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HIS
ACHIEVEMENTS PROVE
MUHAMMAD’S
PROPHETHOOD
Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be
peace and blessings, was
peerless in educating
people
A man, whoever he is and
whatever he does, may regard
his own occupation as more
important, more necessary,
more beneficial to social
life and more difficult than
others. However, although
every occupation has some
difficulty of its own and is
of some degree of use for
social life, educating
people must be much more
difficult than others and
more necessary for a healthy
social life.
To
bring up distinguished
persons require
distinguished educators.
Only an educator who has
established his aim in
educating people and
practices what he will teach
and advise to his students,
only one who knows the
character, potentialities,
desires, and ambitions of
his students with the
shortcomings and strong and
weak spots and the level of
learning and understanding
of each, can be successful
in educating people. Of
course, this is not all that
a good, successful educator
must have. Furthermore, he
must know how to treat his
students in all
circumstances, how to
approach their problems and
how to purify them of bad
qualities and morals and, in
place of them, inculcate
laudable and good ones.
A
man may have strong belief
in what he must believe but
he may not be practicing his
belief in his daily life. He
may have some good moral
qualities but they might
have not been an ingrained
part of his character.
Moreover, he may have
certain weak spots such as
taking bribery and
insensitivity to making use
of common property or
hoarding up wealth.
Therefore, if an educator
can change his students
completely and, purifying
them of all bad habits and
morals and all bad qualities
which have long been
ingrained in them and, in
their place, establishing
laudable ones, can form a
community which will be a
good example for future
generations in all fields of
life and good moral
qualities, if an educator
can transform the ‘rock,
copper, iron and coal’ in
his hand into ‘silver,
gold, brilliant and diamond’,
without doubt, you will
conclude that that educator
is an extraordinary one.
What the Prophet Muhammad,
upon him be peace and
blessings, achieved in
educating people within so
short a time as 23 years is
much more than what that
educator does.
Prophet
Muhammad was matchless in
knowing people each with his
character
It is another important
dimension of a good
education is not to resort
to force. Penal sanctions,
coercion and military and
police forces can have some
effect on directing people
but only to a slight degree
and for a short time only.
Therefore, convincing people
of the truth of what we
teach to them and making it
approved by them
wholeheartedly is of vital
importance in a good
education.
No
one in world history has so
far been able to know man
with all the dimensions of
his character as well as the
Prophet Muhammad, upon him
be peace and blessings, and
there has never appeared a
second one next to him who
has made pitiless, crude,
war-mongering, ignorant and
unyielding individuals into
a community which sets a
perfect example for all the
future generations in all
aspects of life and good
moral qualities.
Prophet
Muhammad guided people in
every aspect of life
No
one can guide people in
every field of life. It is
very difficult for one,
however able and clever, to
be both an able statesman
and commander and a
brilliant scientist and
successful educator at the
same time. However, the
Prophet Muhammad, upon him
be peace and blessings, was
the most perfect spiritual
and intellectual master, the
most able statesman and
commander, the most
efficient educator, and the
greatest scholar history has
ever seen.
Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, is the
foremost in practicing all
the forms of worship
prescribed by his religion
and the most God-fearing of
people.
The Prophet Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings,
is the foremost in
practicing all the forms of
worship prescribed by his
religion and the most
God-fearing of people. He
observed the duties of
worship with the utmost care
and attention down to their
minutest details even in
most perilous circumstances
of his life which passed in
constant struggle and
activity. He never imitated
anyone in his worship and
combined in a perfect
fashion the beginning and
the end of spiritual
evolution.
He
is also unparalleled in
prayer and gnosis, for in
his supplications and
prayers he describes his
Lord with such a degree of
gnosis that all the gnostics
and saints since his time
have never been able,
although those coming after
have made use of the
heritage of the preceding
ones, to attain a similar
degree of gnosis and
description of God.
Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, was
absolutely convinced of the
truth of his message
He had in his faith so
extraordinary a strength, so
wonderful a certainty, so
miraculous an evolution, and
such elevated and
world-enlightening
conviction that none of the
prevailing ideas and beliefs
of that time, and none of
the philosophies of the
sages and teachings of the
spiritual leaders, although
they were all opposed and
even hostile to him, was
ever able to cause in him
any doubt, hesitation or
anxiety concerning his
certainty, conviction, and
assurance. Moreover, all
saintly men of all times,
his Companions primarily
included, have all benefited
from his faith which they
admit to be of the highest
degree. This fact proves
that his faith too is
matchless.
All
the sacred attributes,
miracles and functions that
indicate the truthfulness
and Messengership of the
Prophets, peace be upon them
all, were all to be found in
Muhammad in the utmost
degree.
Just as the consensus of the
Prophets is a very strong
proof of the existence and
Oneness of God, soo, too, it
is a firm testimony to the
truthfulness and
Messengership of Muhammad,
upon him be peace and
blessings. For history
confirms that all the sacred
attributes, miracles and
functions that indicate the
truthfulness and
Messengership of the
Prophets, peace be upon them
all, were all to be found in
Muhammad in the utmost
degree. The Prophets
verbally predicted his
coming, that is, they gave
the good tidings of him in
the Torah, the Gospels, the
Psalms, and other Scriptures
which are called ‘Pages’
in the Qur’an; likewise
through their missions and
miracles they affirmed and
‘sealed’ the mission of
Muhammad, who is the
foremost and most perfect in
Prophethood.
Thousands
of saints unanimously bear
witness to the truthfulness
and Messengership of
Muhammad
Also,
having attained the truth
and perfection, and the rank
of working wonders, and
gained insight into the
reality of things, and
spiritual discovery through
following the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, in all his
deeds and principles,
thousands of saints
unanimously bear witness not
only to the Oneness of God
but also to the truthfulness
and Messengership of that
being, upon him be peace and
blessings. It is as bright a
proof as the sun for the
truthfulness of Muhammad,
upon him be peace and
blessings, that, those
saints believe in and affirm
all of the truths that being
proclaimed through the light
of faith to the degree of
either certainty coming from
knowledge or certainty by
sight, or of certainty by
experience.
Thousands
of exacting scholars of
purity, meticulous scholars
of truthfulness and
believing sages have reached
the highest station of
learning through the
teaching contained in the
sacred truths brought by the
Prophet Muhammad
Again,
thousands of exacting
scholars of purity,
meticulous scholars of
truthfulness and believing
sages, who have reached the
highest station of learning
through the teaching
contained in the sacred
truths brought by the
Prophet Muhammad, upon him
be peace and blessings,
despite his being
unlettered, the sublime
sciences to which he gave
birth, and the Divine
knowledge he discovered, not
only prove unanimously with
their strongest proofs and
affirm the Oneness of God,
the foundation of his
mission, but also bear
unanimous witness to the
truthfulness of that
greatest teacher and supreme
master, and to the veracity
of his words.
First
and foremost of all, the
family and the Companions of
the Prophet, upon him be
peace and blessings, who
with their insight, wisdom
and spiritual
accomplishments, are the
most renowned, the most
respected, the most
celebrated, the most pious,
the most keen-sighted of
mankind after the Prophets,
after having examined and
scrutinized all the thoughts
and states of that being,
whether hidden or open, with
the utmost attention and
exactitude, unanimously
concluded that he was the
most truthful, the most
elevated, and the most
honest being in the world.
In
his preaching of the message
and calling people to the
truth, Muhammad displayed
extraordinary steadfastness,
firmness and courage
In his preaching of the
message and in his calling
people to the truth, he
displayed such
steadfastness, firmness and
courage that, in spite of
the antagonism of big powers
and great religions, and of
his own people and tribe,
even of his uncle, he never
showed even the slightest
trace of hesitation, anxiety
or fear, and he successfully
challenged the world, and,
as a result, made Islam
superior to all other
religions and systems. This
proves that there is not and
cannot be anyone like him
also in his preaching of and
calling to the message of
Truth.
Muhammad
solved social, political and
economic problems so easily
and established such perfect
rules in all these fields
that they left permanent and
unerasable imprints on all
centuries and in the corners
of the world.
Let us go to the Arabian
peninsula in the Time of
Happiness. That unlettered
man who had not attended any
military academy, nor a
school for civil servants or
a school of law, nor a
school of sciences,
presented such a religion
and law that they contain
all the principles to secure
happiness in both worlds.
His speech is so effective
and penetrating that human
beings in all times listen
to him and his voice is
echoed in every century. He
solves all social, political
and economic problems so
easily and establishes such
perfect rules in all these
fields that they leave
permanent and unerasable
imprints on all centuries
and in the corners of the
world. He spends a
considerable part of his
life on battlefields and
proves to be the most able
commander of all times. He
also shows himself as the
best of husbands, the most
eminent, yet most
compassionate of fathers and
the most amiable and loyal
of friends. He does all this
in so short a time as 23
years.
Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, is also
beyond all compare in
knowing his people and
educating them to mould
their characters in the
crucible of his message
A leader must know his
people very well in order to
educate them and urge them
to the realization of a
cause. Alexis Carrel, a
great French scientist and
philosopher of this century,
still describes man as
unknown. Man is the most
complex and intricate of
creatures. However, the
Prophet Muhammad, upon him
be peace and blessings, is
also beyond all compare in
knowing his people and
educating them to mould
their characters in the
crucible of his message. He
knew everyone to whom he
would convey his message
with all the details of his
character, with his
abilities, shortcomings,
feelings, disposition and
level of understanding.
Besides, he also knew very
well how to act in certain
conditions and was able to
give the best decision in
all crises. To every
position he appointed the
one most qualified for and
deserving of it and did not
have to change the
appointment later. He
succeeded in bringing the
most refined, well-mannered
and civilized society out of
an extremely backward,
uncivilized and rough
people.
Muhammad
equipped and adorned the
desperate, wild and
unyielding peoples of the
seventh-century Arabian
peninsula with all the
praiseworthy virtues, and
made them teachers of all
the world and masters,
especially, to the civilized
nations
Consider how, eradicating
their evil and savage
customs and immoral
qualities to which they were
so fanatically attached, he
equipped and adorned the
desperate, wild and
unyielding peoples of the
seventh-century Arabian
peninsula with all the
praiseworthy virtues, and
made them teachers of all
the world and masters,
especially, to the civilized
nations. His was not an
outward domination; rather,
he conquered their minds,
spirits, hearts, and souls.
He became the beloved of
hearts, the teacher of
minds, the trainer of souls,
and the ruler of spirits.
Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, removed
numerous ingrained habits
from large obsessed
communities with a little
effort over a very short
period of time, and in their
place implanted and
inculcated exalted qualities
in such a way that they
became inherent in their
being.
You know that despite all
the advanced techniques and
methods, modern communities
are unable to remove
permanently so small a vice
as cigarette smoking.
However, the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, removed
numerous ingrained habits
from large obsessed
communities with a little
effort over a very short
period of time, and in their
place implanted and
inculcated exalted qualities
in such a way that they
became inherent in their
being. To those who refuse
to see the testimony of the
blessed age of the Prophet,
upon him be peace and
blessings, we present as a
challenge any part of today’s
civilized world. Let them go
there with hundreds of
philosophers, sociologists,
psychologists and pedagogues
and educators, and strive
for a hundred years, I
wonder whether they will be
able to achieve in that
period a hundredth part of
what the Prophet Muhammad
achieved in a year.
When
the Prophet began preaching
his Message, he had to face
severe opposition, but he
confronted all the
opposition with a smile on
his lips.
When the Prophet began
preaching his Message, he
had to face severe
opposition, but he
confronted all the
opposition with a smile on
his lips. Once, the leaders
of the Quraysh warned Abu
Talib, the Prophet’s
uncle, to persuade his
nephew to abandon preaching
his mission. The Prophet
answered:
O
uncle! Should they place
the sun in my right hand
and the moon in my left,
so as to make me renounce
this mission, I shall not
do so. I will never give
it up; either it will
please God to make it
triumph or I shall perish
it the attempt.
The
faith, perseverance and
resolution, with which
Prophet Muhammad carried his
mission to ultimate success,
is an eloquent proof of the
supreme truth of his cause
On
another occasion, a
deputation of the leading
Quraysh called on him and
offered him all the worldly
glory they could imagine in
return for his abandoning
his mission. They said:
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If you want to possess
wealth, we will amass for
you as much as you wish;
if you aspire to win honor
and power, we are prepared
to swear allegiance to you
as our overlord and king;
if you have a fancy for
beauty, you shall have the
hand of the most beautiful
maiden of your own choice.
The
terms were extremely
tempting for any ordinary
mortal, but they had no
significance in the eyes of
the Prophet, upon him be
peace and blessings. He
responded:
-
I want neither wealth nor
power. God has
commissioned me as a
warner to humanity. I
deliver His Message to
you. Should you accept it,
you shall have felicity in
this life and eternal
bliss in the life
Hereafter. Should you
reject the Word of God,
surely God will decide
between you and me.
The
faith, perseverance and
resolution, with which he
carried his mission to
ultimate success, is an
eloquent proof of the
supreme truth of his cause.
Had there been the slightest
doubt or uncertainty in his
heart, he would never have
been able to brave the storm
that continued in all its
fury for twenty-one long
years.
None
of the world leaders have
been able to bring about
among the members of their
followers so strong a unity
of belief, thought and ideal
as that which the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, realized
among the desert men of the
seventh-century Arabia
Great leaders have appeared
on the horizon of humanity.
They have changed the course
of history through either
the states or empires they
have established or the
revolutions they have made.
Nevertheless, almost none of
them have been able to bring
about among the members of
their followers so strong a
unity of belief, thought and
ideal as that which the
Prophet Muhammad, upon him
be peace and blessings,
realized among the desert
men of the seventh-century
Arabia. Although Muhammad,
upon him be peace and
blessings, had never given
any indication of political
interest or activity for
full forty years until
Prophethood, he appeared all
of a sudden on the stage of
the world as such a great
political reformer and
statesman that, without the
aid of press or of any
modern tele-communicative
means, he brought together
the scattered inhabitants of
a desert of twelve hundred
thousand square miles-a
people who were warlike,
ignorant, unruly,
uncultured, and plunged in
tribal warfare-under one
banner, one law, one
religion, one culture, one
civilization and one form of
government.
Prophet
Muhammad conquered minds and
hearts and promised his
followers nothing other than
God’s approval and
Paradise
A leader must know men very
well in order to urge them
to the realization of a
cause. In order to gain a
following, most leaders make
alluring promises to people,
like power, wealth, position
or a bright future. However,
the Prophet Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings,
made no such promises to his
followers. Nor did he resort
to any force to realize his
aim. He conquered minds and
hearts and promised his
followers only God’s good
pleasure and Paradise. His
followers sacrificed
themselves in his way
willingly and preferred to
live a poor life in return
for gaining God’s good
pleasure and Paradise.
Especially his own family
lived as the poorest of his
community. He always sought
to prepare them, as well as
his Companions, for the
eternal peace and permanent
bliss while himself setting
for them a good example of
that peace and bliss. His
daughter Fatima, the most
beloved to him among his
family, once came to him
with a necklace around her
neck or a bracelet around
her wrist. The Prophet said
to her:
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Do you want
people-inhabitants of the
earth and the inhabitants
of heavens-to say that the
daughter of the Prophet is
wearing a chain from Hell?
These
words were enough for Fatima,
for they were coming from
the mouth of one whose
throne was established in
people’s hearts and who
had conquered their minds.
Fatima narrates the rest of
the story as follows:
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I immediately sold the
necklace, bought a slave
and emancipated him, and
then went to the Messenger
of God. When I told him
what I had done, he
rejoiced. He opened his
hands and thanked God,
saying: All thanks to
God, Who protected (my
daughter) Fatima from Hell.
Despite
all the most pitiless
cruelties, Prophet Muhammad
used to pray: ‘O God!
Forgive them and guide them
to truth, for they do not
know. ’ Through his
limitless love, compassion,
forgiveness and tolerance,
he made extremely cruel,
war-mongering people into
the best community in human
history.
Supposing you are a teacher
at a school or a director in
an institution. In order to
bring up your students or
the people under your
command according to the
ideal you pursue, you are
determined to bear all
hardships that may appear
before you. Now, if they
spit in your face when they
are passing by you, if they
put an animal abdomen over
your head while you are in
prostration before God, if
they sometimes slap you in
face, if they sometimes
throw stones at you and
scatter thorny plants along
the roads you pass, if they
ambush you in corners with
daggers in their hands, if
they mock you in front of
others, if they slander your
wife, if they kill your
relatives and cut their
bodies into pieces, if they
attack you many times and
injure you, and if they
expel you from your native
land, still can you bear all
such cruelties and continue
your way without the least
hesitation? More than that,
can you forgive them, pity
them and pray to God for
them, saying: O God!
Forgive them and guide them
to truth, for they do not
know. If you are taken
to a Paradise-like place and
left free to choose between
living there and going back
to serve your cause amid
hardships, do you choose to
go back among the people to
continue your mission?
Is
it not the worst form of ‘blindness’
and ignorance to reject the
Prophethood of that pride of
humanity who, through his
limitless love, compassion,
forgiveness and tolerance,
made extremely cruel,
war-mongering people into
the best community in human
history?
In
human history there has been
no one as much loved as his
followers from the first day
up to now love the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings.
The Prophet, upon him be
peace and blessings, sent a
group of envoys to the Adal
and al-Qarah tribes to teach
them Islam. However, a group
from the Hudhayl tribe
attacked the envoys half-way
and, killing some of them,
submitted the remaining
three to the Quraysh. Zayd
ibn Dasina was among the
envoys. Before the Qurayshi
polytheists executed Zayd,
Abu Sufyan, who had not yet
embraced Islam, said to him:
-
I adjure you by God, Zayd,
don’t you wish that
Muhammad was with us now
in your place so that we
might cut off his head,
and that you were with
your family?
-
‘By God’, said Zayd,
‘let alone wishing that
Muhammad were here in my
place so that I were with
my family, I do not wish
that even a thorn should
hurt his feet in Madina.’
Abu
Sufyan had to remark: ‘I
swear by God that I have
never seen a man who was so
loved as Muhammad’s
Companions loved him.’
In
human history there has been
no one as much loved, as his
followers from the first day
up to now love the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings.
Prophet
Muhammad answered all of the
questions asked him without
faltering and he has not
been contradicted ever since
The Prophet Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings,
had to answer innumerable
questions put to him by both
the desert men of Arabia and
the Jews and Christians of
his time, concerning not
only religion but also many
other subjects such as
history, metaphysics,
astronomy, medicine and so
on. He answered all of them
without faltering and he has
not been contradicted ever
since.
Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, brought into
history such a law, a
religion, a way of life, a
code of worship, a way of
prayer, a message, and faith
that the like of them has
never existed, nor will or
could exist.
The Prophet Muhammad, upon
him be peace and blessings,
brought into history such a
law, a religion, a way of
life, a code of worship, a
way of prayer, a message,
and faith that the like of
them has never existed, nor
will or could exist. For the
law brought by that
unlettered being is
matchless in that it has
administered one fifth of
mankind for fourteen
centuries, in a just and
precise manner through its
rules and injunctions. The
religion of Islam, which
originated in the Qur’an
he received from God and his
own sayings, precepts and
example, is also peerless,
for in each century it has
been for hundreds of
millions of people a guide
and a competent authority or
source for whatever matter
is referred to it. It has
also trained their minds,
illumined and purified their
hearts, trained and refined
their souls, and perfected
their spirits.
After
the Companions, hundreds of
thousands of saints and
purified, meticulous
scholars, thousands of
scientists, and hundreds of
thousands of literary
geniuses, commanders and
statesmen have been brought
up in the footsteps of the
Prophet Muhammad
After the Companions, who
gave the lead to all mankind
in all fields of life
including the scientific,
political, social,
administrative and economic,
hundreds of thousands of
saints and purified,
meticulous scholars such as
Abu Hanifa, Shafi‘i,
Bayazid al-Bistami, ‘Abd
al-Qadir al-Jilani, Imam
Ghazali, Imam Rabbani,
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and
many others, and thousands
of scientists like al-Biruni,
al-Zahrawi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna),
Ibn Haytham and others, and
hundreds of thousands of
literary geniuses,
commanders and statesmen,
and other stars of mankind,
have all followed in the
footsteps of the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings. Besides those
persons, many intellectuals
and statesmen of the West
such as Lamartine, William
Muir, Edward Gibbon, John
Davenport, L. A. Sedillot,
Goethe, P. Bayle, Stanley
Lane-Poole, A. J. Arberry,
Thomas Carlyle, Rosenthal,
Elisee Reclus, Andrew
Miller, Bismarck, Leopold
Weis, Marmaduke Pickthall,
Martin Lings and Roger
Garaudy have had to confess
his greatness, even that he
is the greatest of mankind,
and some of them have
embraced Islam. This is
another proof of his
Prophethood.
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