| With eyes as bright as the shining sun, a reality on the
lips more brilliant than the light of the sun, a heart more fresh than the flowers of the
gardens of Yathrib and Taif, habits and morals more decent than the moon- lit nights of
the Hijaz, a mind more brisk than the strong winds, a bewitching tongue, a heart with
heavenly light, firm determination like a trenchant sword and heavenly words on the tongue
- such was Muhammad son of Abdullah, the prophet of Arabia, the prophet who destroyed the
idols which had separated brothers from brothers. He did not break only the idols of wood
and stone but also broke the idols of wealth, indecent habits and party-spirit. The only thing which the cowardly Quraysh desired was money should
be transferred from the hands of the nomadic Arabs to their own pockets. The only value
which they attached to life was that in order to earn profit they should travel through
the desert on the back of the camels undergoing extreme hardships and then return to their
hometown Mecca-the same Mecca which was the city of idol-worship, and where money was the
only thing which counted.
Suddenly they heard a voice which shook their nerves.
Their hopes were shattered. The world turned away its face from them saying "The
value of man is not the same which you have assessed and the object of the creation of the
nomadic Arabs is not the same which you think it to be".
........This was the voice of Muhammad.........
Banu Asad-and Banu Tamim were so foolish and ignorant
that they buried their daughters alive without any cause. There was no justification for
their doing so except that it was a custom which had survived amongst them. They were
opposed to the divine will. They hated the beauty of nature. And then they heard a voice,
which was expressive of deep love and sympathy for the people saying: "Don't bury
your daughters alive. Daughters are as good a creation of God as the sons. No human being
has a right to deprive others of life. It is only God who creates the people and makes
them die".
.......This was the voice of Muhammad.........
The Arabs were always fighting. They fought and shed
blood for years on account of very trivial things. They killed their own brothers and then
rejoiced and glorified themselves on it. To sacrifice their lives for the sake of their
own ignorance was something very ordinary for them. The children cried and screamed and
grew up in conditions which were not conducive to the creation of love or sympathy for
anyone in their minds.
In these circumstances they heard another voice which
said "What are you doing ? You kill one another although you are all brothers because
all of you have been created by God. Strife is something satanic. Peace and friendship are
more beneficial for you. The blessing for which you fight can't be achieved except through
peace".
......This, too, was the voice of Muhammad.........
The Arabs were the most proud and egoistic people. They
considered the non-Arabs inferior to themselves. Muhammad disliked this attitude.
Addressing these proud people he said: "No Arab is superior to a non-Arab unless he
is more pious".
There were oppressed, homeless and helpless persons whose
faces had been scorched by the hot winds. The society had discarded them and made their
lives miserable. They were more humble in the eyes of the people than the particles of
sand and their life had become extremely unenviable. And these were the true friends of
the prophet of Islam, just as the indigent and outcasts of the society were the friends of
Jesus Christ and other great men of the world. It was these very people for whose benefit
the prophet of Islam endeavoured to prevent the establishment of dictatorship, disallowed
slavery, freed man from the bondage of his fellow-men, and established the public treasury
so that all might benefit from it without any discrimination. He directed the efforts of
the people towards public welfare.
The helpless, oppressed and homeless slaves among whom
one was Bilal, the Mu'azzin of the prophet, were overjoyed when they heard this: "All
human beings are fed by God. He likes him most who is more helpful to his creatures".
.......This was the voice of Muhammad.........
The following pure words were imprinted on the minds of
those who were endeavouring in the path of God for a better life, and were ready to
support him (Muhammad) in his campaign against idol-worship and evil-doing, and were
afraid lest their rights and good conduct might be wasted in the battle-field.
"Remember ! Don't be treacherous. Don't commit
breach of trust. Don't kill either a child or a woman or an old man or a monk in a
monastery. Don't burn a date-palm tree and don't cut any tree nor pull down a
building".
.......This voice was the voice of Muhammad........
The Arabs heard this heavenly voice from Muhammad and
spread it in all the four corners of the world. They covered powerful rulers and kings
with this voice, established brotherhood amongst human beings and strung them in one
faith, and created relationship between man and God.
The shade of Muhammad spread so much that the entire Old
World came under it and the land from the east upto the west began producing the fruits of
goodness, knowledge, peace and friendship. The prophet of Islam stretched his hand and
sowed the seeds of friendship and brotherhood throughout the world. That hand is still
stretched and is busy sowing the seeds. Hence, there is no part of the world wherein the
followers of Muhammad are not found. One of them may be in Pakistan and the other may be
in Spain, but in spite of this both of them are treated to be under one and the same
standard. The prophet provided honour and respect to the Orientals which is even now a
shining crown on their heads.
This voice of the prophet, was a call for human
brotherhood. It stopped the hands of the rulers from reaching the property of the subjects
and gave equal rights to all human beings. No discrimination between a common man, a ruler
and a subject and an Arab and a non-Arab, because all human beings are the slaves of God
and it is He who provides sustenance to all of them.
This voice emancipated women from the oppression of men,
freed the labourers from the injustice of the capitalists and delivered the servants from
the degradation of submission to their masters. As opposed to Plato and other
philosophers, who deprive the workers of their social rights on account of their mean
occupation and have divided the society into many grades, the prophet of Islam made all
human beings participate in the affairs of government. He also disallowed usury and
exploitation of one man by another. |