Prophet Muhammad (s), A peerless personality

By: Faisal Ahsani


Really, this is a fact. The fact is in the form of an argument. When there is a chance to be counter-crossed, it becomes a challenge. So, it should be discussed in medium temper, being unconditionally free from all prejudices.Quite simply, the fact reads thus: Prophet Muhammad (s)is the greatest of all the leaders in the world!


At a first glance, somebody may tend to think this to be a fanatic statement. But truth should not be concealed simply because, it will cause distaste to the listeners. Nobody is happy to hear the tragic news that a landslide is expected to be in the location where one is living. But, since it is unhappy we should not make it so appreciative as to mislead him. To do so means to cheat. If things are spoken as they are, it will help to provoke thought, to take precautionary steps, and to make a sound enquiry and thus to find the truth. Things are thus, we are compelled to check and test the truthfulness of the above statement. Let us examine it taking two criteria in to consideration. They are (a) Abiding Popularity (b) Comprehensive History.


a. Abiding Popularity

Men are, generally, curious to know what is happening in the surroundings. If one happens to hear a strange noise or a bomb blast, he turns impatient until he is convinced what has taken place. The reason why people are eagerly listening to news is nothing but this. Since things are thus, nobody can abstain from seeking why the name ‘Muhammad’ is frequently announced from every nook and corner of the world.

‘The Adan’, ie the announcement for the obligatory prayer, is made five times from every mosque. The name Muhammad is articulated two times in every ‘Adan’. There are more than fifty Muslim countries in the world. In those countries, there are thousands of mosques. Besides, Muslims and their mosques exist in almost all the countries of the world. Now, it is doubtful, as to whether there is any country where Islam has not entered yet. It follows that the name of Muhammad is announced from every part of the world, regardless of governmental system, despite he being a man lived thousand years back.

Moreover, the mystery of the time schedule of this five Adan has also to be noted. The time fixation is based on the rotation of the earth. Since the earth is round, there would be morning, noon, afternoon, evening, and night at anytime but places being different. It means that, there is subuh, dhuhr, asr, magrib and isha at any time and every time, with the exception that location would be changed one after another in quick succession. From this, one can conclude that the name of Muhammad (s) is announced in this world 24 hours and more than ten thousand times each minute. This announcement is not started before one or two years or decades, but this has been the practice for the last 1400 years, without any least break!

Moreover, special programs for commemorating the ‘meelad’ of prophet are held throughout the world annually. During the hajj season, millions of Muslims gather around the holy tomb of Prophet Muhammad (s). Above all, function for the appraisal of prophet namely ‘Maulid’ is also convened in Muslim houses and mosques intermittently. Rhymes of appraisal flow from the loving and flowery hearts of his followers while from the hearts harder than dry deserts do not!

Moreover, Muslim population is increasing day by day. Islam is spreading rapidly throughout the world. New mosques and institution have been founded in every part of the world, even if the missionary works are fewer as compared to that of Christianity. The totality of all these leads us to assure that, the name of Muhammad is being reminded, spelled, and loudly announced by a massive society, endlessly throughout the world.

The fact that the sun rises in the east needs not to be proved presenting authentic evidence. Likewise, the above-referred facts are as clear as the daylight. Anybody who approaches things straight can make out them as they are. In case, one is enriched with a counter argument that crosses the statement, let him search and suggest another name, instead of Prophet Muhammad (s) that has got these much popularity and worldwide circulation throughout centuries. If one is able to do so he is said to have accepted the challenge.

b. Comprehensive History

It is another factor that holds Prophet Muhammad (s) matchless in his unique biography. There are world-renowned biographies of various leaders and writers. Some of them have had tempestuous impacts upon the public. But, the biography of Prophet (s) surpasses all other biographies in the world in its perfection and well documentation.

This is not as easy to understand as the first. So it has to be discussed in a little detail. Before examining the nature of Prophet’s history we must go through that of the others. Generally the biography of an elite person is written by himself or by a second writer. Most of the biographies consist of the important details of the person regarding his birth, parentage, education and so on. The rest of the book would be entirely devoted to describe his experiences and ideals in an emotional language. This is because, there is no much significance to record each and every minutest details of his day to day life, so far as the reading public are concerned. If it is done so, it would create but sheer boredom to readers.

The life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (S) cannot be compressed in a book like this. Nor hundreds of this kind will serve the purpose. Books on Prophet are not only written by Muslim authors but by Orientalists, Zionists, Christians and polemic writes as well. Writing biographies is quite common these days. But we should keep in our mind that, prophet lived 1400 years back. Still, the entries events of his life have been more authentically and microscopically recorded than those of a living figure today!

As hinted before each and every minutest detail of prophet’s life is recorded in history. His words, deeds, views, silence, in day and at night, in public and in private, at home and outside, in country and abroad, in war and in peace, in mirth and misery, in health and illness, with wives and companions, with sons and daughters, with children and grownups, with friends and enemies, with kings and ambassadors, with beggars and monarchs, with birds and animals, and so on. His followers as well as his opponents observed every aspect of his life and described to the coming generation. The style of his walking, his brushing, his eating, his smiling, his talking, his bathing, his sleeping, his dressing, his cleaning, and what not. They narrated his speeches, his writings, his messengers, his writers, his servants and assistants, his journeys, his expedition, his vehicles and apartments, his households, his instruments, even his food items, his curry items, his lamps, his mats, his rings, his foot wears, his tooth brushes, his combs, his mirrors, his perfumes, his turbans, and what not. His physical features are described so specifically and elaborately that there remains no aspect to be high-lighted, such as his face, his eyes, his nose, his teeth, his lips, his eyebrows, his hairs, his shoulders, his palms, his legs, his feet, his chest, his breast, his beard, his moustache, his stomach, and his complexion. Even they sharply counted the gray hairs from the rest! When he is in the crowd they reported everything they observed and when he is with his family, the wives and children did the same. He had nothing to conceal from the mass because everything of his life was model to the world, just as the holy Quran said ‘(O Mankind) You have in the messenger of God, a perfect role model’.

We should bear in mind the fact that, these details are not written by a particular historian lived recently using his abundant imagination. But, all those things have been directly observed by the then followers (Sahabies) of the prophet (s). They reported them all to the subsequent generation (Thabien) and they to the next (Thabiuthabieen) and so forth. After one or two centuries the scholars not only studied the text of prophet (s) transmitted orally by the proceeding generation but they devoted their life in studying the life of those reporters as well. From then onwards, the new practice of close and critical study of the reporters become vigilant. Thus a new science called ‘Criticism and justification of Hadith reporters was formed. Thus the complete history of the reports from prophet (s) to that age was clearly collected and recorded.

They accepted the honest and rejected that not only dishonest but even the slightest dubious ones. Some of them are so conscious in this regard that, if the reporter was suspected to have told a lie in the life, they won’t accept his report at all. Numerous works and in a number of volumes have been written on these names of ‘reporters’ alone (Asmaau-Rijaal). Not only they did memorize the texts of Prophet Muhammad (s), but they thoroughly learnt by heart the name-series of the reporters, their birth, education, death, teachers, students, journeys and their complete history as well.

Scholars devoted their lives in specializing the particular aspects of Prophet’s life. Special works on the holy foot-wears of Prophet, on parents on Prophet, on grandfather of prophet, on wives of Prophet, on daughters of Prophet and on followers of Prophet are composed separately not because they have any other personal grandeur but merely they are concerned with prophet Muhammad (s). Who can suggest another name except Prophet Muhammad (s) whose history has been kept, recorded and protected more authentically than this? British writer D.G Hogarth assures having no other instance.

“Serious or trivial, his (Muhammad’s) daily behaviors has instituted the canon which millions observe at this day with conscious memory. No one regard it by any section human right as this perfect man has been imitated so minutely. The conduct of the founder of Christianity has not so governed the ordinary life of his followers. Moreover no founder of religion has been left so solitary an eminence as the Muslim Apostle” (D.G Hogarth, A history of Arabia, p. 52, Oxford Press, 1922)