Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/46

 During the twelve years of his ministry in Mecca, from A.D. 610-622, there are certain characteristics of his life and work which stand out as different from the years in Medina. At the beginning of his mission he undoubtedly had a genuine religious experience, which moved him profoundly and changed him from a polytheist and idolater into a vigorous preacher of the truth that God is one. His was a vital message of salvation. He was saved himself and he wanted others to be saved. He spoke with passion and persuasion. The messages or sermons all divine revelations which he delivered in the Meccan period were mostly short discourses. They form today the shorter chapters or suras of the Koran. He insisted that they were not his own words, but that every word he spoke came from God as dictated to him by the angel Gabriel.

Since the message was not his own, but God's, he therefore came to his people in the role of a prophet and apostle sent from God. He declared that the religion he was preaching was not new at all. It was as old as Adam, and the original religion of mankind. Its name was Islam, which means submission to God's will and law. Not only was Adam a Moslem a follower of Islam but so also were Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus. He announced that he, Mohammed, was the last of the prophets or apostles that God would send upon the earth. Likewise the Koran the messages from God which he was delivering was the last and best of all the revealed scriptures sent down to mankind. Those who accepted the teaching, "There

THE