low desires (to turn away) from the truth which has come to you; for every one of you We have appointed a divine law and a (traced out) way… (12) It is He Who sent His Apostle with the guidance and the true religion; that He may make it overcome (other) religions, all of them, however much the polytheists may be averse.

(13) Islam overcame all other religions as it is characterized by equality, rationality, universality and eternity, enabling it to expand over vast periods of man’s history, encompassing all aspects of human growth and development. Religion is thus, like a great river which has flowed through all eras of man.

This river is represented by Islam – the great religion that was preached by the prophets in accordance with the needs and potentials of their nations – which has flowed through all generations, nations and prophets. Men have taken from this river as much as they needed, yet it remained flowing with life; fertility and growth for all humanity through all ages.