Advertisement
Guest User

Untitled

a guest
Feb 8th, 2017
359
0
Never
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
text 73.75 KB | None | 0 0
  1. You should know this Man
  2. Muhammad: The Most Influential Person in History and
  3. the Prophet of Islam
  4. To every Muslim, Muhammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) is Allah's (creator of universe) greatest creation and was sent as a messenger and mercy of all mankind.
  5. This is the belief of more than two billion Muslims.
  6. BUT WHAT OF THE NON-MUSLIMS?
  7. Surprisingly, over the centuries, manual eminent non-Muslim have rated Muhammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) most highly and given due recognition to his greatness.
  8. Michael H. Hart, a Christian American,
  9. an astronomer, a mathematician, a chess master,
  10. and a scientist, after extensive research, in his book,
  11. "The 100" has rated Prophet Muhammad
  12. (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) as number one and to be considered as the most influential figure in human history.
  13. Professor K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, a Hindu professor, says about Prophet Muhammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam):
  14. "the principle of universal brotherhood and the doctrine of equality of mankind which he proclaimed represents a very great contribution to social uplifting humanity."
  15. "All great religions preach the same doctrine, but the Prophet of Islam had put this theory into actual practice."
  16. George Bernard Shaw, a British philosopher says in his book,
  17. "The Genuine Islam":
  18. "I have studied him... He must be called the Savior of humanity."
  19. Lamartine, in his book "Historiede la Thurguie" says:
  20. "As regards to all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is the any man greater than he?"
  21. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  22. Table of Contents
  23. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  24. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  25. MUHAMMAD
  26. THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN HISTORY
  27. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  28. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  29. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  30. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  31. The non-Muslim
  32. VERDICT ON MUHAMMAD
  33. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  34. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  35. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  36. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  37. Biblical Prophecies
  38. About Prophet Muhammad
  39. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  40. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  41. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  42. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  43. MUHAMMAD
  44. THE Prophet of ISLAM
  45. ---- ----- ---------- ---------- ----- ----
  46. ------- ----- -------
  47. Need for Understanding
  48. ------- ----- -------
  49. Man is Gregarious
  50. ------- ----- -------
  51. The Prophet -- A Historic Personality
  52. ------- ----- -------
  53. Past misrepresentation
  54. ------- ----- -------
  55. War for Self-Defense
  56. ------- ----- -------
  57. Battlefield humanised
  58. ------- ----- -------
  59. Bitterest enemies pardoned
  60. ------- ----- -------
  61. Theory Merged with Practice
  62. ------- ----- -------
  63. Peasant and King EQUAL before God
  64. ------- ----- -------
  65. Pilgrimage -- HAJJ -- A Living Testimony
  66. ------- ----- -------
  67. ISLAM -- A Beacon to a drifting world
  68. ------- ----- -------
  69. ISLAM -- Emancipated Women
  70. ------- ----- -------
  71. Women had right to own property
  72. ------- ----- -------
  73. The Golden Mean
  74. ------- ----- -------
  75. The Test
  76. ------- ----- -------
  77. Impeccable Character
  78. ------- ----- -------
  79. Undying Love for the Holy Prophet
  80. ------- ----- -------
  81. Followers of best caliber
  82. ------- ----- -------
  83. Perfect Model for Human Life
  84. ------- ----- -------
  85. Muhammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) -- The Greatest
  86. ------- ----- -------
  87. The Unlettered Prophet
  88. ------- ----- -------
  89. Muhammad (salah Allahu Alayhe wa salaam) -- Untainted and Pure
  90. ------- ----- -------
  91. Consistent unto death
  92. ------- ----- -------
  93. More than Honest
  94. ------- ----- -------
  95. Scientific Orientation -- A Legacy from MUHAMMAD (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam)
  96. ------- ----- -------
  97. Debt of the West to Arabs for Science
  98. ------- ----- -------
  99. ISLAM -- A Complete Way of Life
  100. ------- ----- -------
  101. Sublime Teachings
  102. ------- ----- -------
  103. Based on correct faith and right actions
  104. ------- ----- -------
  105. GOD -- There is none like unto Him
  106. ------- ----- -------
  107. This life is preparation for the hereafter
  108. ------- ----- -------
  109. Man's Destiny
  110. ------- ----- -------
  111. ---- ----- ---------- ---------- ----- ----
  112. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  113. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  114. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  115. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  116. THE BIBLE, THE QUR'AN
  117. AND SCIENCE
  118. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  119. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  120. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  121. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  122. A Summary of Prophet Muhammad's (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam)
  123. FAREWELL SERMON
  124. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  125. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  126. #Dawah
  127. #FGS
  128. #FloridaGunSupply
  129.  
  130. MUHAMMAD
  131. THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN HISTORY
  132. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  133. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  134. The following extract has been taken from the book THE 100 — a Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History by Michael H. Hart where he explains why he chose Muhammad to be Number 1 on his list.
  135. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  136. 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.
  137.  
  138. Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.
  139.  
  140. The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at that time a backward area of the world, far from the centers of trade, art, and learning.
  141.  
  142. Orphaned at age six, he was reared in modest surroundings. Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate.
  143. His economic position improved when, at age twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow.
  144. Nevertheless, as he approached forty, there was little outward indication that he was a remarkable person.
  145.  
  146. Most Arabs at that time were pagans, who believed in many gods.
  147.  
  148. There were, however, in Mecca, a small number of Jews and Christians;
  149. it was from them no doubt that Muhammad first learned of a single, omnipotent God who ruled the entire universe.
  150. When he was forty years old, Muhammad became convinced that this one true God (Allah) was speaking to him, and had chosen him to spread the true faith.
  151.  
  152. For three years, Muhammad preached only to close friends and associates. Then, about 613, he began preaching in public.
  153. As he slowly gained converts, the Meccan authorities came to consider him a dangerous nuisance.
  154. In 622, fearing for his safety, Muhammad fled to Medina (a city some 200 miles north of Mecca), where he had been offered a position of considerable political power.
  155.  
  156. This flight, called the Hijra, was the turning point of the Prophet's life. In Mecca, he had had few followers.
  157. In Medina, he had many more, and he soon acquired an influence that made him a virtual dictator.
  158. During the next few years, while Muhammad's following grew rapidly, a series of battles were fought between Medina and Mecca.
  159.  
  160. This was ended in 630 with Muhammad's triumphant return to Mecca as conqueror.
  161. The remaining two and one-half years of his life witnessed the rapid conversion of the Arab tribes to the new religion. When Muhammad died, in 632, he was the effective ruler of all of southern Arabia.
  162.  
  163. The Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia had a reputation as fierce warriors.
  164. But their number was small; and plagued by disunity and internecine warfare, they had been no match for the larger armies of the kingdoms in the settled agricultural areas to the north.
  165. However, unified by Muhammad for the first time in history, and inspired by their fervent belief in the one true God, these small Arab armies now embarked upon one of the most astonishing series of conquests in human history.
  166. To the northeast of Arabia lay the large Neo-Persian Empire of the Sassanids; to the northwest lay the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople.
  167.  
  168. Numerically, the Arabs were no match for their opponents.
  169. On the field of battle, though, the inspired Arabs rapidly conquered all of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine.
  170.  
  171. By 642, Egypt had been wrested from the Byzantine Empire, while the Persian armies had been crushed at the key battles of Qadisiya in 637, and Nehavend in 642.
  172.  
  173. But even these enormous conquests-which were made under the leadership of Muhammad's close friends and immediate successors, Abu Bakr and 'Umar ibn al-Khattab - did not mark the end of the Arab advance.
  174.  
  175. By 711, the Arab armies had swept completely across North Africa to the Atlantic Ocean There they turned north and, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, overwhelmed the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.
  176.  
  177. For a while, it must have seemed that the Moslems would overwhelm all of Christian Europe. However, in 732, at the famous Battle of Tours, a Moslem army, which had advanced into the center of France, was at last defeated by the Franks. Nevertheless, in a scant century of fighting, these Bedouin tribesmen, inspired by the word of the Prophet, had carved out an empire stretching from the borders of India to the Atlantic Ocean-the largest empire that the world had yet seen.
  178.  
  179. And everywhere that the armies conquered, large-scale conversion to the new faith eventually followed.
  180.  
  181. Now, not all of these conquests proved permanent.
  182. The Persians, though they have remained faithful to the religion of the Prophet, have since regained their independence from the Arabs.
  183. And in Spain, more than seven centuries of warfare 5 finally resulted in the Christians reconquering the entire peninsula.
  184. However, Mesopotamia and Egypt, the two cradles of ancient civilization, have remained Arab, as has the entire coast of North Africa.
  185. The new religion, of course, continued to spread, in the intervening centuries, far beyond the borders of the original Moslem conquests.
  186.  
  187. Currently it has tens of millions of adherents in Africa and Central Asia and even more in Pakistan and northern India, and in Indonesia.
  188. In Indonesia, the new faith has been a unifying factor.
  189. In the Indian subcontinent, however, the conflict between Moslems and Hindus is still a major obstacle to unity.
  190.  
  191. How, then, is one to assess the overall impact of Muhammad on human history?
  192. Like all religions, Islam exerts an enormous influence upon the lives of its followers. It is for this reason that the founders of the world's great religions all figure prominently in this book.
  193. Since there are roughly twice as many Christians as Moslems in the world, it may initially seem strange that Muhammad has been ranked higher than Jesus.
  194.  
  195. There are two principal reasons for that decision.
  196.  
  197. First, Muhammad played a far more important role in the development of Islam than Jesus did in the development of Christianity.
  198. Although Jesus was responsible for the main ethical and moral precepts of Christianity (insofar as these differed from Judaism),
  199. St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the New Testament.
  200.  
  201. Muhammad, however, was responsible for both the theology of Islam and its main ethical and moral principles.
  202. In addition, he played the key role in proselytizing the new faith, and in establishing the religious practices of Islam.
  203. Moreover, he is the author of the Moslem holy scriptures, the Qur'an, a collection of certain of Muhammad's insights that he believed had been directly revealed to him by Allah.
  204.  
  205. Most of these utterances were copied more or less faithfully during Muhammad's lifetime and were collected together in authoritative form not long after his death.
  206. The Qur'an therefore, closely represents Muhammad's ideas and teachings and to a considerable extent his exact words.
  207.  
  208. No such detailed compilation of the teachings of Christ has survived. Since the Qur'an is at least as important to Moslems as the Bible is to Christians, the influence of Muhammad through the medium of the Qur'an has been enormous.
  209. 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.
  210.  
  211. On the purely religious level, then, it seems likely that Muhammad has been as influential in human history as Jesus.
  212.  
  213. Furthermore, Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as a 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.
  214.  
  215. Of many important historical events, one might say that they were inevitable and would have occurred even without the particular political leader who guided them.
  216. For example, the South American colonies would probably have won their independence from Spain even if Simon Bolivar had never lived. But this cannot be said of the Arab conquests.
  217. Nothing similar had occurred before Muhammad, and there is no reason to believe that the conquests would have been achieved without him.
  218. The only comparable conquests in human history are those of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, which were primarily due to the influence of Genghis Khan.
  219. These conquests, however, though more extensive than those of the Arabs, did not prove permanent, and today the only areas occupied by the Mongols are those that they held prior to the time of Genghis Khan.
  220.  
  221. It is far different with the conquests of the Arabs.
  222. From Iraq to Morocco, there extends a whole chain of Arab nations united not merely by their faith in Islam, but also by their Arabic language, history, and culture.
  223.  
  224. The centrality of the Qur'an in the Moslem religion and the fact that it is written in Arabic have probably prevented the Arab language from breaking up into mutually unintelligible dialects, which might otherwise have occurred in the intervening thirteen centuries.
  225.  
  226. Differences and divisions between these Arab states exist, of course, and they are considerable, but the partial disunity should not blind us to the important elements of unity that have continued to exist.
  227. For instance, neither Iran nor Indonesia, both oil-producing states and both Islamic in religion, joined in the oil embargo of the winter of 1973-74.
  228. It is no coincidence that all of the Arab states, and only the Arab states, participated in the embargo.
  229. We see, then, that the Arab conquests of the seventh century have continued to play an important role in human history, down to the present day.
  230.  
  231. 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.
  232. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  233. #Dawah
  234. #FGS
  235. #FloridaGunSupply
  236.  
  237. The non-Muslim
  238. VERDICT ON MUHAMMAD
  239. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  240. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  241. 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
  242. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  243.  
  244. "I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity."
  245. George Bernard Shaw in "The Genuine Islam"
  246.  
  247. -------
  248.  
  249. "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 fell, whenever I reread them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher."
  250. - Annie Besant in 'The Life and Teachings of Mohammad,'
  251. Madras, 1932
  252.  
  253. -------
  254.  
  255. "Muhammad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him."
  256. -Diwan Chand Sharma, The Prophets of the East
  257. Calcutta, 1935
  258.  
  259. -------
  260.  
  261. "People like Pasteur and Salk are leaders in the first sense. People like Gandhi and Confucius, in one hand, and Alexander, Caesar and Hitler in 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 is all times was Mohammad, who combined all the three functions. To a lesser degree Moses did the same."
  262. - Jules Masserman in 'Who Were Histories Great Leaders?'
  263. TIME Magazine, July 15, 1974
  264.  
  265. -------
  266.  
  267. "Head of the state as well as the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but, he was pope without the pope's claims, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue. If ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by a Right Divine, it was Mohammad, for he had all the power without instruments and without its support. He cared not for dressing of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life."
  268. Reverend Bosworth Smith in 'Muhammad and Muhammadanism,' London 1874
  269.  
  270. -------
  271.  
  272. “Four years after the death of Justinian, AD. 569 ... Was bon in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race (Muhammad). 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."
  273. - Dr. William Draper, M.D. L.L.D. In 'History of Intellectual Development of Europe', London 1875
  274.  
  275. -------
  276.  
  277. "in little more than a year he was actually the spiritual, nominal and temporal ruler of Medina, with his hands on the lender that was to shake the world."
  278. -John Austin, "Muhammad the Prophet of Allah" in T.P.'s and Cassel's Weekly, 24th September, 1927.
  279.  
  280. -------
  281.  
  282. The following is from 'Historie de la Turquie,' by Alphonse de LaMartaine, Paris, 1854
  283.  
  284. "Never has a man set himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman: to subvert superstitions which had been interposed 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 for 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 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, in faith and arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered in God's name Persia, Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous Islands of the Mediterranean, Spain, and a part of Gaul.
  285.  
  286. "If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great men in modern history to Muhammad? The most famous men created arm, 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, legislation, empires, peoples, 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 the souls."
  287.  
  288. "On the basis of a Book, every letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which has blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race. He has left to us as the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality, the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the followers of Muhammad: the conquest of one-third of the earth to his dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle of a man but that of reason."
  289.  
  290. "The idea of the unity of God proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of fabulous theogenies, 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. His life, his meditations, his heroic revilings against the superstitions, of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of idolatry; his firmness in enduring them for fifteen years at Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost of being a victim of his fellow countrymen: all these and, finally his incessant preaching, his wars against odds, his faith in his success and his superhuman security in misfortune, 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. It was his conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was twofold, the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is: the latter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with words.
  291.  
  292. "PHILOSOPHER, ORATOR, APOSTLE, LEGISLATOR, CONQUEROR OF IDEAS, RESTORER OF RATIONAL BELIEFS....
  293. 'of a religion 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?"
  294. -Alphonse de LaMartaine in 'Historie de la Turquie,' Paris 1854
  295.  
  296. ------
  297.  
  298. "I believe that if a man like him were to style the 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."
  299. - Sir George Bernard Shaw in 'The Genuine Islam', 1936
  300.  
  301. -------
  302.  
  303. "By a fortune absolutely unique in history, Muhammad is a threefold founder of a nation, of an empire and of a religion"
  304. - Reverend Bosworth-Smith in "Mohammed and Mohammedanism" 1946
  305.  
  306. -------
  307.  
  308. "That's his (Muhammad's) reforms enhanced the status of women in general is universally admitted."
  309. - H.A.R. Gibb, Mohammedanism, London 1953
  310.  
  311. -------
  312.  
  313. " 'I believe in One God and Mahomet 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 honors of the prophet have 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.”
  314. - Edward Gibbon and Simon Oakley, History of the Saracen Empires, London 1879
  315.  
  316. -------
  317.  
  318. "... a mass of detail in the early sources shows that he was an honest and upright man who had gained the respect and loyalty of others who were likewise honest and upright men."
  319. "Muhammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities"
  320. Encyclopedia Britannica
  321. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  322. #Dawah
  323. #FGS
  324. #FloridaGunSupply
  325.  
  326. Biblical Prophecies
  327. About Prophet Muhammad
  328. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  329. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  330.  
  331. The following quotes are from the Bible that clearly foretell a Prophet to come that will be like Moses who will be the Spirit of truth that will guide mankind to all truth. He will not speak of his own but of what God will "put in his mouth". Prophet Muhammad was illiterate and could not read nor write. He always claimed that he did not write the Qur'an but declared what was revealed to him from God.
  332. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  333.  
  334. "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like you (Moses), and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him."
  335. - The Old Testament, foretelling a Prophet like Moses
  336. Holy Bible, Deuteronomy 18:18
  337.  
  338. -------
  339.  
  340. "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you."
  341. - Jesus Christ (alayhe salaam) referring to Prophet Muhammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam)
  342. Holy Bible, John 16:13-14
  343.  
  344. -------
  345.  
  346. "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things so ever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you."
  347. - The Bible foretelling about the coming of an unlettered Prophet
  348. Holy bible, John 16:13-14
  349. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  350. #FGS
  351. #FloridaGunSupply
  352. #dawah
  353.  
  354. MUHAMMAD
  355. THE Prophet of ISLAM
  356. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  357. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  358.  
  359. The following has been reprinted from the Book "Islam and Modern Age" by a non-Muslim, Hindu Professor K.S. Ramakrishna Rao, Head of the Department of Philosophy, Government College for Women, University of Mysore, Karnataka, INDIA
  360. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  361.  
  362. In the desert of Arabia was Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) born, according to Muslim historians, on April 20, 571. The name means highly praised. He is to me the greatest mind among all the sons of Arabia. He means so much more than all the poets and kings that preceded him in that impenetrable desert of red sand.
  363.  
  364. When he appeared, Arabia was a desert -- a nothing. Out of nothing a new world was fashioned by the mighty spirit of Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) -- a new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new kingdom which extended from Morocco to Indies and influenced the thought and life of three continents -- Asia, Africa, and Europe.
  365.  
  366. ------- ----- -------
  367.  
  368. #FGS
  369. #FloridaGunSupply
  370. #dawah
  371.  
  372. Need for Understanding
  373. ------- ----- -------
  374. When I thought of writing on Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) The Prophet, I was a bit hesitant because it was to write about a religion I do not profess and it is a delicate matter to do so for there are many persons professing various religions and belonging to diverse school of thought and denominations even in same religion.
  375.  
  376. Though it is sometimes, claimed that religion is entirely personal yet it can not be gain-said that it has a tendency to envelop the whole universe seen as well unseen.
  377.  
  378. It somehow permeates something or other our hearts, our souls, our minds their conscious as well as subconscious and unconscious levels too.
  379.  
  380. The problem assumes overwhelming importance when there is a deep conviction that our past, present and future all hang by the soft delicate, tender silked cord.
  381. If we further happen to be highly sensitive, the center of gravity is very likely to be always in a state of extreme tension.
  382. Looked at from this point of view, the less said about other religion the better.
  383. Let our religions be deeply hidden and embedded in the resistance of our innermost hearts fortified by unbroken seals on our lips.
  384.  
  385. ------- ----- -------
  386.  
  387. #FGS
  388. #FloridaGunSupply
  389. #dawah
  390.  
  391. Man is Gregarious
  392. ------- ----- -------
  393. But there is another aspect of this problem. Man lives in society.
  394.  
  395. Our lives are bound with the lives of others willingly or unwillingly, directly or indirectly.
  396. We eat the food grown in the same soil,
  397. drink water, from the same the same spring
  398. and breathe the same air.
  399.  
  400. Even while staunchly holding our own views,
  401. it would be helpful, if we try to adjust ourselves to our surroundings,
  402. if we also know to some extent, how the mind our neighbor moves and what the main springs of his actions are.
  403.  
  404. From this angle of vision it is highly desirable that one should try to know all religions of the world, in the proper spirit, to promote mutual understanding and better appreciation of our neighborhood, immediate and remote.
  405.  
  406. Further, our thoughts are not scattered as appear to be on the surface.
  407.  
  408. They have got themselves crystallized around a few nuclei in the form of great world religions and living faiths that guide and motivate the lives of millions that inhabit this earth of ours.
  409.  
  410. It is our duty, in one sense if we have the ideal of ever becoming a citizen of the world before us, to make a little attempt to know the great religions and system of philosophy that have ruled mankind.
  411. ------- ----- -------
  412.  
  413. #FGS
  414. #FloridaGunSupply
  415. #dawah
  416.  
  417. The Prophet -- A Historic Personality
  418. ------- ----- -------
  419. In spite of these preliminary remarks, the ground in these field of religion,
  420. where there is often a conflict between intellect and emotion is so slippery that one is constantly reminded of fools that rush in where angels fear to tread.
  421.  
  422. It is also not so complex from another point of view.
  423. The subject of my writing is about the tenets of a religion which is historic and its Prophet who is also a historic personality.
  424.  
  425. Even a hostile critic like Sir William Muir speaking about the Holy Qur'an says that,
  426. "There is probably in the world no other book which has remained twelve centuries with so pure text."
  427.  
  428. I may also add Prophet Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) is also a historic personality, every event of whose life has been most carefully recorded and even the minutest details preserved intact for the posterity.
  429. His life and works are not wrapped in mystery.
  430.  
  431. ------- ----- -------
  432. #FGS
  433. #FloridaGunSupply
  434. #dawah
  435.  
  436. Past misrepresentation
  437. ------- ----- -------
  438. My work today is further lightened because those days are fast disappearing when Islam was highly misrepresented by some of its critics for reasons political and otherwise.
  439. Prof. Bevan writes in Cambridge Medieval History,
  440. "Those account of Mohammad and Islam which were published in Europe before the beginning of 19th century are now to be regarded as literary curiosities."
  441. My problem is to write this monograph is easier because we are now generally not fed on this kind of history and much time need be spent on pointing out our misrepresentation of Islam.
  442.  
  443. The theory of Islam and Sword for instance is not heard now frequently in any quarter worth the name. The principle of Islam that there is no compulsion in religion is well known. Gibbon, a historian of world repute says, "A pernicious tenet has been imputed to Mohammadans, the duty of extirpating all the religions by sword."
  444.  
  445. This charge based on ignorance and bigotry, says the eminent historian, is refuted by Qur'an, by history of Muslem conquerors and by their public and legal toleration of Christian worship. The great success of Mohammad's life had been effected by sheer moral force, without a stroke of sword.
  446.  
  447. ------- ----- -------
  448.  
  449. #FGS
  450. #FloridaGunSupply
  451. #dawah
  452.  
  453. War for Self-Defense
  454. ------- ----- -------
  455. But in pure self-defense, after repeated efforts of conciliation had utterly failed, circumstances dragged him into the battlefield. But the prophet of Islam changed the whole strategy of the battlefield.
  456.  
  457. The total number of casualties in all the wars that took place during his lifetime when the whole Arabian Peninsula came under his banner, does not exceed a few hundreds in all.
  458.  
  459. But even on the battlefield he taught the Arab barbarians to pray, to pray not individually, but in congregation to God the Almighty.
  460.  
  461. During the dust and storm of warfare whenever the time for prayer came, and it comes five times a every day, the congregation prayer had not to be postponed even on the battlefield.
  462.  
  463. A party had to be engaged in bowing their heads before God while other was engaged with the enemy.
  464. After finishing the prayers, the two parties had to exchange their positions.
  465.  
  466. To the Arabs, who would fight for forty years on the slight provocation that a camel belonging to the guest of one tribe had strayed into the grazing land belonging to other tribe and both sides had fought till they lost 70,000 lives in all;
  467. threatening the extinction of both the tribes to such furious Arabs, the Prophet of Islam taught self-control and discipline to the extent of praying even on the battlefield.
  468.  
  469. ------- ----- -------
  470.  
  471. #FGS
  472. #FloridaGunSupply
  473. #dawah
  474.  
  475. Battlefield humanised
  476. ------- ----- -------
  477. In an aged of barbarism, the Battlefield itself was humanized and strict instructions were issued
  478. not to cheat,
  479. not to break trust,
  480. not to mutilate,
  481. not to kill a child or woman or an old man,
  482. not to hew down date palm nor burn it,
  483. not to cut a fruit tree,
  484. not to molest any person engaged in worship.
  485.  
  486. His own treatment with his bitterest enemies is the noblest example for his followers.
  487. At the conquest of Mecca, he stood at the zenith of his power.
  488. The city which had refused to listen to his mission, which had tortured him and his followers, which had driven him and his people into exile and which had unrelentingly persecuted and boycotted him even when he had taken refuge in a place more than 200 miles away,
  489. that city now lay at his feet.
  490.  
  491. By the laws of war he could have justly avenged all the cruelties inflicted on him and his people.
  492. But what treatment did he accord to them?
  493. Mohammad's heart flowed with affection and he declared,
  494. "This day, there is no REPROOF against you and you are all free."
  495.  
  496. "This day" he proclaimed,
  497. "I trample under my feet all distinctions between man and man, all hatred between man and man."
  498.  
  499. ------- ----- -------
  500.  
  501. #FGS
  502. #FloridaGunSupply
  503. #dawah
  504.  
  505. Bitterest enemies pardoned
  506. ------- ----- -------
  507. This was one of the chief objects why he permitted war in self defense, that is to unite human beings.
  508. And when once this object was achieved, even his worst enemies were pardoned.
  509. Even those who killed his beloved uncle, Hamazah,
  510. mangled his body,
  511. ripped it open,
  512. even chewed a piece of his liver.
  513.  
  514. ------- ----- -------
  515.  
  516. #FGS
  517. #FloridaGunSupply
  518. #dawah
  519.  
  520. Theory Merged with Practice
  521. ------- ----- -------
  522. The principles of universal brotherhood and doctrine of the equality of mankind which he proclaimed represents one very great contribution of Mohammad to the social uplift of humanity.
  523. All great religions have preached the same doctrine but the prophet of Islam had put this theory into actual practice and its value will be fully recognized, perhaps centuries hence, when international consciousness being awakened, racial prejudices may disappear and greater brotherhood of humanity come into existence.
  524.  
  525. ------- ----- -------
  526. #FGS
  527. #FloridaGunSupply
  528. #dawah
  529.  
  530. Peasant and King EQUAL before God
  531. ------- ----- -------
  532. Miss. Sarojini Naidu speaking about this aspect of Islam says,
  533. "It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy;
  534. for in the mosque, when the minaret is sounded and the worshipers are gathered together,
  535. the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and the king kneel side by side
  536. and proclaim, God alone is great."
  537. The great poetess of India continues,
  538. "I have been struck over and over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes a man instinctively a brother.
  539. When you meet an Egyptian,
  540. an Algerian and Indian and a Turk in London,
  541. it matters not that Egypt is the motherland of one and India is the motherland of another."
  542.  
  543. ------- ----- -------
  544. #FGS
  545. #FloridaGunSupply
  546. #dawah
  547.  
  548. ISLAM -- Civilised Spain and is the answer to today's social dilemma
  549. ------- ----- -------
  550. Mahatma Gandhi, in his inimitable style, says,
  551. "Some one has said that Europeans in South Africa dread the advent Islam -- Islam that civilized Spain,
  552. Islam that took the torch light to Morocco and preached to the world the Gospel of brotherhood.
  553. The Europeans of South Africa dread the Advent of Islam.
  554. They may claim equality with the white races.
  555. They may well dread it, if brotherhood is a sin.
  556. If it is equality of colored races then their dread is well founded."
  557.  
  558. ------- ----- -------
  559. #FGS
  560. #FloridaGunSupply
  561. #dawah
  562.  
  563. Pilgrimage -- HAJJ -- A Living Testimony
  564. ------- ----- -------
  565. Every year, during the Hajj, the world witnesses the wonderful spectacle of this international Exhibition of Islam in leveling all distinctions of race, color and rank.
  566. Not only the Europeans,
  567. the African,
  568. the Arabian,
  569. the Persian,
  570. the Indians,
  571. the Chinese
  572. all meet together in Medina as members of one divine family,
  573. but they are clad in one dress every person in two simple pieces of white seamless cloth,
  574. one piece round the loin the other piece over the shoulders,
  575. bare head without pomp or ceremony, repeating
  576. "Here am I O God; at thy command;
  577. thou art one and alone;
  578. Here am I."
  579.  
  580. Thus there remains nothing to differentiate the high from the low and every pilgrim carries home the impression of the international significance of Islam.
  581.  
  582. In the opinion of Prof. Hurgronje,
  583. "the League of Nations founded by Prophet of Islam put the principle of International Unity of Human Brotherhood on such Universal foundations as to show candle to other nations."
  584. In the words of same Professor,
  585. "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."
  586.  
  587. ------- ----- -------
  588. #FGS
  589. #FloridaGunSupply
  590. #dawah
  591.  
  592. ISLAM -- A Beacon to a drifting world
  593. ------- ----- -------
  594. The prophet of Islam brought the reign of democracy in its best form.
  595. The Caliph Caliph Ali and the son in-law of the prophet, the Caliph Mansur, Abbas, the son of Caliph Mamun and many other caliphs and kings had to appear before the judge as ordinary men in Islamic courts.
  596. Even today we all know how the black Negroes were treated by the civilized white races.
  597. Consider the state of BILAL, a Negro Slave, in the days of the Prophet of Islam nearly 14 centuries ago.
  598. The office of calling Muslims to prayer was considered to be of status in the early days of Islam and it was offered to this Negro slave.
  599. After the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet ordered him to call for prayer and the Negro slave, with his black color and his thick lips, stood over the roof of the holy mosque at Mecca called the Ka'ba the most historic and the holiest mosque in the Islamic world, when some proud Arabs painfully cried loud,
  600. "Oh, this black Negro Slave, woe be to him. He stands on the roof of holy Ka'ba to call for prayer."
  601. At that moment, the Prophet announced to the world, this verse of the Holy QUR'AN for the first time.
  602.  
  603. "O mankind, surely we have created you, families and tribes, so you may know one another.
  604. Surely, the most honorable of you with God is MOST RIGHTEOUS AMONG you.
  605. Surely, God is Knowing, Aware." [49:13]
  606.  
  607. And these words of the Holy Quran created such a mighty transformation that the Caliph of Islam,
  608. the purest of Arabs by birth, offered their daughter in marriage to this Negro Slave,
  609. and whenever, the second Caliph of Islam, known to history as Umar the great, the commander of faithful, saw this Negro slave,
  610. he immediately stood in reverence and welcomed him by "Here come our master; Here come our lord."
  611.  
  612. What a tremendous change was brought by Qur'an in the Arabs, the proudest people at that time on the earth.
  613. This is the reason why Goethe, the greatest of German poets, speaking about the Holy Quran declared that,
  614. "This book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence."
  615. This is also the reason why George Bernard Shaw says,
  616. "If any religion has a chance or ruling over England, say, Europe, within the next 100 years, it is Islam".
  617.  
  618. ------- ----- -------
  619. #FGS
  620. #FloridaGunSupply
  621. #dawah
  622.  
  623. ISLAM -- Emancipated Women
  624. ------- ----- -------
  625.  
  626. It is this same democratic spirit of Islam that emancipated women from the bondage of man.
  627. Sir Charles Edward Archibald Hamilton says,
  628. "Islam teaches the inherent sinlessness of man.
  629. It teaches that man and woman and woman have come from the same essence, posses the same soul and have been equipped with equal capabilities for intellectual, spiritual and moral attainments."
  630. ------- ----- -------
  631. #FGS
  632. #FloridaGunSupply
  633. #dawah
  634.  
  635. Women had right to own property
  636. ------- ----- -------
  637.  
  638. The Arabs had a very strong tradition that one who can smite with the spear and can wield the sword would inherit.
  639. But Islam came as the defender of the weaker sex and entitled women to share the inheritance of their parents.
  640.  
  641. It gave women, centuries ago right of owning property,
  642. yet it was only 12 centuries later, in 1881, that England,
  643. supposed to be the cradle of democracy
  644. adopted this institution of Islam and the act was called
  645. "the married woman act",
  646.  
  647. but centuries earlier, the Prophet of Islam had proclaimed that "Woman are twin halves of men.
  648. The rights of women are sacred.
  649. See that women maintained rights granted to them."
  650. ------- ----- -------
  651. #FGS
  652. #FloridaGunSupply
  653. #dawah
  654.  
  655. The Golden Mean
  656. ------- ----- -------
  657. Islam is not directly concerned with political and economic systems, but indirectly and in so far as political and economic affairs influence man's conduct, it does lay down some very important principles to govern economic life.
  658. According to Prof. Massignon, it maintains the balance between exaggerated opposites and has always in view the building of character which is the basis of civilization.
  659. This is secured by its law of inheritance,
  660. by an organized system of charity known as Zakat,
  661. and by regarding as illegal all anti-social practices in the economic field like monopoly,
  662. usury,
  663. securing of predetermined unearned income and increments,
  664. cornering markets,
  665. creating monopolies,
  666. creating an artificial scarcity of any commodity in order to force the prices to rise.
  667. Gambling is illegal.
  668.  
  669. Contribution to schools,
  670. to places of worship,
  671. hospitals,
  672. digging of wells,
  673. opening of orphanages are highest acts of virtue.
  674.  
  675. Orphanages have sprung for the first time, it is said, under the teaching of the Prophet of Islam.
  676. The world owes its orphanages to this prophet born an orphan.
  677. "Good all this" says Carlyle about Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam).
  678. "The natural voice of humanity, of pity and equity, dwelling in the heart of this wild son of nature, speaks."
  679.  
  680. ------- ----- -------
  681.  
  682. #FGS
  683. #FloridaGunSupply
  684. #dawah
  685.  
  686. The Test
  687. ------- ----- -------
  688. A historian once said a great man should be judged by three tests:
  689.  
  690. 1. Was he found to be of true metel by his contemporaries?
  691. 2. Was he great enough to raise above the standards of his age?
  692. 3. Did he leave anything as permanent legacy to the world at large?
  693.  
  694. This list may be further extended but all these three tests of greatness are eminently satisfied to the highest degree in case of Prophet Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam).
  695. Some illustrations of the last two have already been mentioned.
  696.  
  697. The first is:
  698. Was the Prophet of Islam found to be of true mettle by his contemporaries?
  699.  
  700. ------- ----- -------
  701.  
  702. #FGS
  703. #FloridaGunSupply
  704. #dawah
  705.  
  706. Impeccable Character
  707. ------- ----- -------
  708. Historical records show that all the contemporaries of Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) both friends foes, acknowledged the sterling qualities, the spotless honesty, the noble virtues, the absolute sincerity and every trustworthiness of the Apostle of Islam in all walks of life and in every sphere of human activity.
  709.  
  710. Even the Jews and those who did not believe in his message, adopted him as the arbiter in their personal disputes by virtue of his perfect impartiality.
  711.  
  712. Even those who did not believe in his message were forced to say "O Mohammad, we do not call you a liar, but we deny him who has given you a book and inspired you with a message."
  713.  
  714. They thought he was one possessed.
  715. They tried violence to cure him.
  716.  
  717. But the best of them saw that a new light had dawned on him and they hastened him to seek the enlightenment.
  718. It is a notable feature in the history of Prophet of Islam that his nearest relation, his beloved cousin and his bosom friends, who know him most intimately, were not thoroughly imbued with the truth of his mission and were convinced of the genuineness of his divine inspiration.
  719. If these men and women, noble, intelligent, educated and intimately acquainted with his private life had perceived the slightest signs of deception, fraud, earthliness, or lack of faith in him, Mohammad's (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) moral hope of regeneration, spiritual awakening, and social reform would all have been foredoomed to a failure and whole edifice would have crumbled to pieces in a moment.
  720.  
  721. On the contrary, we find that devotion of his followers was such that he was voluntarily acknowledged as dictator of their lives.
  722. They braved for him persecutions and danger;
  723. they trusted, obeyed and honored him even in the most excruciating torture and severest mental agony caused by excommunication even unto death.
  724. Would this have been so, had they noticed the slightest backsliding in their master?
  725.  
  726. ------- ----- -------
  727.  
  728. #FGS
  729. #FloridaGunSupply
  730. #dawah
  731.  
  732. Undying Love for the Holy Prophet
  733. ------- ----- -------
  734. Read the history of the early converts to Islam, and every heart would melt at the sight of the brutal treatment of innocent Muslim men and women.
  735.  
  736. Sumayya, an innocent women, is cruelly torn into pieces with spears.
  737.  
  738. An example is made of
  739. "Yassir whose legs are tied to two camels and the beast were are driven in opposite directions.",
  740.  
  741. "Khabbab bin Arth is made to lie down on the bed of burning coal with the brutal legs of their merciless tyrant on his breast so that he may not move and this makes even the fat beneath his skin melt.",
  742.  
  743. "Khabban bin Adi is put to death in a cruel manner by mutilation and cutting off his flesh piece-meal."
  744.  
  745. In the midst of his tortures, being asked weather he did not wish Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) in his place while he was in his house with his family, the sufferer cried out that he was gladly prepared to sacrifice himself his family and children and why was it that these sons and daughters of Islam not only surrendered to their prophet their allegiance but also made a gift of their hearts and souls to their master?
  746.  
  747. Is not the intense faith and conviction on part of immediate followers of Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam),
  748. the noblest testimony to his sincerity and to his utter self-absorption in his appointed task?
  749.  
  750. ------- ----- -------
  751.  
  752. #FGS
  753. #FloridaGunSupply
  754. #dawah
  755.  
  756. Followers of best caliber
  757. ------- ----- -------
  758. And these men were not of low station or inferior mental caliber.
  759. Around him in quite early days, gathered what was best and noblest in Mecca, its flower and cream,
  760. men of position, rank, wealth and culture,
  761. and from his own kith and kin, those who knew all about his life.
  762.  
  763. All the first four Caliphs, with their towering personalities, were converts of this period.
  764.  
  765. The Encyclopedia Britannica says that
  766. "Mohammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities".
  767.  
  768. But the success was not the result of mere accident. It was not a hit of fortune.
  769. It was a recognition of fact that he was found to be true metal by his contemporaries. It was the result of his admirable and all compelling personality.
  770.  
  771. ------- ----- -------
  772.  
  773. #FGS
  774. #FloridaGunSupply
  775. #dawah
  776.  
  777. Perfect Model for Human Life
  778. ------- ----- -------
  779.  
  780. The personality of Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam)!
  781. It is most difficult to get into the truth of it.
  782. Only a glimpse of it I can catch.
  783. What a dramatic succession of picturesque scenes.
  784. There is Mohammad the Prophet, there is Mohammad the General; Mohammad the King (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  785. Mohammad the Warrior (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  786. Mohammad the Businessman (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  787. Mohammad the Preacher (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  788. Mohammad the Philosopher (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  789. Mohammad the Statesman (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  790. Mohammad the Orator (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  791. Mohammad the reformer (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  792. Mohammad the Refuge of orphans (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  793. Mohammad the Protector of slaves (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  794. Mohammad the Emancipator of women (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  795. Mohammad the Law-giver (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  796. Mohammad the Judge (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam);
  797. Mohammad the Saint (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam).
  798. Subhan'Allah.
  799.  
  800. And in all these magnificent roles, in all these departments of human activities, he is like, a hero..
  801.  
  802. Orphanhood is extreme of helplessness and his life upon this earth began with it;
  803. Kingship is the height of the material power and it ended with it.
  804.  
  805. From an orphan boy to a persecuted refugee and then to an overlord,
  806. spiritual as well as temporal,
  807. of a whole nation and Arbiter of its destinies,
  808. with all its trials and temptations,
  809. with all its vicissitudes and changes,
  810. its lights and shades, its up and downs,
  811. its terror and splendor,
  812. he has stood the fire of the world and came out unscathed to serve as a model in every face of life.
  813.  
  814. His achievements are not limited to one aspect of life, but cover the whole field of human conditions.
  815. ------- ----- -------
  816.  
  817. #FGS
  818. #FloridaGunSupply
  819. #dawah
  820.  
  821. Muhammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) -- The Greatest
  822. ------- ----- -------
  823. For instance,
  824.  
  825. 1. If greatness consist in the purification of a nation, steeped in barbarism and immersed in absolute moral darkness, that dynamic personality who has transformed, refined and uplifted an entire nation, sunk low as the Arabs were, and made them the torch-bearer of civilization and learning, has every claim to greatness.
  826.  
  827. 2. If greatness lies in unifying the discordant elements of society by ties of brotherhood and charity, the prophet of the desert has got every title to this distinction.
  828.  
  829. 3. If greatness consists in reforming those warped in degrading and blind superstition and pernicious practices of every kind, the prophet of Islam has wiped out superstitions and irrational fear from the hearts of millions.
  830.  
  831. 4. If greatness lies in displaying high morals, Mohammad has been admitted by friend and foe as Al-Ameen, or the faithful.
  832.  
  833. 5. If a conqueror is a great man, here is a person who rose from helpless orphan and an humble creature to be the ruler of Arabia, the equal to Khosrow and Caesars, one who founded great empire that has survived all these 14 centuries.
  834.  
  835. 6. If the devotion that a leader commands is the criterion of greatness, the prophet's name even today exerts a magic charm over millions of souls, spread all over the world.
  836.  
  837. ------- ----- -------
  838.  
  839. #FGS
  840. #FloridaGunSupply
  841. #dawah
  842.  
  843. The Unlettered Prophet
  844. ------- ----- -------
  845.  
  846. He had not studied philosophy in the school of Athens of Rome, Persia, India, or China.
  847. Yet, He could proclaim the highest truths of eternal value to mankind.
  848.  
  849. Illiterate himself, he could yet speak with an eloquence and fervor which moved men to tears, to tears of ecstasy.
  850.  
  851. Born an orphan blessed with no worldly goods, he was loved by all.
  852.  
  853. He had studied at no military academy; yet he could organize his forces against tremendous odds and gained victories through the moral forces which he marshaled.
  854.  
  855. Gifted men with genius for preaching are rare.
  856.  
  857. Descartes included the perfect preacher among the rarest kind in the world. Hitler in his Mein Kamp has expressed a similar view.
  858. He says "A great theorist is seldom a great leader. An Agitator is more likely to posses these qualities. He will always be a great leader. For leadership means ability to move masses of men. The talents to produce ideas has nothing in common with capacity for leadership."
  859. "But", he says,
  860. "The Union of theorists, organizer and leader in one man, is the rarest phenomenon on this earth; Therein consists greatness."
  861.  
  862. In the person of the Prophet of Islam the world has seen this rarest phenomenon walking on the earth, walking in flesh and blood.
  863.  
  864. And more wonderful still is what the reverend Bosworth Smith remarks,
  865. "Head of the state as well as the Church,
  866. he was Caesar and Pope in one;
  867. but, he was pope without the pope's claims,
  868. and Caesar without the legions of Caesar,
  869. without an standing army,
  870. without a bodyguard,
  871. without a palace,
  872. without a fixed revenue.
  873.  
  874. If ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by a right divine It was Mohammad, for he had all the power without instruments and without its support. He cared not for dressing of power.
  875. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life."
  876. ------- ----- -------
  877.  
  878. #FGS
  879. #FloridaGunSupply
  880. #dawah
  881.  
  882. Muhammad (salah Allahu Alayhe wa salaam) -- Untainted and Pure
  883. ------- ----- -------
  884.  
  885. After the fall of Mecca,
  886. more than one million square miles of land lay at his feet,
  887. Lord of Arabia,
  888. he mended his own shoes and coarse woolen garments,
  889. milked the goats,
  890. swept the hearth,
  891. kindled the fire and attended the other menial offices of the family.
  892.  
  893. The entire town of Medina where he lived grew wealthy in the later days of his life.
  894.  
  895. 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.
  896.  
  897. His family would go hungry many nights successively because they could not get anything to eat in the evening.
  898. He slept on no soften bed but on a palm mat, after a long busy day to spend most of his night in prayer, often bursting with tears before his creator to grant him strength to discharge his duties.
  899.  
  900. 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.
  901.  
  902. 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.
  903. The clothes in which he breathed his last had many patches.
  904. The house from where light had spread to the world was in darkness because there was no oil in the lamp.
  905. ------- ----- -------
  906.  
  907. #FGS
  908. #FloridaGunSupply
  909. #dawah
  910.  
  911. Consistent unto death
  912. ------- ----- -------
  913. Circumstances changed, but the Prophet of God did not.
  914. In victory or in defeat,
  915. in power or in adversity,
  916. in affluence or in indigence,
  917. he is the same man,
  918. disclosed the same character.
  919.  
  920. Like all the ways and laws of God,
  921. Prophets of God are unchangeable.
  922.  
  923. ------- ----- -------
  924.  
  925. #FGS
  926. #FloridaGunSupply
  927. #dawah
  928.  
  929. More than Honest
  930. ------- ----- -------
  931. An honest man, as the saying goes, is the noblest work of God, Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) was more than honest.
  932.  
  933. He was human to the marrow of his bones.
  934. Human sympathy, human love was the music of his soul.
  935. To serve man, to elevate man, to purify man, to educate man, in a word to humanize man-this was the object of his mission, the be-all and end all of his life.
  936. In thought, in word, in action he had the good of humanity as his sole inspiration, his sole guiding principle.
  937.  
  938. He was most unostentatious and selfless to the core.
  939. What were the titles he assumed?
  940. Only true servant of God and His Messenger.
  941. Servant first, and then a messenger.
  942. A Messenger and Prophet like many other prophets in every part of the world, some known to you, many not known you.
  943. If one does not believe in any of these truths one ceases to be a Muslim.
  944. It is an article of faith.
  945.  
  946. "Looking at the circumstances of the time and unbounded reverence of his followers",
  947. says a western writer,
  948. "the most miraculous thing about Mohammad is, that he never claimed the power of working miracles."
  949.  
  950. Miracles were performed but not to propagate his faith and were attributed entirely to God and his inscrutable ways.
  951.  
  952. He would plainly say that he was a man like others.
  953. He had no treasures of earth or heaven.
  954. Nor did he claim to know the secrets of that lie in womb of future.
  955.  
  956. All this was in an age when miracles were supposed to be ordinary occurrences, at the back and call of the commonest saint, when the whole atmosphere was surcharged with supernaturalism in Arabia and outside Arabia.
  957.  
  958. ------- ----- -------
  959.  
  960. #FGS
  961. #FloridaGunSupply
  962. #dawah
  963.  
  964. Scientific Orientation -- A Legacy from MUHAMMAD (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam)
  965. ------- ----- -------
  966. He turned the attention of his followers towards the study of nature and its laws, to understand them and appreciate the Glory of God. The Qur'an says,
  967.  
  968. "God did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in play.
  969. He did not create them all but with the truth.
  970. But most men do not know."
  971.  
  972. The world is not illusion, nor without purpose.
  973. It has been created with the truth.
  974. The number of verses inviting close observation of nature are several times more than those that relate to prayer, fasting, pilgrimage etc. all put together.
  975.  
  976. The Muslim under its influence began to observe nature closely and this give birth to the scientific spirit of the observation and experiment which was unknown to the Greeks.
  977. While the Muslim Botanist Ibn Baitar wrote on Botany after collecting plants from all parts of the world, described by Myer in his Gesch. der Botanikaa-s, a monument of industry,
  978. while Al Byruni traveled for forty years to collect mineralogical specimens, and Muslim Astronomers made some observations extending even over twelve years.
  979. Aristotle wrote on Physics without performing a single experiment, wrote on natural history, carelessly stating without taking the trouble to ascertain the most verifiable fact that men have more teeth than animals.
  980.  
  981. ------- ----- -------
  982. #FGS
  983. #FloridaGunSupply
  984. #dawah
  985.  
  986. Debt of the West to Arabs for Science
  987. ------- ----- -------
  988. Galen, the greatest authority on classical anatomy informed that the lower jaw consists of two bones, a statement which is accepted unchallenged for centuries till Abdul Lateef takes the trouble to examine a human skeleton.
  989.  
  990. After enumerating several such instances, Robert Priffault concludes in his well known book
  991. The making of humanity,
  992. "The debt of our science to the Arabs does not consist in starting discovers or revolutionary theories. Science owes a great more to Arabs culture; it owes is existence."
  993. The same writer says,
  994. "The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized but patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry, were altogether alien to Greek temperament.
  995. What we call science arose in Europe as result of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation, measurement, of the development of Mathematics in form unknown to the Greeks.
  996. That spirit and these methods, concludes the same author, were introduced into the European world by Arabs."
  997.  
  998. ------- ----- -------
  999.  
  1000. #FGS
  1001. #FloridaGunSupply
  1002. #dawah
  1003.  
  1004. ISLAM -- A Complete Way of Life
  1005. ------- ----- -------
  1006. It is the same practical character of the teaching of Prophet Mohammad (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) that gave birth to the scientific spirit,
  1007. that has also sanctified the daily labors and the so called mundane affairs.
  1008.  
  1009. The Qur'an says that God has created man to worship him but the word worship has a connotation of its own.
  1010. God's worship is not confined to prayer alone, but every act that is done with the purpose of winning approval of God and is for the benefit of the humanity comes under its purview.
  1011.  
  1012. Islam sanctifies life and all its pursuits provided they are performed with honesty, justice and pure intents.
  1013. It obliterates the age-long distinction between the sacred and profane.
  1014.  
  1015. The Qur'an says if you eat clean things and thank God for it, it is an act of worship.
  1016. It is saying of the prophet of Islam that Morsel of food that one places in the mouth of his wife is an act of virtue to be rewarded by God.
  1017.  
  1018. Another tradition of the Prophet (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam) says,
  1019. "He who is satisfying the desire of his heart will be rewarded by God provided the methods adopted are permissible."
  1020.  
  1021. A person was listening to him exclaimed
  1022. 'O Prophet of God, he is answering the calls of passions, heis only satisfying the craving of his heart.'
  1023. Forthwith came the reply, "Had he adopted an awful method for the satisfaction of his urge, he would have been punished; then why should he not be rewarded for following the right course?"
  1024.  
  1025. ------- ----- -------
  1026.  
  1027. #FGS
  1028. #FloridaGunSupply
  1029. #dawah
  1030.  
  1031. Sublime Teachings
  1032. ------- ----- -------
  1033. This new conception of religion that it should also devote itself to the betterment of this life rather than concern itself exclusively with super mundane affairs, has led to a new orientation of moral values.
  1034. Its abiding influence on the common relations of mankind in the affairs of every day life,
  1035. its deep power over the masses,
  1036. its regulation of their conception of rights and duty,
  1037. its suitability and adaptability to the ignorant savage and the wise philosopher are characteristic features of the teaching of the Prophet of Islam.
  1038.  
  1039. ------- ----- -------
  1040.  
  1041. #FGS
  1042. #FloridaGunSupply
  1043. #dawah
  1044.  
  1045. Based on correct faith and right actions
  1046. ------- ----- -------
  1047. But it should be most carefully born in mind this stress on good actions is not the sacrifice correctness of faith.
  1048.  
  1049. While there are various school of thought,
  1050. one praising faith at the expense of deeds,
  1051.  
  1052. another exhausting various acts to the detriment of correct belief,
  1053.  
  1054. Islam is based on correct faith and righteous actions.
  1055.  
  1056. Means are important as the end and ends are as important as the means.
  1057. It is an organic Unity.
  1058. Together they live and thrive.
  1059.  
  1060. Separate them and both decay and die.
  1061.  
  1062. In Islam faith can not be divorced from the action.
  1063. Right knowledge should be transferred into right action to produce the right results.
  1064. How often the words came in Qur'an -- "Those who believe and do good works, they alone shall enter paradise".
  1065.  
  1066. Again and again, not less than fifty times these words are repeated as if too much stress can not be laid on them.
  1067. Contemplation is encouraged but mere contemplation is not the goal.
  1068.  
  1069. Those who believe and do nothing can not exist in Islam.
  1070.  
  1071. These who believe and do wrong are inconceivable.
  1072.  
  1073. Divine law is the law of effort and not of ideals.
  1074. It chalks out for the men the path of eternal progress from knowledge to action and from action to satisfaction.
  1075.  
  1076. ------- ----- -------
  1077.  
  1078. #FGS
  1079. #FloridaGunSupply
  1080. #dawah
  1081.  
  1082. GOD -- There is none like unto Him
  1083. ------- ----- -------
  1084. But what is the correct faith from which right action spontaneously proceeds resulting in complete satisfaction?
  1085. Here the central doctrine of Islam is the Unity of God.
  1086. "There is no deity but Allah" is the pivot from which hangs the whole teaching and practice of Islam.
  1087. He is unique not only as regards to His divine being but also as regards His divine attributes.
  1088.  
  1089. As regards the attributes of God, Islam adopts here as in other things too, the law of golden mean.
  1090. It avoids on the one hand, the view of God which divests the divine being of every attribute and
  1091. rejects, on the other, the view which likens him to things material.
  1092.  
  1093. The Qur'an says,
  1094. On the one hand, there is nothing which is like Him,
  1095. on the other, it affirms that
  1096. He is Seeing, Hearing, Knowing.
  1097. He is the King who is without a stain of fault or deficiency, the mighty ship of His power floats upon the ocean of justice and equity.
  1098. He is the Beneficent, the Merciful.
  1099. He is the Guardian over all.
  1100.  
  1101. Islam does not stop with this positive statement.
  1102.  
  1103. It adds further which is its most special characteristic, the negative aspects of problem.
  1104.  
  1105. There is also no one else who is guardian over everything.
  1106. He is the meander of every breakage, and no one else is the meander of any breakage.
  1107. He is the restorer of every loss and no one else is the restorer of any loss what-so-over.
  1108.  
  1109. There is no deity but one God, Allah,
  1110. above any need,
  1111. the maker of bodies,
  1112. creator of souls,
  1113. the Lord of the day of judgment,
  1114. and in short, in the words of Qur'an,
  1115. to Him belong all excellent qualities.
  1116.  
  1117. Regarding the position of man in relation to the Universe, the Qur'an says:
  1118.  
  1119. "God has made subservient to you whatever is on the earth or in universe.
  1120. You are destined to rule over the Universe."
  1121.  
  1122. But in relation to God, the Quran says:
  1123.  
  1124. "O man!
  1125. God has bestowed on you excellent faculties and has created life and death to put you to test in order to see whose actions are good
  1126. and who has deviated from the right path."
  1127.  
  1128. In spite of free will which he enjoys, to some extent, every man is born under certain circumstances and continues to live under certain circumstances beyond his control.
  1129.  
  1130. With regard to this God says, according to Islam;
  1131.  
  1132. it is My will to create any man under condition that seem best to Me.
  1133.  
  1134. Cosmic plans, finite mortals can not fully comprehend.
  1135.  
  1136. But I will certainly test you in prosperity as well in adversity, in health as well as in sickness, in heights as well as in depths.
  1137.  
  1138. My ways of testing differ from man to man, from hour to hour.
  1139. In adversity do not despair and do resort to unlawful means.
  1140. It is but a passing phase.
  1141. In prosperity do not forget God.
  1142. God-gifts are given only as trusts.
  1143. You are always on trial, every moment on test.
  1144. In this sphere of life there is not to reason why, there is but to do and die.
  1145. If you live in accordance with God; and if you die, die in the path of God.
  1146. You may call it fatalism. but this type of fatalism is a condition of vigorous increasing effort, keeping you ever on the alert.
  1147.  
  1148. Do not consider this temporal life on earth as the end of human existence.
  1149. There is a life after death and it is eternal.
  1150. Life after death is only a connection link, a door that opens up hidden reality of life.
  1151. Every action in life however insignificant, produces a lasting effect.
  1152. It is correctly recorded somehow.
  1153.  
  1154. ------- ----- -------
  1155. #FGS
  1156. #FloridaGunSupply
  1157. #dawah
  1158.  
  1159. This life is preparation for the hereafter
  1160. ------- ----- -------
  1161. Some of the ways of God are known to you, but many of His ways are hidden from you.
  1162. What is hidden in you and from you in this world will be unrolled and laid open before you in the next.
  1163. The virtuous will enjoy the blessing of God which the eye has not seen, nor has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men to conceive of they will march onward reaching higher and higher stages of evolution.
  1164. Those who have wasted opportunity in this life shall under the inevitable law, which makes every man taste of what he has done, be subjugated to a course of treatment of the spiritual diseases which they have brought about with their own hands.
  1165. Beware, it is terrible ordeal.
  1166.  
  1167. Bodily pain is torture, you can bear somehow.
  1168.  
  1169. Spiritual pain is hell, you will find it almost unbearable.
  1170.  
  1171. Fight in this life itself the tendencies of the spirit prone to evil, tempting to lead you into iniquities ways.
  1172. Reach the next stage when the self-accusing spirit in your conscience is awakened and the soul is anxious to attain moral excellence and revolt against disobedience.
  1173. This will lead you to the final stage of the soul at rest, contented with God, finding its happiness and delight in him alone.
  1174. The soul no more stumbles.
  1175. The stage of struggle passes away.
  1176. Truth is victorious and falsehood lays down its arms.
  1177. All complexes will then be resolved.
  1178. Your house will not be divided against itself.
  1179. Your personality will get integrated round the central core of submission to the will of God and complete surrender to his divine purpose.
  1180. All hidden energies will then be released.
  1181. The soul then will have peace.
  1182.  
  1183. God will then address you:
  1184. "O thou soul that art at rest, and restest fully contented with thy Lord return to thy Lord. He pleased with thee and thou pleased with him; So enter among my servants and enter into my paradise."
  1185.  
  1186. ------- ----- -------
  1187. #FGS
  1188. #FloridaGunSupply
  1189. #dawah
  1190.  
  1191. Man's Destiny
  1192. ------- ----- -------
  1193. This is the final goal for man;
  1194. to become, on the, one hand, the master of the universe
  1195. and on the other, to see that his soul finds rest in his Lord,
  1196.  
  1197. that not only his Lord will be pleased with him but that he is also pleased with his Lord.
  1198.  
  1199. Contentment, complete contentment,
  1200. satisfaction, complete satisfaction,
  1201. peace, complete peace.
  1202.  
  1203. The love of God is his food at this stage and he drinks deep at the fountain of life.
  1204. Sorrow and defeat do not overwhelm him and success does not find him in vain and exulting.
  1205.  
  1206. The western nations are only trying to become the master of the Universe. But their souls have not found peace and rest.
  1207.  
  1208. Thomas Carlyle, struck by this philosophy of life writes,
  1209.  
  1210. "and then also Islam-that we must submit to God;
  1211. that our whole strength lies in resigned submission to Him, whatsoever He does to us, the things He sends to us, even if death and worse than death, shall be good, shall be best;
  1212. we resign ourselves to God."
  1213. The same author continues,
  1214. "If this be Islam, says Goethe, do we not all live in Islam?"
  1215. Carlyle himself answers this question of Goethe and says,
  1216. "Yes, all of us that have any moral life, we all live so.
  1217. This is yet the highest wisdom that heaven has revealed to our earth."
  1218.  
  1219. ------- ----- -------
  1220. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  1221.  
  1222. #FGS
  1223. #FloridaGunSupply
  1224. #dawah
  1225.  
  1226. THE BIBLE, THE QUR'AN
  1227. AND SCIENCE
  1228. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  1229. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  1230. The Holy Scriptures examined in the light of modern knowledge by the then non-Muslim Dr. Maurice Bucaille
  1231. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  1232.  
  1233. The Qur'an is the expression of Revelation made to Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel, which was immediately taken down, and was learned by heart and recited by the faithful in their prayers, especially during the month of Ramadan. Muhammad himself arranged it into suras, and these were collected soon after the death of the Prophet, to form, under the rule of Caliph Uthman. (12 to 24 years after the Prophet's death), the text we know today.
  1234.  
  1235. In contrast to this, the Christian Revelation is based on numerous indirect human accounts. We do not in fact have an eyewitness account from the life of Jesus, contrary to what many Christians imagine.
  1236.  
  1237. It was in a totally objective spirit, and without any preconceived ideas that I first examined the Qur'anic Revelation. I was looking for the degree of compatibility between the Qur'anic text and the data of modern science. I knew from translations that the Qur'an often made allusion to all sorts of natural phenomena, but I only had a summary knowledge. It was only when I examined the text very closely in Arabic that I kept a list of them, at the end of which I had to acknowledge the evidence in front of me:
  1238. The Qur'an did not contain a single statement that was assailable from a modern scientific point of view.
  1239.  
  1240. I repeated the same test for the Old Testament and the Gospels, always preserving the same objective outlook. In the former I did not even have to go beyond the first book, Genesis, to find statements totally out of keeping with the cast-iron facts of modern science.
  1241.  
  1242. As we shall see later on, the Qur'an deals with many subjects of interest to science, far more in fact than the Bible. There is no comparison between the limited number of Biblical statements which lead to a confrontation with science, and the profusion of subjects raised by the Qur'an that are of a scientific nature. None of the latter can be contested from a scientific point of view; this is the basic fact that emerges from our study.
  1243.  
  1244. In view of the state of knowledge in Muhammad's day, it is inconceivable that many of the statements in the Qur'an which are connected with science, could have been the work of a man.
  1245.  
  1246. It is, moreover, perfectly legitimate, not only to regard that Qur'an as the expression of a Revelation, but also to award it a very special place on account of the guarantee of authenticity it provides and the presence in it of scientific statements which, when studied today, appear as a challenge to human explanation.
  1247.  
  1248. Why should we be surprised at this when we know that, for Islam, religion and science have always been considered twin sisters?
  1249. From the very beginning, Islam directed people to cultivate science; the application of this precept brought with it the prodigious strides in science taken during the great era of Islamic civilsation, from which, before the Renaissance, the West itself benefited.
  1250.  
  1251. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  1252.  
  1253. #FGS
  1254. #FloridaGunSupply
  1255. #dawah
  1256.  
  1257. A Summary of Prophet Muhammad's (salah Allahu alayhe wa salaam)
  1258. FAREWELL SERMON
  1259. ---------- ------- ----- ------- ----------
  1260. ------- ---------- ----- ---------- -------
  1261. This sermon was delivered on the ninth day of Dhul Hijjah (12th Month of the Islamic Lunar calendar) 622 AD in the Uranah Valley of Mount Arafat.
  1262. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  1263.  
  1264. O People, listen to my words for I do not know whether I will be amongst you for another year. Just as you regard this month, this day, and this city as sacred, so regard the lives and property of all amongst you as sacred and inviolable.
  1265.  
  1266. O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your wives but they also have certain rights. Treat them with kindness and love for you have taken them in trust. Keep always faithful to the trust placed in you and do not sin.
  1267.  
  1268. O People, listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your five daily prayers (salah), fast during the month of Ramadan, and give Zakat generously. Go if possible on a pilgrimage (Hajj). You know that you are each other's brothers and are all equal. No one is superior except in devotion to Allah and good works. Guard against committing injustices.
  1269.  
  1270. O People, NO PROPHET OR APOSTLE WILL COME AFTER ME AND NO NEW FAITH WILL BE BORN.
  1271.  
  1272. Understand my words, I leave behind me two things -- the Qur'an and the Sunnah. Follow these and you will never go astray. Beware of Shaitan and safeguard your religion. Pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may they understand my words better than those who listen to me directly.
  1273.  
  1274. Be my witness, O Allah, that I have conveyed your message.
  1275.  
  1276. --- ------- ----- -------- ----- ------- ---
  1277.  
  1278. #FGS
  1279. #FloridaGunSupply
  1280. #dawah
Advertisement
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Advertisement