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 "Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." [Qur'an
48:29]
Muhammad ibnu Abdillah was born in Mecca in the year 569 CE.
He earned his living as a trader and was known by his people
as al-amin (the trustworthy one). When Muhammad (saas)
reached the age of 40, the angel Gabriel came to him with
revelations that established his prophethood. Muhammad (saas)
was first ordered to instruct his immediate family on Islam,
including his beloved wife Khadija, but eventually it was
revealed to him that he should begin delivering the message
to all of mankind. In the next 20 years of his life, he
communicated the message of Allah to his people, and set an
example for how each human being should lead her or his
life. This is especially valuable since Muhammad (saas) is
the last Prophet of Allah. In the year 632, the year of his
death, the Prophet delivered his famous last sermon.
The Last Sermon
[This sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul-Hijjah
10 A.H. in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat' in Mecca.]
After praising and thanking Allah the Prophet (saws) said:
"O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether
after this year I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore
listen to what I am saying very carefully and take these
words to those who could not be present here today.
O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city
as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim
as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to
their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that no one may hurt
you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that
he will indeed reckon your deeds. Allah has forbidden you to
take usury (interest), therefore all interest obligations
shall henceforth be waived. Your capital is yours to keep.
You will neither inflict nor suffer any inequity. Allah has
judged that there shall be no interest and that all the
interest due to Abbas ibn 'Abd'al Muttalib [the Prophet's
uncle] be waived.
Every right arising out of homicide in pre-islamic days is
henceforth waived and the first such right that i waive is
that arising from the murder of Rabiah ibn al Harithibn.
O People, the unbelievers indulge in tampering with the
calender in order to make permissible that which Allah
forbade, and to forbid that which Allah has made
permissible. With Allah the months are twelve in number.
Four of them are holy, three of these are successive and one
occurs singly between the months of Jumada and Shaban.
Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has
lost all hope of that he will be able to lead you astray in
big things, so beware of following him in small things.
O People, it is true that you have certain rights with
regard to your women but they also have rights over you.
Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under
Allah's trust and with His permission. If they abide by your
right, then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed
in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them
for they are your partners and committed helpers. And it is
your right that they do not make friends with anyone of whom
you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste. O
People, listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your
five daily prayers, fast during the month of Ramadhan, and
give your wealth in Zakat. Perform Hajj if you can afford
to.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority
over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an
Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a
black has any superiority over a white - except by piety and
good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every
Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood.
Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belogs to a
fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do
not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day
you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware: do not
stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
O People, no prophet or apostle will come after me, and no
new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People,
and understand my words which I convey to you. I leave
behind me two things, the Qur'an and my Sunnah and if you
follow these you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others
and those to others again; and may the last ones understand
my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my
witness, O Allah, that I have conveyed Your message to Your
people."
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT PROPHET MUHAMMAD (phuh)
WAMY Series on Islam No. 4
Courtesy of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia -- http://www.iad.org/
During the Crusades, all sorts of slanders were leveled
against the Prophet Muhammad. With the birth of the modern
age, which is characterized by a greater degree of religious
tolerance and freedom of thought, there has been a change in
the approach of western authors who study the Prophet's life
and characters. A sampling of their views is given below.
Unfortunately, the West still has not realized the greatest
aspect of the Prophet: he is the last of the prophets sent
by God to guide mankind to the truth. In spite of its great
advances in other areas of life, the West still has not made
a sincere and objective attempt to understand the message
brought by the Prophet. Although some people have seen him
as a person worthy of high praise and have paid him glowing
tributes on the levels of personal integrity and
achievement, his claim of being the Prophet of God has
almost always been rejected, either explicitly or
implicitly, as false. It is time to treat this last claim
with a spirit of true objectivity and open-mindedness.
Just who was Muhammad? According to all accounts, which are
authentic and accepted by all Muslim scholars, up until the
age of forty, he was known to his people as a decent man. He
was not a statesman, a preacher, or an orator. He was never
seen discussing principles or theories associated with
metaphysics, ethics, law, politics, economics, or sociology.
He possessed an excellent character, charming manners, and
was highly cultured. But his characteristics are not so
deeply striking and so radically extraordinary that people
would expect something great and revolutionary from him in
the future.
One of Muhammad's customs was to retire to a nearby cave for
private sessions of thinking and meditation. This in itself
was not unusual, for other people also did this. But when he
came out of his cave after receiving the first revelation,
he was completely transformed.
Several questions need to be asked here. Is it possible for
a person known and respected for his honesty and
trustworthiness to announce suddenly that he is the Prophet
of God and then begin to call upon his people to abandon
their old lives and beliefs for new ones? Also, if he were a
false prophet, why did he suffer through all of the
hardships that his people imposed upon him? And why, when
his people offered to accept him as their king and to lay
all the riches of the land at his feet, if only he would
cease and desist, did he refuse to do so? Why did he
continue to preach Islam in the face of all kinds of
insults, social boycott, and even physical assault by his
own people?
Was it not only God's support, along with his firm will, to
disseminate the Islamic revelation and his deep-rooted
belief that ultimately Islam would emerge as the sole
universal religion, that he refused to be cowed and swayed
by any of the opposition and plots launched against him by
his enemies? Furthermore, if he intended to use Islam as a
rival religion against Judaism and Christianity, why did he
make belief in Jesus Christ, Moses, and all of the other
prophets of God a basic requirement of the Islamic faith?
Is it not an incontrovertible proof of his prophethood that,
despite being unlettered and having led a very normal and
quiet life for forty years, that all of Arabia stood in awe
and wonder of his wonderful eloquence and oratory when he
began to preach Islam? It was so matchless that legions of
Arab poets, preachers, and orators of the highest caliber
failed to produce a composition that could compare with or
equal it. And, above all, how could he state scientific
truths that would not be known by to the rest of humanity
for centuries and that he could not learn about in any other
way except through divine revelation?
Last but not least, why did he lead an even harder life
after gaining power and authority? Just ponder the words he
uttered when he was dying: "We, the community of the
Prophets, do not inherit. All that we leave is for charity"
Consider what others have said about this extraordinary man:
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding
results are the three criteria of human genius, who could
dare to compare any great man in modem history with
Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires
only They founded, if anything at all, no more than material
powers which often crumbled away before their eyes This man
moved not only armies, legislation, empires, peoples and
dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the
then-inhabited world; and more than that he moved the
altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and
souls.... His forbearance in victory, his ambition which was
entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for
an empire, his endless prayers, his mystic conversations
with God, his death and his triumph after death-all these
attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which
gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was
twofold: the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the
former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is
not; the one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the
other starting an idea with the words. Philosopher, orator,
apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer
of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of
twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that
is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human
greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man
greater than he?
- Lamartine Histoire de la Turquie, Pans 1854, Vol. 11, pp.
276-77.
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It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion
that deserves our wonder; the same pure and perfect
impression which he engraved at Mecca and Madina is
preserved, after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the
Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the
Koran... The Mahometans have uniformly withstood the
temptation of reducing the object of their faith and
devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man.
I believe in One God and Mahomet is the Apostle of God' is
the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The
intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by
any visible idol; the honors of the prophet have never
transgressed the measure of human virtue; and his living
precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples
within the bounds of reason and religion.
- Edward Gibbon and Simon Ocklay History of the Saracen
Empire, London 1870, p 54.
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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 bodyguard, without a
palace, without a fixed revenue. If ever 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.
- Bosworth Smith Mohammad and Mohammadanism, London 1874, p
92.
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It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and
character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he
taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for
that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the
Supreme. And although in what I put to you I shall say many
things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself feel
whenever I re-read them, a new way of admiration, a new
sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher.
- Annie Besant The Life and Teachings of Muhammad, Madras
1932, p 4
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His readiness to undergo persecution for his beliefs, the
high moral character of the men who believed in him and
looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his
ultimate achievement all argue his fundamental integrity To
suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it
solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so
poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad.
- W Montgomery Watt Mohammad At Mecca, Oxford, 1953, p 52.
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Muhammad, the inspired man who founded Islam, was born about
AD. 570 into an Arabian tribe that worshipped idols.
Orphaned at birth, he was always particularly solicitous of
the poor and needy the widow and the orphan, the slave and
the downtrodden. At twenty he was already a successful
businessman, and soon became director of camel caravans for
a wealthy widow. When he reached twenty-five his employer,
recognizing his meet, proposed marriage. Even though she was
fifteen years older, he married her, and as long as she
lived remained a devoted husband. Like almost every major
prophet before him, Muhammad fought shy of serving as the
transmitter of God's word, sensing his own inadequacy. But
the angel commanded Read'. So far as we know, Muhammad was
unable to read or write, but he began to dictate those
inspired words which would soon revolutionize a large
segment of the earth: "There is one God." In all things
Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son
Ibrahim died, an eclipse occurred, and rumors of God's
personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon Muhammad is
said to have announced,' An eclipse is a phenomenon of
nature. It is foolish to attribute such things to the death
or birth of a human-being." At Muhammad’s own death an
attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to become
his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of
the noblest speeches in religious history: 'If there are any
among you who worshipped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is
God you worshipped, He lives forever'.
James A. Michene~ "Islam: The Misunderstood Religion,"
Reader's Digest (Amencan ea.) May 1955, pp. 68-70.
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My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most
influential persons may surprise some readers and may be
questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who
was supremely successful on both the religious and secular
level.
Michael H. Hart The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential
Persons in History, New York: Hart Publishing Company Inc.
1978, p 33.
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