Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihiwasallam is the last and final
messenger of Islam born to Hazrath Abdullah Radiallahu anhu and Hazrath Amina
Radiallahu anha around 570 AD in the city of Mecca in Hijaz(now Saudi Arabia).
Born in the tribe of Quraish Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasallam like
other prophets grazed sheeps and a merchant. Prophet Muhammad
sallallahualaihiwasallam on the divine revelation and orders from Allah
azzawajal declared his prophethood at
the age of 40. Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasallam never founded any religion
instead he restored the corrupted monotheistic faith of Prophet Adam alaihissalaaam, Nuh/Noah alaihissalaaam, Ibrahim/Abraham alaihissalaaam, Musa/Moses alaihissalaaam, Isa/Jesus alaihissalaaam and other prophets.
Today it has become necessary and essential to save the honor and dignity
of our beloved Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam by spreading his life and teachings to clear all the
misconceptions about him and Islam.
Few
virtues of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam:
a Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam never lied.
a Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam led
a simple life without any extravagance or lavishness.
a A month would pass while his family would not
light fire in their homes. They subsisted on two things – dates and water. They
never ate wheat bread to their satisfaction for three consecutive days from the
time of his arrival at Medina until he passed away, about 10 years!
a With all this, he would stand up in the middle
of the night to offer his gratitude to his Lord in prayer. He would pray for so
long that his feet would swell! When his wives would ask why he worshiped Allah
so much, his only response would be: “Shall I not be a thankful servant
of Allah?”
a Remembering the days he passed in hunger said
that sometimes the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam did not even have
rotten dates to satisfy his hunger!
a Once when he awoke from sleep, the marks of
the mat made out of date palm leaves on which he used to sleep were etched on
his body.
a Various conquerors in the annals of history
are known for spilling rivers of blood and erecting pyramids of skulls. Prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam is known for his forgiveness. He never
struck anybody with his hand, neither a woman nor a servant, unless he
was fighting in battle. His forgiveness could be seen on the day he entered
Mecca as a conqueror after eight years of exile. He forgave those who
persecuted him, and forced him and his family in exile for three years in
rugged mountains, who had accused him of being a lunatic, a poet, or one
possessed.
a Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam was
the most humble of men. He sat on the ground, ate on the
ground, and slept on the ground. A companion narrated that if a stranger were
to enter a gathering where he was present, he would not be able to
differentiate the Prophet from his companions due to his humbleness.
a Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam was
the best of men to his wives as he used to remain busy serving
and helping his household, and when the time for prayer came he would perform
ablution and go for prayer. He would patch his own sandals and sew his own
garments. Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam searched his clothes himself, milked his
sheep, and did his own chores.
What
Quran says about Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam
"Certainly you have in the
Messenger of Allah an excellent example (of conduct) for anyone whose hope is
in Allah and the Final Day, and who engages much in the Praise of Allah." (Quran,
33:21)
Non-Muslim Opinions of Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam
The
following quotes of famous non-Muslim personalities have been compiled from
numerous sources. On close analysis, one naturally comes to the conclusion that
anyone who truly studies this Man is in awe of the person of Muhammad (PBUH).
The
following extract has been taken from the book "The 100 - a Ranking of the Most Influential Person in
History" by Michael H. Hart,
a Christian American, an astronomer, a mathematician, a chess master, and a
scientist. After extensive research, he rated prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as number
one and to be considered as the most influential single figure in human
history.
"My
choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential person 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. 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. Furthermore, Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as
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. 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."
Mahatma Gandhi, speaking on the character of
Muhammad, (pbuh) says in (Young India):
"I
wanted to know the best of one who holds today's undisputed sway over the
hearts of millions of mankind. I became more than convinced that it was not the
sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was
the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous
regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to this friends and followers, his
intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own
mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted
every obstacle. When I closed the 2nd volume (of the Prophet's biography), I
was sorry there was not more for me to read of the great life."
Additionally,
other non-Muslims have written their opinions concerning Muhammad (PBUH):
"It
is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great
Prophet of Arabia, who knew how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything
but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the
Supreme. And although in what I put to you I shall say many things which may be
familiar to many, yet I myself feel, whenever I reread them, a new way of
admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher."
Annie Besant in
"The Life and Teachings of Mohammad"
"Muhammad
was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten."
Diwan Chand
Sharma, "The Prophets of the East"
"People
like Pasteur and Salk are leaders in the first sense. People like Gandhi and
Confucius, on the other hand, and Alexander, Caesar 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 time was Mohammad, who
combined all the three functions. To a lesser degree Moses did the same."
Jules Masserman
in "Who Were Histories Great Leaders?" TIME Magazine.
"Head
of State as well as 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 police force, without a
fixed revenue. If ever a man ruled by 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."
Reverend Bosworth
Smith in "Muhammad and Muhammadanism"
"Four
years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the
man Muhammad, who of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human
race. To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of
one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of
God."
Dr. William
Draper, M.D. L.L.D. in "History of Intellectual Development of
Europe"
"In
little more than a year he was actually the spiritual, nominal and temporal
ruler of Medina, with his hands on the lever that was to shake the world."
John Austin,
"Muhammad the Prophet of Allah" in T.P.'s and Cassel's Weekly
"Never
has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim,
since this aim was super human; to subvert superstitions which had been imposed
between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to
restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the
material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never has a man
undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he
Muhammad had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great
design, no other instrument than himself and no other aid except a handful of
men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished
such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because in less than two
centuries after its appearance, Islam, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and
conquered, in God's name, Persia, Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria,
Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands
of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain and part of Gaul.
If
greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three
criteria of human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with
Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. They
founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled
away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires,
peoples, dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited
world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the
ideas, the beliefs and the souls. 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?
Alphonse de
LaMartaine in "Historie de la Turquie"
"The
league of nations founded by the Prophet of Islam put the principle of
international unity of human brotherhood on such Universal foundations as to
show candle to other nations. 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."
C. Snouck
Hurgronje, "Where Christian and Mohammedan Meet"
Prophet
Muhammad (
sallallahu alaihiwasalaam ) - Untainted and Pure
"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 earth, kindled the fire and attended the other menial offices
of the family. The entire town of Medina where he lived grew in wealth 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 soft bed but on a palm
mat, after a long busy day to spend most of his night in prayer, often bursting
into 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 breath had many patches. The house from where
light had spread to the world was in darkness because there was no oil in the
lamp. Circumstance 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."
Professor
Ramakrishna Rao, "Islam and Modern Age"
