MUHAMMAD(PBUH) IN THE EYES OF NON-MUSLIM THINKERS AND SCHOLARS
|
It is a difficult task to describe the versatility of character
of Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, and it would indeed require volumes to do
justice to him, to his sincerity, generosity, frugality, broad-mindedness,
firmness and tenacity of purpose, his steadfastness, and calmness in
adversity, his meekness in prosperity, his humility in greatness, his modesty
in character, his anxious care for animals, his passionate fondness and love
for children, his bravery and fortitude, his magnanimity of spirit, his
unbending sense of justice and above all his noble mission to save humanity
from destruction.
|
In the face of
those who do not understand him and still pour forth torrents of abuse on the
Prophet and shamefully scandalise him, what better homage to Prophet Muhammad
can we pay than quote the testimony of great Western historians, thinkers and
scholars who expressed their views on the greatest of benefactors of
humanity.
|
In his famous
book "The Heroes", Thomas Carlyle says the following about
Muhammad:
|
"Muhammad
is no longer an imposter, but a great reformer. He is no longer a neurotic
patient suffering from epilepsy, but a man of tremendous character and
unbending will. He is no longer a self-seeking despot, ministering to his own
selfish ends but a beneficent ruler shedding light and love around him. He is
no longer an opportunist, but a Prophet with a fixed purpose, a man of strong
will, undeviating in his consistency....
|
"Muhammad
was the man of truth and fidelity, true in what he did, in what he spoke, in
what he thought; always meant something, a man rather taciturn in speech,
silent when there was nothing to be said, but pertinent, wise, sincere, when
he did speak, always throwing light on the matter...
|
"A poor
shepherd people roaming unnoticed in the deserts since the creation of the
world; a hero Prophet was sent down to them with a word they could believe;
see the unnoticed became world noticeable, within one century afterwards Arabia
is at Granada on this end; at Delhi on that; glancing with valour and
splendour and the light of genius, Arabia shines through long ages over a
great section of the world."
|
George Bernard
Shaw said:
|
"I have
always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation of its wonderful
vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that
assimilating capability to the changing phases of existence which can make
itself appeal to everyone. I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that
it would be acceptable to the Europe of
today. The medieval ecelesiastics either through ignorance or bigotry painted
Islam in the darkest colours. they were, in fact, trained to hate 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 saviour of humanity. I believe that if a man like him were
to assume dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its
problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness.
But to proceed, it was in the nineteenth century that honest thinkers like
Carlyle, Gibbon and Goethe perceived intrinsic worth in the religion of
Muhammad-already, even, at the present time many of our people have gone to
his faith , and Islamization of Europe may be said to have begun.
|
Lamartine, the
famous French historian, said:
|
"Philospoher,
orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of
rational dogmas, of cult without images the founder of twenty terrestrial
empires, 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?''
|
Alfred Martin
said in (In Great Religious Teachers of The East):
|
"Nor is
anything in religious history more remarkable than the way in which Muhammad
fitted his transfiguring ideas into the existing social system of Arabia. To his everlasting credit, it must be said that
in lifting to a higher place of life the communities of his day and place, he
achieved that which neither the Judaism nor Christianity of Medievel Arabia
could accomplish. Nay more, in the fulfilment of that civilising work
Muhammad rendered valuable service, not only to Arabia,
but also to the entire world."
|
J.H. Denison
said in (Emotion as the Basis of Civilisation) the following:
|
"In the
fifth and sixth centuries the civilised world stood on the verge of a chaos.
The old emotional cultures that had made civilisation 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
that the great civilisation 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 where 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. Civilisation, like a gigantic tree
whose foliage had over arched the world and whose branches had borne the
golden fruits of art and science and literature, stood tottering... rotted to
the core.
|
"Was there
any emotional culture that could be brought in togather mankind once more
into unity and to save civilisation? It was among these Arab people that the
man Muhammad was born who was to unite the whole known world of the east and
south". Sir William Muir said in (The Life of Muhammad):
|
"For few
and simple were the precepts of Muhammad. His teaching had wrought a
marvellous and mighty work. Never since the days when the primitive
Christianity startled the world from its sleep and waged moral combat with
heathenism had men seen the like arousing of spiritual life, the like faith
that suffered sacrifices and took joyfully the spoiling of goods for
conscience's sake.''
|
Johnson in
(Oriental Religions) also said:
|
"Muhammad's
thoroughly democratic conception of the divine government, the universality
of his religious ideal, his simple humanity, all affiliate him with the
modern world."
|
Sir Philip
Gibbs said in( the Glory of Muhammad):
|
"Islam
(meaning resignation), as the religion of Muhammad is properly called, has
done more for the progress of civilisation and morality than any other faith
which has animated the souls of men since the creation of this world. Through
many centuries and at the present day it has been, and is, a power for good
among hundreds of millions of the human race, and without its high moral code
there is no doubt that the blackest barbarism and the most idolatrous worship
would reign omnipotent where Allah and faith of nobility lead men to
light."
|
Major A. G.
Leonard said:
|
"If ever a
man on this earth found Allah, if ever a man devoted his life to Allah's
service with a good and great motive, it is certain that the Prophet of
Arabia (Muhammad) is the man. Muhammad was not only the greatest but truest
man that humanity has ever produced."
|
Sadhu T. L.
Vasvani said:
|
"I salute
Muhammad as one of the world's mighty heroes. Muhammad has been a world
force, a mighty power of the uplift of many peoples."
|
Mahatma Gandhi
said:
|
" When I
closed the second volume of the Prophet's Biography', I was sorry that there
was no more for me to read of that great life. I was more than ever 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 - efacement of
the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his
friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust
in Allah and his own mission."
|
Bertram Thomas
said:
|
"His moral
teachings sprang from a pure and exaltedmind aflame with religious
enthusiasm. From being a persecuted preacher exiled to Madina, he rose to
political power. This he enjoyed only in the last few years of his life, and
this he used for the spiritual and material welfare of Muslims.
|
Such indeed was
the magnificence ol his good works that he died in debt, some of his
belongings in pawn with a Jew-among them his only shield for which he obtained
three measures of meal.
|
"He lived
in great humility, performing the most menial tasks with his own hands; he
kindled the fire, swept the floor, milked the ewes, patched his own garments
and cobbled his own shoes.
|
"He
laboured for the amelioration of the slaves' lot, liberating any that were
presented to him."
|
Stanley
Lane-Poole said:
|
"He who,
standing alone, braved for years the hatred of his people is the same who was
never the first to withdraw his hand from another's clasp; the beloved of children,
who never passed a group of little ones without a smile from his wonderful
eyes and a kind word for them, sounding all the kinder in that sweet-toned
voice. He was one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of
making one great truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the
one God; and never to his life's end did he forget who he was, or the message
which was the marrow of his being. He brought his tidings to his people with
a grand dignity sprung from the consciousness of his high office, together
with a most sweet humility whose roots lay in the knowledge of his own
weakeness."
|
D. S.
Margoliouth said:
|
"His
humanity extended itself to the lower creation. He forbade the employment of
living birds as targets for marksmen and remonstrated with those who
ill-treated their camels... Foolish acts of cruelty which were connected with
old superstitions were swept away by him...
|
No more was a
dead man's camel to be tied to his tomb to perish of thrist and hunger. No
more was the evil eye to be propitiated by the bleeding of a certain
proportion of the herd. No more was the rain to be conjured by tying burning
torches to the tails of oxen;... The manes and tails of horses were not to be
cut, nor were asses to be branded."
|
In (The Ethics
of the Great Religions) Gorham said:
|
"Sleeping
one day under a palm-tree, Muhammad awoke suddenly to find an enemy named
Du'thur standing over him with drawn sword.
|
"O,
Muhammad, who is there now to save thee?', cried the man. `Allah!', answered
Muhammad. Du'thur, while trying to strike, stumbled and dropped his sword.
Muhammad seizeit and cried in turn: "O, Du'thur, who is there now to
save thee?'. `No one', eplied Du'thur.Then learn to be merciful', said
Muhammad, and handed him back his weapon.Du'thur became one of his firmest
friends."
|
Pierre Crabites said:
|
Muhammad was
probably the greatest champion of women's rights the world has ever seen.
Islam conferred upon the Muslim wife property rights and juridical status
exactly the same as that of her husband. She is free to dispose of and manage
her financial assets as she pleases, without let or hindrance from her
husband.
Source:
|
0 Comments
To contact Study for Super-Vision, write your comments. Avoid spamming as your post will not be seen by any one.