Islam for Non-Muslims
- RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
- ISLAM AS A RELIGION
- ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
Muhammad (pbuh) as the Great Prophet
19: MUHAMMAD (pbuh) AS A GREAT PROPHET
Introduction: Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Prophet of Islam. He marks the ending of the chain of countless prophets appointed by God. However, when it comes to their quality and character, he appears to hold a leading position among them. This point will be clear in course of the following discussion.
(A) Why was He Great?
(1) Positive Assessment: God, the Creator and Coordinator of all prophets praised the Prophet in the Quran for being on “manifest truth”; with “a beautiful pattern” (of conduct) which made him eligible for “great Grace of God” (27:79: 33:21; 4:113). These remarks from God were specially set aside for him.
Outside Islam, many fair-minded non-Muslim scholars did not hesitate to rank him as the greatest among the prophets. The Encyclopedia Britannica, for example, recognizes him as the “last and most perfect of a series of messengers of God to mankind”. More sensational finding, however, comes from Michael Hart who, in his landmark book “The 100: A ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History”, awards number ONE position to the Prophet of Islam. By contrast, we are not aware of any comparable standard work in which any Muslim or non-Muslim writer has ever rated any other prophet as the best along with supporting arguments.
(2) Stainless Character: All the prophets were among the ideal personalities in their own society. They were the better people relative to others in the society but they were not absolutely flawless. For example, Moses “struck (his opponent) with his fist and killed him” as he was fighting a man of his religion (28:15). In another citation, Jonah (Yunus) “had done acts worthy of blame” and then “the big fish swallowed him” (37:142). Likewise, David “slew Goliath” and he “asked for forgiveness of his Lord” (2:251; 38:24). Such references also find place in earlier scriptures.
Contrastingly, the Prophet of Islam was a stranger to such imperfections. On the other hand, God certified him for “being on an exalted standard of character”, deserving “unfailing reward” (68:4/3). In fact, God took special care in shaping his character up with the best, right from the beginning of his life. We, therefore, find in him the most complete and perfect model for mankind across ages and places. History records many famous names who specialized in certain fields such as Socrates and Aristotle in philosophy, Newton and Einstein in science, Alexander and Napoleon in warfare and so on. But none among them excelled in diversified fields like the Prophet. This is what the Prophet himself claimed “I have been sent with the mission of completing human virtues” (Hadith).
(3) Diverse Representation: Differently from other prophets, the Prophet was not the prophet for any specific age or society but he was “the Prophet to the mankind (not for the Muslims only)” (4:79). During his daily “busy work schedule” (73:7) throughout his lifetime, he gained experience in wide-ranging positions including an orphan, a head of household, a businessman, a shepherd, a porter, a laborer, a builder, a tailor, a cleaner, a cook, a teacher, a preacher, a philanthropist, an amateur pharmacist, a doctor or surgeon, a social reformer, an organizer, a leader, a holy warrior, a war commander, an economic planner, a politician, a diplomat, a statesman, an internationalist and so on.
In this way, he represented a cross-section of people for gaining experiences in diverse fields. The purpose was simple. God wanted him to be a model for showing His approved examples of behavior for anyone who happens to be in any of the above positions and thereby guide them to the Right Path. The Quran therefore rightly praises him as a “Mercy for all creatures” in general and as a “Mercy to the believers” in particular (21:107; 9:61). Accordingly, his supplication (dua) for people was a “source of (great) peace for them” (9:103). He is also an exceptional Prophet whom God promised the ‘Kauthar” or fountain of abundance like an oasis for his followers during the difficult time of Judgment Day (108:1).
(4) Model Practitioner: Other prophets were generally more of a theoretical preacher than sincere practitioner of God’s messages. By contrast, the Prophet was a practical role model for the humanity. There was hardly any piece of advice that he offered only for others which he did not personally try or intend to practice. In this way, he translated into action throughout his life, various Dos and Don’ts of the Holy Quran and thereby earned the title of ‘Living Quran’. As one example, he utilized God-inspired “composure” and “self-restraint” (48:26) to forge a Treaty at suburban Hudaibia with Meccan infidels, even by postponing his cherished pilgrimage for that year. This bought him crucial time for gaining strength which enabled him not only to do pilgrimage the following year but also conquer Mecca at a later date, as an ultimate victory for Islam.
(B) How was He Great? The following discussion will address about how he proved his greatness in different spheres of life.
(1) As a Man: Though the Prophet was a man of flesh and blood, but he was extraordinary in human quality, with certification of his perfection from God for being “on the Right Path” (22:67). His every piece of behavior and conduct proved to be the opposite of defamatory characterization by his enemies like “possessed” (81:22), “mad” (15:6) etc. In fact, he not only mastered all positive traits of character like truthfulness, honesty, simplicity, modesty, affection, kindness, forgiveness, respect, sacrifice, patience, gratitude, courage, firmness, bashfulness etc. but also upheld the highest standard in their application, far above the level of the commoners. God admired him for being “kind and merciful” to the believers, “anxious” for their wellbeing and feeling “grief” when they were in troubles (9:128).
By way of example, he was so truthful that he never told a lie and such truthfulness gained him the title “Al-Amin” or “the trusted one” even from his arch enemies. He was so charitable that he never told ‘no’ to anyone asking for his help. He was so hospitable that once he fed a non-Muslim so much so (despite his own food shortage) that caused him indigestion and loose motion which he himself managed to clean up. He was so forgiving that his pardon extended even to the transgressors including those who tortured him brutally leading to his bleeding at Taif.
He was so progressive in mind that in his early life he founded the “Hilful Fuzl”, a youth organization dedicated to social welfare mission that was unique for his time and society. On one occasion, he resolved a potential dispute among several contending tribes over who would carry a prestigious holy black stone, as he offered a wise advice to put the stone on a piece of cloth so everyone could carry it by holding different corners of the cloth. His entire life was dedicated to keeping people from “bad” and impure things and advising toward “good” and just ones (7:157). Thus he flourished in all sides of character, spiritually capable to “sanctify” other souls (62:2). That’s why God likened him to a “Lamp Spreading Light” (33:46).
(2) As a Preacher: The Prophet did not leave out any qualities of an ideal preacher including good moral character, art of speaking, technique of preaching etc. God praised him as a “true warner” as he “guided (people) to the Right path” (13:7; 42:52). God taught him how to “declare (the Messages) so (he) shall not forget” (87:6). He put his heart and mind so deeply into the mission of guiding people that God advised him not to “die in grief” “if they did not believe in this Message” (18:6). Such dedication brought him greater success as a preacher compared to other prophets.
The Prophet at the time of his death left behind tens of thousands of associates and followers across Saudi Arabia and beyond. By contrast, many other prophets could barely win over more than a handful of followers through their lifelong preaching efforts. For example, Jesus (who was also an honorable Prophet in Islam) had only 12 well-known disciples and modest number of other followers but none of them could help him against his tragic crucifixion. By contrast, God observed that the followers of the Prophet loved him more than “their own selves” (33:6) and many of them gave up their lives in the battlefield for protection of the Prophet and his religion. This earned them His advance promise of “Gardens” of Paradise for their “supreme success” (9:100).
The Prophet commanded such great respect among his companions that they never stepped forward of him while walking, as an example. Not only during his lifetime, even in the days that followed, his adherents have been so particular for practicing his ideals named ‘sunnah’ as part of good deeds that seem to be an unknown quantity among the followers of other prophets. His name ‘Muhammad’ and “Ahmed’ are most popular names in Muslim household and the Muslims consider it important to affix ‘peace be upon him’ phrase while uttering his name. Thus both the quantity and quality of his following by the adherents made him unique among the prophets.
(3) As a Philosopher: The Prophet, without having any formal education, was “devoid of any letter sense” (7:158). However God, the source of Highest Wisdom took personal care to “educate” him and enabled him “to instruct (people) in scripture and Wisdom” (2:282; 62:2). He therefore mastered enormous knowledge (both open and secret) and was capable to provide the most dependable interpretation of the Quran. Additional to direct Quranic revelations, divine messages were also conveyed to him through spiritual inspirations. Known as Hadith, these were expressed through his action and advice. He regularly shared his divine knowledge with his companions who camped at his mosque site to meet their hunger for learning, comparable to an open university of modern days. Enlightened with divine knowledge, he could tell “what (he) did not know (before)” about the unknown past (4:113), foretell many things of the unseen future and about the present, he knew widely and deeply.
In fact, he never uttered any meaningless word or valueless sentence throughout his life. Whatever he said was divinely guided and seasoned with deeper meaning. Sample examples include “God has more power over you than what you have over your servants”, “A downward palm (giving) is better than upward palm (begging)”, “Your aspiration is one foot long while your lifetime is only six inches” and so on. His thoughts and philosophies never become irrelevant with the passage of time (like Aristotle’s faulty vision of the earth being the center of the Universe or Malthus’s dark forecasting of population as a liability) nor do they conflict with the reality (like the Marxian impracticable theory of perfect equality in communism). What he thought and said were the final truths endorsed by God as well as invaluable assets for human civilization.
(4) As a War Commander: The Prophet played active part of a warrior against injustice and tyranny. Though fighting was not his basic mission, yet he had to take up arms in defense of his right to practice religion. However, in the battlefield he left his distinctive mark as a brave, mighty and skillful commander and war strategist while practicing morality in the battlefield as well, adding a new chapter in the history of warfare. Throughout his life, he directly or indirectly participated in scores of wars/battles. But he was never defeated in any and he won all the wars/battles except one undecided at Uhud.
Though he had no standing army, thousands of his companions formed a reserve force, always ready to fight to death at his command. They received make-shift training in the skills and tactics of warfare that ranged from physical exercise to planned troop deployment to trench digging and so on. Particularly, trench warfare by his Muslim troops was a rare war strategy for that time and was later widely used during WWI. These techniques, which he described as “the key to success”, gave his army a substantial edge over his opponents. In the battle of Badr, for example, only 313 Muslim soldiers got the upper hand over 1000-strong enemy troops.
(5) As a Statesman: The Prophet was not only a skillful warrior but was also a sound politician and a great statesman. He founded an Islamic state at Medina which he efficiently governed until the end of his life. His political genius is mirrored in his every act as the head of state like drafting peace treaty with other communities, receiving their delegates, framing the Charter of Medina for his Confederation, sending diplomatic letters to Byzantine emperor Heraclius, Ethiopian king Negus, Persian King Khosrow and so on.
Conclusion: The above analysis helps us conclude that the Prophet of Islam was not only the most perfect as a man but was also the unique among the prophets.