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On The Character of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
By: Professor Maqsood Jafri
Before announcing Prophet-hood, the Prophet of
Islam Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) lived the life of a pure and pious man. In his
childhood he acted as a herdsman. In his adolescence he joined his uncle Abu
Talib as a tradesman. He spent most of his time in the cave of Hira
worshiping. He helped the poor and the needy. He married at the age of twenty
five. His youth was crystal like morning dew. No blot or blemish on his
character can be found. Youth is the period of strain and stress. Young people
are easily trapped in the meshes of sexual corruption, adultery or fornication.
History testifies the piety and chastity of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) before his
marriage and after his marriage. Even his sworn enemies called him the Honest,
the Pious, the Truthful and the Trustworthy. When he was twenty five he married
a great and pious lady of forty years named Khadijah. He loved her, respected
her and lived happily with her. No body blamed or charged him. But when at the
age of forty on divine will he announced the mission of God, the influential
chieftains of Mecca turned against him. What was his mission? He announced to
reject idolatry and accept monotheism. He condemned fascism and supported human
freedom. He abhorred imperialism and capitalism and stood for justice,
humanity, peace, equality and love. What was wrong in his mission? The
anti-human forces opposed him. He was teased, tortured and troubled. He was
exiled. He was attacked. The battles were imposed on him. His near and dear
ones were killed. Once he said: “No prophet was teased as much as I am
teased.” Such a pious and kind man who gave a universal message was attacked
and unfortunately is still being attacked by vicious minds. The cause of
writing this article is the statements of some of evil minded people of our
times. Last year, Jerry Vines, the former president of Southern Baptist
Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination with 15 million
members, described the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as a “demon-possessed
pedophile.” Televangelist Jimmy Swaggard referred to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
as a “sex deviant”, “pervert” and “pedophile”. Franklin Graham appeared on the
NBC Nightly News, commenting on Islam he said: “we are not attacking Islam but
Islam has attacked us. The God of Islam is not the same God. He is not the son
of God of the Christians or Judeo-Christian faith. It is a different God, and I
believe Islam is a very evil and wicked religion.” Briefly commenting on these
views one can say that if Prophet Muhammad was a “demon possessed”, then how he
preached an propounded godly wisdom? He should have given the message of Demon
not of God. The Quran time and again condemns demon. The Quran is a message of
noble, divine and virtuous values.
The Islamic teachings mirror generosity,
virtuosity, fairness, wisdom and monotheism. How a Demon can speak against
himself? It is not Demon but God speaking against Demon and his allies and
associates. Sulayman Rushdie in his vile and notorious book titled “The Satanic
Verses” has also expressed such unfounded malicious ideas. The heretics of
Mecca said the same about the Quran what these modern so called intellectuals
and politicians are saying. The honest intellectual giants of the west like
Thomas Carlyle and Goethe paid immense tributes to the Prophet of Islam whom
Jerry Vines and Jimmy Swaggart are calling “demon-possessed” and “pervert”. On
the sexual life of the Prophet much has been written. His supporters regard him
sexually potent and balanced. His opponents call him over-sexed and pervert.
In the history of Prophets we find Prophet Solomon having many wives. On the
contrary we find Jesus Christ a bachelor. At the age of 33 he was taken to the
heavens alive through the apparent crucifixion process. Polygamy was the order
of the day. No body took it as something bad. The Arabs practised pologamy.
In the wake of custom the Prophet Muhammad married some ladies. Hazrat Khadijah
was fifteen years older to him at the time of marriage. Most of them were his
age sake. In his fifties he married Harzat Aiysha, the daughter of Hazrat Abu
Bakr when she was just bloomed to youth. Hinting this marriage some of the
orientalists charge Prophet Muhammad as a “pedophile”. It was not only the
Prophet Muhammad who had married a young girl even the father of Harzat Aiysha,
Hazrat Abu Bakr had also married a young girl in his sixties. It was the part
of the prevalent Arab culture and custom. Hence not to be taken seriously. It
is not objectionable either from religious or from social point of view. So far
as the comments of Franklin Graham about Islam are concerned they are quite
funny and ridiculous. He seems to be entirely unaware of history. Islam has
never attacked anyone. It is a religion of peace and moderation. In the
earlier days of Islam, it were the Meccans who thrice under the command of Abu
Suffyan assaulted on the Muslims of Madina. The Quran shows full respect to
Moses and Jesus. The Quran claims that Jesus like other Prophets was a
Prophet. He was not the Son of God. In Islam no one is the son or the daughter
of God. Time and again the Quran declares that God neither begets nor is
begotten. The Bible also at different places pronounced Christ as the Son of
Man and the Messenger of God. The Gospel of Matthew says: “one of them, an
expert in the law, tested with this question: Teacher, which is the greatest
commandment in the Law/ - Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind. This is the first and
greatest commandment.”(22:35-38).
The God of Jesus is the God of Moses and
Muhammad. When Franklin Graham says that the God of Islam is not the God of
Christians he is sadly mistaken. The Arabic word Allah means God. When Jesus
was taken to gallows he said Eli, Eli – Which means Allah in Arabic and God in
English. God is God. IT is the God of all humans. So far as the remarks of
Franklin Graham about Islam as its being an evil and wicked religion are
concerned I leave unto all honest and impartial sages and scholars to comment on
it. What an academic dishonesty! Alas; what is wrong with such jaundiced and
prejudiced minds. The Quran is the book which is the basic source of Islamic
ideology. The balanced and neutral non-Muslim scholars have paid tremendous
tributes to this original source of divine values. Sir E. Dennison Ross,
Rodwell A. Sale, Palmer, Sarojini Maidu, Dr. A. Bertherand and De Lay O’ Leary
have paid great tributes to the Quranic wisdom. Only to quote an eminent
English statement and orator Edmund Burke may prove our claim. He writes: “The
Muhammadan Law which is binding on all from the crowned head to the meanest
subject, is a law interwoven with the system of the wisest, the most learned and
the most enlightened jurisprudence that ever existed in the world.” What a
difference between two opinions. Both the opinions hail down from non-Muslims.
The Islam whom Franklin Graham regards “wicked and evil” is regarded “the
wisest” by Edmund Berke. Let Allah show the right path to the detractors. The
demand of interfaith dialog is to respect the religions of all human kind. The
standing universal principal should be love your religion but learn to respect
the religions of others as well. The demand of decency is to logically differ
on principals in an educated and cultured manner. The way the above three
mentioned persons have used slanderous language about the highly esteemed and
divined personality can in no way be admired or accepted.
(The writer is an eminent speaker and scholar on
Islam. He can be reached at maqsoodjafri@aol.com)
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