The personality of Mohammad! It is most
difficult to get into the truth of it. Only a glimpse of it I can catch. What a
dramatic succession of picturesque scenes. There is Mohammad the Prophet, there
is Mohammad the General; Mohammad the King; Mohammad the Warrior; Mohammad the
Businessman; Mohammad the Preacher; Mohammad the Philosopher; Mohammad the
Statesman; Mohammad the Orator; Mohammad the reformer; Mohammad the Refuge of
orphans; Mohammad the Protector of slaves; Mohammad the Emancipator of women;
Mohammad the Law-giver; Mohammad the Judge; Mohammad the Saint.
And in all these magnificent roles, in all these
departments of human activities, he is like, a hero..
Orphanhood is extreme of helplessness and his
life upon this earth began with it; Kingship is the height of the material power
and it ended with it. From an orphan boy to a persecuted refugee and then to an
overlord, spiritual as well as temporal, of a whole nation and Arbiter of its
destinies, with all its trials and temptations, with all its vicissitudes and
changes, its lights and shades, its up and downs, its terror and splendor, he
has stood the fire of the world and came out unscathed to serve as a model in
every face of life. His achievements are not limited to one aspect of life, but
cover the whole field of human conditions.
If for instance, greatness consist in the
purification of a nation, steeped in barbarism and immersed in absolute moral
darkness, that dynamic personality who has transformed, refined and uplifted an
entire nation, sunk low as the Arabs were, and made them the torch-bearer of
civilization and learning, has every claim to greatness. If greatness lies in
unifying the discordant elements of society by ties of brotherhood and charity,
the prophet of the desert has got every title to this distinction. If greatness
consists in reforming those warped in degrading and blind superstition and
pernicious practices of every kind, the prophet of Islam has wiped out
superstitions and irrational fear from the hearts of millions. If it lies in
displaying high morals, Mohammad has been admitted by friend and foe as
Al Amin, or the faithful. If a conqueror is a
great man, here is a person who rose from helpless orphan and an humble creature
to be the ruler of Arabia, the equal to Chosroes and Caesars, one who founded
great empire that has survived all these 14 centuries. If the devotion that a
leader commands is the criterion of greatness, the prophet's name even today
exerts a magic charm over millions of souls, spread all over the world.
He had not studied philosophy in the school of
Athens of Rome, Persia, India, or China. Yet, He could proclaim the highest
truths of eternal value to mankind. Illiterate himself, he could yet speak with
an eloquence and fervor which moved men to tears, to tears of ecstasy. Born an
orphan blessed with no worldly goods, he was loved by all. He had studied at no
military academy; yet he could organize his forces against tremendous odds and
gained victories through the moral forces which he marshaled. Gifted men with
genius for preaching are rare. Descartes included the perfect preacher among the
rarest kind in the world. Hitler in his Mein Kamp has expressed a similar view.
He says "A great theorist is seldom a great leader. An Agitator is more
likely to posses these qualities. He will always be a great leader. For
leadership means ability to move masses of men. The talents to produce ideas has
nothing in common with capacity for leadership." "But", he
says, "The Union of theorists, organizer and leader in one man, is the
rarest phenomenon on this earth; Therein consists greatness."
In the person of the Prophet of Islam the world
has seen this rarest phenomenon walking on the earth, walking in flesh and
blood.
And more wonderful still is what the
reverend Bosworth Smith remarks, "Head of the state as well as the
Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but, he was pope without the pope's
claims, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without an 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 a right divine It was Mohammad, for he had
all the power without instruments and without its support. He cared not for
dressing of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his
public life."
After the fall of Mecca, more than one million
square miles of land lay at his feet, Lord of Arabia, he mended his own shoes
and coarse woolen garments, milked the goats, swept the hearth, kindled the fire
and attended the other menial offices of the family. The entire town of Medina
where he lived grew wealthy in the later days of his life. Everywhere there was
gold and silver in plenty and yet in those days of prosperity many weeks would
elapse without a fire being kindled in the hearth of the king of Arabia, His
food being dates and water. His family would go hungry many nights successively
because they could not get anything to eat in the evening. He slept on no soften
bed but on a palm mat, after a long busy day to spend most of his night in
prayer, often bursting with tears before his creator to grant him strength to
discharge his duties. As the reports go, his voice would get choked with weeping
and it would appear as if a cooking pot was on fire and boiling had commenced.
On the very day of his death his only assets were few coins a part of which went
to satisfy a debt and rest was given to a needy person who came to his house for
charity. The clothes in which he breathed his last had many patches. The house
from where light had spread to the world was in darkness because there was no
oil in the lamp.
Circumstances changed, but the prophet of God did
not. In victory or in defeat, in power or in adversity, in affluence or in
indigence, he is the same man, disclosed the same character. Like all the ways
and laws of God, Prophets of God are unchangeable.
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.
He was most unostentatious and selfless to the
core. What were the titles he assumed? Only true servant of God and His
Messenger. Servant first, and then a messenger. A Messenger and prophet like
many other prophets in every part of the world, some known to you, many not
known you. If one does not believe in any of these truths one ceases to be a
Muslim. It is an article of faith.
"Looking at the circumstances of the
time and unbounded reverence of his followers" says a western writer "the
most miraculous thing about Mohammad is, that he never claimed the power of
working miracles." Miracles were performed but not to propagate his
faith and were attributed entirely to God and his inscrutable ways. He would
plainly say that he was a man like others. He had no treasures of earth or
heaven. Nor did he claim to know the secrets of that lie in womb of future. All
this was in an age when miracles were supposed to be ordinary occurrences, at
the back and call of the commonest saint, when the whole atmosphere was
surcharged with supernaturalism in Arabia and outside Arabia.
He turned the attention of his followers towards
the study of nature and its laws, to understand them and appreciate the Glory of
God. The Quran says,
"God did not create the heavens and the
earth and all that is between them in play. He did not create them all but
with the truth. But most men do not know."
The world is not illusion, nor without purpose. It
has been created with the truth. The number of verses inviting close observation
of nature are several times more than those that relate to prayer, fasting,
pilgrimage etc. all put together. The Muslim under its influence began to
observe nature closely and this give birth to the scientific spirit of the
observation and experiment which was unknown to the Greeks. While the Muslim
Botanist Ibn Baitar wrote on Botany after collecting plants from all parts of
the world, described by Myer in his Gesch. der Botanikaa-s, a monument of
industry, while Al Byruni traveled for forty years to collect mineralogical
specimens, and Muslim Astronomers made some observations extending even over
twelve years. Aristotle wrote on Physics without performing a single experiment,
wrote on natural history, carelessly stating without taking the trouble to
ascertain the most verifiable fact that men have more teeth than animal. Galen,
the greatest authority on classical anatomy informed that the lower jaw consists
of two bones, a statement which is accepted unchallenged for centuries till
Abdul Lateef takes the trouble to examine a human skeleton. After enumerating
several such instances, Robert Briffault concludes in his well known book The
making of humanity, "The debt of our science to the Arabs does not
consist in starting discovers or revolutionary theories. Science owes a great
more to Arabs culture; it owes is existence." The same writer says "The
Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized but patient ways of
investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of
science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry, were
altogether alien to Greek temperament. What we call science arose in Europe as
result of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment,
observation, measurement, of the development of Mathematics in form unknown to
the Greeks. That spirit and these methods, concludes the same author, were
introduced into the European world by Arabs."
It is the same practical character of the
teaching of Prophet Mohammad that gave birth to the scientific spirit,
that has also sanctified the daily labors and the so called mundane affairs. The
Quran says that God has created man to worship him but the word worship has
a connotation of its own. Gods worship is not confined to prayer alone, but
every act that is done with the purpose of winning approval of God and is
for the benefit of the humanity comes under its purview. Islam sanctifies life
and all its pursuits provided they are performed with honesty, justice and pure
intents. It obliterates the age-long distinction between the sacred and profane.
The Quran says if you eat clean things and thank God for it, it is an act of
worship. It is saying of the prophet of Islam that Morsel of food that one
places in the mouth of his wife is an act of virtue to be rewarded by God.
Another tradition of the Prophet says "He who is satisfying the desire
of his heart will be rewarded by God provided the methods adopted are
permissible." A person was listening to him exclaimed 'O Prophet of
God, he is answering the calls of passions, is only satisfying the craving of
his heart. Forthwith came the reply, "Had he adopted an awful method
for the satisfaction of his urge, he would have been punished; then why should
he not be rewarded for following the right course."
This new conception of religion that it should
also devote itself to the betterment of this life rather than concern itself
exclusively with super mundane affairs, has led to a new orientation of moral
values. Its abiding influence on the common relations of mankind in the affairs
of every day life, its deep power over the masses, its regulation of their
conception of rights and duty, its suitability and adaptability to the ignorant
savage and the wise philosopher are characteristic features of the teaching of
the Prophet of Islam.
But it should be most carefully born in mind this
stress on good actions is not the sacrifice correctness of faith. While there
are various school of thought, one praising faith at the expense of deeds,
another exhausting various acts to the detriment of correct belief, Islam is
based on correct faith and righteous actions. Means are important as the end and
ends are as important as the means. It is an organic Unity. Together they live
and thrive. Separate them and both decay and die. In Islam faith can not be
divorced from the action. Right knowledge should be transferred into right
action to produce the right results. How often the words came in Quran -- Those
who believe and do good thing, they alone shall enter paradise. Again and again,
not less than fifty times these words are repeated as if too much stress can not
be laid on them. Contemplation is encouraged but mere contemplation is not the
goal. Those who believe and do nothing can not exist in Islam. These who believe
and do wrong are inconceivable. Divine law is the law of effort and not of
ideals. It chalks out for the men the path of eternal progress from knowledge to
action and from action to satisfaction.
But what is the correct faith from which right
action spontaneously proceeds resulting in complete satisfaction. Here the
central doctrine of Islam is the Unity of God. There is no God but God is the
pivot from which hangs the whole teaching and practice of Islam. He is unique
not only as regards his divine being but also as regards his divine attributes.
As regards the attributes of God, Islam adopts
here as in other things too, the law of golden mean. It avoids on the one hand, the
view of God which divests the divine being of every attribute and rejects,
on the other, the view which likens him to things material. The Quran
says, On the one hand, there is nothing which is like him, on the other
, it affirms that he is Seeing, Hearing, Knowing. He is the King who is
without a stain of fault or deficiency, the mighty ship of His power floats upon
the ocean of justice and equity. He is the Beneficent, the Merciful. He is the
Guardian over all. Islam does not stop with this positive statement. It adds
further which is its most special characteristic, the negative aspects of
problem. There is also no one else who is guardian over everything. He is the
meander of every breakage, and no one else is the meander of any breakage. He is
the restorer of every loss and no one else is the restorer of any loss
what-so-over. There is no God but one God, above any need, the maker of bodies,
creator of souls, the Lord of the day of judgment, and in short, in the words of
Quran, to him belong all excellent qualities.
Regarding the position of man in relation to the
Universe, the Quran says:
"God has made subservient to you whatever
is on the earth or in universe. You are destined to rule over the
Universe."
But in relation to God, the Quran says:
"O man God has bestowed on you excellent
faculties and has created life and death to put you to test in order to see
whose actions are good and who has deviated from the right path."
In spite of free will which he enjoys, to some
extent, every man is born under certain circumstances and continues to live
under certain circumstances beyond his control. With regard to this God
says, according to Islam, it is my will to create any man under condition
that seem best to me. cosmic plans finite mortals can not fully comprehend. But
I will certainly test you in prosperity as well in adversity, in health as well
as in sickness, in heights as well as in depths. My ways of testing differ from
man to man, from hour to hour. In adversity do not despair and do resort to
unlawful means. It is but a passing phase. In prosperity do not forget God.
God-gifts are given only as trusts. You are always on trial, every moment on
test. In this sphere of life there is not to reason why, there is but to do and
die. If you live in accordance with God; and if you die, die in the path of God.
You may call it fatalism. but this type of fatalism is a condition of vigorous
increasing effort, keeping you ever on the alert. Do not consider this temporal
life on earth as the end of human existence. There is a life after death and it
is eternal. Life after death is only a connection link, a door that opens up
hidden reality of life. Every action in life however insignificant, produces a
lasting effect. It is correctly recorded somehow. Some of the ways of God are
known to you, but many of his ways are hidden from you. What is hidden in you
and from you in this world will be unrolled and laid open before you in the
next. the virtuous will enjoy the blessing of God which the eye has not seen,
nor has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of men to conceive of
they will march onward reaching higher and higher stages of evolution. Those who
have wasted opportunity in this life shall under the inevitable law, which makes
every man taste of what he has done, be subjugated to a course of treatment of
the spiritual diseases which they have brought about with their own hands.
Beware, it is terrible ordeal. Bodily pain is torture, you can bear somehow.
Spiritual pain is hell, you will find it almost unbearable. Fight in this life
itself the tendencies of the spirit prone to evil, tempting to lead you into
iniquities ways. Reach the next stage when the self-accusing sprit in your
conscience is awakened and the soul is anxious to attain moral excellence and
revolt against disobedience. This will lead you to the final stage of the soul
at rest, contented with God, finding its happiness and delight in him alone. The
soul no more stumbles. The stage of struggle passes away. Truth is victorious
and falsehood lays down its arms. All complexes will then be resolved. Your
house will not be divided against itself. Your personality will get integrated
round the central core of submission to the will of God and complete surrender
to his divine purpose. All hidden energies will then be released. The soul then
will have peace. God will then address you:
"O thou soul that art at rest, and
restest fully contented with thy Lord return to thy Lord. He pleased with thee
and thou pleased with him; So enter among my servants and enter into my
paradise."
This is the final goal for man; to become, on the,
one hand, the master of the universe and on the other, to see that his soul
finds rest in his Lord, that not only his Lord will be pleased with him but that
he is also pleased with his Lord. Contentment, complete contentment,
satisfaction, complete satisfaction, peace, complete peace. The love of God is
his food at this stage and he drinks deep at the fountain of life. Sorrow and
defeat do not overwhelm him and success does not find him in vain and exulting.
The western nations are only trying to
become the master of the Universe. But their souls have not found peace and
rest.
Thomas Carlyle, struck by this philosophy of life
writes "and then also Islam-that we must submit to God; that our whole
strength lies in resigned submission to Him, whatsoever he does to us, the thing
he sends to us, even if death and worse than death, shall be good, shall be
best; we resign ourselves to God." The same author continues "If
this be Islam, says Goethe, do we not all live in Islam?" Carlyle
himself answers this question of Goethe and says "Yes, all of us that
have any moral life, we all live so. This is yet the highest wisdom that heaven
has revealed to our earth."
Re-printed from "Islam and Modern
age", Hydrabad, March 1978.
Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, is the
Head of the Department of Philosophy, Government College for Women University of
Mysore, India
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