The Seal of the Prophets

Assessing the Legitimacy of Muhammads Prophethood

By Aaron Wannamaker

PROW206
April 19, 2012

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This man stood a little higher than average. He was sturdily built with broad shoulders
and long muscular limbshe was proportionate, with neither a head too small nor a
stomach too large. He had a head of long, black hair, with some waves in it as it
stretched down between his earlobes and shoulders. His face was slightly rounded, and
he had a thick, dark, full rounded beard. His large eyes were a very dark brown, almost
black, and his eyelashes were curved, long and thick.
His dress consisted of a shirt, trousers, a sheet thrown over his shoulders, and a turban,
all of which he kept clean despite the desert climate. His shirt was long, extending down
to his thighs, and was either white or dyed with saffron. On his finger was a ring made of
silver, and an inlaid gem bore his seal:
Muhammad Rasulullah.
Muhammad, the Messenger of God.
Born in 570 CE, Muhammad
1
lived a simple life in Mecca as a merchant working with
his wife, Khadijah. The society he lived in was harsh; people prided themselves on tribal
lineage, and banditry was common even within the city. Idolatry was the religion of the
day, and with it came superstition, sorcery, and scandal. Muhammad found solace in

1
The symbol used here is the Arabic form for Peace be upon him. It is part of Islamic faith to issue peace upon
Muhammad and other Prophets when mentioned. I could write out peace be upon him in brackets, but I find it
easier to use the Arabic symbol so it doesnt break the flow of the sentence.
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solitary meditation in a cave outside of Mecca. When he was 40 years old, Muhammad
was meditating in the cave, contemplating the cruel and backwards ideologies of his
people. It was in this cave that he received his first revelation from God that he was to
be a messenger. The emotional weight of the message was so overwhelming, that
Muhammad attempted to throw himself off a cliff, but he was held back. He then
accepted his duties as a messenger from God, and for the next 23 years, he laid the
foundations for the religion of Islam, brought about by his revelations from God. Many
people denied him and his message, calling him a poet, a liar, and a madman. However,
by examining the evidence both within and outside of Islam, we can assess
Muhammads legitimacy of Prophethood and come to the conclusion that he was, in
fact, a true Prophet of God.
Prophet Muhammads message can be summed up in the primary tenet of Islam, the
testimony of faith (shahada in Arabic): There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His
messenger. This encompasses the basics of Islamic belief, and believing this message is
what makes one a Muslim. By believing in this, a Muslim is essentially saying that they
believe in one God, and whatever is revealed to Muhammad is a message from God.
Regarding other Messengers of God, Islam encompasses all Prophets mentioned in
Judaism and Christianity. This includes the primary Prophets of each faith, Moses and
Jesus respectively. Islam holds all of them with the highest respect, believing them to be
men of perfect character and inspirations for the generations that followed them.
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However, over time their original messages were lost as each faith distorted its holy
book. As such, Jews came to believe that they were Gods chosen people based on their
lineage to Moses, and Christians came to believe that Jesus was the son of God. Even
from an objective viewpoint, there is much evidence of tampering with the Bible and
the Torah. For instance, the only verse in the Bible that directly addresses the trinity is 1
John 5:7, and Biblical scholars agree that it was added around the 14
th
century and,
therefore, falsified.
The revelations Muhammad received as a Prophet were for two reasons. First, they
were meant to correct the distorted messages of Judaism and Christianity. In this
regard, Muslims believe in the Torah and the Bible but only when filtered through the
Quran. Secondly, the revelationsand, subsequently, the religion of Islam were
meant to be the final revelation from God to humankind. That is why Muhammad is
often referred to as the Seal of the Prophets.
In the centuries following Prophet Muhammads death, many individuals have come
forth claiming to be a prophet from Godeven within Islam itself. An offshoot of the
Ahmadiyya sect of Islam (literally a sect within a sect) believes that its founder, Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad, is a prophet from God and the Promised Messiah that is to appear near
Judgement Day. The Nation of Islam is another sect that was founded in the 1930s, and
its followers believe that its founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad, was an incarnation of
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God on earth and his follower, Elijah Muhammad, was the final prophet. However, this
does not follow the faiths internal logic that Prophet Muhammad is meant to be the
last of Gods messengers. One could argue that the founder of the Mormon Church,
Joseph Smith, was a prophet from God because he claimed to have been divinely
inspired and wrote the Book of Mormon. However, Smith did not claim to be creating a
new religion; instead, he claimed to come with a new testament to Christianity. In his
last sermon, Prophet Muhammad stated that no new apostle or faith would come
after him; as of today, this claim has proved to be true. No major monotheistic religion
has succeeded Islam.
Michael J. Hart ranked Prophet Muhammad as the number one historical figure in his
book The 100, a Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. He justified this by
saying that Prophet Muhammad was the only man in history who was supremely
successful on both the religious and secular levels and that he played a far more
important role in the development of Islam than Jesus did in Christianity. It is well
known that Christianitys principle proselytizer was not Jesus, but St. Paul, who was also
an author of a large part of the New Testament. Prophet Muhammad , on the other
hand, is responsible for both the theology of Islam and its main ethical and moral
principles.
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Its a bold assertion for anyone to say that they are a Prophet of God. Such a claim
obviously has to be backed up with proofs. Most faiths rely on miracles told through
narratives. However, proofs of Prophet Muhammads legitimacy can be found both
within the faith of Islam and outside of it as well.
For starters, Prophet Muhammad is a historical figure just as much as a religious
figure. Many people doubt that other prophets, like Jesus or Moses, even existed.
Prophet Muhammads birth, life, and death have all been meticulously recorded by
historians. He was born on either the 20
th
or 22
nd
of April, 571 CE
2
and died on the 8
th
of
June, 632 CE
3
; both were Mondays. Every detail of his life has been recorded in
numerous biographies by countless scholars. His actions and sayings have all been
recorded and compiled into copious volumes of books, known collectively as the Hadith,
which translates in Arabic to mean speech or report. How these sayings and actions
were collected and recorded is no mystery; each hadith is accompanied by a chain of
transmission, which begins with the individual who recorded it, goes through every
person who heard it, and finally ends at Prophet Muhammad . Most hadith were
narrated by Prophet Muhammads close companions; one of his companions, Abu
Hurayrah, holds the most number of recorded hadiths, numbering over 5000. To fully
grasp the complexity of hadith sciences would take numerous books, but in summary, a

2
The differences in the dates is due to different calculations from the Islamic to Gregorian calendar. In the Islamic
calendar, he was born on the ninth of the month of Rabi Ul-Awwal.
3
Twelfth of Rabi Ul-Awwal.
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single hadith would go through various chains of narrations and were checked and
confirmed through various scholarly sources to confirm their authenticity. Each hadith
has its own classification, and only the ones that stand up to strict examination are
classified as authentic.
Evidence for Muhammads legitimacy to prophethood also exists in other religions as
well. In the Bible, Deuteronomy 18:18 states I (God) will raise them up a Prophet from
among their brethren, like unto thee (Moses), and will put my words in his mouth; and
he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. Many Christians interpret this
passage as referring to Jesus, but upon closer examination, we can see that it can only
refer to Prophet Muhammad . We can parse this verse down into three statements:
1) he will be like Moses; 2) He will come from the brethren of the people of Moses; and
3) God will put His words into the mouth of this Prophet. Lets begin with the first
statement, and compare and contrast the Prophets Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad .
For starters, both Moses and Muhammad had natural births. Muhammad was
born to his parents Abdullah and Amina, and Moses was born to his parents Amran and
Jochebed. However, Jesus received a miraculous, virgin birth from his mother, Mary.
Looking at their family life, both Muhammad and Moses were married and had
children, whereas Jesus never married. When examining their lives as Prophets, we also
see that Muhammad and Moses (peace be upon them) had the most in common. It is
recorded that Muhammad began his mission as a Prophet when he was 40 years
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oldthe same age as Moses . According to the Gospel of Luke, as well as Islamic
sources, Jesus was about 30 years old when he began preaching. Furthermore, both
Muhammad and Moses are regarded as Prophets of God by their followers, the
Muslims and the Jews respectively; Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God, and
not a Prophet, as Muslims believe. Finally, in death we also see the similarities between
Muhammad and Moses . Both men died naturally, while Jesus was crucified and
resurrected, according to Christians, or ascended to heaven to await his return,
according to Muslims. Therefore, Prophet Muhammad actually has more in common
with Moses than Jesus does. The second statement is that the prophet mentioned in
Deuteronomy will be from among the brethren of the people of Moses, who were the
Israelites. The Israelites were descended from Issac, the son of Abraham, while their
brethren, the Ishmaelites, descended from Issacs brother, Ishmael. The Ishmaelites
were the ancestors of the Arabian people, and Prophet Muhammad was an Arab. So,
based on lineage, this can only be referring to Prophet Muhammad . The final
statement says that God will put His words into the mouth of this Prophet. This attribute
could only apply to Prophet Muhammad because he transmitted his revelations
through oration, and his companions wrote them down. As weve seen, there is
evidence that testifies to Muhammads Prophethood even outside of Islam. Abdul-
Ahad Dawud, formerly Reverend David Keldani, states in his book Muhammad in the
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Bible that if these words do not apply to Muhammad, they still remain unfulfilled.
Jesus himself never claimed to be the prophet alluded to.
As with all Prophets before him, Muhammad was supported with various miracles.
One of the greatest miracles performed by Prophet Muhammad was the splitting of
the moon. This is one miracle that even baffled me when I first started learning about
Islam. However, even though it was a miracle, there is still reasoning behind it. It was
actually issued as a challenge by the Quraysh, the pagan Meccans, who asked Prophet
Muhammad to show them a miracle and split the moon in half. Prophet Muhammad
supplicated and then drew a line down the moon with his index finger. The moon
was split apart and then rejoined. One may rightfully ask that if this event actually
occurred, wouldnt everyone have seen it? The answer is two-fold. First, the event
occurred at night. Older civilizations did not have a thriving night-life like we do in our
modern times. When the sun was down, it was time to stay inside. This explanation is
also compounded by our knowledge of time-zones. We know the event occurred at
night, so lets say it was 9:00 p.m. when the moon was split. That means that it would be
daylight in the entire western hemisphere of the earth obviously, a period in the day
when the moon is not easily visible. Many East Asian cities, like Hong Kong or Tokyo,
would have been in the very early hours of the morning, when most people slept. The
majority of places that would have been able to see it clearly would have been in
roughly the same time zone as Mecca. Now, obviously, someone somewhere in the
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world would have seen this miraculous event. King Chakrawati Farmas of Malabar was a
Chera king who ruled the Indian state of Kerala. The King once overheard Muslim
merchants on their way to China speaking about the splitting of the moon. The King
admitted to seeing this event as well, and embarked on a journey to meet Prophet
Muhammad . The incident is documented on a manuscript that is kept in the India
Office Library in London. Now, are there traces of this event on the moon? This has led
to some scholarly debate. Some argue that because it was a miracle, which are by their
very nature outside the realm of natural law, the splitting of the moon left no traces.
Other argue that the fault lines on the moons surface are evidence that the moon was
once split. For the sake of this argument it doesnt matter; what matters is that it was a
miracle performed by Prophet Muhammad and only Prophets are sanctioned by God
to perform miracles.
However, the greatest claim to Prophet Muhammads legitimacy is the Quran itself.
The Quran is the direct word of God, revealed to Prophet Muhammad over 23 years.
The Quran attests to Muhammads Prophethood several times, for instance when
God says Muhammad is not the father of any one of your men, but is Gods Apostle
and the Seal of all Prophets. (33:40). The Quran has been miraculously preserved. For
over 1400 years, not a single letter of its original Arabic text has been altered.
Furthermore, there are numerous passages relating to modern-day scientific facts that
could not have been understood during 6
th
century Arabia. Such verses deal with topics
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like the separation between salt and fresh water (25:53); embryonic development
(23:12-14); the orbit of the sun around the Milky Way (36:38); and the expansion of the
universe (51:47).
Now, when Prophet Muhammad came to the Meccans with his message, many of
them did not believe in him. In fact, his primary opposition were his own kinsmen, the
Quraysh, who were a large, powerful, and influential merchant tribe in Mecca. Despite
his evidence, they remained stubborn. The three most common arguments laid against
Prophet Muhammad were that he was a poet, a liar, and a madman.
The problem with these claims is that the Meccans never pinpointed their accusations
on anything concrete. They did not target specific verses or back up their claims with
any concrete evidence. Simply put, people were very biased against him. The message
he came with was the complete opposite of their way of life. To them, tribal lineage and
idol worship were at the forefront of status. What Prophet Muhammad said was that
none of those things mattered; we are judged on our actions and piety alone, not of our
ancestors or descendents or even the wealth we acquire. Many Meccans wouldnt
accept Islam because it was monotheistic. They found it strange that there could only be
one God. Others, like Prophet Muhammads uncle, did not want to accept Islam
based on their social status and fear of how people would perceive them. The Meccans
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found that they were unable to attack the message, so they instead attacked the
messenger.
The first accusation, that he was a poet, is easy to dispel. For starters, it is well known
that Prophet Muhammad was illiterate; he could neither read nor write. All of his
revelations he transmitted to his companions, who then memorized it and copied it
down. He also disliked the poetry that was common at his time, which often spoke
about licentious deeds, excessive wealth, and lustful desires. Now, its important to
understand that the Quran was revealed in a society that prized itself on masterful
poetry. Arabic poetry relied on strict grammatical, rhythmic, and syntax rules, and was
used throughout a persons daily life, to both praise and blame. When the Quran was
revealed in its original Arabic form, it surpassed anything the Arab people had ever
encountered before. God even challenged the people to bring a single chapter like it
(2:23). For over 1400 years, no one has been able to meet this challenge. One could say
that its possible someone did, but it was suppressed. However, this claim is erroneous
because the number of people opposed to Prophet Muhammad vastly outnumbered
his supporters when this verse was revealed; if anyone could have met that challenge, it
would have been easy to rally the entire population of eloquent poets behind it and
quash Prophet Muhammads message. So how could a man who was illiterate and
disliked poetry compose a message that surpassed the combined works of an entire
society of poets? Simply put, only if he was being supported by a divine entity.
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The most common accusation against Prophet Muhammad is that he was a liar. The
irony of this accusation is that before Prophet Muhammad became a prophet, he
was known in Mecca as Al-Sadiq Al-Amin which translates to The Truthful,
Trustworthy One. When he announced his prophethood, he still retained this title
among the people of Mecca. Many people thought he was just guessing or fabricating
the revelations he was receiving. If we look at this in a modern light, we see that this is
not possible. Dr. Zakir Naik, an Islamic scholar, explains this using the mathematical
theory known as the Theory of Probability. This theory basically states that if you have
two options, one right and one wrong, the chances that you choose the right one is half.
The chances that you will continuously choose the correct option decrease
exponentially each time you have to choose between them. As I mentioned earlier, the
Quran speaks about many things that were unknown to people at the time of its
revelation, and have recently just been confirmed. For a more concrete number, Ill
choose the four mentioned earlier, plus four more: every creature being composed
primarily of water (21:30), the process of cloud formation (24:43), internal waves in the
ocean (24:40), and the Big Bang as being the origin of the universe (21:30). Using the
theory of probability, the chances that Prophet Muhammad could have guessed each
of these things correctly every single time is (0.5)
8
or 0.2%. The eight examples I
mentioned are just a fraction of the number of Quranic verses that deal with scientific
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discoveries. These verses, as well as Prophet Muhammads character, demonstrate
that he was not a liar.
Their next accusation is that he was a madman. They believed that he received these
revelations either from his own mind or from his own dreams. As we mentioned earlier,
Prophet Muhammad was a man of character and was well known for his
truthfulness. The Quran attests to both his noble character and sanity in Chapter 68,
where God says Thou art not, by the Grace of thy Lord, mad or possessed... And though
(standest) on an exalted standard of character. (68:2,4). There was once a man named
Dimad who specialized in mental illnesses. While he was visiting Mecca, he heard
people tell him that a man named Muhammad was insane. Dimad met Prophet
Muhammad and told him that he could cure him of his illness. Prophet Muhammad
responded with the same introduction he gave in his sermons: Indeed, praise and
gratitude is for God. We praise Him and ask for His help. He who God guides, none can
lead astray, and he who is led astray cannot be guided. I bear witness no one deserves
worship but God, He is One, has no partners, and Muhammad is His Servant and
Messenger. Dimad was struck by the eloquence of his speech, and said to him I have
heard the words of diviners, sorcerers, and poets, but I have never heard such words,
they reach the depth of the oceans. Give me your hand so I may pledge my allegiance to
you on Islam. When we look at Prophet Muhammads characteristics, actionshis
entire life evenwe can see that they are far removed from that of a madman. Prophet
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Muhammad didnt achieve luxury and wealth in his life, nor did he desire it. Once, an
envoy of the pagan leaders, named Otba, came to visit Prophet Muhammad . They
offered him riches, wealth, land, and the ability to rule any of their lands he wished in
return for him to stop preaching. Prophet Muhammad refused; obviously, riches
were not his goal. And near the end of his life, when he achieved political power and
was the leader of the entire nation of Muslims, his character and reason never faltered
despite his position. He remained humble, and continued to live a simple, modest life,
even though he had the entire Muslim treasury at his disposal. Most insane rulers have
a tendency to make bizarre demands, and they let power get to their head: Caligula
nominated his horse to the senate; Justin II, the Byzantine Emperor, was pulled through
the palace on a wheeled throne, biting servants as he passed by; Ivan the Terrible fed
the previous head of the government to a pack of dogs. Meanwhile, a humble, frugal
merchant in Mecca merely told people to believe in one God, uphold ties of kinship, and
act dutifully toward their common men.
Judging by his character and his actions, Prophet Muhammad was not a poet, a liar,
or insane. On the contrary, he was very wise, thoughtful, and humble. Many of the
people of Mecca would not accept the message as divine, but had no proof to refute it,
so they attacked Prophet Muhammad personally. This is a classical example of an ad
hominem fallacy, where an opposing party has no evidence to refute a claim and result
to personal attacks, thereby destroying the validity of their argument.
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This attitude is pure hypocrisy, even when viewed today. They regarded Prophet
Muhammad as a man with noble integrity and character up until the moment he
began preaching Islam. They turned on their heels, calling him a poet, a liar, and a
madman for no other reason than they had no proof to refute his claim, and didnt like
his message. In light of the proofs above, one can only come to the conclusion that the
claims of the Meccans were false. There are so many leaps of logic and false
assumptions in their argument that their claims cannot be taken seriously.
On March 7, 632 CE, Muhammad addressed his followers for the last time. He knew
that this would be his last sermon, and so he once again confirmed his legitimacy as a
Prophet from God, saying O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me and no
new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I
convey to you. I leave behind me two things, the Quran and my example, the Sunnah,
and if you follow these you will never go astray. Since his death, there have been many
who claim to be new prophets or apostles, but all of their claims have been lacked
validity. There has been no legitimate successor to the lineage of monotheistic faiths,
from Judaism, to Christianity, to Islam. By examining the claims that Prophet
Muhammad made and the claims of those who refuted him, its only logical to
conclude that Prophet Muhammad had the much stronger argument. His proofs
were based on tangible events and occurrences, and were backed up with proofs that,
in our age of scientific enlightenment, we are only now recognizing. His deniers, on the
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other hand, had no valid evidence against him. Looking at his life, his examples, and his
legacy, we can conclude that Prophet Muhammad is, indeed, the final messenger of
God.













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Sources Used

Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Quran
Yusuf Ali, The Quran
I.A. Ibrahim, A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam
Will Durant, The Story Of Civilization
Charles Freeman, Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean
Michael J. Hart, The 100, a Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History
Safi-ur-Rehman Mubarakpuri , The Sealed Nectar
Ibn Kathir, Stories of the Prophets
http://listverse.com/2010/10/14/top-10-truly-insane-rulers/
http://www.news.com.au/technology/nasa-scientists-say-fault-lines-prove-our-moon-
is-shrinking/story-e6frfro0-1225907515399
http://bible.org/article/textual-problem-1-john-57-8
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1ePekqFAKvd2UU__yZo82cGhXDCHa4AqniJDYEYQE_lfc
HNLN6Nu_5kG32N9I/edit?pli=1
www.islamreligion.com
www.onislam.net
www.islamtoday.net/english