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What they say about Muhammad
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad? Mohammad established a system based upon true and immortal ideology. Is there any like he? -- [Alphonse Lamartine, French historian and philosopher, Historie de la Turquie, Paris]
Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Warrior, Conqueror of ideas, the Restorer of rational beliefs, the Preacher of a religion without images, the Founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one heavenly Empire, that is Muhammad. As regards all standards [I repeat, "ALL"] by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, "Is there any man greater than he?" -- [Alphonse Lamartine]
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 the religious and secular levels. -- [Michael H. Hart, The 100, American Astrophysicist]
The world much needs a man with Muhammad's bright thinking �侵 believe that if a man like Mohammad's caliber were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the 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 acceptable to the Europe of today. -- [George Bernard Shaw]
I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man - and in my opinion far from being anti-Christ he must be called the savior of humanity. -- [George Bernard Shaw]
Leaders must fulfill three functions ��provide for the well-being of the led, provide a social organization in which people feel relatively secure, provide them with one set of beliefs. People like Pasteur and Salk are leaders in the first sense. People like Gandhi and Confucius, on one hand, and Alexander, Caesar and Hitler on the other, are leaders in the second and perhaps the third sense. Jesus and Buddha belong in the third category alone. Perhaps the greatest leader of all times was Mohammed, who combined all three functions. To a lesser degree, Moses did the same. -- [Jules Masserman, Professor of History and Psychoanalyst]
He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pop without Pope's pretensions, Caesar without the legions of Caesar: without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue; if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammad, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports. -- [Reverend B. Smith - Mohammad and Mohammadanism, London]
The noble founder of a nation, an empire and a religion. The unlettered one bestowed upon the world the Book which is a miracle, the eternal miracle and the true miracle. -- [Reverend B. Smith]
Mohammad never assigned himself a status more than a common man and a messenger of God. People had faith in him when he was surrounded by poverty and adversity and trusted him while he was the ruler of a great Empire. He was a man of spotless character who always had confidence in himself and in God's help. No aspect of his life remained hidden nor was his death a mysterious event. -- [M.H. Hyndman]
I become more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme for life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and his own mission. These and not the sword, carried everything before them and surmounted every trouble. The sayings of Muhammad are a treasure of wisdom not only for Muslims but for all mankind. -- [Mahatma Gandhi]
The personality of Muhammad, it is most difficult to get into the whole truth of it. Only a glimpse of it I can catch. What a dramatic succession of picturesque scenes! There is Muhammad, the Prophet; there is Muhammad, the Warrior; Muhammad, the Businessman; Muhammad, the Statesman; Muhammad, the Orator; Muhammad, the Reformer; Muhammad, the Refuge of Orphans; Muhammad, the Protector of Slaves; Muhammad, the Emancipator of Women; Muhammad, the Judge; Muhammad, the Saint. All in all these magnificent roles, in all these departments of human activities, he is like a hero. -- [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, Professor of Philosophy]
For me it is enough that Muhammad is the greatest feminist the world has so far had but has so little come to know of... Personally I am infinitely grateful to Muhammad, who has not only empathized with the crying voice of the despairing and exploited woman but has taken momentous measures blustering all opposition, to alleviate her lot and strengthen her in realistic terms ��For ages and ages, a woman had found herself begging and groveling in front of her male master, with her heart-wrenching pleas for justice remaining unheard and unaddressed. Muhammad had changed this forever. -- [Anita Rai]
Mohammad was the greatest Executive Officer for implementation of the Divine Will. Like other prophets he knew that time will come when all mankind will become one community. -- [H.N. Spalding]
If the object of religion be the inculcation of morals, the diminution of evil, the promotion of human happiness, the expansion of the human intellect, if the performance of good works will avail in the great day when mankind shall be summoned to its final reckoning it is neither irreverent nor unreasonable to admit that Muhammad was indeed an Apostle of God. -- [S. P. Scott, History of the Moorish Empire in Europe]
Muhammad adhered meticulously to the charter he forged for Medina, which - grounded as it was in the Quranic injunction, "Let there be no compulsion in religion" (2:256) - is arguably the first mandate for religious tolerance in human history. -- [Huston Smith]
Mohammad introduced the concept of such Glorious and Omnipotent God in Whose eyes all worldly systems are pieces of straw. Islamic equality of mankind is no fiction as it is in Christianity. No human mind has ever thought of such total freedom as established by Mohammad. -- [Dr. Mawde Royden]
The Book revealed to Muhammad is one and unique of its kind. It has left indelible impression on the hearts of humanity. Nothing can overcome its majesty. The Quran has given new dimensions to human thinking - Surprising reforms, stunning success! The power that created in Muslims a ravenous appetite for knowledge sprung from the Quran. -- [Rev. B. Margoliouth, Biographies of Mohammad]
Muhammad saved the human civilization from extinction. -- [J.H. Denison, Emotions as the Basis of Civilization]
He laid the foundation of a universal government. His law was one for all. Equal justice and love for everyone. -- [George Rivorie - Visages de L' Islam]
Islam is the only religion that gives dignity to the poor. -- [Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General]
The message of Mohammad, Islam, is nothing but a blessing for mankind - The usher from darkness to light and from Satan to God. -- [Rev E. Stephenson - My Reflections]
Muhammad is the most successful of all religious personalities. -- [Encyclopedia Britannica]
A mass of detail in the early sources show that [Muhammad] was an honest and upright man who had gained the respect and loyalty of others who were like-wise honest and upright men. -- [The Encyclopedia Britannica, 12th edition]
The Message of Mohammad is not a set of metaphysical phenomena. It is a complete civilization. -- [W.A.R. Gibb - Whither Islam]
Mohammad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him. -- [Diwan Chand Sharma - The Prophets of the East]
The greatest crime, the greatest 'sin' of Mohammad in the eyes of the Christian West is that he did not allow himself to be slaughtered, to be 'crucified' by his enemies. He only defended himself, his family and his followers; and finally vanquished his enemies. Mohammad's success is the Christians' gall of disappointment: He did not believe in any vicarious sacrifices for the sins of others. -- [Edward Gibbon]
The greatest success of Mohammad's life was effected by sheer moral force without the stroke of a sword. -- [Edward Gibbon]
The towering personality of Muhammad has left bright and indelible imprints on all mankind. -- [John William Draper - The Intellectual Development of Europe]
The man who of all men exercised the greatest influence upon the human race--Muhammad. -- [John William Draper]
Among leaders who have made the greatest impact through ages, I would consider Muhammad before Jesus Christ. -- [James Gavin, Speeches of a U.S. Army General]
A man of truth and fidelity, true in what he did, in what he speaks and thought - this is the only sort of speech worth speaking. -- [Sir Thomas Carlyle, British author]
The lies that we (Christians) have heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only. -- [Thomas Carlyle]
The word of Mohammad is a voice direct from nature's own heart - all else is wind in comparison. -- [Thomas Carlyle]
I like Muhammad for his hypocrisy-free nature �咸ith clear and sound words he addresses the Roman Tsars and Kings of Persia. He guides them to what he loves for them in this life and in the eternal life. -- [Thomas Carlyle]
He was the Messenger of the One True God: And never to his life's end did he forget for a moment who he was! He was one of those happy few who have attained the supreme joy of making one great truth their very life-spring. -- [Stanley Lane Poole, British Orientalist and Archaeologist]
Mohammad was an enthusiast in the noblest sense. -- [Stanley Lane Poole]
The height of human achievement and glory, Mohammad. -- [Pringle Kennedy - Arabian Society at the Time of Mohammad]
If I were in his presence, I would wash his feet. -- [Hercules, the Great Roman Emperor]
Muhammad was the greatest personality who established a state for justice and tolerance. -- [George Wells, English author]
Muhammad is the greatest man that history ever knew. -- [Gustav Lobon, French historian]
If we rated the greatness by the influence of the great on people we will say ��Muhammad is the greatest of the great in history. -- [Will Durant, author of the Story of Civilization]
The critics are blind. They cannot see that the only 'sword' Muhammad wielded was the sword of mercy, compassion, friendship and forgiveness - the sword that conquers enemies and purifies their hearts. His sword was sharper than the sword of steel. But the biased critics of Islam are prejudicial and partisan, who are narrow minded and whose eyes are covered by a veil of ignorance. They see fire instead of light, ugliness instead of beauty and evil instead of good. They distort and present every good quality as a great vice. It reflects their own depravity. -- [Pandit Gyanandra Dev Sharma Shastri]
In the beginning the Prophet's enemies made life difficult for him and his followers. So the Prophet asked his followers to leave their homes and migrate to Medina. He preferred migration to fighting his own people, but when oppression went beyond the pale of tolerance he took up his sword in self-defense. Those who believe religion can be spread by force are fools who neither know the ways of religion nor the ways of the world. They are proud of this belief because they are a long, long way away from the Truth. -- [Sikh Journalist, Nawan Hindustan]
It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put to how I shall say many things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself feel whenever I re-read them, a new admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher. -- [Dr. Annie Besant - The Life and Teachings of Mohammad]
Of all the world's greatest men none has been so much maligned as Muhammad. It is easy to see how this has come about. For centuries Islam was the great enemy of Christendom, for Christendom was in direct contact with no other organized states comparable in power to the Muslims. -- [William Montgomery Watt]
In all things Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim died, an eclipse occurred, and rumors of God ’s personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon Muhammad is said to have announced, "An eclipse is a phenomenon of nature. It is foolish to attribute such things to the death or birth of a human being." At Muhammad's own death an attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to become his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of the noblest speeches in religious history: "If there are any among you who worshipped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you worshipped, He lives forever." -- [James A. Michener]
It was the genius of Muhammad, the spirit that he breathed into the Arabs through the soul of Islam that exalted them. That raised them out of the lethargy and low level of tribal stagnation up to the high watermark of national unity and empire. It was in the sublimity of Muhammad's deism, the simplicity, the sobriety and purity it inculcated the fidelity of its founder to his own tenets that acted on their moral and intellectual fiber with all the magnetism of true inspiration. -- [Arthur Glyn Leonard - Islam, Her Moral and Spiritual Values]
He was sober and abstemious in his diet and a rigorous observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected but a result of real disregard for distinction from so trivial a source. In his private dealings he was just. He treated friends and strangers, the rich and poor, the powerful and weak, with equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability with which he received them, and listened to their complaints. -- [Washington Irving - Mahomet and His Successors]
The principles of universal brotherhood and doctrine of the equality of mankind which he proclaimed represents one very great contribution of Mohammad to the social uplift of humanity. All great religions have preached the same doctrine but the prophet of Islam had put this theory into actual practice and its value will be fully recognized, perhaps centuries hence, when international consciousness being awakened, racial prejudices may disappear and greater brotherhood of humanity come into existence. -- [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
An honest man, as the saying goes, is the noblest work of God, Mohammad was more than honest. He was human to the marrow of his bones. Human sympathy, human love was the music of his soul. To serve man, to elevate man, to purify man, to educate man, in a word to humanize man - this was the object of his mission, the be-all and end all of his life. In thought, in word, in action he had the good of humanity as his sole inspiration, his sole guiding principle. -- [Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao]
Ever since the Crusades, people in the west have seen the prophet Muhammad as a sinister figure. During the 12th century, Christians were fighting brutal holy wars against Muslims, even though Jesus had told his followers to love their enemies, not to exterminate them. The scholar monks of Europe stigmatised Muhammad as a cruel warlord who established the false religion of Islam by the sword. They also, with ill-concealed envy, berated him as a lecher and sexual pervert at a time when the popes were attempting to impose celibacy on the reluctant clergy. Our Islamophobia became entwined with our chronic anti-Semitism; Jews and Muslims, the victims of the crusaders, became the shadow self of Europe, the enemies of decent civilisation and the opposite of "us". -- [Karen Armstrong]
