The following quotes of famous non-Muslim personalities have been compiled from numerous sources. On close analysis, one naturally comes to the conclusion that anyone who truly studies this Man is in awe of the personality of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم ).
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.
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.”
Michael Hart
in "The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential
Persons In History," New York, 1978.
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 secular and religious 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.
HERCULES
"Arabia, during the time of
the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), was a country without any central authority. It
was a country far from the civilized nations of those days. At the time Prophet
Mohammed (pbuh) was spreading Islam; asking people to turn away from
worshipping idols to worshipping Allah, the Almighty, the All-Knower, and the
Master. The Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) sent letters of invitation to Kings and
Rulers of various countries in the world, inviting them to embrace Islam. Many
of the letters were met with a favorable response whilst others were rejected.
In many cases, the messengers of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) were badly treated and abused. But the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) was not worried by these setbacks. He was inviting people to the right path and a few setbacks could not deter him from propagating Islam.
Abu Sufyan a leader of the tribe of Quraish and the arch enemy of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) was in Constantinople on a business trip, when the Prophet Mohammed's (pbuh) letter of invitation reached Hercules, the Byzantine emperor of Eastern Roman Empire. Hercules, at the time was in his court at Constantinople celebrating his victory over the Persians.
Hercules read the letter through an interpreter and then asked the people in his court, to find out if there was someone in the city, who knew the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). Abu Sufyan with his companions was brought into the court.
The emperor Hercules asked Abu Sufyan, "What kind of family does Mohammed belong to?"
"Noble", replied Abu Sufyan.
"Has there been a king in his family?" Hercules asked.
"No," said Abu Sufyan.
"Are the people who have accepted his religion poor or rich?" Hercules questioned again.
"They are poor", replied Abu Sufyan.
Hercules was now becoming more and more interested and he went on asking questions.
His next question was, "Are his followers on the increase or decrease?"
"Increasing", Abu Sufyan replied shortly.
"Have you known him to tell lies"? Hercules asked.
"No", admitted Abu Sufyan.
"Does he ever go against his convents?" Hercules once again asked.
"Not so far. But we have to see whether he carries out the new agreement made between us and him", Abu Sufyan answered lengthily for a change.
"Have you ever fought him in wars?" Hercules questioned.
"Yes", answered Abu Sufyan.
"What has been the result?" Hercules asked, getting more and more interested.
"Sometimes we have won, sometimes he", replied Abu Sufyan.
"What does he teach?" Hercules asked.
"Worship One God, join no partners with Him, carry out your prayers, be chaste, speak the truth and keep union with your relatives", answered Abu Sufyan.
Even surprised at his own answer as it sounded like he was preaching Islam, Hercules stood up and said, "If all you said is true, then I am sure that this Prophet's Kingdom will reach here where I am standing. I was certain that a Prophet was coming, but I didn't know that he would be born in Arabia. If I were to go there, I would embrace Islam and wash the Prophet's feet with my own hands."
This was the way in which the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) spread Islam.
Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) impressed them by his truthfulness, honesty, noble character and dedication in the service of Allah. Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) did not compel people to accept Islam under threat of waging wars, nor did he compel people to accept Islam by the force of the sword. Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) fought only in defense, and only when the enemies waged war on him".
In many cases, the messengers of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) were badly treated and abused. But the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) was not worried by these setbacks. He was inviting people to the right path and a few setbacks could not deter him from propagating Islam.
Abu Sufyan a leader of the tribe of Quraish and the arch enemy of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) was in Constantinople on a business trip, when the Prophet Mohammed's (pbuh) letter of invitation reached Hercules, the Byzantine emperor of Eastern Roman Empire. Hercules, at the time was in his court at Constantinople celebrating his victory over the Persians.
Hercules read the letter through an interpreter and then asked the people in his court, to find out if there was someone in the city, who knew the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). Abu Sufyan with his companions was brought into the court.
The emperor Hercules asked Abu Sufyan, "What kind of family does Mohammed belong to?"
"Noble", replied Abu Sufyan.
"Has there been a king in his family?" Hercules asked.
"No," said Abu Sufyan.
"Are the people who have accepted his religion poor or rich?" Hercules questioned again.
"They are poor", replied Abu Sufyan.
Hercules was now becoming more and more interested and he went on asking questions.
His next question was, "Are his followers on the increase or decrease?"
"Increasing", Abu Sufyan replied shortly.
"Have you known him to tell lies"? Hercules asked.
"No", admitted Abu Sufyan.
"Does he ever go against his convents?" Hercules once again asked.
"Not so far. But we have to see whether he carries out the new agreement made between us and him", Abu Sufyan answered lengthily for a change.
"Have you ever fought him in wars?" Hercules questioned.
"Yes", answered Abu Sufyan.
"What has been the result?" Hercules asked, getting more and more interested.
"Sometimes we have won, sometimes he", replied Abu Sufyan.
"What does he teach?" Hercules asked.
"Worship One God, join no partners with Him, carry out your prayers, be chaste, speak the truth and keep union with your relatives", answered Abu Sufyan.
Even surprised at his own answer as it sounded like he was preaching Islam, Hercules stood up and said, "If all you said is true, then I am sure that this Prophet's Kingdom will reach here where I am standing. I was certain that a Prophet was coming, but I didn't know that he would be born in Arabia. If I were to go there, I would embrace Islam and wash the Prophet's feet with my own hands."
This was the way in which the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) spread Islam.
Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) impressed them by his truthfulness, honesty, noble character and dedication in the service of Allah. Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) did not compel people to accept Islam under threat of waging wars, nor did he compel people to accept Islam by the force of the sword. Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) fought only in defense, and only when the enemies waged war on him".
Dr. William Draper
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.
Arthur Glyn Leonard
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.
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.
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."
A. S. Tritton
in 'Islam,' 1951
The picture of the Muslim soldier advancing with
a sword in one hand and the Qur'an in the other is quite false.
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.
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.
Edward Gibbon and Simon Oakley
in ‘History of
the Saracen Empire,’ London, 1870
"The greatest
success of Mohammad’s life was effected by sheer moral force."
“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.”
Reverend Bosworth Smith
in 'Muhammad and Muhammadanism,' London, 1874."
Head of the State as well as the Church, 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 police force, without a fixed revenue."
Head of the State as well as the Church, 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 police force, without a fixed revenue."
If ever a man
ruled by a right divine, it was Muhammad, for he had all the powers without
their supports. He cared not for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life."
"In Mohammadanism
every thing is different here. Instead of the shadowy and the mysterious, we
have history....We know of the external history of Muhammad....while for his
internal history after his mission had been proclaimed, we have a book
absolutely unique in its origin, in its preservation....on the Substantial
authority of which no one has ever been able to cast a serious doubt."
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."
John Medows Rodwell
"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."
'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."
in 'Muhammad at Mecca,' Oxford, 1953.
"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 a leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement - all argue
his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems
that it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly
appreciated in the West as Muhammad.... Thus, not merely must we credit
Muhammad with essential honesty and integrity of purpose, if we are to
understand him at all; if we are to correct the errors we have inherited from
the past, we must not forget the conclusive proof is a much stricter
requirement than a show of plausibility, and in a matter such as this only to
be attained with difficulty."
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."
“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'.”
Lawrence E. Browne
in ‘The Prospects of Islam,’
1944
Incidentally these well-established facts
dispose of the idea so widely fostered in Christian writings that the Muslims,
wherever they went, forced people to accept Islam at the point of the sword.
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.
K. S. Ramakrishna Rao
in 'Mohammed: The Prophet of Islam,' 1989
My problem to write this monograph is easier,
because we are not generally fed now on that (distorted) kind of history and
much time need not be spent on pointing out our misrepresentations of Islam.
The theory of Islam and sword, for instance, is not heard now in any quarter
worth the name. The principle of Islam that “there is no compulsion in
religion” is well known.
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... 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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