Who is Muhammed?

Who is Muhammad

bhamadi_adel@yahoo.fr — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:23:00 +0000

by Khurram Murad Published by The Islamic Foundation Markfield Dawah Centre Ratby Lane, Markfield, Leicester LE67 9SY, UK Quran House, PO Box 30611, Nairobi, Kenya PMB 3193, Kano, Nigeria © The Islamic Foundation 1998/1419 H. First published 1998 All rights reserved. ISBN 0 86037 290 1

The Prophet Muhammad Today

One in every five persons on this earth firmly believes that the Prophet Muhammad is the last Messenger of God. He was a Muslim and there are more than 1.3 billion such Muslims today. Not only individuals but entire countries take pride in declaring their allegiance to him. There are 54 such Muslim states today, ranging from those as large as Indonesia and Bangladesh, with populations of 200 and 125 million respectively, to those as tiny as the Maldives or Brunei with populations of 230,000 and 260,000. Even in non-Muslim countries, large Muslim populations constitute significant minorities; as much as 120 million in India and 20 million in China. Indeed, within the last half century, Islam, the religion brought by the Prophet Muhammad, has become the second largest religion in most European countries, as also in America and Canada.

Black and white, red and yellow, followers of the Prophet Muhammad come from all human races. Whether in Asia or Europe, Africa or America, in every nook and cranny of this globe, you are sure to find Muslims. They live in the most advanced, sprawling megalopolis as well as in the most primitive nomadic tent, village, hamlet, and even in the bush. As now so always, down the centuries, across the planet, from end to end, billions and billions of men and women have lived all their lives, loving the Prophet and trying to follow in his footsteps, as no one else has been so loved and followed. They have lived and died, believed and acted, married and raised families, worshipped and ruled, made war and peace, even eaten and dressed, walked and slept, just as he did or taught them to do. Indeed, never in history has a man influenced mankind, even beyond his death, so deeply and so pervasively as he has. He brings light and peace to countless hearts and lives. They love him more dearly than their own selves. In him they find their greatest source of inspiration and guidance. He is the ultimate norm and the perfect example for them. Faith in him is their mainstay, and he is their chief source of support and comfort in all personal vicissitudes and tribulations. To him they also look to lead them through social and political turmoil. He has always inspired them to greater and greater heights of spiritual and moral upliftment and civilizational achievements. And still does. In short, they believe that through him, a human like themselves, God has spoken to them, and guided him to live amongst them, setting an example and a model for all times to come. Even today he motivates and induces whole populations to yearn and strive to shape their private lives, politics and policies according to his teachings. Who, then, is this man Muhammad? Early Life in Makkah It was in the year 570, after Jesus, that Muhammad was born in Makkah, in what is now Saudi Arabia. Arabia, by all accounts, is the cradle of the human race. All the oldest human remains so far found come from the area of its location.

Hemmed in by red, black and brown volcanic hills about 80 kilometres to the east of the Red Sea, stands the city of Makkah. It was then a small merchant town on the ancient ‘incense’ route through which passed the great trade caravans between the south and north. However, Makkah was, and remains, important for an altogether different reason. For here lies the Kabah, the ‘first House’ ever set up for mankind to worship their only God. More than 1,000 years before the Prophet Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, his ancestor, the Prophet Abraham, aided by his elder son the Prophet Ishmael, raised its walls on very ancient foundations. Close by the Kabah lies the well called Zam Zam. Its origin, too, goes back to the Prophet Abraham’s time. It was this well which sprang up miraculously to save the life of the infant Ishmael. In the words of the Bible:

And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her: ‘What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Arise, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

(Genesis 21: 17–20 )

Or, as the Psalmist sings:

As they pass through the dry Valley of Baca, it becomes a place of springs; the early rain fills it with pools.

(Psalms 84: 6) Makkah never had, nor does it have now, any worldly inducement to offer for settlement. It is a barren, desolate place, where even grass does not grow! There were springs and wells of abundant water nearby in Taif, and a short distance away in Madinah. But it was the first House of God, architecturally an unremarkable cube, but spiritually and civilizationally the most remarkable fountain and spring of life – which made it supremely important, a place of attraction for people from all over the world. Forever, therefore, Makkah has been a great centre of pilgrimage.

By the time Muhammad was born, the Kabah’s latest guardians, the tribe of Quraysh, had more than 300 idols installed in and around the Kabah to be worshipped as lords, gods and intercessors besides the One God. Muhammad was a direct descendant of the Prophet Abraham through the Prophet Ishmael. He belonged to the financially poor but politically strong and noble clan of Banu Hashim from the tribe of Quraysh. As guardians of the Kabah, the House of God and the centre of pilgrimage for all Arabia, the Quraysh ranked higher in dignity and power than any other tribe. Hashim held the high office of levying taxes and providing the pilgrims with food and water. Muhammad was born an orphan. His father, Abdullah, died before he was born. His mother, Aminah, too, passed away when he was only six years old. Doubly an orphan, his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, took him into his care. Only two years later, however, the orphaned boy was bereaved of his grandfather as well, leaving him in the care of his uncle, Abu Talib. After his birth, the infant child was sent to the desert to be suckled and weaned and to spend part of his childhood among one of the Bedouin tribes, Bani Sad ibn Bakr, who live in the southeast of Makkah. This was the usual custom of all the great families in Makkah.

As Muhammad grew up, to earn his livelihood he pastured sheep and goats, as have done most prophets. His uncle and guardian, Abu Talib, also took him along with him on his travels with the trade caravans to greater Syria. He, thus, gained experience in trading. Because of his great honesty and diligence and the business acumen he showed in trading, he was soon being sought after to take charge of other people’s merchandise, i.e. for those who could not travel themselves, and to trade on their behalf.

At the age of 25, Muhammad married a lady named Khadijah. A widow, Khadijah was 15 years older than Muhammad. She was a rich merchant of Makkah, and Muhammad had managed some of her trade affairs. It was she who proposed marriage. Khadijah remained Muhammad’s wife and his closest friend and companion all her life till her death 25 years later. She bore him six children, of whom four daughters survived.

Until he was 40, Muhammad led a very uneventful life, showing no signs of the Prophet in the making that he was suddenly to be. What set him apart from his compatriots was his absolute truthfulness, trustworthiness and integrity, his sense of justice and compassion for the poor, oppressed and downtrodden, as well as his total refusal to worship any idol or do anything immoral. He was popularly acclaimed for these qualities.

Al-Amin, the Trustworthy, the Honest, al-Sadiq, the Truthful, were the titles on everybody’s lips for Muhammad, which itself means the Praised One.

At a very young age, Muhammad enthusiastically joined a pact of chivalry for the establishment of justice and the protection of the weak and the oppressed made by certain chiefs of the Quraysh.

He took part in the Oath when they all vowed ‘that henceforth they would stand together as one man on the side of the oppressed against the oppressor until justice was done, whether the oppressed were a man of the Quraysh or one who had come from abroad.’

In later years, at Madinah, Muhammad used to say: ‘I was present in the house of Abd Allah ibn Jud’an at so excellent a pact that I would not exchange my part in it for a herd of red camels, and if now, in Islam, I were summoned to a similar pact, I would gladly respond.’

A testimony to Muhammad’s character was given by his wife Khadijah as she comforted him at the time when the first Revelation came to him. He said later: ‘I fear for my life.’ She replied: ‘By no means!

I swear by God that God will never lose you. You join ties of relationship, you speak the truth, you bear people’s burdens, you earn for the poor, you entertain guests, and you help against the vicissitudes which affect people’s rights.’

Muhammad’s wisdom was also acknowledged by all. Once, while repairing the Kabah, various clans of the Quraysh disputed violently as to who should have the honour of placing the Black Stone in its place. As they were about to unsheathe their swords and go to war, they made the Prophet their arbitrator and he brought them peace. He placed the Black Stone on his cloak and asked all the clan chiefs to hold its edges and raise it, and then he placed the Black Stone in its appointed spot with his own hands.

The Prophet at Makkah Muhammad was not only a wise, just, compassionate, honoured and respected man, but also a profoundly contemplative and spiritual person. As he approached the age of 40, increasingly he came to spend more and more of his time in retreat, in contemplation, worship, prayer, in the Cave of Hira in Jabal al-Nur, sometimes for several days at a time.

It was here that one night before dawn, in the last part of the month of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims, the Angel Gabriel appeared before him in the form of a man, and said to him: ‘Read’, and the Prophet said: ‘I am not a reader.’

Thereupon, as he himself told it, ‘the Angel Jibrail overwhelmed me in his embrace until I reached the limit of my endurance. Then he returned me and said: ‘Read.’ Again I said: ‘I am not a reader.’

Thrice the same thing happened. The third time, after releasing me from his embrace, the Angel finally said:

Read in the name of your Lord Who has created. He has created man from a clot of blood. Read, and your Lord is the Most Bountiful: He who has taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not.

(al-Alaq 96: 1–5) He recited these words after the Angel. And, then, the Angel said to him:

You are the Messenger of God

Overawed by the unique experience of the Divine and overwhelmed by the huge burden of truth and message, he came out of the cave, his body trembling and his heart quaking. The Prophet returned home. ‘Cover me! Cover me!’, he said to his wife Khadijah. She quickly covered him with a cloak. Wrapped in the cloak, he told her what had happened in the Cave of Hira, how he had come to be appointed as God’s Messenger. The event in Hira, as narrated by Muhammad, was the supreme and most crucial event of his life.

All that happened later has been happening over the centuries, and all the positions that he enjoys in the eyes of his followers, or his detractors, hinges on the veracity, truthfulness, authenticity and nature of this event in Hira.

Yet the only thing to support his claim in this respect was and remains his own word. Was he truly a Messenger of God? Was what he saw real and true? Or, was it an hallucination? Was he a man possessed? Did he just compose in words as poets do, the ideas he found in his heart?

These questions are raised today, as they were raised by his compatriots then. Of these his wife of 15 years was to be the first judge. She knew him too well to doubt even for a moment that he could say anything but the truth. She also knew his character. So, she believed in him without a moment’s hesitation.

As with his wife Khadijah, so his closest friend Abu Bakr, his adopted son Zayd, his cousin Ali who lived with him, in short all who knew the Prophet most intimately, believed in his truthfulness most spontaneously.

Khadijah took the Prophet to her cousin Waraqah, who had converted to Christianity, and acquired great learning in Christian Scriptures.

Both the Jews and Christians had been expecting the coming of the last Prophet as foretold in their Scriptures. Had not Moses, just before he died, been told:

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth

(Deuteronomy 18: 18)? Who could be the brethren of the sons of Israel except the sons of Ishmael?

Who could be the mysterious Shiloh but the Prophet Muhammad, about whom Jacob prophesied immediately before his death, that to him would be transferred the Divine mission in ‘the latter days’:

And Jacob called his sons and said, gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days . . . The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him the gathering of the people be.

(Genesis 49: 1, 10) And, whom did Jesus mean other than Muhammad when he said:

If I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you . . . he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak

(John 16: 7–14)? Waraqah therefore had no doubts that the last Prophet had come; so, he, too, believed in him.

But most of the people of Makkah who had acclaimed him as the Trustworthy (Al-Amin) and the Truthful (Al-Sadiq) could not bring themselves to believe in him. Nor could the Jews and Christians who had for so long been living in expectation of his arrival. Not that they doubted his truthfulness or integrity. But they were not prepared to turn their whole established way of life upside down by submitting to his simple but radical message: When I recite the Qur’an, I find the following clear instructions: God is He who has created you, and the heavens and the earth, He is your only Lord and Master. Surrender your beings and your lives totally to Him alone, and worship and serve no one but Him. Let God be the only God.

The words I speak, He places in my mouth, I speak on His authority. Obey me and forsake all false claimants to human obedience. Everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to God; no man has a right to be master of another man, to spread oppression and corruption on earth. An eternal life beyond awaits you; where you will meet God face to face, and your life will be judged; for that you must prepare.

This simple message shook the very foundations of the Makkan society as well as the seventh-century world. That world, as today, lived under the yoke of many false gods: kings and emperors, priests and monks, feudal lords and rich businessmen, soothsayers and spell-binders who claimed to know what others knew not – all lorded over man. Not only that: man-made gods of their own desires, their tribal loyalties, their ancestors, and the powers of nature, like the nations, cultures, science and technology today all lorded over man.

The Prophet’s message challenged them all, exposed them all, threatened them all. His immediate opponents in Makkah could do no better than brand him unconvincingly as a liar, a poet, a soothsayer, a man possessed. But how could he who was illiterate, he who had never composed a single verse, he who had shown no inclination to lead men,suddenly, have words flowing from his lips, so full of wisdom and light, morally so uplifting, specifically so enlivening, so beautiful and powerful, that they began to change the hearts and minds and lives of the hearers? His detractors and opponents had no answer. When challenged to produce anything even remotely similar to the words Muhammad claimed he was receiving from God, they could not match God’s words.

First privately, then publicly, the Prophet continued to proclaim his Message. He himself had an intense, living relationship with God, totally committed to the Message and mission entrusted to him. Slowly and gradually, people came forward and embraced Islam. They came from all walks of life – chiefs and slaves, businessmen and artisans, men and women – most of them young.

Some simply heard the Qur’an, and that was enough to transform them. Some saw the Prophet, and were immediately captivated by the light of mercy, generosity and humanity that was visible in his manners and morals, in his words and works, and in his face too.

So also the opposition continued to harden and sharpen. It grew furious and ferocious. Those who joined the Prophet as also the Prophet himself were tortured in innumerable ways: they were mocked, abused, beaten, flogged, imprisoned, and boycotted. Some were subjected to much more inhuman tortures: made to lie on burning coal fires until the melting body fat extinguished them, or were dragged over burning sand and rocks. Yet such was the strength of their faith that none of them gave it up in the face of such trials and tribulations.

However, as the persecutions became unbearable, the Prophet said to them: ‘If you go to Abyssinia, you will find there a king, a Christian, under whom no one suffers wrong.’ About 80 of his followers, therefore, forsook their homes and emigrated to Abyssinia, where the Christian king gave them full protection despite the pleadings and machinations of the emissaries sent by the Quraysh chiefs. This was the first emigration of Islam.

All the while, the Prophet and his Companions continued to nourish their souls and intellects and strengthen their character and resolve for the great task that lay ahead. They met regularly, especially at a house near the Kabah called Dar al-Arqam, to read and study the Qur’an, to worship and pray, and to forge the ties of brotherhood.

Ten years passed, but the people of Makkah would not give their allegiance to the Prophet’s Message nor showed any signs of mitigating their persecution. At the same time, the Prophet lost his closest Companions and his wife Khadijah, as also his uncle Abu Talib, his chief protector in the tribal world of Makkah.

The Prophet now decided to carry his Message to the people of the nearby town of Taif, known for its wealth. In Taif, too, the tribal leaders mocked and ridiculed him and rejected his Message. They also stirred up their slaves and the street urchins to insult him, mock him, and throw stones at him.

Thus, he was stoned until he bled and was driven out of Taif. And yet when his Companion, Zayd, requested him to curse the people of Taif, and when God placed at his command the Angel of Mountains to crush the valley of Taif if he so wished, he only prayed for their being guided. Such was the mercy and compassion of the one who is the ‘mercy for all the worlds’.

The Taif episode was the hardest moment in the Prophet’s life. It signalled the advent of a new era for him, when his mission was to find a secure base, and was to ascend higher and higher in the coming days until the end of time.

To mark that, one night the Prophet was awakened and taken, in the company of the Angel Gabriel, first to Jerusalem. There he was met by all the Prophets, who gathered together behind him as he prayed on the rock in the centre of the site of the Temple, the spot where the Dome of the Rock stands today. From the rock, led by the Archangel, he ascended through the seven heavens and beyond.

Thus he saw whatever God made him see, the heavenly worlds which no human eye can see, and which were the focus of his Message and mission.

During this journey, the five daily Prayers were ordained for his people. Furthermore, it was then that the Prophet was given the charter for the new society and state soon to be born, which, too, was prophesied and which is described in Surah al-Isra’ (Chapter 17) of the Qur’an.

The Prophet at Madinah The Message that Makkah and Taif rejected, found responsive hearts in Yathrib, a small oasis about 400 kilometres to the north of Makkah. Now known as Madinatun Nabi, the city of the Prophet, or Madinah Munawwara, the radiant city, it was destined to be the centre of the Divine light that was to spread to all parts of the world for all times to come.

In quick succession, the Prophet suffered the terrible loss of Khadijah, his intimate and beloved companion for 25 years, and of Abu Talib, his guardian and protector against the bloodthirsty Makkan foes, and encountered the worst ever rejection, humiliation and persecution at nearby Taif. As the Prophet reached the lowest point in his vocation, God brought him comfort and solace. On the one hand, spiritually, He took him during the Night of the Ascension to the highest of highs, realities and divinities, face to face with the Unseen. And on the other, materially, he opened the hearts of the people of Yathrib to the Message and mission of Muhammad.

Soon after Muhammad’s return from Taif and the Night Journey, at the time of the Pilgrimage, six men from Yathrib embraced Islam. They delivered the Message of Islam to as many as they could, and at the time of the next Pilgrimage in the year 621 CE, 12 persons came. They pledged themselves to the Prophet, that they would make no god beside God, that they would neither steal nor commit fornication, nor slay their infants, nor utterslanders, nor disobey him in that which is right. The Prophet said:

If you fulfil this pledge, then Paradise is yours.

This time the Prophet sent Musab ibn Umayr with them to teach them the Qur’an and Islam and to spread the Message of slam.

More and more people over the course of a year – tribal leaders, men and women – in Yathrib became Muslims. At the time of the next Pilgrimage, they decided to send a delegation to the Prophet, make a pledge to him, and invite him and all Muslims in Makkah to Yathrib as a sanctuary and as a base for spreading the Divine Message of Islam.

In all 73 men and two women came. They met the Prophet at Aqabah. They pledged to protect the Prophet as they would protect their own women and children, and to fight against all men, red and black, even if their nobles were killed and they suffered the loss of all their possessions. When asked what would be theirs if they fulfilled their pledge, the Prophet said: ‘Paradise’. Thus, the beginning was made, the foundations of the Islamic society,state and civilization were set.

The road was now open for the persecuted and tortured followers of the Prophet to come to the House of Islam, that was to be Madinah. He,therefore, instructed them to emigrate, and gradually most of them found their way to Yathrib.

Their Makkan foes could not bear to see the Muslims living in peace. They knew the power of the Prophet’s Message, they knew the strength of those dedicated believers who cared nothing for the age-old Arab customs and ties of kinship, and who if they had to would fight for their faith. The Makkans sensed the danger that the Muslims’ presence in Madinah posed for their northern trade caravan routes. They saw no other way to stop all this but to kill the Prophet.

Hence they hatched a conspiracy: one strong and well-connected young man was to be nominated by each clan, and all of them were to pounce upon and kill the Prophet one morning as he came out of his house, so that his blood would be on all the clans hands. Thus, the Prophet’s clan would have to accept blood-money in place of revenge.

Informed of the plot by the Angel Gabriel, and instructed to leave Makkah for Madinah, the Prophet went to Abu Bakr’s house to finalize the travel arrangements. Abu Bakr was overjoyed at having been chosen for the honour and blessing of being the Prophet’s Companion on this blessed and momentous, sacred and epoch-making journey.

He offered his she-camel to the Prophet, but the Prophet insisted on paying its price.

On the fateful night, as darkness fell, the youths selected by the Quraysh leaders to kill the Prophet surrounded his house. They decided to pounce on him when he came out of his house for the dawn Prayers.

Meanwhile, the Prophet handed over all the money left by the Makkans with him for safe keeping to Ali. Ali offered to lie in the Prophet’s bed. The Prophet slipped out of his house, threw a little dust in their direction, and walked past his enemies, whose eyes were still on the house.

He met Abu Bakr at his house, and they both travelled to a nearby cave, the Jabal Thur. When the Quraysh realized that the Prophet had evaded them, they were furious. They looked for him everywhere and on all roads; they also offered a reward of 100 she-camels for anybody who would bring them the Prophet, dead or alive.

A tribal chief, Suraqa, sighted the Prophet and followed him, hoping to earn the reward. The Prophet, with bloodthirsty foes in pursuit and an uncertain future ahead of him in Madinah, told Suraqa: ‘A day will soon come when Kisra’s golden hand bracelet will be in Suraqa’s hands.

Thereafter, Suraqa retreated, and the Prophet proceeded towards Madinah.

This was Hijrah, the emigration – a small distance in space, a mighty leap in history, an event that was to become a threshold in the shaping of the Islamic Ummah. This is why the Muslims date their calendar from Hijrah, and not from Hira or from the birth of the Prophet.

In Qubah, 10 kilometres outside Madinah, the Prophet made his first sojourn. Here he built the first mosque. Here he also made his first public address: ‘Spread peace among yourselves, give away food to the needy, pray while people sleep –and you enter Paradise, the house of peace. Three days later, the Prophet entered Madinah.

Men, women, children, the entire populace came out on the streets and jubilantly welcomed him.

Never was there a day of greater rejoicing and happiness. ‘Come is the Prophet! Come is the Prophet!’, sang the little children.

The first thing the Prophet did after arriving in Madinah was to weld the Emigrants (called Muhajirs) and the hosts, called the Helpers (or Ansar) into one brotherhood. Still today this brotherhood remains the hallmark of the Muslims. One person from the Emigrants was made the brother of one from amongst the Helpers. The Helpers offered to share equally all that they possessed with the Emigrants.

So the Muslims were forged into a close-knit community of faith and brotherhood, and the structure of their society and polity was being built.

The first structure was also raised. This was the Mosque, or Masjid, the building consecrated to the worship of One God – called Masjid al-Nabawi, the prophet’s Mosque. Since then the Masjid has also remained the hallmark of the Muslims’ collective and social life, the convenient space for the integration of the religious and political dimensions of Islam, a source of identification, a witness to Muslim existence.

At the same time, steps were taken and the required institutions built to integrate the entire social life around the centre and pivot of the worship of One God. For this purpose, five daily Prayers in congregation were established.

Ramadan, fasting every day from dawn to sunset for an entire month, was also prescribed. Similarly,to establish ‘giving’ as the way of life, zakat, a percentage of one’s wealth to be given in the way of God, was made obligatory.

As long as there was no different instruction from God, the Muslims followed the practices observed by the Jews and Christians. Hence, they used to pray with their faces turned towards Jerusalem. But soon this direction to which the Muslims faced in Prayer was changed from Jerusalem to Makkah. This historic episode signalled the formation of a new Muslim community, charged with Divine trust and the mission of God’s guidance, replacing the earlier Jews and Christians, and following the most ancient message of Abraham, turning towards the most ancient House of God, built by him.

Attacks by the Makkans

The Prophet, after arriving in Madinah, first formed an alliance with the Jews. Next, he approached all the nearby tribes and tried to persuade them to make an alliance or at least enter into a nowar pact. Many did. Thus the small group evicted from Makkah assumed strategic importance.

The Makkans who had earlier planned to kill the Prophet, were now determined to annihilate this nascent community of Islam. Having failed in all other ways they decided on a military solution.

A heavily armed Makkan force marched towards Madinah in the second year after Hijrah, on the pretext of protecting their trade caravan. The Prophet, despite his community’s small number and lack of arms, decided to face their threat boldly. On the 17th of Ramadan, at Badr, the two forces met and fought a battle in which 313 Muslims defeated the 1,000-strong Makkan army.

Seventy of the Makkan chiefs who had been most active and vehement in persecuting the Muslims were killed; many others were taken prisoner, later to be released for ransom. For the first time, prisoners of war were treated humanely and kindly;

they were fed and housed in the same way as their captors ate and lived.

In the third year after Hijrah, a 3,000-strong Makkan force again marched on Madinah, both to avenge the defeat at Badr and to make another attempt to defeat the Muslims; 700 of them were mailed and 200 mounted. The Muslims numbered only 700. The two sides met just outside Madinah near the Uhud Mountain. The initial Muslim victory was, however, reversed; the Muslim contingent posted to protect the rear, violated the Prophet’s instructions and abandoned its position. The Quraysh attacked from behind, and victory was turned into defeat, resulting in the deaths of about 65 Muslims. The Makkans, however, failed to pursue their advantage and clinch victory.

The Makkans now planned to make a final assault on Madinah to settle the matter once and for all. All Bedouin tribes, Jews, and hypocrites within Madinah joined forces with them. In the fifth year after Hijrah, 24,000 of them advanced on Madinah. It was impossible to fight them on the open battlefield, or defend Madinah which was without walls. The Muslims therefore defended themselves by digging ditches all round Madinah. After laying siege to Madinah for 25 days, due to inner dissension, lack of supplies, cold weather and high winds, the Makkan army was forced to withdraw. This was the turning point in the history of confrontation with the Makkans. Madinah was never to be attacked again.

From the beginning, the Jews were given full rights of citizenship, yet they still committed acts of treason and treachery. Some had to be expelled; some were killed as a result of judgements given by an arbitrator appointed by them. However, subsequent generations of Jews were never held responsible for the misdeeds of the Jews of Madinah, as they were in Christendom for 2,000 years, for the crucifixion of Jesus. Instead, the Muslims always treated them justly and kindly.

The next year, the sixth after Hijrah, the Prophet and 1,400 Companions journeyed to Makkah to perform umrah, the lesser Pilgrimage, in accordance with several traditions of the time. They were unarmed. The Quraysh chiefs, against all established and accepted traditions, refused them admission. However, the Quraysh were now so low in morale and strength that they had to sign a peace treaty with the Prophet, the Hudaybiyah Treaty.

Though the terms appeared highly unfavourable, even humiliating, for the Muslims, they made tremendous gains by virtue of this Treaty. They, who were driven out of Makkah and attacked thrice, were now recognized as an equal force, to be treated respectfully, taken seriously. Peace provided an opportunity for the wavering and the neutral, even the hostile, to witness Islam at first hand, and many sensed the imminent victory of Islam. The result was that many Makkans and Arab tribes either embraced Islam or made peace with the Prophet.

As soon as the Hudaybiyah Treaty was signed, the Prophet sent letters to various neighbouring Arab and non-Arab rulers, including Chosroes of Iran and Heraclitus of the Byzantine Empire. He invited them to Islam, and assured them that he did not covet their kingdoms or riches. They could retain both, but only if they surrendered themselves to serve and worship the One God.

The Quraysh, however, soon broke the Treaty of Hudaybiyah. It was, thus, time to deal with their continuing hostility. The Prophet marched to Makkah, and captured the town. The fall of Makkah witnessed unparalleled acts of mercy, forgiveness and generosity.

Not a single drop of blood was shed. Everybody who remained indoors was granted security of life and property. The Prophet forgave all who had been his bitterest foes all his life, who had persecuted him and planned to kill him, who had driven him out of Makkah, and who had marched thrice to Madinah to defeat the Muslims.

The neighbouring Byzantine Empire now prepared to attack and destroy the Muslim community in Madinah. However, when the Prophet marched to Tabuk on the northern border, his determination, courage and timely response made the enemy lose heart and withdraw.

Society Building

Throughout those years, when the Prophet was surrounded by hostile forces and ultimately triumphed over them, he continued to purify the souls and uplift the morals of his followers and lay the foundations of a just and compassionate family, society and state. His mission was now complete: he had created a new man, and changed the lives of multitudes of men and women by bringing them in total surrender to their Creator. He had created a new society: one based on justice. In his own life example, and in the Qur’an, mankind was given the light and way of a godly life.

It is remarkable that this entire epoch-making revolution which transformed not only Arabia but all of mankind for all time to come and which heralded the birth of the most brilliant civilization in the world cost no more than 750 lives, mostly opponents, in the various battles. Yet the Prophet

is sometimes maligned as a man of violence by those who have exterminated thousands of people in pursuit of their civilizational ideals.

The Prophet performed his only Hajj in the tenth year after migration to Madinah. In the Plain of Arafat, he gave a sermon of unsurpassable beauty and lasting value:

No man has any right to lord over other men;

all men are equal, whatever their origin, colour or nationality

A few months later, in the eleventh year after Hijrah, the Prophet Muhammad died. He was buried in the house in which he had lived in Madinah.

The Prophet possessed a character of exquisite beauty and charm. He was merciful, kind and compassionate. He loved children and taught kindness to animals. He spoke softly, never abused anyone, forgave even his worst enemies.

He lived a very simple life. He repaired his own shoes and clothes. He lived frugally, sometimes for days no food was cooked in his household.

Such is Muhammad. According to every standard by which human greatness can be measured he was matchless; no man was ever greater!

Mankind's Debt To The Prophet

bhamadi_adel@yahoo.fr — Sat, 10 May 2008 07:15:00 +0000

Reference:http://www.nadwatululama.org/academy/books/mankind.htm

In certain parts of the world, people enjoy freedom of conscience and choice, are free to lead their lives in peace and amity, to devote their energies to teaching and preaching, researching and making new discoveries. Yet even these parts of the world have not always been so tolerant, nor free from strife, nor disposed towards the co-existence of different peoples, sects and groups, still less sufficiently broad-minded, to accommodate differences of opinion.

Mankind has seemed, many times, to be bent upon self-destruction, and passed through stages when, by its own misdeeds, it has forfeited any right to survival. Men have sometimes behaved like crazed and ferocious beasts, flinging all culture and civilization, arts, literature, decency, the canons of moral and civil law, to the winds.

All of us know that the writing of history is of a relatively recent origin. The 'pre-historic' era was very much longer. The decline of mankind when it relapsed into savagery was by no means an agreeable task for historians and writers to record. Nevertheless, we do find narratives of the downfall of empires and the decay of human society, told at long intervals in the pages of history. The first of these date from the fifty century A.D. some are briefly touched and upon here.

H.G. Wells, the well-known historian, writes about the decay of the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires as follows:

Science and political philosophy seemed dead now in both these warring and decaying empires. The last philosophers of Athens, until their suppression, preserved the texta of the great literature of the past with an infinite reverence and want of understanding. But there remained no class of men in the world, no free gentleman with bold and independent habits of thought to carry on the tradition of frank statement and inquiry embodied in these writings. The social and political chaos accounts largely for the disappearance of the class, but there was also another reason why the human intelligence was sterile and feverish during this age of intolerance. Both empires were religious empires in a new way, in a way that greatly hampered the free activities of the human mind.1

The same writer, after describing the onslaught of the Sassanids on Byzantium and their eventual victory, comments on the social and moral degradation to which both these great nations had fallen:

A prophetic amateur of history surveying the world in the opening of the seventh century might have concluded very reasonably that it was only a question of a few centuries before the whole of Europe and Asia fell under Mongolian domination. There were no signs of order or union in Western Europe, and the Byzantine and Persian empires were manifestly bent upon mutual destruction. India also was divided and wasted.

Another writer, Robert Briffault strikes a similar note:

From the fifth to the tenth century Europe lay sunk in a night of barbarism which grew darker and darker. It was a barbarism far more awful and horrible than that of the primitive savage, for it was the decomposing body of what had once been a great civilization. The features and impress of that civilization were all but completely effaced. Where its development had been fullest, e.g., in Italy and Gaul, all was ruin, squalor and dissolution.

The Civilizations nurtured by ancient religions were disintegrating; this according to J.H. Denison. In Emotion as the Civilization, he writes:

In the fifth and sixth centuries the civilized world stood on the verge of chaos. The old emotional cultures that had made civilization possible, since they had given to men a sense of unity and of reverence for their rulers, had broken down, and nothing had been found adequate to take their place ...

It seemed then that the great civilization which it had taken four thousand years to construct was on the verge of disintegration, and that mankind was likely to return to that condition of barbarism when every tribe and sect was against the next, and law and order was unknown ... The old tribal sanctions had lost their power ... The new sanctions created by Christianity were working division and destruction instead of unity and order. It was a time fraught with tragedy. Civilization, like a gigantic tree whose foliage had overarched the world and whose branches had borne the golden fruits of art and science and literature, stood tottering ... rotten to the core.

At a time when mankind and human civilization were on the edge of destruction, the Lord and Creator of the word caused a man to be born in Arabia who was entrusted with the most difficult task: not only to rescue mankind from imminent destruction but also to raise it to sublime height, heights hitherto beyond the knowledge of historians and the imagination of poets. If there were not incontrovertible historical evidence to demonstrate his achievements, it would be difficult to believe such greatness. This man was Muhammad (peace be upon him) who was born in the sixth century. He saved mankind from imminent danger, gave it new life, new ambition, fresh energy, a revitalised sense of human dignity and intellect, as also a new found idealism. It was because of him that a new era came about, an era of spirituality in art and literature, of personal sincerity and selfless service of others, all of which produced an ordered, graceful and kindly culture. His most precious gifts to man were his devotion to righteousness and aversion to evil, his hatred of false gods and a passion for establishing justice and morality, and a readiness to lay down one's life for these righteous goals. Such goals ultimately are the fountainhead and incentive for all reforms and improvements. Whatever great and sublime heights man has attained have been the result of such noble sentiments - indeed, all material resources, means and methods owe their existence to human will and determination. That great benefactor of humanity replaced barbarism and brutality with the milk of human kindness, magnanimity and courtesy. He struggled unceasingly for the propagation of his noble teachings with complete disregard for his own self, his life or prestige.

Precisely because of this struggle, there arose from among an uncivilized and ill-mannered people noble-hearted men who led a graceful and kindly life, men who started a new era of courtesy and warmth in human history, who engendered gentleness and goodness in those around them. The world obtained a fresh lease of life; justice and fairness became its hallmark; the weak were emboldened to claim their rights from the haughty and strong; mercy and kindness became the norms. It was a time when humanitarianism became a driving force, faith and conviction captured human hearts, mankind began to take pride in selflessness, and virtuous behaviour became habitual with people.

We list below, in brief, the precious gifts of Islam which have played a key role in the advancement of human values and culture. A new and bright world, quite different from the decaying and disintegrating humanity at the time of its advent, came into being as a result of these Islamic contributions:

The clear and unambiguous creed of the Oneness of God.
The concept of human equality and brotherhood.
The concept of human dignity and man being the masterpiece of God's creation.
Acknowledgement of the proper status of women and the restoration of their legitimate rights.
The rejection of despair and the infusion of hope and confidence in human beings.
The fusion of the secular and the sacred, the refusal to accept any cleavage between them.
The integration of religion and knowledge, making one dependent on the other and raising respect for knowledge by declaring it a means of attaining nearness to God.
Emphasis on the use of intellectual faculties in religious and spiritual matters and encouraging the study and contemplation of natural phenomena.
Charging the followers of Islam with the responsibility of spreading virtue and goodness in the world, and making it a duty incumbent on them to restore truth and justice.
The establishment of a universal creed and culture.

I will not elaborate upon these points here. Instead, I would rather cite a few eminent western thinkers and writers who have acknowledged these virtues of Islam. one of the bases of culture and civilization - something that enhances gentility, and refinement, civility in conduct as well as in literature - is the acknowledgement of a truth, appreciation of the great achievements of others and returning thanks to those who have done us any favour. The day this noble sentiment is expelled from our lives, literature, ethical standards, intellectual labours, even the right of expressing our thoughts freely, will become meaningless. It will not be a world to live in and die for. It will be a world of beasts and brutes where the ruling passion is to fend for oneself alone. No sentiment will remain except the fulfilment of carnal desires. All rightly ordered relationships between teacher and taught, benefactor and beneficiary, physician and patient, even between parents and children, will peter out and lose their significance.

Gratitude, as defined by William H. Davidson, a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, is a spontaneous and natural sentiment generated by the kindness and benefit conferred by someone. It is a human virtue, at once abiding and universal. Davidson in this respect says:

Gratitude has been defined as that delightful emotion of love to him who has conferred a kindness on us, the very feeling of which is itself no small part of the benefit conferred. Gratitude is an unselfish joyous response to kindness - a response that is immediate and spontaneous; the ultimate meaning of which is that human nature is so constituted that affection and unity between persons is the foundation of it, ill-will and enmity (all indications to the contrary notwithstanding) being abnormal and depraved.5

Ingratitude is, thus, a moral depravity and a perversion of human nature, a sign of benumbed human conscience. The lowest depth to which this immorality can fall is the ingratitude shown to founders of religion, the teachers of morals and the greatest benefactors of humanity. Grotesque parody in deliberately offensive language is not appropriate from anyone, let alone of those noble souls who have founded religions, for it hurts the feelings of millions who not only follow them but who are also willing to lay down their lives for them. Efforts at such offensiveness also entail a denial of truth. No cultured people, country or society should tolerate or defend anyone so depraved and unmannerly, who possesses no conscience.

Now let us refer to the compliments paid to the greatest benefactor of humanity by a few eminent men of letters from this part of the world where I am speaking. One of these candid men, Lamartine of France, says in his tribute to the prophethood of Muhammad (peace the upon him):

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 Muhammed?

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. On the basis of a Book, every letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race. He has left us as the indelible characteristic of his Muslim nationality, the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and immaterial God. This avenging patriotism of Heaven formed the virtue of the followers of Mohammad; the conquest of one-third of the earth to this 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 fabulous the genies, was in itself such a miracle that upon its utterance from his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the world.

John William Draper, the reputed author of A History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, writes:

Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born at Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race.

He says further:

Muhammad possessed that combination of qualities which more than once has decided the fate of empires ... Asserting that everlasting truth, he did not engage in vain metaphysics, but applied himself to improving the social condition of the people by regulations respecting personal cleanliness, sobriety, fasting and prayer.

The great historian-philosopher of this century, A.J. Toynbee, is on record as saying that:

The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue.9

It is a strange coincidence that over a hundred years ago Thomas Carlyle chose Muhammad (peace the upon him) as the supreme hero, and now, in the closing decades of the twentieth century, Michael H. Hart of the United States of America has prepared a list of 100 most influential persons in history, placing the Prophet at the top.

The Prophet of Islam and his followers conferred favours on humanity which have played an unforgettable role in the promotion and development of culture and civilization. We will mention here only two of these, amply supported by historical evidence.

Students of history are aware that in the thirteenth century the civilized world, divided by the two great religions,Christianity and Islam, was suddenly confronted with a situation which threatened the imminent destruction of both the then vast empires, their arts and sciences, their cultures and morals. In short, all that the human race had laboriously achieved during the past hundreds of years once again faced its reduction to barbarism. This was brought about by the sudden rise of Genghis Khan (Tamuchin), a chieftain of the nomadic Mongol tribes, who possessed remarkable qualities of leadership and was able to subdue all that sat in his way. In 619/1219, Genghis Khan turned towards the western and northern civilized countries, ravaging them with fire and sword. How severe a blow the Mongol invasion dealt to all social and cultural progress can be gauged by a few graphic descriptions of Mongol rapine and slaughter, as given by Harold Lamb, Genghis Khan's biographer:

"cities in his path were often obliterated, and rivers diverted from their courses; deserts were peopled with the fleeing and dying, and when he had passed, wolves and ravens often were the sole living things in once populated lands.

And consternation filled all Christendom, a generation after the death of Genghis Khan, when the terrible Mongol horsemen were riding over western Europe, when Boleslas of Poland and Bela of Hungary fled from stricken fields, and Henry, Duke of Silesia, died under the arrows with his Teutonic Knights at Liegnitz12 - sharing the fate of the Grand-Duke George of Russia.13

Such details are too horrible to dwell upon today. It was a war carried to its utmost extent - an extent that was very nearly approached in the last European War. It was the slaughter of human beings without hatred - simply to make an end of them.

Unchecked by human valour, they were able to overcome the terrors of vast deserts, the barriers of mountains and seas, the severities of climate, and the ravages of famine and pestilence. No danger could appeal them, no stronghold could resist them, no prayer for mercy could move them.

His achievement is recorded for the most part by his enemies. So devastating was his impact upon civilization that virtually a new beginning had to be made in half the world. The empires of Chathay, of Prester John, of Black Cathay, of Kharesem, and - after his death - the Caliphate of Baghdad, of Russia and for a while the principalities of Poland, ceased to be. When this indomitable barbarian conquered a nation all other warfare come to an end. The whole scheme of things, whether sorry or otherwise, was altered, and among the survivors of a Mongol conquest peace endured for a long time.

Harold Lamb correctly says that the impact of the Mongols, brought about by Genghis Khan, has been well summed up by the authors of the Cambridge Medieval History in these words:

This 'new power in history' - the ability of one man to alter human civilization - began with Genghis Khan and ended with his grandson Kublai, when the Mangol empire tended to break up. It has not reappeared since.

The terror of the Mongol invasion was not confined to Turkistan, Iran and Iraq alone.Mongol atrocities provoked trembling even in far-off corners of the world where they could hardly have been expected to carry their arms. Edward Gibbon writes in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:

The Latin world was darkened by this cloud of savage hostility; a Russian fugitive carried the alarm to Sweden; and the remote nations of the Baltic and the ocean trembled at the approach of the Tartars, whom their fear and ignorance were inclined to separate from the human species.

The Mongols first attacked Bukhara and razed it to dust. Not a single soul was spared by them. Thereafter, they laid Samarkand to ruin and massacred its entire population. The same was the fate of other urban centres in the then Islamic world. The Tartars would indeed have most probably devastated the whole of Christendom (then divided politically and suffering from numerous social evils), as stated by H.G. Wells:

Harold Lamb also writes:

We only know that the German and Polish forces broke before the onset of the Mongol standard, and were almost exterminated; Henry and his barons died to a man, as did the Hospitallers .. In less than two months they had overrun Europe from the headwaiters of the Elbe to the sea, had defeated three great armies and a dozen smaller ones and had taken by assault all the towns excepting Olmutz.

Then a miraculous event changed the course of history. It not only allowed the civilized world to heave a sigh of relief but also permitted culture and civilization to be built afresh. The hearts of the indomitable Mongols were captured by the faith of their subjects who had lost all power and prestige. Arnold writes in The Preaching of Islam:

In spite of all difficulties, however, the Mongols and savage tribes that followed in their wake were at length brought to submit to the faith of those Muslim peoples whom they had crushed beneath their feet.

The names of only a few dedicated servants of Islam who won the savage Tartars to their faith are known to the world, but their venture was no less daring nor the achievement less significant than a great and successful reform movement. Their memory shall always be cherished as much by the Muslims, as by Christendom, or rather by all mankind, since they rescued the world from the barbarism of a savage race, the insecurity of widespread upheaval, and allowed it to once again devote its energies to the establishment of social and political stability. Normalcy thus restored, the world was allowed to resume its journey of cultural development and the promotion of arts and crafts, learning and teaching, preaching and writing.

After the death of Genghis Khan, his vast conquests were divided into four dominions headed by his sons' children. The message of Islam then began to spread among all these four sections of the Mongol empire and before long all were converted to Islam.

The Tartars not only accepted Islam but a number of great scholars, writers, poets, mystics and fighters in the way of God, rose from amongst them. Their conversion to Islam completely changed their outlook and disposition as also their attitude towards humanity and civilization. This, in turn, benefited not only the Islamic East but also Christendom and even India. The Tartars made nine or ten attempts to capture India during the thirteenth century but the Sultans of Turkish descent, among whom Alauddin Khilji (d. 716/1316) and his commander Ghiyathuddin Tughluq (d. 716/1316) and his commander Ghiyathuddin Tughluq (d. 725/1324) were the more prominent, repelled them on each occasion. It was on account of them that the cultural and intellectual heritage of this ancient and prosperous country was saved from destruction and the two great religions, Islam and Hinduism, continued to flourish there.

This achievement of Islam, the transformation of the Tartars into a civilized people, was a service of a defensive nature rendered to humanity in general, and to the West in particular.

Another accomplishment of Islam, in contrast to the one just described, was its introduction of a new way of thinking and learning. It was like a flash of light in the Dark Ages of Europe one which paved the way for its Renaissance. It transformed not only Europe but helped the entire human race to benefitted from new researches and discoveries. A new era of empirical sciences was inaugurated which has changed the face of the earth. The intellectual patrimony of the ancients (consisting of philosophy, mathematics and medicine) found it way to Europe through Muslim Spain. This intellectual gift consisted of observation and experiment a replacement of inductive logic with deductive logic where by Europe's whole way of thinking was changed. Science and technology were the main fruits. All the discoveries made by European scientific explorations - in short, whatever success has so far been achieved in harnessing the forces of nature - are directly related to inductive reasoning, not known to Europe until it was bequeathed to it by Muslim Spain. The noted French historian, Gustave Ie Bon, writes of the Arab contribution to Modern Europe:

Observation, experimentation and inductive logic which form the fundamentals of modern knowledge are attributed to Roger Bacon but it needs to be acknowledged that this process of reasoning was entirely an Arab discovery.

Robert Briffault has also reached the same conclusion, for he says:

There is not a single aspect of European growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic civilization is not traceable.

He further says:

It is not science only which brought Europe back to life. Other and manifold influences from the civilization of Islam communicated its first glow to European life.

Those who have studied the history of the Catholic Church and the Reformation are aware of the profound effect Islamic teachings had on the minds of those who initiated reform in Christendom. We can, for example, see the influence of Islam reflected in the thought of Martin Luther's (1483-1546) Reformation movement. The revolt against autocratic leadership in the Catholic Church in medieval Europe also reveals the influence of Islam, which had no organised church.

It is, thus, our moral duty to acknowledge both these great favours conferred by Islam which have had a revolutionary impact on the world. When we speak of those who conferred these gifts or reassess their achievements we must at least keep in mind the rules of courtesy which have been accepted by all nations and cultured peoples and schools of thought. We should not abandon the norms of politeness, moderation, dignity and truthfulness, for these have been commended by the scriptures of all religions, moral treatises, as also by great writers and critics. It is on such civilized behaviour that good relations between different religions, communities and peoples depend, such behaviour alone makes possible a purposeful dialogue between people holding different views. In its absence, all serious writings, critiques and reviews must degenerate into obscene and sensational novels, vulgar and outrageous parodies. Such writings can unleash negative and disruptive forces, not only contemptible in themselves and harmful to serious intellectual endeavour, but also likely to embitter relations between different nations and countries.

The argument that any restraint placed on freedom of expression amounts to coercion, restriction of personal freedom, or interference in the rights of individuals under the constitution of an independent country, is simply untenable. The obscene and offensive description of the benefactors of mankind, prophets and reformers, particularly if such narration is against the established facts of history, hurts the feelings of millions who respect and revere them and is also likely to cause disharmony between different groups within a country or even between countries. It is an intolerable infringement of moral values, an offense against humanity, that should not be overlooked by any peace-loving nation upholding the value of harmonious co-existence between its different ethnic and religious communities. Western political thinkers, too, do not subscribe to such an unlimited right of freedom of expression. They have argued that such unlimited liberty would be even more harmful than the limits placed on freedom of expression. The subject might be treated at great length, but I will cite here only two authorities who have explained why limitations on freedom of expression are essential for the maintenance of public order.

Isaiah Berlin explains the two concepts of liberty in these words:

To protest against the laws governing censorship or personal morals as intolerable infringements of personal liberty presupposes a belief that the activities which such laws forbid are fundamental needs of men as men, in a good (or, indeed, any) society. To defend such laws is to hold that these needs are not essential, or that they cannot be satisfied without sacrificing other values which come higher - satisfy deeper needs - than individual freedom, determined by some standard that is not merely subjective, a standard for which some objective status - in principle or a priori - is claimed.

The extent of man's or a people's liberty to choose to live as they desire must be weighed against the claims of many other values, of which equality, or justice, or happiness, or security, or public order are perhaps the most obvious examples. For this reason, it cannot be unlimited.26

A speech delivered in the American Senate by Blackstone in 1897 and which forms the basis of American law on the subject, says about freedom of expression:

Every free man has an undoubted right in law to air what sentiment he pleases before the public; to forbid this is to destroy the freedom of the press : but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous, or illegal, he must take the consequences of his own temerity. To subject the press to the restrictive power of a licenser .. is to subject all freedom of sentiment to the prejudices of one man, and make him the arbitrary and infallible judge of all controversial points in learning, religion and Government. But to punish .. any dangerous or offensive writings which when published, shall on fair and impartial trial be adjudged of pernicious tendency, is necessary for the preservation of peace and good order, of Government and religion, the only solid foundations of civil liberty. Thus, the will of individuals is still left free; the abuse only of that free will is the object of legal punishment.27

I would like to conclude my talk with an exhilarating poem by Iqbal, the poet of the East, as he is known in the Muslim world, in which he enchantingly depicts the great favours conferred on humanity by the prophethood of Muhammad (on whom be the peace and blessings of God) favours which are unique and unparallaled:

Touched by the breath of the unlettered one,

The sands of Arabia began to sprout tulips.

Freedom under his care was reared

The 'today' of nations comes from his 'yesterday'.

He put heart in the body of man,

And from his face the veil he lifted.

Every god of old he destroyed.

Every withered branch by his moisture bloomed.

The heat of the battle of Badr and Hunain,

Haider and Siddiq, Farooq and Hussain.

In the thick of battle the majesty of Azan,

The recitation of As-Saffat28 at the point of sword.

The scimitar of Ayub, the glance of Bayazid,

Key to the treasures of this world and the next.

Ecstasy of heart and mind from the same goblet,

Fusion of Rumi's rapture and Razi's thought.

Knowledge and wisdom, faith and law, polity and rule.

Yearnings hidden within the restless hearts.

Al-Hamara and Taj of beauty breath-taking.

To which even angels pay tribute.

These, too, a fragment of his priceless bequest,

Of his glimpses just one glimpse.

His exterior these enthralling sights,

Of his interior even the knowledge unaware.

Boundless praise be to the Apostle blessed,

Who imparted faith to elevate a handful of dust.

Mohammed The Prophet

bhamadi_adel@yahoo.fr — Sat, 10 May 2008 06:58:00 +0000

By Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, Head of the Department of Philosophy,Government College for Women University of Mysore, Mandya-571401 (Karnatika).Re-printed from "Islam and Modern age", Hydrabad, March 1978.

In the desert of Arabia was Mohammad born, according to Muslim historians, on April 20, 571. The name means highly praised. He is to me the greatest mind among all the sons of Arabia. He means so much more than all the poets and kings that preceded him in that impenetrable desert of red sand.

When he appeared Arabia was a desert -- a nothing. Out of nothing a new world was fashioned by the mighty spirit of Mohammad -- a new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new kingdom which extended from Morocco to Indies and influenced the thought and life of three continents -- Asia, Africa and Europe.

When I thought of writing on Mohammad the prophet, I was a bit hesitant because it was to write about a religion I do not profess and it is a delicate matter to do so for there are many persons professing various religions and belonging to diverse school of thought and denominations even in same religion. Though it is sometimes, claimed that religion is entirely personal yet it can not be gain-said that it has a tendency to envelop the whole universe seen as well unseen. It somehow permeates something or other our hearts, our souls, our minds their conscious as well as subconscious and unconscious levels too. The problem assumes overwhelming importance when there is a deep conviction that our past, present and future all hang by the soft delicate, tender silked cord. If we further happen to be highly sensitive, the center of gravity is very likely to be always in a state of extreme tension. Looked at from this point of view, the less said about other religion the better. Let our religions be deeply hidden and embedded in the resistance of our innermost hearts fortified by unbroken seals on our lips.

But there is another aspect of this problem. Man lives in society. Our lives are bound with the lives of others willingly or unwillingly, directly or indirectly. We eat the food grown in the same soil, drink water, from the same the same spring and breathe the same air. Even while staunchly holding our own views, it would be helpful, if we try to adjust ourselves to our surroundings, if we also know to some extent, how the mind our neighbor moves and what the main springs of his actions are. From this angle of vision it is highly desirable that one should try to know all religions of the world, in the proper sprit, to promote mutual understanding and better appreciation of our neighborhood, immediate and remote.

Further, our thoughts are not scattered as appear to be on the surface. They have got themselves crystallized around a few nuclei in the form of great world religions and living faiths that guide and motivate the lives of millions that inhabit this earth of ours. It is our duty, in one sense if we have the ideal of ever becoming a citizen of the world before us, to make a little attempt to know the great religions and system of philosophy that have ruled mankind.

In spite of these preliminary remarks, the ground in these field of religion, where there is often a conflict between intellect and emotion is so slippery that one is constantly reminded of fools that rush in where angels fear to tread. It is also not so complex from another point of view. The subject of my writing is about the tenets of a religion which is historic and its prophet who is also a historic personality. Even a hostile critic like Sir William Muir speaking about the holy Quran says that. "There is probably in the world no other book which has remained twelve centuries with so pure text." I may also add Prophet Mohammad is also a historic personality, every event of whose life has been most carefully recorded and even the minutest details preserved intact for the posterity. His life and works are not wrapped in mystery.

My work today is further lightened because those days are fast disappearing when Islam was highly misrepresented by some of its critics for reasons political and otherwise. Prof. Bevan writes in Cambridge Medieval History, "Those account of Mohammad and Islam which were published in Europe before the beginning of 19th century are now to be regarded as literary curiosities." My problem is to write this monograph is easier because we are now generally not fed on this kind of history and much time need be spent on pointing out our misrepresentation of Islam.

The theory of Islam and Sword for instance is not heard now frequently in any quarter worth the name. The principle of Islam that there is no compulsion in religion is well known. Gibbon, a historian of world repute says, "A pernicious tenet has been imputed to Mohammadans, the duty of extirpating all the religions by sword." This charge based on ignorance and bigotry, says the eminent historian, is refuted by Quran, by history of Musalman conquerors and by their public and legal toleration of Christian worship. The great success of Mohammad's life had been effected by sheer moral force, without a stroke of sword.

But in pure self-defense, after repeated efforts of conciliation had utterly failed, circumstances dragged him into the battlefield. But the prophet of Islam changed the whole strategy of the battlefield. The total number of casualties in all the wars that took place during his lifetime when the whole Arabian Peninsula came under his banner, does not exceed a few hundreds in all. But even on the battlefield he taught the Arab barbarians to pray, to pray not individually, but in congregation to God the Almighty. During the dust and storm of warfare whenever the time for prayer came, and it comes five times a every day, the congregation prayer had not to be postponed even on the battlefield. A party had to be engaged in bowing their heads before God while other was engaged with the enemy. After finishing the prayers, the two parties had to exchange their positions. To the Arabs, who would fight for forty years on the slight provocation that a camel belonging to the guest of one tribe had strayed into the grazing land belonging to other tribe and both sides had fought till they lost 70,000 lives in all; threatening the extinction of both the tribes to such furious Arabs, the Prophet of Islam taught self-control and discipline to the extent of praying even on the battlefield. In an aged of barbarism, the Battlefield itself was humanized and strict instructions were issued not to cheat, not to break trust, not to mutilate, not to kill a child or woman or an old man, not to hew down date palm nor burn it, not to cut a fruit tree, not to molest any person engaged in worship. His own treatment with his bitterest enemies is the noblest example for his followers. At the conquest of Mecca, he stood at the zenith of his power. The city which had refused to listen to his mission, which had tortured him and his followers, which had driven him and his people into exile and which had unrelentingly persecuted and boycotted him even when he had taken refuge in a place more than 200 miles away, that city now lay at his feet. By the laws of war he could have justly avenged all the cruelties inflicted on him and his people. But what treatment did he accord to them? Mohammad's heart flowed with affection and he declared, "This day, there is no REPROOF against you and you are all free." "This day" he proclaimed, "I trample under my feet all distinctions between man and man, all hatred between man and man."

This was one of the chief objects why he permitted war in self defense, that is to unite human beings. And when once this object was achieved, even his worst enemies were pardoned. Even those who killed his beloved uncle, Hamazah, mangled his body, ripped it open, even chewed a piece of his liver.

The principles of universal brotherhood and doctrine of the equality of mankind which he proclaimed represents one very great contribution of Mohammad to the social uplift of humanity. All great religions have preached the same doctrine but the prophet of Islam had put this theory into actual practice and its value will be fully recognized, perhaps centuries hence, when international consciousness being awakened, racial prejudices may disappear and greater brotherhood of humanity come into existence.

Miss. Sarojini Naidu speaking about this aspect of Islam says, "It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for in the mosque, when the minaret is sounded and the worshipers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and the king kneel side by side and proclaim, God alone is great." The great poetess of India continues, "I have been struck over and over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes a man instinctively a brother. When you meet an Egyptian, an Algerian and Indian and a Turk in London, it matters not that Egypt is the motherland of one and India is the motherland of another."

Mahatma Gandhi, in his inimitable style, says "Some one has said that Europeans in South Africa dread the advent Islam -- Islam that civilized Spain, Islam that took the torch light to Morocco and preached to the world the Gospel of brotherhood. The Europeans of South Africa dread the Advent of Islam. They may claim equality with the white races. They may well dread it, if brotherhood is a sin. If it is equality of colored races then their dread is well founded."

Every year, during the Haj, the world witnesses the wonderful spectacle of this international Exhibition of Islam in leveling all distinctions of race, color and rank. Not only the Europeans, the African, the Arabian, the Persian, the Indians, the Chinese all meet together in Medina as members of one divine family, but they are clad in one dress every person in two simple pieces of white seamless cloth, one piece round the loin the other piece over the shoulders, bare head without pomp or ceremony, repeating "Here am I O God; at thy command; thou art one and alone; Here am I." Thus there remains nothing to differentiate the high from the low and every pilgrim carries home the impression of the international significance of Islam.

In the opinion of Prof. Hurgronje "the league of nations founded by prophet of Islam put the principle of international unity of human brotherhood on such Universal foundations as to show candle to other nations." In the words of same Professor "the fact is that no nation of the world can show a parallel to what Islam has done the realization of the idea of the League of Nations."

The prophet of Islam brought the reign of democracy in its best form. The Caliph Caliph Ali and the son in-law of the prophet, the Caliph Mansur, Abbas, the son of Caliph Mamun and many other caliphs and kings had to appear before the judge as ordinary men in Islamic courts. Even today we all know how the black Negroes were treated by the civilized white races. Consider the state of BILAL, a Negro Slave, in the days of the prophet of Islam nearly 14 centuries ago. The office of calling Muslims to prayer was considered to be of status in the early days of Islam and it was offered to this Negro slave. After the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet ordered him to call for prayer and the Negro slave, with his black color and his thick lips, stood over the roof of the holy mosque at Mecca called the Ka'ba the most historic and the holiest mosque in the Islamic world, when some proud Arabs painfully cried loud, "Oh, this black Negro Slave, woe be to him. He stands on the roof of holy Ka'ba to call for prayer." At that moment, the prophet announced to the world, this verse of the holy QURAN for the first time.

"O mankind, surely we have created you, families and tribes, so you may know one another. Surely, the most honorable of you with God is MOST RIGHTEOUS AMONG you. Surely, God is Knowing, Aware."

And these words of the holy Quran created such a mighty transformation that the Caliph of Islam, the purest of Arabs by birth, offered their daughter in marriage to this Negro Slave, and whenever, the second Caliph of Islam, known to history as Umar the great, the commander of faithful, saw this Negro slave, he immediately stood in reverence and welcomed him by "Here come our master; Here come our lord." What a tremendous change was brought by Quran in the Arabs, the proudest people at that time on the earth. This is the reason why Goethe, the greatest of German poets, speaking about the Holy Quran declared that, "This book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence." This is also the reason why George Bernard Shaw says, "If any religion has a chance or ruling over England, say, Europe, within the next 100 years, it is Islam".

It is this same democratic spirit of Islam that emancipated women from the bondage of man. Sir Charles Edward Archibald Hamilton says "Islam teaches the inherent sinlessness of man. It teaches that man and woman and woman have come from the same essence, posses the same soul and have been equipped with equal capabilities for intellectual, spiritual and moral attainments."

The Arabs had a very strong tradition that one who can smite with the spear and can wield the sword would inherit. But Islam came as the defender of the weaker sex and entitled women to share the inheritance of their parents. It gave women, centuries ago right of owning property, yet it was only 12 centuries later , in 1881, that England, supposed to be the cradle of democracy adopted this institution of Islam and the act was called "the married woman act", but centuries earlier, the Prophet of Islam had proclaimed that "Woman are twin halves of men. The rights of women are sacred. See that women maintained rights granted to them."

Islam is not directly concerned with political and economic systems, but indirectly and in so far as political and economic affairs influence man's conduct, it does lay down some very important principles to govern economic life. According to Prof. Massignon, it maintains the balance between exaggerated opposites and has always in view the building of character which is the basis of civilization. This is secured by its law of inheritance, by an organized system of charity known as Zakat, and by regarding as illegal all anti-social practices in the economic field like monopoly, usury, securing of predetermined unearned income and increments, cornering markets, creating monopolies, creating an artificial scarcity of any commodity in order to force the prices to rise. Gambling is illegal. Contribution to schools, to places of worship, hospitals, digging of wells, opening of orphanages are highest acts of virtue. Orphanages have sprung for the first time, it is said, under the teaching of the prophet of Islam. The world owes its orphanages to this prophet born an orphan. "Good all this" says Carlyle about Mohammad. "The natural voice of humanity, of pity and equity, dwelling in the heart of this wild son of nature, speaks."

A historian once said a great man should be judged by three tests: Was he found to be of true metel by his contemporaries ? Was he great enough to raise above the standards of his age ? Did he leave anything as permanent legacy to the world at large ? This list may be further extended but all these three tests of greatness are eminently satisfied to the highest degree in case of prophet Mohammad. Some illustrations of the last two have already been mentioned.

The first is: Was the Prophet of Islam found to be of true metel by his contemporaries?

Historical records show that all the contemporaries of Mohammad both friends foes, acknowledged the sterling qualities, the spotless honesty, the noble virtues, the absolute sincerity and every trustworthiness of the apostle of Islam in all walks of life and in every sphere of human activity. Even the Jews and those who did not believe in his message, adopted him as the arbiter in their personal disputes by virtue of his perfect impartiality. Even those who did not believe in his message were forced to say "O Mohammad, we do not call you a liar, but we deny him who has given you a book and inspired you with a message." They thought he was one possessed. They tried violence to cure him. But the best of them saw that a new light had dawned on him and they hastened him to seek the enlightenment. It is a notable feature in the history of prophet of Islam that his nearest relation, his beloved cousin and his bosom friends, who know him most intimately, were not thoroughly imbued with the truth of his mission and were convinced of the genuineness of his divine inspiration. If these men and women, noble, intelligent, educated and intimately acquainted with his private life had perceived the slightest signs of deception, fraud, earthliness, or lack of faith in him, Mohammad's moral hope of regeneration, spiritual awakening, and social reform would all have been foredoomed to a failure and whole edifice would have crumbled to pieces in a moment. On the contrary, we find that devotion of his followers was such that he was voluntarily acknowledged as dictator of their lives. They braved for him persecutions and danger; they trusted, obeyed and honored him even in the most excruciating torture and severest mental agony caused by excommunication even unto death. Would this have been so, had they noticed the slightest backsliding in their master?

Read the history of the early converts to Islam, and every heart would melt at the sight of the brutal treatment of innocent Muslim men and women.

Sumayya, an innocent women, is cruelly torn into pieces with spears. An example is made of "Yassir whose legs are tied to two camels and the beast were are driven in opposite directions", Khabbab bin Arth is made lie down on the bed of burning coal with the brutal legs of their merciless tyrant on his breast so that he may not move and this makes even the fat beneath his skin melt. "Khabban bin Adi is put to death in a cruel manner by mutilation and cutting off his flesh piece-meal." In the midst of his tortures, being asked weather he did not wish Mohammad in his place while he was in his house with his family, the sufferer cried out that he was gladly prepared to sacrifice himself his family and children and why was it that these sons and daughters of Islam not only surrendered to their prophet their allegiance but also made a gift of their hearts and souls to their master? Is not the intense faith and conviction on part of immediate followers of Mohammad, the noblest testimony to his sincerity and to his utter self-absorption in his appointed task?

And these men were not of low station or inferior mental caliber. Around him in quite early days, gathered what was best and noblest in Mecca, its flower and cream, men of position, rank, wealth and culture, and from his own kith and kin, those who knew all about his life. All the first four Caliphs, with their towering personalities, were converts of this period.

The Encyclopedia Brittanica says that "Mohammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities".

But the success was not the result of mere accident. It was not a hit of fortune. It was a recognition of fact that he was found to be true metal by his contemporaries. It was the result of his admirable and all compelling personality.

The personality of Mohammad! It is most difficult to get into the truth of it. Only a glimpse of it I can catch. What a dramatic succession of picturesque scenes. There is Mohammad the Prophet, there is Mohammad the General; Mohammad the King; Mohammad the Warrior; Mohammad the Businessman; Mohammad the Preacher; Mohammad the Philosopher; Mohammad the Statesman; Mohammad the Orator; Mohammad the reformer; Mohammad the Refuge of orphans; Mohammad the Protector of slaves; Mohammad the Emancipator of women; Mohammad the Law-giver; Mohammad the Judge; Mohammad the Saint.

And in all these magnificent roles, in all these departments of human activities, he is like, a hero..

Orphanhood is extreme of helplessness and his life upon this earth began with it; Kingship is the height of the material power and it ended with it. From an orphan boy to a persecuted refugee and then to an overlord, spiritual as well as temporal, of a whole nation and Arbiter of its destinies, with all its trials and temptations, with all its vicissitudes and changes, its lights and shades, its up and downs, its terror and splendor, he has stood the fire of the world and came out unscathed to serve as a model in every face of life. His achievements are not limited to one aspect of life, but cover the whole field of human conditions.

If for instance, greatness consist in the purification of a nation, steeped in barbarism and immersed in absolute moral darkness, that dynamic personality who has transformed, refined and uplifted an entire nation, sunk low as the Arabs were, and made them the torch-bearer of civilization and learning, has every claim to greatness. If greatness lies in unifying the discordant elements of society by ties of brotherhood and charity, the prophet of the desert has got every title to this distinction. If greatness consists in reforming those warped in degrading and blind superstition and pernicious practices of every kind, the prophet of Islam has wiped out superstitions and irrational fear from the hearts of millions. If it lies in displaying high morals, Mohammad has been admitted by friend and foe as Al Amin, or the faithful. If a conqueror is a great man, here is a person who rose from helpless orphan and an humble creature to be the ruler of Arabia, the equal to Chosroes and Caesars, one who founded great empire that has survived all these 14 centuries. If the devotion that a leader commands is the criterion of greatness, the prophet's name even today exerts a magic charm over millions of souls, spread all over the world.

He had not studied philosophy in the school of Athens of Rome, Persia, India, or China. Yet, He could proclaim the highest truths of eternal value to mankind. Illiterate himself, he could yet speak with an eloquence and fervor which moved men to tears, to tears of ecstasy. Born an orphan blessed with no worldly goods, he was loved by all. He had studied at no military academy; yet he could organize his forces against tremendous odds and gained victories through the moral forces which he marshaled. Gifted men with genius for preaching are rare. Descartes included the perfect preacher among the rarest kind in the world. Hitler in his Mein Kamp has expressed a similar view. He says "A great theorist is seldom a great leader. An Agitator is more likely to posses these qualities. He will always be a great leader. For leadership means ability to move masses of men. The talents to produce ideas has nothing in common with capacity for leadership." "But", he says, "The Union of theorists, organizer and leader in one man, is the rarest phenomenon on this earth; Therein consists greatness."

In the person of the Prophet of Islam the world has seen this rarest phenomenon walking on the earth, walking in flesh and blood.

And more wonderful still is what the reverend Bosworth Smith remarks, "Head of the state as well as the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but, he was pope without the pope's claims, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without an 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 a right divine It was Mohammad, for he had all the power without instruments and without its support. He cared not for dressing of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life."

After the fall of Mecca, more than one million square miles of land lay at his feet, Lord of Arabia, he mended his own shoes and coarse woolen garments, milked the goats, swept the hearth, kindled the fire and attended the other menial offices of the family. The entire town of Medina where he lived grew wealthy in the later days of his life. Everywhere there was gold and silver in plenty and yet in those days of prosperity many weeks would elapse without a fire being kindled in the hearth of the king of Arabia, His food being dates and water. His family would go hungry many nights successively because they could not get anything to eat in the evening. He slept on no soften bed but on a palm mat, after a long busy day to spend most of his night in prayer, often bursting with tears before his creator to grant him strength to discharge his duties. As the reports go, his voice would get choked with weeping and it would appear as if a cooking pot was on fire and boiling had commenced. On the very day of his death his only assets were few coins a part of which went to satisfy a debt and rest was given to a needy person who came to his house for charity. The clothes in which he breathed his last had many patches. The house from where light had spread to the world was in darkness because there was no oil in the lamp.

Circumstances changed, but the prophet of God did not. In victory or in defeat, in power or in adversity, in affluence or in indigence, he is the same man, disclosed the same character. Like all the ways and laws of God, Prophets of God are unchangeable.

An honest man, as the saying goes, is the noblest work of God, Mohammad was more than honest. He was human to the marrow of his bones. Human sympathy, human love was the music of his soul. To serve man, to elevate man, to purify man, to educate man, in a word to humanize man-this was the object of his mission, the be-all and end all of his life. In thought, in word, in action he had the good of humanity as his sole inspiration, his sole guiding principle.

He was most unostentatious and selfless to the core. What were the titles he assumed? Only true servant of God and His Messenger. Servant first, and then a messenger. A Messenger and prophet like many other prophets in every part of the world, some known to you, many not known you. If one does not believe in any of these truths one ceases to be a Muslim. It is an article of faith.

"Looking at the circumstances of the time and unbounded reverence of his followers" says a western writer "the most miraculous thing about Mohammad is, that he never claimed the power of working miracles." Miracles were performed but not to propagate his faith and were attributed entirely to God and his inscrutable ways. He would plainly say that he was a man like others. He had no treasures of earth or heaven. Nor did he claim to know the secrets of that lie in womb of future. All this was in an age when miracles were supposed to be ordinary occurrences, at the back and call of the commonest saint, when the whole atmosphere was surcharged with supernaturalism in Arabia and outside Arabia.

He turned the attention of his followers towards the study of nature and its laws, to understand them and appreciate the Glory of God. The Quran says,

"God did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in play. He did not create them all but with the truth. But most men do not know."

The world is not illusion, nor without purpose. It has been created with the truth. The number of verses inviting close observation of nature are several times more than those that relate to prayer, fasting, pilgrimage etc. all put together. The Muslim under its influence began to observe nature closely and this give birth to the scientific spirit of the observation and experiment which was unknown to the Greeks. While the Muslim Botanist Ibn Baitar wrote on Botany after collecting plants from all parts of the world, described by Myer in his Gesch. der Botanikaa-s, a monument of industry, while Al Byruni traveled for forty years to collect mineralogical specimens, and Muslim Astronomers made some observations extending even over twelve years. Aristotle wrote on Physics without performing a single experiment, wrote on natural history, carelessly stating without taking the trouble to ascertain the most verifiable fact that men have more teeth than animal. Galen, the greatest authority on classical anatomy informed that the lower jaw consists of two bones, a statement which is accepted unchallenged for centuries till Abdul Lateef takes the trouble to examine a human skeleton. After enumerating several such instances, Robert Priffault concludes in his well known book The making of humanity, "The debt of our science to the Arabs does not consist in starting discovers or revolutionary theories. Science owes a great more to Arabs culture; it owes is existence." The same writer says "The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized but patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry, were altogether alien to Greek temperament. What we call science arose in Europe as result of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation, measurement, of the development of Mathematics in form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and these methods, concludes the same author, were introduced into the European world by Arabs."

It is the same practical character of the teaching of Prophet Mohammad that gave birth to the scientific spirit, that has also sanctified the daily labors and the so called mundane affairs. The Quran says that God has created man to worship him but the word worship has a connotation of its own. Gods worship is not confined to prayer alone, but every act that is done with the purpose of winning approval of God and is for the benefit of the humanity comes under its purview. Islam sanctifies life and all its pursuits provided they are performed with honesty, justice and pure intents. It obliterates the age-long distinction between the sacred and profane. The Quran says if you eat clean things and thank God for it, it is an act of worship. It is saying of the prophet of Islam that Morsel of food that one places in the mouth of his wife is an act of virtue to be rewarded by God. Another tradition of the Prophet says "He who is satisfying the desire of his heart will be rewarded by God provided the methods adopted are permissible." A person was listening to him exclaimed 'O Prophet of God, he is answering the calls of passions, is only satisfying the craving of his heart. Forthwith came the reply, "Had he adopted an awful method for the satisfaction of his urge, he would have been punished; then why should he not be rewarded for following the right course."

This new conception of religion that it should also devote itself to the betterment of this life rather than concern itself exclusively with super mundane affairs, has led to a new orientation of moral values. Its abiding influence on the common relations of mankind in the affairs of every day life, its deep power over the masses, its regulation of their conception of rights and duty, its suitability and adaptability to the ignorant savage and the wise philosopher are characteristic features of the teaching of the Prophet of Islam.

But it should be most carefully born in mind this stress on good actions is not the sacrifice correctness of faith. While there are various school of thought, one praising faith at the expense of deeds, another exhausting various acts to the detriment of correct belief, Islam is based on correct faith and righteous actions. Means are important as the end and ends are as important as the means. It is an organic Unity. Together they live and thrive. Separate them and both decay and die. In Islam faith can not be divorced from the action. Right knowledge should be transferred into right action to produce the right results. How often the words came in Quran -- Those who believe and do good thing, they alone shall enter paradise. Again and again, not less than fifty times these words are repeated as if too much stress can not be laid on them. Contemplation is encouraged but mere contemplation is not the goal. Those who believe and do nothing can not exist in Islam. These who believe and do wrong are inconceivable. Divine law is the law of effort and not of ideals. It chalks out for the men the path of eternal progress from knowledge to action and from action to satisfaction.

But what is the correct faith from which right action spontaneously proceeds resulting in complete satisfaction. Here the central doctrine of Islam is the Unity of God. There is no God but God is the pivot from which hangs the whole teaching and practice of Islam. He is unique not only as regards his divine being but also as regards his divine attributes.

As regards the attributes of God, Islam adopts here as in other things too, the law of golden mean. It avoids on the one hand, the view of God which divests the divine being of every attribute and rejects, on the other, the view which likens him to things material. The Quran says, On the one hand, there is nothing which is like him, on the other , it affirms that he is Seeing, Hearing, Knowing. He is the King who is without a stain of fault or deficiency, the mighty ship of His power floats upon the ocean of justice and equity. He is the Beneficent, the Merciful. He is the Guardian over all. Islam does not stop with this positive statement. It adds further which is its most special characteristic, the negative aspects of problem. There is also no one else who is guardian over everything. He is the meander of every breakage, and no one else is the meander of any breakage. He is the restorer of every loss and no one else is the restorer of any loss what-so-over. There is no God but one God, above any need, the maker of bodies, creator of souls, the Lord of the day of judgment, and in short, in the words of Quran, to him belong all excellent qualities.

Regarding the position of man in relation to the Universe, the Quran says:

"God has made subservient to you whatever is on the earth or in universe. You are destined to rule over the Universe."

But in relation to God, the Quran says:

"O man God has bestowed on you excellent faculties and has created life and death to put you to test in order to see whose actions are good and who has deviated from the right path."

In spite of free will which he enjoys, to some extent, every man is born under certain circumstances and continues to live under certain circumstances beyond his control. With regard to this God says, according to Islam, it is my will to create any man under condition that seem best to me. cosmic plans finite mortals can not fully comprehend. But I will certainly test you in prosperity as well in adversity, in health as well as in sickness, in heights as well as in depths. My ways of testing differ from man to man, from hour to hour. In adversity do not despair and do resort to unlawful means. It is but a passing phase. In prosperity do not forget God. God-gifts are given only as trusts. You are always on trial, every moment on test. In this sphere of life there is not to reason why, there is but to do and die. If you live in accordance with God; and if you die, die in the path of God. You may call it fatalism. but this type of fatalism is a condition of vigorous increasing effort, keeping you ever on the alert. Do not consider this temporal life on earth as the end of human existence. There is a life after death and it is eternal. Life after death is only a connection link, a door that opens up hidden reality of life. Every action in life however insignificant, produces a lasting effect. It is correctly recorded somehow. Some of the ways of God are known to you, but many of his ways are hidden from you. What is hidden in you and from you in this world will be unrolled and laid open before you in the next. the virtuous will enjoy the blessing of God which the eye has not seen, nor has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men to conceive of they will march onward reaching higher and higher stages of evolution. Those who have wasted opportunity in this life shall under the inevitable law, which makes every man taste of what he has done, be subjugated to a course of treatment of the spiritual diseases which they have brought about with their own hands. Beware, it is terrible ordeal. Bodily pain is torture, you can bear somehow. Spiritual pain is hell, you will find it almost unbearable. Fight in this life itself the tendencies of the spirit prone to evil, tempting to lead you into iniquities ways. Reach the next stage when the self-accusing sprit in your conscience is awakened and the soul is anxious to attain moral excellence and revolt against disobedience. This will lead you to the final stage of the soul at rest, contented with God, finding its happiness and delight in him alone. The soul no more stumbles. The stage of struggle passes away. Truth is victorious and falsehood lays down its arms. All complexes will then be resolved. Your house will not be divided against itself. Your personality will get integrated round the central core of submission to the will of God and complete surrender to his divine purpose. All hidden energies will then be released. The soul then will have peace. God will then address you:

"O thou soul that art at rest, and restest fully contented with thy Lord return to thy Lord. He pleased with thee and thou pleased with him; So enter among my servants and enter into my paradise."

This is the final goal for man; to become, on the, one hand, the master of the universe and on the other, to see that his soul finds rest in his Lord, that not only his Lord will be pleased with him but that he is also pleased with his Lord. Contentment, complete contentment, satisfaction, complete satisfaction, peace, complete peace. The love of God is his food at this stage and he drinks deep at the fountain of life. Sorrow and defeat do not overwhelm him and success does not find him in vain and exulting.

The western nations are only trying to become the master of the Universe. But their souls have not found peace and rest.

Thomas Carlyle, struck by this philosophy of life writes "and then also Islam-that we must submit to God; that our whole strength lies in resigned submission to Him, whatsoever he does to us, the thing he sends to us, even if death and worse than death, shall be good, shall be best; we resign ourselves to God." The same author continues "If this be Islam, says Goethe, do we not all live in Islam?" Carlyle himself answers this question of Goethe and says "Yes, all of us that have any moral life, we all live so. This is yet the highest wisdom that heaven has revealed to our earth."

From the 100, a Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

bhamadi_adel@yahoo.fr — Sat, 10 May 2008 06:27:00 +0000

by Michael H. Hart

Rank Name Religious Affiliation

1 Muhammad Islam

Prophet of Islam; conqueror of Arabia; Hart recognized that ranking Muhammad first might be controversial, but felt that, from a secular historian's perspective, this was the correct choice because Muhammad is the only man to have been both a founder of a major world religion and a major military/political leader. More

2 Isaac Newton Anglican (rejected Trinitarianism, i.e.,Athanasianism; believed in the Arianism of the Primitive Church)

physicist; theory of universal gravitation; laws of motion

3 Jesus Christ * Judaism; Christianity founder of Christianity

4 Buddha Hinduism; Buddhism founder of Buddhism

5 Confucius Confucianism founder of Confucianism

6 St. Paul Judaism; Christianity proselytizer of Christianity

7 Ts'ai Lun Chinese traditional religion inventor of paper

8 Johann Gutenberg Catholic developed movable type; printed Bibles

9 Christopher Columbus Catholic explorer; led Europe to Americas

10 Albert Einstein Jewish physicist; relativity; Einsteinian physics

11 Louis Pasteur Catholic scientist; pasteurization

12 Galileo Galilei Catholic astronomer; accurately described heliocentric solar system

13 Aristotle Platonism / Greek philosophy influential Greek philosopher

14 Euclid Platonism / Greek philosophy mathematician; Euclidian geometry

15 Moses Judaism major prophet of Judaism

16 Charles Darwin Anglican (nominal); Unitarian

biologist; described Darwinian evolution, which had theological impact on many religions

17 Shih Huang Ti Chinese traditional religion Chinese emperor

18 Augustus Caesar Roman state paganism ruler

19 Nicolaus Copernicus Catholic (priest) astronomer; taught heliocentricity

20 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier Catholic father of modern chemistry; philosopher; economist

21 Constantine the Great Roman state paganism; Christianity

Roman emperor who completely legalized Christianity, leading to its status as state religion. Convened the First Council of Nicaea that produced the Nicene Creed, which rejected Arianism (one of two major strains of Christian thought) and established Athanasianism (Trinitarianism, the other strain) as "official doctrine."

22 James Watt Presbyterian (lapsed) developed steam engine

23 Michael Faraday Sandemanian physicist; chemist; discovery of magneto-electricity

24 James Clerk Maxwell Presbyterian; Anglican; Baptist physicist; electromagnetic spectrum

25 Martin Luther Catholic; Lutheran founder of Protestantism and Lutheranism

26 George Washington Episcopalian first president of United States

27 Karl Marx Jewish; Lutheran;

Atheist; Marxism/Communism founder of Marxism, Marxist Communism

28 Orville and Wilbur Wright United Brethren inventors of airplane

29 Genghis Khan Mongolian shamanism Mongol conqueror

30 Adam Smith Liberal Protestant

economist; philosopher; expositor of capitalism; author: The Theory of Moral Sentiments

31 Edward de Vere

a.k.a. William Shakespeare Catholic; Anglican literature; also wrote 6 volumes about philosophy and religion

32 John Dalton Quaker chemist; physicist; atomic theory; law of partial pressures (Dalton's law)

33 Alexander the Great Greek state paganism conqueror

34 Napoleon Bonaparte Catholic (nominal) French conqueror

35 Thomas Edison Congregationalist; agnostic inventor of light bulb, phonograph, etc.

36 Antony van Leeuwenhoek Dutch Reformed microscopes; studied microscopic life

37 William T.G. Morton ?? pioneer in anesthesiology

38 Guglielmo Marconi Catholic and Anglican inventor of radio

39 Adolf Hitler Nazism; born/raised in, but rejected Catholicism conqueror; led Axis Powers in WWII

40 Plato Platonism / Greek philosophy founder of Platonism

41 Oliver Cromwell Puritan (Protestant) British political and military leader

42 Alexander Graham Bell Unitarian/Universalist inventor of telephone *

43 Alexander Fleming Catholic penicillin; advances in bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy

44 John Locke raised Puritan (Anglican);

Liberal Christian philosopher and liberal theologian

45 Ludwig van Beethoven Catholic composer

46 Werner Heisenberg Lutheran

a founder of quantum mechanics; discovered principle of uncertainty; head of Nazi Germany's nuclear program

47 Louis Daguerre ?? an inventor/pioneer of photography

48 Simon Bolivar Catholic (nominal); Atheist

National hero of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia

49 Rene Descartes Catholic Rationalist philosopher and mathematician

50 Michelangelo Catholic painter; sculptor; architect

51 Pope Urban II Catholic called for First Crusade

52 'Umar ibn al-Khattab Islam Second Caliph; expanded Muslim empire

53 Asoka Buddhism king of India who converted to and spread Buddhism

54 St. Augustine Greek state paganism; Manicheanism; Catholic Early Christian theologian

55 William Harvey Anglican (nominal)

described the circulation of blood; wrote Essays on the Generation of Animals, the basis for modern embryology

56 Ernest Rutherford ?? physicist; pioneer of subatomic physics

57 John Calvin Protestant; Calvinism Protestant reformer; founder of Calvinism

58 Gregor Mendel Catholic (Augustinian monk) Mendelian genetics

59 Max Planck Protestant physicist; thermodynamics

60 Joseph Lister Quaker principal discoverer of antiseptics which greatly reduced surgical mortality

61 Nikolaus August Otto ?? built first four-stroke internal combustion engine

62 Francisco Pizarro Catholic Spanish conqueror in South America; defeated Incas

63 Hernando Cortes Catholic

conquered Mexico for Spain; through war and introduction of new diseases he largely destroyed Aztec civilization

64 Thomas Jefferson Episcopalian; Deist 3rd president of United States

65 Queen Isabella I Catholic Spanish ruler

66 Joseph Stalin Russian Orthodox; Atheist; Marxism revolutionary and ruler of USSR

67 Julius Caesar Roman state paganism Roman emperor

68 William the Conqueror Catholic laid foundation of modern England

69 Sigmund Freud Jewish; atheist; Freudian psychology/psychoanalysis

founded Freudian school of psychology/psychoanalysis (i.e., the "religion of Freudianism")

70 Edward Jenner Anglican discoverer of the vaccination for smallpox

71 Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen ?? discovered X-rays

72 Johann Sebastian Bach Lutheran; Catholic composer

73 Lao Tzu Taoism founder of Taoism

74 Voltaire raised in Jansenism;

later Deist writer and philosopher; wrote Candide

75 Johannes Kepler Lutheran astronomer; planetary motions

76 Enrico Fermi Catholic initiated the atomic age; father of atom bomb

77 Leonhard Euler Calvinist

physicist; mathematician; differential and integral calculus and algebra

78 Jean-Jacques Rousseau born Protestant;

converted as a teen to Catholic;

later Deist French deistic philosopher and author

79 Nicoli Machiavelli Catholic wrote The Prince (influential political treatise)

80 Thomas Malthus Anglican (cleric) economist; wrote Essay on the Principle of Population

81 John F. Kennedy Catholic

U.S. President who led first successful effort by humans to travel to another "planet"

82 Gregory Pincus Jewish endocrinologist; developed birth-control pill

83 Mani Manicheanism

founder of Manicheanism, once a world religion which rivaled Christianity in strength

84 Lenin Russian Orthodox;

Atheist; Marxism/Communism Russian ruler

85 Sui Wen Ti Chinese traditional religion unified China

86 Vasco da Gama Catholic

navigator; discovered route from Europe to India around Cape Hood

87 Cyrus the Great Zoroastrianism founder of Persian empire

88 Peter the Great Russian Orthodox forged Russia into a great European nation

89 Mao Zedong Atheist; Communism; Maoism founder of Maoism, Chinese form of Communism

90 Francis Bacon Anglican philosopher; delineated inductive scientific method

91 Henry Ford Protestant

developed automobile; achievement in manufacturing and assembly

92 Mencius Confucianism philosopher; founder of a school of Confucianism

93 Zoroaster Zoroastrianism founder of Zoroastrianism

94 Queen Elizabeth I Anglican

British monarch; restored Church of England to power after Queen Mary

95 Mikhail Gorbachev Russian Orthodox Russian premier who helped end Communism in USSR

96 Menes Egyptian paganism unified Upper and Lower Egypt

97 Charlemagne Catholic Holy Roman Empire created with his baptism in 800 AD

98 Homer Greek paganism epic poet

99 Justinian I Catholic

Roman emperor; reconquered Mediterranean empire; accelerated Catholic-Monophysite schism

100 Mahavira Hinduism; Jainism founder of Jainism

Source of list of names: Hart, Michael H. The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, Revised and Updated for the Nineties. New York: Carol Publishing Group/Citadel Press; first published in 1978, reprinted with minor revisions (reflected above) in 1992.

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 levels.

Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.

The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at that time a backward area of the world, far from the centers of trade, art, and learning. Orphaned at age six, he was reared in modest surroundings. Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate. His economic position improved when, at age twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow. Nevertheless, as he approached forty, there was little outward indication that he was a remarkable person.

Most Arabs at that time were pagans, who believed in many gods. There were, however, in Mecca, a small number of Jews and Christians; it was from them no doubt that Muhammad first learned of a single, omnipotent God who ruled the entire universe. When he was forty years old, Muhammad became convinced that this one true God (Allah) was speaking to him, and had chosen him to spread the true faith.

For three years, Muhammad preached only to close friends and associates. Then, about 613, he began preaching in public. As he slowly gained converts, the Meccan authorities came to consider him a dangerous nuisance. In 622, fearing for his safety, Muhammad fled to Medina (a city some 200 miles north of Mecca), where he had been offered a position of considerable political power.

This flight, called the Hegira, was the turning point of the Prophet's life. In Mecca, he had had few followers. In Medina, he had many more, and he soon acquired an influence that made him a virtual dictator. During the next few years, while Muhammad s following grew rapidly, a series of battles were fought between Medina and Mecca. This was ended in 630 with Muhammad's triumphant return to Mecca as conqueror. The remaining two and onehalf years of his life witnessed the rapid conversion of the Arab tribes to the new religion. When Muhammad died, in 632, he was the effective ruler of all of southern Arabia.

The Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia had a reputation as fierce warriors. But their number was small; and plagued by disunity and internecine warfare, they had been no match for the larger armies of the kingdoms in the settled agricultural areas to the north. However, unified by Muhammad for the first time in history, and inspired by their fervent belief in the one true God, these small Arab armies now embarked upon one of the most astonishing series of conquests in human history. To the northeast of Arabia lay the large Neo-Persian Empire of the Sassanids; to the northwest lay the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Muhammad The Most Influential by Michael H. Hart (Muhammad No.1) Page 1 of 3

http://www.jamaat.net/hart/thetop100.html 2/17/2005 Constantinople. Numerically, the Arabs were no match for their opponents. On the field of battle, though, the inspired Arabs rapidly conquered all of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. By 642, Egypt had been wrested from the Byzantine Empire, while the Persian armies had been crushed at the key battles of Qadisiya in 637, and Nehavend in 642.

But even these enormous conquests-which were made under the leadership of Muhammad's close friends and immediate successors, Abu Bakr and 'Umar ibn al-Khattab -did not mark the end of the Arab advance. By 711, the Arab armies had swept completely across North Africa to the Atlantic Ocean There they turned north and, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, overwhelmed the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.

For a while, it must have seemed that the Moslems would overwhelm all of Christian Europe. However, in 732, at the famous Battle of Tours, a Moslem army, which had advanced into the center of France, was at last defeated by the Franks. Nevertheless, in a scant century of fighting, these Bedouin tribesmen, inspired by the word of the Prophet, had carved out an empire stretching from the borders of India to the Atlantic Ocean-the largest empire that the world had yet seen. And everywhere that the armies conquered, large-scale conversion to the new faith eventually followed.

Now, not all of these conquests proved permanent. The Persians, though they have remained faithful to the religion of the Prophet, have since regained their independence from the Arabs. And in Spain, more than seven centuries of warfare 5 finally resulted in the Christians reconquering the entire peninsula. However, Mesopotamia and Egypt, the two cradles of ancient civilization, have remained Arab, as has the entire coast of North Africa.

The new religion, of course, continued to spread, in the intervening centuries, far beyond the borders of the original Moslem conquests. Currently it has tens of millions of adherents in Africa and Central Asia and even more in Pakistan and northern India, and in Indonesia.

In Indonesia, the new faith has been a unifying factor. In the Indian subcontinent, however, the conflict between Moslems and Hindus is still a major obstacle to unity.

How, then, is one to assess the overall impact of Muhammad on human history? Like all religions, Islam exerts an enormous influence upon the lives of its followers. It is for this reason that the founders of the world's great religions all figure prominently in this book . Since there are roughly twice as many Christians as Moslems in the world, it may initially seem strange that Muhammad has been ranked higher than Jesus. There are two principal reasons for that decision. First, Muhammad played a far more important role in the development of Islam than Jesus did in the development of Christianity. Although Jesus was responsible for the main ethical and moral precepts of Christianity (insofar as these differed from Judaism), St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the New Testament. Muhammad, however, was responsible for both the theology of Islam and its main ethical and moral principles. In addition, he played the key role in proselytizing the new faith, and in establishing the religious practices of Islam. Moreover, he is the author of the Moslem holy scriptures, the Koran, a collection of certain of Muhammad's insights that he believed

had been directly revealed to him by Allah. Most of these utterances were copied more or less faithfully during Muhammad's lifetime and were collected together in authoritative form not long after his death. The Koran therefore, closely represents Muhammad's ideas and teachings and to a considerable extent his exact words. No such detailed compilation of the teachings of Christ has survived. Since the Koran is at least as important to Moslems as the Bible is to Christians, the influence of Muhammed through the medium of the Koran has been enormous 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. On the purely religious level, then, it seems likely that Muhammad has been Muhammad as influential in human history as Jesus.

Furthermore, Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as a religious leader. In fact, as the driving force behind the Arab conquests, he may well rank as the most influential political leader of all time.

Of many important historical events, one might say that they were inevitable and would have occurred even without the particular political leader who guided them. For example, the South American colonies would probably have won their independence from Spain even if Simon Bolivar had never lived. But this cannot be said of the Arab conquests. Nothing similar had occurred before Muhammad, and there is no reason to believe that the conquests would have been achieved without him. The only comparable conquests in human history are those of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, which were primarily due to the influence of Genghis Khan. These conquests, however, though more extensive than those of

the Arabs, did not prove permanent, and today the only areas occupied by the Mongols are those that they held prior to the time of Genghis Khan.

It is far different with the conquests of the Arabs. From Iraq to Morocco, there extends a whole chain of Arab nations united not merely by their faith in Islam, but also by their Arabic language, history, and culture. The centrality of the Koran in the Moslem religion and the fact that it is written in Arabic have probably prevented the Arab language from breaking up into mutually unintelligible dialects, which might otherwise have occurred in the intervening thirteen centuries. Differences and divisions between these Arab states exist, of course, and they are considerable, but the partial disunity should not blind us to the

important elements of unity that have continued to exist. For instance, neither Iran nor Indonesia, both oil-producing states and both Islamic in religion, joined in the oil embargo of the winter of 1973-74. It is no coincidence that all of the Arab states, and only the Arab states, participated in the embargo.

We see, then, that the Arab conquests of the seventh century have continued to play an important role in human history, down to the present day. 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.

Additional Comments From Readers:Copyright © 2005 by Adherents.com. Main "Religion of History's 100 Most Infuential People" page created 16 September 1999. This overflow split from the main page on 11 September 2004. Last modified 31 May 2007.

Churchiaya, an Evangelical Christian: Jesus should be even further down on list, the way to life eternal in narrow

Churchiaya@aol.com offered an unusual perspective, reprinted here with his permission. Although he did not identify his denominational background, based on his email and his website (http://www.christisdeity.com/), it is clear that he is an Evangelical. Clearly he is not a Catholic. He wrote:

I am Christian and I feel that Mr. Hart's choice for #1 and #2 were appropriate; for the road to destruction is broad so that it is obvious that the biggest deception be listed first. I am thus disappointed that Jesus is not further down on his list and that pope john paul and the false doctrine of catholicism is not listed #3 after islam and science... As for the influence with respect to Christianity, especially on this list reflects that the way to life eternal in narrow. This of course is to God's dismay, it is not His will that any should perish. Mr. Hart was correct in seeing that few were properly influenced in regard to true Christianity, for many people are worshipping a false christ. Moreover if one is not in darkness, they will not be offended by this list for in the end every knee will bow at the name of Jesus.

Mark Aubart: Jesus is above all men

Mark Aubart (29 October 2004) wrote to express the opinion that Jesus should not even be on a list of mortal men. He provided this explanation to post on this website:

It is obvious to me, and it ought to be obvious to all mankind, that no research or understanding of who the "Christ" is went into the list of top 100 Religious Leaders. Hart does not seem to me to be legitimate in his creation of a list of mortals to include the CHRIST (Isa) in it at all. In fact, Jesus (the Christ) should not even be on the list, he is above all men, as he is (still today) the son of God - he LIVES! ALL people, everywhere, know this. Adherents would be best to either make note of this and remove his name from this list of mere men, or simply single him out above the list as "the Savior". Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected (the only man on earth ever in the history of the world to resurrect). Jesus lives! Isn't this enough to put him above mere man? Just take his name off the list (and make note of it) so you won't have to deal with this issue any longer. Your list shames man and humanity by placing the living Christ on that list of mortal beings. Christianity bases salvation on grace from God who sent his son for the final sacrifice for all men (all people). Christianity promises everlasting life for those who commit themselves to the seeking the WORD, receiving the holy spirit, and accepting Jesus as their personal savior. Jesus (Isa) removed labels and levels within the body of believers, we are all equal!

Born-again Believers of the son of God "the WORD" (the WORD is GOD)

MARK AUBART

Musa Raza: Christ should be respected, but it is Muhammad who should be listed Number 1

With all my respect due to Mr. Mark, I think his respect towards Christ is mandatory as per his belief but only to my friend's remarks that the only man on earth ever in the history of the world to resurrect is The Christ. That's also the belief of all the Muslims on earth, it is true that Holy Prophet Essa (Christ) will come back before the Day of Judgment. But what would he say about our Holy Prophet Muhammad to whom Allah (God) called upon through His messenger Jibraeel (Gabriel) towards Him to meet His Holy body (Muhammad), Muhammad who met Allah and asked the forgiveness of not only his nation but for those who were to be coming toward Islam after His Virtual Demise as to the Muslims belief that all the Prophets sent from Allah are alive and living in heaven. Holy Muhammad came back to earth after meeting with Allah within no time according to the world, because when he came back to earth his door lock was moving and his bed was still warm so no one could imagine Allah's (God's) Miracles like this which All the Muslims celebrate as the night of Mairaj, So in the end what would my friend say about who is the best among men or in other words The Best Among Humanity because He (Muhammad) was sent as Peace for all the world visible or invisible created by Allah he did not only sent His Messenger for Muslims but also for the worst humanity which was being tolerated by those who were living a most immoral carnage life in the history, In Qur'an Allah says that I sent You (Muhammad) as Peace to all the livings on earth and hereafter. Therefore there were no commandments for him that he's been sent only for Arabs or Muslims.

He's the Prophet of every existence as Allah says in Qur'an That I created all the heavens and all the worlds just in your (Muhammad's) Love because you are the Best among My (Allah's) creations.

One more thing I would like to clear for all the readers that Muhammad is Not the Author of Qur'an like Mr. Hart explained in his reason for Choosing Him the #1 most cogent person.

Qur'an was sent by Allah Almighty through His messenger Jibraeel (Gabriel) not at once but with passage of time and completed in almost 23 years, Qur'an is Allah's message towards humanity in which Allah have cleared all the disbeliefs of other religions included.

Musa Raza

Dean Knoblauch of Canada: Alternative rankings or names of influential individuals who should be included in the "Top 100"

For the most part Hart's list is accurately ranked and well rationalized.

Clearly, Muhammad has affected the lives of a great many people on the planet and, coupled with the fanatical influence of the Quran on world population, including Christians, deserves to be ranked first. By similar rationale of how religion has affected the number of people in the world, alive and dead, Buddha and Confucius, whose teaching pervade the lives, and are followed by, even many Christians, should be ranked slightly ahead of Jesus Christ.

Philo Farnsworth should be added to the list without saying as the inventor of the television.

I agree with Jukka Vatanen of Finland, Nicola Tesla does precede Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi brought the radio to contemporary society, where it was made popular, but Tesla made it work first.

Hernando Cortes, ranked at 63, is not noted [in the "Influence" column of table] for genocide of the Aztecs [but this notation should be added]; through introduction of disease and war he led the obliteration of the way of life for over 25 million people. This definitely puts him ahead of Francisco Pizarro and, in some ways, even ahead of Adolf Hitler for eliminating a way of life in the world for so many people before it's time.

Johann Sebastian Bach does not deserve the ranking of 72. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is far more widely recognized over time. At any rate, any composer, including Ludwig van Beethoven ranked at 45, should be ranked in the runner up section, at best. While many composers throughout history have touched the lives of others in some way, all others in the list affected a way of life for a great many people.

Nicoli Machiavelli is noted for The Prince, but there is no mention of Sun Tzu for The Art of War in the ranking. Sun Tzu's writings should rank ahead of Nicoli Machiavelli for influencing both military and personal achievement and because it is still read and used by leaders today.

John F. Kennedy should not be in the list; he is a runner up at best, but certainly not ranked ahead of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Henry Ford should noted for his achievement in manufacturing and assembly, as well as development of the automobile. His ranking should not change.

Mikhail Gorbachev affected all of Russia, Europe, and North America, by ending the Cold War through Glasnost, nearly a religion in itself. Personally, for this achievement, I would rank Mikhail Gorbachev 28, right behind Karl Marx. By similar reasoning for the bringing together the Chinese, I would rank Sui Wen Ti at 69, behind William the Conqueror.

Finally, I would add Miguel de Cervantes to the list at a rank of 45, behind John Locke for his prolific literature, including having an influence on William Shakespeare, but, more importantly, for influencing the way many people write and read by the example of the revolutionary style of the flowing narrative he is famous for: Don Quixote.

Dr. M. A. Hafeez: Ibn Nafis instead of William Harvey first described the circulation of blood

A Muslim biologist wrote to suggest that British scientist William Harvey should be replaced with Muslim scientist Ibn-e-Nafis:

I looked through the list of 100 most influential personalities, by Hart... On circulation of blood the author gives credit to William Harvey (1578-1657). It was Ibn-e-Nafis (Allauddin Abul Hassan ali-bin-abi-al-Hazm al Qarshi-ud-Damishqui, 1210-1288, Damascus) who has been historically and correctly credited with discovery of circulation of blood. If the idea is to give credit to Harvey as a scientist, it would be fair to include him in the list but if importance is placed on discovery of circulation of blood, then Ibn-e-Nafis should replace him.

Dr. Hafeez was very fair-minded in noting that Harvey may have been included for the sum of his contributions to science, and not simply for "discovering" the circulation of blood. Indeed, this is the case. In the "influence" column next to Harvey's name we previously mentioned only "discovery of the circulation of blood," which is does not do justice to all that Harvey did, and it does not do justice to all that historian Michael H. Hart discusses in the Harvey chapter of his book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. In response to Dr. Hafeez's letter, I replaced "discovered" with "described," although this should not be taken to mean that Harvey was the first to describe the circulation of blood. But his 1628 book An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals was certainly immeasurably influential on Western medical practice. I also added a note about Harvey's 1651 Essays on the Generation of Animals, which is the basis for modern embryology.

None of this takes away from what Ibn Nafis accomplished.

More information about Ibn Nafis can be found on the Discoverer of Pulmonary Circulation: IBN AL-NAFIS page on Famous Muslims website (www.famousmuslims.com).

Mark Soakai: Joseph Smith is one of history's 50 most influential people

Mark Soakai, a native of Tonga who lives in San Diego, California wrote:

I really appreciate the time and effort you have spent to create this great website... I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it bothers me that the founder of our church is not listed on the list of "History's 100 Most Influential People." Consider these facts:

1) 14th largest church in the world with more that 12 million and counting 2) The fastest growing church in the world 3) Founded by Joseph Smith on April 6th, 1830 (JUST 175 yrs ago) 4) The Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith and was recently included in the list of the 20 most influential books in America by Book Magazine (http://www.bookmagazine.com/)

You can work in to any Marriott Hotel in the world and you will find a Book of Mormon in their Hotel rooms. If it wasn't for Joseph Smith, there would never be a Brigham Young University. Apart from our love of sports, BYU is listed by US News (USNews.com) as on of the Top 50 Business Schools (ranked 40), and also one of the Top 50 Law Schools (ranked 35).

I am hoping that one day, may be someone else other than the 12 million plus members of our church members will give this man, Joseph Smith, some credit.

I hope this facts alone will earn Joseph Smith the right to be at least in the top among History's 100 Most Influential People. Thank you for what you do and all these informations you gathered and make it available for us to see on the internet.

Hamzah Jaradat: Mohammad is the not the author of the Qu'ran

Hamzah Jaradat of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada wrote (26 April 2005):

The sole author of the Qu'ran is not Mohammad, but God, this is a belief that all Muslims share. Mr. Hart's comments stating that Mohammad is the author of the Qu'ran are incorrect. The Qu'ran was sent to Mohammad piece by piece through memorization by the angle Jibreel (sent by God); Mr. Hart stated that Mohammad's thoughts and ideas were put into the Qu'ran by Mohammad. This is untrue, as I mentioned above; the sole author of the Qu'ran is Allah (meaning God in Arabic or Aramaic).

However, Mohammad did show the Muslims (his companions) the way to lead a life successfully, happily and in an Islamic manner. He would talk, and share his ideas and thoughts with his companions. Muslims believe that this, his thoughts and knowledge, were a gift from God after Mohammad began his prophetic journey. His thoughts and ideas are a great part of the fundamental Islamic belief and lifestyle. Mohammad's teachings are called Sunnah. An example of the Sunnah is as follows: The prophet used to pray 7 times a day while the only mandatory requirements (from Allah) were 5; some people today pray 7 times a day just like the prophet Mohammad (Sunnah) although it is not mandatory.

Mr. Hart was incorrect in stating that the author of the Qu'ran is Mohammad, as I have briefly explained, the creator of the Qu'ran is Allah and not Mohammad. I hope to have informed you about the truth behind the Qu'ran and its author.

Nauman Awan: Mohammad deserves to be ranked first. There are far more Muslim prayers than Christian prayers.

Nauman Awan (nauman.awan@ntlworld.com) sent us the following on 12 August 2005:

This is to support the authors Michael H. Hart's decision in his book, History's 100 Most Influential People.

According to him MUHAMMAD (SAW) deserves the first ranking. I have a very simple example and argument to support this decision. We Muslims, pray five times a day and before pray we give ADAN, a mandatory act to say our NAMAZ (PRAY). During ADAN we say that "MUHAMMAD IS THE LAST PROPHET OF ALLAH". This process continues 24 hrs a day in the whole world as you can well imagine our prayer timings, which changes due to longitude and latitude. That means if it is sunrise in east than we will say our morning pray while west Muslims will say their night pray. So in this way ADAN is being going on 24 hrs a day throughout the world.

With all kind respect for Mr. Paul, his argument of JESUS NAME in 6 billion books and MUHAMMAD'S in 1 billion has no solid ground, without any proved research. And if it is there i.e. proved, can you compare a person whom NAME is being respectably called 24 hrs a day through out the whole world in groups of trillions of people, with a person whose NAME is called out only once in a week as a group. A PROPHET who carries a book from ALLAH (GOD), which has not been changed after 14 centuries, can you compare HIM with a PROPHET whose book itself has been changed many times?

MUHAMMAD was sent by ALLAH and ALLAH REVEALED QURAN ON HIM, it is not HIS BOOK and ALLAH ALSO REVEALED BIBLE ON JESUS. Why QURAN has not been changed yet or no body has dared to change it? Because responsibility of protecting QURAN is being taken by ALLAH (GOD).

The original version of BIBLE itself tells an incident in which JESUS was telling his followers about MUHAMMAD, who would come after HIM but with a long gap. And also HE is ordering them to follow HIM because HE WOULD BE LAST ONE AND THE LEADER OF ALL THE PROPHETS.

Being MUSLIMS we also believe that JESUS is alive and HE will come back when ALLAH (GOD) will ask HIM TO DO SO. But HE WILL COME AS A FOLLOWER OF MUHAMMAD BECAUSE HE WILL BE COMING IN MUHAMMADS ERA WHICH IS TILL THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT and no one can now come from ALLAH saying that I am the last prophet, because MUHAMMAD IS THE LAST PROPHET - THE NUMBER ONE and also THERE IS NO NEED OF ANY PROPHET BECAUSE HE HAS TOLD US EACH AND EVERYTHING THAT IS TO BE NEEDED TO UNDERSTAND THIS LIFE AND THE LIFE AFTER DEATH THROUGH QURAN AND THOURGH HIS HADITHS AND DEEDS (SUUNAH).

The above arguments are made just to support the authors point of view and have no intention to harm any Religion's credibility,or to harm any personal feelings. These arguments are made just to support authors decision and not to let any others arguments down or not to negate his undrstanding about author's point of view.

Guralivu Paul: Christ should be first. Here's why

Guralivu Paul [lukka2019@yahoo.com] wrote (4 July 2005):

With all respect for Muslims, Jesus Christ should be first because:

* Everybody has a belief about Him. For example, Christians say He is God. Muslims say He is a prophet. Hindus says He is an incarnation of Krishna. Buddhists say He is only another path. So almost 6 billion people have this name in their books and in their teachings. Only 1 billion have the name Muhammad in their books. Only 330 millions have the name Buddha in their books and teachings. Only 900 millions have the name Krishna in their books and teachings.

* Napoleon said that Jesus is the greatest man that ever lived. This is because He shares with us His divine love. Jesus has a great empire of love, and it remains with us after 2000 years. Many people had empires, but where are these empires today?

* Every year 6 million Muslims leave Islam for Christ in Africa alone. (Ahmad Al Katani said this.)

* Jesus should be the first because everybody agrees that He is alive. Christians say that He is alive. Muslims say that He is alive. Modern Pagans say that He is alive.

I don't understand why Issac Newton is listed at #2 and Jesus #3. Issac Newton should be #3 because he did believe in Jesus and he loved Jesus. If Newton were alive today he would probably say that Jesus should be listed first.

Patrick Egbuchunam: Jesus is first and clearly the greatest figure in human history

Patrick Egbuchunam of Lagos, Nigeria wrote (11 October 2005):

I have been to your site on the web and must thank you for the information contained there.

I wish to comment on the list of the 100 most influential people in human history and the listing of Mohammed as first, Isaac Newton as second and Jesus as third.

Firstly, I must say that as you rightly pointed out, such an analysis is subjective. I also think it should not be done by only one person as was the case. It is best carried out by a committee of academic professors of world history who should come from varying religious and cultural backgrounds and must include atheists and secular humanists.

I believe the sole author of your analysis did a bad job probably because he has Christian roots (I may be wrong) and did not want to be accused of bias.

The simple truth is that Mohammed the founder of Islam has not affected human history the way the Galilean carpenter has.

Firstly, the fact adduced that Jesus of Nazareth did not found an empire even makes his influence the more glaring. Jesus also did not write anything nor cause anything to be written about him while on earth.

Secondly, Jesus is recognized by Christians the way Peter made his profession of faith. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God". All Christians despite being hopelessly divided and fragmented hold fast to this statement and also use the New Testament without disagreement. On the other hand, Moslems and the Koran recognize Jesus as the Christ but declare that God cannot have a son. The Koran spends so much time debating and disputing Christianity's claim that Jesus is the Son of God, that the status of Jesus is the single most topical issue that Islam has had to confront in its fourteen centuries of existence. Jews totally reject Peter's profession of faith but Jesus for them remains an enigma and a mystery. The fact that a fellow Jew founded the world's most predominant and influential religion still baffles them to no end. Other religious groups such as Eckankar and the Grail message and even founders of major religious/philosophical systems such as Karl Marx who do not accept Peter's declaration still refer to Jesus in superlative terms, calling him, for example, "one of the masters," etc.

The great influence of Jesus can be seen in the pre-eminent status of Europe (the so-called Christian continent). Europe colonized most of the world - Africa, Latin, Central and North America, Australasia and small parts of the Middle East and Asia. Missionaries followed the colonialists and adventurers everywhere.

The Crusades against the Moslem Ottoman Turks were instigated by a Pope and actually brought Europe in contact with a better civilization and signaled the beginning of Europe's ascendancy. The quarrel was about the use of Jesus birthplace.

Let us also consider that despite twelve centuries of different Moslem empires in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, these people did not make much technological and economic progress. It was Christian Europe that did. Even the discovery of oil in the Middle East in the 20th century has not had much impact in the closed Moslem societies where women have no liberty and despots are in control.

What about the modern miracle of the founding of the modern nation state of Israel? This was facilitated by the United States and Britain, two clearly Christian powers. Moslem protests, suicide attacks and terrorism have failed as Israel has gone on from strength to strength.

What about the impact of the Papacy? Peter's successors for good or for bad have had a great impact on the world stage since Constantine legalized Christianity in 313 AD. For over sixteen centuries Popes have remained undisputed as the most visible, most influential and best known religious leaders in the world. We are all living witnesses to the impact of Pope John Paul II. He was not the first great Pope. Even going back to 1968, check out the mass reaction to Pope Paul's decision to ban artificial forms of contraception among Catholics. It generated wide furor.

One can go on and on. One billion Moslems know him and debate and argue about Jesus. Two billion Christians worship him. This totals about half the earth's current population. But what about the Bible? The world's runaway best seller with over 6 billion copies sold. It is Jesus that makes the Bible tick. Without him it would just be the Jewish scriptures.

What about the influence of his mother Mary? She is the most important woman in Islam and a whole chapter in the Koran is devoted to her (the only woman to be so honored by the Koran). In fact, Moslems always refer to Jesus as the son of Mary. The Koran accepts the virgin birth of Jesus.

On the other hand, Mary divides Christians. One one hand are the half of the world's Christians who are Catholics (the world's biggest religious denomination) along with some other sects that revere and honor her. On the other hand are the other half that reject her pre-eminence or at best prefer to ignore her.

To place Jesus at third place behind even Isaac Newton is, to say the least, a travesty of judgment, if I may call it that.

I know that every child that goes through school learns of Newton in elementary physics, but what is the percentage of the world's children in school? Most of the humanitarian organizations that give aid to impoverished regions of the world where children cannot go to school are Christian. They bring Jesus along with their aid.

I submit that Jesus is first and clearly the greatest figure in human history. Mohammed comes a distant second and Newton may be third.

Thank you.

Patrick Egbuchunam Lagos, Nigeria

Ramazan Saeed: Muhammad was a family man

Ramazan Saeed wrote (31 October 2005):

I was reading the section on your site about the religious affiliation of history's 100 most influential people (http://www.adherents.com/adh_influ.html). I would just like to make a point that everyone else seems to have forgotten, and please feel free to add this to your website.

Many can argue whether Muhammad, Jesus and Newton should be the most influential using numbers on how many followers they have, how great a secular influence they had, whose empire was larger, etc etc. However one thing that differentiates one from the others, is that Muhammad was beyond what is already described, a family man. Not only did he marry, he also had children. And as any father alive will testify, marriage and the raising of children are very difficult tasks, and for Muhammad to do this as well as his other accomplishments show how great a man he was.

Dragon Atma: Christopher Columbus didn't discover America; religious founders shouldn't top modern tech developers

Dragon Atma wrote (31 May 2007):

Christopher Columbus's only real draw is that he discovered America... problem is, he didn't! Leif Ericson discovered it a good five hundred years earlier. Don't believe me? They actually found the remains of a Norse settlemant in L'anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland.

Furthermore, sticking a religious founder at #1 is a complete joke. Why not stick other religious nutjobs like Osama Bin-Laden in too?

As for who should go at the #1 spot, there are only three possibilities: The man who created computers, the man who created the internet, and the man who discovered electiricty -- all three changed the world more than jesus or mohammed did and in a far shorter amount of time.

Non-Muslim verdict on Prophet Muhammed

bhamadi_adel@yahoo.fr — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:13:00 +0000

Below some from the most interesting points of view on the prophet Muhammed written by non-Moslems:

George Bernard Shaw:

"If a man like Muhamed were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness."

Professor Jules Masserman:

"People like Pasteur and Salk are leaders in the first sense. People like Gandhi and Confucius, on one hand, and Alexander, Caesar and Hitler on the other, are leaders in the second and perhaps the third sense. Jesus and Buddha belong in the third category alone. Perhaps the greatest leader of all times was Mohammed, who combined all three functions. To a lesser degree, Moses did the same."

Rev. R. Bosworth-Smith:

"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 had the right to say that he 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."

Diwan Chand Sharma, The Prophets of the East Calcutta 1935,p122:

"Muhammad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him."

John William Draper, M.D., L.L.D., A History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, London 1875, Vol. 1, pp. 329-330:

"Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born at Mecca, in Arabia the man who, of all men exercised the greatest influence upon the human race . . Mohammed . . ."

John Austin , "Muhammad the Prophet of Allah," in T.P.'s and Cassel's Weekly for 24th September 1927:

"In little more than a year he was actually the spiritual, nominal and temporal rule of Medina, with his hands on the lever that was to shake the world."

Lamartine, Historie de la Turquie, Paris 1854, Vol. 11 pp. 276-2727:

"Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Warrior, Conqueror of ideas Restorer of rational beliefs, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammed. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?"

Annie Besant, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad, Madras 1932, page 4:

"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 of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher."

Encyclopedia Britannica:

"Muhammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities."

George Bernard Shaw , The Genuine Islam

"I have studied him - the wonderful man - and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ he must be called the saviour of humanity."

Rev. R. Bosworth-Smith ,Mohammed and Mohammedanism 1946

"By a fortune absolutely unique in history, Mohammed is a threefold founder of a nation, of an empire, and of a religion."