What is meant by the saying of Allah the Exalted: “upon a period of absence of the messengers”? And are the polytheists before the sending of the Messenger from the people of the period of absence?

Question:
May Allah reward you. Your Eminence, father, the questioner says: Regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted, , what is meant by His saying “a period of time for the messengers”? And are the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) before the sending of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called the people of the period (fatra)?

Answer:
“Upon a period of absence of the messengers” means a duration in which no prophet was sent. It was approximately six hundred years between 'Isa (peace be upon him), the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel, and the sending of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). In this period, no prophet came to them until the messages were forgotten, the books were altered, and disbelief spread. So Allah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to humanity to save them from darkness to light. He commands the People of the Book and reminds them of the favor of Allah, and commands them to follow this Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
As for the polytheists before the sending of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the Arab polytheists, they had remnants of the religion of Ibrahim. The traces of the message had not been cut off from them. They had remnants of the religion of 'Isa (peace be upon him) and the religion of Musa. They had remnants of the traces of the message.