Some of the European writers in the past have used the word “Muhamadanism”
while referring to Islam, which communicates the idea of worshiping Muhammad
(s.a.w.s.) which is absolutely baseless. Islam preaches worshiping of one god
which is Allah (s.w.t.) and Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) His servant and Messenger.
A French author,
Alphonse de LaMartaine, had written in his book, Historie de la Turquie,
published in 1854 in Paris about the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.): “If greatness of
purpose, smallness of means, and the astonishing results are the three criteria
of human genius, who dare compare any man in history with Muhammad (s.a.w.s.)? The
most famous men created arms, laws and empires only. They founded no more than
material powers which often crumbled away. This man not only moved 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. Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of Ideas, Restorer
of Rational Beliefs, .The Founder of twenty terrestrial empires, and one spiritual
empire that is Muhammad (s.a.w.s.). As regards all standards by which human
greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?
Sir George Bernard
Shaw says in “The Genuine Islam”: “If
any religion has any chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next
hundred years, it is Islam.” “I have always held 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 to appeal every age. I have studied him –
the wonderful man in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be
called The Savior of Humanity!” “I believe that a man like him were to
assume the dictatorship of the modern world succeed in solving its problems in
a way that it would bring it the much needed
peace and happiness. I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad (s.a.w.s.)
that it would be acceptable to Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be
acceptable to the Europe of today.”
Mahatma Gandhi said
in “Young India”: “I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds
today the undisputed sway over the hearts of the 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 for 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.”
Michael Hart’s famous
book; “The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History” New York 1978
Mr. Hart had placed the Holy Prophet
(s.a.w.s.) as the first leading
person in history. He says: “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 levels. It is probable the
relative influence of Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) 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 (s.a.w.s.) to be considered the most influential single individual in
human history.”
Dr. William Draper in
“History of Intellectual Development of Europe” writes: “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 human
race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God.”
Thomas Carlyle in “Heroes
and Hero Worship and the Heroic History” 1840 A.D. writes “The Lies
(Western Slander) which well meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad
s.a.w.s.) are disgraceful to ourselves only. A silent great soul, one of that
which cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world; the worlds’ Maker had
ordered so.
Gibbon in “The
Decline and Fall of Roman Empire” 1823 Writes: “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.”
Phillip K. Hitti in
History of the Arabs: says: “Within a brief span of mortal life, Muhammad
(s.a.w.s.) called forth of unpromising material, a nation, never welded before;
in a country that was hitherto 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.”
D.G.Hogarth in “Arabia”:
says: “Serious or trivial, his daily
behavior has instituted canon which millions observe this day with conscious
memory. No one regarded by any section of 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.
Washington Irving “Mahomet
and his successors”: says: “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
real but a result of a 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 triumph awakened no pride nor vain glory, as
they would have done for had they been effected for self purposes .In the times
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 testimonial of respect
was 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 without
ostentation, so he took no step to perpetuate it in his family.”
Sources used:
The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in
History by Michael Hart
Quotations from famous people by
Dr. A. Zahoor & Dr. Z.Haq
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