Virtues of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasalaam

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a Once when he awoke from sleep, the marks of the mat made out of date palm leaves on which he used to sleep were etched on his body.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"