By: Bashir Ahmad Dar
The present age is the age of “knowledge explosion”. Almost the entire treasure of knowledge that mankind has produced is available to the man living in the modern world. Just pressing buttons and clicking links٫ we reach to any manuscript٫book or any write-up created or written in any period of time. Those who are in sreachfind it٫ read it٫ feel delighted and even blessed. But those who shut eyes to it٫may be said to possess the eyes without the power to see. This is what the Quran reveals about such people.TheQuranic verse 7:179 describes people who have eyes but do not see, hearts but do not understand, and ears but do not hear.In another verse it says٫”They are like cattle, nay more misguided: for they are heedless (of warning)”
Besides the Muslims٫ there are several non-Muslims who have read the Seerah or the pious life of the Prophet Muhammad(SAW) and have admired and appreciated it and termed it as a role model for all to follow. Here we reproduce some of the remarks or quotes of some of the prominent non-Muslim scholars.
K.S Ramakrishna Rao, an Indian Professor of Philosophy in his booklet- ‘Muhammad, The Prophet of Islam’- calls him the:”Perfect model for human life. Prof. Ramakrishna Rao explains his point by saying:”The personality of Muhammad (pbuh), it is most difficult to get into the whole truth of it. Only a glimpse of it can I catch. What a dramatic succession of picturesque scenes! There is Muhammad (pbuh), the Prophet. There is Muhammad (pbuh), the Warrior, Muhammad (pbuh), the Businessman; Muhammad (pbuh), the Statesman; Muhammad (pbuh), the Orator; Muhammad (pbuh), the Reformer; Muhammad (pbuh), the Protector of Slaves; Muhammad (pbuh), the Emancipator of Women; Muhammad (pbuh), the Judge; Muhammad (pbuh), …. All in all these magnificent roles, in all these departments of human activities, he is like a hero.”
Michael Hart in “The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in the History,” New York, 1978., p. 33
“My choice of Muhammad (pbuh) 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 the history who was supremely successful on both the secular and religious level. It is probable that the relative influence of Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity. It is this unparalleled combination of the secular and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad (pbuh) to be considered to be the most influential single figure in human history.”
M.K Gandhi, statement published in “Young India,” 1924
“I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an 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(pbuh), the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and his mission.
These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet’s (pbuh)biography), I was sorry there was no more for me to read of that great life.”
Thomas Carlyle in his Heroes and Heroworship, was simply amazed as to:”how one man single-handedly, could weld warring tribes and wandering Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades.”
Sir Bernard Shaw in “The Genuine Islam”Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936, says:
If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it would be Islam. I have always held the religion of Muhammad (pbuh) in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion, which appears to me to possess that assimilation capacity to the changing phase of existence, which can make itself appeal in every age. I have studied him (Muhammad (pbuh)) – the wonderful man and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the savior of humanity.
I believe that if a man like him were to assume 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: I have prophesized about the faith in Muhammad (pbuh) that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe today.
Sir Bernard Shaw further states about him:
He was by far the most remarkable man that ever set foot on this earth. He preached a religion, founded a state, built a nation, laid down a moral code, initiated numerous social and political reforms, established a powerful and dynamic society to practice and represent his teachings and completely revolutionized the worlds of human thought and behaviour for all times to come.
Alfonso de Lamartine, the renowned historian speaking on the essentials of human greatness wonders:
“Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman; to subvert superstitions which had been imposed between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he (Muhammad (pbuh)) has in conception as well as in 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 in arms reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered, in God’s name, Persia, Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssina, all the known parts of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and part of Gaul.”
“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(PBUH)? 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, 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 souls….his forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayers, 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 the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was two-fold, 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 the words.
“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(PBUH). As regards all the standards by which Human Greatness may be measured, we may well ask, IS THERE ANY MAN GREATER THAN HE?”
(Alfonso de Lamartine, HISTOIRE DE LA TURQUIE, Paris, 1854, Vol.II, pp 276-277)
Dr. Gustav Well in “History of Islamic Peoples” writes٫”Muhammad was a shining example to his people. His character was pure and stainless. His house, his dress, his food – they were characterized by a rare simplicity. So unpretentious was he that he would receive from his companions no special mark of reverence, nor would he acceptany service from his slave which he could do for himself. He was acceptable to all and at all times. He visited the sick and was full of sympathy for all. Unlimited was his benevolence and generosity as also was his anxious care for the welfare of the community.”
The famous poetess of India, Sarojini Naidu referring to the issue of equality before God in Islam, writes as under:
“It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for, in the mosque when the call for prayer is sounded and worshipers are gathered together, democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and king kneel side by side and proclaim; “God Alone is Great” … I have been struck over and over again by this invisible unity of Islam that makes man instinctively a brother.”
(S. Naidu, IDEALS OF ISLAM, vide Speeches & Writings, Madras, 1918, p. 169)
Diwan Chand Sharma says: “Muhammad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him.”
(D.C. Sharma, The Prophets of the East, Calcutta 1935, page 122)
John Austin writes in “Muhammad the Prophet of Allah,” in T.P.’s and Cassel’s Weekly for 24th September 1927:
“In little more than a year he was actually the spiritual, nominal and temporal rule of Medina, with his hands on the lever that was to shake the world.”
Annie Besant٫ the famous educationist and socialist 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(PBUH), 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 way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher.”
The Life and Teachings of Muhammad, Madras 1932, page 4
- H. Denison from his book, Emotions as the Basis of Civilisation, pp. 265 9:
In the fifth and sixth centuries, the civilised world stood on the verge of chaos. The old emotional cultures that had made civilisation possible, since they had given to man a sense of unity and of reverence for their rulers, had broken down, and nothing had been found adequate to take their place. ….. It seemed then that the great civilisation which had taken four thousand years to construct was on the verge of disintegration, and that mankind was likely to return to that condition of barbarism where every tribe and sect was against the next, and law and order were unknown …….It was among the Arabs that the man (Muhammad SAW)was born who was to unite the whole known world of the east and south.
Let us conclude with the words of
Edward Gibbon, the English member of parliament, writer, and pre-eminent historian of his time (1737-1794)
“The greatest success of Mohammed’s life was effected by sheer moral force without the stroke of a sword.” Gibbon, E. and Ockley, S., 1870.History of the Saracen Empire. London: A. Murray.
The author is a Sufi writer. bashirahmaddar2012@gmail.com
