An-Nisa 4:150

The Makkans believed in the prophethood of Abraham. Similarly, the Jews and the Christians believed respectively in the prophethood of Moses and Jesus. But none of them would acknowledge the prophethood of Muhammad. All of them were willing to accept the prophets of the past, but none of them were ready to accept the Prophet of their own times—mindful as they were of the fact that the prophets they believed in had also been faced with the same hostile reactions in their times as were now being faced by the Arab prophet. All such attempts to reject the contemporary prophet amounted to finding a middle course between truth-worship and self-worship, so that entry to Paradise should be secured without any sacrifice of self-interest. The truth of the matter is that the prophethood of the past is an established fact. Whereas, to acknowledge the contemporary prophet one needs to undertake a new intellectual journey. The prophethood of the past after the passage of time becomes so accepted that it becomes a part of one’s thinking process right from the time of one’s birth. But the prophet of the day is a controversial personality. He appears to be an ‘ordinary human being.’ So, to believe in a prophet in the garb of an ordinary human being, it is essential for man to have a complete change of mindset. He has to find God again at the level of awareness. Belief in the prophet of the past entails only a belief in one’s own heritage, following in the footsteps of one’s forefathers. Their faith was not by choice, but by birth. They had not made a conscious discovery of God. So, belief in the prophet of the past is only a continuation of one’s forefather’s ways, while belief in the prophet of one’s own times means a conscious acceptance of faith. What is of importance in the eyes of God is the faith adopted by choice and not by birth.