Muhammadﷺ: The Glory of the Ages

 

 

Muhammadﷺ:

 The Glory of the Ages

 

 

 

 

BY

His Eminence

 DR. MUHAMMAD   FAZL-UR-RAHMAN   ANSARI

Founder President

World Federation of Islamic Missions

                                                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obtainable from:

THE  WORLD   FEDERATION  OF   ISLAMIC   MISSIONS

ISLAMIC   CENTRE,

Block B. North  Nazimabad,

 KARACHI -33   Pakistan.

 

CONTENTS

Preface                                                                                3

Preface: To The Second Edition                                               13

Chapter I                                                                             15

Christian References To Muhammad (Peace) And His Religion.

Chapter II                                                                            24

Pen-Pictures Of The Holy Prophet (Peace)

Chapter III                                                                          26

Condition Of The World Before The Advent Of The Holy Prophet (Peace)

Chapter IV                                                                          33

The Birth Of Muhammadﷺ : The Meccan Period Of His Life Or The Period Of Passive Resistance.

Chapter V                                                                           58

The Medinite Period: The Establishment Of The Republic, The Kingdom Of Heaven!

Chapter VI                                                                          104

Muhammad’sﷺ  Character And Achievements In The Eyes Of His Opponents

What Islam Is?                                                                    122

Islam—A Life To Be Lived

Islam And Progress

Bernard Shaw On Islam

PREFACE

This manuscript was perused by my revered teacher Maulana Shah Muhammad Abdul Aleem Saheb Siddiqui Al-Qaderi (R.A) and Mr. Mahmoud Ahmad, M.A., L.L.B., of the Department of Philosophy, Muslim University, Aligarh, whose very valuable suggestions were responsible for certain additions. I owe thanks to them and also to my beloved elder brothers, Muhammad Jalil Ansari, Esquire, of the U.P. Canals Engineering Service, and Mr. Muhammad Jamil Aasari who rendered me some very valuable help during the preparation of this book.

Though there are a number of biographies of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (on whom be peace and eternal felicity!) written by eminent Muslim scholars in the English language, yet this humble little book meets a long-felt and unfulfilled need.  There is so much prejudice in the mind of the average Christian that he seldom cares to read a book written by an Eastern Muslim writer in defence of Islam and the Holy Prophet. Our first consideration therefore should be to employ every means which may interest him in the subject. A quotation from a Western authority is often more convincing for him than our research based on original sources. This idea forced me to write this book in which Western authorities have been freely quoted on the subject, especially on controversial points, and though it may not be able to present to the reader all the greatness of the Holy Prophet’s personality, yet I am sure, it would be read with greater interest than some of the other books written by the Muslim authors on the subject and would prepare the non-Muslim reader to proceed, further in his study of the subject.

I am writing a series of three books on the life of the Holy Prophet. This book is the first of the series and concerns itself particularly with depicting the birth and the struggle of Islam during the life-time of Muhammad (peace be upon him!).

In the second book I propose to deal with the Holy Prophet as an ideal man proving conclusively that every conceivable virtue found its most glorious manifestation in his person and character. In the third book I propose to prove that Muhammad was the ideal and the greatest reformer that the world has known.

A great need has been felt since long to bring out the cheapest possible edition of a book on the life of the Holy Prophet. The Anjuman Himayat Islam, Nairobi, British East Africa should be heartily congratulated on meeting this grave need by publishing this book.

Before I conclude I deem it necessary to quote the following from the writings of the late lamented Dr. Khuda Bakhsh, D.C.L, who wrote it a few days before his sad demise. He says:

“Who was it that within a brief span of mortal life called forth a nation, strong, compact, invincible, out of loose, dis­connected, ever-warring tribes animated by a religious fervour and enthusiasm unknown in the history of the world before, and set before it a system of religion and a code of morals marked by wisdom, sanity and sweet reasonableness? Who was it?

It was none other than Muhammad, the Prophet of God.

It was he who launched the new faith on its world-wide career. It was he who attacked heathenism in its very strong­hold, its cherished sanctuary, at Mecca, the central point of Arabian idolatry.

“The light dawned upon him and the inner voice spoke unto him, the decision was formed; a decision firm and irrevocable, a decision for all time. The whole history of the Prophet is an eloquent commentary on the genuineness of this conviction. Battling against the whole force of his country arrayed against him, he stood undaunted, unshaken in his resolve. Is there one single instance of lapse from the position thus taken up?

No consideration could induce him to give up that which he considered as a duty entrusted to him by the Most High, the duty of proclaiming Monotheism, in its undefiled purity, and of bringing back his erring countrymen, nay, the erring world, to the path of the true faith. Could anything but a conviction of the truth of his mission have sustained him in that terrible struggle?

“When enthroned as spiritual and temporal chief, what did he do to justify the most distant suggestion that he had altered or changed? Did he change his mode of living? Did he surround himself with the pomp of power? Did he keep a retinue of bodyguard, or did he indulge in any one of those outward mani­festations of earthly glory with which the monarchs of the earth, ancient and modern, have loved to surround themselves? Did he amass wealth, or leave a large fortune behind? In fact in no one single respect did he change. Power not-withstanding, and stupendous power too, for he exercised a power which the greatest of monarchs might have envied, he remained to the last simple, unostentatious, free from pride, living with his people in a noble self-effacement; and a self-sacrifice rarely to be seen in life.

“But it is so difficult for a European to understand, the Oriental’s attitude towards life and religion. With the Oriental, every act of his has a religious bearing, a religious significance. His whole life, from the cradle to the grave, is one series of religious performances. There is no sharp divid­ing line between religion and politics. There is no such thing as “give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s”.  Caesar is but a representative of God and obedience to him is obedience to God. Muhammad combined the two functions. He had not only to regulate the ritual, frame religious ordinances, direct the worship of his followers, but he had also to attend to their material wants, to guide their political destiny.

“And what Prophet of Israel from Samuel to Isaiah was not a maker of kings and constitution? At Mecca his sphere of activity was necessarily narrow and confined. At Medina, the slow march of events added to his prophetic office the arduous duties of the head of a State. It was not a purely ideal code of ethics and morals that he was called upon to administer, but a code workable in daily life and in conformity with the existing moral standard of the age and people among whom he lived.

“He would have failed most egregiously if he had dealt with the political problems in the spirit of a visionary, in the fashion of an idealist. Take, for instance at his attitude towards the Jews. Could we, in the light of the facts that we do know, find fault with him for his attitude towards them? Modern statesmanship would, perhaps, have taken a far less merciful view than the Prophet did. He tried his utmost to placate them, but they took up an attitude of positive, aggressive hostility. They formed alliances with his enemies, and they even secretly helped them. Was he to let them alone to destroy what he was painfully and laboriously building up?

“No statesmanship would have permitted or indicated any course other than the one adopted by Muhammad.”

“Take again his triumphal entry into Mecca. What a glorious instance of forbearance! Arabia lay prostrate at his feet, and Mecca, the stronghold of opposition, was entirely at his mercy. Did he, then, show a spirit of revenge? And could he not, if he had so willed, have cut off the heads of every one, those implacable enemies of his, who gave him no quarter, who forced him to leave his native land to seek shelter else-where, who held him up to scorn and ridicule, who persecuted him with a rancour and bitterness which was at once cruel, fierce and heart-rending. But the personal element never entered into his actions—not once. He rejected every token of personal homage, and when the haughty chiefs of the Quraishites appeared before him, he asked:  “What can you expect at my hands?”  “Mercy, O generous brother” was the supplication.  “Bet it so, you are free”, he exclaimed. His simplicity, his humanity, his frugality, his firmness in adversity, his meekness in power, his forbearance, his earnestness, his steadfastness, his anxious care for animals, his passionate love for children, his unbending sense of fairness and justice — is there another instance in the history of the world where we have the assemb­lage of all these virtues woven into one character?

“Muhammad set 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 marks of reverence, nor would he accept any service from his slave for work which he could do himself. Often and often was he seen in the market purchasing provisions; often and often was he seen mending his clothes in his room, or milking a goat in his courtyard. He was accessible 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 anxiety for the welfare of the community. Despite innumerable presents, which from all quarters unceasingly poured in for him, he left very little behind, and even that little he regarded as State property![1]

“But if Muhammad as a man, stands as a peak of humanity, his work, no less, is strong with the strength of immortality. True, the political power of Islam has ebbed away, but its spiritual power is as young and vigorous today as it was when first launched on its wondrous, world-wide career. In India, in Africa, in China the Muslim missionaries have won laurels. They have succeeded signally and succeeded where Christianity, with all its wealth and organisation, has failed most hopelessly. But its success has been confined not only to backward races. Has it not secured proselytes even in cultured Europe?

And what is the secret of its success? The secret consists in its remarkable freedom from the fetters of embarrassing ritual and bewildering articles of faith. Islam is the simplest of all revealed religions, and it is, therefore, a religion compatible with the highest as well as the lowest grade of civilization. Its simplicity is attractive and appealing alike to the man in the street as to the philosopher in the closet.

“Goethe fell into raptures over the Qur’an, and Gibbon saw in it a glorious testimony to the unity of God. Belief in one God and belief in Muhammad as the Prophet of God; such is the quintessence of our faith. This theoretical belief, however, is allied with a principle of infinite grace and wisdom; namely, that it is not mere faith in the theoretical belief, but purity of life and honesty of purpose, sympathy with the afflicted, and love of our fellow beings; it is the conjunction of the two, the theoretical and the practical which ensures salvation. This is a, lesson which must needs be taught if we would make ourselves worthy of the great faith we profess.

The practical, after all, is more important than the theoretical. It is this side of religion which Islam has brought clearly to light, and it is this side which we must now cultivate more, if we would win the prizes of life and come out triumphant in the terrible struggle for existence which is the most distressing feature of our modern civilization. Says Pierre Loti:

“Among us Europeans it is commonly accepted as a proven fact that Islam is merely a religion of obscurantism”, bringing in its train the stagnation of nations, and hampering them on that march to the unknown which we call ‘Progress’. Yet such an attitude shows not only an absolute ignorance of the teaching of the Prophet, but a blind forgetfulness of the evidence of history. The Islam of the earlier centuries evolved and progressed with the nations, and the stimulus it gave to men in the reign of the ancient Caliphs is beyond all questions. To impute to it the present decadence of the Muslim world is altogether too puerile. The truth is that nations have their day, and to a period of glorious splendour succeeds a time of lassitude and slumber. It is a law of nature. And then one day some danger threatens them, stirs them from their torpor and they awake. This immobility of countries of the Crescent was once dear to me. If the end is to pass through life with the minimum of suffering, disdaining all vain striving, and to die entranced by radiant hopes, the Orientals are the only wise men. But now that greedy nations beset them on all sides, their dreaming is no longer-possible. They must awake, alas!”

“What did Muhammad bring to the world, wherein lies his immortal service to humanity?

“To a people steeped in the grossest form of fetishism he brought a pure and uncompromising Monotheism, — belief in the One God, the Creator of the Universe. And, indeed, this gift was meant for the whole of mankind. It is an error to suppose, as it has been supposed by some European writers, that origi­nally Islam was meant for Arabia and his own people alone. The Sura Fatiha speaks of the Lord of the Universe, and it is impossible to imagine that the Lord of the Universe ever intended His light for the guidance and illumination of only a small fraction of humanity. There is not one single passage in the Qur’an which warrants the conclusion that Islam was addressed to the Arabs only.  “Facts, indeed, point the other way. To us, monotheism might seem common-place enough, but it was not so when Muhammad delivered it to the world. By the side of the corrupting religion of the Arabs and the strange perversions of Christianity it shone with all the lustre and brilliance of a newly-discovered truth. To preach monotheism, such as that of Islam, to a world such as that in which Muhammad lived, was an instance of rare courage and heroism, and it was a work which could never have succeeded without light, help and Divine support. Its success, more than anything else, is a convincing proof of its Divine origin. But with this most valued gift he bestowed another of no less importance in the history of human belief and human morals. He awakened in man the idea of responsibility to his Creator. To the pre-Islam Arab it was the immediate present which was of importance and of real consequence. He cared not for the past, nor did he show any interest in the future. His life was one continual orgy, undisturbed by any serious thought, or unrelieved by any care for the morrow. Muhammad opened the eyes of humanity to the fact that man, as a rational being endowed with the gift of understanding, was a responsible being, fully accountable to the Almighty for his deeds and misdeeds. What a tremendous step forward this meant for mankind! It is impossible for us fully to realise the importance of this doctrine, this article of faith. Man, henceforward, became a moral being. He was so to speak, born again, and born with conscience,—that inward judge whose vigilance none can evade, and from whose judgment there is no escape.

“Nor can we forget the sublime idea of brotherhood in faith which Muhammad, for the first time introduced into the world. All Muslims were brothers. There was to be no wall of division, no difference founded on the score of nationality, and no dis­tinction begotten of colour. Islam truly realized “the Parlia­ment of men, the federation of the world.” It was a splendid achievement. It was a beautiful ideal to aim at, to strive for, to live up to. For the Muslim the whole world was his home, entire humanity his kinsmen.

“This broad and liberal doctrine found its counterpart in the splendid democracy which Islam set up. The head of the State and the Church was a popular nominee with very clear duties and very distinct obligations.

 “Read the inaugural speeches of Abu Bakr and Yazeed III, documents whose value is inestimable on a gold basis. Nothing like it has ever been realised in the East, and Europe itself has hardly any example to cite of so perfect democracy as was the one established by Islam. True, it was short-lived, but its existence, however brief, is a crowning glory to Islam.

“A new view was opened, a fresh direction was given, a new starting-point was made—the whole past was obliterated, a new Arabia arose, and a new Arabian nationality was summoned into existence to take its place in the history of the world, and to hold aloft the torch of monotheism to guide erring humanity to the path of the true faith.

“Glory to Muhammad for the light and illumination, for the joy and comfort and consolation which he brought to the sad suffering humanity.”

 

Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari

 

 

20, Morison Court,

Muslim University, Aligarh, (India)

October 4th, 1933

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION

The greatest difficulty which a Muslim missionary meets with, while reaching out the Message of Islam to the Christians, especially those who are not highly educated, is the formidable, almost in-conquerable, psychological  barrier of prejudice, hatred and contempt against Islam and the Holy Prophet, which the well-meaning priests and scholars of Christianity have been creating throughout Christendom with great skill, though against all canons of decency, honesty and humanity, and which is broad-based on the wild lies and fabrications recorded in the Appendix to this book. Of late, to this psychological barrier has been added another, not less formidable, namely: Intellectual Arrogance the idea that Western scholars alone can be relied upon in all academic fields.

There is, however, one curious aspect of Western scholar­ship during recent times. Pretending as they do to uphold scientific spirit and to discard the unscientific malevolence of their ancestors and predecessors, though still retaining, consciously or unconsciously, their inherited pre­judice, they have found themselves compelled, one after another, to yield and concede point after point to Islam. Every one of them does of course try to bolster up some imaginary charge against Islam, but at the same time he contests some other imaginary or ill-conceived charge on the basis of which some other scholar condemns it. Thus they fight among themselves, while if the assertions made by each individual scholar in favour of Islam were to be collected together and arranged in the form of a narrative, the picture thus obtained will almost go to prove that Islam is the best and the truest religion of the world. Thus if one scholar asserts that the Holy Prophet of Islam was (God forbid) an imposter, another proves that his sincerity and integrity is beyond all doubt. If one says that the Holy Prophet was a ‘blood-thirsty tyrant’, another proves that his mercifulness and practical humanity is without parallel in the whole history of mankind. If one says that Islam was spread by the sword, the other comes forward to prove that it was propagated by the most honourable and peaceful means. If one condemns Islam as a religion of lust, another rises to defend its social ethics and to prove that it is based on the highest principles of chastity and modesty.

These facts necessitate that while introducing Christians to Islam for the first time, our medium should be the Western Christian scholars. That disarms their natural prejudice to a great extent and opens the way for an impartial enquiry.

It was with this point of view that the present book was written, some twenty-nine years ago when I was still an undergrad and in my teens, though my youthful enthusiasm had already pushed me into the missionary field. My practical experience during all these years has confirmed my conviction in the open-hearted method adopted by me. It has led scores of people to a serious study of Islam, and many have seen the light.

My method in this book has been to state the facts in a plain, dry language — without the force of rhetoric and with the minimum amount of comment. Whatever comment there is, it is in the words of Western, in most cases highly critical and inimical, writers. I hope my Christian friends shall go through it with an open mind and shall devote a serious thought to the comparative merits of Islam and Christianity.

Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari

CHAPTER I

CHRISTIAN REFERENCES TO MUHAMMAD (peace)

AND HIS RELIGION.

“The pictures which our forefathers in the Middle Ages formed of Muhammad’s religion, appear to be a malignant caricature”[2] in these words cleverly admits the fault of his Christian brethren, who in all these thirteen centuries of their struggle against Islam, have been busy in manufacturing the wildest stories concerning the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s character and his religion.

Indeed the mind of the average Christian in the West has become so much poisoned against the Great Arabian Prophet that he is not prepared to concede even ordinary virtue to this Ideal Man, and when true things are related before him he either hears them with his mouth and eyes wide open, or, if he has learnt a bit of sophistry, he exclaims at once: “A New Muhammad drawn from a Christian paint-box.”

No man has ever been more maligned than Muhammad and 'no religion has been more calumniated than Islam’.[3]

A history of the Christian attitude towards Muhammad would therefore be highly instructive here at the very outset, because it may open the eyes of the Christians and prepare them for going through the book with an open mind and without any preconceived opinions.

“During the first few centuries of Muhammadanism, observes Bosworth Smith,[4]  “Christendom could not afford to criticize or explain; it could only tremble and obey. But when the Saracens had received their first check in the heart of France, the nations which had been flying before them faced round, as a herd of cows will sometimes do when the single dog that has put them to flight is called off; and though they did not yet venture to fight, they could at least calumniate their retreating foe. Drances-like, they could manufacture calumnies and victories at pleasure:-

“Quae tuto tibi magna volant; dum distinet hostem Agger murorum, necinundant sanguine fossae.”

The disastrous retreat of Charles the Great through Ronces-valles, and the slaughter of his rear-guard by the Gascons, is turned by Romance-mongers and Troubadours into a signal victory of his over the Saracens; Charles, who never went beyond Pannonia, is credited, in the following century, with a successful Crusade to the Holy Sepulcher, and even with the sack of Babylon! The ages of Christian chivalry had not yet come, and was not to come for two hundred years.

“In the romance of ‘Turpin,’ quoted by Renan, Muhammad the fanatical destroyer of all idolatry, is turned himself into an idol of gold, and, under the name of Mawmet, is reported to be the object of worship at Cadiz; and this not even Charles the Great, Charles the Iconoclast, the destroyer of the Irmansul, in his own native Germany, would venture to attack from fear of the legion of demons which guarded it. In the song of Roland, the national Epic of France, referring to the same events, Muhammad appears with the chief of the Pagan gods on the one side of him and the chief of the devils on the other; a curious anticipation, perhaps, of the view of Satanic inspiration taken by Sir William Muir. Marsilles, Khalif of Cordova, is supposed to worship him as a god, and his favourite form of adjuration is made to be ‘By Jupiter, by Muhammad and by Apollyon’ — strange metamorphosis and strange collocation. Human sacrifices are offered to him, if nowhere else indeed, in the imagination and assertions of Christian writers of the tenth and eleventh centuries, under the various names of Bafum, or Maphomet, or Mawmet and in the same spirit Malaterra, in his ‘History of Sicily’, describes that island as being, when under saracenic rule, ‘a land wholly given to idolatry,[5] and the expedition of the Norman Roger Guiscard is characterised as a crusade against idol worship. Which people were the greater idolaters, any candid reader of the Italian annalists of this time, collect­ed by Muratori, can say. Even Marco Polo, the most charming and, where his religious prejudices or his partiality for the ‘Great Khan’ do not come in, the most trustworthy of travellers, yet speaks of the Musalmans whom he met everywhere in Central Asia and in China as ‘worshippers of Mahomet[6]’. It is not a little curious that both the English and French languages still bear witness to the popular misapprehension; the French by the word ‘Mahomerie’; the English by the word ‘mummery’, still used for absurd or superstitious rites[7]. Nor has a Muhammadan nothing to complain of in the etymology and history, little known or forgotten, of the words ‘Mammetry’ and ‘Paynim’, ‘termagant’ and miscreant[8]; but to these I can only refer in passing.

In the twelfth century ‘the god Mawmet passes into the heresiarch Mahomet[9] , and, as such, of course, he occupies a conspicuous place in the ‘Inferno’. Dante places him in his ninth circle among the sowers of religious discord; his companions being Fra Dolcino, a communist of the fourteenth century, and Bertran de Born, a fighting Troubadour: his flesh is torn piecemeal from his limbs by demons who repeat their round in time to re-open the half-healed wounds. The romances of Baphomet, so common in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, attribute any and every crime to him, just as the Athanasiaus did to Arius. ‘He is a debauchee, a camel stealer, a Cardinal, who having failed to obtain the object of every Cardinal’s ambition, invents a new religion to revenge himself on his brethren!”[10]

“With the leaders of the Reformation, Muhammad, the greatest of all Reformers, meets with little sympathy, and their hatred of him, as perhaps, was natural, seems to vary inversely as their knowledge. Luther doubts whether he is not worse than Leo; Melancthon believes him to be either Gog or Magog, and probably both[11]. Reformers did not see that the Papal party fastening on the hatred of priest craft and formalism which was common doubtless to Islam and to Protestantism, would impute to both a common hatred of Christianity, even as the Popes had accused the iconoclastic Emperors of Constantinople eight centuries before.

“The language of the Catholic Church, with the accumu­lated wisdom and responsibilities of fifteen centuries, was not more refined, nor its knowledge of Islam more profound, than was that of the Protestants of yesterday. Genebrard, for instance, a famous Catholic controversialist, reproaches Muhammad with having written his Qur’an in Arabic, and not in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, ‘the only civilised languages’. Why did he do so? Asks he. ‘Because’; he replies to his own question, ‘Muhammad was a beast, and only knew a language that was suited to his bestial condition!’ Nor are some of his other arguments more convincing, however seriously they were meant.

“Now, too, arose the invention, the maliciousness of which was only equaled by its stupidity, but believed by all who wished to believe it—of the dove trained to gather peas placed in the ear of Muhammad[12], “that people might believe that he was inspired by the Holy Ghost—inspired, it would seem, by the very Being whose separate existence it was the first article of his creed to deny! In the imagination of Biblical commentators later on, and down to this very day, he divides with the Pope the credit or discredit of being the subject of special prophecy in the books of Daniel and Revelation[13], that magnificent series of tableaux, a part of which, on the principle that ‘a prophecy may mean whatever comes after it’ has been tortured into agreement with each successive act of the drama of history; while from another part, lovers of the mysterious have attempted to cast, and, in spite of disappointment, will always continue to cast, the horoscope of future. He is Antichrist, the Man of Sin, the Little Horn, and I know not what besides; nor do I think that a single writer with the one strange exception of the Jew Maimonides, till towards the middle of the eighteenth century, treats of him as otherwise than a rank impostor and false prophet.

“Things did not much improve even when it was thought advisable, before passing judgment, or for the purpose of registering one already passed, to ascend as nearly as possible to the foundation-head.[14] The Qur’an was translated into French by Andre du Ryer in 1649, and by the Abbe Maracci in 1698. Maracci, the confessor of a Pope, of course dealt with the Qur’an chiefly from a Romanist point of view: indeed he accompanies his translation with what he calls a ‘Refutatio Alcorani,’ and a very voluminous and calumnious one it is; and when a certain Englishman, named Alexander Ross, ventured to translate the French version of du Ryer into English, he thought it necessary to preface his work by what he calls  “a needful caveat or admonition”, which runs thus: ‘Good reader, the great Arabian impostor, now at last, after a thousand years, is, by the way of France, arrived in England, and his Alcoran, or Gallimaufry of Errors, (a Brat as deformed as the Parent, and as full of Heresies as his scald head was of scurf,) hath learned to speak English. And one who has probably as much right to speak upon, the subject as any living Englishman,[15] after quoting this refined description of the Qur’an and its author, remarks that, ‘though the education of two centuries has chastened the style of our national literature and added much to our knowledge of the East, there is good ground for supposing that the views of Alexander Ross are in accordance substantially with the views still held by the great majority of Englishmen.’ That he is not far wrong. I would adduce as evidence from amongst Churchmen the tone habitually taken by a large part of the religious press when dealing with any subject connected with Islam; and from among Nonconformists the following hymn written by Charles Wesley for 'believers interceding for Mohammedans, and still, as I am informed, used by some of them at their religious services :-

‘The smoke of the infernal cave

Which half the Christian world o’erspread,

Disperse, thou heavenly light, and save

The souls by that imposter led—

That Arab thief, as Satan bold,

Who quite destroyed thy Asian fold.

Oh may thy blood once sprinkled cry

For those who spurn thy sprinkled blood!

Assert thy glorious Deity.

Stretch out thine arm, thou triune God!

The Unitarian fiend expel,

And chase his doctrine back to hell’

“France and England may, however, in spite of the ‘needful caveat or admonition’ of Alexander Ross, and the popular misconceptions which are still afloat upon the sub­ject, divide the credit of having been the first to take a different view, and to have begun that critical study of Arabian history or literature which, in the hands of Gibbon and of Muir, of Caussin de Percival and of St. Hilaire, of Weil and of Sprenger, has at length placed the materials for a fair and unbiased judgment within the reach of everyone. Most other writers of the eighteenth century, such as Dean Prideaux and d’Herbelot, Boulainvilliers and Voltaire, and some subsequent Bampton lecturers and Arabic professors, have approached the subject only to prove a thesis. Muhammad was to be either a hero or an impostor; they have held a brief either for the prosecution or the defence; and from them, therefore, we learn much that has been said about Muhammad, but comparatively little of Muhammad himself.

“The founder of the reaction was Gagnier, a Frenchman by birth, but an Englishman by adoption. Educated in Navarre, where he had early shown a mastery of more than one Semitic language, he became Canon of St. Genevieve at Paris; on a sudden he turned Protestant, came to England, and attacked Catholicism with all the zeal of a recent convert. Having been appointed to the Chair of Arabic at Oxford, he proceeded to write a history of Muhammad, founded on the work of Abul-Feda, the earliest and most authentic of Arabic historians then known.

“The translations of the Qur’an into two different European languages by Sale and Savary soon followed; and from these works, combined with the vast number of facts contained in Sale’s Introductory Discourse, Gibbon, who was not an Arabic scholar himself, drew the materials for his splendid chapter, the most masterly of his ‘three master­pieces of biography,’ Athanasius, Julian, and Muhammad. ‘He has descended on the subject in the fullness of his strength,’ has been inspired by it and has produced a sketch which, “in spite of occasional un-called-for sarcasms and characteristic innuendoes, must be the delight and the despair even of those who have access, as we now have, thanks espe­cially to Spenger and Muir, to vast stores of information denied to him. But Gibbon’s unfair and un-philosophic treat­ment of Christianity has, perhaps, prevented the world from doing justice to his generally fair and philosophic treatment of Mohammedanism; and as a consequence of this, most Englishmen, who do not condemn the Arabian prophet unheard, derive what favourable notions of him they have, not from Gibbon, but from Carlyle. Make as large deductions as we will on the score of Carlyle’s peculiar views on ‘Heroes and Hero-worship’, how many of us can recall the shock of surprise, the epoch in our intellectual and religious life, when we found that he chose for his ‘Hero as prophet’ not Moses, or Elijah, or Isaiah, but the so-called impostor Muhammad!”

CHAPTER II

PEN-PICTURES OF THE HOLY PROPHET (peace)[16]

The Holy Prophet’s stature was of average size; his complexion was white with a slightly reddish tinge; his forehead was wide; his ears were beautifully made; his eye­brows were thin and full; his eyes were large and expanded, deep and dark with a tint of redness; his eye-lashes were long and thick; his nose was proportionally sloping length­wise; his cheeks were hard; his lips were thin and reddish; his teeth were a bit interspaced, and when, he smiled they would sparkle like lightning; his neck was neither long nor short; his head was sufficiently large, and its hair was neither very curly nor quite straight; his beard was thick; his shoulders, ankles and armpits were fleshy and on the shoulder-blade was a seal-like mark composed of a yellowish-black mole round on which were some thick hair; there was a thin line of hair from the thorax to the navel; the palms of his hands were fleshy; his wrists were long; his fingers were silvery and beautiful; the heels of his feet were light and delicate; the skin of his body was velvety; his body seen as a whole was majestic and grand, it was stout and impressive; no portion of his body was unusually prominent; even in his old age his body remained muscular; his gait was firm; when he walked he leaned a little forward and it seemed as if he was descen­ding upon a sloping ground.

His face was extremely handsome and impressive, its complexion was so fair and transparent that men could easily know cheer and anger. People compared the brightness of his face to that of the full moon and the sun.[17]

Once a man, Abdullah bin Salam by name, came to see the Holy Prophet. It was his first time to see him. Abdullah was deeply, impressed by his bright countenance and exclaimed: “By God! it is not the face of a liar.”[18]

His talk was always charming and attractive; his speech was slow and well-set; it never contained any unnecessary words; when he wished to emphasize a thing, he would repeat it many times; at the time of talking he would keep his eyes raised towards the sky; his voice was commanding; he posed the fullest capacity of drawing a complete picture when describing anything; though possessed of cheery disposition, he would never indulge in producing peals of laughter; on the other hand, he would only smile.

His dress was always very simple; usually he would use turban, shirt and loin-cloth; sometimes he would also use trousers, cloak, and leather-socks. He preferred white colour for dress and disliked men wearing clothes of bright colours.  The shoes he used were a type of sandals. His bedding used to be made up of a sack of leather with palm-leaves inside it.

He wore a silver ring on his right hand, and on the ring was engraved:  ‘Muhammad , the Apostle of God’. It was used as a seal.

On the occasions of wars he could be seen wearing armour.

He was very fond of horse-riding and knew swimming.

He always desired simplicity in everything; had a great liking for light perfumes, and possessed a keen sense of delicacy and refineness. He would extremely dislike people keeping their clothes and teeth dirty.

CHAPTER III

CONDITION OF THE WORLD BEFORE THE ADVENT OF THE HOLY PROPHET

 “Corruption doth appear on land and sea because of (the evil) which men's hands have wrought. (XXX: 41)

So says the Holy Qur'an of the rotten condition of the world at the time of the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (on him be peace and eternal felicity), thus emphasising the necessity of the appearance of a World Teacher.

No statement can be truer than that. The sixth century of Christian era, which witnessed the appearance of Muhammad was a century of universal religious and moral depravity.The votaries of all the great religions of the world had relapsed into idolatry and immorality. Even the last flames of true religious fervour had died out and the civilization of the world stood on the brink of ruin and destruction.

Christianity, the youngest of the revealed religions of the world, was “decrepit and corrupt” according to Sir William Muir.

 “The Christians of the seventh century, “ says Gibbon, the renowned author of the Decline and Fall of Roman Empire, “had insensibly relapsed into a semblance of paganism; their public and private vows were addressed to the relics and images that disgraced the temples of the East; the throne of the Almighty was darkened by a crowd of Martyrs, saints and angels, the objects of popular veneration, and the christian heretics, who flourished in the fruitful soil of Arabia invested the Virgin Mary with the name and honours of a goddess. The mysteries of the trinity and incarnation appear to contradict the principle of the Divine Unity. In their obvious sense they introduce three equal deities, and transform the man Jesus into the substance of the son of God: an orthodox commentary will satisfy only a believing mind.... The creed of Mahomet is free from the suspicion of ambiguity, and the Qur’an is a glorious testimony to the Unity of God.”

The remarks of Rev. Dr. White may be more convincing in this connection because he was a clergyman. He observes:[19]

 “Divided into numberless parties, on account of distinc­tions the most trifling and absurd, contesting with each other from perverseness and persecuting each other with rancour, corrupt in opinion, and degenerate in practice, the Christians of this unhappy period seemed to have retained little more than the name and external profession of their religion. Of a Christian church scarce any vestige remained. The most profligate principles and absurd opinions were universally predominant; ignorance amidst the most-favourable opportuni­ties of knowledge, vice amidst the noblest encouragements to virtue; a pretended zeal for truth, mixed with the wildest extravagancies of error; an implacable spirit of discord about opinions which none could settle; and a general and a striking similarity in the commission of crimes, which it was the duty and interest of all to avoid.

 “The images of the saints who had laboured to dissemi­nate, and the bones of the martyrs who had died to confirm the faith, were now, by the arts of a designing priesthood, and the ignorance of a superstitious multitude,, held up as proper objects of religious adoration.

 “The blind fury of superstitious zeal extinguished the tenderest sentiments of nature; the majesty of the laws was trampled on and violated with impunity; the cities of the East were deluged with blood.”

But “it was not in Christendom alone that what is popularly misnamed philosophy had done its worst: the evil culminating in idolatry. This so-called philosophy had already overpowered the earlier revelation in the East. The results in the Semitic races of central and eastern Asia were most corrupt systems of idolatry, so that “between these and Christendom, to which may be added the northern tribes of Europe, the known world in the days of Muhammad, represented one vast scene of idolatrous abominations, and, as we have since discovered, the then un­known world was in the same condition ..... Even some of the Jewish tribes failed to escape the general contagion, joining in the idolatrous observances and sundry offerings to the heathen worship in the Ka’bah at Mecca.[20]

Arabia needs here a detailed and special mention because it was the country where Muhammad was born, and, further, because some adverse Christian critics like Prof. A.H. Sayce, H. Hirschfield, Samuel M Zwemer, Rev. Tisdall, and Prof. D.S Margoliouth have asserted that Muslim writers have painted a false picture of the pre-Islamic Arabs, who they say, had, due to’ their contact with Judaism and Christianity, already been in possession of high virtues and refined culture.

That country, as we read in its chronicles recorded by its historians and regarded as correct and of unimpeachable authenticity by all true western scholars of oriental history, was the darkest spot on the face of the earth. It was the centre of all vices that could be conceived of in those days. The Ka’bah which had been built by the Holy Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him!) for the worship of God Almighty, had become the centre of idolatry. It contained three-hundred and sixty idols, including the images of Abraham, Ishmael, Jesus and his mother. The Arabs would visit the shrine annually in thousands and would go round the images in a state of complete nudity. Besides the pantheon of Ka’bah “each family had its particular divinities, its Lares in fact, in honour of which even human victims were immolated.[21]

The god of wine was universally worshipped and “the passion for gambling was so reckless that a man would often stake all his possessions, and after loosing them at a throw, would next stake his freedom, and loosing that also become a slave.”[22] Adultery was practised unblushingly and was boasted of in their songs. The number of wives was regulated only by the dictates of lust. Female infanticide was rife.  “The most barbarous practise of these ‘times of ignorance’....” says Bosworth Smith[23] “was the burying alive of female child­ren as soon as they were born; or, worse still, as sometimes happened, after they had attained the age of six years. The father was generally himself the murderer. ‘Perfume and adorn’ he would say to the mother, your daughter, that I may convey her to her mothers’. This done, he led her to a pit dug for the purpose, bade her look into it, and then as he stood behind her, pushed her headlong in, and then filling up the pit himself levelled it with the rest of the ground! ..... A woman had no rights; she could not inherit property; her person formed part of the inheritance which, came to the heir of her husband, and he was entitled to marry her against her will. Hence sprung up the impious marriages of sons with their step-mothers and others of an even worse character which Muhammad so peremptorily forbade. Polygamy was universal and quite unrestricted: equally so was divorce, at least as far as the man was concerned. We read of a certain woman Omm-i-Charijah, who had distinguished herself, even amongst the Arabs, by having forty husbands.”

Some of the popular proverbs regarding woman were:

“To send woman before to the other world is a benefit”.

“The heart of woman is given to folly”.

“Woman are the whips of the Devil”.

“Our mother forbids us to err, and herself runs into error”.

In the midst of drunken assemblies acts of all sorts of profligacy were committed. Female slaves played the role of dancing girls and were compelled to sell their favours the price of which was appropriated by their masters.

A pre-Islamic poet has thus summed up the Arabian hedonistic conception of life:

Roast meat and wine, the swinging ride

On a camel sure and tried,

Which her master speeds amain

Over low dales and level plain:

Women marble -white and fair

Trailing gold fringed raiments rare:

Opulence, luxurious ease,

With the lute's soft melodies—

Such delights hath our brief span,

Time is change. Time’s fool is man,

Wealth or want, great store or small,

All is one, since death’s are all![24]

People were intensely fond of poetry, but. “It was lyrical and descriptive only: their amour and their love-feuds, the joys of the dice-box and the wine-cup .... these were the themes of their greatest poets and these the wild tribes of the desert flocked to hear.”[25] The poet-laureate Imra-ul-Qais composed a poem in which he expressed his pride over his amours with the daughter of his aunt; and the obscene poem was hung on the door of the Ka’bah.

When wars took place it was the common custom to burn men alive, to rape the women, and to slay the children of the vanquished foe.

Superstition was the most trustworthy guide of the people in all their actions. Small charm-stones were employed to avoid or remedy any misfortune. They had a peculiar science based on the movements of animals by which they used to predict happiness or ill-luck. Certain animals on giving birth to female young ones on certain occasions were regarded as ominous. To appease the anger of gods during famines, it was the religious custom to take a cow into the hills and having tied burning wood to its tail to leave it there to die. There was also the custom of tying the camel of the deceased to the grave so that it may die there and may then serve the master in the next world. If the death of anyone took place through murder, it was avenged to console the soul of the deceased, which would, otherwise, transfigure itself into an owl and would continue crying: “Quench my thirst!”

Slight provocations often developed into interminable feuds and sanguine wars with heavy toll of lives on both the sides. The war of Basus was fought for forty years, because the she-camel of one tribe broke the eggs of a lark in the garden of the other! Foul play in a race of horses gave, rise to an equally long war of Dabis and Ghabra.

“The sixth century, especially in Arabia was a time of religious and social controversy of uncouth customs of martial conquest, of cruel injustice, and of general irregularity….  Incest was not uncommon; female children were frequently killed at their birth, slavery was an age-old custom, and was cruelly applied to conquered enemies. There was war on every side, tribal wars as well as blood-feuds that lasted from generation to generation. Human sacrifices were offered to idols, and the worshippers feasted on the flesh of their victims. Kinsman slew kinsman and neighbour slew neighbour on the slightest provocation, whilst utter licentiousness took the place of human love and family life.”[26]

“The Arabs,” says John Davenport,[27] “believed, neither in a future state nor in the creation of the world, but attributed the formation of the universe to nature, and its future des­truction to time. Debauchery and robbery everywhere prevailed, and since death was regarded as the end strictly, so called, of existence, so was there neither recompense for virtue nor punishment for vice. Moral and religious corruption was to be found among the Christians and the Jews who, for ages, had established themselves in the Arabian Peninsula, and had there formed very powerful parties. The Jews had come to seek in that land of liberty an asylum from the persecu­tion of the Romans; the Christians had also fled thither in order to escape the massacres occasioned by the Nestorian Eutychianism and Arian dissentions. It is not easy to con­ceive of anything more deplorable than the condition of Christianity at this time.[28] The scattered branches of the Christian Church in Asia and Africa were at variance with each other, and had adopted the wildest heresies and superstitions. They were engaged in perpetual controversies and torn to pieces by the disputes of the Arians, Sabellians, Nestorians, and Eutychians, whilst the simony, the incontinence, the general barbarism and ignorance which were to be found amongst the clergy caused great scandal to the Christian religion, and introduced universal profligacy of manners among the people. In Arabia the deserts swarmed with ignorant infatuated Cenobites, or recluses, wasting their lives in vain but fiery speculations, and then rushing, often armed, in mobs into the cities, preaching their fantasies in the churches, and enforcing assent to them by the sword. The grossest idolatry had usurped the place of the simple worship instituted by Jesus—that of an all-wise, almighty, and all-beneficent Being, without equal and without similitude; a new Olympus had been imagined, peopled with a crowd of martyrs, saints, and angels, in lieu of the ancient gods of paganism. There were found Christian sects impious enough to invest the wife of Joseph with the honours and the attri­butes of a goddess. Relics and carved painted images were objects of the most fervid worship on the part of those whom the word of Christ commanded to address their prayers to the living god alone. Such were the scenes which the Church of Christ presented in Alexandria, in Alleppo, and in Damascus. At the time of Muhammad's advent all had abandoned the principles of their religion to indulge in never-ending wranglings upon dogmas of a secondary importance, and the Arabian people could not but see that they had lost sight of the most essential point of every religious doctrine— the pure, and true worship of God— and that, as regards the most disgraceful and the grossest superstition, they were upon a par with their pagan contemporaries.”

CHAPTER IV

THE BIRTH OF MUHAMMAD: THE MECCAN PERIOD OF HIS LIFE OR THE PERIOD OF PASSIVE RESISTANCE.

 “We sent thee (i.e. Muhammad) not save as mercy for the peoples.” (XXI: 107).

The Holy and Glorious Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him!) was born on the 12th Rabi-ul-Awwal (20th April 571 A.C.) in a house near Safa and Marwa hills at Mecca—a city which is one of the oldest[29] in the world. His grandfather Abdul Muttalib gave him the name of Muhammad, i.e. The Praised One.[30] He was the descen­dant of Abraham through Ismael and belonged to the tribe of Quraish which was the noblest of all tribes in Arabia. The Quraishites were looked upon as the spiritual head of the Arabs and were the guardians of the Ka’bah. Abdul Muttalib was the head of the Hashimite branch of the Quraishites and held the office of the patriarch. He married his son Abdullah to Amina daughter of Wahab bin Abdi-Manaf, a highly cultured lady[31] and famous for her surpassing beauty.

Abdullah had died before the birth of Muhammad. Lady Amina suckled the child for only three days and Thaubia, Abu Lahab’s slave, for a few days more. After this he was delivered to Haleemah a woman of the tribe of Banu Sa’ad, with whom he passed the first five years of his life. He was six years old when his mother died, leaving him in the care of one of her maid-servants Ummi Aiman and under the guardian­ship of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib.

The old patriarch loved his grandson so much that he would allow no body to rebuke him. The noble appearance and decent habits of the boy had already begun to attract the hearts of the people towards him. A disastrous famine broke out in the Hijaz and it was proposed that Muhammad should pray for his people. The little hands were raised before the Creator to rescue the mass of humanity in a big assembly of the Arabs and the showers of rain quenched the thirst of the sunburnt land enabling it to yield a rich harvest.

Abdul Muttalib died when Muhammad was eight years old, and his uncle Abu Talib took him into his care.

At the age of ten he took to tending the sheep and goats and would spend his days and nights in the open air of the desert. It was then that his mind got the occasion to meditate over the wonders and mysteries of Nature.

This lasted for two years when his uncle, a trader, thinking that he was able to bear the hardships of the journey took him to Syria on a business trip.  On the way the caravan halted at Bostra, where they met a Christian monk named Buhairah. The monk fixing his scrutinizing gaze upon the face of the young traveller, took Abu Talib aside, saying, ‘Be very careful of thy nephew, and protect him from Jewish treachery, for truly he is born unto great things'.

This incident of Muhammad's meeting with Buhaira has been made much of by certain Christian writers like Sir William Muir, D.S. Margoliouth, Draper and others. They assert that Buhaira taught Muhammad the doctrines of Nestorian Christianity and that in after-life when Muhammad thought of constructing a new creed—the creed of Islam—he used the philosophical and theological knowledge imparted to him by the said monk. The assertion is groundless at the very face of it. If Buhaira was such a great genius as to manufacture prophets by teaching them the philosophy of Religion for a few minutes, why did he not himself try to become a great founder of some religious sect? He was surely an ordinary Christian priest, and had it not been for his meeting with Muhammad, his name could never have found a place in history. Again, can any sane person dare to think that if Muhammad would have been a disciple of this Trinitarian priest, could he ever have cherished that great zeal for Monotheism and that deep hatred for Trinitarianism, which is stressed on page after page in the Qur’an. Moreover, can any person with a sensible head on his shoulders believe that a child of ten, or twelve years of age, as Muhammad was, can be capable of understanding the deep problems of religion.

“It has been the fashion” observes[32] Dr. Emanuel Deutsch, “to ascribe whatever is good in Muhammadanism to Christianity. We fear this theory is not compatible with the results of honest investigation. For, of Arabian Christianity at the time of Muhammad, the less said perhaps, the better ..... By the side of it.....even modern Amharic Christianity, of which we possess such astounding accounts appears pure and exalted.”

If Buhaira regarded Muhammad the future Prophet, it was because the prophecy of Jesus Christ about the advent of the Periclyte (lit. The Praised One) was, in his opinion, going to be fulfilled in the person of Muhammad.

Some years after his Journey to Syria, Muhammad had the occasion to witness the Harbul-Fujjar or the ‘Sacriligious War’ between Banu Qais and the Quraish. The barbarity perpet­rated on this occasion left a lasting impression on his sensitive mind. A pact was made by the joint efforts of Muhammad and some leaders. This pact is known in history as the Hilf-ul-Fudool, and its purpose was to protect the weak, the poor, and the oppressed.[33]

One more incident which occurred at this period is also worthy of being mentioned. The cubicle of the Ka’bah was re-built. A dispute arose among Arab tribes as to who should lay the historic Black Stone of Abraham in its place. There was a great commotion in Arab tribes. War was imminent but on the proposal of Aboo Ummayya bin Mughaira it was decided that the man who first entered the gate of the Ka’bah next morning would have the privilege of fixing the said stone. It so happened that the first man to pass through it was Muhammad. Having already earned the title of as-Sadiq al-Amin, he was welcomed by all. But he did not like to enjoy the honour alone. He proposed that the stone should be placed on a sheet of cloth and that the Arab chiefs should lift it from the corners and bring it to its place. It was done according­ly and he adjusted the stone in the wall with his own hand, “thus consecrating a temple devoted to the service of the very idols which it was afterwards the chief object of his mission to destroy, so that it was not merely a stone that he laid, but the foundation of a new religion of which he himself was to be the head and the pontiff.”[34] That action did not only check a sacrilegious war, but also taught men the lesson of high-mindedness and forbearance and added greatly to his popularity.[35]

At the age of twenty-four a serious turn came in Muhammad’s life. The business of his uncle had gradually failed and he was, therefore, now compelled to think of adopting some means of helping himself and his uncle.

“Muhammad,” says Muir “was never covetous of wealth or at any period of his career energetic in the pursuit of riches for his own sake. If left to himself, he would probab­ly have preferred the quiet and repose of his present life to the bustle and cares of a mercantile journey. He would not spontaneously have contemplated such an expedition. But when the proposal was made, his generous soul at once felt the necessity of doing all that was possible to relieve his uncle, and he cheerfully responded to the call.”

He accepted an office in the service of Khadijah, a rich Quraishite lady whose caravans used to go to Syria for commercial transactions. Already well known for his honesty and. uprightness he was immediately placed at the head of a caravan and sent to Syria accompanied by Maysara, one of the slaves of Khadijah. On the way he halted at Bostra where a monk named Nestorius advised Maysara to cling faithfully to the master of his caravan who, he said, had great signs of being a future Prophet. Khadija’s business flourished immensely through the honest dealings of Muhammad and when she heard from Maysara the grand qualities displayed by Muhammad during the journey, a desire was created in her heart to marry the man who had won from one and all the high title of Al-Ameen, the “Trustworthy”.  She was at that time forty years of age and had been twice widowed, having married Atiq-b-Abid and Abi Haleh respectively. Owing to her noble descent and pious habits she was generally known as Tahira (the Pious Lady) and Saiyyadah-i-Quraish (the princess of the Quraishites).

When Abu Talib was approached on behalf of Khadijah, he consented, and, though Muhammad was twenty-five and Khadijah fifteen years his senior, the marriage proved to be a most happy one.

But the happiness did not consist, as has been suggested, by certain Western writers, in the riches of Khadijah which were now quite at his disposal. Muhammad was above such things. The happiness really lay in that the marriage brought him a true woman's heart and he found himself greatly relieved to devote his time to meditation and prayer.

After the marriage, it became his custom to go to a cave near Mecca called Hira and to pass his time there in meditation and contemplation[36]. It was in this cave where after fifteen years of constant meditation he received the first Call from the Most High.

 “Who can doubt, “ says Rev. Dodds[37], “the earnestness of that search after truth and the living God, that drove the affluent merchant from his comfortable home and his fond wife, to make his abode for months at a time in a dismal cave of Mount Hira? “

Before proceeding further it seems necessary to estab­lish the pre-prophethood character of Muhammad, not in my words, but in the words of Christian authorities.

“Our authorities, “ says Muir,  “all agree in ascribing to the youth of Muhammad a modesty of deportment and purity of manners rare among the people of Mecca ..... Endowed with a refined mind and delicate taste, reserved and meditative, he lived much within himself, and the ponderings of his heart no doubt supplied occupation for leisure hours spent by others of a lower stamp in rude sports and profligacy. The fair character and honourable bearing of the unobtrusive youth won the approbation of his fellow-citizens; and he received the title, by common consent, of Al-Ameen, the Trustworthy.

 “Upto the age of forty his un-pretending modest way of life had attracted but little notice from his towns-people. He was only known as a simple upright man, whose life was severely pure and refined, and whose true desert sense of honour and faith-keeping had won him the high title of Al-Ameen. The Trusty”[38].

“Muhammad,” observes Gibbon “was distinguished by the beauty of his person, an outward gift which is seldom despised except by those to whom it has been refused. Before he spoke, the orator engaged on his side the affections whether of a public or a private audience. They applauded his command­ing presence, his majestic aspect, his piercing eye, his gracious smile, his flowing beard, his countenance which painted every sensation of his soul, and gestures that enforced each expression of the tongue. In the familiar offices of life, he scrupulously adhered to the grave and ceremonious politeness of his country; his respectful attention to the rich and the powerful was dignified by his condescension and affability to the poorest citizen of Mecca; the frankness of his manner concealed the artifice of his views and the habits of courtesy were imputed to personal friendship universal benevolence; his memory was capacious and retentive; his wit easy and social; his imagination sublime; his judg­ment clear, rapid and decisive. He possessed courage both of thought and action; and although his designs might gradually expand with success, the final idea he entertained of his divine mission bears the stamp of an original and a superior genius. The son of Abdullah was brought up in the bosom of the noblest race, in the use of the purest dialect of Arabia, and the fluency of his speech was corrected and enhanced by the practice of discreet and reasonable silence.”

Abu Talib, who had been a close eye-witness of all the activities of Muhammad since his days of infancy, has thus testified to the nobility of his character:-

 “I have never seen Muhammad tell a lie, indulge in vain and vulgar speech or sit in undesirable company.”

Such was the man Muhammad, who, at the age of forty, on Monday, the 22nd of February 610 A.C., received the grand office of Prophet-hood in the cave of Hira. The Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and dictated to him the Word of God saying:  “Read”, to which Muhammad replied:  “l cannot read.” This demand and refusal were repeated three times.

After the third appearance Gabriel said:

“Read: In the name of thy lord who createth, createth man from a clot.”

Read and thy Lord is the most Bounteous. Who teacheth by the pen,

Teacheth man that which, he knew not.” (XCVI: 1-5)

His body trembling, he returned home. Khadija became anxious.  “I am full of fear”, he said. “God is my protector, O Abul Kasim!” replied Khadija. He will surely not let any calamity fall upon thee for thou speakest the truth, returnest not evil for evil, keepest faith, art of a good life, and kind to thy relations and friends, neither art thou a babbler in the market places. What hast befallen thee. Hast thou seen aught terrible? Muhammad replied, “Yes”. He then narrated to her what he had seen. Thereupon she took him to her cousin Waraqa bin Naufil who was well-versed in Judeo-Christian Scriptures. He heard the whole matter and told Muhammad that he was most surely honoured by the same thing with which Moses and other prophets of the past had been honoured.  “Rejoice, O dear husband, and be of good cheer”, said Khadija, “He in Whose possession is Khadija’s life is my witness, and thou shalt be the prophet of this people.”

For three years Muhammad received no revelation, and his eagerness increased to hear the same Voice which he had heard in the cave of Hira. At last the revelation came:

“Oh thou enveloped in thy cloak,
Arise and warn!
Thy Lord magnify,
Thy raiment purify,
Pollution shun! “          (LXXIV: 1-5).

Plainly this was a Divine command meaning that Muhammad should not content himself with preaching the religion of God privately but should declare to the world at large that he was the Prophet of God appointed by Him to reform humanity. So one day he ascended the Mount Safa and called out:

“O people of the Quraish!” When they had all assembled he addressed them thus:

“If I were to tell you that from behind this mountain, there was coming a large army, would you believe me.”

“Certainly,” came the reply, “because we have always found you speaking the truth.”

“Then I tell you”, said the Holy Prophet, “if you would not believe (in my message) a great calamity will befall you.” [39]

But these mighty words of the Warner were received by the people in a most senseless spirit of indignation and were replied to by volley of abuse.

Muhammad’s loving wife Khadija, his young cousin Ali, his friend Abu Bakr and his freed-man Zaid were the first to embrace the new creed of Islam and, to use the words of Lane Poole, “It is impossible to over-rate the importance of the fact that his closest relations and those who lived under his roof were the first to believe and the staunchest of faith. The Prophet who is with honour in his own home need appeal to no stronger proof of his sincerity, and that Muhammad was ‘a hero to his own valet’[40], is an invincible argument for his earnestness.”

“It is strongly corroborative”, says Muir, “of Muhammad's sincerity that the earliest converts to Islam were not only of upright character, but his own bosom friends and people of his household, who, intimately acquainted with his private life, could not fail otherwise to have detected those dis­crepancies which ever more or less exist between the pro­fessions of the hypocritical deceiver abroad and his actions at home.

Three years of untiring labors brought only a few converts to the fold, but Muhammad did not lose heart. He intensified his work. In the market place, in the street or in private houses, wherever he found people gathered together he would preach to them the unity of God and would warn them against their evil ways and their sunken condition. The opposition began to grow fiercer every day and the Holy Prophet and his followers, the Muslims, were victimized under an organized system of persecution.

On one side stood the man Muhammad who would weep over the fallen condition of humanity and whose sole aim of life was to bring mankind back to the path of righteousness; on the other side were swarming multitudes of human beings who were steeped in barbarism, ignorance, idolatry, and immorality and who had made up the grim determination of extinguishing the Flame of Truth which Muhammad had kindled.

Each family persecuted its own Muslim members. “They were thrown, into prison, starved and then beaten with sticks.

They were exposed to the burning heat of the desert on the scorching sand, where, when reduced to the last extremity by thirst, they were offered the alternative of worshipping the idol or death.”[41]

But the firm stand and the astonishing perseverance of Muhammad made his followers mighty rocks against all persuasions, threats, and bodily tortures. They would rather die than leave Muhammad and Islam.

“The Christians would do well to recollect, that the doctrine of Muhammad created a degree of enthusiasm in his followers which is to be sought in vain in the immediate followers of Jesus. .....When Jesus was led to the cross, his followers fled, their enthusiasm forsook them, they left him to perish; and if they were forbidden to defend him, they might have remained to comfort him, patiently setting at defiance his and their persecutors. The followers of Muhammad, on the contrary, rallied round their persecuted prophet, and, risking their lives in his defence, made him triumph over all his enemies.[42]

One day the Holy Prophet went to the Ka’bah and preached there the Unity of God. This enraged the Quraish and they attacked him. His step son, Harith bin Abi Haleh, becoming aware of it, came to the scene and made an attempt to defend him. But swords fell upon him from all sides and he died there and then. He was the first martyr for Islam.[43]

The threatening attitude of the Quraish frightened Abu Talib. He, therefore, one day called Muhammad and advised him to give up the thankless task. “Uncle”, came the firm reply, “do not mind my sufferings. Truth cannot remain forlorn for long. The day will come when all the lands, Arab as well as non-Arab will be with me.” It reveals the depth of conviction and the sincerity of purpose and gives the lie direct to the impostor theory.

A Muslim, Khobbab Ibn-ul-Arth by name, who had been tired of daily tortures implored Muhammad to curse his enemies. The Holy Prophet was filled with indignation and exclaimed: “Khobbab! There have been people before you who were sawed like wood but did not neglect their duty. Time is coming soon when God will fulfill my mission, when it will be possible for an old woman to travel unmolested from Sanaa to Hadramaut without any fear except that of God.”

Indeed, the awful sufferings of Zubair bin Awwam, Lubainah, Saad bin Abi Waqqas, Suhaib, Othman bin Affan, Zunairah, Aflah, Khobbab Ibn-ul-Arth, Nadhiyah, Umm-i-Ubais, Mussab bin Umair, Saeed bin Zaid, and Bilal the Abyssinian, and the glorious martyrdom of Yasir and Samiyya, his wife, need not shrink from comparison in any respect with anyone in the religious annals of the whole world.

To the world of those days the call of Islam was something quite new. Islam was an emphatic protest against the corruptions of the various existing religions of the world. The conception of God is the pivot on which the theory of Religion rests. Against the Trinitarian dogma of Christianity, the anthropomorphic conception of the Jews, the idolatrous theory of Hinduism, the atheistic trend of Buddhism and Jainism, the Dualistic idea of Zoroastrianism; Islam established the purest conception of Monotheism of the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Over-ruling Allah, Who is All-Merciful, Loving, Compassionate, Just, Impartial, Creator and Cherisher of the whole universe, Hearer of Prayers , Pardoner of sins, Avenger of the wrongs done to the weak, Mate-less, without similitude, the Unity, the Truth, the Light of the heavens and the earth, the Beauty, etc., and Who neither incarnates Himself in human beings nor can be represented by forms of wood and stone. Islam destroyed the man-made differences of caste and class, promulgated the doctrine of complete equality of all mankind and abolished ‘false pride in place and blood’ and the doctrine of a “Chosen People”. It liberated humanity from the bondage of superstition, ordering it to bow before and to place reliance in Allah alone. It granted the charter of liberty to the slave by condemning slavery and chalking out a practical scheme for the abolition of that unnatural custom which had been unfortunately over-looked by all religious and secular cultures. It voiced an un-comprising protest against the indignities and tortures to which woman had been subjected by different religions and civilizations alike and granted to her spiritual, moral and intellectual equality with man, inculcated respect for her in social life equal to that of man, and bestowed upon her a legal position independent of her husband. It lent a halo of innocence to the child by refuting the sin-innate theory of Christianity and other similar doctrines of other religions and by proclaiming in unambiguous terms that every child was born pure and that sin was an acquisition and not a heritage. It sanctified labour, abolished usury and levied taxes on the rich for the benefit of the poor. It abolished gambling and the drinking of wine and gave an elaborate and minutely worked out ethical code which left no place for Sophists in its fold. It gave a religious basis to Scientific Research which was an anathema to the authorities of the Christian Church. It established Universalism by promulgating the doctrine that Divinely commissioned Teachers and revealed books had been sent by God to all countries of the world, and made belief in them obligatory. It abolished priesthood and gave a true basis to spirituality — condemning the universally prevalent notion that to lead a spiritually-elevated, pure and godly life is possible only when all connections with the world had been severed and the cloak of the hermit was put on; it pointed out that true spirituality consisted in leading the life of an ideal citizen in this world which had been created by God for the benefit and use of humanity and that asceticism was an unnatural practice.

These revolutionary doctrines of Islam fell on the world-like bombshells and shook the very foundations of false beliefs of the people. The votaries of different religions naturally resented it and moreso the Quraish who were the high priests of the cult of idolatry in Arabia. The spirit of Islam was directly opposed to that of idolatry. The Quraish realised, the danger at the very beginning and stood up to oppose Islam in all fury. Thenceforth they did not spare any weapon which they could devise against the man who had been loved universally for his ideal character all those forty years.

It was however, soon realized by the opponents of Islam, that taunts, derisions, tortures and temptations were all powerless to deter the Messenger of God from the propagation of the true faith. They, therefore, formed a deputation consisting of their leaders like Otbah bin Rabiah, Shaibah, Abu Sufyan, Aas bin Hisham, Abu Jahl, Waleed bin Mughaira, Aas bin Wā’il. The deputation waited upon Abu Talib with the ultimatum: “We revere thine age and thy dignity, but our reverence for thee has limits, and surely we can have no further patience with thy nephew’s denunciation of our gods and his ill-words against our ancestors. So either thou prevent him from doing this or thyself take part with him, so that we may decide the matter by war until one of us (the two parties) is no more.”

Abu Talib sent for Muhammad and implored him not to provoke the enmity of such numerous and powerful foes against himself and his clan. But to give up his mission for fear of persecution was impossible for a man like Muhammad. “O my uncle”, said he emphatically, “by God if they placed the sun on my right hand and the moon on my left to force me to renounce my work, verily I would not desist therefrom until God had made manifest his work, or I had perished in the attempt.”

This grand reply impressed Abu Talib deeply and he exclaimed: “Go, nobody can harm thee.”[44]

The Quraish now renewed the persecution with fresh fury, but the firm stand of Muhammad was a source of constant astonishment to them. They were unable to understand why Muhammad suffered all the troubles so patiently. They thought, — and it was in accordance with their own mentality — that Muhammad desired fame and wealth. So they sent to him their representative Otbah with the promise of worldly glory on the condition that he gave up the preaching of Islam and the denunciation of their vain practi­ces.

“O son of my brother’, said Otbah 'you are disting­uished by your qualities and your descent. Now you have sown division among our people and cast dissension in our families; you denounce our gods and goddesses, you tax our ancestors with impiety. We have a proposal to make to you; think well if it will not suit you to accept it’. ‘Speak O father of Walid!’ said Muhammad; ‘listen O son of my brother, rejoined Otbah,’ If you wish to acquire riches by this affair, we will collect a fortune larger than is possessed by any of us ; if you desire honour and dignity we will make you our chief, and shall not do anything without you; if you desire dominion, we shall make you our king; and if the demon which  possesses you cannot be overpowered, we will bring you physicians and give them riches till they cure you.’ And when he had said, ‘Have you finished O father of Walid?’ asked the Prophet. ‘Yes’, replied he. ‘Then listen to me!’ ‘I listen,’ he said. ‘In the name of the most merciful God’, commenced the Warner, ‘this is a revelation from the Most Merciful; a book, the verses whereof are distinctly explained, an Arabic Qur’an, for the instruction of people who under­stand, bearing good tidings and denouncing threats; but the greater part of them turn aside, and hearken not thereto.’ And they say, ‘Our hearts are veiled from the doctrine to which thou invitest us; and there is a deafness in our ears, and a curtain between us and thee; whereof act thou as thou shalt think fit; for we shall act according to our own sentiments,’ ‘Say, verily I am only a man like unto you. It is revealed unto me that your God is one God; whereof direct your way straight unto Him and ask pardon of Him for what is past. And woe be to the idolaters, who give not the appointed alms, and believe not in the life to come! But those who believe and work righteousness, they shall receive an everlasting reward’[45]. When the Holy Prophet had finished this recitation from the Qur’an, he said to Otba: ‘You have heard, now take the course which seems best to you.”[46]

Otba was deeply impressed by the Holy Prophet’s speech and when he returned to his people, he remarked: “O Quraish! By God, the message of Muhammad is neither poetry nor magic. It is something else. Do not cross his path. If he bends Arabia to his will, you will be greatly honoured; if he fails, Arabia herself will wipe him out.”

When the barbarities of the Meccans had become too unbearable the Holy Prophet advised some of his followers to emigrate to Abyssinia where a tolerant Christian king Negus ruled. A party of fifteen Muslims—eleven men and four women—were the first emigrants. They were joined by more in the following year, and the number reached one hundred. But the enmity of the Quraishites pursued them even there. They sent a deputation with rich presents to Negus demanding the fugitives for prosecution. The Abyssinian bishops and nobles supported the demands of the Quraishites. Negus called the Muslims to the court and asked them to explain the whole affair, and Ja’fer acting as their spokesman addressed him thus:

“O King! We were plunged in the depths of ignorance and of barbarism; we adored idols and lived in unchastity; we ate dead bodies and we spoke abominations; we disregarded all humane feeling, as also the duties of hospitality and neighbourliness; we knew no law but that of the strong; when God raised up amongst us a man of whose birth, truth­fulness, honesty and purity we were aware; and he called us to the Unity of God and taught us not to liken anything unto Him; he forbade us the worship of idols, and enjoined us to speak the truth, to be faithful to our trusts, to be merciful and to regard the rights of our neighbours; he forbade us to speak evil of women, or to eat the substance of the orphans; he ordered us to fly from vice and to eschew evil, to offer prayer, to render alms, to observe the fast. We have believed in him; we have accepted his teachings and his injunctions to worship God and not to liken anything unto Him. It is for this reason that our people have risen against us, have persecuted us so as to make us forego the worship of God and to return to the worship of idols of wood and stone and other abominations. They have tortured us and injured us until, finding no safety among them, we have come to thy country and hope thou wilt protect us from their oppression. Having finished his speech Ja’far was asked to recite some passage from the Qur’an, whereupon he recited from the chapter entitled “Mary.”

“By God”, exclaimed the king with tears in his eyes, “the Qur’an and the Bible are but two rays of one and the same light.” He refused to give up the refugees and the Quraishite deputation returned to Mecca with empty hands.

That failure added fuel to the fire of enmity and the flames of persecution began to rise higher in Mecca. But Muhammad was a man of super-calibre. No torture or insult could move him from his post or shake his resolve, and he stood there firm as a rock. Once more his opponents tried to tempt him with riches, and other worldly temptations but his reply was:  “I am not desirous of wealths or ambitious of dignity or of dominion; I am sent by God, Who has ordained me to announce glad tidings to you, I give you the words of my Lord; I admonish you. If you accept the Message I bring you, God will be favourable to you both in this world and in the next; if you reject my admonitions, I shall be patient and leave God to judge between you and me.”

It was the seventh year since the Holy Prophet had proclaimed his Mission when in the month of Muharram a total boycott of the clans of Muhammad — The Hashimites and the Muttalibites — was proclaimed by the Quraishites. Everybody was forbidden from providing any member of the two clans with the materials of food or drink, or do any kind of business with them so long as Muhammad was not handed over to his enemies. A document was drawn up to this effect and was hung on the door of the Ka’bah.

Fearing that they might attempt his nephew’s life, Abu Talib retired with Muhammad and his other kinsfolk to his sha’b — a long narrow valley near Mecca. “For three years, i.e., up to the tenth year of his Mission, the party lived in exile facing nerve wrecking and suffering extreme pangs of hunger and thirst so much so that often they had to eat leaves of the trees. But it is to the credit of the Holy Prophet that his comrades suffered all this patiently only for his sake—their love for his noble character was so intense.

Muhammad could not preach Islam for the whole year seeing that to come out of the places meant facing immediate death. But in the days of pilgrimage when all violence was deemed sacrilege, he would come out of the confinement and would preach to the pilgrims who came to Mecca from abroad. At last the firm stand of the Preacher ashamed the Quraishites and through the intercession of certain tribes, the ban of ex-communication was removed and the exiles were again admitted into their native city.[47]

Hardly an year had passed after the return, when the Holy Prophet received a severe blow. Abu Talib, who had stood by him through all those years of persecution and privation, died. On his death-bed he commended Muhammad to his people in these words:

“I enjoin upon you goodness in respect of Muhammad, for he is Al-Ameen (the Trustworthy) among the Quraish, and Al-Sadiq (the True) among the Arabs, and he unites in his person all the virtues which I have enjoined upon you; he has come with a message which the heart accepts but to which the tongue is averse for fear of opposition. By God! I see as though the parties of the Arabs, and the people of the neighbourhood, and the backward among the people, are (all) going to respond to his call, and believe in what he says, and exalt his message. He has commenced (his work) in the greatest agony; but the chiefs among the Quraish have yielded, and their princes have followed suit, and their turn is evil; and their fallen people are going to be lords, while those who exalted themselves above him (Muhammad) are going over to him, and the most remote from him are giving themselves over to him as his exclusive property; the Arabian hordes are freely bestowing upon him their love and are submitting themselves to his lead. Ye and Your brethren! be ye his friends, and protectors to his party. By God! He will never ask anyone to follow a way save that it be right; and if it were for me to live, I should certainly have striven to ward off from him all troubles,”

“The sacrifices to which Abu Talib exposed himself and his family for the sake of his nephew while yet incredulous of his mission”, says Muir, “stamp his character as singu­larly noble and unselfish. They afford at the same time strong proof of the sincerity of Muhammad. Abu Talib would not have acted thus for an interested deceiver; and he had ample means of scrutiny.”

Soon after the death of Abu Talib, it pleased Almighty God to call back Lady Khadijah, the beloved old wife of the Holy Prophet, who had been his dearest human companion for twenty-five years.

“He seems to have lived in a most affectionate, peaceable, wholesome way with his wedded benefactress; loving her truly, and her alone. It goes greatly against the impos­tor theory, the fact that he lived in this entirely unexceptionable, entirely quiet and common place way, till the heat of his years was done. He was forty before he talked of any mission from Heaven. All his irregularities date from, after his fiftieth year, when the good Khadija died. All his ‘ambition’; seemingly, had been, hitherto, to live an honest life; his ‘fame’, the mere good opinion of neighbours that knew him, had been sufficient hitherto. Not till he was already getting old, the prurient heat of his life all burnt out, and peace growing to be the chief thing this world could give him, did he start on the ‘career of ambition’; and belying all his past character and existence, set up as a wretched empty charlatan to acquire what he could now no longer enjoy! For my share” declares Carlyle emphatically, “l have no faith whatever in that.”

The death of Abu Talib gave greater courage to the Meccans to obstruct the path of Muhammad. They became more frank and open in persecuting him, but the Divine Help kept him firm in his place.

One day a Quraishite threw dust upon him from a house-top. His daughter lady Fatima helped him to wash it. As she was doing so, tears began to roll down her eyes. The Holy Prophet (May God bless and keep him!) saw this and remarked; “Don’t cry, dear child! God will protect thy father.”[48]

Thinking that if the Meccans had rejected his Message, others may accept it he went to Taif,[49] a town about fifty miles from Mecca, taking with him only his companion Zaid and going all the way on foot.

 “There is something lofty and heroic”, says Sir William Muir, “in this journey of Muhammad to At-Taif ; a solitary man, despised and rejected by his own people, going boldly forth in the name of God, like Jonah to Nineveh, and summoning an idolatrous city to repent and to support his mission. It sheds a strong light on the intensity of his belief in the Divine origin of his calling.”

For ten days the Holy Prophet preached Islam to the people of Taif warning them against their evil ways and exhorting them to worship God Almighty alone and to lead a life of purity and cleanliness. But his preaching was greeted with hootings and volleys of abuse. The ruffians of Taif turned him out of the town pelting him with stones.[50]

Bleeding and foot-sore, he fell down on the ground, Zaid lifted him and brought him to a place of rest. He asked him to curse his persecutors.  “Zaid”, replied the Noble Prophet, “Why should I pray for their destruction? If these people do not respond to my call their coming generations doubtless will.”

Suffering from wounds and thirst, he paused to rest in an orchard, to recover sufficient strength to return, to the lap of persecution at Mecca. There raising his hands towards heaven he prayed, “O Lord! I make my complaint to Thee. Out of my feebleness and the vanity of my wishes I am insigni­ficant in the sight of men; O Thou Most Merciful! Lord of the weak, Thou art my Lord. Forsake me not, nor leave me a prey to strangers or to mine enemies. If thou art not offended, I am safe. I seek refuge in the light of Thy countenance by which all darkness is dispelled and peace prevails. Solve Thou my difficulties as it pleaseth Thee. Guide my people in the right path, for thy know not what they do.”

The return to Mecca was marked by a renewal of the preaching of Islam as well as of persecution. But now the preaching was particularly confined to those who visited Mecca in the days of pilgrimage.

He also went to the famous fair of Ukaz and to various tribes like those of Banu Amir, Moharib, Ghassan, Saleem, Huzarimah, Kalb, and Khandah and delivered to them the Message of Islam. But Abu Lahab, one of his most implacable enemies followed him wherever he went and when the Holy Prophet preached he would say to the people:  “He has forsaken the (true) religion (i.e., idolatry) and what he says is false.”

When he went to the tribe of Banu Amir, a man named Faras questioned him: “If we side with you and you overpower your opponents, would we receive the kingdom after your death?” “It rests with God”, replied Muhammad. Upon this Faras said; “We make our chest a target for (the enmity of) the Arabs, and the kingdom goes to others! We don't want this.”

For a time all seemed dark, but Muhammad—the man with iron will—did not lose hope. The grandness of his character, revealed at this time, has drawn the following words even from an enemy like Muir:-

 “Mahomet, thus holding his people at bay, waiting, in the still expectation of victory, to outward appearance defenceless, and with his little band, as it were in the lion’s mouth, yet trusting in His Almighty power whose messen­ger he believed himself to be, resolute and unmoved—presents a spectacle of sublimity paralleled only in the sacred records by such scenes as that of the Prophet of Israel, when he complained to his Master: I, even I only, am left.”[51]

The fourteenth year of the Holy Prophet’s mission wit­nessed the most important turning point in the history of Islam. In the tenth year of the Mission, six Medinites belonging to the tribe of Khazraj had accepted Islam. The next year twelve more from the same town had come and had declared their allegiance to Islam in the form of the following pledge:-

“We will not associate anything with God, we will not steal, nor commit adultery, nor fornication; we will not kill our children; we will abstain from calumny and slander; we will obey the Prophet in everything that is right; and we will be faithful to him in weal and in sorrow.”[52]

These converts also entreated the Holy Prophet to send with them a missionary. Mussab Bin Umair was entrusted with this duty. He went to Medina and in a short time gained a large number of Medinites to Islam.

In the third pilgrimage season seventy-two Medinites came and took the pledge and invited the Holy Prophet to their town.

“This (i.e. Medina)”, remarks Godfrey Higgins, “was the first city which, as city, adopted his religion. A question naturally arises, as to what this religion could consist of, which could have such an influence? No weapon had yet been used but reason and eloquence; so that the Christian priests cannot attribute this conversion to the fear of the sword. It must be recollected, too, that, if we are to believe Prideaux, this was not a city of idolaters as Mecca was, but of Jews and Christians, who were his first proselytes. It also seems that he did not go to Medina to make proselytes; the Medinites came to seek him.”[53]

Although the conference of the Medinites with Muhammad was secret, the Quraish came to know of it, and when the Medinites were leaving the city, they were treated by them very harshly.

The situation was becoming worse day by day and it was clear that a general massacre was at hand. The Holy Prophet, therefore, advised his followers to migrate secretly to Medina. But his loving followers entreated him to leave first, as he being the central figure was in the greatest danger. The occasion brought out his true worth. He refused to leave until all had gone and were safe. For two months the emigration continued. One hundred families abandoned their native city to seek refuge in a town situated at a distance of 250 miles. Only three men - Muhammad, Abu Bakr and Ali—were now left at Mecca. The Quraish realised the situation.

Abu Sufyan, the governor of Mecca, called a meeting of the Chiefs of the Quraish. They all assembled in the Town Hall and after a long discussion it was decided to assassinate Muhammad. A number of courageous and sturdy young men were selected from the various families to carry out the murderous deed, thinking that in this way his blood would be shared by all alike and the clan of Muhammad would accept merely a monetary penalty for the murder. They posted themselves round the house of the Prophet and remained there the whole night, waiting to assassinate him when he left the house in the early hours of the morning.

The crisis had now come. The Holy Prophet first of all handed over to Ali the valuables and moneys of his persecutors which they had deposited with him—having, as they did, a firm faith in his trustworthiness — to be returned to them the next morning. He then asked Ali to lie on his bed and covering him with his mantle, left the house with Abu Bakr unnoticed, for the assassins were peeping through the crevices of a door and taking Ali for him were sure that their victim was present. When the day dawned, they burst open the door and rushed up to the bed, but to their amaze­ment, instead of Muhammad there was Ali. “Where is Muhammad?”  Asked the infuriated mob.  “Was I his guardian?” replied Ali and went away.

Maddened with rage, the Quraish set a price on the Pro­phet’s head, and a hot chase ensued. Muhammad and Abu Bakr had taken shelter in a cave named Thaur. Once the chasers reached the very mouth of the cave, Abu Bakr, though a very brave man, became anxious.  “The enemies have come so near that if their glance falls at their feet, they will surely see us”, said he to Muhammad. “Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with us”[54] came the calm reply from the True Prophet of God.[55] And He was indeed with them.

On the evening of the third day they left the cave and reached Medina on 20th September 622 A.C. by unfrequented paths. The people of the town received them amidst hearty universal acclamations of joy. The name of Medina had been Yathrib till that time. It was now changed, in honour of the Glorious Prophet (May peace be upon him!) to Medinat-un-Nabi (i.e., the City of the Prophet), which afterwards took the contracted form of Al-Medinah or simply Medinah, the city par excellence.

This was the memorable event of Hijrat or Flight and from this grand event dates the Muslim Era.

“For twelve years,” writes Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, the renowned English Muslim divine and Orientalist, “the early Moslems suffered frightful persecution at the hands of the idolaters, and yet their number steadily increased. The community was scattered, many were driven into exile, yet it went on growing. Though its members were subjected to most cruel tortures, there were few apostates, and many converts to the faith of Allah. Did the personality of Muhammad — the most charming that the world has ever known — count for nothing in that steadfast and enduring growth?”

I cannot resist the temptation of giving here an account of the Holy Prophet’s life at Mecca as given by one of his enemies, Sir William Muir. He says: -

“Few and simple were the precepts of Mohammad upto this time; his teaching had wrought a marvellous and a mighty work. Never since the days when primitive Christianity startled the world from its sleep and waged mortal combat with heathenism, had men seen the like arousing of spiritual life, and faith that suffered sacrifice and took joyfully the spoiling of goods for conscience’s sake.

 “From time beyond memory, Mecca and the whole peninsula had been steeped in spiritual torpor. The slight and transient influences of Judaism, Christianity, or philosophical inquiry, upon the Arab mind had been but as the ruffling here and there of the surface of a quiet lake; all remained still and motionless below. The people were sunk in superstitions, cruelty and vice. It was a common practice for the eldest son to take as wife his father’s widows, whom he inherited with the rest of the estate. Pride and poverty had introduced among them (as they have among the Hindus) the crime of female infanticide. Their religion was a gross idolatry; and their faith the dark superstitious dread of unseen beings whose goodwill they sought to propitiate and whose displea­sure to avert, rather than the belief in an over-ruling Providence. The life to come and Retribution of good and evil as motives of action were practically unknown.

“Thirteen years before the Hijrah, Mecca lay lifeless in this debased state. What a change had those thirteen years now produced! A band of several hundred persons had rejected idolatry, adopted the worship of One God, and surrendered themselves implicitly to the guidance of what they believed a Revelation from Him; praying to the Almighty with frequency and fervour looking for pardon through His mercy, and striving to follow after good works, almsgiving, purity, and justice. They now lived under a constant sense of the omnipotent power of God, and of His providential care over the minutest of their concerns. In all the gifts of nature, in every relation of life, at each turn of their affairs, individual or public, they saw His hand. And, above all, the new existence in which they exulted was regarded as the mark of His special grace; while the unbelief of their blinded fellow-citizens was the hardening stamp of reprobation. Muhammad was the minister of life to them, the source under God of their new-born hopes; and to him they yielded an implicit submission.

“In so short a period Mecca had, from this wonderful movement, been rent into two factions which, unmindful of the old landmarks of tribe and family, arrayed themselves in deadly opposition, one against the other. The Believers bore persecution with a patient and tolerant spirit. And though it was their wisdom so to do, the credit of a magnanimous forbearance may be freely accorded. One hundred men and women rather than abjure their precious faith, had abandoned home and sought refuge, till the storm should be over past, in Abyssinian exile. And now again a larger number, with the Prophet himself, were emigrating from their fondly-loved city with its sacred temple, to them the holiest spot on earth, and fleeing to Medina. There, the same marvellous charm had within two or three years been preparing for them a brotherhood ready to defend the Prophet and his followers with their blood. Jewish truth had long sounded in the ears of the men of Medina; but it was not until they heard the spirit-stirring strains of the Arabian Prophet that they too awoke from their slumber, and sprang suddenly into a new and earnest life.”[56]

“(If the Quraish would have succeeded in putting an end to Muhammad's life then) the practices that Mohammad forbade,” says Bosworth Smith,[57] “and not forbade only, but abolished human sacrifices and the murder of female infants, and blood-feuds, and unlimited polygamy, and wanton cruelty to slaves, and drunkenness, and gambling, would have gone on unchecked in Arabia and the adjoining countries ..... In Northern and Central Africa there would have been, not the semi-civiliza­tion of Moors or of the Mandingoes, but the brutal barbarism of the Fans and the Ashantees. The dark ages of Europe would have been doubly, nay trebly dark; for the Arabs who alone by their arts and sciences, by their agriculture, their philosophy, and their virtues, shone out amidst the universal gloom, of ignorance and crime, who gave to Spain and to Europe an Averroes and an Avicenna, the Al-Hambra and the Al-Kazar, would have been wandering over their native deserts. As to religion a Christianity which, in the East, had long become a corrupt superstition, would have become yet more corrupt, and would have sunk to the condition in which it is in Abyssinia now. Over a seventh part of the earth’s surface the Star-worshipper might have been worshipping stars, and the Fetish-worshipper Fetishes to this very day.”

CHAPTER V

THE MEDINITE PERIOD

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN!

“There hath come unto you a messenger, (one) of your­selves, unto whom aught that ye are overburdened in grievous, full of concern for you, for the believers full of pity, merciful.” (Al-Qur'an; IX: 128).

“A great change, says Lane Poole, “now comes over the Prophet’s life. It is still the same man, but the surroundings are totally different; the work to be done is on a wider and rougher stage. Thus far we have seen a gentle, thought­ful boy tending the sheep round Mekka; — a young man of little note, of whom the people only knew that he was pure and up­right and true; — then a man of forty whose solitary commu­nion with his soul has pressed him to the last terrible questions that each man, if he will think at all, must sometime ask himself — What is life? What does this world mean? What is reality, what is truth? Long months, years perhaps, we know not how long and weary, filled with the tortures of doubt and the despair of ever attaining to the truth, filled with the dreary thought of his aloneness in the relentless universe, and the longing to end it all, brought at last their fruits — sure conviction of the great secret of life, a firm  belief in the Creator in whom all things live and move, and have their being, whom to serve is man’s highest duty and privilege, the one thing to be done. And then ten years of struggling with careless, unthinking idolaters; ten years of slow results, the gaining over of a few close friends, the devoted attachment of some slaves and men of the meaner rank; finally, the conversion of half-a-dozen great citizen chiefs, ending in the flight of the whole brotherhood of believers from their native city and there welcome to a town of strangers, where the faith had forced itself home to the hearts of perhaps two hundred citizens! It was but little that was done; so many years of toil, of indomitable courage and perseverance and long suffering, and only about three hundred converts at the end! But it was the seed of a great harvest. Muhammad had shown men what he was; the nobility of his character, his strong friendship, his endurance and courage, above all his earnestness and fiery enthusiasm for the truth he came to preach—these things had revealed the hero, the master whom it was alike impossible to disobey and impossible not to love. Hence-forward it is only a question of time. As the men of Medina come to know Muhammad they too will devote themselves to him body and soul, and the enthusiasm will catch fire and spread among the tribes till all Arabia is at the feet of the Prophet of the One God. No emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own clouting. He had the gift of influencing men, and he had the nobility only to influence them for good.”

Soon after his entry into Medina the Holy Prophet thought of building a mosque, now known as the Masjidun-Nabavi or the Prophet’s Mosque. A piece of land was bought and the work of construction begun. When the work was going on, the Holy Prophet could be seen working side by side with others as an ordinary labour despite the entreaties of his devoted followers to the contrary. When the mosque was completed the question arose as to what method, should be adopted for calling the faithful to prayer. The methods of Jews and the Christians were placed before him; but Omar suggested the following form which was approved:

Allah-o-Akbar;

(Allah is the Greatest).—four times

Ashhadu an-la-ilaha-illallah;

(I bear witness that there is none worthy of being worshipped but Allah).—twice.

Ashhaduanna Muhammad-ar-rasul-Allah;

(I bear witness that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah).—twice.

Hayya alas- salah

(come to prayer) — twice

Hayya alal-falah

(come to success) — twice

Allah-o-Akbar;

(Allah is the Greatest).— twice.

La-ilaha-illallah;

(None is worthy of being worshipped but Allah) — once

This Azan or ‘Call to Prayer is an invitation to the faithful to come to Prayer and is at the same time the general enunciation of the essential principles of Islam.

The first Muezzin (i.e., one who recites the Azan) appointed was Bilal[58]? The Abyssinian freed-slave and his sweet charming voice has echoed all these centuries over vast regions of the earth, over mountain tops and on the waves of the oceans, and will go on echoing in the centuries to come, thus proclaiming to the world that Islam is a living force.

The next thing the Holy Prophet did was to unite the Muhajireen (the Emigrants) and the Ansars (the Helpers) into one tie of fraternity, thus laying the unshakable foundations of an international Moslem fraternity which was to take shape in future.

“Lo! Those who believed and left their homes and strove with their wealth and their lives for the Cause of Allah, and those who took them in and helped them: these are protecting friends of one another.”[59]

The third, important thing done by the Holy Prophet was that he bound up all the parties of Medina— Muslims, Jews and others— into one political body by a pact which gave equal rights to all. He was recognized the Chief of Medina.

The pact reads thus:-

 “Blood-money and ransoms would be incumbent on respective: tribes as heretofore ; the Jews shall enjoy religious freedom; their (religious and national) rites shall not be interfered with; the Jews and the Moslems shall maintain friendly relations; if the Jews or the Moslems are attacked by any enemy, one shall help the other; none of the two parties shall give protection to the Quraish; if Medina is attacked both parties shall join hands (to defend); if one party makes treaty with any enemy, the other party shall also cooperate, but religious wars shall be an exception to this rule.”[60]

 “At Medina,” remarks Davenport,[61] “he assumed the sacerdotal and regal office and there, leaning against a palm-tree, or in a rough unadorned pulpit, he inveighed against the idolatry of his nation,[62] breathing into his hearers such a spirit of zeal, enthusiasm, and devotion that both in the camp and without the walls of the city, the ambassadors from Mecca were compelled to confess that he was treated with greater respect, and commanded more implicit obedience, than even the Chosroes of Persia, or the Caesars of Constantinople .....Mohammad may now be regarded as uniting in his own person the offices of monarch, general, judge and priest. But although possess of more than imperial power, nothing could exceed the Prophet's simple style of living; thus, we are told by Ayesha, that he swept his own chamber, lit his own fire, and mended his own clothes; that his food consisted of dates and barley bread, with milk and honey, which were supplied to him by the charity of the faithful.”

The complete failure of the last plot to kill the Islamic movement made the Quraish wild with rage. As soon they came to know that the Holy Prophet had reached Medina they sent a letter to Abdullah bin Ubayy who had been the leader of the Ansar before their conversion to Islam, writing to him the following;-

 “You have given protection to our man. We swear that either you kill him or turn him out of Medina otherwise we all shall wage war against you, and, after your extinction will take possession of your women.”

But Abdullah Ibn Ubayy could not comply with their wish because the Ansar were his relatives, nevertheless he, in cooperation with the Jews, tried to harm and humiliate the Muslims as much as possible.

The attitude of the Quraish was becoming more and more threatening day by day. In Nisai, the book of Traditions, it is mentioned that “in the beginning when the Holy Prophet came to Medina, he used to keep awake whole nights.” According to Bukhari, men were appointed to watch the city at the time of night. A tradition is related by Hakim: “When the Holy Prophet and his companions came to Medina and the Ansar gave them shelter, all the Arabs joined hands to wage war against them, (and) the companions of the Prophet used to go to bed fully armed.” A large number of European critics have asserted that Muhammad, when he became the head of the state of Medina, thought of plunderer and slaughtering his enemies. This prejudiced assertion has no historical basis. It was not Muhammad but the Quraish who, having the whole of Arabia on their side, were never tired of making schemes to extinguish the torch of Islam and, who, therefore, took the offensive, making repeated attempts on the lives and property of the Muslims.

The caravan route of the Meccans lay past Medina and the treacherous Medinite Jews were ever anxious to inform Muhammad’s enemies about everything they knew of the condition of Muslims at Medina so that the position of Muslims was always critical, and they could not enjoy peace of mind. The Holy Prophet, as head of the state, had to send, many a time, reconnoitering parties to bring him information regarding the movements of the Quraish. It is absolutely wrong to say as some prejudiced Western writers have said that the aim of these parties was to plunder the caravans.

Day by day the situation was becoming more and more tense. The Meccan caravans and embassies would often drop in the settlements of the various non-Muslim tribes living around Medina to gather information regarding Muslims and to prepare the non-Muslims for a war against the Holy Prophet.

It was in Jamadi-uth-thani 2 A.H. that a party of the Meccans led by Kurz bin Jabir, approached the suburbs of Medina and burnt the fields and farms and stole away the camels of the Muslims. This meant an open declaration of war.

In Rajab 2 A.H. (i.e. the next month after the attack), the Holy Prophet sent to Nakhla a reconnoitering party of twelve men under Abdullah bin Hajash, giving him a letter, and asking him to open it two days later. On opening the letter Abdullah found this injunction written therein:  “Stay in Nakhla and pick up information regarding the movements of the Quraish and dispatch the information (to us)”. It so happened that a caravan of the Quraish, which, was returning from Syria passed by the settlement of Nakhla. Abdullah attacked it against the express orders of the Holy Prophet to the contrary. One of the members of the caravan Umru bin Al-Hadrami was killed, and two were made prisoners. Their belongings were taken into custody. Abdullah returned to Medina and placed the booty before the Holy Prophet whose face became red with rage. “I had given you no permission to do this,” said he; “you, i.e. (Abdullah)”, cried the Companions in rage, “you have done that which you were not ordered to do; you fought in the sacred month and you had no permission to fight in this month.”[63]

Professor Margoliouth, Dr. Zwemer and others of their mentality have gloated over this incident and have made it a handle for attack. But might they know that, firstly, it was against the express commands of the Holy Prophet, and, secondly, even if the Holy Prophet would have ordered Abdullah to do so, his act would have been justified by the modern international law of the west:-

“From the moment one state is at war with another, it has one general principles, a right to seize on all the enemy’s property of whatsoever kind and wheresoever found, and to appropriate thus to its own use, or to that of the captors.” [64]

The murder of Umru bin Al-Hadrami was used as a pretext to rouse general opinion against the Muslims by the Quraish who had already made themselves ready for war. As a matter of fact, the incident was of common place nature and would have been recompensed by the payment of blood-money. But as the Quraish thought that with the whole of Arabia at their backs: they could easily crush the movement of Islam once for all, they could not be reconciled in any way, and consequently in the month of Ramadan 2 A.H., a Quraishite army of 1,000 valiant soldiers with 700 camels and 100 horses marched towards Medina.

When the Holy Prophet came to know of it, he summoned a general meeting and, when all had assembled, placed the whole situation before them.

The position of the Muslims was extremely critical; because, firstly, they were very few in number as compared to the hosts of the Quraish and secondly, the Jews had broken their word and had entered into conspiracy with the Quraish. [65]

A hush had fallen on the assembly after hearing of the advance of the Quraish, when Saad bin Ibada, a Medinite chief rose and said: “O Prophet of God! By God, we would plunge into the sea at thy command. We are not like the people of Moses, who said to him: ‘Go thou and thy Lord and fight’, but we will fight on thy right and left, in thy front and at the back.”[66]

Preparations were now made for the defence of Medina. The Holy Prophet came out of the city with 313 poorly-armed followers and posted his little army at the brook called Badr, situated at a distance of 30 miles from Medina and 220 miles from Mecca.

Though the water of the brook was in possession of the Muslims, they did not prevent the enemy from availing of it freely.[67]

When the battle began, the Holy Prophet raised his hands towards heaven and prayed: “O God, fulfill thy promise of help. These few soldiers of Islam are the guardians of Truth. They uphold Thy Name. If they perish, not till the day of Resurrection shall Thy sacred Name be worshipped.”

The battle ensued and the promise of God was fulfilled. The haughty Meccans retreated leaving seventy killed and seventy prisoners of war.

When the dead of the enemy had been buried, the Holy Prophet, standing near the burial place, remarked: “Ye my kinsmen! Ye turned away while others believed in me; Ye turned me out while others gave me refuge; Ye waged war against me while others came to my aid. What destiny has been yours! Alas! all that Allah threatened is fulfilled.”

The prisoners of war were accorded a most generous treatment. Not even one of them was executed. The Holy Prophet appointed Muslims to look after them and instructed them to treat them most humanely.

“In pursuance of Muhammad’s command, and in accord with the passage already quoted”^[68] says Muir, “the citizens and such of the refugees as had houses of their own, received the prisoners with kindness and consideration. ‘Blessings on the men of Medina!’ said one of these in later days; 'they made us ride while they walked a foot; they gave us wheet bread to eat when there was little of it, contenting themselves with dates.”^[69]

Such was the unprecedented treatment of enemies by the merciful Prophet, who has been described by some of his blind critics as a blood-thirsty oriental despot, in those days when, according to the customs of all the nations of the world and specially of the Arabs, the prisoners of war were either massacred or burnt alive!

A few days after the captivity, some prisoners obtained their freedom through ransom; others, too poor to pay were released without any ransom; some were released on the condi­tion that each of them should instruct the Medinite boys in the art of reading and writing. [70]

An incident which took place during the battle of Badr, is worthy of mention as it brings into prominence the real character of the Prophet. Two Muslims Abu Hisl and Abu Huzaifa were coming from Mecca to Medina. They were captured by the Quraish were released on the condition that they would not side with the Prophet in battle. They related the whole story to the Holy Prophet when they met him. It was an occasion when not a single Muslim could be spared. But what did the Ideal Teacher do? “You must go back,” said he to them “We must keep our word in all circumstances, we require nothing else than the help of God.”[71]

Noble words worthy of the noble soul.                                                           .               .

After the battle of Badr, the Quraish were again up in arms as soon as the prisoner had reached Mecca. With a view to attack Medina,   an army of 200 mounted soldiers under the command of Abu Sufyan arrived by night   at the Jewish settle­ment   of Banu Nadir,   and after gaining full information about the   affairs of the Muslims, came to Medina, devastated the farms and the palm-gardens of the Medinites, burnt their farmhouses and killed cultivators. Informed of this barbarity, Muhammad came out of the city, but the enemy had fled.

Scarcely had an year passed since the battle of Badr when the   Quraish, after making reliable preparations, sent an army of 3000 sturdy soldiers, well equipped with war-implements, to attack Medina. Abu Sufyan was the Commander-in-Chief. The army encamped in the plain of Ohad, situated at a distance of 5 miles from Medina and 247 miles from Mecca. Thus Muslims were again forced to face the perils of war.

Muhammad, at the head of 1000 men, of whom only one hundred had cuirasses and only two had horses, came out of the city and encamped near the enemy’s forces.  Of these 1000 men, 300 were hypocrites who, just before the commencement of the   fight,  made  a false  excuse  and went away with their leader, Abdullah ibn Ubbay. The Muslims were strictly forbidden to attack the enemy first. It was  the Meccan army which first  advanced, accompanied by a party of  fifteen women headed by Hind,  the  wife  of Abu Sufyan, who were chanting these verses: -

We are the daughters of heaven’s stars,

We are those who tread on carpets,

If you will fight bravely, we will embrace you,

If you will retreat we shall separate ourselves from you.

So the battle ensued. For full one day it raged thick and heavy. In the beginning the Muslims were victorious. But just at the moment when the Quraishite forces were retreating, the archers, forgetting the instructions of the Prophet, left their position. Perceiving the good chance, some Quraish soldiers attacked the Muslims from the rear, and the battle took a serious turn against the Muslims. During the affray the Holy Prophet was severely wounded in the face and fell in a pit. Some body declared that he was killed and this unnerved for a time some of his followers who were ignorant of the real fact. The enemy made the Holy Prophet a target for attack and showered volleys of arrows and stones at him. The faithful realized the danger and fortified the pit with a lining wall of their own bodies. The arrows of the enemy killed them one after another, but as soon as one fell another took his place. Muslim ladies also manifested their courage and their devotion to the Master. Ummi Emareh followed by Ummi Salma, Ayesha and others posted themselves around the Holy Prophet and checked the onslaught of the enemy with their shields and swords. [72] In this hour of extreme peril the Messenger of Peace was fervently praying to God Almighty,

 “O God! forgive my people for they know not.” [73]

As the night came on, the battle came to an end, the issue remaining undecided. Under the darkness of the night the Quraish displayed their true barbarous nature. They dismembered the Muslim corpses lying on the field. Hind, took out the heart of Hamza and chewed it, and made garlands of the noses and ears of the dead.

The year 4 A.H. came and passed away without any serious battle. But there are some events of this year which may be briefly stated.

In the month of Muharram (4 A.H.) news brought to the Prophet that the tribe of Kutn was making preparations to attack Medina. He, therefore, sent Abdullah with 150 men. But the enemy dispersed at the approach of the Muslims. [74]

In the same month Sufyan bin Khalid, the chief of the Lahyan tribe made preparations to invade Medina. On receiving the news Abdullah bin Anis was sent who slew Sufyan and suppressed the insurrection. [75] The next month Abu Bara, the head of the tribes of Banu Amir and Banu Sulaim, came to the Holy Prophet and entreated him to depute some preachers of Islam to his tribes, who, he said were willing to embrace the Islamic faith. The Holy Prophet was suspicious of his intentions, but when Abu Bara took responsibility of the preachers’ safety on his own shoulders, he consented. Seventy Ansar were sent who, as soon as they reached a place called Bir-i-Ma’una, found themselves face to face with a large army. Of these seventy missionaries of Islam only one could escape to Medina to tell the Holy Prophet the harrowing tale of the slaughter of his sixty-nine companions.

Some men of the tribes of Udl and Karah came to the Prophet and told him that the men of their tribes had embraced Islam and were desirous of having some religious teachers. He thereupon sent the theologians under the leadership of Asim bin Thabit. In the way when the party reached the place Raji it was attacked by the tribe of Banu Lahyan at the instigation of the representatives of Udl and Karah. Asim and seven others were slain, while trying to defend themselves. The remaining two Khobaib and Zaid were sold as slaves to the Meccen’s who slaughtered them.

When Khobaib was taken to the place of execution he prayed to God Almighty in these notable words:

“While I am killed as a Muslim, I don’t mind on which side I fall for the sake of Allah.

“All this is in Allah’s path. He may shower His bless­ings on my mutilated limbs, should it so please Him.”

When Zaid was going to be executed Abu Sufyan said to him:

 “Don't you wish now that Muhammad was in your place?”

Amid his pain the sufferer cried out: would not wish to be with my family, my wealth and my children, even on the condition that Muhammad was only to be pricked by a thorn.”[76]

“That is,” says Marmaduke Pickthall, “the ascent of personal love, not merely of the reverence that men feel for prophets, or the loyalty they pay to kings.”

The year 4 A.H. ended thus and the 5th year of Hijra commenced. In the middle of this year Harith bin Abi Darar, the chief of Banu Mustalik, who lived in Mareesee, a place near Medina, commenced preparations to invade Medina. When the Holy Prophet came to know of it he went to Mareesee with an army on the 2nd of Shaaban. Harith fled at the news of his coming. The people of Mareesee however fought and were defeated.[77]

Since the battle of Ohad, the Quraish were busy making grand preparations for a decisive battle. They had invited various tribes of Arabia to participate in the struggle. When the preparations had been complete, an exquisitely equipped army of 24,000 valiant sons of Arabia—the Jews of the tribe of Banu Kuraiza, the Quraish, and the allies of the Quraish from other tribes of Arabia—marched, upon Medina under the command of Abu Sufyan, the arch-enemy of Islam. Having received timely intelligence Muhammad (May God shower his choicest blessings on him) began to think of the means of defending the city. Salman, the Persian convert to Islam, proposed that a ditch be dug on the side where, it was probable, the city would be attacked. The proposal was much appreciated and soon people saw the Holy Prophet and his followers busily engaged, like ordinary labourers, in digging the ditch. In a chorus they sang:  “O Allah! Had it not been for thy mercy, we could not have had guidance. We would not have paid the poor-rate, neither would we have prayed. Send down peace upon us, and make our steps firm in battle. For they have risen against us and they want to prevent us by force, but we refuse.” At the same time the prayer of the Holy Prophet was also soaring towards the Heaven:

 “O Allah! There is no true happiness save the happiness of the Hereafter; O Allah! have mercy on the Refugees and the Helpers.”

Hardly had the ditch been, completed when the huge army of the enemy was seen gathering on the neighbouring hills. The Holy Prophet entrusted Salmah bin Aslam with the command of the city, as some trouble was apprehended from the Hypocrites and the Jews, and himself, he advanced toward the ditch with 3000 men and formed his army in battle array having the ditch in front.. The Army of Abu Sufyan, finding the ditch uncrossable, encamped, and volleys of arrows and stones were exchanged on both sides.

During the storm of the battle news was brought to the Prophet that the Jewish tribe of Banu Kuraizah, who had entered into a pact of alliance with him, had taken up a threatening attitude. He sent word to them to remain faithful to the pact but to no purpose.

For nearly a month the siege was so strong that the poor besieged Muslims were almost exhausted and had to suffer ex­treme pangs of starvation.

One day a party of Quraishite horsemen was able to cross the ditch. A hand to hand fight commenced and, after a heavy loss to both parties, the Muslims repelled the enemy to the other side of the ditch.

It was a pitch dark night when a huge storm of wind and rain came on the tents of the Quraish were blown down, horses and camels created a brawl, and men were severely wounded. During this confusion some one gave out the rumour that the storm had been caused through magic by Muhammad who was coming to attack his enemies. It was now impossible for the Quraish to stay on the field even for a moment and the next morning the Muslims were overjoyed to see the enemy gone

The Divine help has been alluded to in the following verse of the Holy Qur’an:-

“O ye who believe! Remember Allah’s favour unto you when there came against you hosts, and We sent against them a great wind and hosts ye could not see. And Allah is ever Seer of what ye do.”[78]

As yet practically nothing has been said with regard to the treachery of the Jews of Medina and the punishments given to them. The period especially connected with them extends from 1 A.H. to 5 A.H. Some Christian fanatics of the West like Prideaux, S.M. Zwemer and D.S. Margoliouth have gloated over imaginary stories of the Holy Prophet’s cruelty towards them. The Jews had committed a number of black crimes against the state of Medina and the persons of the Muslims; and were punished by the Holy Prophet after making several attempts to reform their behaviour. They had received an order from the Quraish and had complied with it. “You possess,” wrote the Quraish to them, “implements of war and forts. You should wage war against our foe (i.e., the Holy Prophet), otherwise we shall punish you and nothing would be able to stop us from approaching the wrist-ornaments of your women.”[79]

Here I do not wish to discuss the thing in detail as the space at my disposal is very short. Instead, I prefer to quote Christian Orientalist, Dr. Stanley Lane Poole, whose findings, though wrong in one or two minor points, are nevertheless strong enough to explode the Christian propaganda. He says:-

“He (i.e., Muhammad) had to rule over a mixed and divide people .... There were four distinct parties at Medina. First, the ‘Refugees’ (Muhajireen) who had fled from Mecca; on these Mohammad could always rely with implicit faith. But he attached equal importance to the early converts of Medina, who had invited him among them and given him a home when the future seemed very hopeless before him, and who were thenceforward known by the honourable title of the ‘Helpers’ (Ansar) …. To retain the allegiance of the Refugees and the Helpers was never a trouble to Mohammad; the only difficulty was to rein in their zeal and to hold them back from doing things of blood and vengeance on the enemies of Islam. To prevent the danger of jealousy between the Refugees and the Helpers, Mohammad assigned each Refugee to one of the Ansar to be his brother; and this tie of gossipry superseded all nearer ties, till Mohammad saw the time was over when it was needed. The third party in Medina was that of the “Disaffected,” or in the language of Islam the “Hypocrites” (Munafikeen). This was composed of a large body of men who gave their nominal allegiance to Muhammad and his religion when they saw they could not safely withstand his power, but who were always ready to turn about if they thought there was a chance of his overthrow, Mohammad treated these men and their leader Abdullah ibn Ubbay (who himself aspired to be the sovereignty of Medina) with patient courtesy and friendliness, and though they actually deserted him more than once at vitally critical points, he never retaliated, even when he was strong enough to crush them, but rather sought to win them over heartily to his cause by treating them as though they were what he would have them to be. The result was that this party gradually diminished and became absorbed in the general mass of earnest Muslims, and though up to its leader’s death it constantly called forth Mohammad’s power of conciliation, after that it vanished from the history of parties.

“The fourth party was the real thorn in the Prophet's side. It consisted of the Jews, of whom three tribes were settled in the suburbs of Medina. They had at first been well-disposed to Muhammad's coming. He could not indeed be the Messiah, because he was not of the lineage of David; but he would do very well to pass upon their neighbours, the pagan Arabs, as, if not the Messiah, at last a great Prophet; and by his influence the Jews might regain their old supremacy in Medina…. When Muhammad came they found out their mistake; instead of a tool they had a master. He told the people, indeed, the stories of Midrash, and he professed to revive the religion of Abraham; but he added to this several damning articles; he taught that Jesus was the Messiah, that no other Messiah was to be looked for; and, moreover, while reverencing and inculcating the doctrine of the Hebrew prophets and of Christ, as he knew it, he yet insisted on his own mission as in no wise inferior to theirs— as, in fact, the seal of prophecy by which all that went before was confirmed, or abrogated. The illusion was over: the Jews could have nothing to say to Islam: they set themselves instead to oppose it, ridicule it, and vex its Preacher in every way that their notorious ingenuity could devise.

“The step was false: the Jews missed, their game and they had to pay for it. Whether it was possible to form a coali­tion, — whether the Jews might have induced Mohammad to waive certain minor points if they recognised his prophetic mission, — it is difficult to say.[80] It seems most probable that Mohammad would not have yielded a jot to their demands, and would have accepted nothing short of unconditional surrender to his religion.

“The religion of Mohammad lost little, we may be sure, by standing aloof of Arabian Jews; but the Jews themselves lost much. Mohammad, indeed, treated them kindly so long as kindness was possible. He made a treaty with them, whereby the rights of Moslems and Jews were defined. They were to practise their several religions un-molested; protection and security were promised to all the parties to the treaty, irrespective of creed; each was to help the other if attacked; no alliance was to be made in common and no war was to be made with Quraish, war was to be made in common and no war was to be made without the consent of Mohammad: crime alone could do away with the protection of this treaty.

“But the Jews could not content themselves with standing aloof; they needs must act on the offensive — When asked which they preferred, Islam or idolatry, they frankly avowed that they preferred idolatry.[81] To lie about their own religion and to ridicule another religion that was doing a great and good work around them was not enough for these Jews; they must set their poets to work to lampoon the women of the believers in obscene verse, and such outrages upon common decency, not to say upon the code of Arab honour and chivalry, became a favourite occupation among the poets of the Jewish clans.[82]

There were offences against the religion and the persons of the Moslems. They also conspired against the state. Mohammad was not only the preacher of Islam, he was also the King of Medina, and was responsible for the safety and peace of the city. As a Prophet, he could afford to ignore the jibes of the Jews, though they maddened him to fury; but as the chief of the city, the general in a time of almost continual warfare, when Medina was kept in a state of military defence and under a sort of military discipline, he could not overlook treachery. He was bound by his duty to his subjects to suppress a party that might (and nearly did) lead to the sack of the city by investing armies. The measures he took for this object have furnished his European biographers with a handle for attack. It is, I believe, solely on the ground of his treatment of the Jews that Mohammad has been called a ‘blood-thirsty tyrant’: it would certainly be difficult to support the epithet on other grounds.

“The blood-thirstiness consists in this: some half-dozen Jews, who had distinguished themselves by their virulence against the Muslims, or by their custom of carrying informa­tion to the common enemy of Medina, were executed; two of the three Jewish clans were sent into exile, just as they had previously come into exile, and the third was exterminated—the men killed, and the women and. children made slaves.[83]  The execution of the half-dozen marked Jews is generally called assassination because a Muslim was sent secretly to kill each of the criminals.  The reason is almost too obvious to need explanation.  There were no police or law-courts or even court-martial at Medina; some of the followers of Mohammad must therefore be the executor of the sentence of death, and it was better that it should be done quietly, as the executing of a man openly before his clan would have caused a brawl and more blood-shed and retaliation, till the whole city had become mixed up in the quarrel. If secret assassination is the word for such deeds, secret assassina­tion was a necessary part of the internal Government of Medina. The men must do killed and the best in that way. In saying this I assume that Mohammed was cognisant of the deed, and that it was not merely a case of private vengeance, but in several instances the evidence that traces those executions to Mohammad’s order is either entirely wanting or is too doubtful to claim our credence.

“Of the sentences upon the three whole clans, that of the exile, passed upon two of them, was clement enough. They were a turbulent set, always setting the people of Medina by the ears; and finally a brawl followed by an insurrection resulted in the expulsion of one tribe; and insubordination, alliance with enemies and a suspicion of conspiracy against the Prophet’s life, ended similarly for the second.[84] Both tribes had violated the original treaty, and had endeavoured in every way to bring Mohammad and his religion to ridicule and destruction. The only question is whether their punishment was not too light. Of the third clan ^A [85]a fearful example was made, not by Mohammad, but by an arbiter appointed by themselves. When the Kureysh and their allies were besieging Medina, and had well-nigh stormed the defences, this Jewish tribe entered into negotiations with the enemy, which were only circumvented by the diplomacy of the Prophet. When the besiegers had retired, Muhammad naturally demanded an explanation of the Jews. They resisted in their dogged way, and were themselves besieged and. compelled to surrender at discretion. Muhammad, however, consented to the appointing of a chief of a tribe allied to the Jews as the judge who should pronounce sentence upon them. The man in question was a fierce soldier, who had been wounded in the attack on the Jews, and indeed died from his wound the same day.^B

“This Chief gave sentence that the men, in number some six hundred, should be killed and the women and children enslaved; and the sentence was carried out.^C It was a harsh, bloody sentence, worthy of the episcopal generals of the army against the Albigenses, of the deeds of the Augustan age of Puritanism; but it must be remembered that the crime of these men was high treason against the state, during time of siege; and those who have read how Wellington’s march could be traced by the ‘bodies of deserters said pillagers hanging from the trees, need not be surprised at the summary execution of a traitorous clan.”

In the year 6 A.H. the Holy Prophet resolved to go to Mecca and to perform Umra, the Lesser Pilgrimage, in the Ka’bah. Since centuries the “House of Allah” which had been, built by Abraham for the worship of the One True God had been the “House of Idols”. Mohammad was the regenerator of the religion preached by Abraham and he therefore, renewed the significance of Ka’bah as the House of God — the place where the One God should be worshipped.

Pilgrimage is the fifth pillar of Islam and the Muslims had not yet had the occasion to perform it. They knew it plainly that pilgrimage was a privilege which was not denied even to the worst enemies and, therefore the Quraish would not stand in their way. Consequently arrangements were made and the Prophet with 1,400 of his followers started towards Mecca. The whole party had put on Ahrams,[86] the pilgrim’s dress. They left all the war material at home and took with them only their sheathed swords which it was the custom of the Arabs to carry with them when travelling. It was thus plainly shown that the Muslims had no intention to fight. When, the Quraish were informed of their approach they came out of Mecca with a large army and the Muslims had to stay at Hudaibiya a place, one stage distant from Mecca. The Prophet sent Budail the Chief of Banu Khuzaa, to the Quraish with the message: “We have come to perform the Lesser Pilgrimage. To fight is not our aim.” When Budail delivered this message to the Quraish they sent Urwa to negotiate with the Prophet, but no settlement could be reached. During his stay in the Muslim camp Urwa was deeply impressed by the devotion which Muslims showed to the Holy Prophet. On his return he said to the Quraish “I have been to the courts of Caesar, Chosroes and Negus but did not witness such devotion anywhere. When Muhammad talks a pin drop silence falls on the audience. No body ventures to see him full in the face. When he performs his ablutions people fall on each other to take the water in their hands.”

Urwa having failed to come to any settlement, the Prophet first sent Khirash bin Umayya but he was maltreated by the Quraish. He then sent Osman to negotiate on his behalf but he was made captive. Some body informed the Prophet that Osman had been killed. He thereupon, took an oath from the Muslims-men as well as women that they would cling to his orders under all conditions. This grand occasion is known in the history of Islam as the Covenant of Ridwan. The holy Qur’an mentions it in the following verses:-

“Allah was well pleased with the believers when they swore allegiance unto thee beneath the tree, and He knew what was in their hearts, and He sent down peace of reassurance upon them and hath rewarded them with a near victory.”[87]

Afterwards the Muslims came to know that the rumour of Osman’s murder was baseless.

The Quraish sent their second emissary Suhail by names and after some discussion a ten years’ truce was signed. This truce is known as the Truce of Hudaibiya. The clauses of the truce were as follows:-[88]

1.      The Muslims shall go back this year without performing the pilgrimage

2.      They may come next year, but shall not stay at Mecca for more than three days.

3.      They shall not bring any arms except sheathed swords.

4.      They shall not take away with them any Muslim residing in Mecca, and if anyone from among themselves wishes to remain behind at Mecca, they will not prevent him from doing this.

5.      If anyone from the idolaters or the Muslims goes to Medina he shall be handed over to the Meccans, but if any Muslim of Medina rejoins the Meccans, the latter shall not restore him to the Holy Prophet.

6.      The tribes of Arabia shall be free to enter into alliance with either of the parties.

The terms were humiliating and, consequently, extremely disgusting to the Muslims, but the Prophet agreed to them heartily in order that he might get peace to propagate Islam.

A revelation came from the Lord calling the truce an open victory and the future events showed that it was true:

“We have given thee (O Muhammad) a signal victory.”[89]

Soon after the truce had been signed, a Muslim captive of Quraish named Abu Jandal fled away from Mecca and came to Muhammad at Hudaibiya. He was in an extremely wretched condition and his body was covered with wounds which his persecutors had inflicted on him day after day. The Prophet and the Muslims were filled with pity, but the truce had been signed and accord­ing to its item No. 5, the Prophet had to send him back to the lap of persecution.  “Abu Jandal”, said he to the poor victim of barbarity, “be patient. Allah will make some way for you and other oppressed persons. The truce has been made and we cannot break our word.”

Let the Western world which is ever ready to ridicule the noble Prophet of Arabia take him as its model and thus establish peace which is always frustrated by her unscrupulous disregard for treaties.

Besides Abu Jandal many Muslim captives of the Quraish came to the Holy Prophet, but he was true to his word.

After three days stay at Hudaibiya, the party of pilgrims returned to Medina. The Qur’anic verdict that the truce was a signal victory was now proved true. Previously the feeling of enmity had blinded the idolaters to the beauties of Islam. Now they began to have a freer intercourse and this brought about a better understanding. The sublime charms of the Prophet’s personality, the piety and high morals of the Muslims, and the superior doctrines of Islam soon began to attract new converts to the Muslim faith and this was the real thing required.

The dawn of the period of peace after the truce witnessed a great missionary upheaval. The Holy Prophet lost no time in broadcasting the Divine Message to mankind at large.

One day he delivered a sermon to his followers; “O People, God has sent me as (His) blessing and as messenger unto the whole world. See that you do not tear yourself into factions. Go; deliver the message of Truth on my behalf.”

Consequently he sent his messengers with epistles to sovereigns and chiefs—to the Hercules of Rome, the Chosroes of Iran, the Aziz of Egypt, the Negus of Abyssinia, the chief of Yemama etc., etc., inviting them and their countrymen to Islam.[90]

When the epistle addressed to the Hercules of Rome was delivered to him at Jerusalem, he gave orders to bring some non-Muslim Arabs to him so that he may know the actual matter. It so happened that Abu Sufyan, the implacable enemy of Islam, was staying in Ghaza. He was summoned to the royal court. The talks which Hercules had with him is worthy of being reproduced here:[91]

Hercules: Of what status is the family of this claimant to prophethood?

Abfu Sufyan: It is a noble family.

Hercules: Did any other member of his family also claim to be a prophet?

Abu Sufyan: No.

Hercules: Has there been any king in his family?

Abu Sufyan: No.

Hercules; Are the converts to Islam weak or powerful?

Abu Sufyan They are weak.

Hercules: Are his followers increasing or decreasing?

Abu Sufyan: They are increasing.

Hercules: Have you ever found him speaking a lie?

Abu Sufyan: Never.

Hercules: Did he ever break his covenant and word?

Abu Sufyan: No, he did not. But we have to see whether he can abide by the recent treaty (i.e. the truce of Hudaibiya) made by him.

Hercules: Did you ever wage war against him?

Abu Sufyan: Yes.

Hercules: What was the result of war?

Abu Sufyan: Sometimes the victory was at our hands while at others it was on his side.

Hercules: What does he teach?

Aba Sufyan: He teaches us to worship One God, not to make anyone His partner, to say prayers, to adopt piety, to speak the truth and to be merciful.

After this Hercules addressed Abu Sufyan thus:

“You have said that he is of noble extraction and prophets are always of noble extraction; you have said that no other of his family has claimed to be a prophet; had it not been so I would have thought that it is the effect of a mania of his family; you have admitted that his family had no king, had it been I would have thought that he is ambitious of kingdom; you have confessed that he has never spoken a lie, then such a man can never utter blasphemy in the name of God; you have said that his followers are poor, and the early followers of all prophets are always poor.  You have admitted that his religion is progress­ing and it is always the true religion which progresses; you have admitted that he never deceived, and it is the prophets who are such; you have said that he preaches worship, piety and chastity, if it is true then his possessions will reach up to my territory. I had really had the belief that the advent of a prophet was near, but I had no idea that he will be born in Arabia. Had I been able to go to him, I would have washed his feet.”[92]

Having finished his speech, Hercules ordered that the epistle of the prophet be read. These were the words of the epistle:-

“In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad, the servant of God and His Apostle, to Hercules, the Chief of Rome (or the Greeks). Peace be on him who follows true guidance. After this I invite thee to accept Islam: become a Muslim and thou wilt achieve peace. God will grant thee a double reward. But if thou turnest back, then the guilt of thy countrymen will be on thee.

O people of the book! Come to a word laid down plainly between us and you—that we will worship none but God, and that we will join no other God with him, nor take, each other for lords other than God. But if thou turnest back, then say, Bear witness that we are Muslims.”[93]

The Christian priests were extremely annoyed at the attitude of Hercules. He was afraid of the consequences and had to forego his conviction.

The similar epistle was sent to the Aziz of Egypt who received it warmly but did not embrace Islam.

The epistle sent to Negus had, besides the words addressed to Maqauqis and Hercules, the following:-

“Jesus, son of Mary, was a creature of God and His word which he sent unto chaste, pure end spotless Mary, thereby causing her conception. Jesus was created by God’s spirit and commandment just as Adam was created by Him with His own hand and commandment.”

Negus embraced Islam and replied, to the Holy Prophet in these words: -

“O Prophet of God! May God shower his choicest blessings upon you! Whatever you have said about Jesus, by God, there is not a particle of untruth in it. His status is just that which you have stated. If you so like, it is my wish to pay my respects to you personally, for I am convinced that whatever you say is true.”

When the Chosroes of Iran received the epistle addressed to him, he was extremely enraged and cried, “My slave writes me like that”. He tore it up, but, says Professor Shibli, “after a few days his own kingdom was torn to pieces.”

The epistle ran thus:

“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, From Muhammad, the Apostle of God, to Chosroes, the Chief of Iran. Peace be upon him who follows true guidance, and believes in God and His Apostle, and bears witness that there is no lord beside God and that He has sent me as His messege-bearer to the whole humanity so that I may warn every living human being. Embrace Islam, thou wilt achieve peace. Otherwise the guilt of the Magians will be on thee.”

The effects of the epistles sent to other chiefs were varied. Some embraced Islam, other rejected the Call, while some began to make preparations to wage war on Islam.

It was also in the 6 A.H. when the Prophet “granted to the monks of the monastry of St.Catherine, near mount Sinai, and to all christians, extensive privilages and immunities, at the same time declaring that any Mohammadan who should abuse or violate what was there ordered, should be counted as ‘a violator of God’s testament, a transgressor of his commandments, and a slighter of his faith’. By this decree, Muhammad undertook himself, and enjoined on his followers, to protect the Christians from every foe to defend their churches, the residence of their monks, and their places of pilgrimage and to guard and shelter them from every hurtful action. They were not to be unfairly taxed. No bishop was to be driven out of his bishopric; no Christian was to be forced to reject his religion; no monk was to be expelled from his monastery; no pilgrim was to be detained from his pilgrimage, nor were the Christian churches to be pulled down for the sake of building mosques, or houses for the Muslims. The Christians were not expected to sally forth with the Muhammadans to resist the enemies of the latter, on the ground that ‘tributaries’ have nothing to do with war concerns. Christian women married to Muhammadans were to enjoy their own religion, and not to be subjected to compulsion or annoyance of any kind on that account. If the Christians, continued Muhammad in this remarkable documents, ‘should become in want of assistance in repairing their churches or hermitages, or for anything concerning their religion, the Muhammadans are to support and favour them. And the Muslims are not to consider this as a participation in their religion, but as a mere assistance to their help­lessness, and compliance with the ordinances of the Apostle of God, which are made in their favour by the autho­rity of God, and His Apostle. In time of war, or while the Musalmans are in a state of hostility with their enemies no Christian shall be hated or disdained on account of his being resident among them (the Muhammadans); and whoever shall thus treat a Christian shall be accounted unjust, obstinate towards the Apostle of God, and disobedient to his will.’…Such were the terms granted by Muhammad to the Christians. They form a splendid charter of liberties—one of the noblest monuments of enlightened tolerance that the history of the world can produce.”[94]

Here is some food for contemplation for the prejudiced critic of Islam.

The dawn of the year 7 A.H. saw the battle of Khaibar. Khaibar was a very strong fortified settlement of the Jews who had been a constant menace to the safety of Islam and had been making attempt after attempt to overthrow the state of Medina. The attitude of the Holy Prophet towards them was that of kindness and mercy.[95] But the treacherous behaviour of the Jews could not be tolerated for long. The Prophet, therefore, started with an army to warn the Jews and to ask them to remain peaceful.[96] But the Jews were bent upon fighting as they were over-confident of their strong forts, and the Prophet was obliged to subdue them by force of arms. Even after they had been subdued he was just and kind to them, so much so that they would remark: “It is this sort of justice on which earth and heaven rest.”[97]

Connected with the surrender of Khaibar is the wrong notion propagated by Christian priests that the Holy Prophet oppressed and killed Kiana, a Jew who did not inform him where the treasure of the Jews was buried, and that he enslaved the rest of the Jews. This idea is groundless. Kiana was killed being a mill-stone from the battlements.[98] As regards the story of the enslavement of the Jews, it is a mere fiction.[99]

During the Holy Prophet’s stay at Khaibar, a Jewess invited him and some of his followers to a dinner at her house. She poisoned the dishes. The Prophet became aware of it after eating the first morsel, but one of his companions ate to his fill and died after three days. He had forgiven the crime first, but when the man died, the Jewess had to meet the sentence of the law.

Some writers have laboured under a wrong notion that though the Qur’an forbid warfare in the Arabian month of Muharram, yet the battle of Khaibar and some others were fought in this month. They have made a serious mistake. It is the act of beginning new wars that is prohibited and not that of making defensive wars in connection with the offensive taken by the enemy. (See Shibli’s Seerat, p. 456).

The battle of Khaibar decided the fate of the Jews. They were rendered unable to make any future effort of creat­ing mischief and disturbance, except the one—that of the Jews of Wadi-ul-Qura—just after their defeat at Khaibar.

In the last months of the year 7 A.H. the Holy Prophet and his followers made preparations to perform the Lesser Pilgrimage in accordance with the Truce of Hudaibiya, and started towards Mecca under strict adherence to the terms of the truce. On reaching Mecca the pilgrimage was performed peacefully.

“It was surely a strange sight, which at this time presented itself in the vale of Mecca—a sight, one might almost say, unique in history. The ancient city is for three days evacuated altogether by its inhabitants, and every house deserted. As they retire, the exiles, many years banished from their birth place, accompanied by their allies, fill the valley, revisit the empty homes of their childhood, and within the short allotted period fulfil the rites of pilgrimage. The ousted citizens with their families, climbing the heights around, take refuge under tents or rocks, amongst the hills and glens; and clustering on the overhanging peak of Abu Kobei, thence watch the movements of the visitors beneath, as with the Prophet at their head they perform the sacred rites — anxiously scanning every figure, if perchance to recognise among the worshippers some long-lost friend or relative. It was a scene rendered possible only by the throes that gave birth to Islam.”[100]

“When”, remarks Lane Poole, “the three days were over, Mohammad and his party peaceably returned to Medina; and the Mekkans re-entered their homes; but this pilgrimage, and the self-restraint of the Muslims therein advanced the cause of Islam among its enemies. Converts increased daily, and some leading men of the Kureysh now, went over to Muhammad.”

Since the truce of Hudaibiya there was comparatively a state of peace and Islam was making headway steadily on all sides. But the Quraish were not yet inclined to abandon mischief. Scarcely a year had passed after the truce, when they sided with Banu Bakr in a war against Banu Khuzaa, who were the allies of the Holy Prophet.[101] And not only this, they also exhibited their savagery in slaughtering the poor Banu Khuzaa when they took refuge in the sanctuary of the Ka’bah!

One day the Holy Prophet was sitting in the Mosque at Medina when he heard a voice:  “O God! I will remind Muhammad the covenant which exists between us and his old family. O Prophet of God! aid us and call up God’s servants. All will come forward to aid.”

Soon he came to know that the representatives of Banu Khuzaa had come to demand help from him against the atrocities of the Quraish. He felt extreme grief at hearing their story. But instead of making arrangements for punishing them he sent them a message asking them to accept one of the three conditions:

1)      The blood-money of the killed should be paid;

2)      The Quraish should separate themselves from the alliance of Banu Bakr;

3)      The Quraish should declare that the Truce of Hudaibiya was (considered by them) at an end.

The Quraish accepted the last condition.[102] It meant the renewal of hostilities.

The time had now come when they should be checked from disgracing society with their impious habits any more, and should be taught that society was a thing worthy of regard and respect and that to be a human being involved certain responsibilities which could not be easily passed over.

Consequently preparations were made to subdue Mecca. It was on the 10th of Ramadan of 8 A.H. when the Holy Prophet, in fulfillment of the Divine words proclaimed two thousand years before by Moses, “He came with ten thousands of holy ones,”[103] set out from Medina. The Meccans surrendered without offering any resistance.

“Now”, observes Lane Poole ironically “was the time for the Prophet to show his blood-thirsty nature. His old persecutors are at his feet. Will he not trample on them, revenge himself after his own cruel manner? Now the man will come forward in his true colours; we may prepare our horror, and cry shame beforehand.

“But what is this? Is there no blood in the streets? Where are the bodies of the thousands that have been butchered? Facts are hard things; and its a fact that the day of Mohammad’s greatest triumph over his enemies, was also the day of his grandest victory over himself. He freely forgave the Kureysh all the years of sorrow and. cruel scorn they had inflicted on him. He gave an amnesty to the whole population of Mekka. Four criminals whom justice condemned, made up Mohammad’s pros­cription list when he entered as a conqueror the city of his bitterest enemies. The army followed his example, and entered quietly and peaceably; no house was robbed, no woman insulted.

“It was thus that Mohammad entered again his native city. Through all the anals of conquest there is no triumphant entry like unto this one.”

After his entry the first thing the Holy Prophet did was that all idols were removed from the Ka’bah.[104] When this cleansing was going on the great Unitarian and Iconoclast was reciting the triumphant proclamation of the Glorious Qur’an:

'Truth hath come and falsehood hath vanished away. Lo! false-hood is ever bound to vanish,”[105]

It was a strange sight when, at noon, Mohammad (May God bless and keep him!) ascended the pulpit to address his friends and foes who had assembled in large numbers in the compound of the Ka’bah.

“There is”, proclaimed the Warner, “no lord except the One God. No one is His partner. He has fulfilled His promise. He has helped His servant and has broken (the power) of all the (opponent) parties. Listen O People! All the false pride, all blood vengeance of the Days of igno­rance, all the spirit of revenge, are under my feet.

“O people of the Quraish! God has now crushed all vainglory of the Days of Ignorance, and social superiority. All human beings are the children of Adam and Adam was from dust.”

He then recited the following verse of the Holy Qur’an

“O mankind! Lo We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and the tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware.[106]

The message was not in reality meant for the Arabs only but for entire humanity which had been corrupted by caste system, serfdom and slavery.

After the sermon was finished, his inveterate enemies were brought before the Prophet. It was these people who had, through all these weary of insult and persecution, left no stone unturned in perpetrating barbarities on him and his followers. They were now absolutely in his power.  “Do you know” asked the Holy Conqueror of his trembling foes.  “How I am going to treat you?”  “Thou art a noble brother and the son of a noble brother,” cried they all, in one voice,  “Yes, “ said the Mercy unto Nations with tears in his kind eyes,  “there is no reproach upon you this day. Go! You are free.”

Certain Muslims who had suffered most frightful persecu­tion and had been, thinking of taking revenge at the time of power and glory murmured at this generous treatment. But the Holy Prophet's admonition was couched to them in these noble words of the Holy Prophet: -

“Repel (evil) with that which is better.”[107] 

No theoretical ideal of ‘turning the other cheek’ or ‘of giving the cloak’, but practical shining example!

The Arabs had seen that day how helpless and powerless were their gods. Their vision had at last cleared up. The charm of idolatry was broken.

The Holy Prophet took his seat on Mount Safa, the same place where eighteen years before he had been derided and scolded at, and a large train of men and woman passed by him proclaiming their allegiance to Islam and the valley of Mount Faran resounded with the voices proclaiming the eternal truth:  “There is none worthy of worship but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger.”

Among the new converts was Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, who had chewed the heart of Hamza at the battle of Chad and had taken a leading part in the various campaigns against Muhammad. The Holy Prophet had forgiven her most generously, but it seems that his forgiving nature had made her over-bold. At the time of taking oath she said to him!

“O Prophet of God! On what things do you want us to take oath”

The Prophet: “That you take no lord beside God.”

Hind:  “You have not taken this promise from the men. But, however, I accept it.”

The Prophet:  “That you do not steal.”

Hind: I am used to steal a few coins out of my husband’s money, but I knew not whether this is also forbidden.”

The Prophet: “That you will not kill your children.”

Hind:  “as for us, we had brought up our children; when they were grown up you killed them in the battle of Badr. Now you and they may settle affairs with each other.”

When Mecca surrendered, the notorious leaders of the Quraish like Safwan bin Ummayya, Abdullah bin Zabara, and Ikramah bin Abu Jehl had fled away fearing lest they be punished. But the Prophet sent them message of pardon. They returned to Mecca and embraced Islam.

It would be instructive to remark here that the pardon bestowed on his enemies by Muhammad (peace be upon him!) was never conditioned by conversion to Islam, and the Quranic injunction,  “There is no compulsion in religion,”[108] was put into practice in a most rigid manner.

Although the surrender of Mecca had weakened the power of idolatry, there were yet some tribes who thought that there was still time left to root out and defeat the movement of Islam.[109] The large tribes of Havazin and Saqif wielded great influence. They were divided into different branches and had a number of settlements between Mecca and Taif. Soon after the surrender of Mecca they came out of their homes in large numbers resist with will to either kill or conquer. When the Holy Prophet was informed of their advance he sent a
spy to Honain, a valley where they had assembled. The news
having been confirmed he found himself compelled to suppress the revolt. In Shawal, 8 A.H. (Jan. and ‘Feb 630.A.C.) he started towards Honain at the head of 12,000 soldiers of which a considerable number was of new converts and non-Muslins. Both the armies met at Honain. After a desperate fight the army of the Prophet began to fly in different directions. The flight was due to two reasons. Firstly, the Havazins were the most skilled archers in Arabia and had made elaborate arrangements of facing their opponents with their arrows.
Secondly, there were two thousand non-Muslims in the Prophet's army, who did not possess the indomitable courage of the Muslims,

Thus we can realize how impossible it was for the Muslims to maintain their position when under the volleys of arrows an element of their army had created a brawl. But the flight of the army could not shake the Great General Muhammad from his post. He stood firm though alone, under the fatal arrows of the enemy, like mighty pillar of courage and prowess. Suddenly he alighted from the horse and exclaimed; “I am the Prophet, it is not a lie; I am the son (grand) of Abdul Muttalib.”[110]

He glanced on his right, he glanced on his left and called out:  “O hosts of Helpers!  and Abbas who had come near him also cried out at the top of his voice: “O hosts of Helpers! O companions of the Tree!”  “Here we are”, came the response from all sides as the flying forces rallied round their Holy General. The Muslim army fell on the enemy in all its fury with the result that the enemy had to flee leaving seventy killed and a large number of prisoners in the hands of the Muslims.

The defeated Havazins were now divided into two groups. One took its position at Autas and the other at Taif. A small battalion was sent to defeat the Autas group. It returned victorious with a large number of the prisoners of war. Among the captives was a woman named Shaima who was the foster-sister of the Prophet. When she was brought before him, she showed him the impressions of teeth on her body and reminded him that he had bitten her when they were children. The brotherly affection brought tears in the eyes of the Prophet. He spread his own sheet for her to sit down and after giving her presents returned, her to her home.[111]

The Taif group had obtained the cooperation of Banu Saqif and began the preparations of a second battle. They repaired the fort and stored a huge quantity of provisions. Having received timely intelligence the Holy Prophet went to Taif and laid siege to the fort. The siege lasted for twenty days, but the fort could not be subdued and the Prophet had to come back. Some of his companion’s asked him to curse the Banu Saqif, but he prayed for them in these words: “O God! Guide Banu Saqif to the right path and cause them to come to me.”[112]

The case of the war prisoners of Honain had not been yet decided. One day a deputation came to the Prophet and entreated him to give the prisoners their freedom. He laid the case before the Muslims and asked them to give their consent to free the prisoners. It was generously given and 6000 “slaves” were in a moment set free.

“About this period of Mohammad’s history, an event occurred which in the opinion of every candid and impartial mind, exonerates him from all imputations of imposture with which he has been assailed. His only son Ibrahim … had just died —— An eclipse of the sun occurring precisely at the very hour of the youth’s demise, the common people saw in this prodigy a sure token that the heavens themselves shared the general grief; but so far from encouraging this superstitious feeling .... so far from listening to the voice of flattery —Muhammad called the people together, and said to them: ‘Fellow citizens, the sun and the stars are the works of God’s hands, but they are neither eclipsed nor effaced to announce the birth or death of mortals.’[113]

Since the battle of Mauta, the Roman state of Syria had determined to invade Arabia. In the year 9 A.H. the Prophet was informed by some Syrian merchants that a large army was collecting in Syria to attack the State of Islam.[114] The rumours of a Roman invasion upon Arabia were floating on all sides.[115] News was brought that Arabian Christians had written to Hercules that the Holy Prophet was dead and Arabia was stricken with famine and that Hercules had, consequently, collected an army of 40,000.

The state of affairs was such that these informations were regarded as correct, and the Prophet had to make pre­parations again for a defensive fight. Appeals were made to all tribes of Arabia to save the country. Muslims presented their wealth and their persons for the task. An army of 30,000 men was composed and, as it was decided to check the enemy on the border, the Holy Prophet started towards Syria. On reaching Tabuk, a habitation midway between Medina and Damascus, it was found that the news of the military preparations of Hercules were not correct and that it was really the Ghassanide Chief who was making some mischief. The Muslim army stayed in Tabuk for twenty days.

The chiefs of the neighbouring places came and paid homage to the Prophet. On their return to Medina, the Mujahideen were accorded a rousing reception.

The opposition of Arabs to Islam had now perfectly cooled down. They had tried to extinguish the Divine Flame but had failed. They had persecuted the Muslims and had waged wars against them but had to give way in the end. Muhammad had begun his mission in the minority of one but now the whole of Arabia lay at his feet. The constructive work of Islam had been checked till now. Now the time had come to complete the work of its mission. Missionaries were sent to all quarters of Arabia, and, the deputations of various tribes began to pour in Medina to declare their adhesion to Islam.

“The taking of Mecca”, says Lane Poole, ‘was soon followed by the adhesion of all Arabia. Every reader knows the story of the spread of Islam. The tribes of every part of the peninsula sent embassies to do homage to the Prophet. Arabia was not enough; the Prophet had written in his bold uncompromising way to the great kings of the East, to the Persian Khusru and the Greek Emperor; and these little knew how soon his invitation to the faith would be repeated and how quickly Islam would be knocking at their doors with no faltering hand.”[116]

The great Arab nation which had remained disunited since times immemorial now stood bound up into one great bond of the practical brotherhood of Islam. It was now ready to perform its work which Providence had allotted to it—the work of taking the Final Message of God to the four corners of the world.

Till now there had been a state of anarchy ruling Arabia. Now were established by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (May peace be upon him) the various departments of civilization; now was the perfect law of Islam promulgated, now were the evils of Arabia destroyed root and branch. The kingdom of Heaven prayed for by the Holy Prophet Jesus (May peace be upon him) had come!

That the growing political influence of Islam was a blessing for the non-Muslim communities of Arabia may be understood from the charter granted to the Christians of Najran in 9 A.H. “No conquering race of faith has given to its subject a nobler guarantee than is to be found in the following words of the Prophet:  “To the Christians of Nejran and the surrounding territories the security of God and the pledge of His Prophet are extended for their lives, their religion and their property—to the present as well as the absent, and others besides; there shall be no interference with (the practice of) their faith or their observances; nor any change in their rights or privileges; no bishop shall be removed from his bishopric, nor any monk from his monastery, nor any priest from his priesthood, and they shall continue to enjoy everything, great and small, as heretofore; no image or cross shall be destroyed; they shall not oppress nor be oppressed; they shall not practise the rights of blood vengeance as in the Days of Ignorance; no tithes shall be levied from them nor shall they be required to furnish provisions for troops.”[117]

In the year 10 A.H. the Holy Prophet received the reve­lation from the Most High:

And thou seest mankind entering the religion of Allah in troops,

Then hymn the praises of thy Lord, and seek forgiveness of Him. Lo: He is ever ready to show mercy.”[118]

This revelation foreshadowed the approaching death of the Holy Prophet and he therefore, commenced preparations for performing the Farewell Pilgrimage. When this intention of the Holy Prophet was announced, men, women and children flocked to Medina to accompany him to the Ka’bah.

The party of pilgrims started from Medina on Saturday, the 26th Zul-Qaadh, 10 A.H. and reached Mecca, on 14th Zil-Haj.

The Holy Prophet delivered several sermons on this occasion two of which are extremely important because they reveal the nature of reforms which he had introduced.

The first sermon was delivered on the 8th of Zil-Haj (7th March) at Arafat. The Holy Prophet was on the back of his favourite camel Al-Kaswar and a concourse of 200,000 Muslims-men, woman and children—was around him. How majestic was this spectacle!—a spectacle unknown to history before. The fruits of his noble labours were before him. From the back of the camel he first hymned the praise of the Lord and then addressed the audience in these words:-

 “Listen O People! All the practices of the Days of Ignorance are under my feet to-day.

“An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab. You are all the child­ren of Adam and Adam was made of earth.

“All Muslims are brethren unto one another the Muslim People is one Brotherhood; Guard your-self against committing injustice.

“As regards your slaves, see that you give them to eat what you eat yourself, and clothe them with what you clothe yourself, and order them not to do a thing beyond their power, and if ye do order such a thing ye must yourselves assist them in doing it. Whoso among you beats his slave without fault or slaps him in the face, his atonement for it is freeing him and mind ye that a man who behaves ill to his slave will be shut out from Paradise. Forgive your slaves seventy times a day, for they are the servants of the Lord your God and are not to be unjustly treated.

“This day all blood-vengeance of the Days of Ignorance is forbidden and foremost of all the murder of one of my family, Rabi, son of Harris, is forgiven.

“This day all usury of the Days of Ignorance is cancelled and foremost of all the usury of my family, i.e. the usury of Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib, all of it, is cancelled.

“(Men!) Fear God in respect of women. Ye men! ye have rights; ye women ye have rights. Husbands love your wives and treat them kindly. Verily, ye have taken them on the security of God and have made their persons lawful unto you by the Word of God; Mind ye that the thing most disliked by God is divorce.

“Your life and your property is sacred till the Doomsday just as this day is sacred, this month is sacred, this city is sacred.”

I leave amidst you a thing. If you will grasp it strictly, you will not be led astray. And what is this thing? It is the Book of God.”

He then asked the audience “When you will be asked by God about me, what will you say?”

“We,” replied the assembled multitude, “will say that you had conveyed the message of the Lord and had fulfilled your duty.”

“O Lord! I beseech thee, bear thou witness to it.”

On this occasion the revelation came from the All-Merciful:

“This day I have perfected your religion for you and I completed my favour on you.”[119]

The next day the grand scenes of Arafat were repeated at Mina where the Holy Prophet addressed the Faithful in these words:

“O People! The world has come again on the same point as it was when God created the earth and the heavens (i.e., a new era has dawned)

“Do you know what day it is to-day? This is the YAUM-UN-NAHR or the sacred Day of Sacrifice. Do you know what month is this? This is the sacred month. Do you know what place is this? This is the sacred town. So I apprise you that your lives your properties and your honour must be as sacred to one another as this sacred day, as this sacred month and as this sacred town.

“Beware! You do not return to unbelief after I am gone striking off the necks of one another among you. You are about to meet the Lord who will call you to account for your deeds.

“Listen! The culprit is responsible for his crime. The son is not responsible for the crime of his father, nor the father is responsible for the crime of his son.”

“If a low-born Negro slave be your leader and leads you in accordance with the Book of God then listen to (his commands) and obey him.

“O people! This day Satan has despaired of re-establishing his worship in this land of yours. But should you obey him even in what may seem to you trifling, it will be a matter of pleasure for him. So you must beware of him in the matter of your faith.

“Worship your Creator, perform prayers five times a day, keep fasts for one month and obey my orders, you will enter in the paradise of God.”

He then questioned the people:

“Why, have I conveyed to you the message of the Lord?”

The voice of the Faithful rang throughout the valley; “Yes. By our Lord! Verily thou hast.”

Then the Prophet said “O Lord! Bear thou witness to it”. And addressing the audience commanded!  “Let those present take the message to those absent.”

On the return from pilgrimage when he was entering the city of Medina with his followers the following prayer was on his lips”[120]

“God is the Greatest. There is no Lord but He. None is His partner. The kingdom and the Praise is for Him. He has power over all things. They are coming back (as) repenters (and) obedient (and as) those who prostrate (before God in humility) singing hymns in praise of the Lord. God fulfilled His promise and helped His servant and defeated the hosts of the enemy.”

On the 17th of Safar 11 A.H., he deputed Usama bin Zaid to lead a punitive expedition to Syria against some mischief-mongers who had taken up a threatening attitude.

On the 18th (or 19th) of Safer 11 A.H. he became sick. During the sickness, one Friday he found himself too weak and deputed his beloved companion Abu Bakr to be the Imam (i.e. the leader. of prayers).

On Thursday, the 26th of Safar, he recovered a bit and came to the Mosque where his appearance illumined the faces of the Faithful with joy. After the prayers he addressed his followers thus.[121]

“Muslims if I have wronged any one of you, here I am to answer for it; if I owe aught to any one, all I may happen to possess belongs to him,” One present claimed a debt of three dirhams which Muhammad (May God bless and keep him!) immediately caused to be paid, saying, “I would rather blush in this world then in that which it come.” The address of the Prophet was concluded with the following verse of the Holy Qur’an:

“The dwelling of the other life we will give unto them who do not seek to exalt themselves on earth or to do wrong; for the happy shall attend the pious.”

The sickness began to develop again. A day or two before his demise, when under a swoon, he was heard saying “Curse be on the Jews and the Christians who have made the tombs of their Prophets as things of worship.” On the same occasion when the fit of swoon had abated a bit, he asked Lady Ayesha to distribute among the poor the few coins that were with her.

It was Monday, the 1st Rabi-ul-Awwal 11 A.H. (May, 632 A.C.). The sun had not yet appeared on the horizon. The Mosque of the Prophet in Medina was filled with the Faithful who were offering their prayers to the Almighty. The Holy Prophet had somewhat recovered from the fits of unconsciousness. While lying in his room, which was adjacent to the Mosque and where his holy grave now exists the voice of Abu Bakr, the leader of the prayers, filled him with joy. He got up from his bed and lifted up the curtain of his room. The grand scene created a smile on his holy countenance. His face beamed with his gratitude to the Almighty Allah Who had favoured his mission with that marvellous success. The Muslims thought that he wanted to come out and were about to break the congregation, when he forbade them by a sign and returned to his bed where again he became unconscious.

His strength was now giving way every minute. After intervals his lips would move and the attendants would hear the expressions!

“With those whom God hast favoured”, “O God! The Blessed Companionship on High!”

In the after-noon his voice became extremely weak and those present heard him saying:

“Fear God in the matter of prayers and in the matter of slaves.”[122]

A few moments after he raised his finger and repeated thrice the sentences:

“None but the Blessed Companionship on High!”

With these noble words on his lips the soul of the Glorious Prophet took flight to the Blessed Companionship on High!

Thus ended the earthly sojourn of the Holy Prophet Muhammad the Father of the Modern Universal Renaissance.

May peace and the choicest blessings of Allah be upon him, his descendants, his companions and his true followers — Ameen!

CHAPTER VI

MUHAMMAD’S CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS

IN THE EYES OF HIS OPPONENTS

“On the graces and intellectual gifts of nature to the son of Abdullah (i.e. Muhammad), the Arabian writers dwell with the proudest and the fondest satisfaction. His politeness to the great, his affability to the humble, and his dignified bearing to the presumptuous, procured him respect, admiration and applause. His talents were equally fitted for persuasion or command. Deeply read in the volume of nature, though entirely ignorant of letters, his mind could expand into controversy with the acutest of his enemies, or contract itself to the apprehension of the meanest of his disciples. His simple eloquence, rendered impressive by the expression of a countenance wherein awfulness of a majesty was tempered by an amiable sweetness excited emotion of veneration and love; and he was gifted with the authoritative air of genius which alike influences the learned and commands the illiterate. As a friend and a parent, he exhibited the softest feelings of nature; but while in possession of the kind and generous emotions of the heart, and engaged in the discharge of most of the social and domestic duties, he disgraced not his assumed title of an apostle of God. With all that simplicity which is so natural to a great mind, he performed the humbler offices whose homeliness it would be idle to conceal with pompous diction; even while Lord of Arabia, he mended his own shoes and coarse woolen garments milked the ewes, swept the hearth, and kindled the fire. Dates and water were his usual fare and milk and honey his luxuries. When he travelled he divided his morsel with his servant. The sincerity of his exhortations to benevolence were justified at his death by the exhausted state of his coffers.”[123]

“His constitution” says Lane Poole, “was extremely delicate… he was gifted with mighty powers of imagination, elevation of mind, delicacy and refinement of feeling. ‘He is more modest than virgin behind her curtain’, it was said of him: He was most indulgent to his inferiors and would never allow his awkward little page to be scolded whatever he did. ‘Ten years’, said Anas, his servant, ‘was I about the Prophet and he never said as much as “Uff” to me.’ He was very affectionate towards his family. One of his boys died on his breast in the smoky house of the nurse, a black-smith’s wife, He was very fond of children; he would stop them in the streets and pat their little heads. He never struck any one in his life. The worst expression he ever made use of in conversation was, ‘what has come to him? May his forehead be darkened with mud!’ When asked to curse someone, he replied, I have not been sent to curse but to be a mercy to mankind. He visited the sick, followed any bier he met, accepted the invitation of a slave to dinner, mended his own clothes, milked the goats and waited upon himself, relates summarily another tradition. He never first withdrew his hand out of another man's palm, and turned not before the other had turned.

“He was the most faithful protector of those he protected, the sweetest and most agreeable in conversation. Those who saw him were suddenly filled with reverence; those who came near him loved him; they who described him would say, ‘I have never seen his like either before or after!’ He was of great taciturnity, but when he spoke it was with emphasis and deliberation and no one could forget what he said.

“He lived with his wives in a row of humble cottages separated from one another by palm-branches, cemented together with mud. He would kindle the fire, sweep the floor and milk the goats himself, the little food he had was always shared with those who dropped in to partake of it. Indeed outside the Prophet’s house was a bench or a gallery, on which were always found a number of poor who lived entirely upon his generosity, and were hence called ‘the people of the bench.’ His ordinary food was dates and water, or barley bread; milk and honey were luxuries of which he was fond but which he rarely allowed himself. The fare of the desert seemed most congenial to him even when he was sovereign of Arabia.[124]

Lane Poole observes on another occasion: - “There is something so tender and womanly, and withal so heroic, about the man, that one is in peril of finding the judgment unconsciously blinded by the feeling of reverence and well-nigh love, that such a nature inspires. He who, standing alone; braved for years the hatred of his people, is the same who was never the first to withdraw his hand from another’s clasp; the beloved of children, who never passed a group of little ones without a smile from his wonderful eyes and a kind word for them, sounding all the kinder in that sweet-toned voice. The frank friendship, the noble generosity, the dauntless courage and hope of the man, all tend to melt criticism into admiration.

“He was an enthusiast in that noblest sense when enthusiasm becomes the salt of the earth, the one thing that keeps men from rotting whilst they live. Enthusiasm is often used despitefully, because it is joined to an unworthy cause, or falls upon barren ground and bears no fruit. So was it not with Mohammad. He was an enthusiast when enthusiasm was the one thing needed to set the world aflame, and, his enthusiasm was noble for a noble cause. He was one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of making one great truth their very life-spring. He was the messenger of the one God, and never to his life’s end did he forget who he was or the message which was the marrow of his being. He brought his tidings to his people with a grand dignity sprung from the conscious­ness of his high office together with a most sweet humility, whose roots lay in the knowledge of his own weakness.”

“Our current hypothesis about Mahomet”, declared Thomas Carlyle[125]  “that he was a scheming Imposter, a Falsehood incar­nate, that his religion is a mere mass of quackery and fatuity, begins really to be now untenable to anyone. The lies, which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man, are disgraceful to ourselves only. When Pococke inquired of Grotius where the proof was on that story of the pigeon, trained to pick pease from Mahomet’s ear, and pass for an angel dictating to him? Grotius answered that there was no proof. It is really time to dismiss all that. The word this man spoke has been the life guidance now of a hundred and eighty millions of men these twelve hundred years. These hundred and eighty millions were made by God as well as we. A greater number of God’s creatures believe in Mahomet’s word at this hour than in any other what­ever. Are we to suppose that it was a miserable piece of spiritual leger-deman, this which so many creatures of the Almighty have lived by and died by? I, for my part, cannot form any such supposition. I will believe most things sooner than that. One would be entirely at a loss what to think of this world at all, if quackery so grew and were sanctioned here.

“Alas, such theories are very lamentable. If we would attain to knowledge of anything in God’s true Creation, let us disbelieve them wholly! They are the product of an Age of Scepticism; they indicate the saddest spiritual paralysis and mere death-life of the souls of men; more godless theory, I think, was never promulgated in this Earth. A false man found a religion? Why a false man cannot build a brick house? If he does not know truly the properties of mortar, burnt clay and what else he works in, it is no house that he makes, but a rubbish heap. It will not stand for twelve centuries, to lodge a hundred-and-eighty millions; it will fall straightway. A man must conform himself to Nature’s laws, be verily in communion with Nature and the truth of things, or nature will answer him. No, not at all. Speciosities are specieus—ah me!—a Cagliostro, many Cagliostros, prominent world leaders, do prosper by their quackery, for a day. It is like a forged bank-note; they get it passed out of their worthless hands, others, not they, have to smart for it. Nature bursts up in fire flames. French Revolution and such like, proclaiming with terrible veracity that forged notes are forged.

“But of a Great Man, especially of him, I will venture to assert that it is incredible he should have been, other than true….

“This Mahomet, then, we will in no wise consider as an Inanity and Theatricality, a poor conscious ambitious schemer; we cannot conceive him so. ... The man’s words were not false, nor his workings here below; no Inanity and Simulacrum; a fiery mass of Life cast up from the great bosom of Nature herself. To KINDLE the world, the world’s Maker had ordered it so.”

“Ah no: “ says Carlyle, “this deep-hearted Son of the Wilderness with his beaming black eyes and open social deep soul, had other thoughts than ambition, A silent great man; he was one of those who cannot BUT be in earnest; whom Nature herself has appointed to be sincere. While others walk in formulas and hearsays, contented enough to dwell there, this man could not screen himself in formulas; he was alone with his own soul and the reality of things. The great mystery of Existence, as I said, glared in upon him, with its terrors, with its splendours; no hearsays could hide that unspeakable fact, ‘Here am I’; such SINCERITY as we name it, has in very truth something of divine. The word of such a man is a Voice direct from Nature’s own Heart. Men do and must listen to that as to nothing else; all else is wind in comparison. From of old, a thousand thoughts in his pilgrimings and wanderings, had been in this man; what am I? What is this unfathomable Thing I live in, which men name Universe? What is Life? What is Death? What am I to believe? What am I to do? The grim rocks of Mount Hara, of Mount Sinai, the stern sandy solitudes answered not. The great Heaven rolling silent overhead with its blue-glancing stars, answered not. There was no answer. The man’s own soul, and what of God’s inspiration dwelt there, had to answer.”

“But is Mohammad in no sense a prophet? “So interrogates Dr. Marcus Dods in his book Mohammad, Buddha, and Christ, pp. 17, 18.  “Certainly”, he himself replies, “he had two of the most important characteristics of the prophetic order. He saw truth about God which his fellowmen did not see, and he had an irresistible inward impulse to publish this truth. In respect of this latter qualification, Mohammed may stand in comparison with the most courageous of the heroic prophets of Israel. For the troth’s sake he risked his life, he suffered daily persecution for years, and eventually banishment, the loss of property, of the goodwill of his fellow-citizens, and of the confidence of his friends; he suffered, in short, as much as any man can suffer short of death, which he only escaped by flight, and yet he unflinchingly proclaimed his message. No bribe, threat or inducement, could silence him. ‘Though they array against me the sun on the right hand and the moon on the left, I cannot renounce my purpose.’ And it was this persistency, this belief in his call, to proclaim the unity of God, which was the making of Islam.

“Other men have been monotheists in the midst of idolaters, but no other man has founded a strong and enduring monotheistic religion. The distinction in his case was his resolution that other men should believe. If we ask what it was that made Mohammed proselytizing where other men had been content to cherish a solitary faith, we must answer that it was nothing else than the depth and force of his own conviction of the truth. To himself the difference between one God and many, between the unseen Creator and these ugly lumps of stone or wood, was simply infinite.

The one creed was death and darkness to him, the other life and light.... Who can doubt the earnestness of that search after truth and the living God, that drove the affluent merchant from his comfortable home and his fond wife, to make his abode for months at a time in dismal cave of Mount Hira? If we respect the shrinking of Isaiah or Jeremiah from the heavy task of proclaiming unwelcome truth, we must also respect the keen sensi­tiveness of Mohommed, who was so burdened by this same responsi­bility...”

“Head of the State as well as of the Church”, remarks Bosworth Smith,[126] “he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope’s pretensions, Caesar without the legions of Caesar. Without a standing army, without a body-guard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue, if every any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammad, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports. He rose superior to the titles and ceremonies, the solemn trifling, and the proud humility of court etiquette. To hereditary king, to princes born in the purple, these things are naturally enough as the breath of life; but those who ought to have known better, even self-made rulers, and those the foremost in the files of time—a Caesar, a Cromwell, a Napolean have been unable to resist their tinsel attractions. Mohammad was content with the reality; he cared not for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life, “God “says Al-Bokhari, “offered him the keys of the treasures of the earth, but he would not accept them.”

“On the whole the wonder is to me not how much, but how little, under different circumstances, Mohammad differed from himself. In the shepherd of the desert, in the Syrian trader, in the solitary of Mount Hira, in the reformer in the minority of one, in the exile of Medina, in the acknowledged conqueror, in the equal of the Persian Chosroes and the Greek Heraclius, we can still trace a substantial unity. I doubt whether any other man whose external conditions changes do much, ever him­self changed less to meet them: the accidents are changed, the essence seems to me be the same in all.”

“By a fortune absolutely unique in history, Mohammad is a threefold founder-—of a nation, of an empire and of a religion. Illiterate himself, scarely able to read or write, he was yet the author of a book which is a poem, a code of laws, a Book of Com­mon Prayer and a Bible in one, and is reverenced to this day by a sixth of the whole human race, as a miracle of purity of style, of wisdom and of truth. It was the one miracle claimed by Mohammad—his standing miracle he called it; and a miracle indeed it is. But looking at the circumstances of the time, at the unbounded reverence of his followers, and comparing him with the Fathers of the Church or with mediaeval saints, to my mind, the most miraculous thing about Mohammad is, that he never claimed the power of working miracles.[127]

Whatever he had said he could do, his disciples would straightway have seen him do. They could not help attributing to him miraculous acts which he never did and which he always denied he could do. What more crowning proof of his sincerity is needed? Mohammad to the end of his life claimed for himself that title only with which he had begun, and which the highest philo­sophy and the truest Christianity will one day, I venture to believe, agree in yielding to him, that of a Prophet, a very Prophet of God.”

“First of all”, says Rev. Stephens,[128] “it must be freely granted that to his own people Mahomet was a great benefactor. He was born in a country where political organization and rational faith and pure morals were unknown. He introduced all the three. By a single stroke of masterly genius he simultaneously reformed the political condition, the religious creed, and the moral practice of his countrymen. In the place of many independent tribes he left a nation; for a superstitious belief in gods many and lords many he established a reasonable belief in one Almighty yet beneficent Being; taught men to live under an abiding sense of this Being’s superintending care, to look to Him as the rewarder, and to fear Him as the punisher of evil doers. He vigorously attacked, and modified and suppressed many gross and revolting customs which had prevailed in Arabia down to his time. For an abandoned profligacy was substituted a carefully regulated polygamy, and the practice of destroying female infants was effectually abolished.”

“No holy water, no relic, no image, no picture, no saint, no mother of God, disgrace his religion. No such doctrines as the efficacy of faith without works, or that of a death-bed repentance, plenary indulgences, absolution, or auricular confession, operate first to corrupt, them to deliver up his followers into the power of a priesthood, which would of course be always more corrupt and more degraded than themselves. No, indeed! The adoration of one God, without mother, or mystery, or pretended miracle, and the acknowledgement that he, a mere man, was sent to preach the duty of offering adoration to the Creator alone, constituted the simple doctrinal part of the religion of the Unitarian of Arabia.”[129]

A Christian writer remarked in the Asiatic Quarterly Review, October 1888:

“On the other hand, to those who are prepared to shake off superstitions, Mohammadanism offers a very rational religion. The reign of uniform law in the natural world is expressed in the unity of God…. one over-ruling Providence. The high character attributes of the great God are recognized by the total abolition of all the forms of worship which presume deity of human tastes and passions not only images and paintings, but music and ecclesiasticism of all kinds go by the board. There is nothing but a simple rational worship, in or out of simple edifices. Decency and sobriety of life are inculcated, drink is prohibited, the equality of man is preached in an attractive form, good conduct in this world is rewarded by an intelligible paradise in the next. Such a religion commands itself very readily to people in want of a faith.[130]

“Mohammadanism came upon the world as a kind of reformed Christianity — a protest against the corruption of Christianity — a purer faith founded on the old models, a return to the old standards..... But it had all the reasonableness in contrast to the gross superstitions of the age which has already been attributed to is, and brought out, as it were, by a very enterprising and enthusiastic people, it is to be hardly wondered that it had a great success…. When the Muhammadans annexed the civilized countries of Graeco-Roman Empire, they also inherited the civilization and learning of that Empire. Hence it was that they gave to the world not only a better religion, but laws, science, and literature, when our ancestors were still quite barbarous. Thus everything facilitated their constant progress for upwards of a thousand years after the institution of the Mohammedan religion, and they still progress in less civilized regions of the earth.”

“It is very difficult to say exactly what the Mohammedan religion is .... Certainly, it seems to be very effective in render­ing men’s lives and manners outwardly decent and respectable. It has this very great advantage, that having no difficult creed, exacting no beliefs prima facie repulsive to reason and common sense, there is among Mohammedans very little tendency towards infidelity….

“Probably it is to the prohibition of the use of alcohol that the outward decency of Mohammedans, as compared to Christians, is due. It is drink that debases and degrades so large a part of our lower Christian populations. We not only have no prohi­bition of drink, but we in some sort sanctify it by its use in our so-called sacraments. That use of wine as representing the blood of Christ (to which we attribute such extraordinary virtue) is not only a very low form of superstition, but greatly increases the difficulty of dealing with the liquor question.

“It cannot be said that there are not many bad Mohammedans given to many vices, especially among semi-converted races of a rude character; but, take them all in all, the population of civilized Mohammedan countries have a comparatively decorous mien and manner. Their faults are those principally of the ages in which Mohammedanism was matured, while our virtues are rather those of our age than of our religion.”

The following remarks of Canon Isaac Taylor at the Church Congress at Wolverhampton delivered on the 7th October, 1887 and reported in, among other papers, The Times of the 8th October, 1887 are well worth a serious consideration :-

“Rev. Canon Isaac Taylor said that over a large portion of the world Islamism as a missionary religion is more successful than Christianity. (Sensation). Not only are the Moslem converts from paganism more numerous than the Christian converts, but Christianity in some regions is actually receding before Islam, while attempts to proselytize Mohammad nations are notoriously unsuccessful. We not only do not gain ground, but even fail to hold our own. The faith of Islam extends from Morocco to Java, from Zanzibar to China, and is spreading across Africa with giant strides. It has acquired a footing on the Congo and Zamesi, while Uganda, the most powerful of the negro states, has just become Mohammedan. In India, Western civilization which is sapping Hinduism, only prepares the way for Islam. Of the 255 millions in India,[131] 50 millions are already Moslems, and of the whole population of Africa more than half. It is not the first propagation of Islam that has to be explained, but it is the permanency with which it retains its hold upon its converts.

“Christianity is less tenacious in its grasp. While in India and Africa it is receding before Islam, and in Jamaica the negroes , nominally Christian, are lapsing into oboeism, it may be affirmed that an African tribe, once converted to Islam, never reverts to paganism and never embraces Christianity….

“Islam has done more for civilization than Christianity. I confess I am somewhat suspicious of the accounts of missionaries; but take the statements of English official, or of lay travellers, such as Burton, Pope Hennessy, Calton, Palgrave, Thompson, or Reade, as to the practical results of Islam. When Mohammadinsm is embraced by a Negro tribe, paganism, devil-worship, fetishism, cannibalism, human sacrifice, infanticide, witchcraft, at once, disappear. The native begin to dress, filth is replaced by cleanliness, and they acquire personal
dignity and self-respect. Hospitality becomes a religious duty, drunkenness becomes rare, gambling is forbidden, immodest
dances and promiscuous intercourse of the sexes cease, female chastity is regarded as a virtue, industry replaces idleness, license gives place to law, order and sobriety prevail, blood feuds, cruelty to animals and to slaves are forbidden.”

“A feeling of humanity, benevolence and brotherhood is inculcated. Polygamy and slavery are regulated and their evils are restrained. Islam above all, is the most powerful total abstinence association is the world, whereas the exten­sion of European trade means the extension of drunkenness and vice, and the degradation, of the people; while Islam introduces a civilization of no low order, including a knowledge of reading and writing, decent clothing personal-cleanliness, veracity and Self-respect. Its retraining and civilizing effects are marvellous. How little have we to show for the vast sums of money and all the precious lives lavished upon Africa; Christian converts are reckoned by thousands, Moslems converts by millions these are the stern facts we have to face. They are extremely unpleasant facts; it is folly to ignore them. Islam was a replica of the faith of Abraham and Moses, with Christian elements. Judaism was exclusive. Islam is cosmopolitan ... not like Judaism, confined to one but extended to the whole world ... there is nothing in the teaching of Mohammad antagonistic to Christianity. It is midway between Judaism and Christianity. This reformed Judaism swept so swiftly over Africa and Asia because the African and Syrian doctors had substituted metaphysi­cal dogmas for the religion of Christ. They tried to combat licentious-ness by celibacy and virginity. Seclusion from the world was the road to holiness, and dirt was the characte­ristic of monkish sanctity, the people were practically polytheistis worshipping a crowd of martyrs, saints and angels. Islam swept away this mass of corruption and superstition. It was a revolt against empty theological polemics; it was a masculine protest against the exaltation of celibacy as a crown of piety. It brought out the fundamental dogma of religion—the unity and greatness of God, It replaced monkfishnes by manliness. It gave hope to the slave, brotherhood to mankind, and recognition to the fundamental facts of human nature —. The virtues which Islam inculcates are what the lower races can be brought to understand—temperance, cleanli­ness, chastity, justice fortitude, courage, benevolence, hospitality, veracity and resignation. They can be taught to cultivate the four cardinal virtues, and to abjure the seven deadly sins. The Christian ideal of the brother-hood of man is the highest but Islam preaches a practical brother­hood—the social equality of all Moslems, this is the great bribe which Islam offers. The convert is admitted at once to an exclusive social caste, he becomes a member of a vast fraternity of 150,000,000[132]. A Christian convert is not regarded as a social equal, but the Moslem brotherhood is a reality. We have over which ‘dearly beloved brethren’ in the reading desk, but very little in daily life ......

 “Let us remember that in some respects Moslem morality is better than our own. In resignation to God’s will, in temperance, charity, veracity, and in the brotherhood of the believers, they set us a pattern we should do well to follow. Islam has abolished drunkenness, gambling, and prostitution— the three curses of Christian lands.”

In connection with the above remarks of Canon Taylor the following observation[133] of Mr. Joseph Thompson, the well-known African traveller, which were published in the Times of 14th November, 1887 in reply to the hostile criticism of Canon Taylor’s speech, will be read with interest by all candid readers:-

“From experience I know how dangerous it is to recognize any good in any living religion outside the orthodox pale and its immediate vicinity, or to offer any criticism on the method adopted by church agencies to propagate their creeds. The critic’s motives are sure to be misrepresented and held up to opprobrium, while his facts will probably be ignored. He soon discovers that the Church or its missionary agencies love not the light, or at least only such as passes through authorized loopholes of specially-supplied coloured glasses. As an observer of somewhat varied experience in Eastern Central and Western Africa, where I have seen Christianity and Mohammadanism in contact with the negro. I would claim to be heard. It has been argued by some of your correspondents that in Eastern Africa and the Nile Basin you see Islam in its true colors in congenial association with the slave trade and all forms of degradation and violence. A more baseless statement could not be conceived. I unhesitatingly affirm—and I speak from a wider experience of Eastern Central Africa than any of your correspondents possess—that if the slave trade thrives it is because Islam has not been introduced to these regions and for the strongest of all reasons, that the spread of Mohammadanism would have meant the concomitant suppression of the slave trade.

“…. while I unhesitatingly affirm that the­ slave trade flourishes in Eastern Central Africa because Islam is not there, I as confidently assert that this so much reviled religion has done one great service there. It has prevented the spread of the liquor traffic. In Zanzibar itself the Sultan has been impotent to arrest the traffic, because Christian nations objected to any restrictions of ‘trade’.

Happily, on the mainland he has hitherto been allowed, a freer hand in enforcing the rules of his religion, and so done an enormous service in preventing the demoralization of the easily seduced blacks.

How long this will last now that Germany’s ‘pioneers of civilization are descending upon the land remains to be seen. Turning now to the Western Africa and the Central Soudan— which also I have had the opportunity of visiting—we find a far different state of things prevailing. Here we have Islam as a living, active force, full of fire and energy of its early days, proselytizing too with much of the marvellous success which characterised its early days. Here we have it preached in the streets of Sierra Leone and among the debased cannibal tribes of the Niger basin. With the disingenuousness which makes them attempt to fasten the evils of the slave trade upon Islam, the defenders of the Christian faith seek with might and main to minimize and distort the fact about the success of Islam in Eastern Central Africa. Unable to recognise any good except when it comes through orthodox channels, they seek to describe its advance as a terrible calamity and unmixed evil to the African.[134] They declare—as they have been taught from their childhood—that Mohammadanism can only be propagated by means of fire and sword.[135]

They delight to draw pictures of the poor terror-stricken negro on his knees, his hut in flames behind him, his wives and children with halters round their necks being dragged off by ferocious men to make slaves of, while a demon like Musalman stands over him with drawn sword, giving him the alternative of death or the Koran.’ That is the stereotyped notion how Mohammadanism is propagated—an idea I suppose, handed down from previous generations. Happily I have had an opportunity of seeing for myself and seeing differently. The greatest triumph of Islam in Central and Western Soudan has been peaceful and unassuming agencies—the erratic Fellani herdsman in the past, and energetic Hausa or Nupe trader in the present. From somewhere about the 12th Century the herdsman has been engaged spreading his religion from Lakes Chad to the Atlantic, with, the result that the entire regions become honey-combed with little Mohammadan Coteries by the end of the last century. They but wanted a leader to throw off the yoke of paganism and proclaim the Unity of God. With the beginning of the century came the leader in the person of Fodiyo, and in a surprisingly short time  Mohammadanism was established as the reigning religion over a huge extent of country, giving an impetus to the barbarous tribes which has produced the most astounding results. In these later years the chief agent in the spread of Islam has been, as I have already remarked, the Hausa or Nupe trader. Protected by the sanctity of his business the negro merchant penetrates into every tribe within hundreds of miles of his own home. He mixes with the barbarous pagan as one of like blood with himself, he sleeps in the same house and eats the same food. Everywhere he carries his reli­gion with its great central features unobscured by unthinkable and transcendental dogmas. He has just so much of doctrine as his pagan brother can understand and assimilate. The trader remains a month or it may be six months a year. During that time he is admired, for his fine clothes, and the people around begin to ape him. They see nothing which they may not hope to aspire to; there is nothing in his religion they do not understand. In this manner have the seeds of civilization and Islam been scattered broadcast among numerous savage tribes till the land resounds with the inspiring din of a hundred industries, and morning, noon and evening rises the watchword of Islam, and knees which were formerly bent to stocks and stones now bend before the one God, and lips which have quivered with enjoyment over the flesh of a brother man are employed to acknowledge His greatness and compassionateness.”

“These Arabs the man Mahomet and that one century.” observes Carlyle, “is it not as if a spark had fallen, one spark, on a world of what seemed black unnoticeable sand; but lo, the sand proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high from Delhi to Granada! I said, the Great Man was always as lightning out of heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, end then they too would flame.”

 “The Emperor (Napoleon Bonaparte) averting to the truth, of history, expressed his disbelief of all that was attributed to Mahomet ... (Speaking; of the rise of the Arab nation after accepting Islam, Napoleon observed) ‘Still it remains to be explained how the mighty event which we are certain did take place, namely the conquest of the world, could have been effected in the short space of fifty or sixty years. By whom was it brought about? By the hordes of the desert, who, as we are informed, were few in number, ignorant, un-warlike, undisciplined, and destitute of system? And yet they opposed the civilized world, abounding in resources. Fanaticism could not have accomplished this miracle for fanaticism must have time to establish her dominion and the career of Mahomet lasted only thirteen years.”[136]

“The fruits of Christianity,” says a modern writer “have been far from edifying. The dissensions in the Church, the Crusades, the Holy Inquisition, the Reformation, the conquest of Mexico and Peru, and even the present day intole­rance of the Roman Catholic Church, are none of them matters of which Christian nations have reasons to be proud. Material progress counts for little if there is not a concomitant in spiritual matters. And we so easily forget the magnificent result of Arabic civilization at a time when the western world was plunged in darkness, when Arabic Science, poetry, philosophy architecture and literature held up the torch of progress and stood on a level entirely unique at the time. If that was the fruit of an evil and immoral life on the part of him who was the initiator of such wonderful progress and enlightment, by all means, let us have more of such immorality.[137]

WHAT ISLAM IS?

Some quotations from the writings of great men of the present era.

ISLAM—A LIFE TO BE LIVED

“The Islamic belief in God is not a mere article of faith—a solitary item in a shadowy creed. It is deep rooted and firm. It has been said frequently that Islam possesses the shortest creed of all the religions of the world and though this may be the case, so firmly fixed is the Muslim’s belief in the Supreme Being that he regards with abhorrence and as blasphemy any attempt to divide in any way the Unity of God.

Islam is no mere creed; it is a life to be lived. In this Qur’an may be found directions for what are sometimes termed the minor details of daily life, but which are not minor when it is considered that life has to be lived for God. The Muslim lives for God alone. God is the centre of all satisfaction, all hope, all life. The aim of the Muslim is to become God bound, and to endeavor to advance the knowledge of God in all his undertakings. From the cradle to the grave the true Muslim lives for God and God alone.”

Dudley Wright

 

ISLAM AND PROGRESS

“Islam is the youngest of all the great revealed religions of mankind. It is also the most modern of them, that is to say, the most advanced and progressive. The question then arises: Is there such a thing as progress? The question has been discussed endlessly. Wilhelm Dilthey, who probably thought most deeply over this problem, comes to the conclusion that, at least, progress of human intelligence and knowledge is a well-established fact. Before him Hegel visualized the history of the world as one process of a steadily advancing consciousness. All progress is, therefore, in the first place rational—a progress of intellect. And it is this rational characherstic which distinguishes Islam, of all the religions is by far the most rational; for it demands nothing of you which cannot be brought to agree with the human intellect; nay, it says clearly that all its teachings are necessarily derived from intellect.”

Dr. Hugo Hamid Macus,

  Ph.D. of Berlin

BERNARD SHAW ON ISLAM

“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capability to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. The world must doubtless attach high value to the predictions of great men like me. I have prophecied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to Europe of to-day. The medieval ecclesiastics, either through ignorance or bigotry, painted Muhammednism in the darkest colours. They were in fact trained both to hate the man Muhammad and his religion. To them Muhammad was Anti-Christ. I have studied him –the wonderful man, and in my opinion far from being an Anti-Christ, he must be called the Saviour 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. But to proceed, it was in the 19^th century that honest thinkers like Carlyle, Goethe and Gibbon perceived intrinsic worth in the religion of Muhammad, and thus their was some change for the better in the Europeon attitude towards Islam. But the Europe of the present century is far advanced. It is beginning to be enamoured of the creed of Muhammad.”

Bernard Shaw

INTRODUCING THE AUTHOR

Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman Ansari (1914-1974), whose thesis on Islam and Christianity has been presented in this book was a scholar, author, journalist and missionary of international repute. His scholarship bears the stamp of versatility with Theology, Philosophy and Comparative Religion forming his central interest. His authorship has already contributed more than a dozen books, all imbued with sincerity of purpose, depth of insight, logical acumen and wide knowledge. His journalistic talent has enriched the cause of Islam inside the Pak-Bharat sub-continent as well as outside. His missionary endeavours served far-flung human populations in Asia, Africa, Europe and Americas.

A pupil of Professor S. Z. Hasan, Dr. Phil. (ErL), D. Phil. (Oxon.) in Philosophy, of His Eminence Saiyyid Sulaiman Ashraf in Theology and of His Eminence Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqui Al-Qaderi in Spiritual Discipline and Missionary Work; he acquired his early education at different institutions, commencing with the memorisation of the Holy Qur’an, settling down finally at the famous Aligarh Muslim University (India) for higher education— both western and Islamic. There he won the highest laurels in the B.A., B.Th. and M.A. (Philosophy) exami­nations, wrote his Ph. D. thesis on Moral Philosophy under Prof. S. Z. Hasan, and was hailed officially as “a new refulgent star on the firmament of Islamic Learning”, “a scholar of exceptional talent and ability”, “head and shoulders above others”'—indeed, as “the best product of the Aligarh Muslim University” in view of his many-sided genius.

As an Islamic theologian, he possessed the rare distinc­tion of combining Islamic theological scholarship with higher education in Modern Thought. As a scholar of Philosophy, he represents eastern as well as western dis­ciplines. As a professor of religion, his learned discourses on Islamic Metaphysics, Islamic Moral Philosophy, Islamic Political Theory, Islamic Economics and Comparative Religion have benefitted thousands of young scholars at the University of Karachi and some of its allied Colleges since 1954. As a missionary his love for humanity carried him to distant lands. In 1949-1950, 1957, 1960 and 1964 he travelled round the world four times on Islamic missionary errand.

---

[1] Dr. Gustave Weil.

[2]  Mohammadanism p.4.

[3]  H. Relandi de religione Mohammedica libri due, Utretcht, 1704, (2nd Edn. 1717)

[4] Mohammad and Mohammadanism; pages 65 to 72, 3rd Edition London, 1889.

[5] B. II. 1. ‘Terram idolis deditam.’

[6] Marco Polo, II, 196, 200, 266, ‘Colonel Yule, in his gorgeous and exhaustive edition of the Venetian tra­veller quotes, in illustration of the misconception, from Baudouin de Sebourg, where a Christian lady who is renouncing her faith before Saladin is made to say: 'Mahom voel aourer, apportez le moi cha’. I wish to worship Mahommed; bring him to me here, Whereupon Saladin commanded.

‘Qu’ on aportast Mahom; et cell l ’acura.’

He also remarks that even Don Quixote, who ought to have known better, celebrates the feat of Ranaldo, who carried off, in spite of forty Moors, a golden image of Mahommed! In keeping with Marco Polo’s calling Musalmans ‘Worshippers of Mahommet’ are his other remarks on the subject (1, 70, 74, &c): Marvel not that the Saracens hate the Christians; for the accursed law that Mahomet gave them commands them to do all the mischief in their power to all other descriptions of people, and especially to Christians. See then what an evil law and what naughty commandments they have! But in such fashion the Saracens act throughout the world. Perhaps the best commentary on this is, that Marco Polo himself passed unguarded through almost all Musalman countries and came out unharmed in person and in property.

[7] Renan, ‘Etudes d’ Histoire Religieuse,’ p. 2233, note.

[8] Mammetry, a contraction of Mahometry, used in early English for any false religion, especially for a worship of idols, in so much that Mammet or Mawmet came to mean an idol. In Shakespeare the name is extended to a doll: Juliet, for instance, is called by her father ‘a whining mammet’. See Trench ‘On Words, p.112 Paynim-Pagan or Heathen. Termagant, a term applied now only to a brawling woman, was originally one of the names given to the supposed idol of the Mohammedans. Miscreant, ori­ginally ‘a man who believes otherwise’, acquired its moral significance from the hatred of the Saracens which accompanied the Crusades. The story of Blue Beard, the associations connected with the name ‘Mahound’, and the dislike of European chivalry in Mediaeval times for the Mare—the favourite animal of the Arabs—are other indi­cations of the same thing.

[9]  Renan, loc, cit.

[10] Renan, p. 224. According to Bayle (Dictionary, Art ‘Mohammed’.)
 Bonvenuti of Imola started this idea.

[11]  See “Quarterly Review”, Art. Islam, by Deutsch.No. 254, p. 296, Cf.

   Shakespeare’s view of him.

‘The prince of darkness is a gentleman:

Modo he’s call’d, and Mahu’; i.e. Mahound. and five fiends have been in poor Tom at once: of lust, as Obidicut; Hobbididance, prince of dumbness: Mahu, of stealing; Modo, of murder,— King Lear Act.III, Scene IV. Scene I.

As a sample of the controversial works of the theologians of the Reformed Church on this subject, take the follow­ing modest title-page of a ponderous work written in 1666:— ‘Anti-christus Mahometes: ubi non solum per Sanctam Scripturam, ac Reformaterum testimonia, verum etiam per omnes alois probandi modos et genera, plene, fuse, invicte solideque demonstrature MAHOMETEM esse unum illum verum, magnum, de quo in Sacris fit mentio, ANTI-CHRISTUM.’

[12] A similar story is told of the great Shamil; only in this case it is Mohammed himself who takes the form of a dove, and imparts his commands to the Hero.

[13] One of them has even pretended to find in the Byzantine Maomeths the number of the Beast (Rev. xii) thus;

M                            40
A                             1
O                             70
M                            40
E                             5
T                             300
H                             10
S                              200

   Number of the Beast                                    666

[14] The first edition of the Koran, that of Alexander Paganini, of Brixan, appears to have been published at Venice, about the year 1599 according to some, but about 1515 or 1530, according to others. It was burnt by order of the Pope.-Davenport, Apology, part II, chap. 1(Ed.)

[15] Dr. G.P. Badger, in the “Contemporary Review” for June 1875; Art.

  Mohammed and Mohammedanism.

[16] Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmizi, Ibn-i-Hanbal, Abu Daud.

[17] Mishkat.

[18] Tirmizi

[19] Sermon II .

[20] Prof. J.J. Lane.

[21] J. Davenport.

[22] Bosworth Smith.

[23] Mohammad and Mohammadanism.p. 81 and 82.

[24] Quoted by: Prof. Nicholson in his Literary History of the Arabs; p. 136,

[25] Bosworth Smith. Op cit

[26]  Ernest Erie Power: What does Muhammad say about Jesus?

[27]  An Apology for Mohammad; and the Koran. p.2-4.

[28]  In fact, the corruption of the teachers of Christianity had alienated the popular mind:  “Their lies, their legends, their saints and their miracles, but above all, the abandoned behaviour, of their priesthood, had brought the churches in Arabia very low. “ (Burce’s ‘Travels’, Vol. 1. p. 501)

[29]^.2. Hazrat Shibli Nomani has discussed both these points in detail in the light of Western Criticism and has established these facts irrefutably in his monumental work, the Seerut-un-Nabi, published by Dar-ul-Musannifeen, Azamgarh, India.

[30]

[31]    T .Sirah by Ibn- i-Hisham.

[32] Quarterly Review, No.954-p315

[33] Tabaqat, Vol. 1: p. 82.

[34] Davenport: p. 10.

[35] Ibn-i-Hisham, Tabaqat, Zarqani, Tabari.

[36] Ainee, The commentary on Bukhari.

[37] Muhammad, Buddha, and Christ, pp. 17,18.

[38] Dr. Lane Poole.

[39] Bukhari p. 700.

[40]  Compare with it the confession of Jesus: “A Prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.”(Matt: XIII: 57).

[41]The Rt. Hon’ble Syyed Amir Ali: The Spirit of Islam.

[42]Godfrey Higgins: An Apology for Mohammad, pp. 143, 144

[43]Isabah.

[44]Ibn-i-Hisham.

[45]Holy Quran; Chap. XII

[46]Ibn-i-Hisham; p.p. 185, 186.

[47]Ibn-i-Hisham; ,Tabari.

[48]Tabari, Ibn-i-Hisham.

[49]Tabari, Ibn-i-Hisham.

[50]Tabari, Ibn-i-Hisham.

[51] Life of Mahomet, Vol. II p.228.

[52]Ibn-i-Hisham

[53]An Apology for Mohammad, p. 36,37

[54] Al-Qur’an, IX: 40

[55] Bukhari, Chapter on Manaqib-ul-Muhajirin.

[56]Life of Mohammad, p.p. 161, 162, Weir’s Edn.

[57]Mohammad and Mohammadanism, p.p. 106, 107.

[58]Abu Daud; Bukhari.

[59]Al-Qur’an, VIII: 72.

[60] Ibn-i-Hisham

[61] An Apology for Mohammad and the Koran: PP. 31,32.

[62] Nay, of the world at large

[63] Tabari; p.1275.

[64] Wheaton, Elements of Internatioanl Law; p.419.

[65] Tabaqat; p.1275.

[66] Muslim; Bukhari.

[67] S, vol. II, p.16.

[68]Al-Quran, VIII: 67

[69]Tabari

[70]Musnad-Ibn-Hanbal.

[71] Muslim.

[72] Ibn-i-Hisham, p.84

[73] Muslim.

[74] Tabaqat.

[75] Tabaqat.

[76] Bukhari.

[77] Tabari -, Ibn-i-Hisham

[78] Al-Qur’an XXXIII:9

[79] Sunan-i-Abu Daud

[80]  In their haughtingness they would say to Muhammad: “We are not like the Quraish. When some affair (war) take place between you and us, we will show you what war means.” (Author)

[81] “Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities, and how they say of those (idolators) who disbelieve: These are more rightly guided than those who believe.”Al-Quran: IV: 51) (Author).

[82]Although the Jews left no stone unturned in insulting the Muslims, the Qur’an ordered its followers to be patient and not to take revenge on this ground;

 “And ye will bear much wrong from these who were given the Scripture before you, and from the idolaters. But if ye presevere and ward off (evil), then that is of the steadfast heart cf things” (Al-Qur’an. III: 186). (Author)

[83] See footnote A, B, C.

 

[84]The tribes sent into exile are known in the history of Islam by the name of Banu Nadir.

A,[85] B, C — Prof. Shibli Nomani has, in his critical work the Seerat-un-Nabi (p.402), enumerated the following facts which throw a light on the relation, of this Clan with the Holy Prophet:-

1.       After coming to Medina the Holy Prophet made a treaty with them by which full religious liberty and protection of life and property was granted to them.

2.       Banu Kuraizah (i.e., the tribe in question) were inferior to Banu Nadir so much so that if a Nadirite would kill some Kuraizite he had to pay only half blood-money; on the contrary the Kuraizite had to pay full blood-money. The Holy Prophet made Banu Kuraizah equal in rank to Banu Nadir.

3.       The Holy Prophet had renewed the treaty with the Banu Kuraizah after the sentence of exile on Banu Nadir.

4.       In spite of all kind acts of the Holy Prophet, the Kuraizites broke the covenant and participated in the battle of Ditch against him.

5.       On the occasion of the battle of Ditch the wives of the Holy Prophet were kept in a fort. The Kuraizites made an attempt to invade the fort.

6.       Hui Bin Akhtab who had been sent into exile on account of his revolt and who had instigated all the Arab tribes to participate in the battle of Ditch was brought back to Medina by the Kuraizites.

Under these circumstances the Holy Prophet would have been justified even if he would have punished the Kuraizites most severely after they had committed the double crime of breaking the covenant and of conspiring against the state. But the actions of the Holy Prophet were always tempered with mercy. When the Kuraizites surrendered they entreated him to allow them to appoint an arbiter by themselves so that their case may be judged dispassionately. The request was at once granted and they appointed Saad bin Maaz who was their ally. He passed the judgment according to the law of the Jews as expressed in Deuteronomy XX:13,14

And when the Lord, thy God, hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of thy sword. But the women and the little ones and the cattle and all that is in the city, even all the spoils thereof shalt thou take in to thyself and thou shalt eat the spoils of thy enemies which the Lord thy God has given thee.”

Professor D.S. Margoliouth has asserted that Saad had been wounded by a Kuraizite and it was due to this that he passed such a severe judgment. But the assertion of the learned Professor is a blasphemy since Saad was wounded by a Quraishite and not by a Kuraizite. (See Bukhari & Muslim).

The Jews admitted that the judgment of Saad was according to their own law (See ibn-i-Hisham; Tabari). But the merciful Prophet applied the judgment only to those who were guilty. According to the books of Traditions the number of persons executed was scarcely 200. “One woman alone was put to death; it was she who threw the mill-stone from the battlements” (Muir, The Life of Mahomet, vol. II; p. 277)

The rest—men, women and children—were released wither through ransom or through Muhammad’s generosity. None was sold into slavery.

[86] Ibn-i-Hisham.

[87] XLVIII:18

[88] Muslim.

[89] Holy Qur’an XLVIII: 1.

[90] Tabari.

[91] Ibn-i-Hisham.

[92] Bukhari.

[93] Bukhari.

[94] Cassell’s History of the Russo Turkish war: by Edmund Oliver, Vol.I, pp. 176-177.

[95] Tabaqat

[96] Khamees

[97] Abu Daud

[98] Tabari

[99] See Sirat-uh-Nabi by Prof. Shibli.

[100] The Life of Mohammad: Sir William Muir , p. 388.

[101] Tabari.

[102] Zarqani

[103] Deuteronomy xxxiii.

[104] Bukhari.

[105] XVII: 81.

[106] XLIX. 13

[107] XXIII: 96

[108] II: 256

[109] Zarqani

[110] Bukhari

[111] Khamees

[112] Ibn-i-Saad.

[113] An Apology for Mohammad and the Koran: Davenport: PP. 47,48.

[114] Muwahib Ludniyah.

[115] Bukhari.

[116] Speeches and Table-Talk of Muhammad: Intr.XLVII-XLVIII.

[117] Spirit of Islam: Syyed Amir Ali.

[118] Al-Qur’an CX.

[119] Al-Quran

[120] Bukhari.

[121] Bukhari, Muslim.

[122] Sunan-Ibn-i-Maja.

[123] John Davenport: An Apology for Mohammad; and the Koran; p.52-53.

[124]Speeches and Table-talk of the Prophet Muhammad: Introduction— XXVIII--- XXX.

[125] On Heroes, Hero-worship, and the Heroic in History, Lecture II.

[126] Mohammed and Mohammedanism.

[127] Muhammad did perform miracles, but he never did so to further the cause at his mission. He however never taught or regarded miracles as the proof of Divine Messengers-ship. Maulana Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall the greatest Western authority on Islam, observes:

“All that the Qur’an really declares is that miracles were not at his command. They belonged to Allah and would come for him only when Allah willed. Muhammad could not perform them on demand as the sooth-sayers and conjurers did, or as some of the Prophets before him were empowered to do. Eminent Orientalists often accept from one another statements of which any Muslim learned in religion could easily point out the fallacy.” Islamic Culture, April, 1933, page 338 (Edited from Hyderabad Deccan by M. Pickthall.).

[128] Christianity and Islam: the Bible and the Koran; page 94.

[129] G. Higgins: An Apology for Mohammad.

[130] In this world as well as in the next.

[131] Then the Muslim Population in India was 80 millions.

[132] The present population of Muslims in the world is at least 400 millions.

[133] I have quoted from “The Faith of Islam” by the late W.H. Quilliam, president of the Muslim Institute, Liverpool, and Shaikhi-ul-Islam of the British Isles.

[134] If those Christians who are so unmeasured in their denunciation of Mohammadanism could travel as I have travelled through those countries in the interior of West Africa, and witness, as I have witnessed, the vast contrast between the pagan, and Mohammadan communities, the habitual listlessness  and continued deterioration of the one, and activity, and growth-physical and mental of the other; the capricious and unsettled administration of law or rather absence of law, in the one and the tendency to order and the regularity in the other; the increasing prevalence of ardent spirit in the one and the rigid sobriety and conservative abstemiousness of the other—they would, cease to regard Mussalman System as an unmitigated evil in the interior of Africa— Rev. Edward Blyden; quoted in B. Smith’s Mohammad and Mohammadanism, page 43.

[135]  “History makes it clear, however, that the legends of fanatical Moslems sweeping through the world, and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon the conquered races, is one of the  fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated, Rev. D Lacy O’ Leary D.D. in his book  “Islam at the Cross Roads.”

[136]  Las Cases’ Journal, Vol. II, Part III, (p. 81)

[137] Ernest Earle Power: What does Muhammad say about Jesus?