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A series of articles on Prophet of Islam Muhammad

Life Companions · Family tree · In Mecca · In Medina · Conquest of Mecca · The Farewell Sermon · Succession Career Diplomatic career · Family · Wives · Military career Succession Farewell Pilgrimage · Pen and paper · Saqifah · General bay'ah Interactions with Slaves · Jews · Christians Perspectives Muslim (Poetic and Mawlid) · Medieval Christian · Historicity · Criticism · Depictions

The permissibility of depictions of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, has long been a concern in Islam's history. Oral and written descriptions are readily accepted by all traditions of Islam, but there is disagreement about visual depictions.^[1][2]

The Qur'an does not explicitly forbid images of Muhammad, but there are a few hadith (supplemental traditions) which have explicitly prohibited Muslims from creating the visual depictions of figures under any circumstances. Most contemporary Sunni Muslims believe that visual depictions of the prophets generally should be prohibited, and they are particularly averse to visual representations of Muhammad.^[3] The key concern is that the use of images can encourage idolatry, where the image becomes more important than what it represents. In Islamic art, some visual depictions only show Muhammad with his face veiled, or symbolically represent him as a flame; other images, notably from Persia of the Ilkhanate, and those made under the Ottomans, show him fully.^[1]

Other Muslims have taken a more relaxed view. Most Shi'a scholars accept respectful depictions and use illustrations of Muhammad in books and architectural decoration, as have Sunnis at various points in the past.^[4] However, many Muslims who take a stricter view of the supplemental traditions, will sometimes challenge any depiction of Muhammad, including those created and published by non-Muslims.^[5]

Contents 1 Background 2 Depiction by Muslims 2.1 Verbal descriptions 2.2 Visual depictions 2.3 Cinema 3 Depiction by non-Muslims 4 Recent controversies 4.1 Cartoons 4.2 Sooreh Hera 4.3 Metropolitan Museum of Art 4.4 Wikipedia article 5 See also 5.1 Controversial depictions 6 Notes 7 External links

Background

Some major religions have had times in their history when images of their religious figures were forbidden. In Judaism, one of the Ten Commandments forbade "graven images." In Byzantine Christianity during the period of Iconoclasm (8th century, and again during the 9th century) visual representations were forbidden, and only the Cross could be depicted in churches. Even in modern times, there are disputes within different groups of Protestant Christians about the appropriateness of having religious icons of saints. The concern generally boils down to the concept of whether or not the image is becoming more important than what is being represented.^[6] In Islam, although nothing in the Qur'an explicitly bans images, there are some supplemental hadith which explicitly ban the drawing of images of any living creature; other hadith tolerate images, but never encourage them. Hence, they avoid visual depictions of Muhammad or prophets such as Moses or Abraham.^[1][3][7]

Depiction by Muslims

Verbal descriptions

In one of the earliest sources, Ibn Sa'd's Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kabir, there are numerous verbal descriptions of Muhammad. One description sourced to Ali ibn Abi Talib is as follows:

The Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him, is neither too short nor too tall. His hair are neither curly nor straight, but a mixture of the two. He is a man of black hair and large skull. His complexion has a tinge of redness. His shoulder bones are broad and his palms and feet are fleshy. He has long al-masrubah which means hair growing from neck to navel. He is of long eye-lashes, close eye-brows, smooth and shining fore-head and long space between two shoulders. When he walks he walks inclining as if coming down from a height. I never saw a man like him before him or after him.^[8]

Athar Husain gives a non-pictorial description of his appearance, dress, etc. in "The Message of Mohammad". According to Husain, Muhammad was a little taller than average, sturdily built, and muscular. His fingers were long. His hair, which was long, had waves, and he had a thick beard, which had seventeen gray hairs at the time of his death. He had good teeth and spare cheeks, and brownish-black eyes. His complexion was fair and he was very handsome. He walked fast with firm gait. He always kept himself busy with something, did not speak unnecessarily, always spoke to the point and without verbosity, and did not behave in an emotional way. He usually wore a shirt, trousers, a sheet thrown round the shoulders, and a turban, all spotlessly clean, rarely wearing the fine clothes that had been presented to him. He wanted others to wear simple, but always clean, clothes.^[9]

Visual depictions

The Persian tradition of visual depictions of Muhammad begins around 1300 (Ilkhanid period). The earliest extant Persian manuscript representation of Muhammad is found in the Marzubannama manuscript, dating to 1299. The Ilkhanid MS Arab 161 of 1307/8 contains 25 illustrations of Al-Biruni's The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries, of which five include depictions Muhammad, including the two concluding images, the largest and most accomplished in the manuscript, which emphasize the relation of Muhammad and `Ali according to Shi`ite doctrine. Depictions of Muhammad remain common in Timurid Persian and Ottoman art throughout the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. Perhaps the most elaborate cycle of illustrations of Muhammad's life is the late 16th century copy of the 14th century biography Siyer-i Nebi produced by order of Murat III.

Muhammad is usually shown surrounded by a large flaming halo or aureole in the Persian or Chinese tradition rather than the circular form usual in the West. This may surround only his head, but often his whole body. In many images all that can be seen is the flames of the halo, a convenient compromise with aniconism. If the body is visible, the face may be covered with a veil (see gallery for examples of both types).

The Qur'an forbids idolatry, but does not specifically forbid representative art.

Behold! he said to his father and his people, "What are these images, to which ye are (so assiduously) devoted?" They said, "We found our fathers worshipping them." He said, "Indeed ye have been in manifest error - ye and your fathers." sura 21, 52-54)

However, there are hadith, or recorded oral traditions, that have been interpreted to forbid any representational art:

Allah, Most High said: "And who is more unjust than those who try to create the likeness of My creation? Let them create an atom, or let them create a wheat grain, or let them create a barley grain."^[10]

[...] All the painters who make pictures would be in the fire of Hell.^[11]

Just like "drinking of wine was more sternly and unequivocally forbidden in the Qur'an then was painting of pictures, but drunkenness has been a common features from days of Umayyads down to modern time". Similarly "despite the fulminations of the theologians the painter went drawing the figures of men and animals". However, "the figure of Muhammad seldom occurs in a picture painted by a Muslim artist, and when it is found the face is generally veiled or the prophet is symbolically represented by a flame of golden light. This very rarity of the subject matter" leads to presenting those figures in this article.^[1]

T. W. Arnold says that

"It was not merely Sunni schools of law but Shia jurists also who fulminated against this figured art. Because the Persians are Shiites, many Europeans writers have assumed that the Shia sect had not the same objection to representing living being as the rival set of the Sunni; but such an opinion ignores the fact that Shiisum did not become the state church in Persia until the rise of Safivid dynasty at the beginning of the 16th century."

Cinema

Very few films have depicted Muhammad. The only modern one to do so was the 1976 The Message, also known as Mohammad, Messenger of God. The movie focused on other persons and never directly showed Muhammad. When Muhammad was essential to a scene, the camera would show events from his point of view.^[13]

Two well-known Fatwas from Al-Azhar University and Shiite Council of Lebanon were issued about The Message.

"It is certainly probable that this is not the result of the creativity of the filmmakers but of the rules announced by the Islamic scholars of the Azhar and the Shiite Council of Lebanon, who prohibited any representation of Muhammad's wives as well as of the Prophet himself."^[13]

A more severe case occurred in Egypt in 1926, around the anticipated production of a film about the grandeur of the early days of Islam. Upon learning of this plan, the Islamic Al-Azhar University in Cairo alerted Egyptian public opinion, and published a juridical decision (fatwa), stipulating that Islam categorically forbids the representation of Muhammad and his companions on the screen. King Fauad sent a severe warning to actor Youssef Wahbi, threatening to exile him and strip him of his Egyptian nationality"^[14]

Other contemporary Shi'a scholars, outside Shi'a majority Iran, have taken a relaxed attitude towards pictures of Muhammad and his household, the Ahlul Bayt. A fatwa given by Ali al-Sistani, the Shi'a marja of Iraq, states that it is permissible to depict Muhammad, even in television or movies, if done with respect.^[15][16]

A devotional cartoon called Muhammad: The Last Prophet was released in 2004^[17]

Depiction by non-Muslims

Muhammad figures frequently in depictions of influential people in world history. Such depictions tend to be favourable or neutral in intent; one example can be found at the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.. A frieze including major historical lawgivers places Muhammad alongside Hammurabi, Moses, Confucius, and others. Because of a 1997 controversy surrounding the frieze, tourist materials have been edited so they call the depiction "a well-intentioned attempt by the sculptor to honor Muhammad" that "bears no resemblance to Muhammad."^[18] In 1955, a statue of Muhammad was removed from a courthouse in New York City after the ambassadors of Indonesia, Pakistan, and Egypt requested its removal.^[19]

There have also been numerous book illustrations showing Muhammad.

Dante, in The Divine Comedy: Inferno, placed Muhammad in Hell, with his entrails hanging out (Canto 28):

No barrel, not even one where the hoops and staves go every which way, was ever split open like one frayed Sinner I saw, ripped from chin to where we below.

His guts hung between his legs and displayed His vital organs, including that wretched sack Which converts to whatever gets conveyed down the gullet.

As I stared at him he looked back And with his hands pulled his chest open, Saying, "See how I split open the crack in myself! See how twisted and broken Mohammed is!" Before me walks Ali, his face Cleft from chin to crown, grief–stricken.

This scene is frequently shown in illustrations of the Divina Commedia. For example it is represented in a 15th century fresco in Bologna, Italy, in the Church of San Petronio,^[20] and artwork by Salvador Dalí, Auguste Rodin, William Blake, and Gustave Doré.^[21]

Recent controversies

During the 2000s, controversies over depictions of Muhammad, both over recent caricatures or cartoons and over display of historical artwork, have received worldwide media attention, in particular the 2005 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy.

In 2002, Italian police reported that they had disrupted a terrorist plot to destroy a church in Bologna, which contains a 15th century fresco depicting an image of Muhammad.^[20][22]

Cartoons

In 2005, a Danish newspaper published a set of editorial cartoons, many of which depicted Muhammad. In late 2005 and early 2006, Danish Muslim organizations ignited a controversy through public protests and by spreading knowledge of the publication of the cartoons.^[6] Western Muslims generally said that it was not simply the depiction of Muhammad that was offensive, but the implication that Muhammad was somehow a supporter of terrorism.^[7] On 12 February 2008 the Danish police arrested three men alleged to be involved in a plot to assassinate Kurt Westergaard, one of the cartoonists.^[23]

In 2006, the controversial American animated television comedy program South Park, which had previously depicted Muhammad as a superhero character in the July 4, 2001 episode "Super Best Friends", attempted to satirize the Danish newspaper incident. In the episode "Cartoon Wars Part II", they intended to show Muhammad handing a salmon helmet to Peter Griffin, a character in the Fox animated television show Family Guy. However, Comedy Central, the parent company of South Park, rejected the scene, citing concerns of violent protests in the Islamic world. The creators of South Park reacted by instead satirizing Comedy Central's double standard for censorship, instead including a segment in which American president George W. Bush and Jesus defecate on the flag of the United States.

The Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy began in July 2007 with a series of drawings by Swedish artist Lars Vilks which depicted Muhammad as a roundabout dog. Several art galleries in Sweden declined to show the drawings, citing security concerns and fear of violence. The controversy gained international attention after the Örebro-based regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published one of the drawings on August 18 to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion.^[24] While several other leading Swedish newspapers had published the drawings already, this particular publication led to protests from Muslims in Sweden as well as official condemnations from several foreign governments including Iran,^[25] Pakistan,^[26] Afghanistan,^[27] Egypt^[28] and Jordan,^[29] as well as by the inter-governmental Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).^[30] The controversy occurred about one and a half year after the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in Denmark in early 2006.

Another controversy emerged in September 2007 when Bangladeshi cartoonist Arifur Rahman was detained on suspicion of showing disrespect to Muhammad. The interim government confiscated copies of the Bengali-language Prothom Alo in which the drawings appeared. The cartoon consisted of a boy holding a cat conversing with an elderly man. The man asks the boy his name, and he replies "Babu". The older man chides him for not mentioning the name of Muhammad before his name. He then points to the cat and asks the boy what it is called, and the boy replies "Muhammad the cat". The cartoon caused a firestorm in Bangladesh, with militant Islamists demanding that Rahman be executed for blasphemy. A group of people torched copies of the paper and several Islamic groups protested, saying the drawings ridiculed Mohammad and his companions. They demanded "exemplary punishment" for the paper's editor and the cartoonist. Bangladesh, however, does not have a blasphemy law, although one had been demanded by the same extremist Islamic groups.

Sooreh Hera

In December 2007, controversy erupted in the Netherlands when Iranian artist Sooreh Hera exhibited photos of two Iranian gay men in a series of sexually provocative positions, wearing masks depicting Muhammad and his son-in-law Ali. The photo series was intended to highlight the hypocrisy the artist saw, of Muslim married men engaging in sexual relations with other men. The Hague Municipal Museum expressed interest in buying the series, but refused to display it, citing fear that it could "offend certain groups". Dutch politician Geert Wilders, leader of the Partij voor de Vrijheid (Party for Freedom), excoriated the museum's decision, saying it was "based on fear".^[31]

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in January 2010 confirmed to the New York Post that it had quietly removed all historic paintings which contained depictions of Muhammad from public exhibition. The Museum quoted objections on the part of conservative Muslims which were "under review." The museum's action was criticized as excessive political correctness, also apparent in other recent decision, including the renaming of the "Primitive Art Galleries" to the "Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas" and the projected "Islamic Galleries" to "Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia".^[32]

Wikipedia article

In 2008, several Muslims protested against the inclusion of Muhammad's depictions in Wikipedia's Muhammad article.^[33][34] An online petition claims to have collected over 450,000 signatures in three months (December 2007 to February 2008). The petition was started by Faraz Ahmad of Daska, Pakistan, resident in Glasgow, formerly editing Wikipedia as "Farazilu".^[35] The petition specifies opposition to a reproduction of a 17th century Ottoman copy of a 14th century (Ilkhanate) manuscript image (MS Arabe 1489) showing Muhammad as he prohibits intercalation.^[36] Jeremy Henzell-Thomas of The American Muslim deplored the petition as one of "these mechanical knee-jerk reactions" which

are gifts to those who seek every opportunity to decry Islam and ridicule Muslims and can only exacerbate a situation in which Muslims and the Western media seem to be locked in an ever-descending spiral of ignorance and mutual loathing.^[37]

Wikipedia considered but rejected a compromise that would allow visitors to choose whether to view the page with images.^[34] The Wikipedia community has not acted upon the petition.^[38] The site's answers to frequently asked questions about these images state that Wikipedia does not censor itself for the benefit of any one group.^[39]

See also

• Aniconism
• Iconography
• Qadam Rasul
• The Satanic Verses

Controversial depictions

• Idomeneo controversy
• Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
• Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy

Notes

External links

• "Religious" Paintings in Islamic Art
• Mohammed Image Archive: Depictions of Mohammed Throughout History
• Mohammed in Virgil's Inferno 28
• Mohammed in Hell by Gustave Doré

(Redirected to Muhammad article)

From Wikiquote

Muhammad (Arabic: محمد) (c. 570 – 8 June 632) full name: Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abd al-Muttalib was a political, military, and religious leader. Muslim religious belief holds that he is the Seal of the prophets, and that the Qur'an is the message of Allah revealed to him by the angel Jibreel (Gabriel). Archaic spellings of his name in English include: Mohammed, Muhammed, and Mahomet.

See also quotes from the Qur'an (القرآن) and Non-Islamic views of Muhammad.

Contents 1 Sourced 1.1 Sunni Hadith 1.2 Shi'ite Hadith 1.2.1 On the mourning of his grandson Husayn 1.2.2 On the Qur'an 1.2.3 On Prayer 1.2.4 On Hajj 1.2.5 Other 1.3 Final sermon 2 Quotes about Muhammad 3 External links

Sourced

• Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever has no kindness has not faith.
  • As quoted in Al-Islam‎ (1926) by Khwajah Kamal al-Din, p. 47
  • Variant translation: Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever hath not kindness hath not faith.
    • As quoted in Prabuddha Bharata : or Awakened India, Vol. 44 (1939) published by Advaita Ashrama, p. 84

Sunni Hadith

Note: Hadith ("Traditions") of the Prophet are those sayings attributed directly to him, and to Muslims they are second in importance only to the Qur'an. They are seen as explanations of the Quranic verses and the second source of legislation in Islamic jurisprudence.

(Arranged alphabetically)

• Faith (Belief) consists of more than sixty branches (i.e. parts). And Haya (This term "Haya" covers a large number of concepts which are to be taken together; amongst them are self respect, modesty, bashfulness, and scruple, etc.) is a part of faith.
  • Bukhari 1:8

• Whoever possesses the following three qualities will have the sweetness (delight) of faith:
  • 1. The one to whom Allah and His Apostle becomes dearer than anything else.
  • 2. Who loves a person and he loves him only for Allah's sake.
  • 3. Who hates to revert to Atheism (disbelief) as he hates to be thrown into the fire.
  • Bukhari 1:15

• Allah's Apostle [Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)] said, "The deeds of anyone of you will not save you (from the (Hell) Fire)." They said, "Even you (will not be saved by your deeds), O Allah's Apostle?" He said, "No, even I (will not be saved) unless and until Allah bestows His Mercy on me. Therefore, do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately, and worship Allah in the forenoon and in the afternoon and during a part of the night, and always adopt a middle, moderate, regular course whereby you will reach your target (Paradise).
  • Sahih Bukhari 8:76:470.

• The ink of scholars (used in writing) is weighed on the Day of Judgement with the blood of martyrs and the ink of scholars out-weighs the blood of martyrs.
  • As quoted in Al-Jaami' al-Saghîr by Imam al-Suyuti, where it is declared a "weak Hadith".
  • Variant translations:
  • The ink of the scholar is holier than the blood of the martyr.
    • The Islamic Review, Vol. 22 (1934), p. 105, edited by Khwajah Kamal al-Din
  • The ink of scholars will be weighed in the scale with the blood of martyrs.
    • As quoted in Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism : Foundations of Islamic Mystical Theology (2004) by John Renard

• A Muslim asked: "Oh Apostle of God, who are your kin whom you have ordered us to obey?" He replied, "Ali (Blessings Peace Be Upon Him), Fatimah (Blessings Be Upon Her), and her two sons."
  • al-Suyuti, Dur al-Manthur, vol.7, p.7 ; ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Tafsir al-Tabari, vol.5, p.16 ; al-Fakhr al-Razi, al-Tafsir, vol.7, p.406 ; ibn Hajar al-Haythami, al-Sawa'iq al-Muhriqah, p.102 ; Muhibbuddin al-Tabari, Dhakha‘ir al-Uqba, p.25 ; al-Shablanji, Nur al-Absar, p.100.

• A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that.
  • Bukhari 4:538 This is an extraordinary hadith, because following the Sunnah of Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) , prostitutes can be extremely despised figures among most Muslims, yet it expresses the idea that even someone working in one of the most despised of professions, in showing mercy to an animal, can merit the forgiveness of Allah, and the wise.

• The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "Verily, Allah has revealed to me that you should adopt humility. So that no one may wrong another and no one may be disdainful and haughty towards another."
  • Riyadh-us-Salaheen, Compiled By Al-Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya bin Sharaf An-Nawawi Ad-Dimashqi, Chapter 279, Hadith 1589 [1]

• Allah’s Messenger kissed Al-Hasan ibn `Ali while Al-Aqra` ibn Habis At-Tamim was sitting with him . Al-Aqra` said, “I have ten children and have never kissed one of them.” The Prophet cast a look at him and said, “Whoever is not merciful to others will not be treated mercifully.”
  • Al-Bukhari

• Allah will not be merciful to those who are not merciful to people.
  • Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, #473

• Allah's Apostle said, "Anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should not harm his neighbor, and anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should entertain his guest generously and anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should talk what is good or keep quiet.
  • Sahih Bukhari 8:73:47

• Avoid cruelty and injustice for, on the Day of Judgment, the same will turn into several darknesses; and guard yourselves against miserliness; for this has ruined nations who lived before you.
  • Riyadh-us-Salaheen, Hadith 203

• By his good character, a believer will attain the degree of one who prays during the night and fasts during the day.
  • Abu Dawood, Hadith 2233

• ...Do not betray, do not be excessive, do not kill a newborn child.
  • Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, #1731, and Al-Tirmizi, #1408.

• Do not turn away a poor man...even if all you can give is half a date. If you love the poor and bring them near you...God will bring you near Him on the Day of Resurrection.
  • Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1376

• (Each one) of you should save himself from the fire by giving even half of a date (in charity). And if you do not find a half date, then (by saying) a pleasant word (to your brethren).
  • Sahih Bukhari, Volume 2, Hadith 394

• Fear Allah and treat your children [small or grown] fairly (with equal justice).
  • Al-Bukhari and Muslim

• Five kinds of animals are mischief-doers and can be killed even in the Sanctuary: They are the rat, the scorpion, the kite, the crow and the rabid dog.
  • Hadith - Bukhari 4:531, Narrated 'Aisha

• "God does not judge you according to your bodies and appearances, but He looks into your hearts and observes your deeds."
  [The man asked] "Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man said. "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man further said, "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your mother." The man asked for the fourth time, "Who is next?" The Prophet said, "Your father."
  • Sahih al-Bukhari, 8:2

• "Happy is the man who avoids dissension, but how fine is the man who is afflicted and shows endurance."
  • Sunah of Abu Dawood, Hadith 1996

• "He who builds a masjid in the way of Allah, God will build a house for him in the paradise."
  • Sahih Muslim, Nr. 828; muslim-canada.org

• He who has been a ruler over ten people will be brought shackled on the Day of Resurrection, until the justice (by which he ruled) loosens his chains or tyranny brings him to destruction.
  • Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1037

• "I and the person who looks after an orphan and provides for him, will be in Paradise like this," — putting his index and middle fingers together.
  • Sahih Al-Bukhari Volume 8 Book 73 Number 34

• I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for."
  • Narrated by 'Umar bin Al-Khattab: Sahih Al-Bukhari: Volume 1, Book 1, Number 1

• In the name of God, I put my trust in God. O God, I seek refuge in Thee lest I stray or be led astray or cause injustice or suffer injustice or do wrong or have wrong done to me!
  • Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 2, Number 67b.

• It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.
  • Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1011

• It is a fine thing when a believer praises and thanks God if good comes to him, and praises God and shows endurance if smitten by affliction. The believer is rewarded for (every good action), even for the morsel he raises to his wife's mouth.
  • Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 537

• It is better for any of you to carry a load of firewood on his own back than to beg from someone else.
  • Riyadh-Us-Saleheen, Chapter 59, hadith 540

• Narrated Abu Qatadah: “The Messenger of Allah came towards us while carrying Umamah the daughter of Abi Al-`As (Prophet’s granddaughter) over his shoulder. He prayed, and when he wanted to bow, he put her down, and when he stood up he lifted her up.”
  • Al-Bukhari

• Narrated Umm Khalid: I (the daughter of Khalid ibn Said) went to Allah’s Messenger with my father and I was wearing a yellow shirt. Allah’s Messenger said, “Sanah, Sanah!” (`Abdullah, the narrator, said that sanah meant “good” in the Ethiopian language). I then started playing with the seal of prophethood (between the Prophet’s shoulders) and my father rebuked me harshly for that. Allah’s Messenger said, “Leave her.” The Prophet, then, invoked Allah to grant her a long life thrice.
  • Al-Bukhari

• O people! Your God is one and your forefather (Adam) is one. An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab, and a red (i.e. white tinged with red) person is not better than a black person and a black person is not better than a red person, except in piety.
  • Narrated in Mosnad Ahmad, #22978.

• People, beware of injustice, for injustice shall be darkness on the Day of Judgment.
  • Narrated in Mosnad Ahmad, #5798, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #2447.

• Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded.
  • Sahih Bukhari 1:2:38

• Righteousness is good morality, and wrongdoing is that which wavers in your soul and which you dislike people finding out about.
  • An-Nawawi's "Forty Hadith," Hadith 27

• Seven kinds of people will be sheltered under the shade of God on the Day of Judgment...They are: a just ruler, a young man who passed his youth in the worship and service of God...one whose heart is attached to the mosque...two people who love each other for the sake of God...a man who is invited to sin...but declines, saying 'I fear God'...one who spends his charity in secret, without making a show...and one who remembers God in solitude so that his eyes overflow.
  • Riyadh-us-Salaheen, Hadith 376

• Sometimes I enter prayer and I intend to prolong it, but then I hear a child crying, and I shorten my prayer thinking of the distress of the child's mother.
  • Fiqh us-Sunnah, Volume 2, Number 51b

• The best among you are those who are best to their wives.
  • Narrated in Ibn Majah, #1978, and Al-Tirmizi, #3895.

• The example of a believer is like a fresh tender plant; from whichever direction the wind blows, it bends the plant. But when the wind dies down, (it) straightens up again.
  • Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4, Number 1

• The first cases to be adjudicated between people on the Day of Judgment will be those of bloodshed [killing and injuring]
  • Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, #1678, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #6533.

• The first to be summoned to Paradise on the Day of Resurrection will be those who praise God in prosperity and adversity.
  • Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 730

• The Prophet said, “(It happens that) I start the prayer intending to prolong it, but on hearing the cries of a child, I shorten the prayer because I know that the cries of the child will incite its mother’s passions.”
  • Al-Bukhari

• There is a reward for kindness to every living animal or human.
  • Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, #2244, and Saheeh Al-Bukhari, #2466.

• "The whole earth has been made a mosque and pure for me."
  • Bukhari, www.alislam.org

• "What is the best type of Jihad [struggle]?" He answered: "Speaking truth before a tyrannical ruler."
  • Riyadh us-Saleheen Volume 1:195

• While a man was walking along a road, he became very thirsty and found a well. He lowered himself into the well, drank, and came out. Then [he saw] a dog protruding its tongue out with thirst. The man said: "This dog has become exhausted from thirst in the same way as I." He lowered himself into the well again and filled his shoe with water. He gave the dog some water to drink. He thanked God, and [his sins were] forgiven. The Prophet was then asked: "Is there a reward for us in our animals?" He said: "There is a reward in every living thing."
  • Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 3, Number 104

• Whoever killed a person having a treaty with the Muslims, shall not smell the smell of Paradise though its smell is perceived from a distance of forty years.
  • Sahih Bukhari 4:53:391

• Abu Huraira reported that a person came to Allah, 's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and said: Who among the people is most deserving of a fine treatment from my hand? He said: Your mother. He again said: Then who (is the next one)? He said: Again it is your mother (who deserves the best treatment from you). He said: Then who (is the next one)? He (the Holy Prophet) said: Again, it is your mother. He (again) said: Then who? Thereupon he said: Then it is your father.
  • Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, Book 032, Number 6180 [2]

• Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: A woman was punished because she had kept a cat tied until it died, and (as a punishment of this offence) she was thrown into the Hell. She had not provided it with food, or drink, and had not freed her so that she could eat the insects of the earth.
  • Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, Book 026, Number 5570 [3]

• Verily Allah has enjoined goodness to everything; so when you kill, kill in a good way and when you slaughter, slaughter in a good way. So every one of you should sharpen his knife, and let the slaughtered animal die comfortably.
  • Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, Book 021, Number 4810 [4]

Shi'ite Hadith

On the mourning of his grandson Husayn

• The Holy Prophet (AS) said: Surely, there exists in the hearts of the Mu'mineen, with respect to the martyrdom of Husain (A.S.), a heat that never subsides.
  • Mustadrak al‑Wasail vol 10 pg. 318

• O' Fatimah! Every eye shall be weeping on the Day of Judgment except the eye which has shed tears over the tragedy of Husain (A.S.) for surely, that eye shall be laughing and shall be given the glad tidings of the bounties and comforts of Paradise.
  • Bihar al‑Anwar, vol. 44 pg. 193.

• On the Day of Judgment, you shall intercede for the ladies and I shall intercede for the men; every person who has wept over the tragedy of Husain (A.S.), we shall take him by the hand and lead him into Paradise.
  • Bihar al‑Anwar vol. 94 pg. 192,

• (On the Day of Judgment, a group would be seen in the most excellent and honourable of states. They would be asked if they were of the Angels or of the Prophets. In reply they would state): "We are‑neither Angels nor Prophets but of the indigent ones from the ummah of Muhammad (S.A.W.)". They would then be asked: "How then did you achieve this lofty and honourable status?" They would reply: "We did not perform very many good deeds nor did we pass all the days in a state of fasting or all the nights in a state of worship but yes, we used to offer our (daily) prayers (regularly) and whenever we used to hear the mention of Muhammad (S.A.W.), tears would roll down our cheeks".
  • Mustadrak al‑Wasail, vol 10, pg. 318.

• (A hopeful sinner is closer to the mercy of Allah then a hopeless worshipper.
  • Mizan al-hikma, Volume 10, Page 504, Tradition 7109

On the Qur'an

• “The one who recites the Qur’an and the one who listens to it have an equal share in the reward.”
  • Mustadrakul Wasa’il, Volume 1, Page 293

• “The best of those amongst you is the one who learns the Qur’an and then teaches it to others.”
  • Al-Amali of Shaykh at-Tusi, Volume 1, Page 5

• “Everything in existence prays for the forgiveness of the person who teaches the Qur’an - even the fish in the sea.”
  • Usulul Kafi, Volume 3, Page 301

• “These hearts rust just as iron rusts; and indeed they are polished through the recitation of the Qur’an.”
  • Irshadul Qulub; Page 78

• In his last testament to ‘Ali (peace be upon him), the Messenger of Allah (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) told him: “O’ ‘Ali! I advice you to recite the Qur’an in every state (which you may find yourself in).”
  • Man La Yahdhuruhul Faqih, Volume 4, Page 188

• “Nothing is harder for Satan to bear than a person who recites the Qur’an by looking at the pages (of the Qur’an).”
  • Thawabul A’mal, Page 231

• “Brighten up your houses through the recitation of the Qur’an, and do not make them (your homes) like graves, similar to what the Jews and Christians have done (by not performing the prayers and worship of God in their house and limiting this to the Synagogues and Churches).”
  • Usulul Kafi, Volume 2, Page 610

• “One who recites ten verses (ayat) of the Qur’an every night will not be counted amongst the negligent ones (Ghafilin); and one who recites fifty verses (ayat) will be written as those who remember Allah (Dhakirin); and one who recites one hundred verses (ayat) will be written down as the obedient and worshipper of Allah (Qanitin).”
  • Thawabul A’mal, Page 232

• “I advise you to recite the Qur’an and remember Allah much, for surely the Qur’an will remember you (do your dhikr) in the Heavens and it will be a Divine Light (nur) for you on the Earth.”
  • Al-Khisal, Page 525

• “The superiority of the Qur’an over the rest of words, is like the superiority of Allah over His creations.”
  • Mustadrak al-Wasa’il, Volume 4, Page 237

• “Whoever recites the first four verses of Suratul Baqarah, Ayatul Kursi (verse 255 of Suratul Baqarah) along with the two verses which follow it (verses 256 and 257 up to ‘Wa Hum Fiha Khalidun’), and the last three verses (of this same Surah) will not see any bad or sorrow in his life or his wealth; Satan will not come near him; and he will not forget the Qur’an.”
  • Thawabul A’mal, Page 234

• “For every thing there is an embellishment (or a decoration), and the embellishment of the Qur’an is a good voice.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 92, Page 190

• “Surely this Qur’an is the rope of Allah, and a manifest Light (nur), and a beneficial cure. Therefore, busy yourselves with the recitation of it, for Allah - The Mighty and Glorious – grants the reward of ten good deeds to you for every letter which is recited.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 92, Page 19

• “Whenever the waves of calamities encompass you like the dark night, seek refuge with the Qur’an - for it is an intercessor whose intercession will be accepted. One who takes it as a guide, Allah will lead that person into Heaven; and whoever disregards it or goes against it, will be lead into the Hell fire.”
  • Fadhlul Qur’an, Page 599

• “Recite the Qur’an in such a way that your hearts develop a love for it and your skin becomes softened by it. However as soon as your hearts become indifferent to it (meaning that the Qur’an has no effect on you), then stop reciting it.”
  • Mustadrakul Wasa’il, Volume 4, Page 239

• “One who listens to the Qur’an (while it is being recited) will be kept away from the evils of this world; and one who recites the Qur’an will be kept away from the trials of the hereafter. And the person who listens to even one verse of the book of Allah - this is better (for him) than possessing a mansion of gold.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 92, Page 19

• “The number of levels (stages) in Heaven is (equivalent to) the number of verses in the Qur’an (6236). Thus, when a reciter of the Qur’an enters into Heaven, it will be said to him: ‘Go up one level for every verse that you can recite.’ Thus, no one will be in a higher level than the one who has memorized the entire Qur’an.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 92, Page 22

• “If you want ease and success in this world, the death of a martyr, to be saved on the Day of Loss, a shade on the Day of the burning Qiyamat, and guidance on the Day of going astray, then take lessons from the Qur’an. Surely it is the word of the Merciful, a protection from the Satan, and one of the most weightiest of things for the scale of (good) deeds (on the Day of Judgement).”
  • Jami’ul Akhbar, Page 78

• “Surely the recitation of the Qur’an is an atonement for the sins, a covering (protection) from the Hell Fire, and a safety from the punishment. Mercy will descend upon the reciter, the Angels will seek forgiveness for him, Heaven will long for that person, and his Master (Allah) will be pleased with him.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 93, Page 17

• “The people of the Qur’an (those who recite and those who memorize the Qur’an) will be in the highest level (in Heaven) from amongst all of the people with the exception of the Prophets and Messengers. Thus, do not seek to degrade the people of the Qur’an, nor take away their rights, for surely they have been given a high rank by Allah.”
  • Thawabul A’mal, Page 224

• “Place a portion (of goodness) from the Qur’an in your homes, for surely ease will come to the people of that house in which the Qur’an is read, goodness will increase, and the inhabitants (of that house) will be given excess bounties.”
  • Wasa’ilush Shi’a, Volume 4, Page 85

On Prayer

• “The first thing that Allah made obligatory upon my Ummah was the five prayers; and the first thing from their acts of worship that shall be taken up will be the five prayers; and the first thing that they will be questioned about will be the five prayers.”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 18859

• “One who adheres to the five (daily) prayers diligently, they shall be a means of illumination and salvation for him on the Day of Judgment.”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 18862

• “The prayer of a person is (in reality) a light in his heart, so whoever desires, can illuminate his heart (by means of prayers).”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume7, Tradition 18973

• “The prayer is one of the (primary) dictates of religion, in it lies the pleasure of the Lord, the Mighty and the Glorious, and it is the conduct of the Prophets.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 82, Page 231

• “The prayer is the standard of Islam. Whosoever loves prayers, and observes their limits, timings and methods, is a true believer.”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 18870

• “For every thing there is a face and the face of your religion is prayers. So see to it that none from amongst you damages and disfigures the face of his religion.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 82, Page 209

• “Whenever the time of each prayer arrives, an Angel announces to the people: (O’ People!) Stand up and extinguish, with prayers, the fire which you have set alight for yourselves.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 82, Page 209

• “The position of prayers with respect to religion is similar to that of the head with respect to the body.”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 18972

• “The example of the five (daily) prayers is like that of a clear-water river flowing in front of your houses in which a person washes himself five times a day – cleansing him from all dirt.”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 18931

• “The most beloved of deeds in the eyes of Allah are: offering prayers at the stipulated times; (then) goodness and kindness towards parents; (and then) Jihad in the way of Allah.”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 18897

• “One who considers the prayers to be insignificant and trivial is not from me. By Allah! He shall never come close to me at the pool of Kauthar.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 82, Page 224

• “Do not destroy your prayers for verily one who destroys his prayers shall be resurrected in the company of Qarun, Haman and Fir`awn.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 82, Page 202

• “Prayer is the pillar of your religion and one who intentionally forsakes his prayer has destroyed his religion. And one who does not guard the times of the prayers, shall be made to enter ‘Wayl’, which is a valley in Hell, as Allah, the Exalted, has said: “So woe to the praying ones, who are unmindful of their prayers.”
  • Biharul Anwar,Volume 82, Page 202

• Do not abandon your prayers intentionally for surely the obligations of Allah and His Messenger cease to cover one who forsakes his prayers intentionally.”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 19096

• “If a person abandons his prayer such that he neither desires its rewards nor fears its chastisement, for such a person I do not care if he dies a Jew, a Christian or a Magian.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 82, Page 202

• The good deeds of one who, without any appropriate excuse does not offer his prayer until its time passes away, are annulled.” He then said: “The divide between a believer and disbelief is the abandonment of prayers.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 82, Page 202

• “The name of one who forsakes his prayer intentionally is written upon The door of Hell from which he shall (eventually) enter.”
  • Kanzul `Ummal, Volume 7, Tradition 19090

On Hajj

• “A person who circumambulates this House (the Ka’bah) seven times and performs the two Rak’at Salat (of Tawaaf) in the best form possible will have his sins forgiven.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 96, Page 49

• “Surely Allah has chosen four cities from amongst all others, just as He, the Noble and Grand has said (in the Noble Qur’an): “I swear by ‘the fig’ and ‘the olive’ and the ‘Mountain of Sinai’ and by this protected city.” ‘The fig’ is the city of Madinah; ‘The olive’ is the city of Baitul Maqdas (in Jerusalem); ‘The Mountain of Sinai’ is Kufah; and the protected city is Makkah.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 96, Page 77

• “Perform the tawaaf of the House and rub your hand over the Corner which has the Hajr al-Aswad because this is the right hand of Allah on His Earth which He shakes with His creations.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 96, Page 202

• “The water of Zamzam is a cure for whatever (ailment) it is taken for.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 96, Page 245

• “The greatest sin of a person who goes to ‘Arafat and then leaves is to think that he has not been forgiven of his sins.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 96, Page 248

• “A person seeing (visiting) my grave deserves my intercession. And a person who visits me after my death is like a person who visited me during my lifetime.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 96, Page 334

• “Walimah is only in five occasions: in the ‘Urs, Khurs, ‘Idhar, Wikar and the Rikaz – ‘Urs is when a person gets married; and Khurs is when a child is born; and ‘Idhar is on the circumcision of a baby boy; and Wikar is when a person purchases a house; and Rikaz is when a person returns from Hajj.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 96, Page 384

Other

• “The person who seeks knowledge while in his youth is similar to the act of inscribing something upon a rock; while the person who seeks knowledge while he is old is similar to the act of writing something upon the water.”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 1, Page 222

• “A person shall arrive on the Day of Judgement and shall be in possession of good deeds in the measure of vastly accumulated clouds or towering mountains. (Witnessing them) he shall ask: ‘Oh My Lord! How can these be for me when I have not performed them?’ God shall reply: ‘This is your knowledge that you had taught and conveyed to the people, and which was acted upon after you had died.’ ”
  • Biharul Anwar, Volume 2, Page 18

Final sermon

The Last Sermon of Muhammad delivered on the Ninth Day of Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H (c. 630 AD)

• O People, lend me an attentive ear, for I don't know whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you carefully and take these words to those who could not be present here today.

• O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have right over you. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and committed helpers.

• All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. You know that every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim. Remember, one day you will appear before Allah and answer for your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

• All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly.

• Even as the fingers of the two hands are equal, so are human beings equal to one another. No one has any right, nor any preference to claim over another. You are brothers.

Quotes about Muhammad

Alphabetized by author

• Say (O Muhammad): O mankind! Lo! I am the messenger of Allah to you all - (the messenger of) Him unto Whom belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth. There is no god save Him. He quickeneth and He giveth death. So believe in Allah and His messenger, the unschooled prophet, who believeth in Allah and in His Words, and follow him that haply ye may be led aright.
  • ^{[Quran 7:158 (Pickthall)]}

• O Prophet! We have made lawful to thee thy wives to whom thou hast paid their dowers; and those whom thy right hand possesses out of the prisoners of war whom Allah has assigned to thee; and daughters of thy paternal uncles and aunts, and daughters of thy maternal uncles and aunts, who migrated (from Makka) with thee; and any believing woman who dedicates her soul to the Prophet if the Prophet wishes to wed her;- this only for thee, and not for the Believers (at large);
  • ^{[Quran 33:50 (Yusuf Ali)]}; special provision for the Prophet to exceed the four wives stipulated by sharia.

• In little more than a year he was actually the spiritual, nominal and temporal ruler of Medina, with his hands on the lever that was to shake the world.
  • John Austin, in "Muhammad the Prophet of Allah" in T.P.'s and Cassel's Weekly (24 September 1927)

• O ye men, whoever amongst you worshipped Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is dead, and whoever amongst you worshipped Allah, let him know that Allah is Living, there is no death for Him.
  • Abu Bakr's speech after Muhammad's death, quoted in Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 23, Chapter Manaqibe Abu Bakr; as quoted in: Dawat-ul-Amir, English translation: Invitation to Ahmadiyyat, First Edition, pg. 17-21, by Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad

• 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, 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.
  • Annie Besant, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad (1932), p. 4

• It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knew 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 reread them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher.
  • Annie Besant, in "The Life and Teachings of Mohammad (1932), p. 4

• Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man Muhammad, who of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race. To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God.
  • Dr. William Draper, M.D. L.L.D. in "History of Intellectual Development of Europe"

• By the false prophet, is sometimes meant the Pope and his clergy; but here an eye seems to be had to Mahomet, whom his followers call the great prophet of God.
  • Jonathan Edwards, referring to the false prophet of Revelation 16:13, in The Fall of Antichrist (1829), Part VII, page 395, New York, Published by S. Converse

• I wanted to know the best of one who holds today 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 his 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.
  • Mahatma Gandhi, speaking on the character of Muhammad in Young India

• 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.
  • Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Noten und Abhandlungen zum Weststlichen Dvan, WA I, 7, 32; translator unknown

• My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential person 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. It is probable that the relative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity. Furthermore, Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as religious leader. In fact, as the driving force behind the Arab conquests, he may well rank as the most influential political leader of all time. It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence, which I feel, entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.
  • Michael H. Hart, who in his book The 100 : A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (1978) placed Muhammad in the first position, p. 33

• Most of those who heard him laughed at what he told them ... others said he was a dreamer and a a fool.
  • John Henry Haaren, quoted in Famous Men of the Middle Ages

• 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. ... 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.
  • Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje, as quoted in Encyclopaedic Survey of Islamic Culture (1997) by Mohamed Taher, p. 260

• Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was super human; to subvert superstitions which had been imposed between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he Muhammad had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design, no other instrument than himself and no other aid except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered, in God's name, Persia, Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain and part of Gaul.
  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. . . his 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 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 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?
  • Alphonse de Lamartine, Histoire de la Turquie (1854), Vol. II, pp. 276-277

• He had achieved a great deal. To the pagan peoples of western Arabia he had brought a new religion which, with its monotheism and its ethical doctrines, stood on an incomparably higher level than the paganism it replaced. He had provided that religion with a revelation which was to become in the centuries to follow the guide to thought and count of countless millions of Believers. But he had done more than that; he had established a community and a well organized and armed state, the power and prestige of which made it a dominant factor in Arabia.... The modern historian will not readily believe that so great and significant a movement was started by a self-seeking imposter. Nor will he be satisfied with a purely supernatural explanation, whether it postulates aid of divine of diabolical origin; rather, like Gibbon, will he seek 'with becoming submission, to ask not indeed what were the first, but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth' of the new faith...
  • Bernard Lewis, The Arabs in History (1950), p.45-46

• I regard Mohammed as a great man, who solved a political problem of appalling difficulty, — the construction of a state and an empire out of the Arab tribes. I have endeavored, in recounting the mode in which he accomplished this, to do justice to his intellectual ability and to observe towards him the respectful attitude which his greatness deserves.
  • D. S. Margoliouth, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (1905), Preface

• Leaders must fulfill three functions — provide for the well-being of the led, provide a social organization in which people feel relatively secure, and provide them with one set of beliefs. People like Pasteur and Salk are leaders in the first sense. People like [[Mohandas K. Gandhi}Gandhi]] and Confucius, on one hand, and Alexander, Caesar and Hitler on the other, are leaders in the second and perhaps the third sense. Jesus and Buddha belong in the third category alone. Perhaps the greatest leader of all times was Mohammed, who combined all three functions. To a lesser degree, Moses did the same.
  • Jules Masserman, as quoted in "Who Were Histories Great Leaders?" in TIME magazine (15 July 1974)

• 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.
  • Sarojini Naidu, Ideals of Islam, vide Speeches & Writings (1918), p. 169

• "I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, AND MOHAMED, 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 have 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.
  • Simon Ockley, History of the Saracen Empires, London, 1870, p. 54

• The great imposter Mohammed pretended that he was taught his Koran.
  • John Owen, Communion with God, 1657; in The Works of John Owen Volume 2, 1997, Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, ISBN 0-85151-124-4, p. 391

• 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.
  • K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, in Muhammad the Prophet of Islam (1979)

• Muhammad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him
  • Diwan Chand Sharma, The Prophets of the East, Calcutta, 1935, pp. 12

• The medieval ecclesiastics, either through ignorance or bigotry, painted Muhammadanism in the darkest colours. They were in fact trained both 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 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.
  • George Bernard Shaw, as quoted in The Genuine Islam, Singapore, Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936

• Head of the State as well as of the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope's pretensions, and 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 a right Divine, it was Mohammed; for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports. He rose superior to the titles and ceremonies, the solemn trifling, and the proud humility of court etiquette. To hereditary kings, to princes born in the purple, these things are, naturally enough, as the breath of life; but those who ought to have known better, even self-made rulers, and those the foremost in the files of time — a Caesar, a Cromwell, a Napoleon — have been unable to resist their tinsel attractions. Mohammed was content with the reality, he cared not for the dressings, of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life.
  • Reginald Bosworth Smith, in "Mohammedanism and Christianity" (7 March 1874), published in Mohammed and Mohammedanism (1889), p. 289

• Islam was founded by Mohammed, a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives, and his last one was a nine-year-old girl.
  • Jerry Vines "Vines calls founder of Islam a 'demon-possessed pedophile'". (June 14, 2002). Biblical Recorder. Biblical Recorder

• 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.
  • William Montgomery Watt, Mohammad at Mecca (1953), p. 52

• The more one reflects on the history of Muhammad and of early Islam, the more one is amazed at the vastness of his achievement. Circumstances presented him with an opportunity such as few men have had, but the man was fully matched with the hour. Had it not been for his gifts as seer, statesman, and administrator and, behind these, his trust in God and firm belief that God had sent him, a notable chapter in the history of mankind would have remained unwritten.
  ...Only a profound belief in himself and his mission explains Muhammad's readiness to endure hardship and persecution during the Meccan period when from a secular point of view there was no prospect of success. Without sincerity how could he have won the allegiance and even devotion of men of strong and upright character like Abu-Bakr and 'Umar ? For the theist there is the further question how God could have allowed a great religion like Islam to develop on a basis of lies and deceit. There is thus a strong case for holding that Muhammad was sincere. If in some respects he was mistaken, his mistakes were not due to deliberate lying or imposture.
  • William Montgomery Watt, in Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman (1961), p. 229

• In Muhammad, I should hold, there was a welling up of the creative imagination, and the ideas thus produced are to a great extent true and sound. It does not follow, however, that all the Qur'anic ideas are true and sound. In particular there is at least one point at which they seem to be unsound; the idea that ' revelation ' or the product of the creative imagination is superior to normal human traditions as a source of bare historical fact. There are several verses in the Qur'an (II. 5I; 3. 39; I2. I03) to the effect that ' this is one of the reports of the unseen which We reveal to thee; thou didst not know it, thou nor thy people, before this '. One could admit a claim that the creative imagination was able to give a new and truer interpretation of a historical event, but to make it a source of bare fact is an exaggeration and false.
  This point is of special concern to Christians, since the Qur'an denies the bare fact of the death of Jesus on the cross, and Muslims still consider that this denial outweighs the contrary testimony of historical tradition. The primary intention of the Qur'an was to deny the Jews' interpretation of the crucifixion as a victory for themselves, but as normally explained it goes much farther. The same exaggeration of the role of ' revelation ' has also had other consequences. The Arab contribution to Islamic culture has been unduly magnified, and that of the civilized peoples of Egypt, Syria, 'Iraq and Persia, later converted to Islam, has been sadly belittled.
  Too much must not be made of this slight flaw. Which of us, conscious of being called by God to perform a special task, would not have been more than a little proud ? On the whole Muhammad was remarkably free from pride. Yet this slight exaggeration of his own function has had grave consequences and cannot be ignored.
  • William Montgomery Watt in Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman (1961), p. 239

• I always took the view — contrary to most previous scholars of Islam — that the Quran was not something that Muhammad had consciously produced. For long, however, I hesitated to speak of him as a prophet, because Muslims would have taken this to mean that everything in the Quran was finally and absolutely true, which was something I did not believe. More recently, however, I have said that Muhammad is a prophet comparable to the Old Testament prophets, though with a different task, namely, to bring the knowledge of God to people without such knowledge, whereas their task was mainly to criticize the conduct of those who already believed in God.
  • William Montgomery Watt, as quoted in Muhammad : A Short Biography (1998) by Martin Forward, p. 106 ISBN 1-85168-131-0

• I therefore do not believe that either the Bible or the Qur’an is infallibly true in the sense that all their commands are valid for all time. ... when the form of society changes in important respects some commands cease to be appropriate, though many others continue to be valid. I do, however, believe that Muhammad, like the earlier prophets, had genuine religious experiences. I believe that he really did receive something directly from God. As such, I believe that the Qur’an came from God, that it is Divinely inspired. Muhammad could not have caused the great upsurge in religion that he did without God’s blessing.
  • William Montgomery Watt, in "The whole house of Islam, and we Christians with them...” An interview with "the Last Orientalist" - the Rev Prof William Montgomery Watt, published in The Coracle (2000)

• A raw and raging debate pervades the Qur'an. Muhammad's tribe disputed his claims and mocked him unmercifully, saying his religion was a forgery, a counterfeit. Qur'an 11:13 Or, do they say: 'He (Muhammad) has forged it (the Qur'an)'. His contemporaries knew he was a fraud. And they weren't the least bit shy about saying so.
  • Craig Winn, in Prophet of Doom - Islam's terrorist dogma in Muhammad's own words (2004)

Authors unknown:

• Christians claimed the Antichrist was Muhammad, founder of Islam, because they consider him a false prophet who placed himself above Jesus, and whose religion conquered Jerusalem and forcibly converted Christians, Jews, and others.
  • Antichrist article in the Theopedia an Encyclopedia of Biblical Christianity

Misattributed:

• [It is simply amazing] how one man single handedly could weld warring tribes and wandering Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades.
  • Attributed to Thomas Carlyle, this was cited as being from Heroes and Hero Worship but has not been located in that document, and this expression appears to have originally occurred as a description of Carlyle's ideas rather than a quotation of his statements in The Muslim World League Journal (1994) :"Thomas Carlyle was 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."

External links

Authentic Sunni Islamic Hadith

• • USC: Sahih Bukhari
  • USC: Sahih Muslim
• IslamiCity

Non-sectarian biography:

• Public Broadcasting System program on Muhammad
• Encarta Encyclopedia
• 1911 Encyclopedia article of Muhammad

Sunni biography:

• [[5]] Evidences for the truth of Islam.

• The Life of Muhammad Muhammad Husayn Haykal Translated by Isma'il Razi A. al-Faruqi

• Islamonline
• About the Prophet Muhammad

Shia biography:

• A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims by Sayed Ali Asgher Razwy
• The Life of Muhammad The Prophet by Syed Saeed Akhtar Rizvi

Critical perspectives:

• The Quest for the Historical Mohammed
• Trends in Biographies of Muhammad

Miscellaneous:

• Early manuscript editions of the Qur'an
• Prophet Muhammad's Final Sermon at Wikisource