Chapter 1 — The Birth of a New Scripture

I. The Age of Religious Fire

The dawn of the nineteenth century in America was an age of faith — and of confusion. From the crowded camp meetings of Kentucky to the quiet villages of New England, religion pulsed through the nation’s heart like fire through dry grass. This period, known to historians as The Second Great Awakening, ignited an unprecedented wave of revivalism, sectarian movements, and spiritual experimentation. Preachers roamed the frontier, urging repentance and promising rebirth; new denominations arose almost monthly, each claiming to restore the purity of the gospel lost to creeds and corruption.

It was into this world of longing and contradiction that Joseph Smith Jr., a young farmhand from western New York, would step forward — not as another preacher, but as a prophet.

II. A Nation in Search of Prophets

The early American frontier was fertile ground for visionaries. The social upheaval of a new republic, the democratic promise of spiritual self-determination, and the widespread illiteracy of doctrine created a perfect climate for revelation. Men and women claimed divine dreams, angelic encounters, and supernatural gifts. In 1820, Joseph Smith would add his voice to this chorus, recounting a vision that would become the cornerstone of a new faith.

In his own record, Smith claimed that within that light stood two personages — God the Father and Jesus Christ — who told him that all existing churches were in error and that he was chosen to restore the original faith. For his followers, this marked the dawn of a new dispensation; for his critics, it represented a collision between imagination and inspiration.

III. The Claim of Heavenly Records

Three years later, Smith reported another visitation — this time from an angel named Moroni, who revealed the existence of golden plates buried in a nearby hill. These plates, engraved in “Reformed Egyptian,” contained the record of ancient prophets who had lived on the American continent. Smith was instructed to translate them “by the gift and power of God.”

The doctrine of finality (Khatm an-Nubuwwah) established in Islam asserts that with Muhammad ﷺ, prophethood reached its completion. No new prophet or scripture can arise after him. Thus, from the Islamic view, Smith’s claim introduced not a continuation of revelation but a contradiction of it.

IV. The Translation and the Witnesses

According to early Mormon accounts, Joseph Smith began dictating the translation in 1827 using seer stones placed in a hat, reading aloud while scribes recorded his words. The Book of Mormon was completed in less than three months. Eleven men signed testimonies affirming that they had seen the gold plates, though none were permitted to keep or publicly examine them.

From the Islamic scholarly lens, revelation is validated by miracle and moral integrity, not by private vision. No prophet’s claim is self-authenticating; each is confirmed through public signs, prophecy, and consistency with previous truth. The Book of Mormon’s origins, reliant on one man’s unverifiable experience, therefore stand outside that criterion.

V. The Birth of a New Faith

Despite controversy, the publication of The Book of Mormon in 1830 marked the beginning of a religious movement that would grow into a global church. To its adherents, it was the restored gospel of Jesus Christ; to its opponents, a fabrication rooted in frontier mysticism. Smith’s teachings expanded to include new revelations, a divine priesthood, and a theology of eternal progression. Within fourteen years he would be martyred, and his followers would carry his faith westward to the valleys of Utah.

VI. Reflection

The story of Joseph Smith’s visions and the birth of the Book of Mormon embodies a timeless human impulse — to seek the divine in new forms when old structures seem to fail. Yet from the Qur’anic perspective, revelation is neither revised nor renewed; it is preserved and perfected.

Here lies the measure by which all later claims must be judged: revelation ends not in human ambition but in divine completion. For the Muslim, this truth is not closed door but an open path — preserved through the Qur’an and the Prophet ﷺ whose message remains alive in the world.