What non-Muslims Say
About Him (2)
During the centuries
of the crusades, all sorts of slanders were invented against Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh). But with the birth of the modern 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 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
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 into 'an
impostor' and claim to be the Prophet of Allah and invite 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 he would leave the preaching
of his religion. But he chose to refuse their tempting offers and go 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 humanity, that he stood like a mountain in the face of
all opposition and conspiracies to eliminate him? Furthermore, had he come
with a design of rivalry with the Christians and the Jews, why should he
have made belief in Jesus Christ and Moses and other Prophets of God (peace
be upon them), a basic requirement of faith without which no one could
be a Muslim?
Is it not an incontrovertible
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 the highest calibre failed to bring
forth its equivalent. And above all, how could he then pronounce truths
of a scientific nature contained in the Qur'an that no other human being
could possible have developed at that time?
Last but not 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 the chain of Prophets sent in different lands
and times since the very beginning of the human life on this planet. Read
the following writings of the Western authors:
"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, legislations, 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 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, 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 TURQUIE,
Paris, 1854, Vol. II, pp. 276-277.
"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 an 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 honours 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 a fixed revenue; if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled
by the right divine, it was Mohammed, 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 Watt, 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 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 rumours 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 READER'S DIGEST (American edition), 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., 1978, p. 33.
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