Part-I
Chapter-I
La Ilaha Illallahu (There is no God, but Allah)
Begin in the Name of God Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah,
The Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds;
Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
Master of the Day of Judgement,
Thee do we worship,
And Thine aid we seek,
Show us the Straightway,
The way of those on whom
Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace,
Those whose (portion)
Is not wrath,
And who go not astray.
Amen! (Al- Qurän -1:1-7)
O God! You are One, Sublime
Exalted in Honour
Your are the Origin, End You are
You are Revealed, Concealed You are
You are One, and All Knowing (Al- Qurän -54:3).
Human is the greatest creation of God. The Almighty Has created all necessary things on earth for the comfort and enjoyment of the humankind. God has given guidelines through Muhammad, His Prophet for enjoying all His bounties. This is a comprehensive stricture for all conceivable human activities public or private on this earth. These activities might be private, personal, public, ritualistic, economic, social, political, spiritual, national or international. The Prophet applied these rules of God in their true form in his own life and established a perfect example for all to follow. His life is a reflection of God’s injunctions and nothing else. In public, private, national and international affairs and at war or peace, Muhammad never deviated from the code of Allah. Prophet Muhammad told the people that these injunctions of God are inscribed in the Holy Qurän. Their deliverance depends on the obedience of His strictures. On the earth, they would live in peace and prosperity, if they abide by God’s rules and they would be rewarded hereafter. The Prophet has assured this.
Muhammadur Rasulullah:
MUHAMMAD THE MESSENGER OF GOD (PBUH)
Now hath come unto you
An apostle from amongst
Yourselves: it grieves him
That ye should perish: Ardently anxious is he
Over you: to the Believers
Is he most kind and merciful (Al-Qurän 9:128).
Muhammad is the Messenger of God through whom God has sent the Qurän, a complete code of life. Starting from the birth to the grave all actions of man are for in the Qurän. Instructions are given to conduct ourselves in this world and to prepare for hereafter. Prophet Muhammad portrayed the Qurän by materializing its injunctions through his dealings in all mundane and spiritual affairs. His life is an example of the Quränic canons and their true exercise. For his votaries, the key to a blissful prosperous life is to follow him carefully in all earthly and spiritual activities.
God in the Holy Qurän says,
- GOD DID CONFER A GREAT FAVOUR ON THE BELIEVERS WHEN HE SENT AMONG THEM AN APOSTLE FROM AMONG THEMSELVES, REHEARSING UNTO THEM THE SIGNS OF GOD, SANCTIFYING THEM, AND INSTRUCTING THEM IN SCRIPTURE AND WISDOM, (AL-QURÄN - 3:164).
- AND WE HAVE SENT DOWN UNTO THEE (ALSO) THE MESSAGE; THAT THOU MAYEST EXPLAIN CLEARLY TO MEN WHAT IS SENT FOR THEM, (AL-QURÄN - 16:44).
- ... AND WE HAVE SENT DOWN TO THEE THE BOOK EXPLAINING ALL THINGS, A GUIDE, A MERCY, AND GLAD TIDINGS TO MUSLIMS (AL-QURÄN - 16:89).
- WE HAVE INDEED IN THE APOSTLE OF GOD A BEAUTIFUL PATTERN (OF CONDUCT) FOR ANY ONE WHOSE HOPE IS IN GOD AND THE FINAL DAY, AND WHO ENGAGES MUCH IN THE PRAISE OF GOD (AL-QURÄN - 33:21).
- O PROPHET! TRULY, WE HAVE SENT THEE AS A WITNESS, A BEARER OF GLAD TIDINGS, AND A WARNER, - AND AS ONE WHO INVITES TO GOD’S (GRACE) BY HIS LEAVE, AND AS A LAMP SPREADING LIGHT (AL-QURÄN - 33:45-46).
- NOR DOES HE SAY (AUGHT) OF (HIS OWN) DESIRE (AL-QURÄN - 53:3).
- HE WAS TAUGHT BY ONE MIGHTY IN POWER (AL-QURÄN - 53:5).
- ENDUED WITH WISDOM: FOR HE APPEARED (IN STATELY FORM) WHILE HE WAS IN THE HIGHEST PART OF THE HORIZON: (AL-QURÄN - 53:6).
He attained perfection in Knowledge and Wisdom through Divine superintendence and guidance. Therefore, his education was complete, impeccable and perfect. Under the Divine Guidance of the Supreme Lord, Muhammad acquired knowledge of the highest order in all the branches of learning and became the Teacher of the supreme calibre for the humankind. At the head of all the learned, he taught the people, enlightening their hearts with the eternal light of knowledge and wisdom. The blazing light of his lessons have been illuminating the world and would keep on doing so until the end. Only by adhering to the teachings of the last Prophet, people would live in peace, harmony and blissful prosperity.
The Master of the Worlds granted universality to Muhammad, in a way that he never done in the case of other prophets. In the special epithets that God used for prophets like: Safiullah for Adam, Nabiullah for Noah, Khalilullah for Abraham, Jabiullah for Ishmael, Kalimullah for Moses and Ruhullah for Jesus, do not denote universality. None but Muhammad is described and addressed in the Holy Qurän as”: “Muhammadur Rasulullah” (Muhammad is the Apostle of God),” and as “O Apostle” (Al-Qurän - 48:29 Al-Qurän - 5:70, respectively).
Furthermore, at different chapters and verses God discussed and described other prophets as:
- WE SENT NOAH TO HIS PEOPLE (AL-QURÄN - 7:59).
- TO THE ÄD PEOPLE, (WE SENT) HÜD, ONE OF THEIR (OWN) BRETHREN (AL-QURÄN - 7:65).
- TO THE THAMÜD PEOPLE, (WE SENT) SÄLIH, ONE OF THEIR (OWN) BRETHREN (AL-QURÄN - 7:73).
- TO THE MADYAN PEOPLE WE SENT SHU’AIB, ONE OF THEIR OWN BRETHREN (AL-QURÄN - 7:85).
- WE SENT MOSES WITH OUR SIGNS (AND THE COMMAND). ‘BRING OUT THY PEOPLE FROM THE DEPTHS OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT’ (AL-QURÄN - 14:5).
- AND (APPOINTED HIM: JESUS) AN APOSTLE TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL (AL-QURÄN - 3:49).
- WE HAVE NOT SENT THEE BUT AS A UNIVERSAL (MESSENGER) TO MEN, GIVING THEM GLAD TIDINGS, AND WARNING THEM (AGAINST SIN) (AL-QURÄN - 34:28).
- THERE HATH COME TO YOU FROM GOD A (NEW) LIGHT AND A PERSPICUOUS BOOK (AL-QURÄN - 5:17).
- THESE ARE THE SIGNS OF GOD: WE REHEARSE THEM TO THEE IN TRUTH: VERILY THOU ART ONE OF THE APOSTLES (AL-QURÄN - 2:252).
In this manner, God granted Muhammad universality and made him the Prophet of the humankind and the Jinni. He has the highest rank among all the prophets of God.
Prophet of the Jinni and Humankind: Muhammad:
Muhammad is not a Prophet of only humankind but the Jinni, as well. At the Day of Judgement, God Shall only Judge humankind and jinni among all His creations. The Prophet says, “I have been sent for both humankind and the Jinni.” God in the Holy Qurän says,
- SAY: ‘IT HAS BEEN REVEALED TO ME THAT A COMPANY OF JINNI LISTENED (TO THE QURÄN).’ THEY SAID, ‘WE HAVE REALLY HEARD A WONDERFUL RECITAL! IT GIVES GUIDANCE TO THE RIGHT, AND WE HAVE BELIEVED THEREIN: WE SHALL NOT JOIN (IN WORSHIP) ANY (GODS) WITH OUR LORD’ (AL-QURÄN - 72:1-2).
Unique Personality
“Qul Inna Ma Ana Basarrum Mislukum Uha Ilaiya (Say, I am a human, as you are, on whom descends divine messages),” said the Qurän about the Prophet. Now that, divine messages do not come to ordinary people, Muhammad is not an ordinary man. Muhammad said about himself: “I am not like any of you, I pass nights with my Master and He feeds me (Ahadith).” God says in the Holy Qurän:
- HE KNOWS WHAT IS BEFORE THEM, AND WHAT IS BEHIND THEM, AND THEY OFFER NO INTERCESSION EXCEPT FOR THOSE WHO ARE ACCEPTABLE, AND THEY STAND IN AWE AND REVERENCE OF HIS (GLORY) (AL-QURÄN - 21:28).
In the Holy Qurän God again says,
- GOD AND HIS ANGELS SEND BLESSINGS ON THE PROPHET: O YE THAT BELIEVE! SEND YE BLESSINGS ON HIM, AND SALUTE HIM WITH ALL RESPECT (AL-QURÄN - 33: 56).
These clearly show the high status granted to the Prophet by God. He is the Prophet, the greatest of all prophets.
This is what the greatest of the prophets, Prophet Muhammad preached, practiced and urged upon his followers to do as he did. All his life he endeavoured to accomplish deliverance for the people, through righteous belief and deed and to achieve global peace and harmony. He called upon the people, not a section, tribe, community or even a nation, but all the people of the world to pay respect to none but Allah the Supreme Lord and do only good to His creations. That is why he is attributed the title of the ‘Mercy of the Universe’.
This book is written for those who are in quest of global peace, security and prosperity, for them to be able to follow the ideals of the Prophet, in the light of Quränic injunctions. Comments and Observations of some renowned scholars and religious leaders of different religions have been included in this for the benefit of the readers.
God in the Qurän repeatedly says,
Never before any Rasul, Nabi3, Savants or anyone else met God, the Creator of the Worlds, face to face and talked to Him, from so close a distance. Never again would it happen before the Day of Judgement.
Phenomenal:
Hazrat Ali (Radhi Allahu Anhu) in a speech said, “None could be compared to Muhammad and the damage caused by his death is irreparable and never would a situation arise by which the vacuum could be filled.”1Messenger of Peace Muhammad:
Muhammad’s ideology, his undertakings and his prayers have been adorned with superb success. He built a nation well accomplished in all respects out of a savage people within a very short time. So complete was their foundation that within a century these people accomplished excellence in all branches of knowledge. Fourteen hundred years ago, he established a Social Welfare organization ‘Hilful Fudhul’ that provided the basis for today’s charitable organizations, world over. Organizations like the Red Cross or Red Crescent or even UNICEF reflect the main theme of ‘Hilful Fudhul’, the organization that channelled the youthful energy into charitable activities. Similarly, he founded nursing crops with women to look after the war casualties and to nurse the wounded. This idea has expanded rapidly among the nations of the world and contributed tremendously toward treatments of patients in peace and war. The Prophet said, “That, who is kind to His Creations, serves the Lord.” Today the worldwide humanitarian services are a reflection of that idea propagated fourteen hundred years ago by none other than Prophet Muhammad. The Harbinger of Peace told his votaries “think of the people as a single body. If a part of the human body is hurt the whole suffers, so if one among you is afflicted, the whole community should feel the pain.” He again said, “Be equally kind to all.” This conviction around the world today arouses the compassion of the people when a section of them, no matter how far removed, is beset with calamities like Cyclone, Tidal Bore, Earthquake, Famine, and Epidemic, Avalanche or even war and civil wars.This is what the greatest of the prophets, Prophet Muhammad preached, practiced and urged upon his followers to do as he did. All his life he endeavoured to accomplish deliverance for the people, through righteous belief and deed and to achieve global peace and harmony. He called upon the people, not a section, tribe, community or even a nation, but all the people of the world to pay respect to none but Allah the Supreme Lord and do only good to His creations. That is why he is attributed the title of the ‘Mercy of the Universe’.
This book is written for those who are in quest of global peace, security and prosperity, for them to be able to follow the ideals of the Prophet, in the light of Quränic injunctions. Comments and Observations of some renowned scholars and religious leaders of different religions have been included in this for the benefit of the readers.
God in the Qurän repeatedly says,
- VERILY THIS IS A REVELATION FROM THE LORD OF THE WORLDS: WITH IT CAME DOWN THE SPIRIT OF FAITH AND TRUTH - TO THY HEART AND MIND, THAT THOU MAYEST ADMONISH IN THE PERSPICUOUS ARABIC TONGUE. WITHOUT DOUBT IT IS (ANNOUNCED) IN THE MYSTIC BOOKS OF FORMER PEOPLES (AL-QURÄN - 26:192-196).
- FOR WE ASSUREDLY SENT AMONGST EVERY PEOPLE AN APOSTLE, (WITH THE COMMAND), ‘SERVE GOD, AND ESCHEW EVIL’ (AL-QURÄN - 16:36).
The Greatest Prophet Is Granted an Audience with God
At fifty, the great Prophet Muhammad on 27th of Razab, in the night invited by God went for an audience with Him riding the Burraq. Riding through the space, he reached to the extreme frontiers of the space. God granted him an audience. He addressed God saying, “Attahiahtulillahi Was Salawatu Wat Taiyabatu (Oral, physical and pecuniary, all worshipping is only for God).” God Jallah Jalaluh ( ?? ?? ?? - Supreme is God in Benevolence) replied, “Wa Assalamu Alaika Aiuhannabiu Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu (O dear Prophet! Peace, mercy and increment be upon you).” They met and talked from very near. At the end of the parley, the Prophet returned to the Ka’aba with the instruction of prayers, five times a day (Al-Qurän - 17:1 and 53:7-9, and Al-Hadith).Never before any Rasul, Nabi3, Savants or anyone else met God, the Creator of the Worlds, face to face and talked to Him, from so close a distance. Never again would it happen before the Day of Judgement.
Paraclete Prophet Muhammad On the Day of Judgement:
On the Day of Judgement Allah ‘?? ?? ??’ (Jallah Jalaluhu) would sit in Judgement. All prophets, nabis, rasuls, saints, savants, from Adam to all jinni and human born before the doom’s day, stand heads bowed before Him. Followers would beseech their respective leaders to intercede on their behalf. Save one, all would express their inability to do so. Referring to this God says in the Qurän:- WHO IS THERE CAN INTERCEDE IN HIS PRESENCE EXCEPT AS HE PERMITTETH? (AL-QURÄN - 2:255)
He again says:
In a tradition narrated by Hazrat Ali, the Prophet said, “Allah Most Gracious, Most Merciful would grant my intercession for my followers.” One day the Syed ul Mursalin (leader of the prophets) recited a verse about Abraham and then about Jesus and then in a voice choked with tears cried my followers, my followers. Allah Most Merciful sent Gabriel to inquire about the reason (Saying, but I know all). Asked about the reason the Prophet replied: “I want deliverance of my adherents.” God ordered Gabriel: “Go and tell that Allah would satisfy you regarding your disciples and would not give you cause for pain.4” In another Hadith, the Prophet said, “On the day of Judgement first I would entreat for my followers. 5”
Then it is urged: O the Faithful offer your best salat (durud: benediction) and salaam for the Prophet. Here salat means to offer the best of love and affection with the utmost reverence and submission. To express gratitude for being enlightened as a faithful to earn the approval of the Prophet through which to ultimately attain God’s approval.
This is the thing (reciting durud) that God does and gets it done by the angels. Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful and the angels high above and man beneath, as wished by the Master, in the mundane world are sending salaam and durud (blessings) on the Prophet.
God might and might not grant prayers, but after invoking durud (blessings) and salaam, God grants wishes. That is why provision for reciting durud after prayers is there. It is hoped that would recommend prayers to be granted.6
That Muhammad would come as a prophet was decided much earlier, he is the promised prophet. Muhammad says, “Ana Nurullah Owakullay Shaiuummin Nuri (I am created from the Nur (Light) of God and rest of the things are created from my Light).7” He further says, “The very first thing that God Has created is my Nur.” This testifies that Muhammad was created before all the prophets. From Adam to Jesus many of these great men presaged the arrival of Prophet Muhammad. There are predictions in Veda, Purana, Zend-Avesta, Dhigha-Nikaya, Torah, Zabur and the Bible about the advent of Muhammad, the last of the prophets. Some examples are given below:
Maharishi Vayasa is greatly revered by the Hindus as a pious God-fearing pure-hearted learned divine. He arranged the Vedas under various heads and wrote a valuable book on mysticism. The Gita and Maha Bharat both ensued from his mighty pen. The eighteen volumes of Puranas are his greatest compilation. Bhavishaya Purana is a leading Purana. Since it gives an account of the future events, it is called the Bhavishaya (future) Purana. Hindus revere it as the Word of God just as the Vedas. English translations, of the following prophecies quoted from Bhavishaya Purana9 are given here:10 “A malechcha (belonging to a foreign country and speaking foreign language) spiritual teacher will appear with his companions. His name will be Mohammed. Raja (Bhoj) after giving this Maha Dev Arab (of angelic disposition) a bath in Panchgavya and the Ganges water (i.e., purging him of all sins) offered him the presents of his sincere devotion and showing him all reverence said, ‘I make obeisance to thee.’ ‘O Ye! The pride of humankind, the dweller in Arabia, Ye have collected the great force to kill the Devil and you yourself have been protected from the malechcha opponents.’ ‘O Ye! The image of the Most Pious God the biggest Lord, I am a slave to thee, take me as one lying on thy feet’.” In this eulogy of the Holy Prophet, the Maharishi Vayasa illustrates the following:
The bath in the Panchgavya and the Ganges may demand an explanation. The actual bath did not take place since this was only a vision and could have meant that the Prophet would be purged of all sins and be made sin free. In the Bhavishaya Purana, in Shlokas 10-27 another clearer prophecy is made about the appearance of Muhammad. The Maharishi comments about the holy Prophet: “The Malechchas have spoiled the well known land of the Arabs. Arya Dharma is not to be found in that country. Before also there appeared a misguided fiend whom I had killed, he has now again appeared being sent by a powerful enemy. To show these enemies the right path and give them guidance the well known ‘Muhamad’ (Muhammad), who has been given by me the epithet of Brahma, is busy in bringing the Pishachas to the right path. O Raja! You need not go to the land of the foolish Pishachas; you will be purified through my kindness even where you are. At night he of the angelic disposition, the shrewd man, in the guise of a Pishacha said to Raja Bhoj, “O Raja! Your Arya Dharma is to prevail over all religions, but according to the commandments of Ishwar Pramatma, I shall enforce the strong creed of the meat-eaters. My follower will be a man circumcised, without a tail (on his head), keeping beard, creating a revolution, announcing Adzan (call for prayers) and will be eating all lawful things. He will eat all sorts of animals except swine. They will not be purified with the holy shrubs, but will be purified through warfare. Because of their fighting the irreligious nations, they will be known as Musalmans. I shall be the originator of this religion of the meat-eating nation.11
Though ‘malechcha’ is used in a bad sense, the Maharishi used it in a different sense and he defines it as, “A man of good actions, sharp intellect, spiritual eminence, showing reverence to the deities, is known as a wise ‘malechcha’.”13
Prophecies in the Atharva Veda:
In the Atharva Veda, all kinds of mantras like Rig Vedic Richas (eulogies), Sam Vedic literary compositions and Yajur Vedic details of worship are found. It also contains mantras describing treatments of fatal diseases, technique of warfare and description of heaven and hell. Therefore, the Atharva Veda is a leading book among the four Vedas known as Brahma Veda or Divine Knowledge.
No other Shlokas of the four Vedas are so emphatically addressed to the people. Since people are urged to listen to the mantra respectfully and attentively, they cannot dismiss it as a riddle. ‘Astvishyate’, the Sanskrit word is in the future tense form and means ‘he will be praised’. It certainly is talking about some future event, when a Prophet will be greatly praised, and this attests to its being a prophecy.
This mantra thus makes it clear that the promised one will be an Arab. An Indian Rishi could not ride a camel, as the Dharma Shastra prohibits it as is forbidden the flesh and milk of the camel (Manu V: 5, 18). Similarly, the Brahmins are forbidden to ride a camel. “A Brahmin is polluted by wilfully riding an ass or a camel and by bathing naked. They can be absolved from this pollution only by holding breath for a long time (Manu XI: 201). This prohibition makes it very clear that the promised one belongs to Arabia, for no Indian rishi rides a camel.
According to the Sathpath Brahmana (XII: 9.1.4.), considered a revealed commentary of Yajur Veda, gold is metaphorically used to indicate spiritual power of a man. Prophet’s companions were therefore, the coins of pure gold, since they have gone through unimaginable sufferings and hardships. One hundred companions migrated to Abyssinia fulfilling the prophecy that a hundred coins would be given to the promised Rishi.
Kuntap Sukt’s mantras clearly give the name of the Prophet as Mamah This name resembles Muhammad, in form and pronunciation and conveys the same meaning. The mantras also show Muhammad as a great Rishi bestowed with divine gifts. They were so tried, exalted and perfected through trial and tribulations that they were compared to flowers of paradise. These companions were not only saintly but they were also great warriors. Great worshipers of God, they also excelled in the battlefields. History testifies that all these prophecies were fulfilled only in the person of the Prophet. Revelation about the Prophet manifested in the same order as mentioned in the mantras. To begin with, the Prophet was given the hundred gold coins, then the ‘Ashra-i-Mubashshara’, then the three hundred companions who fought along with him in the battle of Badr and lastly the ten thousand saintly companions that accompanied him at the conquest of Mecca. No person having the attributes mentioned above and fulfilling the description of the mantras can be found in the human history other than the Prophet of Islam.
Muhammad In Shloka 5:27:1 In Rig Veda:
The above Shlokas mean that the truthful, learned, mighty, benevolent Muhammad (Peace be upon him) with the carriage has honoured me with his sermon. The son of the Almighty, the alembic of all good qualities, mercy of the world would earn fame with his ten thousand companions.
Washington Irving in his ‘Life of Muhammad’ writes, “The Prophet Muhammad departed with ten thousand men on this enterprise.” His number ‘ten thousand’ is an attestation of the prophecy of the Rig-Veda coming true.
In Dasatir, there is similar prophecy about his advent: “when the Persians abandoning their own religion fall into the lowest abyss of their moral turpitude a great man would be born in Arabia whose followers would defeat the indomitable Persians. Leaving fire worshipping in their monasteries they would pray, facing the Ka’aba of Abraham. They would conquer Persia, Madyan, Tus, Balk and other Persian sacred places. Their prophet would be a great orator and preach many wonderful things.”
“Whence man wilt forget the teachings of Gautam Buddha there will come another Buddha called Moittaya (Sanskrit: Maitreya) meaning the (Buddha) of peace and mercy.” Moittaya here indicated Muhammad because after Buddha nobody became famous as ‘Rahmatullil Al-Amin’ other then Muhammad. Maitreya means repository of mercy and comrade of all. Below as an attestation is given a quotation discovered in Ceylon:
Ananda asked the Blessed one: “Who shall teach us when thou art gone?” And the Blessed one replied, “I am not the first Buddha who came to the earth, nor shall I be the last. In one time, another Buddha will arise in the world; a holy one supremely enlightened one endowed with wisdom in conduct. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure such as I now proclaim.” Ananda asked, “How shall we know him?” The Blessed one said: “He will be known as Maitreya.”19
Buddha means ‘with wisdom’ and Buddha is a human being not a god. “It is only a human being not a deity that can be a Buddha.”21
In the Holy Qurän God says about Muhammad:
The milk of the twenty more camels that he owned was used to feed his children and entertain guests; he also owned seven milking goats but no buffaloes. Buffaloes were not available in Arabia.31 He had three pieces of land and a few wells; in Arabia, owning wells indicated wealth, as water was very dear, due to its scarcity in the Arabian Desert.32
Muhammad had twelve wives, four sons and four daughters, therefore, fulfilled one of the criterion ‘of being a father’ to be a Buddha. He defeated and subjugated thousands in battles to establish his rule over a vast area and ruled as a representative of the Supreme Lord, Allah. “The fare of desert seemed most congenial to him even when he was sovereign of Arabia.”33
Hazrat Muhammad lived his allotted time i.e. his life was not cut short by anybody. He “mended his own clothes, milked the goats and waited upon himself.”34 All through his life, Hazrat Muhammad preached religion. History abounds in information regarding his preaching activities.35 He was very popular and illustrious as a preacher.
Hazrat Muhammad recognized his predecessor-rishis. It is stated in the second Süra of the Qurän:
When Muhammad appeared as a ‘Buddha’, there was no other ‘Buddha’ in the world. At the time of his advent, the world was immersed into social and religious defilement. He had no worldly teacher and was unlettered. That is why he is called ‘Ummi’ (illiterate). The Qurän is the anthology of God-send-messages Muhammad received in visions. Where it is said:
Hazrat Muhammad ((PBUH) had seen an enormous tree on the right of Allah’s Throne. It was so huge that a horse rider cannot ride through its shadow in one hundred years. In Paradise, there is a tree (such) that a rider cannot cross its shade even in hundred years.38 Muhammad watched the heavenly tree intently without even flinching.
It is said about the Maitreya Buddha that he cannot turn his neck without turning the whole body. This was evident in Muhammad; he turned his entire body to face people to talk. “If he turned in conversation towards a friend, he turned not partially, but with his full face and his whole body.”39
It is apparent that Muhammad had all the qualities of a Buddha. It, therefore, can be concluded without any doubt that the prophesied Maitreya Buddha referred to in the Buddhist Scripture is none other than Muhammad.
In another place it states: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deut. 18:18). “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him” (Deut. 18:18-19).
And again, the Torah says, “And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.”
“And he said, “The Lord came from Si´-nai and rose up from Se´-ir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” (Deut 33:1-2).
All this sacred sayings are only applicable to Muhammad and any knowledgeable person will admit that.
And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed I am not the Christ.
And they asked him, What then? Art thou E-lí-as? and he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as he said the prophet E-sá-ias.
And they which were sent were of Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor E-lí-as, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:19-27).
It is evident from, “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:19-27), that there would be a prophet other than Christ and E-lí-as was known to the Jewish.
Here it leaves no doubt that this prophet certainly, is Muhammad, since there came no prophet except Muhammad after Jesus Christ.
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you” (John 16:7).
This Paraclete mentioned in the Bible (John 16:7) indicates to Muhammad, because, no prophet other than Muhammad has come after Jesus Christ. Paraclete means ‘Comforter’ or ‘Most Praiseworthy’. Both these were used for Muhammad. Padre Merry Michel in his interpretation of the ‘New Testament’ wrote that the prophecy of a Paraclete (John 16:7) meaning Ahmed or Muhammad could not be denied by any until the Doom’s Day. Therefore, there can be no doubt about Muhammad’s (PBUH) coming.
Zed dodi w’ Zehrei benot y’rushalaim.
Canticum canticorum (His mouth is most sweet: ye he is altogether Lovely. 5:16 Hebrew Bible, p.159).
This is my beloved and this is my friend, o daughters of Jerusalem (Solomon’s song 5:16, Oxford Bible, p. 594).
Hazrat Solaiman (Solomon) in his song’s (chapter-5) described physical qualities of his beloved. At last, he said, ‘W’Kullo Mahammaddim’ meaning He is Muhammad. Translators translated it as ‘Lovely’. In fact, it should be ‘His countenance is lovely and he is ‘Muhammad’. O the daughters of Jerusalem, he is my favourite and he is my friend’.
“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;” (Deut. 18:15).
“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deut. 18:18).
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die” (Deut. 18:18-19).
We have briefly stated below why these prophecies do not apply to Jesus Christ.
“Who is this King of glory? ‘The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle’.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory.” (Ps. 27:7-10).
In the Bible (New Testament) and in the Torah (Old Testament) in many places ‘the King of glory’ has been mentioned, and prophecies have been made about him. The question, ‘Who is this King of glory’ and the answer ‘The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle’ and ‘The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory’, is placed accurately beautifully.
That who did not fight and led no army and was crucified by his enemies, Jesus clearly does not qualify. Therefore, Muhammad who subjugated the savage Arabs and moulded this wild nomadic people into a civil and disciplined nation, and built an empire in the wilderness is clearly the person referred to as the ‘King of glory’.
‘Gates’ and ‘everlasting doors’ are the doors of the Ka’aba, the House of the Lord. Muhammad entered the Ka’aba on the day he conquered Mecca gloriously powerful without any ostentation. What a Majestic Sight to behold, How sublime, How exalted, What a beauty!
“They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels” (Ps. 68: 24-25).
This historic event happened in only Muhammad’s (PBUH) life. When Muslims of Mecca were tired of Quraish persecution, they were ordered to migrate to Medïna. The heathen Quraish planned to kill Muhammad and with that, intention surrounded his home. Muhammad reciting the Qurän went through the cordon unnoticed. He, along with Abu Bakr, rode a camel to Medïna, through three hundred miles of desert and reached Medïna on the 23rd September 622 AD. History recorded it as the ‘Hijrat’ (Migration).
The Medinease were ecstatic to have the great teacher, preacher, reformer and friend among them. Medïna rose to welcome the Prophet, people were consumed with joy. Muhammad arrived encircled by armed companions. People stood on the roofs and women sang:
“The moon has risen from behind the hills,
Praise be to Allah, and thanks eternal, endless
For granting this honour: to the Medinease.”42
Historian Prof. P.K. Hitti has described this event very beautifully: “Leaving the city of his birth as a despised prophet, he entered the city of his adoption as an honoured chief.”43
The description: “Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him (Ps. 68:4),” almost is a reflection of scenes at Medïna on Muhammad’s arrival.
“My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.” (Song 5:10).
And E’-noch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. To execute Judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1: 14-15).
Historian Washington Irving in his book, ‘Life of Muhammad’ wrote: ‘Muhammad went to conquer Mecca with ten thousand companions.
The Bible has definitely referred to Muhammad in the above verses not to Jesus who never went on an expedition.
Jesus Christ never adorned the seat of a Judge. He said, “…I came not to judge the world…” (John 12: 47). Muhammad is the Prophet who established a judicial system based on equality, justice and truth and ruled a vast land with many nationalities united under the banner of Islam.
“Then shall the earth yield her increase,” meaning in his time religion will attain its final shape and be complete. “This day have I Perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you” (Al- Qurän - 5:4).
After the perfection and completion of religion, there is no need for a prophet. Muhammad is, therefore, the last and universal Prophet.
The above biblical verses point to Muhammad because:
“And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.” (Mic. 5: 4).
“And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof:” (Mic. 5: 6).
“Thine land shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.” (Mic. 5: 9).
“Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of midst of thee;” (Mic. 5: 13).
“And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathens, such as they have not heard.” (Mic. 5: 15).
Here, in all, eight ‘Signs’ are mentioned about the prophesized prophet that points to Muhammad.
The heavenly kingdom that would be established after Jesus, the Committee of Saint Paul could not establish that. They had no kingdom to rule and were only preachers of good tidings. Jesus never asked them to build the heavenly kingdom but merely asked them to publicize good news of its imminence. Contrary to that, Muhammad established the heavenly land by demolishing the evils for protecting the virtuous. He is the universal Prophet, the last Prophet.
It is, therefore, evident that that was not the Committee of Paul. The ‘Son of man’ has been mentioned in the Bible at many places:
“For the Son of man shall in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he reward every man according to his works” (Matt.6:27).
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the ‘Son of man’ be” (Matt. 24:27).
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of the man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30).
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory” (Matt. 25:31).
“And then shall they see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26).
“For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch” (Mark 14:34).
That Jesus is not the Son of man, but ‘Son of man’ is a different man is proved by the verses of the Bible quoted below:
“Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).
“Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8-9).
This ‘Son of man has’ the following qualities:
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war” (Rev. 19:11).
Here the ‘Faithful’ and ‘True’ very faithfully points to Muhammad. Muhammad is famous in history as ‘Al-Amin (The Faithful) and As-Sadique (The Truthful) - titles that were bestowed on him by his people, long before the divinity.
Historian Thomas Carlyle wrote: “His companions named him ‘Al-Amin’, ‘The Faithful’. A man of truth and fidelity; true in what he did, in what he spoke and thought.”44 Famous historian Professor Hitti writes: “His tribe called him Al-Amin (The Faithful).”45
Hazrat Muhammad on the night of the Meräj rode a white carrier called ‘Burraq’ for an audience with God beyond the ‘space frontiers’, and returned to earth riding the same. Besides that, he had white horses as his carriers.
In the Kalki Purana,46 it is stated that the Kalki47 Avatar (incarnation of Vishnu) will be given a white horse and he would establish true religion by fighting and defeating the sinful and evildoers of the infernal age. The verse in the Bible: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war” (Rev. 19:11), is a reflection of the same prophesy.
It is noteworthy that to establish the truth and for the protection of his unarmed followers including women, children, old and the infirm, he had to take up arms and fight. He fought numerous battles to vanquish the corrupt and protect good, which playwright George Bernard Shaw praised immensely.
O people of the world listen carefully with your souls that Faithful and Kalki Avatar who fought to establish truth is none other than Muhammad! There is no scope after this to deny Muhammad, the Prophet of the prophets, the last Prophet of God.
Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya in the conclusion writes, “Once Buddha preached a religion to cleanse the Vedic religion of superstitions. Nevertheless, the religion and its followers were despised. People considered Buddhist religion as a new religion other than Vedic. However, when it was proved that Buddha is the twenty-third ‘Avatar’ of the twenty-four mentioned in the Purana, they unanimously accepted Buddha as an Avatar and the rivalry between Buddhism and Hinduism ended. Likewise, Muhammad’s religion and his followers may seem to people non-Vedic. However, the description of the twenty-fourth ‘Avatar’ and the narration in the twelfth chapter of Bhagabat Purana, describing the Avatar leaves no doubt about ‘Muhammad’ being the mentioned Avatar. Then, I came to believe that, he (Muhammad) is the ‘Kalki’ Avatar, and the Vedic religion reached its completion through his religion. One day will come when all Brahma, Sakta, Jains, Buddhists, religious and good intelligent people will accept Islam. Consequently, the whole population together will establish a huge united community in India. Belief come through conviction and do not expand and spread through arms and coercion. People spontaneously accept the truth, when God shows the light and the heart enlightens. It is the duty of the religious scholars to express the truth about religion. People accept religion voluntarily, if obeisance of religion can be produced in their hearts.”
Dr. Upadhaya, discussing elaborately in the above book about ‘Maha Kalki’ i.e. Hazrat Muhammad writes, “The main Hindu Scriptures that prophesied about Muhammad are: Matshaya Purana, Karma Purana, Bohraha Purana, Narashingha Purana, Baman Purana, Bishnu Purana, Devi Bhagabat, Shrimadbhagabat, Bhavishaya Purana, Brahma Boibartaya Purana, Garuda Purana, Kalki Purana, Jain Mahabhashaya, Brihaddhrama Purana, Hari Bhashaya, Agni Purana, Bishnu Dharma Tayattha, Baiyoo Purana and Maha Bharata.
There have not been as many prophecies about any other great men, as there are about Muhammad in various scriptures of many religions of the world.” He again said, “The Muslims are the disciples48 of the Kalki that Indians believe is ‘Bhagaban’.
Analyzing the scriptures of the world, it becomes apparent that some of them remained obscured, lost or hidden for a few hundred or thousand years from the world. Aryans proscribed non-Aryans reading or even hearing Veda, their scripture. The Bible was almost destroyed by the enemies. Even their followers therefore, sometimes question the authenticity of these scriptures. On the contrary, the Holy Qurän never has been obscured from the sight of the world. If the other scriptures are lost, it is impossible to recover them completely, but the Qurän. Since, Qurän, this majestic book has been committed to memory by thousands and thousands of people around the world, and immortal it dwells in their hearts. The Qurän, therefore, remains, as it is, without the slightest alteration or addition, as pure as it was fourteen hundred years ago. This purity is unique and is a challenge to all other religious scriptures, which cannot be met by any of them. Thus, Qurän can claim to be the true, pure and eternal book of God.
India and the world are impatiently waiting for the ‘Kalki’ the last of the prophets. In various scriptures, his advent is described variously and the signs to recognize him are given. In our Veda Purana, in many places, the description is there. Muslims contend that the ‘Kalki’ of the Veda Purana is Muhammad. According to the research findings of Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya, his advent has been foretold in four ways. Firstly, Narashansah meaning ‘the Praised’ has been shown as the meaning of ‘Muhammad’. Secondly, as the ‘last Rishi’: the Qurän has described Muhammad as the last Prophet. Thirdly, as the ‘Kalki Avatar’, i.e. he will be the Prophet of the last epoch, and Muhammad has come in the last era of the world. Fourthly, he is mentioned with his name in the Veda. Therefore, all indications surely lead to Muhammad.
Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya has written three books, namely: ‘Narashansah Aur Antim Rishi’ (Narashansah and the last Rishi), ‘Kalki Avatar Aur Muhammad Sahib’ (Kalki Avatar and Mr. Muhammad), and ‘Veda o Purana Ki Drishthi Mai Dharmia Ekata Ki Joti’ (In the eyes of Veda and Purana, the radiance of religious unity). He translated those three books and put them together as, ‘Veday o Puranai Hazrat Muhammad’ (Hazrat Muhammad in Veda and Purana).
I conclude with the prayers that let true knowledge flourish, let there be friendship and love between the Hindus and the Muslims, and may God grant us all wisdom and strength to understand and accept the truth without any hesitation.
The Mahatma remarks: “Hazrat Muhammad was a great Prophet. He was brave and feared no man but God alone. He was never found to say one thing and do another. He acted as he felt. The prophet was a fakir. He could have commanded wealth if he had so desired. I shed tears when I read of the privations, he and his family and companions suffered voluntarily. How can a truth-seeker like me help respecting one whose mind was constantly fixed on God, who ever walked in God’s fear and who had boundless compassion for mankind. It was the rigid simplicity, utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission: that and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle.”
“I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of the Qurän which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness.”49
In an assembly of savants, governors and nobles at Cairo, Napoleon declared, “Surely I have told you on different occasions that I have intimated to you by various discourses that I am a Unitarian ‘Musalman’ and I glorify the prophet, Muhammad.”50
When people in Egypt, China or Indian subcontinent did not know the application of scientific methods, Greeks were a bit enlightened and the Romans were very ignorant: the Arab Muslims earned the knowledge and expertise to apply scientific methods. Therefore, they are called the father of modern science.51
MN Roy goes on to write, “The apparently sudden rise and dramatic expansion of Muhammadanism constitutes a most fascinating chapter in the history of mankind.”
Then again, he writes,” Every prophet establishes his pretension by the performance of miracles. On that token, Muhammad must be recognized as by far the greatest of all prophets before or after him. The expansion of Islam is the most miraculous of all miracles. The Roman Empire of Augustus, enlarged by the valiant Trojans, was the result of the rarest and glorious victories, won over a period of 700 years; still it had not attained the proportions of the Arabian Empire, established in less than a century.”
He further says, “Muhammad, the Great man abolishing the gap between the affluent and the indigent established a universal fraternity. The serene light of brotherhood that abolished class system through Islam is a lofty ideal for the world. He destroyed all distinction between the fair and the dark, poor and the rich, high and the low, Aryans and non-Aryans, male and the female and between servants and masters. All are equal before God. I do not know of a religion that has this characteristic of universal brotherhood. Hinduism is choked by the curse of caste system. Christianity, the great proponent of equality also has not been able to create such an ideal system. As soon as one confesses faith in Islam, he becomes the member of a universal fraternity, where he is equal to all other members. The King and the subject are equals. If this idea of a universal fraternity is not noble then no religion on earth can exit vibrantly.”
Muhammad was endowed with kindness, altruism, benevolence, chivalry, truthfulness, independence, God worshipping, devotion to God, etc. He has accomplished many supernatural things, benefited countless people of this world, created a new religion, and illuminated this captivating, ignorant and visionless world with spiritual light of knowledge. Removing oppression, tyranny, injustice, superstition, ignorance and vice, he saved the then central Asia from destruction.
Fakir Muhammad is a principal Jewel in the Crown of the earth; he is a divine being from the heavens, not a human of this elusive earth.
Muhammad through his own lifestyle taught that there should be total equality and goodwill among the Muslims and there cannot be any distinction of caste, creed or sex. The Turkish Sultan may buy a slave in the African market and bring him to Turkey in chains, but if he is capable and endowed with good qualities, he may marry the daughter of the Sultan.
And what the Hindus do? If a missionary touches the food of a chaste Hindu, he would throw the food immediately. Here is the difference between the Muslims and others-irrespective of caste and creed all are treated equal- this is the majestic grandeur of Islam.
He again says, “After elaborate debate and deliberations we had to generally admit that mainly there are little differences between these two religions. If there were not so much bickering, earlier these two could have merged. All admit that if the six main points of the Qurän namely: ‘Unity of God’, ‘recognition of the Bible’, ‘recognition of few others specific divine scriptures’, ‘the Day of Judgement’ and the commandments of God, are the principal doctrines of Islam then there is nothing to quarrel. That Muhammad has dedicated his life to preach the truth, justice and welfare of the people. That he has been able to express God through Truth is a testimony of his being a prophet.
... There is no doubt Muhammad was a man of extraordinary insight and deep reflection. Though without a book learning, he had a deep knowledge of man and possessed a grasp of the eternal ground of all religions.”
He is further quoted as saying: “Islam admitted the salvation of men of any form and faith provided they were virtuous.”
J.W. Draper, in his book, ‘A History of Intellectual Development of Europe’ says, “It is altogether a misconception to assume that the Arabian progress was due to the sword alone. The sword may change an acknowledged creed, but it cannot affect the conscience of men. Profound though its argument is, something more profound was demanded before Muhammadanism came pervading the domestic life of Asia and Africa.”
Carlyle further writes about Muhammad: “I say the great man was a lightning out of heaven; the rest of man waited for him like fuel and then they would flame.”
He also wrote that the piety of Moses and Christ rejoiced in an assurance at a future Prophet (Muhammad) more illustrious than them: and the Evangelists promise of the Paraclete on Holy ghosts, the comforter, was prefigured in the name and accomplished in person of the greatest and last of the Prophets.59 He further elaborates: “Islam never interfered with the dogmas of any faith never established and acquisition.
Muir further writes, “There is probably in the world no other work which has remained twelve centuries with so pure a text as the Qurän. Efforts of European scholars to prove the existence of later interpolation in the Qurän has failed (vide also article ‘Qurän’ in the Encyclopaedia Britannica).”
Gibbon distinguished the expansion of Islam as “one of the most memorable revolutions...”
Bodley narrates: “Muhammad said, ‘He who wrongs a Jew or a Christian will have me as accuser,’ and repeatedly recommends this tolerance towards the faith, which resembled his own. In all his treaties with the Christians, he invariably guaranteed their right of worship. Bodley narrates: “When Omar became Caliph and captured Jerusalem, he gave rigid injunctions that neither Christian nor their church should be harmed. When they invaded Spain in the eighth century, everything Christian was respected. It continued to be so until the disintegration of the Arab rule in Europe during the fifteenth century.”
Bodley writes, “Muhammad’s order relating to the Muslim attitude towards Christianity has, with few exceptions, been maintained.” This is contrary to the European who professes a religion or faith, which is not Christian, is wrong. Even within the Christian fold, the various denominations consider each other as respectively misguided. There is little tolerance between church and chapel. This is not so with Islam. When the Muslim faith unconditionally condemns idolatry, it unreservedly recognizes Christianity.
Bodley describes, “No Jew or Buddhist or Christian ever say that his faith grew before him with such miraculous rapidity. No other religious leader was ever so rewarded in his lifetime. It seems as if God had wished to emphasize that Muhammad were the last of His prophets and ‘Islam the last of His religions’.”
Bodley again writes, “One of Muhammad’s last requests before he died was, ‘O, Lord, let not my tomb be ever an object of worship’.”
Lane-Poole further says, “The frank friendship, the noble generosity, the dauntless courage and hope of the man, all tend to melt criticism in admiration.”
Lane-Poole writes again, “His whole life is a long argument for his loyalty to truth. He had but one answer for his worshippers ‘I am no more than a man I am only human’.”
Stanley Lane Poole in his book ‘The speeches and Table Talk of Muhammad’ writes: “He is more modest than a virgin behind her curtain it was said of him. He was most indulgent to his inferiors and would never scold his little ‘page' for anything whatsoever. ‘Ten years’ said Anis, as his servant, I was about the prophet and he never said as much as ‘Off’ to me.”
Poole further writes, “When asked to curse someone he replied: ‘I have not been sent to curse, but to be a mercy to mankind’. Those who saw him have suddenly filled with reverence; those who come near him lived him and they who described him would say: ‘I have never seen his like either before or after’.”
Regarding the Holy Qurän Irving writes, “The Qurän contains pure, elevated and benignant precepts...”
Venkata Ratnam again writes, “The Islam of Muhammad with its stern discipline and stern morality proved itself the only practical religion. Muhammad, the Prophet of God has done more good to the world than any other man.”
“It is true that today Islam does not stand before the World as the exponent of high learning, or great intellectual endeavours; but, that is not due to the fault of the teachings; but, rather to the neglect of them. Islam has suffered as all the other religions of the world have suffered because its followers are unworthy of its founders.”
She continues, “Now Islam differs from the other religions of the world in one important fact. With regard to its founder, the Prophet, there is not intermixture in his history of the mythic elements, which surround the other great religious teachers. His life was led in times that are regarded as historical. In the seventh century of the Christian era this Man was born and lived out his life in lands, the history of which is known.”
Annie Besant goes on to write, “It is noteworthy that when he came back from that cave one night when the Angel of the Lord had bidden him. ‘Rise Prophet of God and go forth and cry to the people’ he shivered ‘Who am I, what am I that I should go as prophet of the Lord.’ It was then that his wife cheered him up bidding him to obey the call. ‘Fear not,’ she said, ‘art thou not the Trustworthy? Never will God deceive a man trusted by men.’ Nowhere can there be a fairer testimony to a prophet. Then he went forth to his great mission. The wife of his bosom was his first disciple, that dearest and noblest of women who lived with this leader of men for twenty-six years of perfect married life. Such was the character of the man as judged by her who knew him best.”
Well writes in his ‘Outline of History’: “Islam created a society more free from widespread cruelty and social oppression than any society had ever been in the world before.”
Joseph further says, “Muhammad is that Great man without whom the Universe would have been incomplete. He is only comparable to himself. His accomplishment is a brilliant chapter in the history of humankind.”
Joseph Hill praises the spirit of discipline created by Islam in men in these words: “So excellent indeed, was the discipline at the time, in the Muslim army that Khalid, without the least hesitation surrendered the chief command to Muthanna.”
Recognizing this, he will thus acknowledge that Islam is a profound and true cult strives to uplift its votaries from the depth of human darkness upward into the higher realm of ‘Light and Truth’.”
He writes in ‘A History of the Conquests of the Saracens’: “...the great Arabian legislator, who was destined to change so completely the face of the world in his own age and to exercise so important and influence upon it for all times.”
“I reverence the man who could gather the scattered tribes of his people into one great and united nation, who could sweep away the idols of the heathens from the ancient temple of Divine Unity.”
Farmer writes, “He at last rose far above the vulgar claims, either of temporal conquerors or of spiritual pretenders. He was still the servant and apostle of God and claimed no homage in any other character. A vulgar impostor would have claimed miraculous powers or decked himself in the pomp of earthly loyalty.”
Farmer again narrates: “It remained for him to appear in the character of universal Prophet and universal conqueror. ‘There is no god but God and Muhammad is the apostle of God.’ If these indeed are the words of saving truth, it is not to the sons of Ishmael alone that they must be proclaimed. It is not within the Arabian Peninsula alone obedience is due to him. The Persians must no longer divide his homage between good and evil but must return to the worship of one Almighty Lord, Who reigns alone over the just and the unjust.”
Farmer under the weight of evidence admitted the truth and the falsehood of his own statement that Muhammad chose sword and force as weapons for spreading of Islam. He writes, “According to the morality of his own age and nation, there was absolutely nothing to censure in his public, very little in his private life. Even judging him by a higher and severer standard, we may fairly say that few men have risen from a private station to a sovereign power with so noble an end before them and with so little of recorded crime.”
Farmer continues: “No man, they tell us is a hero to his valet de chamber, but in his noble freed man Zaid, Muhammad found one in whose eyes he was emphatically a hero. The confidence and affection of a wife to whom he owed his position and one fifteen years older than himself, the constant confidence and affection of his men of most opposite characters, the calm Abu Bakr, the chivalrous Ali and the fiery Omar certainly show that the personal character of Muhammad in no way gave lie to his lofty pretensions. To say with Prideau that his early life was ‘very wicked and licentious’ is a mere calumny without proof.”
Farmer goes on to state: “He wrought great reform and that on the whole with what his fellow men regarded as noble means. For corrupt, debasing and sanguinary idolatry, he substituted the worship of one God, who was Almighty and All righteous, alike. He gathered his people together into one nation and gave them civil and moral precepts, imperfect indeed, but far better than any they had previously possessed. Their revolting practice of infanticide he utterly abolished. Others as polygamy and private revenge he subjected to stringent regulations. In some respects as prohibition of wine the character of his teaching was positively ascetic.”
With hundreds of examples, he establishes that Islam did not flourish through might. Arab traders worked hard and relentlessly to spread Islam in Java, Borneo, Sumatra and in African continent. In all these places, the Muslims went not as conquerors but as merchants.
Arnold writes again, “Reading the history of Islam it is easily discerned that under Islamic rule other religious groups of communities enjoyed complete and unhindered freedom to exercise their own beliefs. That was not so under any Christian regime. The ruling clan or community always mercilessly persecuted the opposition in religious groups under other rules than Islam. Hostile to Islam George Shale a translator of the Holy Qurän in the preface wrote, “Christians have shown in the matter of religion much more ruthlessness than Muslims and the Jewish.”
If we take the example of the Indian subcontinent, we see that during the Muslim rule here non-Muslims occupied place of honour and power. Religion was no obstacle in their advancement, which is not true for any other country now or then. Muhammad preached Islam with Holy Qurän in one hand and the sword in the other: is a falsehood. Due to the hostile English writer, this kind of unfounded non-historic utterance made wrong impressions on the minds of the innocent peoples.
Professor Arnold said again, “Whatever the race, colour and antecedents of the worshipper he is received into the brotherhood of believers as equal among equals. Islam is a great political power whose effects the world will feel more and more in proportions as the earth is brought closer and closer together. Islam which claims the allegiance of the seven hundred million souls is the only solution for all the ills of the world.”
In the beginning of the book, Hart 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 religious and secular levels….”
The Prophet said, “Among men, he is the best by whom the humanity is benefited (Hadith).”
1 Nahjul Balagha: Hazrat Ali (RA).
2 A Brief History of Civilization: John S. Hayland, p. 72.
3 Rasul: a prophet with a holy book. Nabi: a prophet
4 Interpretation of the Qurän (Tafsir-e-Ma’aref al-Qurän), p. 1462, King Fahd Publishing Project.
5 Interpretation of the Qurän (Tafsir-e-Ma’aref al-Qurän), p. 139, King Fahd Publishing Project.
6 Interpretation by Maulana Abdullah Al-Ma’ruf Muhammad Shah Alam, Islamic Foundation, Dhaka. Bangladesh.
7 Hadith Al-Qudsi: Sayings of Muhammad which came from Allah and he narrated them in his own language.
8 A History of Civilization in Ancient India, RC Dutta, Vol. III, p. 28.
9 Prati Sarg Parv III: 3, 3. 5-8. Venkteshwar Press, Bombay.
10 Mohammed in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940, p. 61.
11 Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940, p. 64.
12 Bhavishaya Purana, Parv. III: 1,4, 21-23.
13 Bhavishaya Purana Parv. III: 1,4, pp. 256-57. (As quoted in Mohammed in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940.)
14 Al-Qurän: Süra 9:100
15 Al-Qurän: Süra 9:100.
16 Al-Qurän: Süra 2:155.
17 The Qurän: Süra 21:35.
18 Rig Veda, V: 54.14. (As quoted in Mohammed in World Scripture, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940.)
19 The Gospel of Buddha: Carus, pp. 117-18. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
20 The Gospel of Buddha: Carus, pp. 117-18. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
21 Muhammad in the Buddhist Scripture: p. (As quoted in Mohammed in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
22 The Dhammapada S.B.E. Vol. X p. 67. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
23 The Dhammapada S.B.E. Vol. X p. 67. (As quoted in Mohammed in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
24 Saddhama-Pundrika S.B.E. Vol. XXI, p. 225. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
25 The Dhammapada S.B.E. Vol. X p. 67. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
26 The Life and Teaching of Buddha: Anagarika Dhammapada, p.84. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
27 Romantic History of Buddha: Beal, p.15. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
28 Muhammad in Buddhist Scriptures, p.15. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
29 Romantic History of Buddha: Beal, p. 237. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
30 The Dhammapada S.B.E. Vol. X p. 64 (footnote). (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
31 Life of Mohammet: Sir William Muir, Abridged Edition, pp. 545-46.
32 Desert Life of Mohammet: Sir William Muir, Abridged Edition, p. 548.
33 The Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Mohammad: Lane Poole, p. XXXIX.
34 The Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Mohammad: Lane Poole, p. XXXIX.
35 Mohammad and Mohammedanism: Rev. Bosworth Smith, p. 99.
36 Mohammad and Mohammadanism: Rev. Bosworth Smith, pp. 110-111.
37 Mohammad in Buddhist Scripture: p. 64. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
38 Mohammad in Buddhist Scripture: p. 97. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
39 The life of Mohammad: Sir William Muir, pp. 511-512.
40 We have based a part of this chapter on “Baibalay Muhammad (Muhammad in the Bible)” by Professor Syed Abdur Rahman, Madrassa Publication Centre, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Calcutta, 1991.
41 Bibelay Muhammad (Muhammad in the Bible)
42 Translated by the Translator from Bengali.
43 History of the Arabs, VIII part II, p. 116.
44 The Hero as Prophet Mahomet: Islam, p. 13.
45 History of the Arabs, p.111.
46 Kalki Purana the name of the Hindu scripture announcing and giving an account of the tenth incarnation
47 Kalki: the tenth and the last incarnation of Vishnu expected to take place in Kaliyuga (Last Age).
48 Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya, MA (Sanskrit Veda), D. Phil. (Religious Studies), Dip. in German: Research Scholar, Department of Sanskrit, University of Prayaga and Director Sharshtaya Vedanta Prakash Shanghaya. Dr. Asit Kumar Bandapadhaya and Dr Gauri Battacharya, translated his books: ‘Narashansah and Antim Rishi’, ‘Kalki Avatar and Muhammad Sahib’ and Ved o Puranayer Drishthi tay Ekotar Joti and published them together entitled as, ‘Veday Muhammad’ (Muhammad in the Vedas).
49 Bonaparte et l’ Islam - by Cherfils, Paris.
50 Religious Faith of Napoleon, JD Jenkins.
51 Glimpses of World History, Pundit Jawaherlal Nehru, London 1931.
52 East and West in Religion, London 1933.
53 Government College for Women, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
54 Former President of Indian National Congress.
55 Bajra Bhandar Tulsi Dasi Ramayana chapter xii: 211. (Translated by this translator).
56 Editor of ‘the Unity’ and a ‘Minister’ and ‘Preacher’ of Brahmanism.
57 Cited from Nanak Prakash.
58 History of the intellectual Development of Europe: JW Draper, Vol.-I. pp. 332-33.
59 Life of Muhammad.
60 Life and Teachings of Muhammad: Annie Besant, Madras, 1932: pp. 3.
61 Apologie de Islamism: Laura Veccia Vogluri - the famous Italian Arabist.
62 The editorial column of the Daily Express of London: November 10, 1925.
63 Dr. B. Ram Krishna Rao: Former Governor of Kerala, India; (Speech delivered on the October 7, 1957 on the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet)
64 Dr. John Clerk Archer, Emeritus Professor of Comparative Religion: Yale University, New Haven, USA: Our Debt to the Muslim World: Published in the Islamic Review: July 1957.
65 Prof. Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, MA B.L.: Constitutional Development in the Islamic World:
66 AC Bouquet: Comparative Religion: Penguin Books Ltd., Middlesex, 1954.
67 Selwyn Gurney and Dorothy Short: in their ‘Readings from world Religion’: London, 1951.
68 Islam-Her moral and Spiritual Value: (London 1927): Major Arthur Glyn Leonard:
69 C.W. Leitner, LL.D., MA, Ph.D., DL., Muhammadanism: Lahore, 1893.
70 Published in Islamic Review: October 1940.
71 A great French poet and politician.
72 Roy Publisher Inc.: New York.
73 PSYCHOANALYST: USA.
74 Michael H. Hart, The 100; A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, New York, pp. 33, 39-40.
- ON THAT DAY NO INTERCESSION AVAIL EXCEPT FOR THOSE FOR WHOM PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED BY (GOD) MOST GRACIOUS AND WHOSE WORD IS ACCEPTABLE TO HIM (AL-QURÄN - 20:109).
- NO INTERCESSION CAN AVAIL IN HIS PRESENCE, EXCEPT FOR THOSE FOR WHOM HE HAS GRANTED PERMISSION (AL-QURÄN - 34:23).
- AND SOON WILL THY GUARDIAN-LORD GIVE THEE (THAT WHEREWITH) THOU SHALT BE WELL-PLEASED) (AL-QURÄN - 93:5).
In a tradition narrated by Hazrat Ali, the Prophet said, “Allah Most Gracious, Most Merciful would grant my intercession for my followers.” One day the Syed ul Mursalin (leader of the prophets) recited a verse about Abraham and then about Jesus and then in a voice choked with tears cried my followers, my followers. Allah Most Merciful sent Gabriel to inquire about the reason (Saying, but I know all). Asked about the reason the Prophet replied: “I want deliverance of my adherents.” God ordered Gabriel: “Go and tell that Allah would satisfy you regarding your disciples and would not give you cause for pain.4” In another Hadith, the Prophet said, “On the day of Judgement first I would entreat for my followers. 5”
His Salaam Descends on the Prophet
Allah the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Universe says in the Holy Qurän:- ALLAH AND HIS ANGELS SEND SALAAM AND BLESSINGS ON THE PROPHET. O YE THAT BELIEVE! SEND YE BLESSINGS ON HIM, AND SALUTE HIM WITH ALL RESPECT. (AL-QURÄN - 33:56).
Then it is urged: O the Faithful offer your best salat (durud: benediction) and salaam for the Prophet. Here salat means to offer the best of love and affection with the utmost reverence and submission. To express gratitude for being enlightened as a faithful to earn the approval of the Prophet through which to ultimately attain God’s approval.
This is the thing (reciting durud) that God does and gets it done by the angels. Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful and the angels high above and man beneath, as wished by the Master, in the mundane world are sending salaam and durud (blessings) on the Prophet.
God might and might not grant prayers, but after invoking durud (blessings) and salaam, God grants wishes. That is why provision for reciting durud after prayers is there. It is hoped that would recommend prayers to be granted.6
Muhammad in the Ancient Scriptures
AND THE VOTARIES OF VARIOUS FAITHS ON ISLAM
The Promised Prophet:
That Muhammad would come as a prophet was decided much earlier, he is the promised prophet. Muhammad says, “Ana Nurullah Owakullay Shaiuummin Nuri (I am created from the Nur (Light) of God and rest of the things are created from my Light).7” He further says, “The very first thing that God Has created is my Nur.” This testifies that Muhammad was created before all the prophets. From Adam to Jesus many of these great men presaged the arrival of Prophet Muhammad. There are predictions in Veda, Purana, Zend-Avesta, Dhigha-Nikaya, Torah, Zabur and the Bible about the advent of Muhammad, the last of the prophets. Some examples are given below:Hinduism:
History testifies that there was no idolatry in Hinduism in the Vedic era. Idolatry came into vogue, later8. Numerous predictions are found in the sacred books of Hindus: the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Puranas. The scriptures of Hindu religion are very old, in them there are prophecies regarding the advent of the Prophet, his name, description, birth, education and even the practice of sending blessings on him and his companions. Hindu scripture’s (God is One without a partner) is an echo of ‘There is no god but Allah.’ In the ‘Alla’ chapter of the ‘Atharva Veda’, it is mentioned that Allah is the Creator of the earth and all subtle things in the universe. As Allah is the Master of the pious address Allah (??) only as Allah (??). In the same chapter in another place it is said, Allah’s attributes are unlimited, He is Complete and All Knowing, and Muhammad is His prophet. Allah is One, Indestructible, Eternal and Self-born. In Yajur Veda, it is said that all should accept Allah and His Messenger, Muhammad.Maharishi Vayasa is greatly revered by the Hindus as a pious God-fearing pure-hearted learned divine. He arranged the Vedas under various heads and wrote a valuable book on mysticism. The Gita and Maha Bharat both ensued from his mighty pen. The eighteen volumes of Puranas are his greatest compilation. Bhavishaya Purana is a leading Purana. Since it gives an account of the future events, it is called the Bhavishaya (future) Purana. Hindus revere it as the Word of God just as the Vedas. English translations, of the following prophecies quoted from Bhavishaya Purana9 are given here:10 “A malechcha (belonging to a foreign country and speaking foreign language) spiritual teacher will appear with his companions. His name will be Mohammed. Raja (Bhoj) after giving this Maha Dev Arab (of angelic disposition) a bath in Panchgavya and the Ganges water (i.e., purging him of all sins) offered him the presents of his sincere devotion and showing him all reverence said, ‘I make obeisance to thee.’ ‘O Ye! The pride of humankind, the dweller in Arabia, Ye have collected the great force to kill the Devil and you yourself have been protected from the malechcha opponents.’ ‘O Ye! The image of the Most Pious God the biggest Lord, I am a slave to thee, take me as one lying on thy feet’.” In this eulogy of the Holy Prophet, the Maharishi Vayasa illustrates the following:
- MUHAMMAD IS THE NAME OF THE PROPHET.
- HE BELONGS TO ARABIA (SANSKRIT MARUSTHAL MEANS A SANDY TRACT OF LAND OR A DESERT).
- PARTICULAR MENTION IS MADE ABOUT THE COMPANIONS (HARDLY ANY OTHER PROPHET HAD SUCH A GREAT NUMBER OF COMPANIONS AS MUHAMMAD DID).
- WITH AN ANGELIC DISPOSITION, HE IS FREE OF SINS.
- INDIA’S RAJA (KING) SHOWS HIM REVERENCE.
- HE IS GIVEN PROTECTION AGAINST ENEMIES.
- HE ELIMINATES ALL EVILS, EXTERMINATES IDOL-WORSHIP AND DESTROYS THE DEVIL.
- IN HIM IS REFLECTED THE ALL-POWERFUL GOD.
- THE MAHARISHI BESEECHES HIM TO TAKE HIM AS HIS SLAVE AND SEEK PERMISSION TO LAY AT HIS FEET.
- FINALLY, HE IS MENTIONED AS THE PRIDE OF HUMANKIND.
The bath in the Panchgavya and the Ganges may demand an explanation. The actual bath did not take place since this was only a vision and could have meant that the Prophet would be purged of all sins and be made sin free. In the Bhavishaya Purana, in Shlokas 10-27 another clearer prophecy is made about the appearance of Muhammad. The Maharishi comments about the holy Prophet: “The Malechchas have spoiled the well known land of the Arabs. Arya Dharma is not to be found in that country. Before also there appeared a misguided fiend whom I had killed, he has now again appeared being sent by a powerful enemy. To show these enemies the right path and give them guidance the well known ‘Muhamad’ (Muhammad), who has been given by me the epithet of Brahma, is busy in bringing the Pishachas to the right path. O Raja! You need not go to the land of the foolish Pishachas; you will be purified through my kindness even where you are. At night he of the angelic disposition, the shrewd man, in the guise of a Pishacha said to Raja Bhoj, “O Raja! Your Arya Dharma is to prevail over all religions, but according to the commandments of Ishwar Pramatma, I shall enforce the strong creed of the meat-eaters. My follower will be a man circumcised, without a tail (on his head), keeping beard, creating a revolution, announcing Adzan (call for prayers) and will be eating all lawful things. He will eat all sorts of animals except swine. They will not be purified with the holy shrubs, but will be purified through warfare. Because of their fighting the irreligious nations, they will be known as Musalmans. I shall be the originator of this religion of the meat-eating nation.11
The salient features of the Maharishi’s prophecy are:
- EVILDOERS HAD CORRUPTED ARAB LAND.
- IN THAT LAND, ARYA DHARMA IS ABSENT.
- CURRENT ENEMIES PERISH LIKE THE FORMER.
- GOD GIVES THE EPITHET OF BRAHMA TO MUHAMMAD, TO GUIDE OPPONENTS OF TRUTH, AND HE IS BUSY IN BUILDING HIS NATION.
- SINCE THE INDIAN RAJA IS AFRAID OF GOING TO THE LAND OF THE ARABS HIS PURIFICATION COMMENCES IN INDIA AT THE ARRIVAL OF MUSALMANS HERE.
- EXCEPT THE FLESH OF SWINE, ALL OTHER EATABLE ANIMALS ARE LAWFUL FOR THEM.
- FOLLOWERS OF THE PROPHET ARE CIRCUMCISED, DO NOT KEEP A TAIL, HAVE BEARDS AND THEIR LEADER CREATES AN EVOLUTION.
- THE PROPHET ATTESTS TO THE TRUTH OF THE ARYAN FAITH AND REFORMS THE MISGUIDED FOLLOWERS.
- THERE IS NO SECRECY IN THIS RELIGION AND CALL TO PRAYERS IS RAISED FROM THE MINARETS OF THE MOSQUES.
- THESE PEOPLE ARE PURIFIED BY THE SWORD, UNLIKE BY ANY SHRUBS.
- THEY ARE KNOWN AS MUSALMANS.
- THE RELIGION OF THE MEAT-EATERS IS A DIVINE RELIGION.
Though ‘malechcha’ is used in a bad sense, the Maharishi used it in a different sense and he defines it as, “A man of good actions, sharp intellect, spiritual eminence, showing reverence to the deities, is known as a wise ‘malechcha’.”13
Prophecies in the Atharva Veda:
In the Atharva Veda, all kinds of mantras like Rig Vedic Richas (eulogies), Sam Vedic literary compositions and Yajur Vedic details of worship are found. It also contains mantras describing treatments of fatal diseases, technique of warfare and description of heaven and hell. Therefore, the Atharva Veda is a leading book among the four Vedas known as Brahma Veda or Divine Knowledge.
The Kuntap Sukt in Atharva Veda:
Some Suktas (chapters) in the twentieth segment of the Atharva Veda are called Kuntap Sukt (Kuntap means the consumer of misery and troubles).The First Mantra:
Several English rendition of the first mantra by different authors are given below.- LISTEN YE FOLKS, TO THIS (A SONG) IN PRAISE OF A HERO SHALL BE SUNG! SIXTY THOUSAND AND NINETY (COWS) DID WE GET, WHEN WE WERE WITH KAURAMA AMONG THE RUSHAMAS (TRANSLATION: M. BLOOMFIELD).
- PROF. GRIFFITH TRANSLATES IT AS: “LISTEN TO THIS, YE MEN A LAUD OF GLORIOUS BOUNTY SHALL BE SUNG. THOUSAND SIXTY AND NINETY, O KAURAMA, AMONG THE RUSHAMAS HAVE RECEIVED.”
- PUNDIT KHEM KARAN OF ALLAHABAD RENDERS THE SUKT AS: “O PEOPLE! LISTEN TO THIS RESPECTFULLY! THE PRAISEWORTHY MAN AMONG THE PEOPLE WILL BE PRAISED. O EASE-LOVING KING, WE FIND SIXTY THOUSAND AND NINETY BRAVE MEN UPROOTING THEIR ENEMIES.
- WHO IS GOING TO BE PRAISED?
- WHAT ARE THESE SIXTY THOUSAND AND NINETY THINGS?
- WHY SHOULD THE PEOPLE LISTEN TO IT RESPECTFULLY?
- AND WHO ARE THESE RUSHAMAS AND KAURAMA?
No other Shlokas of the four Vedas are so emphatically addressed to the people. Since people are urged to listen to the mantra respectfully and attentively, they cannot dismiss it as a riddle. ‘Astvishyate’, the Sanskrit word is in the future tense form and means ‘he will be praised’. It certainly is talking about some future event, when a Prophet will be greatly praised, and this attests to its being a prophecy.
The Blessed Name of the Prophet:
That this promised Rishi should have a name was necessary and the Vedic Rishi thus mentions his name as, ‘Narashansah Astvishyate’, which means praiseworthy. The word, ‘Narashansah’ is translated as, ‘The praised one among people’, i.e., Muhammad.He Will Be Safe Among His Foes:
Another sign that the Rishi mentions is that this praiseworthy will be alone among sixty thousand cruel and fiendish enemies; but will be unharmed. Precarious situations wrought with danger will never deter or dampen his courage and he will emerge unscathed. Always in the forefront, he will fight many sanguinary wars and fierce battles, yet will remain alive for none will be able to kill him.The Camel-rider Rishi
About the camel-rider it is said, “Camels twice ten that draw the car with females by their side. Fair would be chariots top bow down escaping from the stroke of heaven:” the second mantra of Kuntap Sukt as translated by Professor Griffith. Pundit Khem Karan translates it as, “...Whose swift riding beasts are twenty camels with their she-camels. The fools are disregardful of the eminent position of man.” Pundit Raja Ram’s translation gives another interpretation of the mantra. He writes, “Twenty camels draw his carriage with him being also his wives. The top of that carriage or chariot bows down escaping from touching the heaven.” It is evident in the translations that all these refer to the same person as in the first mantra. They all agree that this chosen one will be a camel-rider, except Bloomfield. These translations make it clear that the top of the chariot would be as high as the heavens.This mantra thus makes it clear that the promised one will be an Arab. An Indian Rishi could not ride a camel, as the Dharma Shastra prohibits it as is forbidden the flesh and milk of the camel (Manu V: 5, 18). Similarly, the Brahmins are forbidden to ride a camel. “A Brahmin is polluted by wilfully riding an ass or a camel and by bathing naked. They can be absolved from this pollution only by holding breath for a long time (Manu XI: 201). This prohibition makes it very clear that the promised one belongs to Arabia, for no Indian rishi rides a camel.
Wives of the Prophet
‘Vadhu mantah davirdarsh’ is interpreted in two different ways: firstly, that he is in a camel driven chariot with his wives. Secondly, camels with their females drag his chariot. In the first, the prophet is shown to have more than one wife, which is true about the Holy Prophet, and in the second riding camel is his distinctive characteristic, which also is true about the Prophet. Therefore, it can be concluded that both these translations apply to none other than Muhammad.The Prophet’s Ascension
A clear reference to his Ascension or Meräj is “The top of his chariot bows down escaping from touching the heavens.” The Qurän says, “And he is in the highest part of the horizon.”14The Gold Coins:
“God bestowed hundred gold coins upon the Holy Prophet.” This is a reference to the early Meccan companions of the Prophet. They endured all hardships and persecutions of the hostile Meccans and consequently, became pure and precious like gold. “They were the foremost, the first” and was constrained to migrate to Abyssinia, leaving all even their beloved Prophet behind. These companions at the behest of the Prophet left their kith and kin and all their belongings but did not forsake Islam. Consequently, they became the chosen ones of God and according to the Qurän, “Allah is well pleased with them.”15 In every trial, however hard, that they were put to, they came out successful. The Qurän says, “And we most certainly try you with somewhat of fear and hunger and loss of property and lives and fruit.”16 It again says, “And we try you by evil and good by way of probation.”17 The fire of long persecution, torture, hardships and sufferings purified the early converts and the companions of the Prophet and thus they became pure gold. They went through a process of cleansing of impurities, like the gold.According to the Sathpath Brahmana (XII: 9.1.4.), considered a revealed commentary of Yajur Veda, gold is metaphorically used to indicate spiritual power of a man. Prophet’s companions were therefore, the coins of pure gold, since they have gone through unimaginable sufferings and hardships. One hundred companions migrated to Abyssinia fulfilling the prophecy that a hundred coins would be given to the promised Rishi.
The Ten Chaplets:
According to these mantras, the second gift granted to the Prophet was ten exquisite precious necklaces. The ten best companions known as the “Ashra-i-Mubashshara” were the necklaces. Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, Ali, Talha, Zubair, Abdur Rahman ibn Auf, Sad bin Abi Wakkas, Sad bin Zaid and Abu Obieda, the Prophet called each of them and said, ‘in paradise.’ The Vedas refer them as ‘Dashasrijah’ (ten bouquets from the paradise).Three Hundred Good Steeds:
The third gift according to the mantras is the three hundred good steeds. Sanskrit ‘Arvah’ means swift Arab horse particularly used by Asuras (non-Aryans).18 ‘Arvah’’ is also the ride of Agni and Indra (learned and powerful). In the battle of Badr, Muhammad had three hundred valiant companions with him. They were also learned and powerful, besides being three hundred in number.The Ten Thousand Cows:
According to the mantras, the last gift was the ten thousand cows. These ‘ten thousand cows’ are the ten thousand saintly companions that accompanied Muhammad in his conquest of MeccaKuntap Sukt’s mantras clearly give the name of the Prophet as Mamah This name resembles Muhammad, in form and pronunciation and conveys the same meaning. The mantras also show Muhammad as a great Rishi bestowed with divine gifts. They were so tried, exalted and perfected through trial and tribulations that they were compared to flowers of paradise. These companions were not only saintly but they were also great warriors. Great worshipers of God, they also excelled in the battlefields. History testifies that all these prophecies were fulfilled only in the person of the Prophet. Revelation about the Prophet manifested in the same order as mentioned in the mantras. To begin with, the Prophet was given the hundred gold coins, then the ‘Ashra-i-Mubashshara’, then the three hundred companions who fought along with him in the battle of Badr and lastly the ten thousand saintly companions that accompanied him at the conquest of Mecca. No person having the attributes mentioned above and fulfilling the description of the mantras can be found in the human history other than the Prophet of Islam.
Muhammad In Shloka 5:27:1 In Rig Veda:
The above Shlokas mean that the truthful, learned, mighty, benevolent Muhammad (Peace be upon him) with the carriage has honoured me with his sermon. The son of the Almighty, the alembic of all good qualities, mercy of the world would earn fame with his ten thousand companions.
Washington Irving in his ‘Life of Muhammad’ writes, “The Prophet Muhammad departed with ten thousand men on this enterprise.” His number ‘ten thousand’ is an attestation of the prophecy of the Rig-Veda coming true.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is the ancient religion of Persia, modern Iran, commonly known as Parsi-ism. This is also called the religion of ‘Fire worshippers’ and ‘Magianism’. The scriptures of this religion are found in two languages in Zendi and Pahlavi. There are two divisions of the scripture: one known as Dasatir and the other as Zend-Avesta. In the second book of Avesta by Max Muller, it is written: “I am announcing O Spitam Zarutushtra, consecrated Muhammad would certainly appear. From him you would receive virtuous thoughts, noble words, honest deeds and a pure religion.”In Dasatir, there is similar prophecy about his advent: “when the Persians abandoning their own religion fall into the lowest abyss of their moral turpitude a great man would be born in Arabia whose followers would defeat the indomitable Persians. Leaving fire worshipping in their monasteries they would pray, facing the Ka’aba of Abraham. They would conquer Persia, Madyan, Tus, Balk and other Persian sacred places. Their prophet would be a great orator and preach many wonderful things.”
Buddhism
Gautam Buddha’s (567-485 BC) Buddhism is the principal religion, among the ancient religions of the East. Dhigha-Nikaya, the scripture of the Buddhist announces:“Whence man wilt forget the teachings of Gautam Buddha there will come another Buddha called Moittaya (Sanskrit: Maitreya) meaning the (Buddha) of peace and mercy.” Moittaya here indicated Muhammad because after Buddha nobody became famous as ‘Rahmatullil Al-Amin’ other then Muhammad. Maitreya means repository of mercy and comrade of all. Below as an attestation is given a quotation discovered in Ceylon:
Ananda asked the Blessed one: “Who shall teach us when thou art gone?” And the Blessed one replied, “I am not the first Buddha who came to the earth, nor shall I be the last. In one time, another Buddha will arise in the world; a holy one supremely enlightened one endowed with wisdom in conduct. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure such as I now proclaim.” Ananda asked, “How shall we know him?” The Blessed one said: “He will be known as Maitreya.”19
The Last Buddha Maitreya:
In the Buddhist religion, a Rishi (Sage) is called Buddha. Gautam Buddha at the time of his death told his adored disciple Ananda about the last Buddha: “I am not the first Buddha who came to the earth, nor shall I be the last. A Buddha will arise in time in this earth to teach altruism. A pure and clean soul, he will be knowledgeable and wise with a refined heart. He will be a hero and leader of all. He will teach the truth like me and will give a complete and holy code of life to the world. Ananda, he will be called Maitreya.”20Buddha means ‘with wisdom’ and Buddha is a human being not a god. “It is only a human being not a deity that can be a Buddha.”21
Characteristics of Buddha:
- BUDDHA IS WEALTHY AND RICH.
- BUDDHA IS A FATHER.
- BUDDHA IS A FAMILY MAN AND A RULER.
- BUDDHA LIVES HIS ALLOTTED TIME (WARREN: P.79).
- BUDDHA DOES HIS OWN CHORES.22
- BUDDHA IS ONLY A PREACHER. THE TATHAGATAS (BUDDHAS) ARE ONLY PREACHERS.23
- BUDDHA IS ALSO CALLED TATHAGATA.WHEN BUDDHA IS ALONE, GOD SENDS DEVATAS AND JINNI TO HIM.24 EACH BUDDHA REMINDS PEOPLE OF HIS PREDECESSOR AND REMINDS HIS OWN DISCIPLES ABOUT ‘MAR’. ‘MAR’ MEANS PROPAGATOR OF ‘SIN AND DESTRUCTION’ (DEVIL OR SATAN). THE FOLLOWER OF BUDDHA IS A TRUE DISCIPLE; HE CANNOT BE DERAILED.25
- THERE IS ONLY ONE BUDDHA AT A TIME ON THE EARTH.26
- A MAIN CHARACTERISTIC OF BUDDHA IS THAT HE HAS NO TEACHER ON THE EARTH.27
Characteristics of Maitreya Buddha:
Maitreya means ‘The merciful’.28
The last Buddha Maitreya would have the characteristic of the earlier Buddha because he would be a Buddha. Maitreya would arrange a congregation under the Bodhi (tree under which Buddha gets enlightened) Brikhaya (tree) is of two kinds: one is the worldly tree the other is heavenly. Under the Bodhi Brikhaya, the Buddha is enlightened. Now a few words about the heavenly tree:- HEAVENLY BODHI EXTENDS OVER A VERY LARGE AREA.29
- AFTER ENLIGHTENMENT, BUDDHA WATCHES THE TREE IMMOVABLY.
In the Holy Qurän God says about Muhammad:
- AND HE FOUND THEE IN NEED, AND MADE THEE INDEPENDENT (AL-QURÄN - 93:8).
The milk of the twenty more camels that he owned was used to feed his children and entertain guests; he also owned seven milking goats but no buffaloes. Buffaloes were not available in Arabia.31 He had three pieces of land and a few wells; in Arabia, owning wells indicated wealth, as water was very dear, due to its scarcity in the Arabian Desert.32
Muhammad had twelve wives, four sons and four daughters, therefore, fulfilled one of the criterion ‘of being a father’ to be a Buddha. He defeated and subjugated thousands in battles to establish his rule over a vast area and ruled as a representative of the Supreme Lord, Allah. “The fare of desert seemed most congenial to him even when he was sovereign of Arabia.”33
Hazrat Muhammad lived his allotted time i.e. his life was not cut short by anybody. He “mended his own clothes, milked the goats and waited upon himself.”34 All through his life, Hazrat Muhammad preached religion. History abounds in information regarding his preaching activities.35 He was very popular and illustrious as a preacher.
Hazrat Muhammad recognized his predecessor-rishis. It is stated in the second Süra of the Qurän:
- SAY YE: ‘WE BELIEVE IN GOD, AND THE REVELATION GIVEN TO US, AND TO ABRAHAM, ISMÄ’ÏL, ISAAC, JACOB, AND THE TRIBES, AND THAT GIVEN TO MOSES AND JESUS, AND THAT GIVEN TO (ALL) PROPHETS FROM THEIR LORD: WE MAKE NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONE AND ANOTHER OF THEM: AND WE BOW TO GOD (IN ISLAM) (AL-QURÄN - 2:136).
- ABOUT THE (EVIL ONE) IT IS DECREED THAT WHOEVER TURNS TO HIM FOR FRIENDSHIP, HIM WILL HE LEAD ASTRAY, AND HE WILL GUIDE HIM TO THE PENALTY OF FIRE (AL-QURÄN 22:4).
When Muhammad appeared as a ‘Buddha’, there was no other ‘Buddha’ in the world. At the time of his advent, the world was immersed into social and religious defilement. He had no worldly teacher and was unlettered. That is why he is called ‘Ummi’ (illiterate). The Qurän is the anthology of God-send-messages Muhammad received in visions. Where it is said:
- VERILY THIS IS A REVELATION FROM THE LORD OF THE WORLDS: WITH IT CAME DOWN THE SPIRIT OF FAITH AND TRUTH - TO THY HEART AND MIND, THAT THOU MAYEST ADMONISH IN THE PERSPICUOUS ARABIC TONGUE. WITHOUT DOUBT IT IS (ANNOUNCED) IN THE MYSTIC BOOKS OF FORMER PEOPLES (AL-QURÄN - 26:192-196).
Hazrat Muhammad ((PBUH) had seen an enormous tree on the right of Allah’s Throne. It was so huge that a horse rider cannot ride through its shadow in one hundred years. In Paradise, there is a tree (such) that a rider cannot cross its shade even in hundred years.38 Muhammad watched the heavenly tree intently without even flinching.
It is said about the Maitreya Buddha that he cannot turn his neck without turning the whole body. This was evident in Muhammad; he turned his entire body to face people to talk. “If he turned in conversation towards a friend, he turned not partially, but with his full face and his whole body.”39
It is apparent that Muhammad had all the qualities of a Buddha. It, therefore, can be concluded without any doubt that the prophesied Maitreya Buddha referred to in the Buddhist Scripture is none other than Muhammad.
Confucianism:
In ancient China, the religion was Confucianism. The founder of the religion, Confucius (551-448 BC) said: “There would arise a Prophet in the West” (the last Prophet in the ancient religious scripture).Judaism:
The great holy Torah is the principal scripture of the Jewish religion. In the Torah, Prophet Muhammad is described as an ‘Idealist’. The Torah says, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;” (Deut. 18:15).In another place it states: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deut. 18:18). “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him” (Deut. 18:18-19).
And again, the Torah says, “And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.”
“And he said, “The Lord came from Si´-nai and rose up from Se´-ir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” (Deut 33:1-2).
All this sacred sayings are only applicable to Muhammad and any knowledgeable person will admit that.
Christianity:40
In John 1:19-27, 14:15-16, 17:7-8 the advent of Muhammad has been mentioned. The Holy Bible says, “And this the record of John, when the Jewish sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed I am not the Christ.
And they asked him, What then? Art thou E-lí-as? and he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?
He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as he said the prophet E-sá-ias.
And they which were sent were of Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor E-lí-as, neither that prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:19-27).
It is evident from, “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:19-27), that there would be a prophet other than Christ and E-lí-as was known to the Jewish.
Here it leaves no doubt that this prophet certainly, is Muhammad, since there came no prophet except Muhammad after Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ:
Jesus Christ said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;” (John14: 15-16).“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you” (John 16:7).
This Paraclete mentioned in the Bible (John 16:7) indicates to Muhammad, because, no prophet other than Muhammad has come after Jesus Christ. Paraclete means ‘Comforter’ or ‘Most Praiseworthy’. Both these were used for Muhammad. Padre Merry Michel in his interpretation of the ‘New Testament’ wrote that the prophecy of a Paraclete (John 16:7) meaning Ahmed or Muhammad could not be denied by any until the Doom’s Day. Therefore, there can be no doubt about Muhammad’s (PBUH) coming.
Hazrat Muhammad In the Bible:
Hikko mamtakkim w’kullo MahamaddimZed dodi w’ Zehrei benot y’rushalaim.
Canticum canticorum (His mouth is most sweet: ye he is altogether Lovely. 5:16 Hebrew Bible, p.159).
This is my beloved and this is my friend, o daughters of Jerusalem (Solomon’s song 5:16, Oxford Bible, p. 594).
Hazrat Solaiman (Solomon) in his song’s (chapter-5) described physical qualities of his beloved. At last, he said, ‘W’Kullo Mahammaddim’ meaning He is Muhammad. Translators translated it as ‘Lovely’. In fact, it should be ‘His countenance is lovely and he is ‘Muhammad’. O the daughters of Jerusalem, he is my favourite and he is my friend’.
Muhammad: A Prophet Like Musa (Moses):
Moses said:“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;” (Deut. 18:15).
“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deut. 18:18).
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die” (Deut. 18:18-19).
We have briefly stated below why these prophecies do not apply to Jesus Christ.
- HAZRAT MUSA (MOSES) AND HAZRAT ISA (JESUS) BOTH DESCENDED FROM ISAAC WHILE PROPHET MUHAMMAD WAS A DESCENDENT OF ISAAC’S BROTHER ISMÄ’ÏL.
- MUSA WAS A PROPHET AND A KING BUT ISA WAS ONLY A PROPHET NOT A KING, WHILE, MUHAMMAD WAS A PROPHET AND A KING.
- MUSA FOUGHT WITH HIS ENEMIES AND DEFEATED THEM BUT ISA DID NOT FIGHT AND WAS CRUCIFIED BY HIS ENEMIES. ON THE CONTRARY, MUHAMMAD LIKE MUSA FOUGHT AND VANQUISHED HIS ENEMIES.
- MUSA BROUGHT NEW DIVINE MESSAGE BUT ISA DID NOT. HE CAME AS A FOLLOW UP PROPHET OF MUSA TO COMPLETE HIS MISSION. JESUS SAID, “THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY, BUT TO FULFIL (MATT. 5:17).” ON THE OTHER HAND, MUHAMMAD CAME WITH TOTALLY NEW DIVINE BOOK AND MESSAGES.
- IN THE PROPHECIES UNDER CONSIDERATION IT IS STATED THAT THAT WHICH WILL NOT LISTEN TO THE PROPHET I WILL PUNISH HIM. MUSA PUNISHED HIS ADVERSARIES SO DID MUHAMMAD, BUT JESUS DID NOT.
- ACCORDING TO THE ABOVE PROPHECIES, IF MUHAMMAD WERE A FALSE PROPHET GOD’S CURSE WOULD HAVE FALLEN ON HIM AND HE WOULD HAVE BEEN DESTROYED IGNOMINIOUSLY.41
The King of Glory Muhammad:
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.“Who is this King of glory? ‘The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle’.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory.” (Ps. 27:7-10).
In the Bible (New Testament) and in the Torah (Old Testament) in many places ‘the King of glory’ has been mentioned, and prophecies have been made about him. The question, ‘Who is this King of glory’ and the answer ‘The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle’ and ‘The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory’, is placed accurately beautifully.
That who did not fight and led no army and was crucified by his enemies, Jesus clearly does not qualify. Therefore, Muhammad who subjugated the savage Arabs and moulded this wild nomadic people into a civil and disciplined nation, and built an empire in the wilderness is clearly the person referred to as the ‘King of glory’.
‘Gates’ and ‘everlasting doors’ are the doors of the Ka’aba, the House of the Lord. Muhammad entered the Ka’aba on the day he conquered Mecca gloriously powerful without any ostentation. What a Majestic Sight to behold, How sublime, How exalted, What a beauty!
Migration (Hijrat) Of Muhammad
“Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him” (Ps. 68: 4)“They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels” (Ps. 68: 24-25).
This historic event happened in only Muhammad’s (PBUH) life. When Muslims of Mecca were tired of Quraish persecution, they were ordered to migrate to Medïna. The heathen Quraish planned to kill Muhammad and with that, intention surrounded his home. Muhammad reciting the Qurän went through the cordon unnoticed. He, along with Abu Bakr, rode a camel to Medïna, through three hundred miles of desert and reached Medïna on the 23rd September 622 AD. History recorded it as the ‘Hijrat’ (Migration).
The Medinease were ecstatic to have the great teacher, preacher, reformer and friend among them. Medïna rose to welcome the Prophet, people were consumed with joy. Muhammad arrived encircled by armed companions. People stood on the roofs and women sang:
“The moon has risen from behind the hills,
Praise be to Allah, and thanks eternal, endless
For granting this honour: to the Medinease.”42
Historian Prof. P.K. Hitti has described this event very beautifully: “Leaving the city of his birth as a despised prophet, he entered the city of his adoption as an honoured chief.”43
The description: “Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him (Ps. 68:4),” almost is a reflection of scenes at Medïna on Muhammad’s arrival.
Muhammad Arrives with Ten Thousand Companions:
“And he said The Lord came from Si´-nai and rose up from Se´-ir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” (Deut. 33: 2).“My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.” (Song 5:10).
And E’-noch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints. To execute Judgement upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1: 14-15).
Historian Washington Irving in his book, ‘Life of Muhammad’ wrote: ‘Muhammad went to conquer Mecca with ten thousand companions.
The Bible has definitely referred to Muhammad in the above verses not to Jesus who never went on an expedition.
Judge Muhammad: The Last Prophet:
O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. … Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him (Ps. 67 4,6-7).Jesus Christ never adorned the seat of a Judge. He said, “…I came not to judge the world…” (John 12: 47). Muhammad is the Prophet who established a judicial system based on equality, justice and truth and ruled a vast land with many nationalities united under the banner of Islam.
“Then shall the earth yield her increase,” meaning in his time religion will attain its final shape and be complete. “This day have I Perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you” (Al- Qurän - 5:4).
After the perfection and completion of religion, there is no need for a prophet. Muhammad is, therefore, the last and universal Prophet.
Muhammad - The Terminator Of Idolatry:
“The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgement are the habitation of his throne. A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. His lightning enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory. Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of old idols: worship him, all ye gods.” (Ps. 97:1-7).The above biblical verses point to Muhammad because:
- ARABIA IS A PENINSULA WHERE MUHAMMAD RULED WITH JUSTICE AND VIRTUE AS THE BASIS OF HIS REIGN.
- HE DEFEATED HIS ENEMIES WITH ‘FIRE’ MEANING IN BATTLES.
- HIS CHIVALRY, CONQUESTS, EMINENCE AND MIGHT HELPED THE TRUTH AND EXPANSE OF ISLAM TO ASSUME UNIVERSALITY DAZZLING AND MESMERIZING THE WORLD ON ITS WAKE.
- THERE HATH COME TO YOU FROM GOD A (NEW) LIGHT AND A PERSPICUOUS BOOK. - WHEREWITH GOD GUIDETH ALL WHO SEEK HIS GOOD PLEASURE TO WAYS OF PEACE AND SAFETY, AND LEADETH THEM OUT OF DARKNESS, BY HIS WILL, UNTO THE LIGHT, - GUIDETH THEM TO A PATH THAT IS STRAIGHT. (AL- QURÄN 5:17-18).
Muhammad -The Modern Warrior: Destroyer of Idols:
“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall follow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off;” (Mic. 4: 1-3).“And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.” (Mic. 5: 4).
“And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof:” (Mic. 5: 6).
“Thine land shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.” (Mic. 5: 9).
“Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of midst of thee;” (Mic. 5: 13).
“And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathens, such as they have not heard.” (Mic. 5: 15).
Here, in all, eight ‘Signs’ are mentioned about the prophesized prophet that points to Muhammad.
The heavenly kingdom that would be established after Jesus, the Committee of Saint Paul could not establish that. They had no kingdom to rule and were only preachers of good tidings. Jesus never asked them to build the heavenly kingdom but merely asked them to publicize good news of its imminence. Contrary to that, Muhammad established the heavenly land by demolishing the evils for protecting the virtuous. He is the universal Prophet, the last Prophet.
The Son of Man – Destroyer of Evil: Muhammad:
Who is that that would throw ‘Evils into the Fire’? The Bible says about him: “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire:” (Matt 13: 41-42).It is, therefore, evident that that was not the Committee of Paul. The ‘Son of man’ has been mentioned in the Bible at many places:
“For the Son of man shall in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he reward every man according to his works” (Matt.6:27).
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the ‘Son of man’ be” (Matt. 24:27).
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of the man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30).
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory” (Matt. 25:31).
“And then shall they see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26).
“For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch” (Mark 14:34).
That Jesus is not the Son of man, but ‘Son of man’ is a different man is proved by the verses of the Bible quoted below:
“Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).
“Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8-9).
This ‘Son of man has’ the following qualities:
- HE IS A HUMAN BEING.
- HE HAS A KINGDOM AND MIGHTY POWERS A VERY POWERFUL KING AND A PROTECTOR OF VIRTUE AND DESTROYER OF EVIL.
- DURING HIS LIFETIME, HE DISPATCHES HOLY EMISSARIES.
- THIS HAPPENS IN THE LAST EPOCH.
- HE IS SOME OTHER THAN JESUS.
Al-Amin: Muhammad:
“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14).“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war” (Rev. 19:11).
Here the ‘Faithful’ and ‘True’ very faithfully points to Muhammad. Muhammad is famous in history as ‘Al-Amin (The Faithful) and As-Sadique (The Truthful) - titles that were bestowed on him by his people, long before the divinity.
Historian Thomas Carlyle wrote: “His companions named him ‘Al-Amin’, ‘The Faithful’. A man of truth and fidelity; true in what he did, in what he spoke and thought.”44 Famous historian Professor Hitti writes: “His tribe called him Al-Amin (The Faithful).”45
Hazrat Muhammad on the night of the Meräj rode a white carrier called ‘Burraq’ for an audience with God beyond the ‘space frontiers’, and returned to earth riding the same. Besides that, he had white horses as his carriers.
In the Kalki Purana,46 it is stated that the Kalki47 Avatar (incarnation of Vishnu) will be given a white horse and he would establish true religion by fighting and defeating the sinful and evildoers of the infernal age. The verse in the Bible: “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war” (Rev. 19:11), is a reflection of the same prophesy.
It is noteworthy that to establish the truth and for the protection of his unarmed followers including women, children, old and the infirm, he had to take up arms and fight. He fought numerous battles to vanquish the corrupt and protect good, which playwright George Bernard Shaw praised immensely.
O people of the world listen carefully with your souls that Faithful and Kalki Avatar who fought to establish truth is none other than Muhammad! There is no scope after this to deny Muhammad, the Prophet of the prophets, the last Prophet of God.
Non-Muslim Thinkers and Scholars on Muhammad
Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya:
Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya writes, “Muhammad is proven to be the ‘Last Rishi’ whose advent has been prophesied in the Veda, the Bible and the Buddhist scripture. I, therefore, felt the urge to express the truth be it unpleasant to some people. In the age before Muhammad, the religion of India and the Arabs were alike. There are many evidences of the above, but this is not the proper place to mention them. I am not given to religious parochialism. If there is a truth, I cannot dare deny that. The Vedas prophesied about a man with twelve wives and riding camels called ‘Narashansah’. Sayan interprets ‘Narashansah’ as ‘the Praised’ by people. However, I do not agree with this interpretation and hold that ‘Narashansah’ hints to a man whose name will mean ‘the Praised’. Muhammad is an Arabic word meaning ‘the Praised’. Therefore, Muhammad and ‘Narashansah’ have the same meaning.”Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya in the conclusion writes, “Once Buddha preached a religion to cleanse the Vedic religion of superstitions. Nevertheless, the religion and its followers were despised. People considered Buddhist religion as a new religion other than Vedic. However, when it was proved that Buddha is the twenty-third ‘Avatar’ of the twenty-four mentioned in the Purana, they unanimously accepted Buddha as an Avatar and the rivalry between Buddhism and Hinduism ended. Likewise, Muhammad’s religion and his followers may seem to people non-Vedic. However, the description of the twenty-fourth ‘Avatar’ and the narration in the twelfth chapter of Bhagabat Purana, describing the Avatar leaves no doubt about ‘Muhammad’ being the mentioned Avatar. Then, I came to believe that, he (Muhammad) is the ‘Kalki’ Avatar, and the Vedic religion reached its completion through his religion. One day will come when all Brahma, Sakta, Jains, Buddhists, religious and good intelligent people will accept Islam. Consequently, the whole population together will establish a huge united community in India. Belief come through conviction and do not expand and spread through arms and coercion. People spontaneously accept the truth, when God shows the light and the heart enlightens. It is the duty of the religious scholars to express the truth about religion. People accept religion voluntarily, if obeisance of religion can be produced in their hearts.”
Dr. Upadhaya, discussing elaborately in the above book about ‘Maha Kalki’ i.e. Hazrat Muhammad writes, “The main Hindu Scriptures that prophesied about Muhammad are: Matshaya Purana, Karma Purana, Bohraha Purana, Narashingha Purana, Baman Purana, Bishnu Purana, Devi Bhagabat, Shrimadbhagabat, Bhavishaya Purana, Brahma Boibartaya Purana, Garuda Purana, Kalki Purana, Jain Mahabhashaya, Brihaddhrama Purana, Hari Bhashaya, Agni Purana, Bishnu Dharma Tayattha, Baiyoo Purana and Maha Bharata.
There have not been as many prophecies about any other great men, as there are about Muhammad in various scriptures of many religions of the world.” He again said, “The Muslims are the disciples48 of the Kalki that Indians believe is ‘Bhagaban’.
Professor Asit Kumar Bandapadhaya:
Dr. Bandapadhaya in the introduction of ‘Veday Muhammad’ wrote, “The Creator of the Universe is ‘one and the only’. He deserves all worshipping and all praise to Him. He is the Master of the Worlds, in every era He sends His Emissary for the welfare and guidance of humankind, to the countries of the world. However, some Indian humdrum think rishis, savants, prophets and great men will only be Indians. Nonetheless, Aryans were not Indians they came from outside India. Veda is their scripture. The fact is God sends new prophets with new scriptures and instructions, whenever, the earlier religion is corrupted, the scripture is corrupted and the world submerges in vice and immorality. Those that egotistically deny the Messenger of God and his new religion invite destruction unto them and are limited by superstitions. On the contrary, those that accept the new prophet and his religion attain deliverance.Analyzing the scriptures of the world, it becomes apparent that some of them remained obscured, lost or hidden for a few hundred or thousand years from the world. Aryans proscribed non-Aryans reading or even hearing Veda, their scripture. The Bible was almost destroyed by the enemies. Even their followers therefore, sometimes question the authenticity of these scriptures. On the contrary, the Holy Qurän never has been obscured from the sight of the world. If the other scriptures are lost, it is impossible to recover them completely, but the Qurän. Since, Qurän, this majestic book has been committed to memory by thousands and thousands of people around the world, and immortal it dwells in their hearts. The Qurän, therefore, remains, as it is, without the slightest alteration or addition, as pure as it was fourteen hundred years ago. This purity is unique and is a challenge to all other religious scriptures, which cannot be met by any of them. Thus, Qurän can claim to be the true, pure and eternal book of God.
India and the world are impatiently waiting for the ‘Kalki’ the last of the prophets. In various scriptures, his advent is described variously and the signs to recognize him are given. In our Veda Purana, in many places, the description is there. Muslims contend that the ‘Kalki’ of the Veda Purana is Muhammad. According to the research findings of Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya, his advent has been foretold in four ways. Firstly, Narashansah meaning ‘the Praised’ has been shown as the meaning of ‘Muhammad’. Secondly, as the ‘last Rishi’: the Qurän has described Muhammad as the last Prophet. Thirdly, as the ‘Kalki Avatar’, i.e. he will be the Prophet of the last epoch, and Muhammad has come in the last era of the world. Fourthly, he is mentioned with his name in the Veda. Therefore, all indications surely lead to Muhammad.
Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya has written three books, namely: ‘Narashansah Aur Antim Rishi’ (Narashansah and the last Rishi), ‘Kalki Avatar Aur Muhammad Sahib’ (Kalki Avatar and Mr. Muhammad), and ‘Veda o Purana Ki Drishthi Mai Dharmia Ekata Ki Joti’ (In the eyes of Veda and Purana, the radiance of religious unity). He translated those three books and put them together as, ‘Veday o Puranai Hazrat Muhammad’ (Hazrat Muhammad in Veda and Purana).
I conclude with the prayers that let true knowledge flourish, let there be friendship and love between the Hindus and the Muslims, and may God grant us all wisdom and strength to understand and accept the truth without any hesitation.
Mahatma Gandhi: The Father of Modern India:
It is very interesting to note what Mahatma Gandhi had to say about self-effacement, privations of Muhammad and advancement of Islam. The Mahatma says, “Islam in its glorious days was not intolerant. It commanded the admiration of the world. When the West was sunk in darkness, a bright star rose in the eastern firmament and gave light and comfort to the groaning world. Islam is not a false religion. Let Hindus study it reverently and they will love it even as I do (Young India).”The Mahatma remarks: “Hazrat Muhammad was a great Prophet. He was brave and feared no man but God alone. He was never found to say one thing and do another. He acted as he felt. The prophet was a fakir. He could have commanded wealth if he had so desired. I shed tears when I read of the privations, he and his family and companions suffered voluntarily. How can a truth-seeker like me help respecting one whose mind was constantly fixed on God, who ever walked in God’s fear and who had boundless compassion for mankind. It was the rigid simplicity, utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission: that and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle.”
Napoleon Bonaparte: The Emperor of France:
Napoleon Bonaparte in his book ‘Autobiography’ says about Islam and its prophet: “Arabia was idolatrous when, six centuries after Jesus, Muhammad introduced the worship of the God of Abraham, of Ishmael, of Moses and Jesus. The Aryans and some other sects disturbed the tranquillity of the East by agitating the question of the nature of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Muhammad declared that there was none but one God who had no father, no son, and that the Trinity imported the idea of idolatry...” He wrote on the flyleaf of the Qurän, “There is no god but God.”“I hope the time is not far off when I shall be able to unite all the wise and educated men of all the countries and establish a uniform regime based on the principles of the Qurän which alone are true and which alone can lead men to happiness.”49
In an assembly of savants, governors and nobles at Cairo, Napoleon declared, “Surely I have told you on different occasions that I have intimated to you by various discourses that I am a Unitarian ‘Musalman’ and I glorify the prophet, Muhammad.”50
Pundit Jawaherlal Nehru:
The First Prime Minister of India, Nehru said that the sudden rise of Arab Muslims and the influence of their advanced education, culture and civilization on Asia, Europe and Africa are wonderful chapter in the history of the world. Greatly strengthened by the ideology and the principal doctrine of Islam, the Arab Muslims gained in confidence and transformed into a very powerful nation.When people in Egypt, China or Indian subcontinent did not know the application of scientific methods, Greeks were a bit enlightened and the Romans were very ignorant: the Arab Muslims earned the knowledge and expertise to apply scientific methods. Therefore, they are called the father of modern science.51
Sir Radha Krishnan:
Former President of India, Late Sir Radha Krishnan said, “We cannot deny that the conception of brotherhood in Islam transcends all barriers of race and nationality, a feature, which does not characterize any other religion.”52Professor KS Rama Krishna Rao:53
Rao in his book, ‘Muhammad the Prophet of Islam’ said, “The personality of Muhammad is most difficult to get into the whole truth of it. Only a glimpse of it can. What a dramatic succession of picture scenes! There is Muhammad the General, the Prophet, the King, the Warrior, the Businessman, the Preacher, the Philosopher, the Statesman, the Orator, the Reformer, the Protector of Slaves, the Emancipator of Women, the Judge, the Saint. And in all these roles and in all these departments of human activities, he is like a hero.”The Great Hindu Savant MN Roy:
The great Hindu thinker and writer, MN Roy, in his famous book ‘Historical Role of Islam’ writes: “Islam first of all introduced the idea of social equality, which was unknown in all the lands of ancient civilizations. At the Beginning of this book, Roy remarks, “The historical role Islam was primarily due to its revolutionary significance and its ability to lead the masses out of the hopeless situation created by the decay of antique civilizations not only of Greece and Rome but of Persia, China and India. The sword of Islam wielded ostensibly at the service of God. Actually it contributed to the victory of a new force the blossoming of a new intellectual life which eventually dug the grave of all other religions and faiths.”MN Roy goes on to write, “The apparently sudden rise and dramatic expansion of Muhammadanism constitutes a most fascinating chapter in the history of mankind.”
Then again, he writes,” Every prophet establishes his pretension by the performance of miracles. On that token, Muhammad must be recognized as by far the greatest of all prophets before or after him. The expansion of Islam is the most miraculous of all miracles. The Roman Empire of Augustus, enlarged by the valiant Trojans, was the result of the rarest and glorious victories, won over a period of 700 years; still it had not attained the proportions of the Arabian Empire, established in less than a century.”
Sarojini Naidu:54
Sarojini Naidu says, “It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy. For in the mosque when the minaret is sounded and the worshippers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day, when the peasant and king kneel side by side and proclaim God alone is great. I have been struck over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes a man instinctively a brother.”Tulshi Das:
Tulshi Das says, “I will not add anything from my own: but whatever is in Veda and in the Purana (Ancient Scripture) that is true and truth I will say. There will descend a shining Star in Arabia, who will demonstrate many memorable and phenomenal feats. In the darkest night, a brilliance of four Suns will emanate from him. He will have four devoted Disciples. With quick propagation, his religion will expand fast. There will be no way to reach God other than Muhammad.”55Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy:
The famous Professor and Chemist, Sir P.C. Roy says, “It is the Peculiar privilege of Islam that it makes no difference between man and man. It was the equality and brotherhood and not the sword of iron which attracted many Hindus to Islam.”He further says, “Muhammad, the Great man abolishing the gap between the affluent and the indigent established a universal fraternity. The serene light of brotherhood that abolished class system through Islam is a lofty ideal for the world. He destroyed all distinction between the fair and the dark, poor and the rich, high and the low, Aryans and non-Aryans, male and the female and between servants and masters. All are equal before God. I do not know of a religion that has this characteristic of universal brotherhood. Hinduism is choked by the curse of caste system. Christianity, the great proponent of equality also has not been able to create such an ideal system. As soon as one confesses faith in Islam, he becomes the member of a universal fraternity, where he is equal to all other members. The King and the subject are equals. If this idea of a universal fraternity is not noble then no religion on earth can exit vibrantly.”
Rev. Mahendra Nath:56
Like a heavenly fire mighty Muhammad endowed with God’s message, in the sixth century came shaking the Arab land and adored the barbarians with civility and religion, and taught them that ‘there is no god but Allah.’ The world would never forget, the way the small-minded souls blinded by communalism denied and hated Abdullah’s son and his religion, and has been doing so, without any valid reason. That Islam has descended with direct and indirect benefits for human can only be denied by the insane, history is the unfailing witness to that. At a time when Europe was immersed in the curse of the Dark Ages, culture of knowledge and learning was almost extinguished; when not mentioning others the Christians were plunged in superstition, idolatry and vices, Islam came with relief. It established its supremacy in almost whole of Africa, Arabia, Turkey, Persia, Tartar, Afghanistan and Spain by demolishing idolatry, fire and Sun worshipping. ‘There is no god but Allah’, became synonymous with the reign of the Caliphs. Even the staunchest enemies of Islam do not deny that ‘culture of knowledge’, the pride and crown of Europe and the Muslims revived the western world. In the darkest time, it held derailed Europe in its lap, like the Mother Earth. We are helplessly unable to comprehend what a great instrument of benefit it is in the hands God, for the welfare of the Worlds.57Pandit Dharmananda Mahabharati:
How great is the Arabian Muhammad? Is he an ordinary man? If a human being, can he do so much? He is a superman in the shape of a man. He is an immortal great man descended from the heaven. If not endowed with Godly-power, can one be so powerful, so completely able, and so magnanimous?Muhammad was endowed with kindness, altruism, benevolence, chivalry, truthfulness, independence, God worshipping, devotion to God, etc. He has accomplished many supernatural things, benefited countless people of this world, created a new religion, and illuminated this captivating, ignorant and visionless world with spiritual light of knowledge. Removing oppression, tyranny, injustice, superstition, ignorance and vice, he saved the then central Asia from destruction.
Fakir Muhammad is a principal Jewel in the Crown of the earth; he is a divine being from the heavens, not a human of this elusive earth.
Pandit Gopal Chandra Shastri:
In Arabic the most important book is al-Qurän or Qurän Sherif, the other name is Fur’qän. This is a wonderful thing, a phenomenal priceless book. This book is to be read and taught and to learn and train. I am a Hindu, but still I can praise this book unreservedly. Concisely, al-Qurän is a priceless jewel, that who has not seen this gem he does not have complete right to enter the realm of spirituality.Bhai Girish Chandra Sen:
That who has occupied the hearts of millions of men and women, influenced their lives, and liberating them from the shackles of idolatry brought them under the domain of one and only God, is he an ordinary soul? That who has tied the rich and the poor, man and woman, young and old to the worship of God five times a day, is he an ordinary man? Who is praised in thousands and thousands of houses of God proudly standing erect around the world, thousands and thousands of saints, savants, dervishes are whose disciple, is he an ordinary human being? Who would not accept him as a divine great man? Without the Will of God and divine power, can anybody do such great deeds? Being only an illiterate ordinary man of moderate financial condition only through his steadfast conviction and divine power, heralding monotheism he has shaken the world. This is Divine. This kind of mighty deed cannot be done with mundane knowledge and wisdom.Swami Bibekananda:
Muhammad is an Acharya (saint) of Equality. He is the prophet preaching universal fraternity. All Avatars, prophets and the messengers of God brought specific true messages.Muhammad through his own lifestyle taught that there should be total equality and goodwill among the Muslims and there cannot be any distinction of caste, creed or sex. The Turkish Sultan may buy a slave in the African market and bring him to Turkey in chains, but if he is capable and endowed with good qualities, he may marry the daughter of the Sultan.
And what the Hindus do? If a missionary touches the food of a chaste Hindu, he would throw the food immediately. Here is the difference between the Muslims and others-irrespective of caste and creed all are treated equal- this is the majestic grandeur of Islam.
Joseph Hale:
Muhammad is such a great man that without him the world would have been incomplete. He is his own example. Annals of his magnificent achievements have created a glorious chapter in human history.Professor Max Muller:
How much resemblance is there between Christianity and Islam? On this subject, Max Muller has written in an article in ‘Nineteenth Century’. In the beginning, he has said, “There are certain things of Muslims, which are superior to us. Among them, the lower and middle classes are independent but free of the vice of drinking. If I am to believe my Turkish friends then their womenfolk (Muslim) are clean of open corruption. The religion that can treat and cure drinking and corruption, definitely, deserve our deference.He again says, “After elaborate debate and deliberations we had to generally admit that mainly there are little differences between these two religions. If there were not so much bickering, earlier these two could have merged. All admit that if the six main points of the Qurän namely: ‘Unity of God’, ‘recognition of the Bible’, ‘recognition of few others specific divine scriptures’, ‘the Day of Judgement’ and the commandments of God, are the principal doctrines of Islam then there is nothing to quarrel. That Muhammad has dedicated his life to preach the truth, justice and welfare of the people. That he has been able to express God through Truth is a testimony of his being a prophet.
Encyclopaedia Britannica:
The writer of the article ‘Koran’ in the Encyclopaedia Britannica remarks: “Muhammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities.... There is no doubt Muhammad was a man of extraordinary insight and deep reflection. Though without a book learning, he had a deep knowledge of man and possessed a grasp of the eternal ground of all religions.”
Goethe, The Greatest German Poet:
While speaking about the Holy Qurän declared, “This book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence.” He once while reviewing Islam as an educational force, said to Eckermann, “you see these teachings never fail: with all our systems we cannot go, and generally speaking no man goes farther than that.”J.W. Draper:58
Draper in his book: ‘A History of Intellectual Development of Europe’ wrote, “Four years after the death of Justinian (AC 569) was born at Mecca, in Arabia, the man who of all men has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race.”He is further quoted as saying: “Islam admitted the salvation of men of any form and faith provided they were virtuous.”
J.W. Draper, in his book, ‘A History of Intellectual Development of Europe’ says, “It is altogether a misconception to assume that the Arabian progress was due to the sword alone. The sword may change an acknowledged creed, but it cannot affect the conscience of men. Profound though its argument is, something more profound was demanded before Muhammadanism came pervading the domestic life of Asia and Africa.”
Thomas Carlyle-A Famous Historian and Essayist:
Mr. Carlyle in his book ‘Heroes and Hero-worship’ writes, “But from an early age he had been remarked as a thoughtful man. His companions named him ‘Al-Amin’ i.e., faithful, a man of truth and fidelity, true in what he did, in what he spoke and thought.Carlyle further writes about Muhammad: “I say the great man was a lightning out of heaven; the rest of man waited for him like fuel and then they would flame.”
John Davenport- English Writer:
John Davenport in his book ‘The Message of the Qurän’ writes, “The religion thus established by the Qurän is a stern and severe monotheism; it has nothing abstract and indistinct in its primary notion of Godhead.”He also wrote that the piety of Moses and Christ rejoiced in an assurance at a future Prophet (Muhammad) more illustrious than them: and the Evangelists promise of the Paraclete on Holy ghosts, the comforter, was prefigured in the name and accomplished in person of the greatest and last of the Prophets.59 He further elaborates: “Islam never interfered with the dogmas of any faith never established and acquisition.
George Bernard Shaw:
George Bernard Shaw writes, “I believe that if a man like Muhammad were to assume the dictatorship of the Modern World he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it, it’s much needed peace and happiness. I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be accepted to the Europe of today. If any religion has the chance of ruling over England nay Europe within next hundred years it can only be Islam. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess the assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make its appeal to every age.”Lord Bertrand Russell:
Lord Russell said about Islam: “In the Mohammedan world Christians and Jewish were not molested so long as they paid the tribute, but throughout Christendom death was the usual penalty for even the smallest dentition from orthodox.”William Muir:
In his book ‘Life of Muhammad’ he writes, “The Qurän is unapproachable as regards convincing power, eloquence and even composition. To it was due undoubtedly, the marvellous development of all branches of science in the Muslim world ...it created a civilized nation, out of savage tribes and shot fresh wool into the old warp of history.”Muir further writes, “There is probably in the world no other work which has remained twelve centuries with so pure a text as the Qurän. Efforts of European scholars to prove the existence of later interpolation in the Qurän has failed (vide also article ‘Qurän’ in the Encyclopaedia Britannica).”
Historian Edward Gibbon:
In ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ Gibbon writes, “The author of the mighty revolution appears to have been endowed with a pious and contemplative disposition. Good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty; he kindled the fire, swept the floor, milked the cows and mended with his own hands his shoes and his garments ...but in his domestic life many weeks will lapse without a fire being kindled in the hearth of the prophet.” He further said, “A pernicious tenet has been imputed to the Mohammadans the duty of extirpating all the religions by sword.Gibbon distinguished the expansion of Islam as “one of the most memorable revolutions...”
R.V.C. Bodley:
Bodley in his book, ‘The Messenger’ (The life of Muhammad) writes refuting critics of Prophet Muhammad, “Muhammad was shown as a feudal lord who took Christian holy orders. He was created a Cardinal, but failing to be elected to the papacy revenged himself by starting a new religion.”Bodley narrates: “Muhammad said, ‘He who wrongs a Jew or a Christian will have me as accuser,’ and repeatedly recommends this tolerance towards the faith, which resembled his own. In all his treaties with the Christians, he invariably guaranteed their right of worship. Bodley narrates: “When Omar became Caliph and captured Jerusalem, he gave rigid injunctions that neither Christian nor their church should be harmed. When they invaded Spain in the eighth century, everything Christian was respected. It continued to be so until the disintegration of the Arab rule in Europe during the fifteenth century.”
Bodley writes, “Muhammad’s order relating to the Muslim attitude towards Christianity has, with few exceptions, been maintained.” This is contrary to the European who professes a religion or faith, which is not Christian, is wrong. Even within the Christian fold, the various denominations consider each other as respectively misguided. There is little tolerance between church and chapel. This is not so with Islam. When the Muslim faith unconditionally condemns idolatry, it unreservedly recognizes Christianity.
Bodley describes, “No Jew or Buddhist or Christian ever say that his faith grew before him with such miraculous rapidity. No other religious leader was ever so rewarded in his lifetime. It seems as if God had wished to emphasize that Muhammad were the last of His prophets and ‘Islam the last of His religions’.”
Bodley again writes, “One of Muhammad’s last requests before he died was, ‘O, Lord, let not my tomb be ever an object of worship’.”
Historian Stanley Lane-Poole:
Lane-Poole states: “No emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man, with a cloak of his own counting. He had the gift of influencing man and he had the nobility only to influence them for good.”Lane-Poole further says, “The frank friendship, the noble generosity, the dauntless courage and hope of the man, all tend to melt criticism in admiration.”
Lane-Poole writes again, “His whole life is a long argument for his loyalty to truth. He had but one answer for his worshippers ‘I am no more than a man I am only human’.”
Stanley Lane Poole in his book ‘The speeches and Table Talk of Muhammad’ writes: “He is more modest than a virgin behind her curtain it was said of him. He was most indulgent to his inferiors and would never scold his little ‘page' for anything whatsoever. ‘Ten years’ said Anis, as his servant, I was about the prophet and he never said as much as ‘Off’ to me.”
Poole further writes, “When asked to curse someone he replied: ‘I have not been sent to curse, but to be a mercy to mankind’. Those who saw him have suddenly filled with reverence; those who come near him lived him and they who described him would say: ‘I have never seen his like either before or after’.”
Washington Irving:
In his book ‘Muhammad’, Washington Irving writes, “His (Muhammad’s) Military triumphs awakened no pride or vainglory, as they would have done had they been affected for selfish motives. In the time of his greatest power, he maintained the simplicity of manner and appearance as in the days of adversity. ... If he aimed at universal dominion, it was the dominion of faith.Regarding the Holy Qurän Irving writes, “The Qurän contains pure, elevated and benignant precepts...”
Venkata Ratnam:
Venkata Ratnam in his famous book ‘An Essay on Islam’ (1922 Edition, Madras) writes, “Finally it may be noted that Islam is the most tolerant faith…”Venkata Ratnam again writes, “The Islam of Muhammad with its stern discipline and stern morality proved itself the only practical religion. Muhammad, the Prophet of God has done more good to the world than any other man.”
Annie Besant:
Annie Besant60 in her book: ‘Life and Teachings of Muhammad,’ writes about freedom and status of women and property in Islam. She writes, “I often think woman is free in Islam than in Christianity woman is more protected by Islam than the by the faith which preaches monogamy. In al-Qurän, the law about woman is more just and liberal. It is only in England in the last 26 years that Christians have recognized the right of woman to property while Islam has assured this right from, old times. It is a slander to say that Islam preaches that woman has no soul.” “Islam is often unfairly attacked because it was utterly misunderstood as to the greatness of its Prophet and the nobility of his teachings to the world.”“It is true that today Islam does not stand before the World as the exponent of high learning, or great intellectual endeavours; but, that is not due to the fault of the teachings; but, rather to the neglect of them. Islam has suffered as all the other religions of the world have suffered because its followers are unworthy of its founders.”
She continues, “Now Islam differs from the other religions of the world in one important fact. With regard to its founder, the Prophet, there is not intermixture in his history of the mythic elements, which surround the other great religious teachers. His life was led in times that are regarded as historical. In the seventh century of the Christian era this Man was born and lived out his life in lands, the history of which is known.”
Annie Besant goes on to write, “It is noteworthy that when he came back from that cave one night when the Angel of the Lord had bidden him. ‘Rise Prophet of God and go forth and cry to the people’ he shivered ‘Who am I, what am I that I should go as prophet of the Lord.’ It was then that his wife cheered him up bidding him to obey the call. ‘Fear not,’ she said, ‘art thou not the Trustworthy? Never will God deceive a man trusted by men.’ Nowhere can there be a fairer testimony to a prophet. Then he went forth to his great mission. The wife of his bosom was his first disciple, that dearest and noblest of women who lived with this leader of men for twenty-six years of perfect married life. Such was the character of the man as judged by her who knew him best.”
H.G. Wells:
H.G. Wells had no genuine regard for Islam. For all his writings, his history, his resources were the Christian Missionaries, as he had no access to Arabic texts to get to know the Holy Prophet Muhammad and Islam. Therefore in his book: ‘Outline of History’, he expounded about Islam and its Prophet from a prejudiced and biased view of Christian writers. Still he could not but admit the truths. He writes in his ‘Outline of History’, “Can a man who has no good qualities hold a friend? Those who knew Muhammad the best believed in him most. Khadija for all her days believed in him. Abu Bakr is a better witness and he never wavered in his devotion. Abu Bakr believed in the Prophet and it is very hard for anyone who reads the history of these times not to believe in Abu Bakr. Ali repeatedly risked his life for the Prophet in his darkest days.Well writes in his ‘Outline of History’: “Islam created a society more free from widespread cruelty and social oppression than any society had ever been in the world before.”
Lothrop Stoddard:
Lothrop Stoddard in his book ‘Clasping of Tides of Colour’ writes, “Broadly speaking, the Near East possesses a fundamental unity, that of Islam. The native Christians and Jewish minorities are local survivals from the lost past times. Now Islam is more than a creed, it is a culture and way of life. However radically westerners modify it, Islam will remain the basis upon which new development will repose. In addition, Islam is not ossified or decadent as many Westerners assume. It is very much alive and it has long been in genuine evolution. The Islamic world touched its lowest depth or decrepitude two centuries ago. Thereafter began the movement known as the Muhammadan Revival a spiritual leaven which never ceased to work, which continues to work, and which continues to produce the important effect. This revival, be it noted was not due to western impact. It sprang from Islam’s own vitality. The rapid rise of Islam to a great intent is due to its sublime practicability and its promise for balanced life.”Havell:
Havell in his book ‘Aryan Role in India’, says, “It was not philosophy of Islam but its sociological program which won so many converts in India. The social program of the prophet gave every true believer an equal spiritual status, made Islam a political and social synthesis, and gave it an imperial mission. Islam was a rule of life sufficient for happiness of average humanity content to take the world as it is.”Laura Veccia Vogluri:61
Vogluri in his book ‘Apologie de Islamism’ writes: “On the whole we find in it (Qurän) a collection of wisdom which can be adopted by the most intelligent of men; the greatest of philosophers and the most skilful of politicians. But there is another proof of Divinity of the Qurän; it is the fact that it has been preserved intact through the ages since the time of its Revelation till the present day. Read and re-read the book does not rouse in the faithful any weariness; it rather through repetition is more loved every day. It gives rise to a profound feeling of awe and respect in the one who reads it, or listens to it.”The Daily Express:62
The Daily Express in its editorial column wrote, “If the test of a great man’s inspiration is the reverence which his words inspire in those who acknowledge their divine origin, then Muhammad must be remembered among the greatest. But if this is right and it is right Muhammad is a unique character seeing that no other reformer, prophet nor even God incarnate, could have and claim that love, devotion and obedience that came to Muhammad from his followers who were not of low station or of inferior mental calibre, but men of position, rank, wealth and culture; and from his own kith and kin, who knew ins and outs of his life. For twelve years, the early Muslims suffered frightful persecution at the hands of the idolaters and yet their number steadily increased. The community was scattered and many were driven into exile, yet it went on growing. Though members were subjected to most cruel tortures, there were few apostates and many converts to the faith of God. Did the personality of Muhammad the most charming that the world has ever produced count for nothing in that steadfast and enduring growth?”W. Hunter:
W.W. Hunter in his book, ‘The Indian Musalman’ says, “It is one of the glories of Islam that its temples are not made with halls, its ceremonies can be performed anywhere in God’s earth, or under the heaven by any man.”Dr. B. Ram Krishna Rao:63
In a speech he on October 7, 1957 on birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet, said, “The message of great teachers like Muhammad is intended for the whole world.” He further elaborated: “Islam is essentially a religion which propagated democracy and social equality and it is one of the greatest religions which taught the fundamentals of life.”Dr. John Clerk Archer: 64
Dr. Archer writes, “But there is convincing evidence of originality in the very exercise of sensitive acquisitive, selective, and creative powers, such as Islam had and exercised both in Arabia and beyond. Wise choices and definite rejections were made repeatedly in the course of Islam’s broadening experiences. Take the case of Fiqh or canon law or call it simply law since in early Islam the State and the Church was one. It gave full play, in matters not precluded by Koranic statement to the full exercise of judgement (ray-opinion) to the use of common sense on a Kazi’s or judge’s part.Professor Joseph Hill:
Joseph Hill in his book, ‘Arabic Civilization’ writes, “Islam was the first religion in the history of mankind to utilize the tremendous power of public Congregational prayer as a unifying agent... The regular meeting of all the faithful at common prayer nourished the spirit of solidarity implanting the feeling of unity of man.”Joseph further says, “Muhammad is that Great man without whom the Universe would have been incomplete. He is only comparable to himself. His accomplishment is a brilliant chapter in the history of humankind.”
Joseph Hill praises the spirit of discipline created by Islam in men in these words: “So excellent indeed, was the discipline at the time, in the Muslim army that Khalid, without the least hesitation surrendered the chief command to Muthanna.”
Prof. Ramesh Chandra Ghosh:65
Professor Ghosh in the introduction to his book ‘Constitutional Development in the Islamic World’ remarks: “Of all the world religions Islam is the latest. And yet, no other religion has so emphatically and persistently, in words and inactions pointed out the oneness of God and equality of men. The prophet said, ‘The white man is not above the black, nor the black above the yellow; all men are equal before the master’.”AC Bouquet:66
AC Bouquet in his well-known book ‘Comparative Religion’ writes: “Muhammad succeeded in fastening upon his people and extending throughout the Middle-East a broader, cleaner, fresher and more vigorous political and social ideal than that of the decadent ‘Byzantine Empire’. ...Muhammad expressly rejected all claims to work miracles and he despised grandeur and lived on principle an extremely frugal life though he was no ascetic ...He is reputed to have behaved very simply and there is no reason for not supposing that he did. He performed the most menial task with his own hands and was essentially puritan saying that the Divine Revelation forbade him to wear gold or silk.”Selwyn Gurney and Dorothy Short:67
In their ‘Readings from world Religion’ remark, “His (Muhammad’s) belief in force has encouraged comparison with some of the dictators of later times who have also been single-hearted and personally abstemious. But the answer is that such men tend to fall, whereas Muhammad founded a religion, which has guided millions of men of many nationalities for thirteen hundred years and which is until in the increase. Mere power-seeking fanatics are unable to influence later generations no longer subject to their personal magnetism. After the death of Muhammad, there was one of the most remarkable outbursts of conquests, the world has ever seen.”Major Arthur Glyn Leonard:68
Arthur Glyn Leonard in his book, ‘Islam-Her moral and Spiritual Value’ writes, “To thoroughly comprehend, the spirit of Muhammad or the soul of Islam, the student himself must at the outset recognize that Muhammad was no mere spiritual peddler, no vulgar time serving vagrant, but one of the most profoundly sincere and earnest spirits of any age, or epoch. The man is not only great but also one of the greatest (i.e. truest) men that humanity had ever produced. Great not simply as a prophet, but as a patriot constructed a great nation, a greater empire and more even than all three -a still greater Faith, true, moreover, because he was true to himself, his people and above all to his God.Recognizing this, he will thus acknowledge that Islam is a profound and true cult strives to uplift its votaries from the depth of human darkness upward into the higher realm of ‘Light and Truth’.”
C.W. Leitner:69
Leitner in his book, ‘Muhammadanism’ writes, “Muhammad himself did not claim infallibility. On one occasion, he had a revelation censuring him severely for having turned away from a beggar in order to speak to an illustrious person of the Commonwealth and he published this revelation, the very last thing which he would have done had he been an impostor, as the ignorant Christians call the great Arab prophet.”Professor C. Parameshwar:70
Professor Parameshwar in an article ‘The Guilt of Man’ writes about Islam and its prophet: “Islam recognizes sources of all religion in God. With regard to Islam, this much can be said at least, that despite malpractices its structure and general outlines remain uncorrupted until today, the true Islam is yet luckily readily distinguishable from false Islam. That is the only credit we claim for this religion. We are afraid the same cannot be said of other religions.”Rev. Canon Isaac Taylor:
Rev. Taylor in his speech delivered at the Church Congress of England said, “The strictly regulated polygamy of all Muslim land is infinitely less degrading to women and less injurious to men than the promiscuous polyandry which is the curse of Christian cities and which is absolutely unknown in Islam.”Lamartine:71
Lamartine in his book, ‘His toise de la Turquie’ wrote: “If the grandeur of the design, the scantiness of means, the immensity of the results, are the three measures of genius of the man, who will dare compare in humanity any great man of modern history with Muhammad?”JD Cockbain:
JD. Cockbain in an article entitled: ‘The Islamic Faith’ writes about Islam: “The strength of Islam in its early days as today is that it knows nothing of race or colour prejudice. ...The main purpose of the Qurän is to awaken in the man the higher consciousness of his manifold relations with God and with Universe.”Lala Lajpat Rai:
Rai, the great Indian Congress leader, says, “I have not the least hesitation in declaring that I entertain the highest respect for the prophet of Islam. In my opinion he holds the highest rank among the Religious Teachers and Reformers.”TL Vaswani:
Vaswani, the famous Indian Philosopher, says, “I salute Muhammad as one of the world force, a mighty power for the uplift of many people. Consider for a moment what the faith he preached has achieved. Islam abolished infanticide in Arabia. Islam enjoined on the faithful abstinence from drink. Islam emphasized the great qualities of faith: courage, endurance and self-sacrifice. Islam introduced a vigorous Puritanism into Asia and Europe deprecating even dancing and card playing. Who is a Muslim? Says the Qurän ‘He who seeketh after the right way’.”Edward A. Farmer:
Farmer is among those writers who tried their best to discredit and vulgarize, in the most perverted way Islam and its Holy Prophet. Even he could not camouflage the truth and brilliance of Islam and the pure dazzling majestic character of its Prophet. He is clearly overwhelmed by the facts.He writes in ‘A History of the Conquests of the Saracens’: “...the great Arabian legislator, who was destined to change so completely the face of the world in his own age and to exercise so important and influence upon it for all times.”
“I reverence the man who could gather the scattered tribes of his people into one great and united nation, who could sweep away the idols of the heathens from the ancient temple of Divine Unity.”
Farmer writes, “He at last rose far above the vulgar claims, either of temporal conquerors or of spiritual pretenders. He was still the servant and apostle of God and claimed no homage in any other character. A vulgar impostor would have claimed miraculous powers or decked himself in the pomp of earthly loyalty.”
Farmer again narrates: “It remained for him to appear in the character of universal Prophet and universal conqueror. ‘There is no god but God and Muhammad is the apostle of God.’ If these indeed are the words of saving truth, it is not to the sons of Ishmael alone that they must be proclaimed. It is not within the Arabian Peninsula alone obedience is due to him. The Persians must no longer divide his homage between good and evil but must return to the worship of one Almighty Lord, Who reigns alone over the just and the unjust.”
Farmer under the weight of evidence admitted the truth and the falsehood of his own statement that Muhammad chose sword and force as weapons for spreading of Islam. He writes, “According to the morality of his own age and nation, there was absolutely nothing to censure in his public, very little in his private life. Even judging him by a higher and severer standard, we may fairly say that few men have risen from a private station to a sovereign power with so noble an end before them and with so little of recorded crime.”
Farmer continues: “No man, they tell us is a hero to his valet de chamber, but in his noble freed man Zaid, Muhammad found one in whose eyes he was emphatically a hero. The confidence and affection of a wife to whom he owed his position and one fifteen years older than himself, the constant confidence and affection of his men of most opposite characters, the calm Abu Bakr, the chivalrous Ali and the fiery Omar certainly show that the personal character of Muhammad in no way gave lie to his lofty pretensions. To say with Prideau that his early life was ‘very wicked and licentious’ is a mere calumny without proof.”
Farmer goes on to state: “He wrought great reform and that on the whole with what his fellow men regarded as noble means. For corrupt, debasing and sanguinary idolatry, he substituted the worship of one God, who was Almighty and All righteous, alike. He gathered his people together into one nation and gave them civil and moral precepts, imperfect indeed, but far better than any they had previously possessed. Their revolting practice of infanticide he utterly abolished. Others as polygamy and private revenge he subjected to stringent regulations. In some respects as prohibition of wine the character of his teaching was positively ascetic.”
E. Royston Pike:
E. Royston Pike in his book ‘Muhammad’72 writes: “From this it will be clear that Muhammad taught that Islam was a continuation of the religions that had gone before. He did not look upon himself as the Founder of a new religion, but as one who had been commissioned by Allah to reform the faith in all its original purity that Allah had revealed to Adam and Abraham and their successors in the line of prophets”Non-Muslim Scholars on Islam: Islamic Law and Constitution:
Robert Hough Wont Jackson:
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in his foreword to the book ‘Law in the Middle Ages’ writes about Islam and the Islamic shariat: “To the Americans the most fundamental difference lies in the relation between law and religion. America does not prescribe religious duties indeed; it consciously omits them ... Indeed one may be at the same time a law-abiding citizen and a thoroughly shabby character. Islamic law on the contrary, finds its chief sources in the Will of Allah as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. ...Religion, not nationalism or geography is the proper cohesion force. The state itself is subordinate to the Qurän, which have little room for additional legislation, none for criticism or discussion. It is not possible to separate political or juristic theories from the teachings of the prophet, which establish rules of conduct concerning religion, domestic, social or political life. But the fact is that this system (shariat) which seems so unworkable to us has an amazing record of accomplishment.”Professor Joseph Schacht:
Professor Schacht in the book: ‘Law in the Middle East’ writes about Islamic law: “The sphere of law had been permeated with the religious and ethical standard proper to Islam.”V. Fitzerald:
Fitzerald remarks: “Finally and above all, the Qurän converted the heathen Arabs to the idea that law is the direct command of God and since it is the cardinal tenet of Islam that God is one, it follows that His law must be a single whole.Professor Henry Cattan:
Professor Cattan writes, “More than one thousand years ago, long before the birth of the doctrine of uses and trusts in English law, Islamic law recognized and developed a legal expedient under the name of wakf, which permitted an owner to settle his property to the use of beneficiaries in perpetuity.”Professor Thomas Arnold:
Professor Thomas Arnold, Professor of Logic of Lahore Government College, writing ‘Preaching Islam,’ has shown the civilized world that only Muslim traders have propagated religion through sermons in the world. In Europe, Asia and the Pacific Islands Islam spread silently without a ripple. Since like Christianity there are no specially appointed clerics to preach religion, every Muslim-traders in their leisure, lectured and invited people to Islam. Their words matched with their good example gradually gained ground and Islam flourished. In China where the Muslims never went as conquerors, Islam took root among one fourth of the population of the Empire. Was that through the sword?With hundreds of examples, he establishes that Islam did not flourish through might. Arab traders worked hard and relentlessly to spread Islam in Java, Borneo, Sumatra and in African continent. In all these places, the Muslims went not as conquerors but as merchants.
Arnold writes again, “Reading the history of Islam it is easily discerned that under Islamic rule other religious groups of communities enjoyed complete and unhindered freedom to exercise their own beliefs. That was not so under any Christian regime. The ruling clan or community always mercilessly persecuted the opposition in religious groups under other rules than Islam. Hostile to Islam George Shale a translator of the Holy Qurän in the preface wrote, “Christians have shown in the matter of religion much more ruthlessness than Muslims and the Jewish.”
If we take the example of the Indian subcontinent, we see that during the Muslim rule here non-Muslims occupied place of honour and power. Religion was no obstacle in their advancement, which is not true for any other country now or then. Muhammad preached Islam with Holy Qurän in one hand and the sword in the other: is a falsehood. Due to the hostile English writer, this kind of unfounded non-historic utterance made wrong impressions on the minds of the innocent peoples.
Professor Arnold said again, “Whatever the race, colour and antecedents of the worshipper he is received into the brotherhood of believers as equal among equals. Islam is a great political power whose effects the world will feel more and more in proportions as the earth is brought closer and closer together. Islam which claims the allegiance of the seven hundred million souls is the only solution for all the ills of the world.”
Joules Messermann:73
In an article entitled: ‘Where are the leaders’ published in ‘Time’ Messermann writes in the conclusion “Muhammad was the greatest leader of all the times.” He in spite of being a Jewish placed Muhammad before Moses.Muhammad in the Book ‘The Hundred’74:
The present time is an age of scientific and technological accomplishments. In these days of scientific achievements in the city New York populated by Jewish and the Christians, with the cooperation of a group of historian-scientists and historians Michael H. Hart, an American has short-listed two hundred greatest men that have ever lived on this earth. Michael H. Hart is an Astronomer, Mathematician, Writer and Researcher preparing the said list considered all the activities of the people that lived on the earth from its inception until the present time. Then the group of researcher and writers deliberated upon, analysed the list for a long, long time after long, and came up with one hundred names. Thereafter, comparing the enlisted great-men, by weighing their contributions and achievements, they arranged them according to their gradations. The 527 page book entitled: ‘The Hundred ‘ was inaugurated before a gathering of leading politicians, writers, journalists, clerics, educationalists, lawyers and other leading intellectuals by A.W. Publishers. These were a people belonging to Judaism, Christianity and other religions of the world. Muhammad was leading the list. Christ and Moses occupied the third and the sixteenth places, respectively. Buddha held the fourth place and second went to Isaac Newton. It is prolix to mention that most of the people involved with the process were either Christians or Jewish. There was no criticism inside the auditorium or outside.In the beginning of the book, Hart 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 religious and secular levels….”
The Prophet said, “Among men, he is the best by whom the humanity is benefited (Hadith).”
1 Nahjul Balagha: Hazrat Ali (RA).
2 A Brief History of Civilization: John S. Hayland, p. 72.
3 Rasul: a prophet with a holy book. Nabi: a prophet
4 Interpretation of the Qurän (Tafsir-e-Ma’aref al-Qurän), p. 1462, King Fahd Publishing Project.
5 Interpretation of the Qurän (Tafsir-e-Ma’aref al-Qurän), p. 139, King Fahd Publishing Project.
6 Interpretation by Maulana Abdullah Al-Ma’ruf Muhammad Shah Alam, Islamic Foundation, Dhaka. Bangladesh.
7 Hadith Al-Qudsi: Sayings of Muhammad which came from Allah and he narrated them in his own language.
8 A History of Civilization in Ancient India, RC Dutta, Vol. III, p. 28.
9 Prati Sarg Parv III: 3, 3. 5-8. Venkteshwar Press, Bombay.
10 Mohammed in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940, p. 61.
11 Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940, p. 64.
12 Bhavishaya Purana, Parv. III: 1,4, 21-23.
13 Bhavishaya Purana Parv. III: 1,4, pp. 256-57. (As quoted in Mohammed in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940.)
14 Al-Qurän: Süra 9:100
15 Al-Qurän: Süra 9:100.
16 Al-Qurän: Süra 2:155.
17 The Qurän: Süra 21:35.
18 Rig Veda, V: 54.14. (As quoted in Mohammed in World Scripture, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940.)
19 The Gospel of Buddha: Carus, pp. 117-18. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
20 The Gospel of Buddha: Carus, pp. 117-18. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
21 Muhammad in the Buddhist Scripture: p. (As quoted in Mohammed in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
22 The Dhammapada S.B.E. Vol. X p. 67. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
23 The Dhammapada S.B.E. Vol. X p. 67. (As quoted in Mohammed in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
24 Saddhama-Pundrika S.B.E. Vol. XXI, p. 225. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
25 The Dhammapada S.B.E. Vol. X p. 67. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
26 The Life and Teaching of Buddha: Anagarika Dhammapada, p.84. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
27 Romantic History of Buddha: Beal, p.15. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
28 Muhammad in Buddhist Scriptures, p.15. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
29 Romantic History of Buddha: Beal, p. 237. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
30 The Dhammapada S.B.E. Vol. X p. 64 (footnote). (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
31 Life of Mohammet: Sir William Muir, Abridged Edition, pp. 545-46.
32 Desert Life of Mohammet: Sir William Muir, Abridged Edition, p. 548.
33 The Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Mohammad: Lane Poole, p. XXXIX.
34 The Speeches and Table Talk of the Prophet Mohammad: Lane Poole, p. XXXIX.
35 Mohammad and Mohammedanism: Rev. Bosworth Smith, p. 99.
36 Mohammad and Mohammadanism: Rev. Bosworth Smith, pp. 110-111.
37 Mohammad in Buddhist Scripture: p. 64. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
38 Mohammad in Buddhist Scripture: p. 97. (As quoted in Mohammad in World Scriptures, Maulana Abdul Hoque Vidyarthi, Dar-ul-Kutub, Lahore, 1940).
39 The life of Mohammad: Sir William Muir, pp. 511-512.
40 We have based a part of this chapter on “Baibalay Muhammad (Muhammad in the Bible)” by Professor Syed Abdur Rahman, Madrassa Publication Centre, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Calcutta, 1991.
41 Bibelay Muhammad (Muhammad in the Bible)
42 Translated by the Translator from Bengali.
43 History of the Arabs, VIII part II, p. 116.
44 The Hero as Prophet Mahomet: Islam, p. 13.
45 History of the Arabs, p.111.
46 Kalki Purana the name of the Hindu scripture announcing and giving an account of the tenth incarnation
47 Kalki: the tenth and the last incarnation of Vishnu expected to take place in Kaliyuga (Last Age).
48 Dr. Ved Prakash Upadhaya, MA (Sanskrit Veda), D. Phil. (Religious Studies), Dip. in German: Research Scholar, Department of Sanskrit, University of Prayaga and Director Sharshtaya Vedanta Prakash Shanghaya. Dr. Asit Kumar Bandapadhaya and Dr Gauri Battacharya, translated his books: ‘Narashansah and Antim Rishi’, ‘Kalki Avatar and Muhammad Sahib’ and Ved o Puranayer Drishthi tay Ekotar Joti and published them together entitled as, ‘Veday Muhammad’ (Muhammad in the Vedas).
49 Bonaparte et l’ Islam - by Cherfils, Paris.
50 Religious Faith of Napoleon, JD Jenkins.
51 Glimpses of World History, Pundit Jawaherlal Nehru, London 1931.
52 East and West in Religion, London 1933.
53 Government College for Women, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
54 Former President of Indian National Congress.
55 Bajra Bhandar Tulsi Dasi Ramayana chapter xii: 211. (Translated by this translator).
56 Editor of ‘the Unity’ and a ‘Minister’ and ‘Preacher’ of Brahmanism.
57 Cited from Nanak Prakash.
58 History of the intellectual Development of Europe: JW Draper, Vol.-I. pp. 332-33.
59 Life of Muhammad.
60 Life and Teachings of Muhammad: Annie Besant, Madras, 1932: pp. 3.
61 Apologie de Islamism: Laura Veccia Vogluri - the famous Italian Arabist.
62 The editorial column of the Daily Express of London: November 10, 1925.
63 Dr. B. Ram Krishna Rao: Former Governor of Kerala, India; (Speech delivered on the October 7, 1957 on the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet)
64 Dr. John Clerk Archer, Emeritus Professor of Comparative Religion: Yale University, New Haven, USA: Our Debt to the Muslim World: Published in the Islamic Review: July 1957.
65 Prof. Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, MA B.L.: Constitutional Development in the Islamic World:
66 AC Bouquet: Comparative Religion: Penguin Books Ltd., Middlesex, 1954.
67 Selwyn Gurney and Dorothy Short: in their ‘Readings from world Religion’: London, 1951.
68 Islam-Her moral and Spiritual Value: (London 1927): Major Arthur Glyn Leonard:
69 C.W. Leitner, LL.D., MA, Ph.D., DL., Muhammadanism: Lahore, 1893.
70 Published in Islamic Review: October 1940.
71 A great French poet and politician.
72 Roy Publisher Inc.: New York.
73 PSYCHOANALYST: USA.
74 Michael H. Hart, The 100; A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, New York, pp. 33, 39-40.