最后的先知穆罕默德ﷺ完成了一项罕见的成就:他为世人清晰地阐明了真主的身份、真主的独一性以及真主的完美。这种清晰既符合人的本性,也合乎理性,因此成为伊斯兰教的鲜明标志。他所传授的神学简明而直观,向人们描述了他们的造物主以及通往真主的道路,其传播之迅速犹如燎原之火,席卷全球。伊斯兰一神教仅用二十年的传教时间便成为阿拉伯半岛的信仰,与之形成鲜明对比的是,罗马帝国花了大约三个世纪才成为以基督教徒为多数的国家。这证明穆罕默德ﷺ带来了一个独特的主张,这一主张深深触动了人类的心灵,有效地消除了他们某些最具阻碍性的倾向,例如某些文化时常延续的盲目因循,以及许多文明中对祖先的神化。穆罕默德ﷺ为一个脆弱的世界发掘出了它失落已久的庇护所:直接通向独一的真主,即至仁至慈者。他ﷺ不懈努力,直到人们明白,只有专一地向真主奉献,他们才能找到安宁与满足,只有通过真主,他们的道德罗盘才能重新校准。对于那些明白在脱离真正以真主为中心的生活方式之外只会存在混乱的人而言,这正是穆罕默德ﷺ的独特成就。恢复人们生活中真主的独一性,也就恢复了生活的秩序与意义,因为它消除了人生只是一场没有目的地的旅程这种观念。而对于那些难以看到真正的神学在我们这个时代有何用处的人,或许他们应当思考一下,在这个充满动荡的现代世界里,人们对"精神智慧"日益增长的兴趣,以及穆斯林国家明显更低的凶杀率和自杀率。142

The Final Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم accomplished the rare feat of providing the world with impeccable clarity on the identity of God, His oneness, and His perfection. It was a clarity that aligned with both human nature and rationality, and thus became the hallmark of Islam. He taught a simple and intuitive theology that described to people their Creator, and the path to Him, in a way that spread like wildfire across the globe. Islamic monotheism became the religion of Arabia in just twenty years of preaching, in stark contrast to the Roman Empire needing about three centuries to become majority Christian. This attests to Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم coming with a unique proposal, one that struck such a deep chord in humanity that it effectively stripped them of some of their most hindering tendencies— such as the blind conformity that cultures at times perpetuate, and the idolization of ancestors that has occurred in so many civilizations. Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم unearthed for a vulnerable world their long-lost sanctuary; direct access to the One True God, the Most Merciful. He صلى الله عليه وسلم refused to rest until they knew that only through singling God out in devotion would they find contentment and satisfaction, and that only through Him would their moral compasses be set aright. For those who understand that only disorder can exist outside an authentic God-centric lifestyle, this is the singular accomplishment of Muhammad .صلى الله عليه وسلم Restoring the unity of God in people’s lives resulted in restoring order and meaning to life, as it did away with the notion of life being a destination-less journey. And for those who struggle to see the utility of an authentic theology in our age, perhaps they should consider the emerging fascination with “spiritual intelligence” in the turmoil-filled modern world, along with the significantly lower homicide and suicide rates in Muslim countries.142

阿方斯·德·拉马丁对此点评道：从未有人为自己提出过如此崇高的目标，无论是自觉还是不自觉，因为这一目标无比宏大：消除置于造物主与被造者之间的迷信，将上帝还给人，将人还给上帝，在当时物质化和被扭曲的偶像崇拜之神灵所造成的混乱之中，重新确立关于神性的理性而神圣的观念……从未有人在如此短的时间内，在世界上完成如此巨大而持久的变革，因为在他预言之后不到两个世纪，伊斯兰教以传教与武力并举的方式，统治了三个阿拉伯地区，并将上帝的独一性带到波斯、外呼罗珊、河中地区、印度西部、叙利亚、埃及、阿比西尼亚，以及北非所有已知的大陆、地中海的许多岛屿、西班牙和高卢的一部分。143

Alphonse de Lamartine says on this point, Never has a man proposed for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a goal more sublime, since this goal was beyond measure: undermine the superstitions placed between the creature and the Creator, give back God to man and man to God, reinstate the rational and saintly idea of divinity in the midst of this prevailing chaos of material and disfigured gods of idolatry... Never has a man accomplished in such short time such an immense and long-lasting revolution in the world, since less than two centuries after his prediction, Islam, preaching and armed, ruled over three Arabias and conquered to God’s unity Persia, the Khorasan of Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, and all the known continent of Northern Africa, many islands of the Mediterranean, Spain, and part of Gaul.143

爱德华·吉本补充道:穆斯林始终抵制住了将其信仰与崇拜的对象降低到与人的感官和想象同等水平的诱惑。"我信仰独一的真主,穆罕默德是真主的使者",这是伊斯兰教简单而恒定的信条。对神的理性形象从未被任何可见的偶像所玷污;对先知的尊崇从未超越人类美德的限度,而他生前的教导也将门徒的感恩之情约束在理性与宗教的范围之内。ﷺ144

Edward Gibbon adds, The Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man. ‘I believe in One God and Mahomet the Apostle of God’ is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honors of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion.144

这种最纯粹的一神教观念，是先知穆罕默德ﷺ所确立的：人与真主之间是纯粹的个人关系，没有任何中介，也不受任何人为干预。

This purest conceptualization of monotheism was inculcated by the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم: a purely personal relationship with God, one void of any intermediary or human interference.

这种严格的一神论使所有男人和女人在真主面前地位平等，且同样能够亲近真主。这有助于塑造伊斯兰教的平等主义本质，并提供了一种社会叙事：人的圣洁不是由其物质财富或社会阶层体现的，而是由其虔诚和善行体现的。

This strict monotheism placed all men and women on equal footing before God and with equal access to God. This helped shape the egalitarian nature of Islam, providing a social narrative in which the holiness of men was not evidenced by their material possessions or social class, but rather by their acts of piety and righteousness.

此外,他صلى الله عليه وسلم所带来的神学纠正了关于真主的各种相互竞争的神学观点,从而形成了一种连贯一致的一神论世界观(见第四章)。这正是伊斯兰教的解释力,使其具有巨大的吸引力:它能够令人信服地回答关于真主与创造的存在性问题。至于其精神上的吸引力,也同样是伊斯兰教持续烙印于人们思想与心灵之中的一股强大动力。毕竟,穆罕默德ﷺ最伟大的神迹就是《古兰经》,它是真主对人类的原文宣谕,直至末日,凡愿意研读者皆可获得。

Furthermore, the theology he صلى الله عليه وسلم brought corrected competing theologies about God, resulting in one coherent monotheistic worldview (see Chapter 4). This was the explanatory power of Islam which gave it immense appeal: its compelling ability to satisfy existential questions about God and creation. As for its spiritual appeal, that too was a driving force behind its continued imprint on the minds and hearts of people. After all, the greatest miracle of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was the Qur’an which stands as God’s verbatim address to humanity, available to all who choose to study it until the end of time.