What
they say about MUHAMMAD
IN
THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE
BENEFICENT,
THE MERCIFUL
During the centuries of the crusades, all sorts of slanders
were invented against the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). But with the birth of the
modem age, marked with religious tolerance and freedom of thought,
there has been a great change in the approach of Western authors in their
delineation of his life and character, The views of some non-Muslim
scholars regarding Prophet Muhammad, given at the end, justify this opinion.
But the West has still to go a step forward to discover the
greatest reality about Muhammad (PBUH) and that is his being the true and the
last Prophet of God for the whole humanity. In spite of all its objectivity and
enlightenment there has been no sincere and objective attempt by the West to
understand the Prophethood of Muhammad (PBUH). It is so strange that very
glowing tributes are paid to him for his integrity and achievement but his claim
of being the Prophet of God has been rejected explicitly or implicitly. It is
here that a searching of the heart is required, and a review of the
so-called objectivity is needed. The following glaring facts from the life
of Muhammad (PBUH) have been furnished to facilitate an unbiased, logical and
objective decision regarding his Prophethood.
Up to the age of forty Muhammad (PBUH) was not known as a
statesman, a preacher or an orator. He was never seen discussing the principles
of metaphysics, ethics, law, politics, economics or sociology. No doubt he
possessed an excellent character, charming manners and was highly cultured. Yet
there was nothing so deeply striking and so radically extraordinary in him that
would make men expect something great and revolutionary from him in the future.
But when he came out of the Cave (HIRA) with a new message, he was completely
transformed. "Is it
possible for such a person of the above qualities to turn all of a sudden Van
impostor' and claimed to be the Prophet of Allah and invited all the rage of his
people?" One might ask: �for what reason did he suffer all those
hardships?" His people offered to accept him as their King and to lay all the
riches of the land at his feet if only he would leave the preaching of his
religion. But he refused their tempting offers and went on preaching his
religion single-handedly in face of all kinds of insults, social boycott
and even physical assault by his own people. "Was
it not only God's support and his firm will to disseminate the message of Allah
and his deep-rooted belief that ultimately Islam would emerge as the only
way of life for the humanity, that
he stood like a mountain in the face of all oppositions and conspiracies to
eliminate him?" "Furthermore, had he come with a design of rivalry
with the Christians and the Jews, why should he believed in Jesus Christ and
Moses and other Prophets of God (peace be upon them), which is a basic
requirement of faith without which no one could be a Muslim? "
"Is
it a clear proof of his Prophethood, that in spite Of being unlettered and
having led a very normal and quiet life for forty years, when he began preaching
his message, all of Arabia stood in awe and wonder and was bewitched by his
wonderful eloquence and oratory?" It was so matchless that the whole legion of Arab poets,
preachers and orators of highest caliber�s failed to bring forth its
equivalent. "And
above all, how could he then Pronounced proof of scientific truths contained in
the Qur'an that no other human‑being could possibly have acquired at that
time?"
Last, but not the least, why did he lead a hard life even
after gaining power and authority? Just ponder over the words he uttered while
dying: "We the
community of the Prophets are not inherited. Whatever we leave is for
charity".
As a matter of fact, Muhammad (PBUH), is the last link of
Prophets sent in different lands and times since the beginning of the human fife
on earth.
If
greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three
criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern
history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires only.
They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often
crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies,
legislation�s, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in
one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the
altars, the gods, the religions,
the ideas, the beliefs and souls his forbearance in vic�tory, his ambition,
which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire;
his end�less prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his
triumph after death; all these attest not to an impostor
but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma
was twofold, the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former
telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing
false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with the words.
Philosopher,
orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational
dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and
of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which
human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than
he?
Lamartine, Histoire de la Turqtfie, Paris
1854
Vol. H, pp. 276-77.
It
is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our
wonder; the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and
Medina is preserved, after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian,
the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran... The Mohammedans have
uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and
devotion to a level with the senses and imaginations of man. �I believe in One
God and Mohammed the Apostle of God', is the simple and invariable profession of
Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any
visible idol; the honors of the
prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue; and his living
precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of
reason and religion.
Edward
Gibbon and Simon Ocklay,
History of the Saracen Empire,
London 1870, p. 54.
He
was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope's pretensions,
Caesar without the legions of Caesar: without a standing army, without a
bodyguard, without a palace, without affixed revenue; if ever any man had the
right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Muhammad, for he had all
the power without its instruments and without its supports.
Bosworth
Smith,
Mohammad and Mohammadanism,
London 1874, p. 92.
It
is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet
of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but
reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme.
And although in What I put to you I shall say many things which may be familiar
to many, yet I myself feel whenever I re-read them, a new way of
admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher.
Annie
Besant,
The life and Teachings of Muhammad,
Madras 1932,p.4
His
readiness to undergo persecutions for his beliefs, the high moral character of
the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of
his ultimate achievement all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose
Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the
great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad.
W.
Montgomery,
Mohammad at Mecca,
Oxford, 1953, p. 52
Muhammad,
the inspired man who founded Islam, was born about A. D. 570 into an Arabian
tribe that worshipped idols. Orphaned at birth, he was always particularly
solicitous of the poor and needy, the widow and the orphan, the slave and the
downtrodden. At twenty he was already a successful businessman, and soon became
director of camel caravans for a wealthy widow. When he reached
twenty‑five his employer, recognizing his merit, proposed marriage. Even
though she was fifteen years older, he married her, and as long as she lived
remained a devoted husband.
Like
almost every Major Prophets before him, Muhammad fought shy of serving as the,
transmitter Of God's word, sensing his own inadequacy. But the an�gel commanded
'Read'. So far as we know, Muham�mad was unable to read or write, but he began
to dic�tate those inspired words which would soon revolutionize a large segment
of the earth; " There is one God".
In
all things Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim died,
an eclipse occurred, and rumors of God's
personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon Muhammad is said to have announced,
'An eclipse is a phenomenon of nature. It is foolish to attribute such things to
the death or birth of a human being'.
At
Muhammad's own death an attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to
become his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of the noblest
speeches in religious history: ' If there are any among you who worshipped
Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you worshipped, He lives forever'.
James
A. Michener,
'Islam the Misunderstood Religion�. In the Reader's Digest (American Edition)
for may, 1955,pp. 68-70
My
choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may
surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man
in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular level.
Michael
H. Hart,
The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History,
New York: Hart Publishing Company, Inc.
1987, p.33.