ACCOLADES
BY NON-MUSLIMS
The Prophet
of Islam is the most “written
about” person in the history of mankind. There are libraries full of books
written about him. The devotion of Muslims
to their Prophet is un-matched.
Therefore I am giving below excerpts from the writings of non-Muslim scholars (this is only a random
selection).
Greatest John William Draper states:
Influence upon
Human Race: -
“Four years after
the death of Justinian, 569 AD, was born at Makkah,
in Arabia, the man who, of all man, 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 his
people by regulating respecting personal cleanliness, sobriety, fasting and
prayer. Above all other works, he esteemed alms giving and charity, with a
liberality to which the world had of late become a stranger. He admitted the
salvation of men of any form of faith provided they were virtuous. To the
declaration that there is but one God, he added, ‘And Muhammad is His Prophet. Whoever desires to know whether the
event of things answered to the boldness of such an announcement will do well
to examine a map of the world in our own times. He will find the marks of
something more than an imposture.”
(A History of the
Intellectual Development of Europe, London 1875, Vol-I, page No.329-330, John William Draper, M.D., LL.)
Ironic when James A. Michener says:
Muhammad is
charged by
western
Writers: -
“At
20 he was
already a successful
businessman, and soon became
director of camel
caravans for a wealthy widow. When he reached 25
his employer, recognizing his merit,
proposed marriage. Even though
she was 15 years older, he married her,
and as long as she lived remained a devoted husband.”
“By forty this man of the desert had
secured for himself a most satisfying life; a loving wife, fine children and
wealth. Then in a series of dramatic and terrifying events, he began to receive
through the Archangel Gabriel a revelation of God’s word.”
“By the force of his extraordinary
personality, Muhammad revolutionized
life in Arabia and throughout the East. With his own hands he smashed ancient
idols and established a religion dedicated to one God. He lifted women from the
bondage in which desert custom held them and preached general social justice.”
“Western writers have based their
charges of voluptuousness mainly on the question of women. Before Muhammad, however men were encouraged to
take innumerable wives; he limited them to four only, and the Qur’an is explicit that husbands who are
unable to maintain strict equality between two or more wives must confine
themselves to one…”
“In all things Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim
died, an eclipse occurred, and rumors of God’s personal condolence quickly
arose. Where upon Muhammad is said to
have announced. ‘An eclipse is a phenomenon of nature. It is foolish to
attribute such things to the death or birth of a human being.”
“At Muhammad’s own death an attempt was made
to deify him, but the man who was to become his administrative successor killed
the hysteria with one of the noblest speeches in religious history: “If there
are any among you who worshipped Muhammad,
he is dead. But if it is God you worshipped, He lives forever.”
(Islam: The Misunderstood Religion, in
the Reader’s Digest, American Edition, May 1955, page# 68-70)
Is there any Lamartine writes:
Man greater
than He?: -
“If
greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results
are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to
compare any
great man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men created armies, 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. The avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the
virtue of the followers of Muhammad;
the conquest of one-third of the earth to his dogma was his miracle; or rather
it was not the miracle of a man but that of reason. The idea of the Unity of
God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of fabulous theogonies, 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. His life, his
meditations, his heroic revilings against the superstitions of his country and
his boldness in defying the furies of idolatry, his firmness in enduring them
for thirteen years at Makkah, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and
almost of being a victim of his fellow countrymen; all these and, finally, his
flight his incessant preaching, his wars against odds, his faith in his success
and his superhuman security in misfortune, his forbearance in victory, his
ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for
an empire; his endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death
and his triumph after death; all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm
conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was twofold,
the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is,
the later telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods with the
sword, the other starting an idea with the words.”
“Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior,
conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the
founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad.
As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well
ask, is there any man greater than he?”
(Histoire de la Turquie,
Paris 1854, Vol-II, page# 276-277, Lamartine)
Muhammad
The Versatile
Personality: -
The personality of Muhammad,
it is most difficult to get into the whole
truth of it. Only a glimpse of it I can catch. What a
dramatic succession
of picturesque scenes!
There is Muhammad,
the Prophet, the General, the
King, the Warrior, the Businessman, the Preacher, the Philosopher, the
Statesman, the Orator, the
Reformer, the Refuge of Orphans, the Protector of Slaves, the Emancipator of
Women, the Judge and the Saint.
And in all these magnificent roles, in all these
departments of human activities, he is like a HERO.
(Taken from:
“Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam”, by Prof. K.S. Ramakrishna Rao, Mysore, India,
published by Begum Aisha Bawany Educational & Welfare Wakf, Habib Square,
M.A. Jinnah Road, Karachi.)
Pope without Bosworth Smith writes:
Pope’s
Pretentions,
Caesar without
Caesar: -
“Head of the State as well as of the Church”, remarks
Bosworth Smith, Legions of “he
was Caesar and
Pope in one;
but he was Pope without Pope’s pretentions, Caesar without the legions
of Caesar. Without a standing
army, without a body-guard,
without a palace, without fixed revenue, if ever any man had the right to say
that he ruled by the divine right, it was Muhammad,
for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports.”
(Muhammad and Muhammadanism, page# 92)
Equal in Sight N.N.E. Bray writes:
of God: -
“Truly Muhammad
when he instituted the pilgrimage did more than impose a religious duty; his
genius evolved a means of perpetual communication
with the remotest corners of the Muslim
world. The naked savage from Central
Africa…is there clothed in the simple linen
shirt of the ceremony; the Indian prince, discarding his
silken robes, dons the same simple attire. Thus they are made equal in the
sight of God.”
“In Makkah they meet in a spirit of brotherhood purely Muhammedan.
There they exchange ideas and discuss events which have taken place in their
widely flung countries, and when at length they return to their native lands,
they are surrounded by their relatives and friends eager to listen to the tales
of their experiences. The most highly organized European Press propaganda sinks
into insignificance compared with this gigantic dissemination of ideas.”
(Shifting Sands, London
1937, page# 16)
No Constantine: A.M.L. Stoddard writes:
No Asoka or
Cyrus: -
“The rise of
Islam
is perhaps the most amazing
event in human
history. Springing from a land and a people like previously negligible, Islam spread within a century over half the earth, shattering great
empires, overthrowing long-established religions, remolding the souls of races,
and building up a whole new world—world
of Islam.”
“The closer we examine this development the more
extraordinary does it appear. The other great religions won their way slowly,
by painful struggle, and
finally triumphed with the aid of powerful monarchs converted to the new faith.
Christianity had its Constantine,
Buddhism its Asoka, and Zoroastrianism its Cyrus, each lending to his chosen
cult the mighty force of secular authority. Not so Islam. Arising in a desert land sparsely inhabited by a nomad race
previously undistinguished in human annals. Islam
sallied forth on its great adventure with the slenderest human backing and
against the heaviest material odds. Yet Islam triumphed with seemingly miraculous
ease, and a couple of generations saw the Fiery Crescent borne victorious from
the Pyrenees to the Himalayas and from the deserts of Central Asia to the
deserts of Central Africa…”
His Death H.M. Hyndman opines:
devoid of
mystery as His
Life of
disguise: -
“Never claiming divine powers at any period of his mission,
this very
human prophet of God made his first converts in his own
family, in his
own aristocratic gens (people), and had such
a remarkable personal
influence over all with whom he was brought into contact
that, neither when a poverty-stricken and
hunted fugitive, nor at the height of his prosperity, did he ever have
to complain of treachery from those who had once embraced his faith. His
confidence in himself, and in his inspiration from on high, was ever greater
when he was suffering under disappointment and defeat when he was able to
dictate his own terms to his conquered enemies. Muhammad died as he had lived, surrounded by his early followers,
friends and votaries; his death as devoid of mystery as his life as disguise.”
(The Awakening of Asia,
London 1919, page# 9, H.M. Hyndman)
His daily D.G. Hogarth states:-
behavior
instituted a
Canon which
Millions
observe: -
“Serious or trivial, his daily behavior has instituted
a canon which
millions observe at this day with conscious memory. No one
regarded
by any section of the human race as Perfect Man has
been imitated
so
minutely. The conduct of the
Founder
of Christianity
has not
so governed the ordinary life of his followers. Moreover,
no founder of a religion has been left on so solitary an eminence as the Muslim Apostle.”
(A History of Arabia,
Oxford 1922, p. 52, D.G. Hogarth)
Savior of George Bernard Shaw says:-
Humanity:
Appeal to
Every Age: -
“I have
always held the
religion of Muhammad in high estimation
because of its
wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears
to possess that assimilating capability to
the changing
phases of existence which can make itself appeal to every age…”
“I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable tomorrow
as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today. Mediaeval
ecclesiastics, either through
ignorance or bigotry, painted Muhammadanism in the darkest
colors. They were, in fact,
trained to hate both the man Muhammad and his religion. To them Muhammad was Anti-Christ. I have studied him, the wonderful man, and in my
opinion far from being an Anti-Christ
he must be called the savior of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were
to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving the
problems in a way that would bring it the much-needed peace and happiness.
Europe is beginning to be enamored of the creed of Muhammad. In the next century it may go still further in
recognizing the utility of that creed in solving its problems, and it is in
this sense that you must understand my prediction.”
(“A Collection of Writings of
Some of the Eminent Scholars” published by the Working Muslim Mission, 1935
Edition, page# 77)
(Excerpts taken from:
-
“Islam—The Religion of
All Prophets”, published by Begum Aisha Bawani Waqf, Karachi.)
READ SOME PORTION OF QUR'AN EVERYDAY. YOU WILL FIND THERE IS SOMETHING IN IT
FOR YOU ALSO.
Aziz-UZ-Zaman
8th Jamadi-us-Sani
1436 Hijri,
(29th
March, 2015 A.D)
1244,
Abdul Khalique A.W. Town,
Sector
31-B, Korangi, Karachi.
E-Mail: azamanquran@gmail.com
