TRUMPET UNIVERSE

The Quran and Muhamad PBUH

What They Said About the Quran

What They Said About Muhamad PBUH

The Witness, the Quran and Muhamad PBUH

What They Said About the Quran

G. Margoliouth, Introduction to J.M. Rodwell's The Koran, New York: Everyman's Library, 1977, p. vii:

"The Koran admittedly occupies an important position among the great religious books of the world. Though the youngest of the epoch making works belonging to this class of literature, it yields to hardly any in the wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men. It has created an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of character. It first transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a nation of heroes, and then proceeded to create the vast politico-religious organizations of Mohammedan world which are one of the great forces with which Europe and the East have to reckon today."

Maurice Bucaille, The Bible, the Qur'an and Science, 1978, p. 125:

"The above observation makes the hypothesis advanced by those who see Muhammad as the author of the Qur'an untenable. How could a man, from being illiterate, become the most important author, in terms of literary merits, in the whole of Arabic literature? How could he then pronounce truths of a scientific nature that no other human being could possibly have developed at that time, and all this without once making the slightest error in his pronouncement on the subject?"

Maurice Bucaille, The Qur'an and Modern Science, 19812, p. 18:

"A totally objective examination of it [the Qur'an] in the light of modern knowledge, leads us to recognize the agreement between the two, as has been already noted on repeated occasions, It makes us deem it quite unthinkable for a man of Mohammed’s time to have been the author of such statements on account of the state of knowledge in his day. Such considerations are part of what gives the Qur'anic Revelation its unique place, and forces the impartial scientist to admit his inability to provide an explanation which call solely upon materialistic reasoning."

Dr. Stiengass, quoted in T.P. Hughes' Dictionary of Islam, pp. 526-527:

"A work, then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions even in the distant reader - distant as to time, and still more so as a mental development- a work which not only conquers the repugnance which he may begin its perusal, but changes this adverse feeling into astonishment and admiration, such a work must be a wonderful production of the human mind indeed and a problem of the highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of mankind."

Dr. Steingass, quoted inn Hughes' Dictionary of Islam, p. 528:

"Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps not be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic taste, but by the effects which it produced in Mohammed’s contemporaries and fellow countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic elements into one compact and well organized body, animated by ideas far beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of savage tribes, and shot afresh woof into the old warp of history."

Arthur J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted, London: Oxford University Press, 1964, p. x:

"In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors, and to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pain to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms which – apart from the message itself – constitute the Koran's undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind. This very characteristic feature – 'that inimitable symphony', as the believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy' – has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly decorated original."

Goethe, quoted in T.P. Hughes' Dictionary of Islam, p. 526:

"However often we turn to it [the Qur'an] at first disgusting us each time afresh, it soon attracts, astounds, and in the end enforces our reverence...Its style, in accordance with its contents and aim is stern, grand, terrible – ever and anon truly sublime – Thus this book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence."

"He is a prophet and not a poet and therefore his Koran is to be seen as Divine Law and not as a book of a human being, made for education or entertainment."

Noten und Abhandlungen zum Weststlichen Dvan, WA I, 7, 32

No one may wonder about the great efficiency of the Book. That is why it has been declared as uncreated by real admirers" and added to it: "This book will eternally remain highly efficacious/effective" (WA I, 7, 35/36)

"Stupid that everyone in his case
Is praising his particular opinion!
If Islam means submission to God,
We all live and die in Islam."

What they said about Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him

Lamartine

“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?  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.  This man moved not only armies, legislations, 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... the forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death; all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma.  This dogma was twofold, the unit 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 words.

“Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is Muhammad.  As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?”

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

Edward Gibbon and Simon Ocklay

“It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved, after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Quran...The Mahometans[1]  have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man.  ‘I believe in One God and Mahomet the 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 honors of the prophet 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.”

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

Bosworth Smith

“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.”

Mohammed and Mohammadanism, London 1874, p. 92

Annie Besant

“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.”

"But do you mean to tell me that the man who in the full flush of youthful vigour, a young man of four and twenty (24), married a woman much his senior, and remained faithful to her for six and twenty years (26), at fifty years of age when the passions are dying married for lust and sexual passion? Not thus are men's lives to be judged. And you look at the women whom he married, you will find that by every one of them an alliance was made for his people, or something was gained for his followers, or the woman was in sore need of protection."

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

Geoffrey Parrinder

"No great religious leader has been so maligned as Prophet Mohammed. Attacked in the past as a heretic, an impostor, or a sensualist, it is still possible to find him referred to as "the false prophet." A modern German writer accuses Prophet Mohammed of sensuality, surrounding himself with young women. This man was not married until he was twenty-five years of age, then he and his wife lived in happiness and fidelity for twenty-four years, until her death when he was forty-nine. Only between the age of fifty and his death at sixty-two did Prophet Mohammed take other wives, only one of whom was a virgin, and most of them were taken for dynastic and political reasons. Certainly the Prophet's record was better than the head of the Church of England, Henry VIII."

John William Draper

"Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born at Mecca, in Arabia the man who, of all men exercised the greatest influence upon the human race . . . Mohammed.

W. Montgomery Watt

“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.”

Mohammad at Mecca, Oxford 1953, p. 52

Encyclopedia Britannica

“....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

“He must be called the Saviour of Humanity.  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 much needed peace and happiness.”

(The Genuine Islam, Singapore, Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936)

Mahatma Gandhi

“I wanted to know the best of one who holds today’s undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind....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.  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.”

Young India

Thomas Carlyle

“how one man single-handedly, could weld warring tribes and wandering Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades.”

Heroes and Hero worship

Sarojini Naidu

“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’...  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)

Prof. C. Snouck Hurgronje

“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.” 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.”

Michael H. Hart

“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.”

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

K. S. Ramakrishna Rao

“The personality of Muhammad, it is most difficult to get into the whole truth of it.  Only a glimpse of it I can catch.  What a dramatic succession of picturesque scenes!  There is Muhammad, the Prophet.  There is Muhammad, the Warrior; Muhammad, the Businessman; Muhammad, the Statesman; Muhammad, the Orator; Muhammad, the Reformer; Muhammad, the Refuge of Orphans; Muhammad, the Protector of Slaves; Muhammad, the Emancipator of Women; Muhammad, the Judge; Muhammad, the Saint.  All in all these magnificent roles, in all these departments of human activities, he is alike a hero.”

In his booklet Muhammad, The Prophet of Islam, calls him the “Perfect model for human life.”

The Witness, the Quran and Muhamad PBUH

From the Quran

Soon may God will

Hadith

1196-“Between my house and my pulpit there is a garden from amongst the gardens of paradise, and my pulpit is over my fount (lake or basin)”.

1344-“That the prophet peace be upon him went out one day, where he offered a payer unto the people of Uhud, as his funeral payer, then he proceeded to the pulpit where he said: I am a predecessor for you and I am a witness unto you, and by Allah I am looking at my fount just now, and I have been given the keys of the treasures of the earth, and by Allah I do not fear for you that you will worship others beside Allah after me, but I fear that you will strive and struggle against each other therein”.

418-“Do you see my Qibla (facing Mecca) here, by Allah, nothing is hidden from me regarding your bowing and submissiveness. And I do see you from behind my back”.

{And your turning about among those who fall prostrate. 26:219}.

(2292)-“My fount is a month’s journey, and it’s corners (or sides) are equal, and it’s water is whiter than paper, and it’s odor is more fragrant than musk, and it’s jugs are like stars of the sky, and he who drinks from it shall never thirst after that”.

438- “I have been given five things which were not given to any amongst the prophets before me. These are:  Allah made me victorious by awe for a distance of one month's journey. The earth has been made for me a place for praying and a thing to perform Tayammum. Therefore my followers can pray wherever the time of a prayer is due. The booty has been made Halal (lawful) for me. Every prophet used to be sent to his nation exclusively but I have been sent to all mankind. I have been given the right of intercession”.

572- Narrated 'Abdullah bin Amr bin Al-As:  “……… On that he said, "Fast for three days every month and recite the Qur'an in one month …………. ”

6583-“I am your predecessor at the fount, whoever will pass by me will drink, , and whoever drinks from would never thurst again, people will pass by me whom I recognize, and who recognize me,  and then they will be taken away from me, ……………. I shall say: They are from me, it shall be said: You have no knowledge regarding what they created after you. I shall say: woe to him who changed after me”.

110-“Name yourselves with my name, but not with my kunya (Abul Kassem), and whoever sees me in a dream, then surely he has seen me, for Satan cannot impersonate me, and whoever intentionally tells a lie against me, let him occupy his seat in hell  fire”.

(2364)-“By Him in whose hand is Muhammad’s soul! A day would come to one of you when he would not be able to see me, and then to see me would be dearer to him than his own family and his property with them”.

7273-“I have been sent with Jawami al kalam (the gatherers of the words, or the shortest expression gathering the widest meaning), and I was made victorious with awe (caste into the hearts of the enemy), and while I was sleeping, the keys of the treasures of the earth were brought to me, and were put in my hand”.

7274-“There was no prophet among the prophets, but was given of the miracles the equivalence of what caused believing, or people believed in. But what I was given was divine inspiration which Allah revealed to me, therefore I hope that on the day of resurrection I will have the most followers.”

7276-“Trust (honesty) descended from the heavens and settled in the roots of the hearts of men, and then the Quran was revealed and people read the Quran and learnt from the Sunna (Prophets guidance or example)“.

7278-“I shall judge between you by Allah’s book”.

7280-“All my nation will enter paradise except those who refuse” O Allah’s messenger and who refuses? ”Whoever obeyed me will enter paradise, and whoever disobeyed me, he had refused”.

1343-“ The Prophet Peace be upon him, used to gather every two killed men of Uhud in one shroud, then he would ask, "Which of them had more of the Quran?" When one of them was pointed out for him, he would put him first in the grave and he said "I am a witness on these on the Day of Judgement." He ordered them to be buried with their blood on their bodies and they were neither washed nor was a funeral prayer offered for them”.

(2937)- “ ………… Other than the Dajjal (fake Christ) I harbor fear to you, if he comes forth, while I am among you, I shall contend with him on your behalf, but if he comes forth while I am not amongst you, a man contends on his own behalf and Allah is my successor unto every Muslim.”

4937-“Such a person as recites the Quran and masters it by heart, will be with the noble righteous scribes and such a person who exerts himself to learn the Quran by heart and recites it with great difficulty will have a double reward”.

2399-“There is no believer that I am not but more responsible for (closer to) him than himself in this life and in the hereafter, and you can read if you will {The Prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves…..33:6}, so if any believer died, and left behind some money, let his successors whoever they may be inherit him. And whoever leaves a dept to be paid, or lost (offspring or in his trust), then he should come to me, as I am his guardian”.

4351- “Ali bin Abi Talib sent a piece of gold not yet taken out of its ore, in a tanned leather container to Allah's Apostle . Allah's Apostle distributed that amongst four Persons: 'Uyaina bin Badr, Aqra bin Habis, Zaid Al-Khail and the fourth was either Alqama or Amir bin At Tufail. On that, one of his companions said, "We are more deserving of this gold than these persons." When that news reached the Prophet, he said, "Don't you trust me though I am the truth worthy man of those in the Heaven, and I receive the news of Heaven both in the morning and in the evening?" There got up a man with sunken eyes, raised cheek bones, raised forehead, a thick beard, a shaven head and a waist sheet that was tucked up and he said, "O Allah's Apostle! Be afraid of Allah." The Prophet said, "Woe to you! Am I not of all the people of the earth the most entitled to fear Allah?" Then that man went away. Khalid bin Al-Wahd said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall I hit his neck off?" The Prophet said, "No, for he may offer prayers." Khalid said, "How many are those who offer prayers and say by their tongues what is not in their hearts." Allah's Apostle said, "I have not been ordered to search the hearts of the people or cut open their bellies." Then the Prophet looked at the man while the latter was going away and said, "From the offspring of this man there will come out people who will recite the Qur'an moist, does not exceed their throats. They would pass through the religion as an arrow goes through a game's body." I think he also said, "If I should catch them at their time I would kill them as the nation of Thamud were killed."  (Book #59, Hadith #638)

3461-“convey to people from me, if it were a single sign, and tell unburdened about bani Israel, and whoever tells a lie on me intentionally, let him take his place in the hell fire”.

Sunday 8 February 2009