wasqs of barley he had purchased for his family. He owned a parcel of land from which he spent on his household, while the rest of its yield he put toward the public interests of the Muslims; he decreed that this land should not be inherited and that none of his heirs should take anything from it.
At every moment he manifested wondrous signs and varied miracles whose full description would be lengthy. He informed them of what had passed and what was yet to come; he enjoined right and forbade wrong; he made wholesome things lawful for them and declared foul things unlawful; and he laid down the Law step by step until Allah perfected, through him, the religion for which he had been sent. His legislation emerged as the most complete of laws: no good that sound minds recognize as good remained without his commanding it, and no evil that sound minds recognize as evil remained without his prohibiting it.
Never did he command something of which it could be said, “If only he had not commanded it,” nor did he forbid something of which it could be said, “If only he had not forbidden it.” He made lawful every wholesome thing, unlike previous laws that had prohibited some of them, and he made unlawful every vile thing, unlike others who permitted some of them.
He gathered together the finest elements found among all nations. There is no report in the Torah, the Gospel, or the Psalms concerning Allah, the angels, or the Last Day that he did not bring in a more perfect form, and he conveyed matters not found in those scriptures at all. No injunction to justice, ruling of grace, counsel to virtue, or encouragement toward good found in those books exists without his having brought it—and what is even better.
When an intelligent person compares the acts of worship he prescribed with those prescribed for other nations, the superiority and pre-eminence of his rites become plain—as is likewise the case with his penal codes, judgments, and every aspect of the Sacred Law.
His community is the most complete of communities in every virtue. Compare their knowledge with that of other peoples and their superiority is evident; compare their religion, worship, and obedience to Allah with those of others and it becomes clear that they are more devout; compare their courage, striving in Allah’s cause, and patience in afflictions borne for His sake and you will find them the most valiant and steadfast of hearts. Compare their generosity, beneficence, and magnanimity with others and it will appear that they are the most open-handed and noble.
They achieved these virtues through him and learned them from him; he is the one who commanded them to embody them. They were not following an earlier scripture that he merely came to complete, as Christ completed the Law of the Torah. Rather, the virtues and knowledge of Christ’s followers were drawn partly from the Torah, partly from the Psalms, partly from the prophetic books, partly from Christ himself, and partly from those who came after him—such as the disciples and those who followed them. They even resorted to the writings of philosophers and others, and when they altered the religion of Christ they inserted into it teachings of the unbelievers that contradict Christ’s own religion.
The nation of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, however, had read no scripture before him. Indeed, most of them did not believe in Moses, Jesus, David, or in the Torah, Gospel, and Psalms except through him. It is he who commanded them to believe in all the prophets and to affirm all the revealed books.