Everlasting Sharī‘at of Islām

Then, with relevance to the Qur’ānic law being everlasting and not subject to abrogation, God the Exalted states:

“O Ye people, this day have I perfected your religion for you, and have opened the doors of all my favours upon you; And have chosen for you Islām as religion.”1

It is narrated that on one occasion the Jews said to Ḥaḍrat ‘Umar(ra) that, “A verse has been revealed to you the Muslims (i.e., the above-mentioned verse) and had it been revealed to us, we would have taken the day of its revelation as a day of celebration.” Ḥaḍrat ‘Umar(ra) responded, “Allāh Himself has made it a day of celebration for us, because this verse was revealed to the Holy Prophet(sa) upon the sacred occasion of Ḥajj, at the blessed place of ‘Arafah, whereas the following day was that of ‘Īdul-Adḥiyyah, and I remember all of its details.”2

Moreover, in a Ḥadīth, the Holy Prophet(sa) states himself:

“I am the last prophet (i.e., no prophet that abrogates my era of prophethood can come after me), and this mosque of mine is the last mosque (after which there can be no such place of worship as abrogates my mosque and institutes a new form of worship).”3

It should be remembered that the words, ‘this mosque of mine is the last mosque’ does not at all imply that after this mosque of mine no new mosque will be built. We see that the Holy Prophet(sa) himself and his Khulafā’ built many mosques thereafter, and to this day hundreds of thousands and millions of mosques have been built. Hence, the purport is that no mosque shall be built in opposition to my mosque. Rather, all true mosques shall most definitely follow the pattern of my mosque and be a reflection of it.

Furthermore, this very reality has been beautifully expressed as follows:

“I and the day of resurrection are close together like these two fingers (and while stating this the Holy Prophet(sa) raised his two fingers and closed them together).”4

The meaning of this beautiful Ḥadīth is not at all that immediately after my demise the day of resurrection shall come. Not only is this opposed to the facts, it is also against the superlative purpose of the appointment of the Holy Prophet(sa), that right after his demise, resurrection should occur. Thus, the purport of this Ḥadīth is surely to indicate that the era of my Sharī‘at shall extend to the day of resurrection, and there shall be no Sharī‘at, which abrogates mine and begins a new era.

In summary, just as the God-given mission of the Holy Prophet(sa) is limitless and all-encompassing in terms of place, and no people are excluded from the invitation of the Holy Prophet(sa), similarly, the mission of the Holy Prophet(sa) is not confined to any one era. Rather, it is limitless and all-encompassing until the end of time. Following this introductory note, which was necessary in explaining the Islāmic perspective on preaching, we now return to our actual subject.