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Thu 13 Jul, 2006 08:00 am
YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS MAN
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA confirms:
".... A mass of detail in the early sources show that he was an honest and
upright man who had gained the respect and loyalty of others who were
like-wise honest and upright men." (Vol. 12)
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
said about him:
n "If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam."
n I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion, which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence,
which can make itself appeal to every age.
n I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity."
n "I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness:
n I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as
it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today."
(Sir George Bernard Shaw in 'The Genuine Islam,' Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.)
He did it
n He was by far the most remarkable man that ever set foot on this earth.
n He preached a religion, founded a state, built a nation, laid down a moral code, initiated numerous social and political reforms
n He established a powerful and dynamic society to practice and represent his teachings and
completely revolutionized the worlds of human thought and behavior for all times to come.
YES! HE IS MUHAMMAD
(prayers & peace be upon him)
He was born in Arabia in the year 570, started his mission of preaching the religion of Truth, Islam (submission to One God) at the age of forty and departed from this world at the age of sixty-three.
His Mission:
During this short period of 23 years of his Prophethood, he changed the complete Arabian peninsula;
From paganism and idolatry to SUBMISSION to The God,
n From tribal quarrels and wars to national solidarity and cohesion,
n From drunkenness and debauchery to sobriety and piety,
n From lawlessness and anarchy to disciplined living,
n From utter bankruptcy to the highest standards of moral excellence.
Human history has never known such a complete transformation of a society or a place before or since - and IMAGINE all these unbelievable wonders in JUST OVER TWO DECADES.
MICHAEL H. HART in his book on Ratings of Men
n He ranked Mohammed first in the list, who contributed towards the benefit and uplift of mankind:
"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the
religious and secular levels."
(M.H. Hart, The 100: A Ranking Of The Most Influential Persons In History, New York, 1978, P. 33)
LAMARTINE, the renowned historian, speaking on the essentials of human greatness wonders:
n "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?
n 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.
n This man moved not only armies, legislation, 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....
n His forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire;
n His endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death;
n All these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma.
n This dogma was two-fold, 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.
n "Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images,
n The founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is MUHAMMAD.
n As regards all the standards by which Human Greatness may be measured, we may well ask,
IS THERE ANY MAN GREATER THAN HE?"
(Alphonse de Lamartine, HISTOIRE DE LA TURQUIE, Paris, 1854, Vol. II, pages 276-277)
n The world has had its share of great personalities. But these were one-sided figures who distinguished themselves in but one or two fields, such as religious thought or military leadership.
n The lives and teachings of these great personalities of the world are shrouded in the mist of time.
n There is so much speculation about the time and place of their birth, the mode and style of their life, the nature and detail of their teachings and the degree and measure of their success or failure that it is impossible for humanity to reconstruct accurately the lives and teachings of these men.
DIWAN CHAND SHARMA wrote:
"Muhammed was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never
forgotten by those around him." (D.C. Sharma, THE PROPHETS OF THE EAST,
Calcutta, 1935, pp. 12)
EDWARD GIBBON and SIMON OCKLEY speaking on the profession of ISLAM write:
"I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, AND MAHOMET, AN APOSTLE OF GOD" is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has
never been degraded by any visible idol; the honor of the Prophet has never transgressed the measure of human virtues; and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion." (HISTORY OF THE SARACEN EMPIRES, London, 1870, p. 54)
He is not God
n Muhammad (pbuh) was nothing more or less than a human being. But he was a man with a noble mission, which was to unite humanity on the submission to ONE and ONLY GOD and to teach them the way to ideal and upright living
based on the commands of God.
n He always described himself as, 'A Servant
and Messenger of God,' and so indeed every action of his proclaimed to be.
The famous poetess of India, SAROJINI NAIDU says:
n "It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for, in the mosque, when the call for prayer is sounded and worshippers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and king kneel side by side and proclaim: 'God Alone is Great'...
n I have been struck over and over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes man instinctively a brother"
(S.Naidu, IDEALS OF ISLAM, vide Speeches & Writings, Madras, 1918, p. 169)
In the words of PROF. HURGRONJE:
n "The league of nations founded by the prophet of Islam put the principle of international unity and human brotherhood on such universal foundations as to show candle to other nations."
n He continues: "The fact is that no nation
of the world can show a parallel to what Islam has done towards the
realization of the idea of the League of Nations."
n The world has not hesitated to raise to divinity, individuals whose lives and missions have been lost in legend. Historically speaking, none of these legends achieved even a fraction of what Muhammad (pbuh) accomplished. And all his striving was for the sole purpose of uniting mankind for the worship of One God on the codes of moral excellence.
n Muhammad (pbuh) or his followers never at any time claimed that he was a Son of God or the God-incarnate or a man with divinity - but he always was and is even today considered as only a Messenger chosen by God.
n Today after a lapse of fourteen centuries, the life and teachings of MUHAMMAD (pbuh) have survived without the slightest loss, alteration or
interpolation. They offer the same undying hope for treating mankind's many ills, which they did when he was alive.
n This is not a claim of Muhammad's (pbuh) followers but also the inescapable conclusion forced upon by a critical and unbiased history.
n Not so this man. Muhammad (peace be up on him) accomplished so much in such diverse fields of human thought and behavior in the fullest blaze of human history.
n Every detail of his private life and public utterances has been accurately documented and faithfully preserved to our day. The authenticities of the record so preserved are vouched for not only by the faithful followers but
also even by his prejudiced critics.
n Muhammed (pbuh) was a teacher, a social reformer, a moral guide, an administrative colossus, a faithful friend, a wonderful companion, a devoted husband, a loving father - all in one.
n No other man in history ever excelled or equaled him in any of these different aspects of life - but it was only for the selfless personality of Muhammad (pbuh) to achieve such incredible perfections.
MAHATMA GANDHI
Speaking on the character of Muhammad, (pbuh) says in YOUNG INDIA:
n "I wanted to know the best of one who holds today's undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind..
n I became more than convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life.
n It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to this friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the 2nd volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of the great life."
THOMAS CARLYLE
in his HEROES AND HEROWORSHIP, was simply amazed as to:
"How one man single-handedly, could weld warring tribes and wandering Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades."
"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
"A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world's Maker had ordered so."
Now please relax for a moment
n The least YOU could do as thinking and concerned human being is to stop for
a moment and ask yourself: Could these statements sounding so extraordinary
and revolutionary be really true?
n And supposing they really are true and
you did not know this man MUHAMMED (pbuh) or hear about him, isn't it time you responded to this tremendous challenge and put in some effort to know him?
A long and tedious copy and paste job, about which you are not even sufficiently honest to acknowledge that someone else wrote it.
Please explain why anyone should consider that man admirable, given that he was illiterate, and sponged off a series of widows whom he married, and capped it all off with the matrimonial rape of a nine year old girl.
Hmmm... When I was a kid in Germany, in one of my classes we were thought different things about the history of different religions.
Among other things we were told that Prophet Mohammed (and his followers) returned to the town he was originally from and slaughtered and massacred men, women, and children.
He did it because - years before - nobody believed him that he was the prophet from Allah and he wanted revenge.
It's possible that there is some bias in this story, as the class I was in strongly favored Christianity.
Can anybody confirm the story?
I don't know what the nature of the "story" you were told was. However, Mohammed originally lived in Mecca. Mecca was a trading center, and there is a large chunk of a meteor there, the al-Ħajaru l-Aswad or black stone, which is embedded in a large building now known as the Kaaba. The Kaaba is now sacred to Islam, its holiest site, although there is no special status accorded by them to the black stone. Before Islam, however, the black stone was a focus for pilgrimages by "pagans," and the people of Mecca exploited that.
There were clan feuds in which Mohammed attempted to mediate. He became the target of powerful families in Mecca, and had to get out of town to save himself. Part of their resentment of him was that in attacking pagans, he was threatening their income from the pilgrimages to see the black stone. He and his followers went to Medina, then called Yathrib, in an event known as the Hijra, which is now sacred in Islam--the date of the Hijra begins the Muslim calendar. Later, there was warfare between Medina and Mecca, largely politically based--it was war for domination. I know of no single instance in which the Companions entered Mecca and perpetrated a slaughter. In 630, Muslims from Medina successfully defeated the Meccans and entered the city. Mohammed promised an amnesty to all the citizens, except for a small list of proscribed clan and tribal leaders.
In short, i think the story you were told was horsie poop.
Setanta wrote:In short, i think the story you were told was horsie poop.
Well... it was a brainwashing class that insisted that Christianity is the only way to go. So I wouldn't be surprised...
Excerpt from Wikpedia on GB Shaw
"Despite the fact that he identified as being a democratic socialist, in the 1930s Shaw approved of the regime of Stalin and also made some ambiguous statements that are often interpreted as being pro-Hitler. In 1945, his preface to the play Geneva staked a claim that the majority of the victims of the Nazi extermination camps had in fact died of "overcrowding". However, he also stated that Hitler had become a "mad messiah" over time. Shaw contrasted this with the situation in the Soviet Union where, according to Shaw, "Stalin... made good by doing things better and much more promptly than parliaments". Shaw also made numerous anti-semitic comments at this time, although the extent to which he was merely being ironic or provocative is unclear".
Stalin also believed the only person in the world he could trust was Hitler (A man after his own heart).
fresco wrote:Excerpt from Wikpedia on GB Shaw
"Despite the fact that he identified as being a democratic socialist, in the 1930s Shaw approved of the regime of Stalin and also made some ambiguous statements that are often interpreted as being pro-Hitler. In 1945, his preface to the play Geneva staked a claim that the majority of the victims of the Nazi extermination camps had in fact died of "overcrowding". However, he also stated that Hitler had become a "mad messiah" over time. Shaw contrasted this with the situation in the Soviet Union where, according to Shaw, "Stalin... made good by doing things better and much more promptly than parliaments". Shaw also made numerous anti-semitic comments at this time, although the extent to which he was merely being ironic or provocative is unclear".
Right. I suppose he changed his mind after being invaded.
What "religionists" like the author of this thread don't seem to understand is the power of "word magic". Anybody who stands up like Mohammed or GBS who fancies himself as a mouthpiece for "truths" is bound to draw an audience of eager "sheep". Such is the human psyche as demonstrated by the phenomenon of hypnosis. No doubt both of these characters had a certain "veneer of wisdom" but like all of us they were prone behaving and thinking in contradiction to their "one-liners".
fresco wrote: Anybody who stands up like Mohammed or GBS who fancies himself as a mouthpiece for "truths" is bound to draw an audience of eager "sheep".
Have you forgotten Jesus, the "mouthpiece" for all Christians?
explain?
Setanta wrote:A long and tedious copy and paste job, about which you are not even sufficiently honest to acknowledge that someone else wrote it.
Please explain why anyone should consider that man admirable, given that he was illiterate, and sponged off a series of widows whom he married, and capped it all off with the matrimonial rape of a nine year old girl.
Setanta, What makes you think that explanations given in that "Cut & paste" has not achieved the required audience.Why should you comment on everything explaining Islam/Talks about Muslims..
What kind of explanations do u want.
If explanations of various christian figures, Muslims, jews, Buddhists, great poets, Shaw, Mahatma Gandhi and several world professors, old and new, to show Prophet Mohamed, the one you call illeterate had some spiritual light from God, Then I don't know what will make you understand him.
I am wondering why many learned professors, engineers and highly regarded people still follow an illiterate..from all corners of the world..
Unless you have "The pride" never to be taught by an "Illiterate".....
By the way, nobody is forcing you to accept Islam or prophet Mohamed...You have the choice to just keep quite and enjoy the thread........
Check statistics and How the world is changing...
Yeah, i know, because a lot of people believe that horsie poop, everybody should.
If everyone you know decided to jump off a cliff, would you join them?
dalahow2
Can you explain why we are getting a constant stream of Muslims on A2K expounding the virtues of Islam. Is this some counter-offensive to the bad press your extremists are reaping for you ?
Do you not realize that the sterotype that non-muslims have of you is of a psychologically primitive people to whom "democracy" is foreign territory ? What good do you think spouting statistics about "the fastest growing religion" will do ?.....Let me tell you....it will just build on the seeds of fear and resentment that have already established that sterotype.
fresco
your question about the muslims on A2K..i think it's not forbidden for muslims to join this forum and this section is spirituality and religion and since Islam is a religion so it belongs to this section.. you talked about expressing the virtues of Islam by muslims here ..iam telling you that i have learned many important things ,about Christianity and other religions, from this valuable forum and since life is give and take , i have taken a lot of things from this forum and i have to give as much as i take.
Honestly,i made this topic for people interested in knowing about prophet Mohammad (PBUH) ,if you aren't interested in such topics you don't have to read them ,and i think the title of the topic is crystal clear and not elusive or ambigious..Iam not urging anyone to follow Islam and i haven't sent this thread to terrify you ..but it's the truth that you have to face ..as you said "ISLAM IS THE FASTEST GROWING RELIGION".
Thank you Fresco for participating and introducing your point of view ,and i hope that you are convinced now that it is not an Islamic invasion to A2K but we live on one small planet and the best way to understand each other is through explaining our points of view :wink:
....and AIDS is the fastest growing disease !
If we take Dawkin's view that religion is a "virus" we can see immediate similarities and consequences.
BTW. I would be interested to know whether you are still happy with Shaw's support for Islam now you know he also supported Stalin.
we don't
fresco wrote:dalahow2
Do you not realize that the sterotype that non-muslims have of you is of a psychologically primitive people to whom "democracy" is foreign territory ? .
so stripping naked or semi, joining group sex is "democracy" you are saying...The freedom you wish for every person in the world..hhahahaha
While it's good to talk like sensible men/women, you will see that someone arguing muslim women are praying behind men in the mosque...
Not explaining why muslim women have reserved seats infront of men in the public transport..but because it's Islam..every insane man/woman has something to say...They call it freedom..
we have our freedom......you have your freedom
Though ours is not like yours
"strippers, strip tease, group sex, incest, threesomes, gambling, prostitution and a host of other freedoms you have at your disposal.
Islam is against all these...
No wonder you want the whole world to have freedom
and to join you
Egyptian girl they are many anti-Muslims here, as they are influenced by the propaganda of the Western media. What I want to say is you must be ready to face many attacks against your religion in Western internet forums. However these opinions do not represent the whole non-Muslim world.
dalahow2
You failure to understand what "democracy means" is resounding support for my point. BTW Do you live in a democracy yourself ?
egyptiangirl.
As an atheist I disagree with ALL organized religions because of the irrefutable evil which has been done in their name. Islam is merely the latest contender for leadership of the "divine violence league" whether you personally condone it or not. Read Lakoff....the metaphor of "attack" as used by the last respondent is entirely in keeping with such "violence" :wink:
Re: we don't
dalahow2 wrote:fresco wrote:dalahow2
Do you not realize that the sterotype that non-muslims have of you is of a psychologically primitive people to whom "democracy" is foreign territory ? .
so stripping naked or semi, joining group sex is "democracy" you are saying...The freedom you wish for every person in the world..hhahahaha
While it's good to talk like sensible men/women, you will see that someone arguing muslim women are praying behind men in the mosque...
Not explaining why muslim women have reserved seats infront of men in the public transport..but because it's Islam..every insane man/woman has something to say...They call it freedom..
we have our freedom......you have your freedom
Though ours is not like yours
"strippers, strip tease, group sex, incest, threesomes, gambling, prostitution and a host of other freedoms you have at your disposal.
Islam is against all these...
No wonder you want the whole world to have freedom
and to join you
I thought gambling, incest, prostitution etc.. were tools of enslavement...not of freedom.
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