life. There are the angels of God who prompt men to do good and pray to God that men may be saved from falling into evil, and that Divine blessings and mercy may be extended to them; there are the prophets of God who are commissioned with the express object of delivering men from the bondage of sin and setting them on the right course to advancement and who, by their example and by their prayers, lead men out of the darkness of evil into the light of the Divine mercy and blessings; and there are believers who have attained to perfection, and who, following in the footsteps of the great prophets of God, intercede for those who are left behind. But, according to the Holy Qur’ān, the progress of man is not limited to this life. Far more extensive fields of activity are awaiting him in the life after death, and the Day of Resurrection is the great day when the consequences of all good and evil deeds shall be made fully manifest. The intercession (shafā‘at) of Holy Prophet Muḥammad on that day is given precedence and the greatest prominence, according to a ḥadīth.46 This is so because even in this life, the shafā‘at exercised by him transcends that of every other prophet. The material, moral and spiritual revolution brought about by Holy Prophet Muḥammad has been so tremendous that by a consensus of opinion he is admitted to be the “most successful of all prophets and religious personalities.”47 God had been showering His blessings on mankind through angels and through prophets and their righteous followers, and the help which they have rendered to mankind is itself evidence that in the higher life they will render similar help; but, inasmuch as God’s mercy knows no bounds, even those who responded neither to the call of the angel in this life, nor to the call of the prophets of God, nor yet to the call of other righteous servants of God, those who, in the words of the ḥadīth already referred to, have never done any good, shall be lifted up by Divine mercy, by the most Merciful of all merciful ones, and being delivered from the evil consequences of what they have wrought, shall be set up on the road to unlimited progress which the Resurrection shall open up for mankind.

Finality of prophethood

In the Holy Qur’ān, the Holy Prophet Muḥammad is spoken of as the last of the prophets: “Muḥammad is not the father of any of your men,