—indeed, the greatest of them—coupled with a discourse whose like neither the first generations nor the last had ever heard. He spoke of realities that no one in his land or among his people had known.

Then there followed him the typical followers of the prophets—the weak and downtrodden—while the people of influence denied him, opposed him, and strove by every means to destroy him and those who believed in him, just as the unbelievers had dealt with previous prophets and their followers.

Those who accepted his call did so neither out of worldly desire nor out of fear. He possessed no wealth with which to reward them, no offices to bestow, and no sword in his hand; rather, the sword, prestige, and riches were all in the hands of his enemies. They subjected his followers to every kind of harm, yet those followers remained patient, seeking their reward with Allah, never renouncing their faith because the sweetness of belief and knowledge had saturated their hearts.

Mecca had been a place of pilgrimage for the Arabs since the time of Abraham. During the season the tribes would gather, and he would go out to them, conveying the Message and calling them to Allah, patiently enduring the denial of deniers, the harshness of the harsh, and the aversion of those who turned away. Eventually he met the people of Yathrib—neighbors to the Jews—who had already heard the Jews speak of him and thus recognized him. When he invited them, they realized that he was the awaited Prophet the Jews had foretold. They had heard further reports about him that confirmed his stature, for his affair had spread and become manifest in a little over ten years. They believed in him, pledged allegiance to him, and promised to host his migration and that of his Companions, and to fight at his side. He therefore emigrated, as did those who followed him, to Madinah, where the Emigrants and Helpers resided. Among them was no one who had embraced the faith for worldly gain or fear—save a few of the Helpers who submitted outwardly, some of whom later attained good faith. Permission to fight was then granted him, and afterward it was enjoined.

Throughout, he remained committed to the command of Allah in the most perfect and complete manner—truthfulness, justice, and fidelity. No single lie was ever attributed to him, no injustice to anyone, no act of treachery. He was the most truthful of people, the most just, and the most faithful to covenants under every circumstance: war and peace, security and fear, wealth and poverty, power and weakness, minority and majority, at times overcoming the enemy and at times being overcome.

In all of that he adhered to the most impeccable path until the Call appeared throughout the whole of Arabia—a land once filled with idol worship, tales of soothsayers, obedience to creatures in defiance of the Creator, the shedding of forbidden blood, and the severing of kin ties. They had known neither an afterlife nor resurrection, yet they became the most knowledgeable, devout, just, and virtuous people on earth.

So much so that when the Christians saw them upon their arrival in Syria they exclaimed, “Those who accompanied the Messiah were no better than these.”

The traces of their knowledge and deeds in the earth, and the traces of others, lie before us; people of sound reason can readily discern the difference between the two.

And he—ﷺ—with his cause triumphant, people obeying him and preferring him over themselves and their wealth, died leaving neither a dirham nor a dinar, neither a sheep nor a camel—only his mule and his weapons; even his coat of mail was pledged to a Jew for thirty