Acknowledgement of the Truth
24 September, 2012
By Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood
Off and on, some mischievous non-Muslims, particularly from the West keep testing barometer of Muslim tolerance by their blasphemous speeches, writings, cartoons & films about the greatest Benefactor of Humanity, the last of the Messenger of Allah, the most revered & beloved man who ever stepped on this earth, (may peace be upon him). Lately, since 9/11, rate of occurrence of such horrible acts is on increase. Which gives the impression that they might be part of Muslim bashing & not act, of some derailed persons, engineered to play with the emotions of the Muslim masses to immune them, so much, God forbids, that one day if they physically attack the City of the Prophet (SAWW) Muslim reaction remains limited to cursing and burning their own national properties, at the most some foreign embassies. However a vast majority of none-Muslims are good human beings who also don't like the blasphemous actions of their fellow citizens. Responsibility falls on us to educate such people and win their support on the principle of respecting all the Prophets of God, of any religion. At the same time Muslim governments should be reminded to show their resentments & take strict diplomatic measures to ensure that the Western governments legislate against the mischievous elements to face punishment for hurting the feelings of hundreds of millions people by their such derogatory actions. Moreover OIC (Oh, I See) should be jolted not sit either also. Wish that His Excellency King Fahad & Mr. Z.A. Bhutto had been alive today to come up with their visionary policy to curb this menace forever. Minimum could be to educate the world about the blessings of Islam for civilization, the religion revealed on Prophet Muhammad (SAWW), the greatest benefactor of the humanity. The following article is presented in this very spirit.
The test of a truth is that it should be acknowledged by the opponents also. Greatness of the last Messenger of Allah is that even his bitterest enemies could not point out any human weakness in him. Even Abu Sufyan, the commander of the non-believer Makkans, the bitter enemy before his acceptance of Islam, had testified in the court of the Roman emperor about his nobility, honesty and truthfulness. More so, Abu Jehl, his sworn enemy, also acknowledged that he never told a lie (1, 9). Unfortunately, in the past, some of the jealous Christian writers did some mudslinging but they have been put to shame by their own brothers in faith, for being dishonest in the assessment of the greatest Benefactor of Humanity (2, 4, 7, 14, 21). For example, we quote from W. Montgomery "Muhammad at Mecca" Oxford Press 1953 – Page 52.
"His readiness to undergo persecution for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement, all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad".
Unfortunately, out of ignorance, mischief and jealousy, some wicked individuals even now show disrespect to the book of Allah and His Messenger, without regard to Muslim sentiments. No doubt, Muslims should react strongly against this most uncivilized crime, but it also falls upon us to educate the non-Muslims about the greatest Benefactor of Humanity.
His greatness needs no certificate from anyone, after that what Allah has said about him in the Holy Quran, "He and His angels shower their blessings and praises upon the Prophet" 56(33). Muslims all over the world, never utter his blessed name but with the deepest affection and respect for him. However, what the honest and the objective non-Muslim scholars have said about the "Saviour of humanity" is also noteworthy. Therefore, in the following pages, extracts are reproduced from some of their writings about the last Messenger of Allah (PBUH), as it may interest those who like to understand him from a purely secular point of view.
Prof. Lamartine (Historic de la Turquic 1854, Volume 0) on Page 189 writes:-
"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 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, people 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. His forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayer, 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 power to restore dogma. This dogma was twofold, the unity of God and the immortality 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. On the basis of a Book, every letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality, which blended together people of every tongue and of every race…. The idea of the Unity of God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of fabulous theologies, 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……."
"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?(17)".
* M.K. Gandhi "Young India" quoted in "The Light" 16 Feb. 1924 – Lahore on Page 190, says:-
"I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind. I became 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-effacement of the prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, His intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. Those and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle (14)".
Napoleon Bonaparte, Paris (Emperor of France) Bonaparte et L' "Islam" wrote in his autobiography
"Moses had revealed the existence of God to His nation, Jesus Christ to the Roman world, Muhammad to the old continent. Arabia was idolatrous when, six centuries after Jesus, Muhammad introduced the worship of the God of Ibrahim, of Ishmael, of Moses, and of Jesus – Muhammad declared that there was none but one God, Who had no father, no son and that the Trinity imparted the idea of idolatry….I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of the Quran, which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness (17)".
Besant Annie The Life and Teaching of Muhammad (PBUH) Madras -1932, Pub. at Page 191 says
"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 wave of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher. (17)".
Historian Andrae, T. "Muhammad", London. 1936. says on P.247
"We might call him a poet or a prophet, for we feel that the words, which he speaks, are not the words of any ordinary man. They have their immediate source in the reality of things, since he lives in constant fellowship with this reality )".
James A Michener "Islam – The Misunderstood Religion", Reader's Digest, May 1955 Pub. 68-70 Page 192, says:-
Like almost every major Prophet before him, Muhammad felt shy of serving as the transmitter of God's word, sensing his own inadequacy, but the angel commanded "Read". So far as we know, Muhammad was unable to read or write, but he began to dictate those inspired words which would soon revolutionize a large segment of the earth: "There is one God". In all things, Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim died, an eclipse occurred, and rumours of God's personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon 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 immediate 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". (17)
Michael H. Hart, "The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History", New York: Hart Publishing Company, Inc. 1978, on P-33 says:-
"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".
John William Draper, "A History of the Intellectual Development of Europe", London 1875, Vol-I on PP-329 says
Four years after the death of Justinian was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race (47).
Famous Historians Edward Gibbon and Simon Ockaly, "History of the Saracen Empire", London 1870, writes on P-54.:-
"It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder; the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medinah is preserved, after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran …… The Mohammedans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man. I believe in One God and Mohammad the Apostle of God, is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the office of the prophet has never transgressed the measure of human virtue; and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion. (17)
Marquis of Duggerin, "Speeches Delivered in India". London. 1890 (P-24). Said:-
It is to Muslim science, to Muslim art, and to Muslim literature that Europe has been in a great measure indebted for its extrication from the darkness of the Middle Ages (17).
Ref. H. G. Wells in his "The Outline of History", London. 1920 wrote:-
"From a new angle and with a fresh vigour, it (the Arab mind) took up that systematic development of positive knowledge of which the Greek was the father, then the Arab was the foster-father of the scientific method of dealing with reality, that is to say, by absolute frankness, the utmost simplicity of statement and explication, exact record and exhaustive criticism. Through the Arabs it was, and not by the Latin route, that the modern world received that gift of light and power (47)".
Famous Historian H.A.R. Gibb. "Why Islam?" London. 1932. P-379 wrote:-
"But Islam has yet a further service to render to the cause of humanity…No other society has such a record of success in uniting an equality of status, of opportunity and of endeavour to so many and so various races of mankind. The great Muslim communities of Africa, India and IndonesiaError! Bookmark not defined., perhaps also the small Muslim community of Japan, show that Islam has still the power to reconcile apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the opposition of the great societies of the East and West is to be replaced by cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition (47)".
British Schalor A.J. Toynbee in his book "Civilization on Trial". New York. 1948. P-205, says
"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 (8).
Leopold Weiss (Muslim name-Muhammad Asad, Austrian philosopher, writer and commentator of the Holy Quran), "Road to Mecca" testified:-
Islam appears to me like a perfect work of architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other; nothing is superfluous and nothing lacking, with the result of an absolute balance and solid composure. Probably this feeling that everything in the teachings and postulates of Islam is in its proper place has created the strongest impression on me. Those studies and comparisons created in me the firm conviction that Islam, as a spiritual and rational phenomenon, in spite of all the drawbacks, caused by the deficiencies of the Muslims, is still by far the greatest driving force mankind has ever experienced; and all my interest became, since then, centered around the problem of its regeneration (17).
Major Arthur Glyn Leonard, in his book "Islam – Her Moral and Spiritual Value" London 1927 wrote:-
"Two features in the creed of Islam have always specially attracted me. One is the God's conception, the other is its unquestionable sincerity – a tremendous asset in human affairs, the religious aspect of them specially. After all, sincerity is also most Divine and like love covers a multitude of sins").
The writer is former Director-General (Nuclear Power), PAEC
|
