is obedience to Allah; and once abrogation has taken place, one is required to act upon the abrogating ruling. Whoever clings to the abrogated ruling and abandons the abrogating one is not upon the religion of Islam, nor is he following any of the Prophets. For this reason the Jews and the Christians fell into disbelief: they held fast to a law that had been altered and abrogated.

Allah, exalted is He, legislates for every community what suits its condition and its time, a law that guarantees its rectification and secures its interests; then, when its appointed term expires, He abrogates from it whatever He wills—until He sent His Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, to all people on the face of the earth and for the whole span of time until the Day of Resurrection. For him He prescribed a comprehensive law, sound and beneficial for every age and place, one that will never be altered or abrogated. Accordingly, everyone on earth has no option but to follow him and believe in him, peace and blessings be upon him. The Exalted said, “Say, O mankind, I am indeed the Messenger of Allah to you all” 1; He also said, “We have not sent you except universally to all people, as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner” 2; and He said, “We have not sent you except as mercy to all the worlds” 3; and He said, “Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets” 4.

The verses that Allah—glorified be He—revealed to His Messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, address all created beings, jinn and human alike, whatever their races. He did not single out the Arabs with any particular ruling; rather, He linked the rulings to designations such as disbeliever, believer, Muslim, hypocrite, righteous, wicked, benefactor, wrongdoer, and the like that are mentioned in the Quran and the hadith. Nowhere in the Quran or the Sunnah is any legal ruling restricted exclusively to the Arabs; the rulings are attached only to the qualities that determine what Allah loves and what He detests. The Quran was revealed in the Arabic tongue solely for the purpose of conveying the message, for the Prophet first delivered it to his own people and, through them, it reached the other nations. Allah commanded him to convey it first to his people, then to those nearest, and then to those further away—just as He commanded that jihad begin with the nearest enemy and then move on to the next. This is not a privilege granted to the Arabs; it is simply a gradual method of communication.