Certain friends and well-wishers have brought to my attention that the detailed article explaining this important miracle of the Quran, might be too lengthy/complex for some readers. I will therefore Insha’Allah provide a bitesize version of the article for interested readers with less time to spare.
History shows that Prophet Muhammad was supremely successful. He succeeded in uniting the whole of Pagan and War torn Arabia under Islam – and in peace- within a mere decade. All his opponents were defeated and humbled before his eyes.
Within a few decades, Muslims ruled over much of the world and became a beacon of civilization. Nobody could have predicted that an insular people such as the Arabs could have ever achieved this.
As British historian, Thomas Caryle implies, this was a veritable miracle of history:
(Muhammad PBUH) elevated his people into torch-bearers of light and learning. To the Arab nation it was a birth from darkness into light. Arabia first became alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people, roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world. See, the unnoticed becomes world notable, the small has grown world-great. Within one century afterwards Arabia was at Granada one the one hand and at Delhi on the other. Glancing in valor and splendor, and the light of genius, Arabia shines over a great section of the world.’
‘The Hero As A Prophet’
As this article will show, this stunning turn of events was foreseen and promised in the Quran as a mini-judgement day, whereby believers in the Mesenger would be rewarded and his opponents would be destroyed.
All of this took place according the Quranic concept of Itmam Al Hujjah, and is thus a great sign of the truth of the Quram.
What is Itmam Al Hujjah ?
One of the most significant, yet least understood signs of the truth of Islam and the Quran is a concept known in Arabic as Itmam al Hujjah. The term can be loosely translated as ‘Completion of Proof’. The law of Itmam Al Hujjah that can be derived from a careful reading of the Quran is as follows:
In general, Allah has reserved the Day of Judgement for punishing rejectors and rewarding believers. However, to remind people about the truth of that day, he appoints certain Prophets (anbiya – plural of nabi) as Rasul i.e. Messengers sent to certain sinful communities to enact God’s justice on earth as a mini-judgement day (17:15).
These Rasul are sent with the such clear signs that nobody has any excuse to deny it, and everyone recognises that the Messenger is indeed from God . (4:165 & 27:14).
Those who deny him and oppose him are therefore guilty of opposing and defying God and his Messsenger whilst knowing the truth. This is called Kufr in the Quran.
Therefore : God enacts a ‘Mini-Day of Judgement’ on earth against the deliberate rejectors of his Messenger, by destroying or humiliating them and gives power, success and honour to the Messenger & his followers (see Quran, 35:43 & 27:14)
Itmam Al Hujjah in the Quran – Previous Nations
The Quran makes frequent references to the fate of previous nations upon which Itmam Al Hujjah occurred i.e. The people of Prophets Noah, Shu’eyb, Salih, Hud, Lot (on them be peace) and others. All these nations saw the rejectors of the Messenger humbled or destroyed ,and believers in the Messenger rewarded.
The Quran promised the same to Prophet Muhammad and his followers.
The key difference between the fate of the previous nations and the outcome of Prophet Muhammad’s preaching, is that the final Itmam Al Hujjah happened in the full light of history and significantly changed its course.
Thus it cannot be denied or explained away as ‘myth’ or legend as has occurred in case of previous messengers.
Rather the Quranic predictions being fulfilled in rcorded history, confirm its status as the true word of God
Itmam Al Hujjah of Prophet Muhammad
While the Prophet and his followers were a small and persecuted minority in Mecca, the Quran confidently predicted his success and the defeat of the disbelievers even though it seemed impossible.
The Quran predicted the disbelievers would be routed in battle (as happened in the Battle of Badr, years later) see (54: 43 -45).
It also stated that the the victory of Islam was a foretold conclusion and one day people would enter the religion of Allah in ‘hosts‘ (110:1-3).
This happened after the conquest of Mecca when the Prophet entered Mecca unopposed with 10,000 companions and destroyed the idols polluting the House of God with his own holy hands.
He became the uncrowned King of all Arabia within 10 years of leaving Mecca as the leader of a group of few hundred.
The Quran had assured the Prophet that his opponents would be humiliated as happened with previous rejectors of Messengers (58:20-21) and this came to pass even though it was extremely unlikely at the time the Prophecy was made.
Such was the confidence of the Quran at a point when he was being stoned and mocked and his followers were being tortured and martyred, that it challenged the disbelievers to hang themselves if they wanted to avoid seeing the Prophet triumph, because he certainly would do so no matter how angry it made them! (22:16)
Every word of these Prophecies were fulfilled, and reward and punishment took place according to God’s law of Itmam Al Hujjah.
The Righteous Inherit the Earth
Allah had promised the Muslims not only victory and domination in Arabia, but clearly predicted that they would succeed the Global Empires of the time as rulers of the world.
This would make Islam the prevailing religious force, above all others (Quran 24:55, 48:28).
It also promised that the believers would inherit the earth (i.e. Islamic rule would spread across much of the globe) as the Prophet Muhammad had been sent by Allah, as Mercy to all the peoples of the world (21:105 -7)
These promises were fulfilled in the most dramatic way possible and , within a few decades of the first revelation, Muslims ruled much of the world with an Empire that stretched from the borders of China to Spain.
Over the next millennium, one Muslim Empire followed another and Islam remained the pre-eminent world power during all of this time, making stunning advances in the sciences and mathematics never seen before and setting new standards of knowledge, justice, tolerance, welfare and hygiene that were not seen elsewhere until recent times.
The Itmam al Hujjah of the Prophet is indeed a wondrous sign of the truth of the Quran. There is no other example comparable to it in recorded history.
The rise of Islam against all the odds was miraculous and unprecedented itself.
For the Quran to have successfully predicted that the Muslims would eliminate polytheism from Arabia and succeed the great Empires of the time, when Muslims were a weak and tiny minority cannot be explained – except as being due to divine foreknowledge.