Other Prophets in Another Age

Other Prophets in Another Age

1989 6 June 12 Other Prophets in Another Age (343) The prophets saw all non-Muslims as being in dire need of having the word of God conveyed to them. Seeing it as their mission to satisfy that need, they taught us to love other nations. Muslims, as moral heirs to that prophetic mission, should have taught the lessons of moral rectitude and spiritual elevation through their love of and compassion for others. But this is exactly what Muslims have failed to do.

Hatred of western nations has always been the most damaging trait of Muslim leaders of this age, and in expressing that hatred, they have acted against all that is most sacred in their, own religion. They would have done well to follow the example of Mahatma Gandhi, who was a living example of brotherly love towards all nations. Albert Einstein said of him that future generations would find it hard to Credit that a man like Gandhi had actually walked on this earth. When asked by his biographer, Abraham Pais, to elaborate on this, he said it was quite simply because “Gandhi hated nobody, not even the British.”

A commentator on Pais’ book on Einstein (Subtle is the Lord: The Science and Life of Albert Einstein, Clarendon Press, Oxford) has observed that “it helps us to grasp the special quality of mind and heart that Gandhi possessed and which Einstein admired so profoundly. In comparing his personality, we learn something about the morphology of human genius at its highest level – that of prophethood (Times of India, November 13, 1983).”

Although not a prophet in the sense that Muhammad (May peace be upon him) was, Gandhi has been recognized almost as a saint – or ethical prophet – throughout the entire world. Many great Muslim leaders were contemporaries of Mahatma Gandhi, but Einstein’s evaluation of Gandhi could not be applied to a single one of them.

When the Prophet’s successors fail to demonstrate the true prophetic character, raising barriers of hatred, instead of cementing bonds of love, ordinary people are hardly to be blamed if they are prepared to accept others as their prophets.