The sacred scripture that Muhammad (pbuh) received is called the Quran. And each of the Prophets/Messengers – they also received the scriptures. And in the Quran these Prophets, their scriptures, their stories, the principle of their mission is maintained with profound detail. Did Muhammad (pbuh) meet them, eat with them, talk with them and collaborate with them to write their biographies? No, of course he didn’t.

In the Quran, Muhammad (pbuh) is referred to as the Messenger of Almighty God and the seal of the previous Prophets, which is the limit of his role as a human being. Muslims do not worship Muhammad. We are not Muhammadans. We don’t have the right to take the name as Muhammad and say we are Muhammadans. Nor were the people who followed Moses – they were not Mosians or the people who followed Jacob were not Jacobites or the people who followed Abraham were not Abrahamians or the people who followed David were not Davidians. No no no. So how do people call themselves Christians? Christ did not call himself a Christian. How do people call themselves Christians? Christ said that whatever he receives from Almighty God is the word of God and what he heard is what he said. That is what he did. So how do we call ourselves Christians? We have to be Christ like. And what was Christ like? He was a servant of Almighty God, so you should be servants of Almighty God. That’s all. And the final scripture and the divine revelation, the Quran makes a very clear and concise statement:

Al-yawma ak-maltu lakum Diina-kum wa at-mamtu alaykum ni-matii wa radhiitu lakumul ISLAAMA Dinaa.
Chapter 5 Verse 3

In this statement Allah says:
This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed my favour unto you and have chosen for you as religion AL-ISLAM.

So through the Quran, the word Islam came. As a word – Islam, it came in the Quran, because when the building is complete you call it a house. When a car is on the assembly line, it is not an automobile, it is in the process of assembly. When the assembling has been completed and when it has been certified and when it has been test driven, it is now an automobile. When Islam was completed as a revelation, as a book, as an example through the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), it then became Islam. It became a complete way of life. Deen Al-Islam. So it is the word that was new, but not the practice, not the Prophet, not the order from God, not a new God, not a new revelation, but only a name Islam. And as we said previously – what were all the Prophets? They were all Muslims. Another distinction which we need to keep in mind is that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) unlike his predecessors, he did not come to the Arabs or his own people exclusively. No. Therefore Islam is not a religion of the Arabs, it is not for Arabs only. Yes, Muhammad (pbuh), the son of Abdullah was born in Makkah, a city in Arabian peninsula, so certainly he was an Arab by birth – consequences of his birth, choice of the Almighty. Additionally, the Quran was revealed in the Arabic language to protect it, make it clear, make it pure and precise. Yet the Quran dispels any inclinations or associations that the message of Muhammad (pbuh) was limited or meant for Arabs only.

Allah says:
Wa maa arsalnaaka 'illaa kaaffah li an naas basher(an) wa nazer(an) wa laakin akthar an naas laa ya lamuun
Chapter 34 Verse 28

Translated as:
We have not sent thee but as a universal (Messenger) to men, giving them glad tidings, and warning them (against sin), but most men understand not.

As such Muhammad (pbuh) is the finality of the great Prophets/Messengers before him. And since we are making reference to the Quran to support our presentation, we should give some background information on the Quran itself. First of all, the Quran makes the claim that it is product of divine revelation ie it was sent down to Muhammad (pbuh) from Almighty God through inspiration.

Allah says:
Wa maa yantiqu anil-hawaa
In huwa illaa wahyunyyuuhaa
Chapter 53 Verses 3-4

Translated as:
Nor does he (Muhammad) speak of (his own) desire.
It is only a Revelation revealed.

This is a statement of Allah. If we are to convince someone about the authenticity of the Quran, then we must prove that it was impossible for Muhammad (pbuh) to manufacture such a book. Secondly, we must prove that it was equally impossible for any human agency to have created it.

Let us think about this. The Quran makes the statement:

Khalaqal-insaana min alaq Chapter 96 Verse 2

Translated as: He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood).

How did the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) know that the embryo started out as a clot and clinging to the wall of the Uterus of the mother? Did he have a Telescope? Did he have a Stethoscope? Or did he have some kind of X-Ray vision? How did he receive this knowledge when it was just discovered around 50 years ago?

How did he know that the oceans have a barrier between them to separate the salt and the fresh water?

How did he know that Sun and the Moon and the Planets are all swimming in an orbit that has been ordained for them?

How did he know that? And on and on and on. How did he know that when these things have just been discovered 30 or 40 years ago?

Technology and Science, the sophistication of which you and I know have just discovered these things. How did Muhammad (pbuh) know about these things over 1400 years ago? An uneducated Shepherd, a man raised in the desert, a man who was uneducated, who could neither read nor write. How could he say something like this (The Quran)? How could he produce something like this (the Quran)? And how could someone living with him, before or after him, produce something which has just been discovered recently? How could a man who never left the Arabian Peninsula, who never sailed on a Ship, who lived 14 centuries ago, make such clear and astounding descriptions that were recently discovered.

Also, if this is not enough, let me mention to you that the Quran has 114 chapters and over 6000 verses. And there were 100s of people in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who memorized this book entirely. Where they some kind of genius? How did that happen? Did anyone memorize any of the Gospels, the Old and New testament, the Psalms of David? Nobody; not even the Pope, but there are millions of Muslims today, who has memorized this entire book. This is the ambition of every Muslim. Not some, every.

How many Christians have you ever met in your life who have memorized their Bible? None. You never met any Christian who has memorized the whole Bible, because you never met a Christian who even knew what was the whole Bible – because the Christians themselves have over 700 different denominations and they are approximately 39 different versions of the Bible, with different books and different versions, different amount of verses and different amount of chapters and they don’t agree to that, so how could they even memorize what they don’t agree about?