Muhammad: His Character and Conduct. Adil Salahi

it was necessary to place before it a message from God that would equally apply to all mankind in all future generations and everywhere in the world. This message is embodied in the Qur’ān, God’s own word, as delivered to us through the Prophet who received it from the angel Gabriel.

      Whenever a Prophet addressed his people, calling on them to believe in God and in the Day of Judgement, they asked him to come up with miraculous evidence in support of his message. The Arabs of Makkah also demanded such miracles from the Prophet. God gave earlier Messengers such miraculous signs: the Prophet Moses transformed his staff into a fast moving serpent, and his hand changed colour when he put it on his chest; the Prophet Jesus cured the blind man and restored a dead man to life; and other Prophets were given miracles that suited their peoples and their standard of civilization. The Prophet Muhammad was given none of these because his message was applicable to all mankind in all generations. To produce a miracle seen by a limited group of people, large as it may be, at a particular time and in a particular place, does not fit with that status of his message and its universal applicability. The Prophet refers to this when he says:

      Every Prophet was given such miraculous signs as would make people believe. What I have been given is revelations bestowed on me by God. I hope that I will be the one with the largest following on the Day of Judgement.²