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What They Say About Muhammad (P.B.U.H) 
(و انك لعلى خلق
عظيم)
(و ما أرسلناك
إلا رحمة للعالمين)
Mahatma Gandhi, statement published 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.
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Lamartine, Histoire de la Turquie, Paris 1854, Vol II, pp. 276-77:
"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 modern 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, legislations, 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...
the 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 unit 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 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?"
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Edward Gibbon and Simon Ocklay, History of the Saracen Empire, London, 1870, p. 54:
"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 Medina 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 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."
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Bosworth Smith, Mohammed and Mohammadanism, London
1874, p. 92:
"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 Mohammed, for he had all the power without its instruments
and without its supports."
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Annie Besant, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad, Madras 1932, p. 4:
"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."
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W. Montgomery, Mohammad at Mecca, Oxford 1953, p. 52:
"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."
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James A. Michener, 'Islam: The Misunderstood Religion' in Reader's Digest (American
Edition), May 1955, pp. 68-70:
"Muhammad, the inspired man who founded Islam, was born about A.D. 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 merit, 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.'"
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Michael H. Hart, The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History,
New York: Hart Publishing Company, Inc. 1978, p. 33:
"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....It is probable that the relative influence
of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity. ...It is this
unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential
single figure in human history."
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Alphonse de LaMartaine in 'Historie de la Turquie,' Paris, 1854.
"Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman;
to subvert superstitions which had been imposed between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore
the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing.
Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he (Muhammad) had in the conception
as well as in the execution of such a great design, no other instrument than himself and no other aid except a handful of
men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world,
because in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and in arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and
conquered, in God's name, Persia Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of
Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and part of Gaul.
"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who
could dare compare any great man in 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, legislations, empires, peoples, 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 the souls.
"On the basis of a Book, every letter which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blend together
peoples of every tongue and race. He has left the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality the hatred of false
gods and the passion for the One and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the
virtue of the followers of Muhammad; the conquest of one-third the earth to the dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not
the miracle of man but that of reason.
"The idea of the unity of God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of the fabulous theogonies, was in itself such a miracle
that upon it's utterance from his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the world.
His life, his meditations, his heroic revelings against the superstitions of his country, and his boldness in defying the
furies of idolatry, his firmness in enduring them for fifteen years in Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and
almost of being a victim of his fellow countrymen: all these and finally, his flight his incessant preaching, his wars against
odds, his faith in his success and his superhuman security in misfortune, 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 words.
"Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of Ideas, Restorer of Rational beliefs.... 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?"
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De Lacy O'Leary in 'Islam at the Crossroads,' London,
1923.
History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam
at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.
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Philip K. Hitti in 'History of the Arabs'
Within a brief span of mortal life, Muhammad called forth of unpromising material, a nation, never welded before; in
a country that was hitherto but a geographical expression he established a religion which in vast areas suppressed Christianity
and Judaism, and laid the basis of an empire that was soon to embrace within its far flung boundaries the fairest provinces
the then civilized world.
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Edward Montet, 'La Propagande Chretienne et ses Adversaries Musulmans,' Paris
1890. (Also in T.W. Arnold in 'The Preaching of Islam,' London 1913.)
"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and
historically....the teachings of the Prophet, the Qur'an has invariably kept its place as the fundamental starting point,
and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with a grandeur a majesty, an invariable purity and with
a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam....A creed so precise, so stripped
of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to possess
and does indeed possess a marvelous power of winning its way into the consciences of men."
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James Michener in ‘Islam: The Misunderstood Religion,’ Reader’s Digest, May 1955, pp. 68-70.
No other religion in history spread so rapidly as Islam. The West has widely believed that this surge of religion was
made possible by the sword. But no modern scholar accepts this idea, and the Qur’an is explicit in the support of the
freedom of conscience.
Muhammad, the inspired man who founded Islam, was born about A.D. 570 into an Arabian tribe that worshiped 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 merit, 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 worshiped
Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you Worshiped, He lives for ever'.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Gustav Weil in 'History of the Islamic Peoples'
Muhammad was 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
mark of reverence, nor would he accept any service from his slave which he could do for himself. 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 anxious care for the welfare of the community.
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Sir George Bernard Shaw 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 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 capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal
to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion for 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.
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Gibbon in 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' 1823
The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the
family; he kindled the fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes and garments. Disdaining
the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab.
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W.C. Taylor in 'The History of Muhammadanism and its Sects'
So great was his liberality to the poor that he often left his household unprovided, nor did he content himself with
relieving their wants, he entered into conversation with them, and expressed a warm sympathy for their sufferings. He was
a firm friend and a faithful ally.
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Thomas Carlyle in 'Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,' 1840
"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves
only."
"A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world’s Maker had
ordered so."
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Washington Irving in 'Life of Muhammad,' New
York, 1920.
His military triumphs awakened no pride nor vain glory as they would have done had they been effected by selfish purposes.
In the time of his greatest power he maintained the same simplicity of manner 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 was shown
to him.
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Washington Irving 'Mahomet and His Successors'
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 a result of real disregard for 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 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 effected 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 a regal state, he was displeased if, on entering a room, any unusual testimonials of
respect were shown to him. If he aimed at a universal dominion, it was the dominion of faith; as to the temporal rule which
grew up in his hands, as he used it without ostentation, so he took no step to perpetuate it in his family.
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Dr. William Draper in 'History of Intellectual Development of Europe'
Four
years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia,
the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race... To be the religious head of many empires,
to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God.
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J.W.H. Stab in 'Islam and its Founder'
Judged by the smallness of the means at his disposal,
and the extent and permanence of the work that he accomplished, his name in world's history shines with a more specious lustre
than that of the Prophet of Makkah. To the impulse which he gave numberless dynasties have owed their existence, fair cities
and stately palaces and temples have arisen, and wide provinces became obedient to the Faith. And beyond all this, his words
have governed the belief of generations, been accepted as their rule of life, and their certain guide to the world to come.
At a thousand shrines the voices of the faithful invoke blessings on him, whom they esteem the very Prophet of God, the seal
of the Apostles.... Judged by the standards to human renown, the glory of what mortal can compare with his?
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Arthur Glyn Leonard in 'Islam, Her Moral and Spiritual Values'
It was the genius of Muhammad, the spirit that he breathed
into the Arabs through the soul of Islam that exalted them. That raised them out of the lethargy and low level of tribal stagnation
up to the high watermark of national unity and empire. It was in the sublimity of Muhammad's deism, the simplicity, the sobriety
and purity it inculcated the fidelity of its founder to his own tenets, that acted on their moral and intellectual fiber with
all the magnetism of true inspiration.
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Philip K. Hitti in 'History of the Arabs'
Within a brief span of mortal life, Muhammad called forth
of unpromising material, a nation, never welded before; in a country that was hitherto but a geographical expression he established
a religion which in vast areas suppressed Christianity and Judaism, and laid the basis of an empire that was soon to embrace
within its far flung boundaries the fairest provinces the then civilized world.
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Stanley Lane-Poole in 'Studies in a Mosque'
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 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.
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Alphonse de LaMartaine in 'Historie de la Turquie,' Paris, 1854.
"Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily,
a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman; to subvert superstitions which had been imposed between man and his Creator,
to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material
and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble
means, for he (Muhammad) had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design, no other instrument than
himself and no other aid except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such
a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and in
arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered, in God's name, Persia Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria,
Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and part of
Gaul.
"If
greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare
compare any great man in 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,
legislations, empires, peoples, 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 the souls.
"On
the basis of a Book, every letter which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blend together peoples of
every tongue and race. He has left the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality the hatred of false gods and the
passion for the One and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the
followers of Muhammad; the conquest of one-third the earth to the dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle
of man but that of reason.
"The
idea of the unity of God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of the fabulous theogonies, was in itself such a miracle that upon
it's utterance from his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the world. His life,
his meditations, his heroic revelings against the superstitions of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of
idolatry, his firmness in enduring them for fifteen years in Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost
of being a victim of his fellow countrymen: all these and finally, his flight his incessant preaching, his wars against odds,
his faith in his success and his superhuman security in misfortune, 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 words.
"Philosopher,
Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of Ideas, Restorer of Rational beliefs.... 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?"
----------------------------------------------
Lane-Poole in 'Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Muhammad'
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...
Rodwell in the Preface to his translation of the Holy Qur'an
Mohammad's career is a wonderful instance of the force
and life that resides in him who possesses an intense faith in God and in the unseen world. He will always be regarded as
one of those who have had that influence over the faith, morals and whole earthly life of their fellow men, which none but
a really great man ever did, or can exercise; and whose efforts to propagate a great verity will prosper.
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D. G. Hogarth in 'Arabia'
Serious or trivial, his daily behavior has instituted
a canon which millions observe this day with conscious memory. No one regarded by any section of the human race as Perfect
Man has ever been imitated so minutely. The conduct of the founder of Christianity has not governed the ordinary life of his
followers. Moreover, no founder of a religion has left on so solitary an eminence as the Muslim apostle.
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Jules Masserman in 'Who Were Histories Great Leaders?' in TIME Magazine,
July 15, 1974
Perhaps the greatest leader of all times was Mohammad, who combined
all the three functions. To a lesser degree Moses did the same.
Biography by a non-Muslim,
K. Rao
Biography by a Muslim, Muhammad
Hamidullah
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