The following chapter contains a
few paraphrased selections from the statements made by some of the many
non-Muslim celebrities who believed in Allâhu ta’âlâ and admired Islam; these statements reflect their views of Islam.
So many are the people who share the same opinions that we have had to pick out
only the famous ones. Among our selections are great commanders, statesmen and
scientists whom you all know very well. Now let us read with attention to what
they said:
Napoléon I (1769-1821 [1237
A.H.]), who went into history as a military genius and statesman, when he
entered Egypt in 1212 [C.E. 1798], admired Islam’s greatness and genuineness,
and even considered whether he should become a Muslim. The following excerpt
was paraphrased from Cherfils’s book (Bonapart et Islâm):
“Napoléon said:
The existence and unity of Allâhu ta’âlâ, which Műsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’,
had announced to his own people and Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ to his own ummat, was
announced by Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ to the entire world. Arabia had become totally a country of idolaters. Six centuries after Îsâ
‘alaihis-salâm’, Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ initiated the Arabs into an awareness
of Allâhu ta’âlâ,
whose existence prophets previous to him, such as Ibrâhîm (Abraham), Ismâ’îl,
Műsâ (Moses) and Îsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihim-us-
salâm’, had announced. Peace in the east had been disturbed by the
Arians, [i.e. Christians who followed Arius], who had somehow developed a
degree of friendship with the Arabs, and by heretics, who had defiled the true
religion of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ and were striving to spread in the name of
religion a totally unintelligible credo which is based on trinity, i.e. God,
Son of God, and the Holy Ghost. Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ guided the Arabs to
the right way, taught them that Allâhu ta’âlâ is one, that He does not have a father or a son, and that
worshipping several gods is an absurd custom which is the continuation of
idolatry.”
At another place in his book he
quotes Napoléon as having said, “I hope that in the near future I will have the
chance to gather together the wise and cultured people of the world and
establish a government that I will operate [in accordance with the principles
written in Qur’ân al-kerîm.]”
Thomas Carlyle of Scotland (1210
[C.E. 1795]-1298 [C.E. 1881]), one of the greatest men of knowledge known
worldover, entered the university when he was only fourteen years old, studied
jurisprudence, literature and history, learned German and oriental languages,
exchanged letters with, and even visited, the well-known German writer (Johann
Wolf-gang von) Goethe (1749-1832), was awarded by the King of Prussia with the
medal of honour called ‘powr le mérite’, and was elected president by the
University of Edinburgh. Among Carlyle’s works are Sartur Resartus, The French
Revolution, On Heroes, Hero Worship And the Heroic in History, Past and
Present, Latter-Day Pamphlets, The Life of Friedrich Schiller, and Critical and
Miscellaneous Essays.
The following passage was
selected from one of his works:
“The Arabs, Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’, and his age: Before the advent of Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’,
(the Arabs were in such a state that) if a big piece of fire spurted out at the
place where the Arabs lived, it would have disappeared on the dry sand without
leaving any traces behind itself. But after the advent of Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’ that desert of dry sand turned into, as it were, a barrel of
gunpowder. From Delhi to Granada, everywhere became rapidly rising flames. This
great person was, so to speak, lightning, and all the people around him became
explosives catching fire from him.”
“As you read the Qur’ân al-kerîm, you will presently
realize that it is not an ordinary tome of literature. The Qur’ân al-kerîm is a work of art that
springs from a heart and instantly penetrates all the other hearts. All the
other works of art are quite dull when compared with this tremendous
masterpiece. The most striking characteristic of the Qur’ân al-kerîm is that it is a truthful
and excellent guide. To me, this is the greatest merit of Qur’ân al-kerîm. And it is this merit
that begets other merits.”
From his memoirs of a trip:
“In Germany I told my friend
Goethe about the facts I had gathered concerning Islam and added my personal
reflections on the subject. After listening to me with attention, he said, ‘If
that is Islam, we are all Muslims.’ ”
Gandhi (1285 [C.E. 1869]-1367 [C.E. 1948])
descends from a West Indian Christian family. His father was the chief
ecclesiastic of the city of Porbtandar, and he was very rich. Gandhi was born
in the city of Porbtandar. He went to Britain for his high school education.
After completing his education he went back to India. In 1893 he was sent to
South Africa by an Indian firm. Upon seeing the heavy conditions under which
the Indians working there were and the utterly inhumane treatment they were
being subjected to, he decided to put up a struggle for the betterment of their
political rights. He dedicated himself to the Indian people. As he was
conducting a vigorous campaign against the South African government for the
protection of the Indians’ rights, he was arrested and imprisoned. Yet he was
too undaunted to give up struggle. He stayed in Africa till 1914. Then,
quitting his perfectly lucrative job there, he returned to India to carry on
his struggle. He waged a struggle in cooperation with the Indian Muslims Unity,
which Muslims had established in 1906 for the liberation of India. All his personal
property and his father’s property he spent for the promotion of this cause.
When he heard that the British
were going to launch a second operation of violence and cruelty similar to the
one they had perpetrated in the state of Punjab in 1274 [A.D. 1858], he
cooperated with the Muslims, induced his friends to withdraw from the civil
service, and waged a silent protest and a passive resistance. By wrapping a
white piece of cloth around his naked
body and contenting himself with the milk of a goat which he
continuously kept with him, he carried over his passive resistance. The first
reaction on the part of the British was to laugh at him. It did not take them
long, however, to see with astonishment and dismay that this man, who believed
his own ideals with all his heart and who was ready to sacrifice all his
existence with alacrity for the sake of his country, was with the entire India
in tow and resounding with his speechless struggle. Imprisoning him proved to
no avail. Gandhi’s efforts resulted in India’s attaining its independence. The
Hindus gave him the name ‘Mahatma’, which lexically means ‘blessed’.
Gandhi studied the Islamic
religion and Qur’ân al-kerîm with meticulous attention and finally found himself a sincere
admirer of Islam. The following is his observation concerning this subject:
“Muslims have never indulged
themselves in bigotry even in times of greatest grandeur and victory. Islam
enjoins an admiration for the Creator of the World and His works. As the West
was in a dreadful darkness, the dazzling star of Islam shining in the East
brought light, peace and relief to the suffering world. The Islamic religion is
not a mendacious religion. When the Hindus study this religion with due
respect, they, too, will feel the same sympathy as I do for Islam. I have read
the books telling about the life-style of the Prophet of Islam and of those who were close to him. These books
generated profound interest in me, so much so that when I finished reading them
I regretted there being no more of them. I have arrived at the conclusion that
Islam’s spreading rapidly was not by the sword. On the contrary, it was
primarily owing to its simplicity, logicality, its Prophet’s great modesty, his trueness
to his promises and his unlimited faithfulness towards every Muslim that many
people willingly accepted Islam.
“Islam has abrogated monastic life. In Islam
there is no one to intervene between Allâhu ta’âlâ
and His born slave. Islam is a religion that commands social justice from the
outset. There is not an institution between the Creator and the created. Anyone
who reads Qur’ân al-kerîm, [i.e. its
explanations and books written by Islamic scholars], will learn the
commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ and will obey Him.
There is no obstruction between Allâhu ta’âlâ
and him in this respect. Whereas many ineluctable changes were made in
Christianity on account of its shortcomings, Islam has not undergone any
alterations, and it preserves its pristine purity.
Christianity
lacks democratic spirit. The need to equip that religion with a democratic
aspect has necessitated an increase in the Christians’ national zeal and the
concomitant reforms.”
Now let us make mention of a
French man of ideas: Ernest Renan was born in 1239 [C.E. 1923] in the Treguier
city of France. His father was a captain. He was five years old when he lost
his father. He was raised by his mother and by his elder sister. Because his
mother wanted him to be a man of religion, he was sent to the church college in
his hometown. Here he was given an efficient religious education. His strong
interest in the oriental languages won him a full command of the Arabic, Hebrew
and Syrian languages. Later he entered the university, where he studied
philosophy. As he made progress in educational areas and carried on very minute
comparative studies on the German philosophy and the oriental literature, he
observed some flaws in Christianity. By the time he was graduated from the
university in 1848, at the age of twenty-five, he was entirely defiant towards
the Christian religion, and he compiled his thoughts in his book titled ‘The
Future of Knowledge’. Yet, because the book was of a rebellious nature, no
printhouse dared to print it, and it was only forty years later, in 1890, that
the book was printed.
Renan’s primary objection was against the
belief that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was the ‘Son of God’. When he was appointed as
a professor of philosophy in the university of Versailles, he began to
gradually explain his thoughts on this subject. However, it was not till after
he was appointed as a professor of the Hebrew language for the university of
Collége de France that he voiced his most vigorous protest. By the time he
finished his first class he had had the courage to say, “Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’
was a respectable human being superior to the other human beings. Yet he was
never the son of Allâhu ta’âlâ.” This statement
had the effect of a bomb. All the Catholics, and especially the Pope, rose up.
The Pope officially excommunicated Renan before the entire world. The French
government had to dismiss him from office. Yet the world was already resounding
with Renan’s statements. Great numbers of people sided with him. He wrote
books, such as ‘Essays on the History of Religions’, ‘Studies on Criticism and
Morals’, ‘Discourses on Philosophy’ and ‘Life of Jesus’, and his books sold
like hot cakes. Upon this the French Academy accepted him as a member (in
1878). Also, the French government invited him back
to
office and appointed him as the director of Collége de France.
Renan observed Îsâ
‘alaihis-salâm’ as a human being in his work ‘Life of Jesus’. According to Renan, “Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ is a human being like
us. His mother Meryem (Mary) wasbetrothed to a carpenter named Yűsuf (Joseph).
Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ was a superior human being, so much so that, the statements
that he made when he was only a small child were a source of astonishment for
many a scholar. Allâhu ta’âlâ deemed him as worthy of prophethood and gave him this duty. Îsâ
‘alaihis-salâm’ never said that he was the ‘Son of God’. This is a slander
fabricated by priests.”
The contention between Catholic
priests and Renan continued for a long time. While the Catholics accused him of
blasphemy, he in his turn indicted them for their mendacity and hypocrisy.
Renan was saying, “The real Nazarene religion isbased on the belief that Allâhu ta’âlâ is one and that Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’
is only a human being and a prophet.” Before Renan had died, he had prepared a written will enjoining
from a religious ceremony in the church and prohibiting priests from attending
his funeral procession. So, when he died in 1892, a crowded congregation
containing only friends who loved him and people who admired him attended his
funeral procession.
One of
France’s universally known poets and statesmen, Lamartine (1204 [C.E.
1790]-1285 [C.E. 1869]) made official journeys through Europe
and America, which gave him the opportunity to have been to Turkey, in the time
of Sultan Abd-ul-majîd Khân. He was admitted in an utterly friendly manner by
the Pâdishâh (Ottoman Emperor), and was also presented with a farm within the
state of Aydýn, (which is in the
western part of Turkey). See what he says about Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ in his
book Histoire de Turquie (History of Turkey):
“Was Muhammad ‘sall-Allâhu
ta’âlâ alaihi wa sallam’ a false prophet? We cannot think so after studying his works and history. For
false prophethood means hypocrisy. As falsehood does not have the power of
trueness, likewise hypocrisy does not have convincing capacity.
“In mechanics the range of
something thrown depends on the power of the thrust. By the same token, the
power of a certain source of spiritual inspiration is assessed with the work it
accomplishes. A religion, (i.e. Islam), which has carried so heavy
a burden, which has spread to such distances, and which has maintained its full
power for such a long time, cannot be a lie. It has to be genuine and
convincing. Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ life; his efforts; his courage in
attacking and destroying the superstitions and idols in his country; his
bravery and valor in standing against the fury of a fire-worshipping nation;
his thirteen year endurance to the various attacks, insults and persecutions inflicted
on him in Mekka, among his own citizens; his migration to Medina; his incessant
encouragements, preaches and admonitions; the holy wars he fought against
overwhelmingly superior enemy forces; his spirit for victory; the superhuman
confidence he felt at times of greatest afflictions; the patience and trust he
displayed even in victory; the determination he showed in convincing others;
his endless devotion in worships; his sacred communings with Allâhu ta’âlâ; his death, and the
continuation of his fame, honour and victories after his death; all these
factual events (and many others untold) indicate that he was by no means a
liar, but, on the contrary, an owner of great belief ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ alaihi
wa sallam’.
“It was this belief and this trust in his
Creator that made him put forward a two-staged credo: The first stage consisted
of the belief that ‘there is one eternal being, who is Allah;’ and the second
stage inculcated that ‘idols are not gods.’ In the first stage he informed the
Arabs about the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ, who
is one and whom they had not known until that time; and in the second stage he
shook from their hands the idols which they had looked on as gods until that
time. In short, at a single stroke with the sword he broke the false gods and
idols and replaced them with the belief in ‘One Allah’.
“This is Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’, the philosopher, the orator, the Prophet, the law-giver, the warrior,
the enchanter of human thoughts, the maker of new principles of belief, the
great man who established twenty gigantic world empires and one great Islamic
empire and civilization ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ alaihi wa sallam’.
“Let all the criteria used by
humanity for the judgement and evaluation of greatness be applied. Will anyone
be found superior to him? Impossible.” ‘sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ alaihi wa sallam’.
I wish to free myself from fancies and whims;
My eccentric nafs[1] will not leave me alone.
I wish to free what is good from the bad;
My eccentric nafs will not leave me alone.
I wish to discipline my essence;
I wish to know what’s good for me, ’n what’s bad;
I wish to come to my senses;
My eccentric nafs will not leave me alone.
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[1] Nafs is a malignant force in human nature. It is recalcitrant, stupid, and evil. It always urges man to behave against the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is the only creature whose all wishes are against itself.