You Must Know This Great Man:Prophet MUHAMMAD pbuh
You may be an antheist or an agnostic; or you may belong to any of the religious denominations that exist in the world today. You may be a communist or a believer in democracy and freedom. No matter what you are, and no matter what your ideological and political beliefs, personal and social habits happen to be - you must still know this man.
In the quotations below, Western writers have
used the word Muhammadanism for Islam. The word Muhammadanism connotes worship
of Muhammad, an absolutely unworthy statement for any learned man to use.
Prophet Muhammad's mission was to propagate the worship of the One and Only God
(in Arabic Allah), the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. His mission was
essentially the same as that of earlierProphets of God. In the historical context, many such terminologies about
Muhammad, Islam, and Muslims were borrowed from earlier European writings of
the Eleventh to the Nineteenth century, a time when ignorance and prejudice
prevailed. The quotations below attest to the facts.
QUOTATIONS FROM FAMOUS PEOPLE!
"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has
heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
"A silent great soul, one of that who
cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world’s Maker had
ordered so."
The picture of the Muslim soldier advancing with a sword in one
hand and the Qur'an in the other is quite false.
History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical
Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon
conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians
have ever repeated.
The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The
Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the
fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes
and garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without
effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab.
"The greatest success of Mohammad’s life was effected by
sheer moral force."
“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 Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the
object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination
of man. ‘I believe in One God and Mahomet 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.”
He was the most faithful protector of those he protected, the
sweetest and most agreeable in conversation. Those who saw him were suddenly
filled with reverence; those who came near him loved him; they who described
him would say, "I have never seen his like either before or after."
He was of great taciturnity, but when he spoke it was with emphasis and
deliberation, and no one could forget what he said...
It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character
of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knew 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 reread
them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian
teacher.
So great was his liberality to the poor that he often left his
household unprovided, nor did he content himself with relieving their wants, he
entered into conversation with them, and expressed a warm sympathy for their
sufferings. He was a firm friend and a faithful ally.
"Head of the State as well as the Church, he was Caesar and
Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope's pretensions, and Caesar without
the legions of Caesar, without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a
police force, without a fixed revenue. If ever a man ruled
by a right divine, it was Muhammad, for he had all the powers without their
supports. He cared not for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his
private life was in keeping with his public life."
"In Mohammadanism every thing is
different here. Instead of the shadowy and the mysterious, we have
history....We know of the external history of Muhammad....while for his
internal history after his mission had been proclaimed, we have a book
absolutely unique in its origin, in its preservation....on the Substantial
authority of which no one has ever been able to cast a serious doubt."
Edward Montet, 'La Propagande Chretienne et ses
Adversaries Musulmans,' Paris 1890. (Also in T.W. Arnold in 'The Preaching of
Islam,' London 1913.)
"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in
the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically....the
teachings of the Prophet, the Qur'an has invariably kept its place as the
fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been
proclaimed therein with a grandeur a majesty, an invariable purity and with a
note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of
Islam....A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and
consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to
possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of winning its way into the
consciences of men."
Muhammad was a shining example to his people. His character was
pure and stainless. His house, his dress, his food - they were characterized by
a rare simplicity. So unpretentious was he that he would receive from his
companions no special mark of reverence, nor would he accept any service from
his slave which he could do for himself. He was accessible to all and at all
times. He visited the sick and was full of sympathy for all. Unlimited was his
benevolence and generosity as also was his anxious care for the welfare of the
community.
"Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or
involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman; to subvert
superstitions which had been imposed between man and his Creator, to render God
unto man and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of
divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then
existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with
so feeble means, for he (Muhammad) had in the conception as well as in the
execution of such a great design, no other instrument than himself and no other
aid except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never
has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because
in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and in arms,
reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered, in God's name, Persia
Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known
continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain,
and part of Gaul.
"If greatness of
purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of
a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in 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, legislations, empires, peoples,
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 the souls.
"On the basis of a Book, every letter
which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blend together
peoples of every tongue and race. He has left the indelible characteristic of
this Muslim nationality the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One
and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven
formed the virtue of the followers of Muhammad; the conquest of one-third the
earth to the dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle of man but
that of reason.
"The idea of the
unity of God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of the fabulous theogonies,
was in itself such a miracle that upon it's utterance from his lips it
destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the
world. His life, his meditations, his heroic revelings against the
superstitions of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of
idolatry, his firmness in enduring them for fifteen years in Mecca, his
acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost of being a victim of his
fellow countrymen: all these and finally, his flight his incessant preaching,
his wars against odds, his faith in his success and his superhuman security in
misfortune, his forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely
devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless
prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after
death; all these attest not to an imposture 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 words.
"Philosopher,
Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of Ideas, Restorer of Rational
beliefs.... 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?"
I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an
undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind.... I became more than
ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those
days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter
self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense
devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his
absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried
everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second
volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to
read of that great life.
"If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay
Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam."
“I have always held the religion of Muhammad
in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion
which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase
of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him -
the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be
called the Savior of Humanity."
"I believe that if a man like him were to
assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its
problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I
have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the
Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.”
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
secular and religious level. ...It is probable that the relative influence of
Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ
and St. Paul on Christianity. ...It is this unparalleled combination of secular
and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the
most influential single figure in human history.
Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in
Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence
upon the human race... To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the
daily life of one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of a
Messenger of God.
Judged by the smallness of the means at his disposal, and the
extent and permanence of the work that he accomplished, his name in world's
history shines with a more specious lustre than that of the Prophet of Makkah. To
the impulse which he gave numberless dynasties have owed their existence, fair
cities and stately palaces and temples have arisen, and wide provinces became
obedient to the Faith. And beyond all this, his words have governed the belief
of generations, been accepted as their rule of life, and their certain guide to
the world to come. At a thousand shrines the voices of the faithful invoke
blessings on him, whom they esteem the very Prophet of God, the seal of the
Apostles....Judged by the standards to human renown, the glory of what
mortal can compare with his?
His military triumphs awakened no pride nor vain glory as they
would have done had they been effected by selfish purposes. In the time of his
greatest power he maintained the same simplicity of manner and appearance as in
the days of his adversity. So far from affecting regal state, he was displeased
if, on entering a room, any unusual testimonial of respect was shown to him.
It was the genius of Muhammad, the spirit that he breathed into
the Arabs through the soul of Islam that exalted them. That raised them out of
the lethargy and low level of tribal stagnation up to the high watermark of
national unity and empire. It was in the sublimity of Muhammad's deism, the
simplicity, the sobriety and purity it inculcated the fidelity of its founder
to his own tenets, that acted on their moral and intellectual fiber with all
the magnetism of true inspiration.
Deeply read in the volume of nature, though extremely ignorant
of letters, his mind could expand into controversy with the wisest of his
enemies or contract itself to the apprehension of meanest of his disciples. His
simple eloquence was rendered impressive by a manner of mixed dignity and
elegance, by the expression of a countenance where the awfulness of his majesty
was so well tempered by an amiable sweetness, that it exerted emotions of
veneration and love. He was gifted with that authoritative air or genius which
alike influences the learned and commands the illiterate.
Within a brief span of mortal life, Muhammad called forth of
unpromising material, a nation, never welded before; in a country that was
hitherto but a geographical expression he established a religion which in vast
areas suppressed Christianity and Judaism, and laid the basis of an empire that
was soon to embrace within its far flung boundaries the fairest provinces the
then civilized world.
He was one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy
of making one great truth their very life spring. He was the messenger of One
God, and never to his life's end did he forget who he was or the message which
was the marrow of his being. He brought his tidings to his people with a grand
dignity sprung from the consciousness of his high office, together with a most
sweet humility.
Mohammad's career is a wonderful instance of the force and life
that resides in him who possesses an intense faith in God and in the unseen
world. He will always be regarded as one of those who have had that influence
over the faith, morals and whole earthly life of their fellow men, which none
but a really great man ever did, or can exercise; and whose efforts to
propagate a great verity will prosper.
His readiness to undergo persecution for his beliefs, the high
moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as a
leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement - all argue his
fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems
that it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly
appreciated in the West as Muhammad.... Thus, not merely must we credit
Muhammad with essential honesty and integrity of purpose, if we are to
understand him at all; if we are to correct the errors we have inherited from
the past, we must not forget the conclusive proof is a much stricter
requirement than a show of plausibility, and in a matter such as this only to
be attained with difficulty.
Serious or trivial, his daily behavior has instituted a canon which
millions observe this day with conscious memory. No one regarded by any section
of the human race as Perfect Man has ever been imitated so minutely. The
conduct of the founder of Christianity has not governed the ordinary life of
his followers. Moreover, no founder of a religion has left on so solitary an
eminence as the Muslim apostle.
He was sober and abstemious in his diet and a rigorous observer
of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty
mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected but a result of real
disregard for distinction from so trivial a source.
In his private dealings he was just. He
treated friends and strangers, the rich and poor, the powerful and weak, with
equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability with which he
received them, and listened to their complaints.
His military triumphs awakened no pride nor
vain glory, as they would have done had they been effected for selfish
purposes. In the time of his greatest power he maintained the same simplicity
of manners and appearance as in the days of his adversity. So far from
affecting a regal state, he was displeased if, on entering a room, any unusual
testimonials of respect were shown to him. If he aimed at a universal dominion,
it was the dominion of faith; as to the temporal rule which grew up in his
hands, as he used it without ostentation, so he took no step to perpetuate it
in his family.
"No other religion in history spread so rapidly as Islam.
The West has widely believed that this surge of religion was made possible by
the sword. But no modern scholar accepts this idea, and the Qur’an is explicit
in the support of the freedom of conscience."
"Muhammad, the inspired man who founded
Islam, was born about A.D. 570 into an Arabian tribe that worshiped 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 prophet before him,
Muhammad fought shy of serving as the transmitter of God’s word sensing his own
inadequacy. But the Angel commanded ‘Read’. So far as we know, Muhammad was
unable to read or write, but he began to dictate 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 worshiped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you
Worshiped, He lives for ever'.”
Incidentally these well-established facts dispose of the idea so
widely fostered in Christian writings that the Muslims, wherever they went,
forced people to accept Islam at the point of the sword.
My problem to write this monograph is easier, because we are not
generally fed now on that (distorted) kind of history and much time need not be
spent on pointing out our misrepresentations of Islam. The theory of Islam and
sword, for instance, is not heard now in any quarter worth the name. The
principle of Islam that “there is no compulsion in religion” is well known.
Perhaps the greatest leader of all times was Mohammad, who
combined all the three functions. To a lesser degree Moses did the same.
-M S Ali
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