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 Following are some tributes of Western Philosophers,
writers and historians:
1 "His readiness to undergo persecutions
for his belief, the high moral character of the men who believed in him
and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement
- all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an imposter
raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures
of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad."
W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad At Mecca, Oxford, 1953,p. 52.
2 "It is not the propagation but the permanency
of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression
which e engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved, after the revolutions
of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes
of the Quran…The Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation
of reducing the object of their faith an devotion to a level with the
senses and imagination of man. ' I believe in one God and Muhammad the
Apostle of God' is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The
intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible
idol; the honors of the Prophet have never transgressed the measure of
human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of
his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion."
Edward Gibbon and Simon Ocklay, History of the Saracen Empire, London,
1870, p. 54
3 "He was Cesar and Pope in one; but he
was Pope without Pope's pretensions, Cesar without the legions of Cesar:
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 Muhammad, for he had all the power without its
instruments and without its supports."
Bosworth Smith, Muhammad and Mohammedanism, London, 1874, p.92.
4 "Like almost every major Prophet before
him, Muhammad fought shy of serving as the transmitter of God's word,
sensing his own inadequacy. But the angel commanded "Read."
So far as we know, Muhammad was unable to read or write, but he began
to dictate those inspired words which would soon revolutionize a large
segment of the earth:
"There is one God."."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, "Islam: the Misunderstood religion," in
Reader's Digest( American edition),
May 1955, pp.68-70.
5 "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 the reverence for that Prophet,
one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put
to you I shall say many things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself
feel whenever I re-read them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of
reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher."
Annie Besant, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad, Madras, 1932, p.
6 "I have studied him, and in my opinion,
far from being an antichrist, he must be called the Savior of Humanity.
I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the
modern world, he would succeed on solving its problems in a way that would
bring it much needed peace and happiness."
George Bernard Shaw
7 Edward Gibbon and Simon Ockley
speaking on the profession of Islam writes:
"I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, AND MUHAMMAD, AN APOSTLE OF GOD"
is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image
of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honor of
the Prophet has never transgressed the measure of human virtues; and his
living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within
the bounds of reason and religion."
(History of the Saracen Empires, London, 19870, p. 54)
8 Muhammad was nothing more or less than a human
being. But he was a man with a noble mission, which was to unite the humanity
of One and only God and to teach them the way to honest and upright living
based on the commands of God. He always described himself as, "A
servant and Messenger of God," and so indeed every action of his
proclaimed to be.
Speaking the aspect of equality before God in Islam, the famous poetess
of India, Sarojini Naidu says:
"It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy;
for, in the mosque, when the call for prayer is sounded and the worshippers
are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a
day when the peasant and a king kneel side by side and proclaim: 'God
Alone is Great'…I have been struck over and over again by this indivisible
unity of Islam that makes man instinctively a brother."
(S. Naidu. IDEALS OF ISLAM, vide Speeches & Writings, Madras, 1918,
p. 169)
9 In the words of
PROF. HURGRONEJE :
"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 candle to other nations." He continues: "The fact is that
no nation of the world can show parallel to what Islam had done towards
the realization of the idea of the League of Nations."
The world has not hesitated to raise to divinity, individuals whose lives
and missions have been lost in legend. Historically speaking, none of
these legends achieved even a fraction of what Muhammad accomplished.
And all his striving was for the purpose of uniting mankind for the worship
of One God on the codes of moral excellence. Muhammad or his followers
never at any time claimed that he was a Son of God or the God incarnate
or man with divinity - but he always was and is even today considered
as only a Messenger chosen by God.
( H.A.R Gibb, Mohammedanism, London 1953 p. 33 )
10 "My choice of Muhammad top lead the list
of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and
may questioned by others, but he was only man in history who was supremely
successful on both the religious and secular level."
( Michael H. hart, THE 100; A RANKING OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS
IN HISTORY, New York: Hart Publishing Company, Inc.' 1978 p. 33 )
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