The Islam that was revealed to Muhammad (PBUH), is the
continuation and culmination of all the preceding revealed religions and
hence it is for all times and all peoples. This status of Islam is
sustained by glaring facts. Firstly, there is no other revealed book
extant in the same form and content as it was revealed. Secondly, no other
revealed religion has any convincing claim to provide guidance in all
walks of human life for all times. But Islam addresses humanity at large
and offers basic guidance regarding all human problems. Moreover, it has
withstood the test of fourteen hundred years and has all the
potentialities of establishing an ideal society as it did under the
leadership of the last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
It was a miracle that Prophet Muhammad could bring even his toughest
enemies to the fold of Islam without adequate material resources.
Worshippers of idols, blind followers of the ways of forefathers,
promoters of tribal feuds, abusers of human dignity and blood, became the
most disciplined nation under the guidance of Islam and its Prophet. Islam
opened before them vistas of spiritual heights and human dignity by
declaring righteousness as the sole criterion of merit and honor. Islam
shaped their social, cultural, moral and commercial life with basic laws
and principles which are in conformity with human nature and hence
applicable in all times as human nature does not change.
It is so unfortunate that the Christian West, instead of sincerely
trying to understand the phenomenal success of Islam during its earlier
time, considered it as a rival religion. During the centuries of the
Crusades this trend gained much force and impetus and a huge amount of
literature was produced to tarnish the image of Islam. But Islam has begun
to unfold its genuineness to the modern scholars whose bold and objective
observations on Islam belie all the charges leveled against it by the
so-called unbiased orientalists.
Here we furnish some observations on Islam by great and acknowledged
non-Muslim scholars of modern time. Truth needs no advocates to plead on
its behalf, but the prolonged malicious propaganda against Islam has
created great confusion even in the minds of free and objective thinkers.
"It (Islam) replaced monkishness by manliness. It gives hope to the
slave, brotherhood to mankind, and recognition of the fundamental facts of
human nature."
Canon Taylor, Paper read before the Church Congress at Walverhamton,
Oct. 7, 1887; Quoted by Arnoud in THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, pp. 71-72.
"Sense of justice is one of the most wonderful ideals of Islam, because
as I read in the Qur'an I find those dynamic principles of life, not
mystic but practical ethics for the daily conduct of life suited to the
whole world."
Lectures on "The Ideals of Islam;" see SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF
SAROJINI NAIDU, Madras, 1918, p. 167.
"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims
sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword
upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that
historians have ever repeated."
De Lacy O'Leary, ISLAM AT THE CROSSROADS, London, 1923, p. 8.
"But Islam has a still further service to render to the cause of
humanity. It stands after all nearer to the real East than Europe does,
and it possesses a magnificent tradition of inter-racial understanding and
cooperation. No other society has such a record of success uniting in an
equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavours so many and so
various races of mankind . . . Islam has still the power to reconcile
apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the
opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by
cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition. In its
hands lies very largely the solution of the problem with which Europe is
faced in its relation with East. If they unite, the hope of a peaceful
issue is immeasurably enhanced. But if Europe, by rejecting the
cooperation of Islam, throws it into the arms of its rivals, the issue can
only be disastrous for both."
H.A.R. Gibb, WHITHER ISLAM, London, 1932, p. 379.
"I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because
of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to
possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence
which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the
wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be
called the Saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to
assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving
its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and
happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be
acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable
to the Europe of today."
G.B. Shaw, THE GENUINE ISLAM, Vol. 1, No. 81936.
"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the
outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is,
as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue."
A.J. Toynbee, CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, New York, 1948, p.205.
"The rise of Islam is perhaps the most amazing event in human history.
Springing from a land and a people like previously negligible, Islam
spread within a century over half the earth, shattering great empires,
overthrowing long established religions, remoulding the souls of races,
and building up a whole new world - world of Islam.
"The closer we examine this development the more extraordinary does it
appear. The other great religions won their way slowly, by painful
struggle and finally triumphed with the aid of powerful monarchs converted
to the new faith. Christianity had its Constantine, Buddhism its Asoka,
and Zoroastrianism its Cyrus, each lending to his chosen cult the mighty
force of secular authority. Not so Islam. Arising in a desert land
sparsely inhabited by a nomad race previously undistinguished in human
annals, Islam sallied forth on its great adventure with the slenderest
human backing and against the heaviest material odds. Yet Islam triumphed
with seemingly miraculous ease, and a couple of generations saw the Fiery
Crescent borne victorious from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas and from the
desert of Central Asia to the deserts of Central Africa."
--A.M.L. Stoddard, quoted in ISLAM - THE RELIGION OF ALL PROPHETS,
Begum Bawani Waqf, Karachi, Pakistan, p. 56.
"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest
sense of this term considered etymologically and historically. The
definition of rationalism as a system that bases religious beliefs on
principles furnished by the reason applies to it exactly . . . It cannot
be denied that many doctrines and systems of theology and also many
superstitions, from the worship of saints to the use of rosaries and
amulets, have become grafted on the main trunk of Muslim creed. But in
spite of the rich developments, in every sense of the term, of the
teachings of the Prophet, the Quran has invariable kept its place as the
fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been
proclaimed therein with a grandeur, a majesty, an invariable purity and
with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside
the pale of Islam. This fidelity to the fundamental dogma of the religion,
the elemental simplicity of the formula in which it is enunciated, the
proof that it gains from the fervid conviction of the missionaries who
propagate it, are so many causes to explain the success of Muhammadan
missionary efforts. A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological
complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding
might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of
winning its way into the consciences of men."
Edward Montet, "La Propagande Chretienne et ses Adversaries Musulmans,"
Paris, 1890; Quoted by T.W. Arnold in THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, London,
1913, pp. 413-414.
"I am not a Muslim in the usual sense, though I hope I am a "Muslim" as
"one surrendered to God," but I believe that embedded in the Quran and
other expressions of the Islamic vision are vast stores of divine truth
from which I and other occidentals have still much to learn, and 'Islam is
certainly a strong contender for the supplying of the basic framework of
the one religion of the future.'"
--W. Montgomery Watt, ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY TODAY, London, 1983, p.
ix.
continuation and culmination of all the preceding revealed religions and
hence it is for all times and all peoples. This status of Islam is
sustained by glaring facts. Firstly, there is no other revealed book
extant in the same form and content as it was revealed. Secondly, no other
revealed religion has any convincing claim to provide guidance in all
walks of human life for all times. But Islam addresses humanity at large
and offers basic guidance regarding all human problems. Moreover, it has
withstood the test of fourteen hundred years and has all the
potentialities of establishing an ideal society as it did under the
leadership of the last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
It was a miracle that Prophet Muhammad could bring even his toughest
enemies to the fold of Islam without adequate material resources.
Worshippers of idols, blind followers of the ways of forefathers,
promoters of tribal feuds, abusers of human dignity and blood, became the
most disciplined nation under the guidance of Islam and its Prophet. Islam
opened before them vistas of spiritual heights and human dignity by
declaring righteousness as the sole criterion of merit and honor. Islam
shaped their social, cultural, moral and commercial life with basic laws
and principles which are in conformity with human nature and hence
applicable in all times as human nature does not change.
It is so unfortunate that the Christian West, instead of sincerely
trying to understand the phenomenal success of Islam during its earlier
time, considered it as a rival religion. During the centuries of the
Crusades this trend gained much force and impetus and a huge amount of
literature was produced to tarnish the image of Islam. But Islam has begun
to unfold its genuineness to the modern scholars whose bold and objective
observations on Islam belie all the charges leveled against it by the
so-called unbiased orientalists.
Here we furnish some observations on Islam by great and acknowledged
non-Muslim scholars of modern time. Truth needs no advocates to plead on
its behalf, but the prolonged malicious propaganda against Islam has
created great confusion even in the minds of free and objective thinkers.
"It (Islam) replaced monkishness by manliness. It gives hope to the
slave, brotherhood to mankind, and recognition of the fundamental facts of
human nature."
Canon Taylor, Paper read before the Church Congress at Walverhamton,
Oct. 7, 1887; Quoted by Arnoud in THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, pp. 71-72.
"Sense of justice is one of the most wonderful ideals of Islam, because
as I read in the Qur'an I find those dynamic principles of life, not
mystic but practical ethics for the daily conduct of life suited to the
whole world."
Lectures on "The Ideals of Islam;" see SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF
SAROJINI NAIDU, Madras, 1918, p. 167.
"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims
sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword
upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that
historians have ever repeated."
De Lacy O'Leary, ISLAM AT THE CROSSROADS, London, 1923, p. 8.
"But Islam has a still further service to render to the cause of
humanity. It stands after all nearer to the real East than Europe does,
and it possesses a magnificent tradition of inter-racial understanding and
cooperation. No other society has such a record of success uniting in an
equality of status, of opportunity, and of endeavours so many and so
various races of mankind . . . Islam has still the power to reconcile
apparently irreconcilable elements of race and tradition. If ever the
opposition of the great societies of East and West is to be replaced by
cooperation, the mediation of Islam is an indispensable condition. In its
hands lies very largely the solution of the problem with which Europe is
faced in its relation with East. If they unite, the hope of a peaceful
issue is immeasurably enhanced. But if Europe, by rejecting the
cooperation of Islam, throws it into the arms of its rivals, the issue can
only be disastrous for both."
H.A.R. Gibb, WHITHER ISLAM, London, 1932, p. 379.
"I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because
of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to
possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence
which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the
wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be
called the Saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to
assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving
its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and
happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be
acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable
to the Europe of today."
G.B. Shaw, THE GENUINE ISLAM, Vol. 1, No. 81936.
"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the
outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is,
as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue."
A.J. Toynbee, CIVILIZATION ON TRIAL, New York, 1948, p.205.
"The rise of Islam is perhaps the most amazing event in human history.
Springing from a land and a people like previously negligible, Islam
spread within a century over half the earth, shattering great empires,
overthrowing long established religions, remoulding the souls of races,
and building up a whole new world - world of Islam.
"The closer we examine this development the more extraordinary does it
appear. The other great religions won their way slowly, by painful
struggle and finally triumphed with the aid of powerful monarchs converted
to the new faith. Christianity had its Constantine, Buddhism its Asoka,
and Zoroastrianism its Cyrus, each lending to his chosen cult the mighty
force of secular authority. Not so Islam. Arising in a desert land
sparsely inhabited by a nomad race previously undistinguished in human
annals, Islam sallied forth on its great adventure with the slenderest
human backing and against the heaviest material odds. Yet Islam triumphed
with seemingly miraculous ease, and a couple of generations saw the Fiery
Crescent borne victorious from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas and from the
desert of Central Asia to the deserts of Central Africa."
--A.M.L. Stoddard, quoted in ISLAM - THE RELIGION OF ALL PROPHETS,
Begum Bawani Waqf, Karachi, Pakistan, p. 56.
"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest
sense of this term considered etymologically and historically. The
definition of rationalism as a system that bases religious beliefs on
principles furnished by the reason applies to it exactly . . . It cannot
be denied that many doctrines and systems of theology and also many
superstitions, from the worship of saints to the use of rosaries and
amulets, have become grafted on the main trunk of Muslim creed. But in
spite of the rich developments, in every sense of the term, of the
teachings of the Prophet, the Quran has invariable kept its place as the
fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been
proclaimed therein with a grandeur, a majesty, an invariable purity and
with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside
the pale of Islam. This fidelity to the fundamental dogma of the religion,
the elemental simplicity of the formula in which it is enunciated, the
proof that it gains from the fervid conviction of the missionaries who
propagate it, are so many causes to explain the success of Muhammadan
missionary efforts. A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological
complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding
might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of
winning its way into the consciences of men."
Edward Montet, "La Propagande Chretienne et ses Adversaries Musulmans,"
Paris, 1890; Quoted by T.W. Arnold in THE PREACHING OF ISLAM, London,
1913, pp. 413-414.
"I am not a Muslim in the usual sense, though I hope I am a "Muslim" as
"one surrendered to God," but I believe that embedded in the Quran and
other expressions of the Islamic vision are vast stores of divine truth
from which I and other occidentals have still much to learn, and 'Islam is
certainly a strong contender for the supplying of the basic framework of
the one religion of the future.'"
--W. Montgomery Watt, ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY TODAY, London, 1983, p.
ix.
