the Kaʿbah and would pray toward it during the years of wandering in the desert. After Moses died and Joshua opened Jerusalem, he set up the Tabernacle upon the Rock, so they faced it in prayer. When Jerusalem was later destroyed and the Tabernacle disappeared, the Jews began to pray toward the Rock because it had been the site of the Tabernacle, whereas the Samaritans pray toward a nearby mountain, saying that the Ark had once rested there.

When the Christian scholars and ascetics realized that the Romans and Greeks were idol-worshippers and found it hard to move them to pure monotheism, they fashioned for them a religion compounded of the prophets’ faith and that of the pagans. The Greeks and Romans had been making solid statues that cast a shadow, so the Christians adopted painted images on walls and ceilings—images that cast no shadow. The former used to prostrate themselves to the sun and the moon; the Christians began to prostrate in their direction, making the prostration toward them rather than to them.

The excellence of Muḥammad—peace and blessings be upon him—the leader of tawḥīd, and the excellence of his community over all who came before:

Thus, when God sent the Seal of the Messengers and the noblest of the Prophets, Muḥammad—may God’s blessings and peace be upon him—as the champion of pure monotheism with which He had commissioned the messengers, He manifested that monotheism, purified it of every trace of idolatry, and caused it, through him, to shine forth clearly. By reason of this, God honored him and favored his community above all earlier nations.

All the prophets were Muslims:

All the prophets and their peoples were Muslims—believers in God’s oneness. Never has God accepted any religion other than Islam, which is to worship Him alone with no partner, as He, Exalted is He, says:

“Ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before you: Did We ever appoint, apart from the Most Merciful, deities to be worshipped?” (Q 43:45)

He also says:

“We never sent a messenger before you without revealing to him, ‘There is no god but I; so worship Me.’” (Q 21:25)

And He says:

“We sent to every community a messenger, saying, ‘Worship Allah and shun false gods.’” (Q 16:36)

Moreover, it is authentically reported in the two Ṣaḥīḥs that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“We, the company of prophets, share one religion. The person most closely connected to the son of Mary is I, for there is no prophet between him and me.”

He also informed