to man and with Whom man can hold communion.

Prophecy of the triumph of Islām

The prophecies mentioned in the Holy Qur’ān and those uttered by the Holy Prophet, of which Ḥadīth literature is full, cover so vast a ground and relate to a future so distant that they require separate treatment. But one example may be given in illustration of what has been said above. The Holy Qur’ān gives prominence to the great prophecy of the triumph of Islām, and its earlier chapters are full of such prophecies uttered in various forms. Now these chapters were revealed, and these prophecies announced, at a time when the Holy Prophet was quite alone and helpless, beset on all sides by enemies plotting to put an end to his life. The few adherents to his cause had been forced by cruel persecution to leave their homes and to take shelter in a foreign land. There was not the remotest prospect of Islām ever making any headway against the mighty forces of polytheism and idolatry, the mass of superstition and evil of every kind ranged against it. All previous attempts at the regeneration of Arabia, those of the Jewish nation which had settled down in various parts of Arabia, of the Christian missionaries who had the backing of the powerful Roman empire on the north and of Abyssinia in the south and west, the indigenous Arab attempt known as Hanīfism, had all proved utter failures, and thus the fate of each previous attempt was only a symbol of despair for any fresh reform movement. Yet under these adverse circumstances, amidst nothing but despair on every side, we find prophecy after prophecy announced in the surest and most certain terms to the effect that the great forces of opposition would be brought to naught, that the enemies of Islām would be put to shame and perish, that Islām would become the religion of the whole of Arabia, that the empire of Islām would be established and battles be fought in which the Muslims would be victorious and the enemy brought low, that Islām would spread to the farthest corners of the earth and that it would ultimately be triumphant over the religions of the world.35

All this has been stated in the Holy Qur’ān in plain words, and at a time when there was not the least prospect of Islām gaining ground, and all this was brought to fulfilment, against all expectation, in the