This wonderful transformation of a whole nation would have been impossible if Muhammad had not been moved by God. He taught the people the most elementary things of life such as how to wash oneself, as well as the most important affairs of human society, such as how a country should be governed.

The Prophet taught his followers always to be truthful and sincere. He taught them to be committed to the cause of freedom, justice, and peace.

What the Prophet achieved in Arabia was the establishment of a society based on one god (God), one humanity, and one religion, which superseded all narrow considerations of clan or color.

Professor Philip K. Hitti writes in The History of the Arabs:

Within a brief span of mortal life, Muhammad called forth of unpromising material a nation never welded before. … and laid the basis of an empire that was soon to embrace within its far-flung boundaries the fairest provinces of the then civilized world.

The Qur'an, which came as the culmination and completion of all previous scriptures, gives all the important ideas in them. It speaks of God and His attributes, and of mankind and its role and destiny. It charts out all the guidelines necessary for man to live a meaningful life on earth.

The Qur'an also contains verses revealed largely in answer to the questions that naturally arose in the Prophet's mind as well as in the minds of his followers on particular occasions.

But these occasions were typical of events that happen in the lives of all of us irrespective of time and place, and so even those verses that came in response were of a generic nature.

As the final revelation sent through the Last Prophet, the revelation of the Qur'an was a milestone in the history of man's cultural and intellectual development.

The Message of the Qur'an

The Qur'an teaches that the Creator and Sustainer of the whole universe is one, and so human beings, He created, are all equal. All man-made barriers of race, color, language, and nationality have no ultimate significance. What is important is the readiness of man to submit to his Creator and accept His laws as binding on him.

Man is God's trustee on earth, and so he has to utilize all the blessings God has provided on earth with responsibility. He must strive for the peace and welfare of all, not only in this life, but also in the life to come.

Everyone is accountable in this life for their chosen beliefs and actions and God will finally judge people on that basis and reward or punish them in the world to come.

Justice and Mercy

Justice and mercy are the central Islamic values that the Qur'an emphasizes and so all should struggle to make the society merciful and justly balanced. Balance and justice are inherent in God's act of creation, and so discernible in the whole cosmic order and nature, as much as it is a clearly stated spiritual and ethical value. No human is to upset that balance.

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