What they say about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

Duringthe centuries of the crusades, all sorts of slanders were inventedagainst the Prophet Muhammad (p)2. However, with the birth of themode age, marked with religious tolerance and freedom of thought,there has been a great change in the approach of Weste authors intheir delineation of his life and character.
The West, however, has yet to go a step forward to
discover the greatest reality about Muhammad (p); that is his being the true and the last Prophet of God for all humanity.
Despiteall its objectivity and enlightenment, there has been no sincere andobjective attempt by the West to understand the Prophethood of Muhammad(p). It is so strange that very glowing tributes are paid to him forhis integrity and achievement but his claim of being the Prophet of Godis rejected explicitly or implicitly. It is here that a searching ofthe heart is required, and a review of the so-called objectivity isneeded. The following glaring facts from the life of Muhammad (p) havebeen fuished to facilitate an unbiased, logical and objectivedecision regarding his Prophethood.

Upto the age of forty, Muhammad (p) was not known as a statesman, apreacher or an orator. He was never seen discussing the principles ofmetaphysics, ethics, law, politics, economics or sociology. No doubt hepossessed an excellent character and charming maers and was known tobe highly cultured. Yet there was nothing so deeply striking and soradically extraordinary in him that would make men expect somethinggreat and revolutionary from him in the future. But when he came out ofthe Cave of Hira, with a new message, he was completely transformed.“Is it possible for a person known to possess an upright andunblemished character, to suddenly tu ‘an impostor’ and claim to bethe Prophet of God?”. It is well known that his claim invited the rageof his people, and marked the begiing of a long, arduous struggle.One might ask: “for what reason did he suffer all those hardships?” Hispeople offered to accept him as their King and to lay all the riches ofthe land at his feet if only he would leave the preaching of hismessage. But he tued down their alluring offers and continued topreach in the face of insults, social boycott and even physicalassault. Furthermore, had he come with a design of rivalry with theChristians and the Jews, why should he have believed in Jesus Christand Moses and other Prophets of God (peace be upon them), which is abasic requirement of faith without which no one could be a Muslim?

Itis well known that Muhammad (p) was unlettered and had led a veryuneventful life before he aounced his mission to the world at the ageof forty. Is it not an incontrovertible proof of his Prophethood, thatdespite being unlettered, all of Arabia stood in awe and wonder when hebegan preaching his message, and was bewitched by the wonderfuleloquence of his message? The whole legion of Arab poets, preachers andorators of the highest caliber failed to bring forth the equivalent ofthe Qur’an, which remains inimitable to this day. And above all, howcould he then pronounce truths of scientific nature contained in theQur’an that no human being could possibly have discovered at that time?

Last,but not the least, why did he lead a hard life even after gaining powerand authority? The words he uttered while dying were: “We the communityof the Prophets are not inherited. Whatever we leave is for charity.”

Asa matter of fact, Muhammad (p), is the last link of Prophets sent indifferent lands and times since the begiing of the human life onearth.

“If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, andastounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who coulddare to compare any great man in mode history with Muhammad? The mostfamous men created arms, laws and empires only. They founded, ifanything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled awaybefore their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations,empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of thethen inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, thegods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and souls... Hisforbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to oneidea and in no maer striving for an empire; his endless prayers, hismystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death;all these attest not to an impostor but to a firm conviction which gavehim the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was twofold, the unity ofGod and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is, thelatter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods withthe sword, the other starting an idea with the words.