declared to be one nation (2:213); God is said to be the Rabb (lit. the Nourisher unto perfection) of all nations (1:1); prophets are declared to have been raised in all the nations for their uplift (35:24); all prejudices of colour, race and language are demolished (30:22; 49:13); and a vast brotherhood, extending over all the world, has been established, every member of which is bound to accept the prophets of all nations, and to treat all nations equally. Thus not only is the Holy Prophet Muḥammad a world-prophet who takes the place of the national prophets but he had also established a world-religion wherein the idea of nationality is superseded by the consciousness of the unity of the human race.
All prophets, being from God, are as it were brethren. This doctrine of the brotherhood of all prophets is not only taught in the interdiction against making distinctions between the prophets of God, as stated above, but is laid down in the plainest words in both the Holy Qur’ān and Ḥadīth. Thus, after speaking of various prophets in the chapter Prophets, we are told: “Surely this your community is a single community” (21:92). And again: “O ye messengers, eat of the good things and do good. Surely I am Knower of what you do. And surely this your community is one community and I am your Lord”. (23:51, 52). Ḥadīth also tells us that all prophets are as brothers: “The prophets are, as it were, brothers on the mother’s side, their affair is one and their followers are different”. (Bu. 60:48). Every prophet may have some special characteristic of his own, but, generally, what is said of one in the Holy Qur’ān, of his high morals or sublime character or noble teachings or trust in God, is true of all. Thus of Abraham we are told that he was a “a truthful man” (19:41); of Moses that he was “one purified” (19:51), or that he was “brought up before My eyes” (20:39); of Ishmael that he was “truthful in promise” or “one in whom his Lord was well pleased” (19:54, 55); of Noah, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, and Lot that they were “faithful” (26:107, 125, 143, 162); of Jesus that he was “worthy of regard in this world and the Hereafter, and one of those who are drawn nigh to Allāh” (3:45); of John the Baptist that “We granted him wisdom … and kind-heartedness from Us and purity, and he was dutiful and kindly to his parents and he was not insolent,