What Non-Muslim Thinkers Say About Prophet Muhammad? - Our Prophet 1

My respected brothers and sisters, Assalamu alaykum wa Rahmatu Allahi wa Barakatu [Wa alaykum as-salam]. I welcome you all to this course on the biography of the holy Prophet, Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa alih.

He is the greatest messenger of God, the greatest creation of the Almighty God, the final and seal of all prophets and messengers. Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, chose him to deliver to us His final message, the religion of Islam.

Every human being is indebted to the contributions of this great man. Today we will provide an introduction to the biography of the Prophet. To reconstruct the biography of the Prophet, and then in following courses, we will delve into the details of the life of the Prophet, from his birth all the way to his final days, In sha Allah.

He is indeed the greatest messenger of Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. When you see what some non-Muslims have said about the Prophet. That is also an indication that the Prophet left an everlasting impact on this world. I want to share with you some quotes about the Prophet.

One of the historians, by the name of Michael Hart, he has a book in which he ranks the 100 most influential people in history. Now, this man is not Muslim. In fact, he is critical of Islam. Well, that's interesting, even though he talks about the Prophet, but he is critical of Islam. Yet he confesses that the most influential person in history is the holy Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa alih [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

So, in his list of the hundred most influential people in his ranking, who do you think he lives first? Number one on his list, he's Christian. So, you would anticipate that he would list Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, right? But who does he list? He lists the Prophet peace be upon him as the most influential person in history.

Now, when he was criticized, why did you choose him to be the first person on the list? This is what he says, and I'll read you his exact quote. He says: my choice of Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa alih, 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 in both the religious and the secular levels. Both when it comes to his religion and both when it came to politics, the economy, running and managing a society. The most successful man in history.

And then he mentions of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, even though he had such a humble origin, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today, 13 centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.

Then he mentions the majority of the persons in this book, meaning those hundred that he speaks about and he ranks in his book. He says the majority of them had the advantage of being born and raised in centres of civilization, highly cultured, or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was born in the year 570 in the city of Mecca in southern Arabia. At that time, a backward area of the world.

So, the most influential person in history is emerging from which region? From one of the most backward regions in the world, far from the centre of trade, art and learning. Orphaned at age six, he was reared in modest surroundings, orphaned from his mother. Otherwise, he never met his father, because his father, as we will see, passed away when his mother was pregnant with him. Reared in modest surroundings. And Islamic traditions tell us that the Prophet never even practiced reading and writing.

So, a man of such modest origins in a backward society, who never learned to read or write, became the most influential figure in history. What does that tell you about the greatness of this man?

Let's take the words of Gandhi. You all know who Gandhi is? The great Indian revolutionary statesman and thinker. He mentions an important point. Especially today, when many non-Muslims and Westerners believe that Islam spread by the sword, right? That the Prophet became victorious through the sword. What does Gandhi say? The Gandhi in a periodical called: Young India in 1928, this is what he writes.

He says I became more than ever convinced after reading about the life of the Prophet, that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days, in the scheme of life. It wasn't the sword. What was it? It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for his 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 trouble. So, here he is witnessing that it was not the sword.

Edward Gibbon, a great British historian, what does he say? He says the greatest success of Muhammad's life was affected by sheer moral force without the stroke of a sword. Here you have a famous British historian who is saying that the success of the Prophet was not with the strike of a sword, it was with what? His sheer moral force. And hence, what does the Quran say? "Wa innaka la'ala khuluqin 'azeem" (68:4). And you are of utmost and the highest character. So, the Akhlaq of Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, that he was able to offer these contributions.