Misconceptions About Muhammad

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 7/31/2019 Misconceptions About Muhammad

    1/5

    Misconceptions About Muhammad (pbuh) Clarified- 1

    His Personality

    Muhammad (pbuh) the prophet of Allah (SWT) - God Almighty, one of the most illustriousand noble reformer to walk on the face of this planet was an elite personality, a righteous

    warrior, an emancipator, a political icon and a loyal friend all in one. His work and ideology

    with the aid of God Almighty had brought about such a phenomenal revolution, which had

    dawned in the Arabian peninsula, to spread its light far and wide across the globe, never to be

    witnessed by the world, something of the like.

    As all great men have had their lives haunted by dark episodes, partly fate and partly by

    unconvinced audience. Muhammads (pbuh) path met more hindrances from unfair and biased

    critics than, probably anyone else of similar stature, in history. If one where to look into his lifewith a fair eye, one would have no other alternative but to conclude that he was a righteous man,

    a man chosen by God to guide all humanity.

    Muhammad(pbuh) in pre-Islamic times

    He was known for his honesty, sincerity, truthfulness andnoble character. He was also known asa humble person, one who kept the bond of kinship strong. He was not a liar.

    1Though nobility

    was bestowed on him from birth, he continued to live a life contrary to that of fellowmen, even

    before he attained prophet hood. His people where a nomadic lot, indulging in idolatry ,

    female infanticide, and tribalism in the Arabian peninsula. Muhammad(pbuh) was met with strifeand vehement disregard when He told his people that he was the messenger of Allah(SWT) and

    that God Almighty was the only true god to be worshipped and worship of idols was the worst

    sin any human being could do. One of the primary reason for the Arabs of Makah to reject his

    message was their dislike of his teachings. His people put forward allegations towards him in

    order to support their claim of invalidity of his message. They said he was mad man ,a liar, a

    deluded person, a sorcerer or magician etc(May Allah forbade). An important point to be noted

    here is that the very same people who put forward these allegations complained nothing of the

    like before he attained prophet hood. On the contrary, he was called As Amin and As-Sadiq

    or the trustworthy and the truthful by the very same people. Let us analyze how one by one these

    claims inherently prove themselves to be false.

    1.Muhammad :Life Based on Earliest Resources by Martin Lings Pg 34

    Was he a liar?

  • 7/31/2019 Misconceptions About Muhammad

    2/5

    A number of incidents showed that this claims was untrue. Muhammad(pbuh) did not lie

    about the revelation of Quran from God, neither did he lie regarding its details.1The

    Surah (chapter)111:1-5 says that one of his staunch enemies Abu Lahab will perish in

    hell-fire, implying that he will never accept the faith of Allah(SWT).The surah(chapter)

    was revealed during the lifetime of Abu Lahab, and he lived about ten years or so after

    its revelation. If Muhammad (pbuh) had any dishonesty in him or his message he would

    not dare put himself to this challenge. It was so easy for Abu Lahab to prove

    Muhammad(pbuh) a liar, all he had to do is to verbally testify this faith and the Quran as

    well as Muhammad(pbuh) prophet hood would be proved wrong. The pagans entrusted

    him with left their valuables and he never once betrayed their trust. This is one of the few

    incidents in which he is proved innocent of such allegations. Moreover if lies is what he

    was preaching, then definitely his teachings would contradict clearly, he would waver

    and stumble somewhere loosing integrity and changing on his own words. A liar

    usually tries to put forward more hoaxes as he sees people responding to his call. A self

    proclaimed false prophet would , after attracting enough crowd, would start proclaimingdivinity and demand the right to worship.

    2As has happened with false prophets, who

    have forced their own religion by means of physical torture. This was not the message

    of Muhammad(pbuh) at any point of his mission he didnt even claim to posses

    knowledge of the unseen except what God had revealed to Him.4

    1. http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/168/

    .2 Surah As Saad 38:65

    Say (unto them, O Muhammad): I am only a warner, and there is no God save Allah, the One, the

    Absolute,

    Sura 39 - Az-Zumar (MAKKA) : Verse 13

    Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Verily, if I disobey my Lord, I am afraid of the torment of a great Day."

    3. Musailimah The Liar page 477 from The Biography of Abu Bakr As siddeeq

    By Ali Muhmmad Muhammad Assallaabee

    4.. The Noble Quran Surah At Takwir chapter 81:24

    .And he (Muhammad (SAW)) withholds not a knowledge of the unseen.

    Was he deluded?

    Some critics, mostly of recent times, have the concept that Muhammad(pbuh) was of

    good conduct and was honest, but was deluded or just considered himself to be a

    prophet, mentally unfit and began imagining himself to be a messenger. The revelation

    given to him contains about a thousand or so verses or ayahs which speak about science,

    not a single one of these verses have anything contradicting established science. An

    illiterate person fourteen hundred years ago could have never spoken about such

    http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/168/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/168/http://www.quranexplorer.com/quran/?Sura=39&FromVerse=13&Translation=Eng-Dr.%20Mohsin&Script=Usmanihttp://www.quranexplorer.com/quran/?Sura=39&FromVerse=13&Translation=Eng-Dr.%20Mohsin&Script=Usmanihttp://www.quranexplorer.com/quran/?Sura=39&FromVerse=13&Translation=Eng-Dr.%20Mohsin&Script=Usmanihttp://www.islamreligion.com/articles/168/
  • 7/31/2019 Misconceptions About Muhammad

    3/5

    scientific facts established only recently.1Non- Muslim scientists as well as professors of

    different scientific disciplines have accepted their faith as Islam after witnessing

    scientific facts spoken in the Quran2. Moreover his lifetime incidents preceding prophet

    hood never indicated any signs of illness or mental malfunction at all. A lunatic would

    not continue in such a noble and daring endeavor as Muhammad (pbuh) did for twenty -

    three years. His successors in caliphate (never in prophet hood) and his companions were

    noble tradesmen, renowned poets, warriors and men of intellect, if Muhammad (pbuh)

    was mentally unfit they would never have laid down their lives, forsaken their family and

    wealth for his message.

    It is illogical for a man to be a liar and a deluded person at the same time. If he was a liar and

    claimed prophet hood, it surely means that his intention was deceit towards humanity in order to

    posses wealth and fame, this was not the case with Muhammad(pbuh).When the pagans asked

    him to shun his preaching in return for kingship of all Arabia, possession of wealth and power,

    he a humble messenger gave the reply if they were to place the sun in my right hand and the

    moon in my left, I would still not give up preaching my message. A treacherous man would notgo ahead and preach morality and worship of one god nor would he be able to resort people to

    good if himself failed to live his preaching. When we say a man is deluded or has visions, it

    means he is not deceitful but just mentally unfit or suffering from some kind of disorder. A

    man claiming to be a prophet can be either one of these or none of these that is the case when he

    is truthful and really is a prophet, he can never be both in one.

    1.http://www.islamreligion.com/category/33/

    2.http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/118/

    http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/219/

    Was he a poet or a sorcerer or magician?

    From his biography we come to know that Muhammad(pbuh) was illiterate and did not have any

    schooling or learning all through his life ,for a person to be a poet, he not only should master the

    language but also the field of poetry. The renowned Arabian poet Tufail bin Amr Ad Dausi had

    clearly acknowledged the difference between ordinary poetry, the work of man and the divine

    nature of what Muhammads(pbuh) message1. He embraced Islam upon hearing the Quranic

    verses after being convinced that these are indeed Gods revelation. His conversion to Islam is a

    testimony of recognition that Muhammad(pbuh)s message revealed to him was no poetry and he

    was not a poet. Quran did not confirm to any rules of poetry or did not resemble anything like it.It was distinct in its eloquence and guidance, thereby being unmatched to any literature.

    Muhammad (pbuh) is also acquitted of the accusation of being a sorcerer similarly. He preached

    and was emphatic against sorcery and other such evils. History has it evidence that he never

    indulged in learning, teaching or even speaking in favor of sorcery. On one occasion, an spell

    was cast upon on Muhammad(pbuh) and as a consequence he suffered illness. He was only

    informed of this by revelation and he could not recognize it nor did he practice a sorcery to

    counter it. This clearly show that he was not a sorcerer.

    http://www.islamreligion.com/category/33/http://www.islamreligion.com/category/33/http://www.islamreligion.com/category/33/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/118/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/118/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/118/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/219/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/219/http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/118/http://www.islamreligion.com/category/33/
  • 7/31/2019 Misconceptions About Muhammad

    4/5

    1. http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/ch3s1.html

    [Ibn Hisham 1/385; Mukhtasar Seerat Ar-Rasool p.144]

    2.http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=833&Itemid=169

    His character

    Was he a womanizer?

    The most common sinister of all criticism Muhammads(pbuh) personality faces is the claim

    by the monogamous societies, that he was a womanizer as he had multiple wives.

    Muhammad (pbuh) is further attacked by some modern day critics for marrying young

    women. Polygamy at the time of Muhammad (pbuh) was well accepted and not at all

    considered a taboo. In order to prove these claims, they have to point out at least a single ill

    character that is evil to society as a whole at all times. Indecency or lewdness can be only

    attributed to contact to women outside marriage, abuse within marriage or act of treason

    within marriage. Muhammad(pbuh) as certified by historians had nothing of the sort. Judeo-

    Christian fundamentalists claim that Muhammad(pbuh) was of ill-character for marrying

    more than one wife1. As opposed to today, polygamy was well-accepted in the time of

    Muhammad(pbuh it was also a norm in the early Jewish societies and neither the Bible nor

    did Jesus(pbuh) speak a word against polygamy. Islam allows a Muslim man to marry a

    multitude of wives not more than four at once. Muhammad(pbuh) was not allowed to takemore wives when this verse was revealed and he, like the other Muslims and companions

    did could not simply divorce these wives because they were honored by the title Mother of

    the believers meaning they could never stay in marriage with anyone else other than

    Muhammad(pbuh).Muhammad(pbuh) married at the age of 25 to a woman quite older to

    himself, Khadeejah (may Allah be pleased with her) of forty. A man of lust would commit

    nudity, or at least marry a multitude of women when young, instead Muhammad(pbuh)

    chose to marry women to provide them social security, to bind disputing tribes in

    friendship, to honor his devout and steadfast disciples and to rescue the bereft widows from

    their misery.

    The Modern day Judeo-Christian fundamentalists are emphatic against polygamy, reasoning

    that it is a practice of injustice, the practice of immoral societies. Polygamy is a solution to

    problems of humanity as it provides the growing number of female population a bond of

    security through marriage. The West fails to realize that the female count in America alone is 7

    million females more than males, 5 million more in UK alone and around 9 million more in Russia.

    More men die as a consequence of war, alcoholism and drug abuse as compared to women, leaving

    http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/ch3s1.htmlhttp://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/ch3s1.htmlhttp://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=833&Itemid=169http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=833&Itemid=169http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=833&Itemid=169http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=833&Itemid=169http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/ch3s1.html
  • 7/31/2019 Misconceptions About Muhammad

    5/5

    them in misery and in a state of vulnerability to social injustice. Polygamy not only protects women

    but also channelizes a means of secure sexual relationship, thereby preventing illicit sex and spread

    of STDs.2

    Islam urges men to marry chaste women rather than indulging in illicit sex or marrying

    prostitutes and as consequence spreading STDs3.

    1.http://lastisland.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/why-did-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-have-eleven-

    wives/

    2.http://www.avert.org/women-hiv-aids.htm

    3.Although women are often perceived to be at low risk of HIV infection because it is not common to

    have more than one lifetime sexual partner, a great number of women are put at risk of HIV infection as a

    result of their husbands having unprotected sex outside of marriage or injecting drugs. It has been

    estimated that 90% of women living with HIV in Asia were infected by their husband or long-term partner.20

    (AIDS and HIV information form Avert.org)

    http://lastisland.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/why-did-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-have-eleven-wives/http://lastisland.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/why-did-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-have-eleven-wives/http://lastisland.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/why-did-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-have-eleven-wives/http://lastisland.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/why-did-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-have-eleven-wives/http://www.avert.org/women-hiv-aids.htmhttp://www.avert.org/women-hiv-aids.htmhttp://www.avert.org/women-hiv-aids.htmhttp://www.avert.org/women-hiv-aids.htmhttp://lastisland.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/why-did-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-have-eleven-wives/http://lastisland.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/why-did-prophet-muhammad-pbuh-have-eleven-wives/