THE FOURTH

“He it is who sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth, to proclaim it over all religion” predicts with complete certainty that the religion which the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) brought would triumph over all religions. However at that time Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism had hundreds of millions of  adherents and  were the  official religions  of such world- dominant  states  as  Rome, China,  and  Persia,  which  had  hundreds of millions  of subjects, and Muhammad the Arabian was unable to subdue his own small tribe even. Yet it is foretelling that the religion he brought would triumph over all religions and be victorious over all states. And it does this most  clearly and categorically. The future confirmed this prediction, with the sword of Islam extending from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west.

THE FIFTH

“Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and those who are with him are strong against unbelievers, [but] compassionate among each other. You will see them bow and prostrate  themselves.” The beginning of this verse foretells explicitly the loft y qualities and virtues that made the Companions the most elevated of humankind after the  prophets.  And  allusively it  indicates  the  Rightly-Guided  Caliphs,  who  would succeed to the Prophet’s (UWBP) position after his death through the institution of

the Caliphate, and foretells the fine attributes5   which were what most distinguished

each of them and marked them out. It is as follows:

“And those who are with him” alludes to Abu Bakr the Veracious, who was distinguished by being among the Prophet’s (UWBP) special followers and party to his conversation, and again being included among his special followers by being the first to die.  While “are strong against the unbelievers” points to ‘Umar, who in the future would cause the countries of the globe to tremble at his conquests, and with his justice would descend on tyrants like a thunderbolt. And “compassionate among each other” gives news of ‘Uthman,  who  in the future when the most serious dissension was being fomented, would sacrifice his own life and spirit out of his perfect compassion so that the blood of Muslims should not be spilt;  he preferred  to be martyred  wrongfully while reading the Qur’an…

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5   See, Ahmad b. Hanbal, Fada’il al-Sahaba, i, 434; Baghawi, Ma‘alim al-Tanzil, iv, 206.