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Anyone who wishes to understand how
the world has lost its war against ignorance, injustice and
inequality, he should look into how the world treated Muhammad and his
message during the last 1400 years.
Muhammad received the call from God
around the age 40, called the people in and around Makka to answer His
call, and was forced to leave his hometown at the age of 53 with a
handful of his companions. They believed in his message despite
extremely repressive measures used by his opponents, and had decided
to make Islam the only priority of their life. Seven years later Makka
fell to him without shedding a drop of blood. When he died at the age
of 63, Islamic community had extended to the far corners of Arabia. In
the next 50 years, Islam's borders extended to the three known
continents, and Muslims had established a civilization that dazzled
the world for the next thousand years. Despite all their deficiencies,
Muslims adhered to Muhammad's ideals and led the world till they
relegated Islam to a few rituals. Europe learned from the Islamic
ideals, and slowly captured the Muslim lands in the last two hundred
years. With the ascendancy of the West came the quest for the 'final
ideology'. Crusades had closed the western mind to Islam
Fever pitch
9/11 provided the Islam-bashers a
long stick to hit the Muslims, Islam, the Qur'an and Muhammad.
Appalling hate speeches and remarks about Islam and Mohammad have
become commonplace among some Christian pastors, radio talk shows,
media pundits and on the Internet. Two leading American conservative
writers, Paul Weyrich and William Lind in their new booklet titled
"Why Islam Is a Threat to America and the West?" quip:
"Islam is, quite simply, a religion of war", American
Muslims are a "fifth column in this country" and "they
should be encouraged (?) to leave." Ann Coulter suggested that
the only way to remove the 'Islamic threat' is that "we should
invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to
Christianity." Rev. Jerry Vines, of the Southern Baptist
Convention called Muhammad a "demon-obsessed pedophile."
This is part of how the West has
tried to preserve its flock for fourteen hundred years from looking
into what Islam really is, and how Mohammad's message changed the
human history in just eleven years.
One finds immense mass of derogatory material claiming that the
Qur'an spawns terrorism, Islam is the religion of sword, Muslims
repress women and minorities, and resist all the "goodies"
of the modern culture. The refrain is that Muhammad's religion is
untrue because of his so-called 'moral deficiencies'.
One is often puzzled by these gibes.
They are coming from those who wish to convince the world about a
human being as the "God", a "Messiah, the son of Living
God", as Peter is quoted. Joining the chorus are those who claim
exclusive rights on God for a chosen race, or worship everything from
a mouse to a monkey and an elephant as their God, and so on. The
secular humanists join the flock by projecting Islam as antiquated.
They don't want to admit that the most comprehensive laws and
extensive sermonizing about ethical behavior has failed to motivate
human beings to refrain from misconduct, or control the strong urges
to exploit for unlawful gains.
A SIMPLE
Intelligence test
Muhammad did not claim that he is
"God", or God's son. Muslims don't believe that he is an
incarnation of God on earth. He believed in ONE God, worshipped him
and practiced God's culture - total obedience to Him.
During his early life till he was
almost 40 years old he was known for his integrity, honesty and
intelligence. He told the poor, illiterate and uncivilized tribesmen
of Makka: Believe in God, and you will reach the pinnacle of glory and
attain the success in both the worlds. When he asked his own people to
give up idol-worship and accept Islam - God's culture as their way of
life, they refused. They laughed at him, and rebuked him for giving up
the religion of his forefathers. When he showed no inclination to
compromise they finally banished him.
He took refuge in a distant city at
the age 53. During the next six years he endured exile, hunger and
wily conspiracies to annihilate his small group of followers numbering
only in hundreds. His unflinching conviction about Islam sustained him
in extremely adverse circumstances and gained a large following. He
returned to his hometown seven years later. He could easily avenge
years of abuse and ill treatment.
But he forgave everyone, including the person who chewed the
heart of his uncle after killing him only five years back. Those who
were baying for his blood for years and had assembled a grand alliance
by Machiavellian machinations to erase the Muslims just two years ago
were amazed to see him declare unconditional amnesty, despite pressure
from his army commanders. The number of all those killed in wars
against him did not exceed even hundreds. In the last four years of
his life he was the undisputed 'king of Arabia' but when he died he
left nothing valuable in his household.
How could an imposter endure extreme
hardships, and for what? Who would give up the comfortable life of a
merchant to starve in Makka's barren hills? How could a morally
corrupt person resist the joys of power, status and wealth that came
with success? Why would he not devour the fruits of a long struggle
after gaining total control on the lives and property of millions? How
could he gather a staunch following?
Mohammad stands alone among the
world leaders who did not seek nor accepted a reward. Instead, he
established a model human society that lived by God's words, and vowed
to continue his mission. What did Muhammad stand for?
Equality, justice
and happiness
Fifteen hundred years later the
world is still struggling to achieve what Muhammad accomplished within
a short span of twenty-three years. On receiving the call from God he
told us that:
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There is only One God (none
shares an iota of Godhead with Him, as a son or His incarnation.
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Only He is worthy of worship,
and obedience, and none else.
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We will appear before God, and
give an account to Him alone of whatever we said or did.
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All are created equal and have
equal rights to enjoy God's bounties.
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We should try to establish God's
kingdom on earth (a just society) using God-given resources and
human faculties. If we believe in God (Allah is just an Arabic
term for 'the God') and accept that He created us on this earth
for a purpose, then what else could God repeatedly tell to make
our life fulfilling and peaceful on earth? This is the eternal
truth. And God appointed Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and
thousands more in every corner of the globe, in every human
settlement to remind us of His message.
As long as the humanity was
scattered into small cantons, separated by space and time and
communication was extremely limited, God's message was lost or
distorted soon after the death of a messenger and his early disciples.
But it was the same message all along. Muhammad just cleared
the thick dust that had covered it over the centuries.
Mohammad's genius was in
establishing a just society in his lifetime. He showed us that what
God was expecting from human beings was not a utopia. They could
easily translate God's words into a living reality, a thriving human
community, a "kingdom of God" on earth, if they decided to
live by it.
The Muslims took this powerful
message and raced to the known reaches of the inhabited world, from
distant islands in the Pacific to the unfathomed Atlantic. Within
fifty years of Muhammad's death Muslim civilization spread from Spain
to Malacca and the world's two superpowers vanished in thin air. For
the next thousand years Muhammad's ideals dominated the world.
Slowly, the Muslims lost the vigor
of his ideals and rituals replaced the conviction. Now they are 1/5 of
the world population. They were assigned the duty to take God's
message to the rest, but 4/5 of the world does not know Mohammad or
his message, and Muslims are doing very little to tell. When will the
Muslims showcase a real Islmic society for the modern world?
Muhammad's message, and not his
sword, overpowered the two most powerful and dominant cultures of his
time. The Roman Empire and the Iranian monarchy could not impede the
fast-moving ideological flood. Muhammad changed the way mankind
perceived God-Human relationship. Muslims not only recited: "We
worship God" in ritual prayers all day long but put it into
practice every minute of their life. Islam's interpretation of the
monotheistic faith in God is most unique and has its own genius.
Belief in God acts as the strong motivating force as well a
controlling mechanism of human behavior. Nothing else, neither
education nor legislation and strict enforcement may have the same
impact on human society as much as God-consciousness - loving Him and
accepting human accountability to Him alone.
End of history?
Fukuyama in his book 'The End of
History' states: The Capitalist system is the eternal salvation for
man on earth. Islam, despite its weakness and disintegration,
threatens this new victorious way of life." But Fukuyama's dream
society based on capitalism is cracking under its own weight. The
breakdown of the civil society in America is quite evident to every
keen observer. Lack of a purpose in life has destroyed individual
integrity. The family - the bedrock of every civilization has
disintegrated. Religious rituals make no sense as God is thrown out of
the window, or confined to Sunday mass. Moral values have lost their
significance in the deluge of the pop culture. Business ethics did not
stop Enron, WorldCom and other giants from collapse. A secular
democratic society built on the shaky grounds of information and law
enforcement is showing the symptoms of collapse. The truth is that the
western civilization is facing perhaps its greatest test.
ISLAM ATTRACTING
MORE
In post 9/11 era when the "war
on terrorism" has closed many minds to anything associated with
Islam it is puzzling to many that Muhammad's ideals are attracting new
adherents everywhere.
There is no dearth of newsroom
commentators and political strategists who, day in and day out,
proclaim: "Islam has been at war with the West, indeed the entire
Non-Muslim world, ever since the days of Muhammad." Huntington
tried to define the struggle in terms of "clash of
civilizations".
Despite all this ho hum, nobody
could clearly identify what is attracting young affluent white
Americans and poor, hungry Hutus alike to Islam. Nicolas D. Kristof (NYT,
July 9, 2002) acknowledged that Islam "is spreading rapidly"
and has "admirable qualities" like a profound egalitarianism
and lack of hierarchy that confers dignity and self-respect among
believers, greater hospitality, an institutionalized system of
charity, Zakat, to provide for the poor, etc (though he is worried
about the implications of the spread of Islam for the status of women
and for the genital mutilations of the girls, as if it is what Islam
stands for). He pointed out that "focusing on the moral
deficiencies of other people simply underscores our own."
Islam is winning because it
logically fulfils human desire to have faith in God, longing for a
fulfilling life on earth, and provides a human model
Muhammad - to follow in everyday life. Those who malign
Muhammad and Islam should look to what the new converts are saying.
Aug/Sept
2002
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