The Essence of Islam – Volume I — Page 201
The Holy Prophetsa إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَئِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا 117 201 We shall leave aside any mention of the holy ones from among those people whose circumstances have not been described in detail in the Holy Qur'an. We shall express our view only with regard to the Prophets who are men- tioned in the Qur'an like Moses, David, Jesus and other Prophets [peace be on them]. We affirm it on oath, call- ing God to witness, that if the Holy Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him] had not come into the world, and the Holy Qur'an had not been revealed, and we had not seen with our own eyes the blessings that we have witnessed, the truth of all past Prophets would have remained doubtful in our eyes. No reality can be gathered from mere stories, for it is quite possible that they may not be true and it is also pos- sible that the miracles that are attributed to these Prophets might be exaggerations, for no sign of them is visible today. We cannot even ascertain for certain from the Books revealed in the past that God truly exists, or that He speaks to man. But through the advent of the Holy Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him] all these stories became real. We now realize not merely as a statement, but as a matter of experience, what con- verse with the Divine means and how God's signs are manifested and how prayers are answered. All this we have discovered by following the Holy Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him] and what other people relate as stories we have witnessed it all. We have at- 117 'Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O ye who believe! You also should invoke blessings on him and salute him with the salutations of peace. ' al-Ahzāb, 33:57 [Publisher]