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I have spent weeks limiting myself to contemplation and watching from afar...
observing feelings that some tried to hurt and slay... to sever... and even to
uproot, insisting on aggrieving its people and vanquishing Muslim selves hard to
subdue... and to whose steadfastness history is the mightiest witness... Out of
love for him whose eyes shed tears pained by hearing words said about Muhammad
the last of the prophets and messengers peace be upon him, I resolved, after
putting my trust in Allah all glory and exaltation be to Him, on placing these
lines in front of him... Spirits may be soothed on hearing voices that are
stronger and bearing more powerful arguments... voices that loved truth, and for
truths sake loved and praised the messenger of truth Muhammad peace be upon him,
our prophet and guide, voices that realized that Islam esteems all of Allahs
prophets, and that our prophet, the prophet of mercy, justice, honour and
dignity... is the prodigy, absolutely the greatest, the reformer of the world,
the light, the compassionate.
But first let me introduce an idea that came to my mind, and which I think, is
no secret to Doctor Abd-Allah ibn Abd-ul-Muhsin al-Turki, the Secretary General
to the Muslim World League... an idea that resides in the hope that we should
pay attention to the likes of those whose attitudes I will be citing, those who
in spite of their great number unfortunately go unnoticed, so that they might
get from us as a Muslim nation attention, care and support... so that they might
find in us a firm backup that allows them declare their ideas in front of the
international public opinion... so that those realities coming from East and
West and in tongues foreign to us can be more powerful than any disapproval we
direct to discredit voices financed by parties that are every perspectives
guess.
We have read a book printed in the USA in 1978 entitled The 100: A Ranking of
the Most Influential Persons in History written by Michael Hart, of American
nationality, and a scholar in mathematics and science.
His study that is referred to here included many distinguished personalities
like Jesus and Moses peace be upon them, as well as Caesar, Napoleon, Columbus,
Shakespeare and the like... and he relied in classifying them on a top-to-bottom
taxonomy according to their order of importance.
What did he deduce after a demanding research into their lives and achievements?
He came to a conviction going beyond any doubt that he whose name deserves to
top that list, as the greatest man in the history of humanity, is our noble
prophet Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah peace be upon him.
This Hart is a man of American nationality, who received the respect and esteem
of his countrymen before anybody else, a man who designated al-mustafa (the
chosen), our noble messenger to be absolutely the greatest of all pre-eminent
humans. And to confirm the firmness of his choice, he asserts: "My choice
of Muhammad to lead the list of the worlds 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 levels...
Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the worlds great religions, and became
an immensely effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his
death, (now fifteen) his influence is still powerful and pervasive..."
As for the psychologist of Jewish confession Jules Maserman, he declared to the
world that the greatest man with the qualities of the leader in all ages is
Muhammad—peace be upon him—then and to a lesser degree Moses peace be upon
him. Gustavo Le Bon, author of The World of Islamic Civilization, asserts that
"if men are to be judged by the finest of their deeds, Muhammad—peace be
upon him—would be among the greatest that history has known." Whereas the
Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle in his book On Heroes maintains that
"Muhammad said that he was a Messenger sent by Allah, and proved the truth
of what he said with a religion that he spread among people, and that was
followed by hundreds of millions, and long centuries elapsed with them loving
their religion and being so enthusiastic about it. What other proof that he is a
prophet is needed after all this... ?" The French poet Lamar tine says,
after knowing some of the aspects of the life of four noble messenger:
"whoever attained of human greatness what he did and ever reached stations
of perfection as he did." And from Russia, we heard the testimony of
philosopher Tolstoy, who was impressed by the tolerance of Islam vis-à-vis
other religions and by the messenger of guidance Muhammad ibn Abd-Allah peace be
upon him. He says that "Muhammad peace be upon him did not say that he was
the only prophet sent by Allah, but equally believed in the prophet hood of
Moses and Jesus—peace be upon them—and said that the Jews and Christians
would not be compelled to abandon their religions."
As to George Bernard Shaw, the well-known English writer, whom the West
applauded in praise of his mind and thought, he says eulogizing over the
messenger of mercy peace be upon him: "I think that if someone like
Muhammad had taken absolute rule of the whole world, he would have succeeded in
ruling it, would have led it to well-being, and would have solved its problems
in a way that guarantees the world peace and the persued happiness." And
finally, here are words thrown by Mahatma Gandhi at critics of the last of the
prophets peace be upon him: "They see fire instead of light, ugliness
instead of beauty, they misrepresent every good quality and introduce it as a
big vice, and this shows their corruption and immorality... They are stricken by
blindness for they did not see that the only sword that Muhammad peace be upon
him drew was the sword of mercy, compassion and friendship, the sword that
vanquishes enemies and cleanses their hearts at the same time. This sword is
mightier than the sword made of metal."
And here I am having walked with you a long path that has been going on for
centuries along which the West and East have borne testimony in the words of
their pre-eminent people to the benefaction of Muhammad peace be upon him and
his uniqueness in that benefaction... What a big deal if someone today stands up
to blemish a re-countal that has been accommodated by the horizons of the wise
all along the centuries
Oumeima Ahmad al-Jalahma
Saudi Academic, King Faisal University
(This is an excerpt from Harts book. The other quotations, however, are
translated from the Arabic text published in AL-WATAN, 13 Shaban 1423, 19
October 2002. This note accounts for any differences between the translations
and the original text (the translator).
