Chapter
2
FROM
THE HISTORICAL PAST
It is not difficult to reproduce a further dozen or
more
eulogies by the admirers and critics of Muhammad (pbuh).
Despite all their objectivity, jaundiced minds can
always
conjure up some aspersions. Let me take my
readers deep
down in past history.
It was Friday the 8th of May, 1840, that is about a
hundred and fifty years ago, at a time when it was a
sacrilege to say anything good about Muhammad (pbuh),
and the Christian West was trained to hate the man
Muhammad (pbuh) and his religion, the same way as
dogs
were at one stage trained in my country to hate all
black
people.1
At that time in history, Thomas Carlyle, one of the
greatest thinkers of the past century delivered a
series of
lectures under the theme - "Heroes and
Hero-worship."
DEVELOPED
SICKNESS
Carlyle exposed
this blind prejudice of his people at the
beginning of his talk. He made reference to
one of the
literary giants a Dutch scholar and statesman, by
the name
of Hugo Grotius,2
who had written a bitter and abusive
invective against the prophet of Islam. He had
falsely
charged that the Holy Prophet had trained pigeons to
pick
out peas from his ears, so that he could by this
trick bluff
his people that the Holy Ghost in the shape of a
dove was
revealing God's Revelation to him, which he then had
them
1.
By the way "dogs are colour blind!"
Yet it can be done.
2. From page 57 of the book -
"On Heroes Hero-worship and the Heroic in
History" by
Thomas Carlyle, London 1959.
recorded
in his Bible the Quran. Perhaps Grotius was
inspired into this fairy-tale from his reading of
his own Holy
Scriptures:
'Then,
Jesus, when he had been
baptized (by John the Baptist in the Jordan
River), came up immediately from the
water; and behold, the heavens were
opened to him, and he saw the
Spirit of God Descending Like
A
Dove and alighting upon him.
(Emphasis added) Matthew 3:16
WHERE'S
THE AUTHORITY
Pococke, another respected intellectual of the time,
like
"doubting Thomas" (John 20:25), wanted
proof about
Muhammad (pbuh), the pigeons, and the peas?
Grotius
answered "THAT THERE WAS NO PROOF!"
He
just felt like inventing this story for his
audience. To
him and his audience the "pigeons and
peas" theory was
more plausible than that of the Archangel dictating
to
Muhammad (pbuh). These falsities wringed the
heart of
Carlyle. He cried:
"THE
LIES, WHICH WELL-MEANING ZEAL HAS
HEAPED ROUND THIS MAN, ARE DISGRACEFUL TO
OURSELVES ONLY."
Thomas Carlyle
THE
HERO PROPHET
Carlyle was a man of genius and God gifted him with
the art of articulation. In his own way, he
wanted to put the
records straight. He planned to deliver a
lecture and he
chose
a very provocative topic"The hero as
Prophet." and
he chose this hero-prophet to be the most maligned
man of
his time, "MUHAMMAD (PBUH)!" Not Moses,
david, Solomon,
or Jesus but Muhammad!1
To placate his overwhelming
Anglican (belonging to the Church of England) fellow
countrymen, he apologised -
"AS THERE IS NO DANGER OF OUR BECOMING,
ANY
OF US, MAHOMETANS, 2
I MEAN TO SAY
ALL THE
GOOD OF HIM I JUSTLY CAN."
In other words he, as well as his elite audience
were
free from the fear of converting to islam, and could
take a
chance in paying some compliments to Muhammad (pbuh).
If he had any fears regarding the strength of their
faith, he
would not have taken that chance.
In an era of hatred and spite towards evernhing
Islamic
and to an audience full of scepticism and cynicism,
Carlyle
unfolded many a glowing truth about his hero -
Muhammad (pbuh). To the
"praise-worthy," indeed be
praise. For that is what the very name
Muhammad means -
the Praised One - the Praiseworthy. There are
times when
Carlyle uses words and expressions which miqht not
be too
pleasing to the believing Muslim, but one has
to forgive him
as he was walking a cultural tightrope, and he
succeeded
eminently.
He Paid our hero many ardent and enthusiastic
tribute,
and defended him from the false charges and
calumnies of
his enemies, exactly as the Prophet had done in the
case of
Jesus (pbuh) and his mother.3
1.
May the Peace and Blessings of God be upon all his
servants.
2. "Mahometans' means
Muslims
3. See -Muhummed the Natural
Successor to Christ" by the author.
HIS
SINCERITY
la.
"THE GREAT MAN'S SINCERITY IS OF THE
KIND HE CANNOT SPEAK OF: NAY, I SUP-
POSE, HE IS CONSCIOUS RATHER OF IN-
SINCERITY; FOR WHAT MAN CAN WALK
ACCURATELY BY THE LAW OF TRUTH FOR
ONE DAY? NO, THE GREAT MAN DOES NOT
BOAST HIMSELF SINCERE, FAR FROM THAT;
PERHAPS DOES NOT ASK HIMSELF IF HE IS
SO: I WOULD SAY RATHER, HIS SINCERITY
DOES NOT DEPEND ON HIMSELF: HE CAN-
NOT HELP BEING SINCERE!" Heros and
Hero-Worship, p.59
b.
"A SILENT GREAT SOUL, HE WAS ONE OF
THOSE WHO CANNOT BUT BE IN EARNEST,
WHOM NATURE HERSELF HAS APPOINTED TO
BE SINCERE. WHILE OTHERS WALK IN
FORMULAS AND HEARSAYS, CONTENTED
ENOUGH TO DWELL THERE, THIS MAN COULD
NOT SCREEN HIMSELF IN FORMULAS; HE WAS
ALONE WITH HIS OWN SOUL AND THE
REALITY OF THINGS. . . SUCH SINCERITY, AS
WE NAMED IT, HAS IN VERY TRUTH SOME-
THING OF DIVINE. THE WORD OF SUCH A
MAN IS A VOICE DIRECT FROM NATURE'S
OWN HEART. MEN DO AND MUST LISTEN TO
THAT AS TO NOTHING ELSE, - - - ALL ELSE IS
WIND IN COMPARISON." Heros and
Hero-Worship, p.71
In his lengthy speech, Carlyle did not have the
oppor-
tunity to inform his audience about the sources of
his
inferences. I may furnish just one incident
from the life of
the Prophet. An incidence which reflects the
highest degree
of
his sincerity in recording a Revelation in the Holy
Quran
even if it seems to reprove him for some natural and
human
zeal.
ADMONITION
AS REVEALED
It was in the early days of his mission in Makkah.
Muhammad (pbuh) was deeply engrossed in trying to
wean
the leaders of the pagan Quraish to his teachings.
Apparen-
tly one of them was giving him an attentive hearing
when a
poor blind man by the name Of Abdullah lbn Umm-1-
Maktum tried to barge in into the discussion and
wanting
to draw attention to himself. The blessed
Prophet said
nothing, but a thought went through his mind (why
don't
you have a little patience, can't you see (sense)
that because
of your impatience I might lose these customers). I
believe
that lesser men, sinners and saints, will not be
questioned for
such lapses, but not so for Muhammad (pbuh).
Did not God
choose him and honour him with that lofty status as
recorded?
HE
FROWNED
Whilst in the midst of the
conversation with his pagan
fellow tribesmen, God Almighty sends Gabriel, the
Angel of
Revelation, with this admonition:
(THE
PROPHET) FROWNED
AND TURNED AWAY,
BECAUSE
THERE CAME TO HIM
THE BLIND MAN (INTERRUPTING).
BUT
WHAT COULD TELL THEE
THAT PERCHANCE HE MIGHT GROW
(IN SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING)?
OR
THAT HE MIGHT RECEIVE
ADMONITION, AND THE TEACHING
MIGHT PRORT HIM?
Holy Quran 80:1-4
The
holy Prophet (pbuh) had naturally disliked the
interruption. Perhaps the poor man's feelings
were hurt. But
he whose gentle heart ever sympathised with the poor
and
the afflicted, got new Light (Revelation) from
his Lord, and
without the least hesitation, he immediately
published it for
all eternity!
Subsequently,
everytime he met this blind man, he
received him graciously and thanked him that on his
account the Lord had remembered him. During
Muhammad's
(pbuh) absences from Madinah, the blind man was made
the Governor of the City twice. Such was the
sincerity and
gratitude of Carlyle's Hero Prophet.
HIS
FIDELITY 1
2. "IT IS A BOUNDLESS FAVOUR.HE
NEVER FORGOT THIS GOOD KADIJAH. LONG
AFTERWARDS, AYESHA HIS YOUNG FAVOURITE
WIFE, A WOMAN WHO INDEED DISTINGUISHED
HERSELF AMONG THE MOSLEMS, BY ALL MAN-
NER OF QUALITIES, THROUGH HER WHOLE
LONG LIFE; THIS YOUNG BRILLIANT AYESHA
WAS, ONE DAY, QUESTIONING HIM.'NOW AM
NOT I BETTER THAN KADIJAH? SHE WAS A
1.
A few poetic verses on fidelity will be found in
Appendix "D" page 63.
WIDOW;
OLD, AND HAD LOST HER LOOKS:
YOU LOVE ME BETTER THAN YOU DID HER?'
'NO, BY ALLAH!' ANSWERED
MAHOMET: 'NO, BY ALLAH! SHE BELIEVED IN
ME WHEN NONE ELSE WOULD BELIEVE. IN THE
WHOLE WORLD I HAD BUT ONE FRIEND, AND
SHE WAS THAT!... Heros and Hero-Worship, p. 76
It would have been easier to repel the temptation of
the devil than to succumb to the ego of a young,
loving,
brilliant and beautiful wife like lady Ayesha
Siddiqa. Why
not let her hear the soft soothing balm of
flattery-, it will not
harm anyone. Even the soul of Bibi Khadija,
the mother of
the Faithful, would look light-heartedly at the
ruse. There is
no shamming, no innocent "white lies" with
Muhammad
(pbuh). Traits of this kind show us the
genuine man, brother
of us all, brought visible through fourteen
centuries, - - -
the veritable son of our common mother.
'AL
AMEEN. THE FAITHFUL'
3a.
"A MAN OF TRUTH AND FIDELITY; TRUE IN
WHAT HE DID, IN WHAT HE SPAKE AND
THOUGHT. THEY NOTED THAT HE ALWAYS
MEANT SOMETHING. A MAN RATHER TACI-
TURN IN SPEECH; SILENT WHEN THERE WAS
NOTHING TO BE SAID; BUT PERTINENT WISE,
SINCERE, WHEN HE DID SPEAK; ALWAYS
THROWING LIGHT ON THE MATTER. THIS IS
THE ONLY SORT OF SPEECH WORTH
SPEAKING!" Heros and Hero-Worship, p. 69
b.
"MAHOMET NATURALLY GAVE OFFENCE TO
THE KOREISH, KEEPERS OF THE KAABAH,
SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE IDOLS. ONE OR
TWO MEN OF INFLUENCE HAD JOINED HIM:
THE
THING SPREAD SLOWLY, BUT IT WAS
SPREADING, NATURALLY HE GAVE OFFENCE
TO EVERYBODY."1
Heros and Hero-Wotship, p. 77 c.
"NOT A MEALYMOUTHED MAN! A CANDID
FEROCITY, IF THE CASE CALL FOR IT, IS IN
HIM; HE DOES NOT MINCE MATRERS! THE
WAR OF TABUC IS A THING HE OFTEN
SPEAKS OF: HIS MEN REFUSED, MANY OF
THEM, TO MARCH ON THAT OCCASION;
PLEADED THE HEAT OF THE WEATHER, THE
HARVEST, AND SO FORTH; HE CAN NEVER
FORGET THAT. YOUR HARVEST? IT LASTS FOR
A DAY. WHAT WILL BECOME OF YOUR
HARVEST THROUGH ALL ETERNITY? HOT
WEATHER? YES, IT WAS HOT; 'BUT HELL WILL
BE HOTRER!' SOMETIMES A ROUGH SARCASM
TURNS UP: HE SAYS TO THE UNBELIEVERS, YE
SHALL NOT HAVE SHORT WEIGHT!" Heros and
Hero-Worship, p. 95/6.
Remember,
Thomas Carlyle uttered these words, and
many more to a shocked and bewildered Christian
audience
in England, a hundred and fifty years ago.
History did not
record for us the lively arguments and debates which
his
lecture must naturally have caused. He kept to
his promise:
"I mean to say all the good of him (his Hero
Prophet)
I justly can'" and he went on in his
talk to I defend
Muhammad (pbuh) against the false charges, slander
and
calumnies of his enemies:
1.
The Jews hated the Prophet: the Christians hated the
Prophet: the mushriks (the
Polytheists) hated the Prophet, and the Munafiqeen
(the hypocrites) hated the
Prophet. It is the nature of Falsehood to hate the
Truth. Light dismisses Darkness, but
darkness does not take kindly to light.
CHARGE
OF FALSITY
4a. "A FALSE MAN FOUND A RELIGION? WHY,
A FALSE MAN CANNOT BUILD A BRICK
HOUSE! IF HE DOES NOT KNOW AND
FOLLOW TRULY THE PROPERTIES OF
MORTAR, BURNT CLAY AND WHAT ELSE
HE WORKS IN, IT IS NO HOUSE THAT
HE
MAKES, BUT A RUBBISH HEAP. IT
WILL
NOT STAND FOR TWELVE CENTURIES,1
TO LODGE A HUNDRED-AND EIGHTY
MILLIONS;2
IT WILL FALL STRAIGHTAWAY
. . . SPECIOSITIES ARE SPECIOUS3
. . . IT
IS LIKE A FORGED BANK NOTE; THEY
GET IT PASSED OUT OF THEIR
WORTHLESS HANDS: OTHERS, NOT
THEY, HAVE TO SMART FOR IT.
NATURE
BURSTS-UP IN FIRE-FLAMES, FRENCH
REVOLUTIONS AND SUCH-LIKE,
PROCLAIMING WITH THE TERRIBLE
VERACITY THAT FORGED NOTES ARE
FORGED."
Heros and
Hero-Worship ), p. 58
b."IT GOES GREATLY AGAINST THE
IMPOSTER THEORY, THE FACT THAT HE
LIVED IN THIS ENTIRELY
UNEXCEPTIONABLE, ENTIRELY QUIET
AND COMMON PLACE WAY, TILL THE
HEAT OF HIS YEARS WAS DONE. HE
WAS FORTY BEFORE HE TALKED OF ANY
MISSION FROM HEAVEN . . ALL HIS
'AMBITION,' SEEMINGLY, HAD BEEN,
HITHERTO, TO LIVE AN HONEST LIFE;
HIS
'FAME,' THE MERE GOOD OPINION OF
NEIGHBOURS THAT KNEW HIM..."
Heros and
Hero-Worship, p. 70
1.
Now, fourteen centuries.
2. A thousand million today.
3. Specious: Having the
ring of truth or plausibility but actually false.
c.
"AMBITION? WHAT COULD ALL ARABIA DO
FOR THIS MAN; WITH THE CROWN OF
GREEK
HERACLIUS, OF PERSIAN CHOSROES,
AND ALL
THE CROWNS IN EARTH; - WHAT COULD
THEY ALL DO FOR HIM? IT WAS NOT
OF THE
HEAVEN ABOVE AND OF THE HELL
BENEATH.
ALL CROWNS AND SOVEREIGNTIES
WHAT-
SOEVER, WHERE WOULD THEY IN A FEW
BRIEF YEARS BE? TO BE SHEIK OF
MAKKAH
OR ARABIA, AND HAVE A BIT OF GILT
WOOD PUT INTO YOUR HAND, - - -
WILL THAT BE ONES SALVATION? I
DECIDEDLY
THINK, NOT, WE WILL LEAVE IT
ALTOGETHER,
THIS IMPOSTER HYPOTHESIS, AS NOT
CREDIT-
ABLE: NOT VERY TOLERABLE EVEN,
WORTHY
CHIEFLY OF DISMISSAL BY US."
Heros and Hero-Worship, p. 72/3
CHARGE OF SINNING
5. "FAULTS? THE GREATEST OF FAULTS, I
SHOULD SAY, IS TO BE CONSCIOUS OF
NONE. READERS OF THE BIBLE ABOVE
ALL,
ONE WOULD THINK, MIGHT KNOW
BETTER.
WHO IS CALLED THERE 'THE MAN
ACCORD-
ING TO GOD'S OWN HEART'? DAVID,
THE
HEBREW KING HAD FALLEN INTO SINS
ENOUGH; BLACKEST CRIMES; THERE
WAS NO
WANT OF SINS.1
AND THEREUPON THE
UNBELIEVERS SNEER AND ASK, IS
THIS YOUR
MAN ACCORDING TO GOD'S HEART? THE
SNEER, I MUST SAY, SEEMS TO ME
BUT A
1.
This is the Jewish and Christian concept of God's
prophets. They charge their prophets with incest,
adultery and even murder. They impure horrendous
crimes to them on the authority of the Holy Bible.
SHALLOW
ONE. WHAT ARE FAULTS, WHAT
ARE THE OUTWARD DETAILS OF A
LIFE; IF
THE INNER SECRET OF IT, THE
REMORSE,
TEMPTATIONS, TRUE, OFTEN-BAFFLED,
NEVER-
ENDED STRUGGLE OF IT BE
FORGOTTEN? 'IT
IS NOT IN MAN THAT WALKETH TO
DIRECT
HIS STEPS.' OF ALL ACTS, IS NOT,
FOR A
MAN, REPENTANCE THE MOST DIVINE?
THE
DEADLIEST SIN, I SAY, WERE THE
SAME SUPER-
CILIOUS CONSCIOUSNESS OF NO SIN;
THAT
IS DEATH; THE HEART SO CONSCIOUS
IS
DIVORCED FROM SINCERITY,
HUMILITY, AND
FACT; IS DEAD: IT IS 'PURE' AS
DEAD DRY
SAND IS PURE."
Heros and
Hero-Worship. p. 61
CHARGE OF "THE
SWORD"
The greatest crime, the greatest
"sin" of Muhammad
(pbuh} in the eyes of the
Christian West is that he did not
allow himself to be slaughtered,
to be "crucified" by his
enemies. He ably defended
himself, his family and his
followers; and finally vanquished
his enemies. Muhammad's
(pbuh} success is the Christians'
gall of disappointment: he
did not believe in any vicarious
sacrifice for the sins of
others. He believed and behaved
naturally. IN THE STATE
OF NATURE, EVERY ONE HAS A RIGHT
TO DEFEND HIS
PERSON AND POSSESSIONS, AND
EXTEND HIS HOSTILITIES
TO A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF
SATISFACTION AND
RETALIATION," says Gibbon,
the master historian in his
"Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire." His struggle and
victory over the forces of
unbelief and evil made the editors
of the Encyclopedia Britannica to
exclaim, Muhammad
(pbuh} to be - - - "THE
MOST SUCCESSFUL OF ALL
RELIGIOUS PERSONALITIES."
How
can the enemies of Islam account for Muhammad's
phenomenal achievements except to
decry that he spread
his religion at the point of the
sword? He forced Islam down
peoples' throats!?
6a. "HISTORY MAKES IT CLEAR HOWEVER, THAT
THE LEGEND OF FANATICAL MUSLIMS
SWEEP-
ING THROUGH THE WORLD AND FORCING
ISLAM AT THE POINT OF THE SWORD
UPON
CONQUERED RACES IS ONE OF THE
MOST
FANTASTICALLY ABSURD MYTHS THAT
HISTORIANS HAVE EVER
REPEATED."
De Lacy O'Leary in
"Islam at the Crossroads'' London, 1923, p.8
You do not have to be a historian
like O'Leary to know
that the Muslims ruled Spain for
736 years. The longest the
Christians ever ruled over
Muslims was 500 years in Mozam-
bique, a territory captured from
an Arab governor by the
name of Musa-bin-baique, a name
they could not properly
pronounce, hence the name
Mozambique. Even today, after
five centuries of Christian
overlordship the country is still 60
percent Muslim.
However, after eight centuries in
Spain the Muslims were
totally eliminated from that
country so that not even one
man was left to give the Azan
{the Muslim call to prayer}.
If the Muslims had used force,
military or economic there
would not have been any Christian
left in Spain to have
kicked the Muslims out. One can
blame the Muslims for
exploitation if you like but one
cannot charge them with
using the sword to convert
Spaniards to the Islamic religion.
Today, Islam is still spreading
all over the world -
and Muslims have NO sword!!
The
Muslims were also the masters of India for a
thousand years, but eventually
when the sub-continent
received independence in 1947,
the Hindus obtained three-
quarters of the country and the
Muslims the balance of the
one-quarter. Why? Because the
Muslims did not force Islam
down the Hindus' throats! In
Spain and in India, the Muslims
were no paragons of virtue, yet
they obeyed the Qur'anic
injunction to the letter -
LET THERE BE NO COMPULSION
IN RELIGION:
FOR TRUTH STANDS OUT
DISTINCT FROM ERROR.
Holy Quran 2:256
The
Muslim conquerors understood from this command
that "compulsion" was incompatible with
true religion:
because
(a} Religion depends on faith and will, and
these
would be meaningless if induced
by force.
Force can conquer but cannot
convert.
(b) Truth and Error have been so clearly shown
up by the Mercy of God that there
should
be no doubt in the minds of any
person of
goodwill as to the fundamentals
of faith.
(c) God's protection is continuous and His
Plan is
always to lead us from the depths
of dark-
ness into the clearest light. 1
Except for some eccentrics here
and there, the Muslims
as a whole adhered to the
commandment of God in the
lands over which they held sway.
1.
(a), (b} and (c) are Yusuf Ali's comments on verse
256. Obtain his translation with over 6000
explanatory footnotes from the IPCI.
But
what can the enemy say about countries where no
single Muslim soldier had set
foot?
(i) INDONESIA: It is a fact that over a
hundred
million Indonesians are Muslim,
yet no con-
quering Muslim army ever landed
on any of
its over two thousand islands.
(ii} MALAYSIA: The overwhelming number of its
people in this country are
Muslims yet no
Muslim soldier had landed there
either.
(iii} AFRICA: The majority of the people on
the
East coast of Africa as far down
as Mozam-
bique, as well as the bulk of the
inhabitants
on the West coast of the
continent are
Muslims, but history does not
record any
invading hoards of Muslims from
anywhere.
What sword? Where was the sword?
The
Muslim trader did the job. His
good conduct
and moral rectitude achieved the
miracle of
conversion.
"All what you say seems incontrovertible, Mr.
Deedat,"
says the Christian
controversialist, "but we are talking about
Islam at its very beginning, the
way in which your prophet
converted the pagans to his
faith! How did he do it if not
with the sword?"
ONE AGAINST ALL?
We can do no better than to allow
Thomas Carlyle
himself to defend his Hero
Prophet against this false
charge; - - -
7. "THE SWORD INDEED: BUT WHERE WILL YOU
GET YOUR SWORD! EVERY NEW
OPINION, AT
ITS
STARTING, IS PRECISELY IN A MINORITY
OF ONE. IN ONE MAN'S HEAD ALONE,
THERE IT DWELLS AS YET. ONE MAN
ALONE
OF THE WHOLE WORLD BELIEVES IT;
THERE IS
ONE MAN AGAINST ALL MEN. THAT HE
TAKE
A SWORD, AND TRY TO PROPAGATE
WITH
THAT, WILL DO LITTLE FOR HIM. YOU
MUST
FIRST GET YOUR SWORD! ON THE
WHOLE, A
THING WILL PROPAGATE ITSELF AS IT
CAN.
WE DO NOT FIND, OF THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION EITHER, THAT IT ALWAYS
DIS-
DAINED THE SWORD, WHEN ONCE IT
HAD
GOT ONE. CHARLEMAGNE'S CONVERSION
OF
THE SAXONS WAS NOT BY
PREACHING."
Heroes and
Hero-Worship. p. 80
At the age of forty when Muhammad {pbuh} declared
his mission from heaven, there
was no political party, or
royalty, and certainly no family
or tribe to back him up. His
people - the Arabs, immersed in
idol-worship and fetishism
were not by any means a docile
people, they were no easy
meat. They were a very volatile
people. given to internecine
and fratricidal wars: subject to
"all kinds of fierce sin-
cerities - " {Carlyle}. One
man, single-handed, to wean such a
people required nothing short of
a miracle. A miracle did
happen. God alone could have made
Islam and Muhammad
{pbuh} to triumph through with
flimsy, gossamer support.
God fulfilling His promise:
Holy
Quran 94:4
