Mr Abdullah Adyar, editor of Tamil daily Neerottam, after studying the comparative religions wrote in “Islam My Fascination” that he had extraordinary reverence for Islam and wanted to write his impressions about this great religion, with a hope that readers would ponder over them.
He says that these days the pioneers of religions are, generally, taken as conservative and dogmatic, but his study led him to the conclusion that they were revolutionary leaders of their times and that they voiced their dislikes for the evil customs of their age.
He says that the Shankaracharya who took up the task of reforming the Hindu or the Vedic religion was a revolutionary. In the world where one meaning of ‘Veda’ was ‘to conceal’, Ramanujan, who gave the call ‘Veda for all’ was also a revolutionary.
Christ was also a revolutionary who raised his voice against the heathen customs and beliefs of the age. Thus, the history of religion provides ample proof that the leading religious personalities were no conservatives but revolutionaries.
Adiyar states that he can fearlessly proclaim that the greatest of all these revolutionaries was Muhammad (SAWS). The revolutionaries, other than Muhammad (SAWS), acquired knowledge and wisdom in someone’s company, through their parents or in family environment, but in the case of Muhammad (SAWS) we come across totally different situation. His father, Abdullah, died before his birth.
He lost his mother when he was only six. She died while on a journey, along with her only son, to the tomb of her dead husband. The young boy who did not see the face of his father, lost his mother at such an early age.
As if it was not enough, two years later he lost his guardian grandfather too, when only eight. Deprivations followed him, one after another. Father, mother, and grandfather passed away in quick succession. Muhammad (SAWS) stood alone.
Thus, the man who was going to bring humanity close to the benignity of Allah stood alone, bereft of all mundane support. At this stage his only supporter was his uncle, Abu Talib, who was himself a man of modest means. The deprivations of such a child can be truly gauged only by those who have experienced the misfortune of losing their parents at such an early stage.
And it was through this deprived orphan that the world was to receive the gift of Islam. It is an astonishing reality that the message of that orphan spread like wildfire from Spain to China – from one corner to the other. The only driving force behind it was the personality of the Prophet (SAWS), pious to the extreme and free of all blemishes.
Here is a collection of short quotations from a wide variety of non-Muslim academics, writers, philosophers, poets, politicians, and activists belonging to the East and the West.
Michael H. Hart: Professor of astronomy, physics and the history of science:
“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.”
Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world’s great religions and became immensely effective political leader.
Today fourteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.
[The 100: A Ranking Of The Most Influential Persons In History, New York, 1978, p. 33]
William Montgomery Watt: Professor (Emeritus) of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
“His readiness to undergo persecutions 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.”
[Mohammad At Mecca, Oxford, 1953, p. 52]
Alphonse de Lamartine: French poet and statesman
“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?”
[Translated from Histoire De La Turquie, Paris, 1854, vol. II, pp. 276-277]
Reverend Bosworth Smith, Late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford
“… he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope’s pretensions, and 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 a right Divine, it was Mohammed; for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports.”
(Mohammed and Mohammedanism, London, 1874, p. 235)
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: Indian thinker, statesman, and nationalist leader
“….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 his 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 trouble.” [Young India (periodical), 1928, Volume X]
Edward Gibbon: greatest British historian of his time
“The greatest success of Mohammad’s life was effected by sheer moral force without the stroke of a sword.”
[History Of The Saracen Empire, London, 1870]
John William Draper: American scientist, philosopher, and historian
“Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born at Mecca, in Arabia the man who, of all men exercised the greatest influence upon the human race . . . Mohammed.”
[A History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, London, 1875, vol.1, pp. 329-330]
Washington Irving: Well-known as the “first American man of letters”.
“He was sober and abstemious in his diet, and a rigorous observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected, but the result of a real disregard to distinction from so trivial a source … In his private dealings he was just. He treated friends and strangers, the rich and poor, the powerful and the weak, with equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability with which he received them, and listened to their complaints … His military triumphs awakened no pride nor vain glory, as they would have done had they been affected for selfish purposes. In the time of his greatest power he maintained the same simplicity of manners and appearance as in the days of his adversity. So far from affecting regal state, he was displeased if, on entering a room, any unusual testimonial of respect were shown to him.”
[Life of Mahomet, London, 1889, pp. 192-3, 199]
Annie Besant: British theosophist and nationalist leader in India.
“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.
[The Life And Teachings Of Muhammad, Madras, 1932, p. 4]
Er. Mohammad Ashraf Fazili, Former Chief Engineer
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.