nor would the descendants of Ishmael have any power over them. They left that land when Moses was sent, and under Moses they were among the most honored people on earth; no one held sway over them. The same remained true with Joshua, and up to the days of David and the reign of Solomon—the king whose like has never been granted to anyone—so the children of Ishmael still had no hand over them. Then Allah sent the Messiah, but they disbelieved in him and denied him; their denial brought destruction upon them, their kingdom disappeared, it never rose again, and Allah scattered them throughout the earth as separate nations.

They came under the domination and subjugation of the Romans and Persians, and even then the descendants of Ishmael exercised no authority over them, nor was any hand placed above all others until Allah sent Muhammad ﷺ with his message and honored him with prophethood. With his advent the hand of the sons of Ishmael rose above everyone, and no sovereignty on earth remained more powerful than theirs: they subdued the realms of Persia, Rome, the Turks, and the Daylamites, and they conquered the Jews, the Christians, the Magians, the Sabians, and the idol-worshippers. Thus was fulfilled the saying in the Torah, “His hand shall be above all hands, and every hand shall submit to him.”(1) This will remain the case until the end of time.

The Jews said, “We do not deny this, but the prophecy concerns his dominion, his emergence, and his conquest, not his message and prophethood.”

The Muslims replied, “Kingship is of two kinds: a rule unaccompanied by prophethood—merely the reign of a domineering tyrant—and a rule whose very soul is prophethood. The glad tidings do not pertain to the first type of rule, especially when its claimant pretends to prophethood and messengership while lying and fabricating against Allah, for he is one of…(2)(3)