“From those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ We took a covenant; yet they forgot a portion of what they had been reminded of. Therefore We stirred up among them enmity and hatred until the Day of Resurrection, and Allah will surely inform them of what they used to do.” [5:14]

The Exalted also said: “Mankind was once a single community”—that is, they later fell into disagreement—“so Allah sent the prophets as bearers of glad tidings and as warners, and He sent down with them the Scripture in truth so that it might judge between people regarding that over which they differed. And none differed over it….” [2:213]

When Allah sent Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—there was no one left openly adhering to what the earlier messengers had brought. He therefore raised him during a pause in revelation and after the pathways of guidance had been effaced, at the very moment people were most in need of a messenger.

As recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim from ʿIyāḍ ibn Ḥimār, the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “Indeed, Allah looked at the people of the earth and despised them, Arabs and non-Arabs alike, except for a few remnants from the People of the Book.”