and fashioned with their own hands stones, pieces of wood, and images that appealed to them, giving them invented names and proclaiming them gods, which they then worshipped. Such were the Arabs. A group of non-Arabs followed the same course, worshipping whatever they fancied. Allah therefore quoted for His Prophet a reply from some of them when they said: “Indeed, we found our fathers upon a tradition, and we are rightly guided in their footsteps” (al-Zukhruf 43:22).

When the decree recorded in the Book reached its appointed term and Allah’s judgement to manifest the religion He had chosen came due, He opened the gates of the heavens with His mercy and selected from all creation the one He had chosen for His revelation and His message—Muhammad, His servant and messenger. May Allah bless him as often as he is remembered by those who remember and neglected by the heedless; may He bless him among the first and the last with the best, most abundant, and purest benedictions He has ever bestowed on any of His creatures, and grant him peace. (1)

And to proceed:

Allah, exalted is He, sent His messengers and revealed His books and laws so that people might uphold equity and justice. He sealed these dispensations with the mission of our Prophet Muhammad, which He distinguished with the name “Islam.” It is the complete religion, the consummate favor, made dominant over all other faiths and addressed to all humankind.

Islam embraced the whole of humanity with its call to tawḥīd (monotheism), carried the torch of light to every people, restored human freedom and dignity, and laid the foundations of a civilization built upon faith and morals, knowledge and labor, truth and justice. It also paid careful attention to regulating relations with the adherents of other religions, who lived in