Prophet Adam, alayhi assalam, was the first human being to be created. He also was the first prophet to speak to people about our Creator, subhanahu wa ta’ala, and to teach us how to worship Him and to show us right from wrong. Adam’s children and their children’s children spread throughout the world. Whenever people forgot to do good or forgot to ask God to forgive them for their bad deeds; and whenever people stopped worshipping Allah and started to worship the sun or the planets or idols made of stone, Allah would send a prophet to remind them and teach them. And so, time passed and many prophets were sent to humans to show them right from wrong and to tell them about the reward or punishment that awaited them.
There were times when there was more than one prophet at the same time. There were prophets that were brothers like prophet Musa and Prophet Haroon. There were prophets that were father and son like Prophet Ibraheem and Prophet Ismaeel. And then, there came a time when there were no prophets at all. This was when so many people forgot the truth and so many people did bad deeds. And this is when our story begins.
Our story begins when many people were sad. They lived terrible lives. Kings were not fair; women were treated badly and hardly anyone cared about the poor people. Almost all the teachings of the prophets of long ago were forgotten; and so, people would lie and steal. They would cheat and harm each other. Many worshiped idols and mostly followed what everyone else did, without thinking.
The Jews were the followers of Prophet Musa. They had read in their Holy Book long ago, that there would be a prophet in a land of mountains and date trees and so many of them lived in the Arabian Peninsula and waited. When they fought a battle with another tribe, they would say to them, “Just wait until the prophet arrives. We will follow him and then we will defeat you in war!”
The Christians were the followers of Prophet Isa. Some of them had also read about this wonderful prophet. They knew which country he would be living in. They knew he had a mark between his shoulders called the seal of prophet-hood. They knew he would accept food as a gift but not as charity.
Yet the world was darker and uglier than it ever had been. And it seemed as though it would stay that way.
When Allah created human beings, He created them to take care of the Earth and all that is on it. He created them to worship Him because that is what makes them happiest. So, Allah had a beautiful plan. His plan was to send a prophet, but this time the prophet would be different. He would not be sent to this group of people or that. His message would be so special that anyone who heard it would understand it, and be moved by it. He would be sent to all people and his message would last forever!
Our story is about this great prophet. But first, we will start with the amazing story of two babies. One who kicked until he uncovered a spring of water; and later became a prophet. And one who was born with a gray strand of hair and later became the grandfather of a prophet.