And this is in reference to his view on Muhammad and the spread of Islam. A poor shepherd people, he's referring to the Arabs before Muhammad, roaming unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world. A hero prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe. See, the unnoticed becomes the world notable. The small has grown world great. Within one century afterwards, Arabia is at Granada on this hand, at Delhi on that. He's speaking of within 100 years of Muhammad's death, the Muslim empire has spread from what would eventually be southern Spain all the way to northern India.