PROPHET MUHAMMAD AS SEEN BY PROMINENT WESTERN THINKERS

It is unfortunate that the Christian West instead of sincerely trying to

understand the phenomenal success of Islam has considered it a rival religion.

During the centuries of the crusades, this trend gained much force and impetus

and a huge amount of literature was produced to tarnish the image of Islam.

 

Truth needs no advocates to plead on its behalf. But the prolonged malicious

propaganda against Islam has created great confusion even in the minds of some

free and objective thinkers. But Islam has begun to unfold its genuineness to

the modern scholars whose bold and objective observation on Islam belie all the

charges levelled against it by the so-called unbiased orientalists.

 

The following are some observations on the Prophet of Islam, by well

acknowledged non-muslim Western scholars and thinkers of modern times which we

hope would contribute to initiating an objective evaluation of the Islamic

faith.

 

"If greatness of purpose, smallness of menas, 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 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... 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 what God is not, 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 ask, is there any man greater than he?"

 

Lamartine

"Historia de la turquie", Paris 1854. Vol. II. pp.276-7

 

"He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope's pretentions,

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 divine right, it was Mohammad, for he had all

the power without its instruments and without its supports."

 

Basworth Smith

"Mohammad and Mohammadanism".

London 1874, p. 92

 

"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."

 

Michael H. Hart

"The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Person in History",

New York: Hare Publishing Company, Inc., 1987. p. 33.

 

"Mohammed was distinguished by the beauty of his person, an outward gift which

is seldom despised, except by those to whom if has been refused. Before he

spoke, the orator engaged on his side the affections whether of a public or a

private audience. They applauded his commanding presence, his majestic aspect,

his piercing eye, his gracious smile, his flowing beard, his countenance which

painted every sensation of his soul, and the gestures that enforced each

expression of the tongue. In the familiar offices of life, he scrupulously

adhered to the grave and ceremonious politeness of his country; his respectful

attention to the rich and powerful was dignified by his condescension and

affability to the poorest citizen of Mecca;... his memory was capacious and

retentive, his wit easy and social, his imagination sublime, his judgement

clear, rapid and decisive. He possessed the courage both of thouht and

action;... bears the stamp of an original and superior genius."

 

Edward Gibbon

"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

 

"His simple eloquence, rendered impressive by the expression of a countenanc

wherein awfulness of majesty was tempered by an amiable sweetness, excited

emotions of veneration and love; adn he was gifted with that authoritative air

of genius which alike influences the learned and commands the illiterate. As a

friend and a parent, he exhibited the softest feelings of our nature...With all

that simplicity which is so natural to a great mind, he performed the humbler

offices whose homeliness it would be idle to conce al with pompous diction;

even while Lord of Arabia, he mended his own shoes and coarse woollen garments,

milked the ewes, swept the hearth, and kindled the fire, Dates and water were

his usual fare, and milk and honey his luxuries. When he travelled he divided

his morsel with his servant."

 

John Davenport

"An Apology for Mohammed and the Koran." London 1869