A Simple Guide to ISLAM
Introduction
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resources. God did not just leave man in a world where there was
no way to find the truth. Divine provision for him went much
further than that. To see how God gave His guidelines to mankind,
we have to go right back to the beginning of creation. He took
Adam, the first man— whom He had made not just an ordinary
mortal but also a prophet— and taught him everything that He
wanted from man, so that human beings would not be left without
proper direction or guidance. From time to time thereafter, He
sent large numbers of prophets to the world— the last of these
being the Prophet Muhammad— so that human beings, who
tended to stray, could be recalled to the path of virtue. It is said
that about one lakh twenty thousand prophets came to the world
during this period.
Now the question arises as to why there was the need for such
great numbers of prophets. It was because after each prophet left
the world, people gradually began forgetting his teachings, till a
time came when a major part of the teachings of the prophets was
lost. Now in the age of the press, these teachings have been
extensively published in the form of books, so that there is no fear
of their being lost to succeeding generations.
