Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)
In the previous set of episodes,
we spoke a bit about the impeccable character
of the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him.
In light of the principle given to us by Jesus Christ,
peace and blessings be upon him,
according to the Bible that you will know
a true prophet from a false prophet
by virtue of, by talking of their fruits.
And so we wish to pivot now for the next few episodes
to another blessed fruit harvested
from the call and ministry of the Prophet Muhammad,
peace and blessings be upon him.
(air whooshing)
This next fruit is his positive impact on the world.
How the world changed in unique
and unparalleled ways when he enlightened them
with his message and brought to them
God's sacred law as a finality
of revelation until the end of time.
So it further proves the prophethood of Muhammad,
peace and blessings be upon him,
to simply consider what did this man accomplish?
And were these achievements truly extraordinary
or simply overrated and blown out of proportion
by his admirers.
The great 11th century Andalusian scholar Ibn Hazm,
After illustrating how the Prophet Muhammad
peace and blessings be upon him,
transformed the world around him
in historically matchless ways.
He goes on to say, "The biography of Muhammad,"
peace and blessings be upon him,
"for whoever deeply considers it is enough
"to necessitate that he must have been the prophet of God."
And he says that,
"If the Prophet Muhammad had no other miracle
"that he performed, but his life story,
the events of his life,
how they unfolded and what emanated from them.
"this alone would have been enough of a miracle."
You see his call was not just extraordinary
in terms of its political reach on world stage,
but also in that it was demonstrably greater
in influence on religiosity and on spirituality
than that of any other founder of the major faiths.
And on social wellbeing at large.
So Jesus Christ peace and blessings be upon him,
was a tremendous spiritual figure.
But he was never a statesman or a general.
Alexander the Great
and so many other iconic political leaders
in the course of human history were not heralded
for their moral contributions
or their spiritual motivations.
On the contrary rather
so many rulers and leaders
and emperors were known for their tyranny,
their arrogance or otherwise being intoxicated
by their power and their delusions of grandeur.
But the Prophet Muhammad was unique.
There was something different about him.
Consider the enigma of a man who was himself illiterate,
peace and blessings be upon him,
who was born among
the warring, feudal, backward tribes of Arabia
that were totally isolated from the philosophies
and the arts and the warfare and the education
of the major civilizations around them
that were developed so much further
than these primitive tribes in Arabia.
And yet this same man steps forward seemingly overnight
and transforms the face of that entire region.
And soon far more beyond that,
with a call whose profundity and its reach
and its permanence remain peerless until today.
This is what drove John William Draper for instance,
the English-American historian to say,
"Just look at the map,
"the map of what Islam did upon the advent
"of Muhammad for centuries onwards shows the marks
"of something other than an imposter," he says.
He says, "To be the ruler of so many empires,
meaning even after his death.
"And to have your example dictate the lives
"of 1/3 of the human race, he says
"Just might qualify to get a person called
"the messenger of God."
And Alphonse de Lamartine, the French historian,
he says, "Consider how you measure greatness.
"If the smallness of resources
"and the greatness of accomplishments
"are the two factors you consider,
"then can any man ever be claimed
"to be greater than Muhammad?"
He says as regards to all the standards actually
by which greatness is measured,
we may well just ask,
"Is there any man,
"has there ever been any man greater than him?"
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
"Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)"