Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 43
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 43 vouchsafed to them by God. Such messengers and prophets had appeared among all people, in all regions and in all ages; and he too was a messenger of God. These teachings were supplemented and expounded as the Holy Quran continued to be revealed till the whole structure of the faith was perfected. As his message was for all people and for all time, and he was endowed to perfection with all the excellences, w hich had been bestowed in various degrees on previous prophets, he was appointed, by God Almighty, the Seal of the Prophets. The first to believe in him was his wife, Khadija, who accepted him as true without any hesitation. Ali, who was at the time but ten years of age, and Zaid bin Haritha, the freedman of the Holy Prophet, were both members of his family. They also believed i n him the moment he announced his mission. No express affirmation on their part was needed. Outside his family, Hazrat Abu Bakr, who was his most intimate friend, believed in him without question the moment he learnt of his claim. Abu Bakr had long been associated with the Holy Prophet. He lived in the same quarter of the city as Khadija and thus the intimacy between him and the Holy Prophet was close and his attachment to him was now riveted by his implicit faith in the Holy Prophe t, who said of him, on a later occasion, ‘I never invited anyone to the faith who displayed not hesitation and perplexity excepting only Abu Bakr; who, when I had propounded Islam to him, tarried not, neither was perplexed. ’ Abu Bakr was about two years younger than the Holy Prophet; short in stature, and of a small spare frame; the eyes