Indeed, in this trial that has afflicted the Muslims through their confrontation with this enemy who spreads corruption and has departed from Islamic law, events have unfolded resembling those experienced by the Muslims against their enemies during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—in the military campaigns concerning which Allah revealed His Books and through which He tested His Prophet and the believers. These events provide an example, until the Day of Resurrection, for whoever hopes in Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah often.

The texts of the Book and the Sunnah—which constitute the call of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—apply to all people through the general scope of both their wording and their meaning, or through the general scope of their meaning. Allah’s pledges in His Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger extend to the later generations of this nation just as they extended to its earliest generations.

Allah has related to us the accounts of earlier nations only so that they may serve as lessons for us. We therefore compare our circumstances with theirs and draw analogies between the later generations of nations and their earliest generations. Thus, what befalls a believer in later generations resembles what befell a believer in earlier generations; and what befalls a disbeliever or hypocrite in later generations resembles what befell a disbeliever or hypocrite in earlier generations.

Thus, after recounting the story of Joseph in detail and summarizing the accounts of the prophets, Allah Most High said:

“There was certainly in their stories a lesson for those of understanding. It was not a narration invented.”

That is, these accounts related in the Book are not like fabricated stories, such as the fictitious accounts of military exploits that are circulated.

And after recounting the story of Pharaoh, Allah Most High said:

“So Allah seized him in exemplary punishment for the last