Muhammad, The Prophet of Islam (2/2)

The Holy Prophet defined and prescribed the rights of individuals as set forth in the Holy Quran. He said: "It is the part of faith that you should like for your brother what you like for yourself.” (Reported by Bukhari). He enjoined upon the faithful to show the greatest respect for one's mother after God when he said:

"Paradise lies under the feet of your mother." (Reported by Bukhari) For other relations he said: "Anyone who is not kind to his youngsters and obedient to his elders is not from us" (Reported by Tirmizi). As regards Muslims as a whole, he proclaimed: "The Muslims are a single hand like a compact wall whose bricks support each other" (Reported by Muslim).

Even during his early life, when   Muhammad (Peace be upon him) had not yet been bestowed the mantle of Prophethood, he was known for his piety, truthfulness and trustworthiness. He was known by the title of "Amin" (Trustworthy) among the Makkahans, who kept their valuables with him. When he migrated to Medina, he left behind his cousin   Ali, to return to their owners the articles kept with him as a trust. Even his sworn enemies acknowledged his truthfulness. Once he climbed the hill of Safa and addressed the Quraish, asking them. "If I tell you that there is a huge army hidden behind this hill ready to attack you, will you believe me?" All shouted with one voice:

"Surely, because you have never spoken a lie." Such was the high reputation of the Prophet of Islam, even before God conferred Prophethood on him.

The generosity of the Prophet of Islam knew no bounds. Indeed, it was one of the greatest characteristics of the House of Muhammad (Peace be upon him) that no supplicant was ever refused, and this principle was rigidly followed not only by   Fatima and her sons but even by their grand children. Once while he was grazing his herd of goats he gave the entire herd to a person who asked for it. The supplicant was surprised by his extraordinary generosity. During the last days of the Holy Prophet of Islam, the Muslims had become very prosperous. Nevertheless, he lived abstemiously contending himself with frugal diet and at times going without food.

He always resisted the temptation of power and vengeance. His was the sublimest morality of returning good for evil: to the weak and undefended he was a helper; to the defeated he showed unusual mercy. Never proud or haughty, known for his strict adherence to justice, one who undertook his share of common labour, Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) shunned no hardship and led the life of a common man.

Delivering his last address to the Muslims from Mount Arafat, the Prophet said:

"O People! Listen to my words as I may not be with you another year in this place. Be humane and just among yourselves. The life and the property of one are sacred and inviolable to the other. Render faithfully everyone his due, as you will appear before God and He will demand an account of your actions. Treat women well; they are your help-mates and can do nothing by themselves. You have taken them from God on trust. People! Listen to my words and fix them in your memory. I have given you everything; I have left to you a law which you should preserve and be firmly attached to a law clear and positive: the Book of God and the Sunnah" (i.e., Practice of the Prophet).

This Greatest Benefactor of mankind and the Last Apostle of God passed away from this world on 12th Rabiul Awwal 11 A.H., 632 AC and was buried in the room occupied of his wife, Aisha Siddiqa. He had accomplished his task.

Muhammad (Peace be upon him) led an exemplary life. Even before he was assigned his mission, he spent his time in meditation, devotion, contemplation, fasting and service to his fellow beings. His virtuous life earned for him the title of 'Amin' (Trustworthy). Later the Revelation commanded him to preach the faith to the people.

He taught them the unity of God and the four obligatory duties enjoined by Islam— namely Prayer, Zakat, Fasting and Hajj (Annual Pilgrimage to Makkah). He himself practised what he preached and set an example for others. He stood sometimes so long in prayers during the night that his feet got swollen. He spent the major part of night in prayers and meditation. He prayed not only for himself but for the entire creation.

His prayers and devotion to God enabled him to check such worldly desires and impulses which could distract him from the supreme goal.

Islam enjoins upon its followers to observe one month's fast in a year. This has proved to be a very effective source of controlling one's worldly desires. The Holy Prophet of Islam fasted for more than three months during a year, besides one month's obligatory fast.

His was a comprehensive life. He went through all sorts of trials and tribulations for establishing the kingdom of God on earth. Faithfully and sincerely he performed his duties to God and His creatures, to wife and children, to relations and neighbours, to friends and foes, to the needy and disabled, to allies and aliens— in fact to all human beings. An account of his comprehensive life preserved in Traditions (Hadith) has served as a beacon light not only for his followers but to entire humanity during the last fourteen centuries or more. His exemplary life covering different spheres of human activity continues to inspire and guide human beings for the last more than 1,400 years.

Such were the exceptional qualities of head and heart possessed by the great Prophet of Islam whose noble teachings produced a society of virtuous people who laid the foundation of true democracy in the world in which there was no distinction between the ruler and the ruled.

Writing in the Legacy of Islam, David De Santillana says: "The Prophet uttered some charming words with regard to neighbourly relations: "Be kind to your neighbour. Draw the veil over him. Avoid injury. Look upon him with an eye of kindness, if you see him doing evil forgive him. If you see him doing good to you, proclaim your thankfulness".

The celebrated British writer, George Bernard Shaw, in his letter to Mr. Najmi Saqib of Cyprus acknowledges that Prophet Muhammad's (Peace be upon him) teachings on the status of women, exposure of female children and kindness to animals, were "far ahead of Western Christian thought, even of modem thought".

The great Western historian, Edward Gibbon observes: "The good sense of Muhammad (Peace be upon him) 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 cows and mended with his own hands shoes and his woollen garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit he observed without effort and vanity, the abstemious diet of an Arab and a soldier. On solemn occasions he feted his Companions with hospitable plenty; but in his domestic life, many weeks would elapse without a fire being kindled in the hearth of the Prophet".

"Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was a man of truth and fidelity", says Thomas Carlyle, "true in what he said, in what he spoke, in what he thought; he always meant something; a man rather taciturn in speech, silent when there was nothing to be said but pertinent, wise, sincere when he did speak, always throwing light on the matter".

"His intellectual qualities," says Washington Irving, "were undoubtedly of an extraordinary kind. He had a quick apprehension, a retentive memory, a vivid imagination and an inventive genius. His military triumphs awakened neither pride nor vainglory as they would have done had they been affected 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 testimonial of respect was shown to him. If he aimed at universal domination it was the dominion of the faith: as to the temporal rule which grew up in his hands, he used it without ostentation, so he took no step to perpetuate it in his family.'

In his Histoire de la Turqui, Lamartine observes: "Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of national dogmas, of a cult without images;
the founder of 20 terrestrial Empires that is Muhammad (Peace be upon him). As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?"

"It is impossible," says Mrs. Annie Besant, "for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia who knows how he taught and how he lived to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put to you I shall say many things which may be familiar to you, yet I re-read them as a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for the mighty Arabian leader."

The famous English writer and literary critic Dr. Johnson says: "His purely historical character, his simple humanity, claiming to be a man among men, his intense realism, avoiding all mystical remoteness; the thoroughly democratic and universal form under which his idea of the divine monarchy led him to conceive the relations of men, the force of his ethical appeal all affiliate Muhammad (Peace be upon him) with the modem world".

The celebrated English writer Robert Briffault pays rich tributes to the teachings of the Holy Prophet of Islam, when he says: "The ideas of freedom for all human beings, of human brotherhood, of the equality of all men before the law of democratic government, by consultation and universal suffrage, the ideas that inspired the French Revolution and the Declaration of Rights, that guided the framing of the American Constitution and inflamed the struggle for independence in the Latin—American countries were not inventions of the West. They find their ultimate inspiration and source in the Holy Quran. They are the quintessence of what the intelligentsia of medieval Europe acquired from Islam over a period of centuries through the various societies that developed in Europe in the wake of the Grusades in imitation of the brotherhood associations of Islam. It is highly probable that but for the Arabs modern European civilization would never have arisen at all, it is absolutely certain that but for them it would never have assumed that character which has enabled it to transcend all previous phases of evolution."