Muhammed The Prophet Al Ameen The Trustworthy

.Muhammad The Prophet By Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao

Chapter Three: Al - Ameen The Trustworthy

The Golden Mean

            Islam is not directly concerned with political and economic systems, but indirectly and, in so far as political and economic affairs influence man's conduct, it does lay down some very important principles of economic life. According to Prof. Massignon, Islam maintains the balance between exaggerated opposites and has always in view the building of character which is the basis civilization. This is secured by its law of inheritance; by an organized, and not an optional, system of charity known as Zakat; and by regarding as illegal all anti-social practices in the economic field like monopoly, usury, securing of predetermined unearned incomes and increments, cornering markets, hoarding and creating artificial scarcity of any commodity in order to force the price to rise. Gambling is illegal. Contributions to schools, to places of worship, hospitals, digging of wells, opening of orphanages are the highest acts of virtue. Orphanages have sprung for the first time, it is said, under the teaching of the Prophet of Islam. The world owes its orphanages to this Prophet who was himself born an orphan. " Good all this", says Carlyle about Muhammad. " The natural voice of humanity, of piety and equity, dwelling in the heart of this wild son of nature, speaks".

The Test

            A historian once said, a great man should be judged by three tests:

●     Was he found to be of true mettle by his contemporaries?

●     Was he great enough to rise above the standards of his age?

●     Did he leave anything as permanent legacy to the world at large?

            This list may be further extended, but all these three tests of greatness are eminently satisfied to the highest degree in the case of Prophet Muhammad. Some illustrations of the last two have already been mentioned.

            The first of the three is; was the prophet of Islam found to be of true mettle by his contemporaries?

Impeccable Character

            Historical records show that all contemporaries of Muhammad, both friends and foes, acknowledged the sterling qualities, the spotless honesty, the noble virtues, the absolute sincerity and the absolute trustworthiness of the apostle of Islam in all walks of life and in every sphere of human activity. Even the Jews and those who did not believe in his message accepted him as arbitrator in their personal disputes on account of his scrupulous impartiality. Even those who did not believe in his message were forced to say:" O Muhammad we do not call you a liar, but we deny Him who has given you a Book and inspired you with a Message".

They thought he was one possessed. They tried violence to cure him. But the best of them saw that a new light had dawned on him and they hastened to seek that enlightenment. It is a notable feature in the history of the Prophet of Islam that his nearest relation, his beloved cousin and his bosom friends, who knew him most intimately, were thoroughly imbued with the truth of his mission and convinced of the genuineness of his divine inspiration." If these men and women, noble, intelligent, and certainly not less educated than the fishermen of Galilee, had perceived, the slightest sign of earthliness, deception, or want of faith in the Teacher himself, Muhammad's hopes of moral regeneration and social reform, would all have been crumbled to dust in a moment" From " The Spirit of Islam" by Sayed Ameer Ali.

            On the contrary we find, that the devotion of his followers was such that he was voluntarily acknowledged leader of their lives. They braved for this sake, persecutions and danger; they believed, trusted, obeyed and honored him even in the most excruciating torture and severest mental agony caused by excommunication; even unto death. Would this have been so had they noticed the slightest backsliding in their leader?

Undying Love For The Holy Prophet

            Read the history of the early converts to Islam and every heart would melt at the sight of the brutal treatment of innocent men and women. Sumayya, an innocent woman, is cruelty torn into pieces by piercing through with spears. An example is made of Yasir whose legs are tied to two camels and the beasts are driven in the opposite direction. Khabbab Bin Arth is made to lie down on a bed of burning coal with the brutal legs of the merciless tyrant of his breast so that he may not move and this makes even the fat beneath his skin melt. Khabbab Bin Adi is put to death in a cruel manner by mutilation and cutting off his flesh piecemeal. In the midst of his tortures, when asked whether he did not wish Muhammad in his place while he was in his house with this family, the sufferer cried out that he was gladly prepared to sacrifice himself, his family and children and all to save Muhammad from the prick of a thorn. Scores of heart-rending incidents of this type may be narrated. But what do all these incidents show? Why was it that these sons and daughters of Islam not only surrendered to their Prophet, their allegiance but made a gift of their bodies, hearts and souls? Is not the intense faith and conviction on the part of the immediate followers of Muhammad, the noblest testimony to his sincerity and to his utter self-absorption in the task assigned to him?

Followers Of Best Calibre

            And these men were not of low station or of an inferior mental caliber. Around him, in quite early days, gathered what was best and noblest in Mecca, its flower and cream, men of position, rank, wealth and culture, and from his own kith and kin, those who knew the ins and outs of his life. All the first four Caliphs, with their towering personalities, were converts of this early period.

            The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that:" Muhammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities". But this success was not the result of a mere accident. It was not a windfall. It was a recognition of the fact that he was found to be of true mettle by his contemporaries. It was the result of his admirable and all-compelling personality.

Source:Muhammad The Prophet By Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao

to be continued . . . .

Muhammed The Prophet Theory Merged With Practice

Muhammad The Prophet By Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao

Chapter Two: Mustafa the chosen one

“ who subdue their anger” (Holy Qur'an 3:134).

            To the Arab who would fight for forty years on the slight provocation that a camel belonging to the quest of one tribe had strayed into the grazing land belonging to another and both sides had fought till they lost 70,000 lives in all, threatening the extinction of both tribes. To such furious Arabs, the Prophet of Islam taught self-control and discipline to the extent of praying even on the battlefield.

War For Self-Defence

        When, after repeated efforts at conciliation had utterly failed, circumstances arose that dragged him into the battlefield purely in self-defence, the prophet of Islam changed the whole strategy of the battlefield. The total number of casualties in all the wars that took place during his lifetime, when the whole Arabian Peninsula came under his banner, does not exceed a few hundreds in all. He taught the Arab barbarians to pray, to pray not individually but in congregations, to God Almighty even amidst the dust and storm of warfare. Whenever the time for prayer came - and it comes five times every day - the congregation prayer had not to be abandoned or even postponed. A party had to be engaged in bowing their heads before God while another was engaged with the enemy. After finishing the prayers, the two parties had to exchange their positions.

Battlefield Humanised

            In an age of barbarism, the battlefield itself was humanized and strict instructions were issued not to embezzle, not to cheat, not to break trust, not to mutilate, not to kill a minor child or a woman or an old man, not to hew down date palm nor burn it, not to cut down a fruit tree, not to molest monks and persons engaged in worship. His own treatment of his bitterest enemies was the noblest example of his followers. At the conquest of Mecca, he stood at the zenith of his power. The city which had tortured him and his followers, which had driven him and his people into exile and which had unrelentingly persecuted and boycotted him even when he had taken refuge in a place more than 200 miles away, that city now lay at his feet. By the laws of war he could have justly avenged all the cruelties inflicted on him and his people. But what treatment did he meet out to them? Muhammad's heart overflowed with the milk of love and kindness  as he declared:" This day, there is no reproof against you and you are all free".

Bitterest Enemies Pardoned

            This was one of the chief objects why he permitted war in self defence- to unite human beings. And when this object was achieved, even his worst enemies were pardoned. Even those who had killed his beloved uncle, HUMZA, mutilated his dead body, had ripped it open and chewed a piece of his liver.

Theory Merged With Practice

            The principle of universal brotherhood and the doctrine of the equality of mankind which he proclaimed represent very great contribution of Muhammad to the social uplift of humanity. All great religions have also preached the same doctrine, but The Prophet of Islam had put this theory into actual practice and its value will be fully recognized, perhaps, sometime hence, when international consciousness being awakened, racial prejudices would disappear and a stronger concept of the brotherhood of humanity comes into existence.

Peasant And King Equal Before God

            Sarojini Naidu, speaking about this aspect of Islam, says:" It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for, in the mosque, when the AZAAN (the Muslim call to prayer) 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'. " The great poetess of India continues:" I have been struck over and again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes man instinctively a brother. When you meet an Egyptian, an Algerian, an Indian and a Turk in London, what matters is that Egypt is the motherland of one and India is the motherland of another ".

Islam-civilise spain and is answer To today's dilemma

            Mahatma Gandhi, in his inimitable style, says:" Someone has said that Europeans in South Africa dread the advent of Islam - Islam, that civilized Spain; Islam, that took the torch of light to Morocco and preached to the world the Gospel of Brotherhood. The Europeans of South Africa dread the advent of Islam, as they claim equality with the white races. They may well dread it. If Brotherhood is a sin, if it is equality of the colored races that they dread, then their dread is well founded".

Pilgrimage - Hajj - A Living Testimony

            Every year, during the pilgrimage season, the world witnesses the wonderful spectacle of this international Exhibition of Islam in leveling all distinctions of race, color, and rank. Not only the Europeans, the Africans, the Persians, the Indians, the Chinese, all meet together in Mecca as members of one divine family, but they are all clad in one dress, every person in two simple pieces of white seamless cloth, one piece round the loin and the other piece over the shoulders, bare-headed, without pomp or ceremony, repeating: "Here am I, O God; at Thy command; Thou art One and the Only; Here am I". Thus there remain nothing to differentiate the high from the low and every pilgrim carries home the impression of the international significance of Islam.

            In the words of Prof. Hurgronje:" The League of Nations founded by the Prophet of Islam put the principle of international unity and human brotherhood on such universal foundations as to show candle to other nations". He continues:" the fact is that no nation of the world can show a parallel to what Islam has done towards the realization of the idea of League of Nations".

Transformation Extraordinaria

            The Prophet of Islam thus brought about such a mighty transformation that the noblest and purest among Arabs by birth offered their daughters in marriage to this Negro slave and whenever the second Caliph of Islam, known to history as Umar the Great, the commander of the faithful, saw this Negro slave, he immediately stood in reverence and welcomed him by exclaiming:" Here comes our master". What a tremendous change was brought by Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad in the Arabs, the proudest people at that time on earth. This is the reason why Goethe, the greatest of German poets, speaking about the Holy Qur'an, declared that:" This book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence". This also the reason why George Bernard Shaw says:" If any religion has a chance of ruling over England, nay, Europe, within the next 100 years, it is Islam".

Islam - Emancipated Women

            It is this same democratic spirit of Islam that has emancipated women from the bondage of man. Sir Charles Edward Archibald Hamilton says: " Islam teaches the inherent sinlessness of man. It teaches that man and woman have come from the same essence, possess the same soul and have been equipped with equal capabilities for intellectual, spiritual and moral attainments".

Women Had Right To Own Property

            The Arabs had a very strong tradition that he alone can inherit who can smite with the spear and can wield the sword. But Islam came as the defender of the weaker sex and entitled women to share in the inheritance of their parents. It gave women, centuries ago, the right of owning property. Yet it was only 12 centuries later, in 1881, that England, supposed to be the cradle of democracy, adopted this institution of Islam and an Act was passed, called,"The Married Women's Act". But centuries earlier, the Prophet of Islam had proclaimed that "Women are the twin halves of men.  The rights of women are sacred". "See that women are maintained in the rights granted to them".

Source:Muhammad The Prophet By Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao

to be continued . . . .