The End of Prophecy: How Muhammad Became the Last Prophet

Between the twenty-first century BCE and the seventh century CE, prophecy flourished throughout the Near East. Circa 610 CE an inhabitant of Arabia by the name of Muhammad began to receive a series of communications that continued until his death in 632 CE. These communications were recorded in writing, collected, and redacted in the text known as the Quran. On one occasion, the Quran refers to Muhammad as “the seal of Prophets,” a phrase that is understood by Muslims as signifying that prophecy came to an end upon Muhammad’s death. In his lecture, David Powers will situate this distinctive Islamic doctrine in the context of the understanding of prophecy in the Near East in Late Antiquity.

David S. Powers, B.A. Yale (1973), Ph.D. Princeton (1979), is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Cornell University. His research focuses on the rise of Islam, and the history of Islamic law and its application in Muslim societies. Powers is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Islamic Law and Society and the author of Studies in Qur'an and Hadith: The Formation of the Islamic Law of Inheritance (California, 1986); Law, Society, and Culture in the Maghrib, 1300-1500 (Cambridge, 2002); Muhammad is Not the Father of Any of Your Men: The Making of the Last Prophet (Pennsylvania, 2009); and Zayd (Pennsylvania, 2014).

Sponsored by the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion

Cost : Free and open to the public.

Sponsor(s): Center for Near Eastern Studies, Center for the Study of Religion