The ManicaPost
Religious intolerance of the Crusades
During the centuries of the crusades, all sorts of slanders were invented against the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him). But with the birth of the modern age, marked with religious tolerance and freedom of thought, there was a great change in the approach of Western authors in their portrayal of his life and character.
The writings and acknowledgements of countless non-Muslim authors and scholars regarding Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him), not only justify this opinion but bear testimony to the reality. We enlist, hereunder, just a few quotations from some of those authors and scholars, by way of example and to provoke thought and encourage further reading.
Religious intolerance in the New Millennium
But as we have entered the new millennium, sadly the larger Western society still has to go a step forward to discover the greatest reality about Muhammed (peace be upon him) and that is, his being the true and the last Prophet of God for the whole of humanity. In spite of all its objectivity and enlightenment there has been no sincere and objective attempt by the Western society to understand the Prophethood of Muhammed (peace be upon him). It is so strange that very glowing tributes are paid to him for his integrity and achievement, from their own midst, but his claim of being the prophet of God has been rejected explicitly or implicitly. In fact overt and covert attempts to portray contempt and blasphemy against this great messenger of the Almighty seem to have gained momentum and one can only be compelled to think that the world is going backwards in terms of religious tolerance and freedom of thought and worship! It is here that a searching of the heart is required, and a review of the so-called objectivity is needed.
Acknowledgements by Lamartine, of Paris, France, as early as 1854 AD
“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? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in one third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and souls… his forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death; all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was twofold, the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with the words. Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?”
Lamartine, Histoire de la Turquire, Vol. II, pp276-77, Paris 1854
Bosworth Smith (1874 AD) on Muhammed (peace be upon him)
“He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope’s pretentions, 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 had all the power without its instruments and without its supports.”
For further information on Islam or a free copy of the Holy Qur’aan, please contact: Majlisul Ulama Zimbabwe, Council of Islamic Scholars. Publications Department
P.O. Box W93, Waterfalls, Harare
Tel: 04-614078 / 614004, Fax : 04-614003 e-mail: [email protected]
