The Prophet (Pbuh)

The Prophet (Pbuh)

Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) was born in 570 A.D. in the city of Mecca, an important

trading center in western Arabia. Muhammad was a descendant of Prophet Ismael, son

of Abraham, through the lineage of his second son Kedar. Muhammad's father, Abd

Allah, died before he was born. His mother, Amina, died when he was 6 years old. His

grandfather Abd al-Muttalib then raised him until the age of eight. After his grandfather’s

death, Abu Talib, his uncle, raised him. Under the guardianship of Abu Talib,

Muhammad began to earn a living as a businessman and a trader. At the age of twelve,

he accompanied Abu Talib with merchant caravans as far as Syria. The Meccans

popularly knew Muhammad as ‘Al-Ameen’ for his impeccable character. The title Al-

Ameen means the honest, the reliable and the trustworthy, and it signifies the highest

standard of moral and public life. Upon hearing of Muhammad’s impressive credentials,

Khadijah, a rich and noble widow, asked Muhammad to take some merchandise for

trade to Syria. Soon after this trip when he was twenty-five, Khadijah proposed marriage

to Muhammad. Muhammad accepted the proposal. At that time, Khadijah was twice

widowed and forty years old.

Muhammad’s spiritual search had been long. At the age of 40, while in a cave on

Mount Hira outside Mecca, he had a revelation in which he was called on to preach the

message entrusted to him by God. Further revelations came to him intermittently over

the remaining 23 years of his life, and these revelations constitute the text of the Quran.

At first in private and then publicly, Muhammad began to proclaim his message: that

there is but One God and that Muhammad is his servant and messenger sent to remind

people to submit to the Will of God, and to warn them of the Judgment Day. The

Meccans responded with hostility to Muhammad's monotheism. Abu Talib protected him

as long as he was alive. In 619, however, Abu Talib died, and the new clan leader was

unwilling to continue the protective arrangement. At about the same time Muhammad

lost another faithful supporter, his wife Khadijah. In the face of persecution and curtailed

freedom to preach, Muhammad and about 70 followers reached the decision to move to

Madinah, a city about 400 km (250 mi.) to the north. This move, called the hijra (Arabic:

"emigration"), took place in 622, signified the first year of the Muslim calendar.

In Madinah an organized Muslim community gradually came into existence under

Muhammad's leadership. To guarantee the peace and serenity, the Prophet proposed a

treaty defining terms of conduct for all inhabitants of Madinah. All Muslims, non-Muslim

Arabs and Jews ratified the treaty. After his emigration to Madinah, the enemies of Islam

increased their assault from all sides. The Battles of Badr, Uhud and Allies (Trench)

were fought near or around Madinah. In these battles until the year 627, the

nonbelievers with encouragement from Jews and other Arabian tribes attacked the

Prophet and Muslim community. The Muslims lost many men while defending their city

and religion. This condition resulted in many widowed Muslim women and numerous

orphaned children. In these circumstances, Prophet Muhammad married several women

during his fifty-sixth year up to the sixtieth year of his life. He did not contract any

marriage in the last three years of his life, following the revelation limiting the number of

wives up to a maximum of four. This is the first time in the history of revealed scriptures

that a limit on the number of wives was imposed and the terms of conduct were

specified. The Prophet was instructed not to divorce any of his wives after this

revelation, Surah 33, Ayah 52. All of the ladies he took as wives were either widowed or

divorced, except Aishah, the daughter of Abu Bakr, his closest friend and the first Caliph.

In 632, he announced that God perfected and completed the religion of Islam. Three

months later, he died. At the end of his mission, the Prophet was blessed with many

hundred thousand followers (men and women) of Islam. Thousands of his friends

memorized the full text of the Quran, and prayed with him at the mosque and listened to

his sermon. Hundreds of sincere Muslims would find every opportunity to be with him

following five daily prayers and at other times. They used to seek his advice for their

everyday problems, and listened carefully to the interpretation and application of

revealed verses to their situation. They followed the message of the Quran and the

Messenger of Allah with utmost sincerity, and supported him with every thing they had.

By the time of his death, Muhammad had spread Islam on most of Arabia. His

followers carried the message of Islam after the Prophet, and within 100 years the light

of Islam reached Spain, North Africa, the Caucasus, northwest China and India, and

Islam embraced more territory than did the Roman Empire. In no event, Islam was

imposed by force on any population. This is evident because Muslims never attempted

to convert anyone according to the instruction of the Quran 2:256. Muslims ruled Spain

and India and their people were never converted to Islam. Also the existence of non-

Muslims in many Islamic countries attests to the fact that Islam did not spread by the

sword.

However, “half the truth” Evangelists claim that, in contrast to Moses and Jesus,

Muhammad was a man of war. They ignore the fact that Muhammad fought only a

handful of battles in his lifetime, resulting in barely 1,000 casualties on all sides. This

might be compared to Moses, who chastises his army for sparing the women and

children of the defeated Midianites, Numbers 31:15. Moses then commands his army to

go back and slaughter the women and the boys. This also might be compared to David,

who is praised in I Samuel 18 for killing his "tens of thousands," famously earning the

murderous jealousy of Saul who only killed his "thousands."

To compare Muhammad to Moses or Jesus, or against some contemporary

standard, is meaningless and obsolete. The world that Moses, Jesus and Muhammad

lived in was lawless and violent, different from even the Roman dominated world in

which Jesus lived. Strong vested interests opposed the monotheism each preached,

genocide was commonplace, and slavery was taken for granted. Women had few rights,

and might was the only law.

In this context Muhammad and Moses and all the other Biblical figures sought to

create a new society based on justice and on the belief in a Compassionate God. Their

achievements in accomplishing this in lasting ways form the only relevant contemporary

standard by which they can be truly judged.

Mahatma Gandhi published this statement in 'Young India,' 1924:

“I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed

sway over the hearts of millions of mankind. I became more than ever convinced that

it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It

was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous

regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity,

his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the

sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed

the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for

me to read of that great life.”

Sir George Bernard Shaw wrote in 'The Genuine Islam,' Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.

"If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next

hundred years, it could be Islam."

“I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion far from being an anti-

Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity."

"I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world

he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much

needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it

would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to

the Europe of today.”

A historian once said, a great man should be judged by three tests:

1. Did his contemporaries find him to be truthful?

2. Was he great enough to rise above the standards of his age?

3. Did he leave anything as permanent legacy to the world at large?

This list may be further extended but all these three tests of greatness are

exceedingly satisfied to the highest degree in the case of Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh).