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the sunna of the prophet 75nessed them. But over the centuries they turned into naba" eventsas they became unknown or indiscernible to subsequent generations.In terms of style and rhetorical expression they are elaborate,lengthy, and detailed. Both categories of ‘news’, naba" and khabar,pertain to the content of al-qur"§n and form the qur"anic stories;they belong to the book of prophethood and do not contain legalinjunctions.With this in mind we say that the miraculous nature ( al-i#j§z) of thebook of prophethood is defined by the quality of knowledge it contains;it is i#j§z #ilmÊ, or an ‘epistemological miracle’. Not only doesit contain precise knowledge of the universal laws that govern theentire universe and nature, but it also hosts historical stories whichhad either already happened before MuÈammad’s time (naba" eventsto him) or which he himself witnessed (khabar events). For us today,such khabar events have now become naba" events.The miraculous nature of the book of messengerhood, in contrast,is defined by the soundness and righteousness of its legal instructions:they are valid until the Day of Judgement. It enjoys everlasting validitybecause it is based on the principle of ÈanÊfiyya and because itsinjunctions are applied within the legal framework of Allah’s limits(see chapters 4 and 5).The Book, directly revealed into MuÈammad’s brain, holds prophethoodand messengerhood. It came down as the last of the manymessages of al-isl§m which history had accumulated over time andwith which Allah has sent his prophets and messengers to all peoplesin this world. Al-isl§m, as we said in chapter 1, started with Noahand found its perfect expression with MuÈammad (ß). SinceMuÈammad’s (ß) death our knowledge of the universe has increasedand our legal systems have improved. Humankind as a whole hasgreatly advanced, so much so that we no longer need another prophetor another revelation as we can now rely on reason and our maturedexperiences of this world. The scientific institutions of the modernera have inherited prophecies and prophethoods, and the new legislativeassemblies and parliaments have inherited ancient messengersand their messengerhoods. In other words, with the ‘seal of theprophets’ ended too the period of external, moral intervention andconsequently also the role of religious experts.If the Book is Allah’s revelation as text and content from its first toits last letter, we would need to specify what makes it so different