Friday, 18 October 2019

NOTHING TO OFFER


Muhammad (pbuh) had no bread nor meat to offer, no sugar-plums of any kind, in this world or the next! The only thing he could offer his bedraggled, poor shepherd people was trial and tribulations and the straitjacketing of their lives here on earth and the good pleasures of God in the Hereafter. The life of the Prophet was an open book before them. He had shown them as to what he was; the nobility of his character, his integrity of purpose, his earnestness and fiery enthusiasm for the truth he had come to preach revealed the hero; and they followed him. 

Mr. Stanley Lane Poole's estimate of our hero is so beautiful and yet so truthful that I cannot resist the temptation of quoting it here:

HE WAS AN ENTHUSIAST IN THAT NOBLEST SENSE WHEN ENTHUSIASM BECOMES THE SALT OF THE EARTH, THE ONE THING THAT KEEPS MEN FROM ROTTING WHILST THEY LIVE.

ENTHUSIASM IS OFTEN USED DESPITEFULLY, BECAUSE IT IS JOINED TO AN UNWORTHY CAUSE, OR FALLS UPON BARREN GROUND AND BEARS NO FRUIT. SO WAS IT NOT WITH MOHAMMED. HE WAS AN ENTHUSIAST WHEN ENTHUSIASM WAS THE ONE THING NEEDED TO SET THE WORLD AFLAME, AND HIS ENTHUSIASM WAS NOBLE FOR A NOBLE CAUSE. HE WAS ONE OF THOSE HAPPY FEW WHO HAVE ATTAINED THE SUPREME JOY OF MAKING ONE GREAT TRUTH THEIR VERY LIFESPRING.

HE WAS THE MESSENGER OF THE ONE GOD, AND NEVER TO HIS LIFE'S END DID HE FORGET WHO HE WAS, OR THE MESSAGE WHICH WAS THE MARROW OF HIS BEING. HE BROUGHT HIS TIDINGS TO HIS PEOPLE WITH A GRAND DIGNITY SPRUNG FROM THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HIS HIGH OFFICE, TOGETHER WITH A MOST SWEET HUMILITY, WHOSE ROOTS LAY IN THE KNOW-LEDGE OF HIS OWN WEAKNESS."

It may easily be conceded that Muhammad (pbuh) was blessed with the flimsiest of human resources. In fact the odds were loaded against him. But what about his fortune towards the end of his earthly sojourn? He was the overlord of the whole of Arabia! What about the endless means at his disposal then? We will allow a Christian missionary to answer that -

HE WAS CAESAR AND POPE IN ONE, BUT HE WAS POPE WITHOUT THE POPE'S PRETENTIONS, 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 THE RIGHT DIVINE, IT WAS MOHAMMAD, FOR HE HAD ALL THE POWERS WITHOUT ITS INSTRUMENTS AND WITHOUT ITS SUPPORTS." 
R. Bosworth Smith Mohammad and Mohammadanism", London 1874, p.92

To Be Continued....

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