A Defense

A Defense

1988 7 July 9 A Defense (226) “Few great men have been so maligned as Muhammad. Christian scholars of medieval Europe painted him as an impostor, a lecher, and a man of blood. A corruption of his name, ‘Mahound, even came to signify the devil. This picture of Muhammad and his religion still retains some influence. The English author Thomas Carlyle in 1840 was the first notable European to insist publicly that Muhammad must have been sincere, because it was ridiculous to suppose an impostor would have been the founder of a great religion.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol 12, p. 609

The argument used by Thomas Carlyle to sweep away western misconceptions about the Prophet was simply that if a tree is known by his fruit, so is a man known by his character. Whoever reads the sayings of the Prophet of Islam, whoever learns of what his daily life was like, whoever comes to understand what type of movement was born under his influence, can never believe that his life’s mission and achievements were those of an impostor.

A man who makes it his mission to bring about a healthy revolution among the people, speaking from the heart, and using words which contain the finest elements of humanity, can never be a deceiver.

A man who is a fraud may succeed in fraudulence, but he will never succeed in launching a divine movement.