MUHAMMAD (S. A. W. S.)
his person, life & teachings
LECTURES
based on Non Moslems Centuries Long Research
By
Professor
MASOOD AHMED ABBASI
1- BACKGROUND
Not that Quraysh and the other Pagan Tribes were hostile to Christianity. Christians sometimes came to do honour to the sanctuary of Abraham, and they were made welcome like all the rest. Moreover one Christian had been allowed and even encouraged to paint an icon of the Virgin Mary and the child Christ on an inside wall of the Ka’bah, where it sharply contrasted with all the other paintings. But Quraysh were more or less insensitive to this contrast: for them it was simply a question of increasing the multitude of idols by another two; and it was partly their tolerance that made them so impenetrable.
Unlike most of his tribe, Waraqah could read and had made a study of the scriptures and of theology. He was therefore capable of seeing that one of Christ’s promises, generally interpreted by Christians as referring to the miracle of Pentecost, there were none the less certain elements which did not fit that miracle and must be taken to refer to something else – something which had not yet been fulfilled. But the language was cryptic: what was the meaning of the words.
‘HE SHALL NOT SPEAK OF HIMSELF BUT WHATSOEVER
HE SHALL HEAR, THAT SHALL HE SPEAK’.(St. John 16:13)
Waraqah had a sister named Qutaylah who was very close to him. He often spoke to her about these things and his words had made so great an impression on her that thoughts of the expected prophet were often in her mind. Could it be that he was already in their midst? Once the sacrifice of the camels had been accepted, Abd Al Muttalib made up his mind to find a wife for his reprieved son, and after some consideration the choice fell on ‘Aminah ‘ the daughter of Wahb a grandson of Zulu’a the brother of Oussay. Wahb had been chief of Zuhrah but had died some years previously and Aminah was now a ward of his brother Wuhayb who had succeeded him as chief of the clan. Wuhayb himself also had a daughter of marriageable age, Halah by name, and when Abd Al Muttalib had arranged that his son should marry Aminah, he asked that Halah should be given in marriage to himself. Wuhayb agreed and all the preparations were made for double wedding to take place at the same time. On the appointed day Abd Al Muttalib took his son by the hand and they set off together for the dwellings of the Bani Zuhra. On the way they had to pass the dwellings of the Bani Asad: and it so happened that Outaylah the sister of Waraqah was standing at the entrance to her house, perhaps deliberately in order to see what could be seen, for everyone in Mecca knew of the great wedding which was about to take place. Abd Al Muttalib was now over seventy years old, but he was still remarkably young for his age in every respect, and the slow approach of the two bridegrooms, their natural grace enhanced by the solemnity of the occasion, was indeed an impressive sight. but as they drew near, Outaylah had eyes only for the youngster man. ‘Abd Allah’ was, for beauty, the Joseph of his times. Even the oldest men and women of Ouraysh could not remember having seen his equal. He was now in his twenty-fifth year, in the full flower of his youth. But Outaylah was struck above all, as she had been on other occasions, but never so much as now
BY THE RADIANCE WHICH LIT HIS FACE AND WHICH
SEEMED TO HER TO SHINE FROM BEYOND THIS
WORLD. COULD IT BE THAT ABDULLAH WAS THE
EXPECTED PROPHET? OR WAS HE TO BE THE FATHER
OF THE PROPHET?
They had now just passed her and overcome by a sudden impulse she said ” Abdullah”. his father let go his hand as if to tell him to speak to his cousin. ‘Abdullah turned back to face her, she asked him where he was going’. ‘With my father’ he said simply, not out of reticence but because he felt sure that she must know that he was on his way to his wedding.
She said “TAKE ME HERE AND NOW AS THY WIFE” AND
THOU SHALL HAVE AS MANY CAMELS AS THOSE THAT
WERE SACRIFICED IN THY STEAD”. ‘I AM WITH MY
FATHER’ ‘I CANNOT ACT AGAINST HIS WISHES AND I
CANNOT LEAVE HIM’ he replied.
The marriage took place according to plan, and the two couples stayed for some days in the house of Wuhavb (for consummation). During that time Abd Allah went to fetch something from his own house, and again he met Qutaylah, the sister of Wargah. Her eyes searched his face with such earnestness that he stopped besides her expecting her to speak. When she remained silent he asked her why she did not say to him what she had said the day before. She answered him
“THE LIGHT HAS LEFT THEE THAT WAS WITH THEE
YESTERDA Y. TODAY THOU CANNOT FULFIL THE NEED I HAD OF THEE”.
The year of the marriage was AD 569. The year following this has been known ever since as the Year of the Elephant, and it was momentous for more than one reason.
2- THE BEGINNINGS
In the desert of Arabia, was Prophet Muhammad born, according to the Muslim Historians on April 20, 571. The name means “highly praised”. He is the great mind among all the sons of Arabia. He means so much more than all the poets and kings that preceded and succeeded him in the impenetrable desert of red sand. When he appeared, Arabia was a desert-a nothing., out of nothing of the desert a new world was fashioned by the mighty spirit of Muhammad – a new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new kingdom which extended from Morocco to Indies and influenced the thought and life of three continents – Asia, Africa and Europe.
3- MAN IS GREGARIOUS
But there is another aspect of this problem. Man lives in society. Our lives are bound with the lives of so many, willingly or unwillingly, directly or indirectly. We eat the food grown in the same soil; drink the water from the same spring. Breathe air of the same atmosphere. Even while staunchly holding our own views, it would be helpful, if for no other purpose, at least to promote proper adjustments to our surroundings, if we also know to some extent, how the mind of our neighbour moves and what are the main springs of his actions. From this angle of vision, it is highly desirable that one should try to know all religions of the World, in the proper spirit, to promote mutual understanding and better appreciation of our neighbourhood, immediate and remote.
Further our thoughts are not scattered as they appear to be on the surface. They have got themselves crystallized around a few nuclei in the form of great world religions and living faiths that guide and motivate the lives of millions that inhabit this earth of ours. It is our duty. in one sense, if we have the ideal of ever becoming citizens of the world before us, to make a little attempt to know the great religions and systems of philosophy that have ruled mankind.
4- THE PROPHET – A HISTORIC PERSONALITY
lnspite of these preliminary remarks, the ground in the field of religion, where there is conflict between intellect and emotion, is so slippery that one is constantly reminded of fools that rush in where angels fear to tread. It is also so complex from another point of view. The subject of this writing is about the tenets of a religion, which is historic, and its Prophet, who is also a historic personality. Even a hostile critic like Sir William Muir speaking about the Holy Qur’an two hundred years ago says that “There is probably in the world no other book which has remained twelve centuries with so pure a text”. It may also be added that Prophet Muhammad is also a historic personality every event of whose life has been most carefully recorded and even the minutest details preserved intact for posterity. His life and works are not wrapped in mystery. One need not hunt for the accurate information and embark on arduous expeditions to sift the chaff and husk from the grain of truth.
“A mass of detail in the early sources show that he was an honest
and upright man who had gained the respect and loyalty of others
who were like-wise honest and upright men”
“Muhammad is the most successful of all the Prophets and
religious personalities”. (Vol. -12 Encyclopedia Britannica)
5- PAST MISREPRESENTATION
This work is further lightened because those days are fast disappearing when Islam was highly misrepresented by some of its critics for reasons Political and Otherwise. Professor Bevan writes Cambridge Medieval History “The account of Muhammad and Islam which were published ill Europe before the beginning of the 19th Century are now to be regarded as literary curiosities”. The problem to write this monograph is easier because we are not generally fed now on this kind of history and much time need not be spent on pointing out misrepresentation of Islam.
(Thomas Carlyle in his Book “HEROES & HERO WORSHIP) England- 1841
“THE LIES (WESTERN SLANDER) WI-IICH WELL MEANING ZEAL HAS
HEAPED AROUND THIS MAN (MUHAMMAD (S. A. W.) ARE
DISGRACEFUL TO OURSELVES ONLY ——— HOW ONE MAN
SINGLEHANDEDLY COULD WELD WARRING TRIBES AND
WANDERING BEDOUINS INTO MOST POWERFUL & CIVILIZED NATION
IN LESS THAN TWO DECADES ——– A SILENT GREAT SOUL, ONE OF
THAT WHO CAN NOT BUT BE EARNEST. HE WAS TO KINDLE THE WORLD THE WORLD’S MAKER HAD ORDERED SO”
The theory of Islam and Sword for instance is not heard now frequently in any quarter worth the name. Principle of Islam that there is no compulsion in religion is well-known. Gibbon, a historian of worldwide fame, says “A pernicious tenet has been imputed to the Mohammedans the duty of extirpating all the religions by the sword”. (The Author means Muslims. “Mohammedans” might imply “worshippers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (p. b. u. h)”: but no Muslim ever worships the Holy Prophet as God.) “This charge of ignorance and bigotry, says the eminent historian, is refuted by Qur’an, by the History of Musalman conquerors and by their public and legal toleration of Christian worship. The greatest success of Mohammed’s life was affected by sheer moral force without the stroke of a sword.”
(A. S. Tritton, in “Islam” London 1951 p~21)
“THE PICTURE OF THE MUSLIM SOLDIER ADVANCING
WITH A SWORD IN ONE HAND AND THE KORAN IN
THE OTHER IS QUITE FALSE”.
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(De Lacy 0′ Leary, in “Islam at the Crossroad”, London 1923 p.8)
“HISTORY MAKES IT CLEAR HOWEVER THAT THE
LEGEND OF FANATICAL MUSLIMS SWEEPING
THROUGH THE WORLD AND FORCING ISLAM AT THE
POINT OF SWORD UPON CONQUERED RACES IS ONE
OF THE MOST FANT ASTICALL Y ABSURD MYTHS THAT
HISTORIANS HAVE EVER REPEATED”.
‘0 Muhammad We thee not save as a mercy for the peoples