Before I write about Muhammad PBUH and his prophecies let us first know about him.
Muhammad was born in seventh century Mecca, which is in modernÂ
day Saudi Arabia.
At the age of 40 he claimed to have encountered anÂ
angel of God, the Angel Gabriel, whilst he was meditating in a cave. This was the first of many encounters with the angel, who made the startlingÂ
revelation that Muhammad had the mission of calling mankind backÂ
to the worship of the one true God.
For the next 23 years, MuhammadÂ
received revelations from God through the Angel Gabriel. This collectionÂ
of revelations is the Qur'an, the most sacred text of Islam. MuhammadÂ
taught that the Qur'an is God's final book of guidance intended for theÂ
whole of mankind.
Muhammad is one of the most widely followed peopleÂ
in history, in fact it is estimated that today every one in four people onÂ
earth is Muslim, and they consist of people of all languages and races.
When it comes to unveiling the future, Islam teaches that only God hasÂ
perfect knowledge of it and He decides how much to reveal to His Prophets. The Qur'an states: "[God is] Knower of the unseen, and He does notÂ
disclose His [knowledge of the] unseen to anyone, except whom He hasÂ
approved of messengers..." [72:26-27].
The Qur'an confirms that Muhammad was inspired by God with a special insight into the future: "That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal to you, [O Muhammad].Â
You knew it not, neither you nor your people, before this" [11:49]. In thisÂ
chapter, we are going to put this claim to the test. If Muhammad reallyÂ
was inspired with such knowledge, then we would expect to see evidenceÂ
of this in his teachings.
In the next chapter we will analyze his predictions.