The Truth About Mohammad (peace be upon him)

As attested by credible and respected scholars, thinkers, and writers: Thomas Carlyle
Heros and Heros Worship

The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves onlyHow one man single-handedly, could weld warring tribes and wandering Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades.A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world; the worlds Maker had ordered so." Muhammad is no longer an imposter, but a great reformer. He is no longer a neurotic patient suffering from epilepsy, but a man of tremendous character and unbending will. He is no longer a self-seeking despot, ministering to his own selfish ends but a beneficent ruler shedding light and love around him. He is no longer an opportunist, but a Prophet with a fixed purpose, a man of strong will, undeviating in his consistency.

M. K. Gandhi
YOUNG INDIA, 1924

"...I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter selfeffacement of the prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and his own mission. These, and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every trouble."

Stanley Lane-Poole
Table Talk of the Prophet

He was the most faithful protector of those he protected, the sweetest and most agreeable in conversation. Those who saw him were suddenly filled with reverence; those who came near him loved him; they who described him would say, "I have never seen his like either before or after." He was of great taciturnity, but when he spoke it was with emphasis and deliberation, and no one could forget what he said...

Edward Gibbon
A pernicious tenet has been imputed to the Muhammadans, the duly of extirpating all the religions by the sword. This charge of ignorance and bigotry is refuted by the Quran, by the history of Mussalman conquerors and by their public and legal toleration of Christian worship. The greatest success of "Muhammad's life" was effected by the sheer moral force without the stroke of a sword.

Montgomery Watt
Mohammad at Mecca, Oxford 1953, p. 52

"His readiness to undergo persecutions for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad."

Sir William Muir

Life of Mahomet

From the very beginning that he was unique in his person and behaviours. His whole nation testified to his truthfulness and sincerity of purpose. They called him 'Al-Sadiq' - The Truthful and 'Al-Ameen' - the Trustworthy. In all his multifarious dealings with all sorts of people he was gentle, and kind, straightforward, and upright. He had sweetness and charm of his own in his talk and department, he never indulged in any kind of indecency. He stood aloof from the feuds and wrangling of his people. On the other hand, he shared the weal and woes of everyone, and was always ready to give a helping hand to the needy and the downtrodden, the helpless and the indigent. Widows and orphans, slaves and wayfarers. In such a topsy-turvy world he towered above all. He was a beacon of light in the vast ocean of darkness spreading all around.

Alphonse de LaMartaine
Histoire de la Turquie, Paris 1854, Vol II, pp. 276-77

"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?" As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?"

George Bernard Shaw

The Genuine Islam Vol. No. 8, 1936

I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of today. The medieval ecclesiastics either through ignorance or bigotry painted Islam in the darkest colours. They were, in fact, trained to hate the man Muhammad and his religion. To them, Muhammad was anti-Christ. I have studied him-the wonderful man, and in my opinion, far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the saviour of humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume 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. But to proceed, it was in the nineteenth century that honest thinkers like Carlyle, Gibbon and Goethe perceived intrinsic worth in the religion of Muhammad.

Edward Gibbon and Simon Ocklay

History of the Saracen Empire, London, 1870, p. 54

..the honors of the prophet (Mohammad) have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion."

Rev. Bosworth Smith

Mohammed and Mohammadanism, London 1874, p. 92

"He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope's pretensions, 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 Mohammed, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports."

Annie Besant
The Life and Teachings of Muhammad, Madras 1932, p. 4

"It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put to you I shall say many things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself feel whenever I re-read them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher."

James A. Michener
'Islam: The Misunderstood Religion', Reader's Digest (American Edition), May 1955, pp. 68-70

"Muhammad, the inspired man who founded Islam, was born about A.D. 570 into an Arabian tribe that worshipped idols. Orphaned at birth, he was always particularly solicitous of the poor and needy, the widow and the orphan, the slave and the downtrodden." "Like almost every major prophet before him, Muhammad fought shy of serving as the transmitter of God's word, sensing his own inadequacy." "At Muhammad's own death an attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to become his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of the noblest speeches in religious history: 'If there are any among you who worshipped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you worshipped, He lives forever.'"

Michael H. Hart
The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, New York: Hart Publishing Company, Inc. 1978, p. 33

"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 level."

Professior Philip K. Hitti

THE HISTORY OF ARABS

Each and every aspects, not only what he said but also what was his posture when he said that is also available to us today, even after 14 centuries. No one till to date is able to point a better person than him to follow. He was the best of the human being who said "Follow Me" Even his worst enemies never called him a liar..

Washington Irving
Mahomet and His Successors

He was sober and abstemious in his diet and a rigorous observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected but a result of real disregard for distinction from so trivial a source. In his private dealings he was just. He treated friends and strangers, the rich and poor, the powerful and weak, with equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability with which he received them, and listened to their complaints. In the time of his greatest power he maintained the same simplicity of manners and appearance as in the days of his adversity. So far from affecting a regal state, he was displeased if, on entering a room, any unusual testimonials of respect were shown to him.

Annemarie Schimmel

From earliest times, the Prophet Muhammad, the beloved Messenger of God, had been the ideal for the faithful Muslim. His behavior, his acts, and his words served as models for the pious, who tried to imitate him as closely as possible even in the smallest details of outward life. All the noble qualities of his body and his blessed soul were described in terms of marked admiration and respect.

Dr. Gustav Weil

It was he who purified Arabia of idolatry and released it from foreign bondage. It was he who substituted an inviolable and inviolate system of law in place of blood-revenge, law of might and caprice. It was he who laid down the law for all times. It was he who softened the hard log of slaves, and showed a paternal care for the poor, the orphan and widow. It was he who assigned a share to them in the poor-tax.

Sir Philip Gibbs The Glory of Muhammad

Islam (meaning resignation), as the religion of Muhammad is properly called, has done more for the progress of civilisation and morality than any other faith which has animated the souls of men since the creation of this world. Through many centuries and at the present day it has been, and is, a power for good among hundreds of millions of the human race, and without its high moral code there is no doubt that the blackest barbarism and the most idolatrous worship would reign omnipotent where Allah and faith of nobility lead men to light.

Pierre Crabites
Muhammad was probably the greatest champion of women's rights the world has ever seen. Islam conferred upon the Muslim wife property rights and juridical status exactly the same as that of her husband. She is free to dispose of and manage her financial assets as she pleases, without let or hindrance from her husband.

De Lacy O'Leary 'Islam at the Crossroads' - London, 1923

History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.

Arthur Glyn Leonard 'Islam, Her Moral and Spiritual Values'

It was the genius of Muhammad, the spirit that he breathed into the Arabs through the soul of Islam that exalted them. That raised them out of the lethargy and low level of tribal stagnation up to the high watermark of national unity and empire. It was in the sublimity of Muhammad's deism, the simplicity, the sobriety and purity it inculcated the fidelity of its founder to his own tenets, that acted on their moral and intellectual fiber with all the magnetism of true inspiration.

Lawrence E. Browne The Prospects of Islam

Incidentally these well-established facts dispose of the idea so widely fostered in Christian writings that the Muslims, wherever they went, forced people to accept Islam at the point of the sword.

K. S. Ramakrishna Rao 'Mohammed: The Prophet of Islam'

My problem to write this monograph is easier, because we are not generally fed now on that (distorted) kind of history and much time need not be spent on pointing out our misrepresentations of Islam. The theory of Islam and sword, for instance, is not heard now in any quarter worth the name. The principle of Islam that there is no compulsion in religion is well known.

The Holy Quran about Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him)