The time is 600 A.D. The place, Arabia, the valley of Makka. He sees a market place, crowded with people from all walks of life. He sees children fighting with each other, men bargaining over bread and meat. There are a few malnutritioned slaves being sold at one side, and of course the camels. The dust from their hoofs covers everyone and everything. It seems to him like a place of chaos, where morality has been traded in for power, and decency for pleasure. The sun is about to set, and he walks towards the marketplace. He is not a tall man, by most standards of average height, with broad shoulders. His slightly curled long hair is flowing in the wind, and his arched eyebrows are staring at the ground. Maybe it’s his flowing beard, or the very fast pace of his walk, but his presence is felt in the marketplace immediately. Most people are too busy to turn around and pay attention to this one man, who is not distracted by any of what they have to offer, but they feel his presence nonetheless. Some turn around, only to see him walking away. Where is that man going? They wonder.
The sun is setting in the horizon, and the man is seen briskly climbing the steps of Mount Hira. He stands atop the mountain and faces the people. He seems sad as he turns his back to them and stands atop the mount, his head bowed as if in shame. He looks like a mirage in the setting sun, long hair flowing in the wind and a handsome face bowed down. He slowly climbs down from the top and walks into a cave. He sits there alone in contemplation, are those tears in his eyes? The man has fallen asleep, on the ground.
He feels a presence in the cave and opens his eyes only to be surrounded by a bright light. Never has he seen a light so pure. He becomes very afraid. As he stands up, he hears a voice… "Muhammad read!!!”
The man is astonished. He mumbles “I am not of those who read” He feels a warm embrace, nothing like that he has ever felt. The voice repeats itself…"Muhammad read!” This time, slightly louder…"I am not of those who read "…… It seems to him that the voice does not hear him, for it says to him again "Muhammad read!!!"… The man is scared, he is trembling. He gathers all his courage and says “what shall I read?”…. "Read in the name Your Lord, who has created man from a clot of earth…"
And so begins the journey of the greatest man in the world, whose name even to this date, bring a sixth of the world to their knees, and the story of his life brings tears in their eyes. Four years after the death of Justinian, AD 569, was born in Makkah, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race to date. He was destined to be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race, and speaking for a non-religious point of view, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of Allah.
Never had a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more impossible aim, since this aim was superhuman; to subvert superstitions which had been imposed between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God, to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry in pagan Arabia. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he (Muhammad SAW) had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design, no other instrument than himself and no other aid except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and in arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered, in all Mighty Allah's name, Persia Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and part of Gaul. He came to humankind as a Warner, and a bringer of glad tidings for those who believed in the oneness of Allah, the creator. His first speech was made in front of a tribe in ancient Arabia (the Quraysh) and he was shunned by everyone present. His followers at that time were three. His last speech was made in front of 250,000 believers; such was the miracle of Muhammad SAW.
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad SAW? The most famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. But this man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls. Even to this day, over nine billion people upon pronunciation of his name, bow down in respect.
On the basis of a Book, the Noble Quran, every letter which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blend together peoples of every tongue and race. He has left the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the followers of Muhammad; the conquest of one-third the earth to the dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle of man but that of reason.
Our Prophet was a philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of Ideas, Restorer of Rational beliefs… The founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire that is ISLAM. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he? The greatest man in the world… Muhammad SAW, the seal of the prophets. My endless Salaam and respect to you, and my endless thanks for Allah, the most merciful, for making us Muslims. To end this segment, maybe the words of Yusuf Islam are the most appropriate in showing respect to the prophet.
“If you ask me who my prophet is – I will say haven't you heard?
His name is Muhammad (SAW),
He is a mercy to the world – a mercy to the world "
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