Alhamdulillah. You're watching Islam
always. This is your host Yusf Estes.
This is called Muhammad A Toz + 2, a
full and
complete background historical
record of the prophet Muhammad peace and
blessings be upon him. This is a
production of Islams.com.
You can visit our internet website at
Islam
always.com for more videos and audios,
articles like this.
We want to begin by mentioning that
while other people are clamoring over
what to do when somebody draws a cartoon
or picture of one of the prophets of
Almighty God, peace be upon all of them,
we decided it was high time for somebody
to break it down and put it out here
where you can really see everything
about the prophet Muhammad, peace and
blessings be upon him. Everything from A
to Z. In so doing though, we discovered
there was a whole lot more than A to Z.
So we called it A to Z plus two. But in
any case, while you're watching and
enjoying this program, remember you can
download it, make copies of it, and
distribute it freely so that you will
all have the opportunity to share in
this important contribution to the true
historical character and the mission of
Muhammad Iban Abdullah Iban Abdul
Mutalib, the last and final messenger of
Almighty God to all the humankind in
Jin. Muhammad Az
plus2. We'll begin by mentioning that uh
all of this is going to be based on
books, manuscripts, text, and actual
eyewitness accounts far too numerous to
mention herein. All of it's preserved in
the original Arabic language in a form
that's preserved throughout the
centuries by both Muslims and
non-Muslims.
Now before we begin the A to Z plus two,
I think it's necessary to notice the
importance of the subject which is
Muhammad peace and blessing be upon him.
So many people today are discussing him
peace be upon him. But we want to know
what was he really like? What did he
teach? Why was he so loved by so many
and yet hated by others? And did he live
up to his claims? Was he really a holy
man? Was he a prophet of God? And what
is the truth about this
man? Can we be totally honest in our
judgment? Well, you be the
judge. Now, before I actually get into
the A to Z plus two, the facts, I'd like
for us to just do some simple historical
evidence. And these are facts that are
going to be narrated by people, Muslim
and non-Muslim, who knew him personally.
First of all, his name was Muhammad.
Iban Abdullahb Abdul Mutalib and
Muhammad means the praised one. Abdullah
means the servant of almighty God. And
then of course it's talking about that
means his father is. So his name is
Muhammad, the son of the servant of
Allah, which is his father. And he's
from the noble tribe of the Qurich, who
are the leaders of Mecca in those days.
He never fell into the common practice
of his tribesmen of worshiping statues,
idols, or man-made gods. He believed in
the name of God as the highest of
reverence and never took God's name in
vain. Nor did he make vain glorious
statements about his purpose. He
despised false worship in every form and
all of the complexities and degradation
to which it leads. He insisted on
keeping the commandments of Almighty God
just as the prophets of old had done. He
never committed adultery and he forbid
others from doing the same. He forbid us
and interest on lending money just the
same as Jesus peace be upon him had done
centuries before him. He never gambled
nor did he allow it. He never drank any
alcohol or strong drink even though it
was very normal and in fact many people
in his day and time were
alcoholics. He did not engage in any
gossip and he used to turn away from
hearing anything related to it. He
offered his prayers or worship in a
manner and direction toward
Jerusalem until Allah ordered the change
of it toward Mecca as was prescribed by
prophets of old in the Bible. He was
standing, bowing, kneeling, and
prostrating with his face on the ground
just as prophets before him had done.
This is mentioned, by the way, in the
book of Genesis. He used to fast for
days at a time to be closer to Almighty
God and be away from the narrowness of
worldly
attractions. He did teach that Jesus,
peace be upon him, was the immaculate
conception and the miracle birth through
Miriam or Mary, and that she was the
best creation of Almighty God. He
insisted even to the Jews of Mecca that
Jesus peace be upon him was the Messiah,
the Christ, the one that had been
predicted to come in their Torah, the
Old Testament. And he said that Jesus,
peace be upon him, did many miracles by
the permission of Almighty God, curing
the lepers, restoring sight to the
blind, and even bringing a dead man back
to life.
He stated clearly that Jesus peace be
upon him was not dead and rather that
almighty God had caused him to ascend
and be raised up. He predicted that
Jesus peace be upon him is going to
return in the last days to lead true
believers in a victory over the evil and
unrighteous people and that he will
destroy. He's talking about Jesus will
destroy the antichrist.
He commanded the payment of charity to
the poor and he was the defender and
protector of widows, orphans, and
wayfarers. He ordered people to unite
with their families and honor the ties
of kinship. And he restored
relationships between family members. He
required his followers to engage only in
lawful marriage relationships with
women. He forbid sex out outside of
Almighty God's ordinance. He insisted on
giving women their proper rights, their
dowies, their inheritance, their
property, and fair treatment. And never
did he permit them to abuse their wives.
His patience and humble attitude was
exemplary of all who knew him, and they
had to admit to these virtues.
Now, what we're going to do is take a
break and then we're going to come right
back and pick up with Muhammad A to Z
plus two. You're watching Islam always
and we're always open 24 hours a day and
always plenty of free parking. Islam
always.com.
And now Muhammad A to Z plus
two. We've been talking about the
background of Muhammad, his character
and so on. But now what we want to do is
talk about exactly those things which
make him unique and distinct from the
average human being. And yet of course
we realize that he is a man just like
you or I in that respect. He was born
and he died peace be upon him. At the
same time though during his life he did
achieve some very monumental things. But
there are a lot of things that others
may consider insignificant. And we want
to begin by mentioning that these things
all have
a role that they play in the development
of his character and his mission. So let
us begin with the letter A. A. He never
lied. He never broke a trust and he
never bore false witness. He was famous
with all the tribes in Mecca at his time
because he was known as Assad, which
means the spirit of truth, the very
spirit of truth itself. He was Assad,
the truthful. B, he never once engaged
in sex outside of marriage, nor did he
approve it, even though it was very
common to do during his time.
C his only relationship with women were
all legitimate contractual marriages
with proper witnesses according to law,
Islamic
law. D. His relationship to Aisha was
only that of marriage. He did not marry
her the first time that her father
offered her hand in marriage when she
was very young. and he did not marry her
until she reached the age of puberty and
could decide for herself and was old
enough to be married. Their relationship
is described in every detail by Aisha
herself in the most loving and
respectful manner as a match truly made
in heaven. Aisha is considered as one of
the highest scholars of Islam and she
lived out her entire life only having
been married to Muhammad peace be upon
him. She never desired any man after his
death. Nor did she ever utter a single
negative statement against her husband
Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon
him. E Muhammad forbade any killing
until the orders for retaliation came
from Allah. Even then the limits were
clearly spelled out within the Quran and
his teachings and only those engaged in
active combat against Muslims or Islam
were to be fought against in combat and
even then only according to very strict
rules set forth by Allah subhana wa
ta'ala God Almighty. F killing any
innocent life is forbidden whether it is
innocent children, innocent men or women
or elders or clergy or animals or even
plant life. All forms of life are
protected in
Islam. G there was no genocide of Jews.
Muhammad peace be upon him offered
mutual protection and forgiveness to the
Jews even after they had broken their
covenants with him on many occasions.
They were not attacked until it was
clearly proven that they had been
traitors during the time of war and
tried to bring down the prophet peace be
upon him and the Muslims at any cost.
Retaliation was only to those particular
Jews who engaged in this and who had
turned traitor but not any others.
age. The slaves were common in those
days for all nations and all tribes
throughout Arabia and even in Europe. It
was Islam that encouraged the freeing of
slaves and the great reward from Allah
to those who did so. Prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him gave the example of
this by freeing slaves and encouraging
all of his followers to do the same.
Examples include his own servant who was
actually considered more like a son to
him. Zed ibn al-harita and bil the slave
who was bought by Abu Bakr only for the
purpose of freeing
him. Next letter is I. While there were
many attempts of assassination made on
Muhammad peace be upon him. The most
famous by the way was the night that Ali
took his place in bed while he and Abu
Bakr escaped to Medina.
He did not allow his companions to
slaughter any of those who had been
involved in these attempts of
assassination. Proof for this is when
they entered Mecca triumphantly and his
first words were to command his
followers not to harm such and such
tribe and so and so families. There was
one of the most famous of his acts of
forgiveness and humbleness on the
occasion of their entering into Mecca
and their triumphant time at the very
end of his
mission. J military combat was forbidden
for the very first 13 years of
prophethood. That means that these
desert Arabs who were
instinctively skilled in combat and
fighting and killing yet look when they
entered into Islam they were forbidden
to do this from the very beginning. They
were told that they could not retaliate
nor could they fight nor could they do
combat. They were experts in this area.
They had feuds amongst their tribes that
lasted for decades. But it was not until
the proper method of warfare was
instituted by Allah in the Quran with
proper rights limitations according to
God's commandments that any retaliation
or combat was sanctioned or
permitted. Orders from Allah made it
clear who was to be attacked, how they
were to be attacked, and when and what
extent fighting could take place. K.
Destruction of
infrastructures was also absolutely
forbidden except when it is ordained by
Allah in certain instances and then only
according to his commands.
L cursing and invoking evil actually
came to the
prophet peace be upon him from his
enemies while he would be praying for
them to be guided to the very
best. A classic example of this is the
journey
to when the prophet peace be upon him
took a companion and met with a desire
to meet with the leaders there. But they
would not even hear him out, nor would
they offer so much as any kind of
courtesy which was called for by their
custom. And instead they set the
children in the street against him and
his companion, throwing rocks and stones
at him until his body was bleeding so
much blood was filling his sandals.
He was offered revenge when Allah sent
the angel Gabriel to him that if he
would just give the command, Allah would
cause the surrounding mountains to fall
down upon the people of Tai and destroy
them all, bringing down these huge rocks
on them to pay them back for the rocks
they threw on him. Instead of cursing
them, instead of asking for their
destruction, he peace be upon him prayed
for them and asked Allah, "Oh Allah,
guide them. guide them to worship you
alone without
partners. Elm Prophet Muhammad peace be
upon him claimed every person who was
born regardless of the religion or
belief of their parents, every child was
already born in a state of Islam which
means the submission to God on his terms
in peace. They were born as Islamics or
in Arabic mu Islams, Muslims. And mu
Islam means the one who does Islam and
Islam means the one who submits to Allah
in peace and obeys his orders and his
commandments.
He further stated that God has created
every person in the image that is
according to his plan and that their
spirit is his. Then as they grow older,
they begin to distort the faith
according to the influence of the
prevailing society and their own
prejudices. But every single child is
born in a state of Islam. And as such,
if any child dies, they will go to
paradise. What a beautiful teaching.
Regardless of the religion of the
parents, all children are in the right
way with almighty God.
N Muhammad peace be upon him taught his
followers to believe in the God of Adam,
Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David,
Sulleon, Solomon, and Jesus peace be
upon them all, and to believe in them as
true prophets, true messengers, and true
servants of Almighty Allah. Muhammad
insisted on ranking all the prophets up
at the highest level without any
distinction between them. and he ordered
his followers to say the
words peace be upon him when mentioning
any of the names of these great
prophets. You're listening to Muhammad A
to Z. We're going through the stages of
showing the many characteristics of
Muhammad. We found that by the way there
were more than just a toz. So we're
calling it Muhammad A to Z plus two.
Let us now continue. We're on the letter
O. Muhammad also taught that the Torah
or the Old Testament and Zabur, the
Psalms, and the Injil, the Gospel or New
Testament were all originally from the
very same source as the Quran from Allah
to the angel Gabriel. And he asked the
Jews to judge according to their own
book. Muhammad asked the Jews, "Judge
according to your book." and they tried
to cover up some of it to hide the
correct judgment knowing that he peace
be upon him couldn't read. They realized
that Muhammad was not able to discern
one letter from another. So they thought
by covering part of the book up that
they could get away with what they were
saying. Yet he called them to really
observe their book. Let us look now to
P. He
prophesied, predicted, and foretold of
events to come. And these events took
place just as he said. He even predicted
something from the past that could come
true in the future. And it
has. You see, the Quran states that
Pharaoh was drowned in the Red Sea while
chasing after Moses. And Allah said that
he's going to preserve Pharaoh as a sign
for the future. And it was Dr. Maurice
Bukai who said in his book the Bible,
the Quran and science that he said it's
clear that this very thing has happened
and the very person of Pharaoh had been
discovered in Egypt and he is now on
display for all to see and this event
took place thousands of years before
Muhammad peace be upon him and it came
true centuries after his
death. Q go to the next letter. There
has been more written about Muhammad
peace be upon him than any other person
on earth. He has been praised very high
even by famous non-Muslims for
centuries. One of the first examples we
quote from is from the encyclopedia
Britannica as it confirms regarding
Muhammad. A massive detail in early
sources shows that he was an honest and
upright man who had gained the respect
and loyalty of others who were
likewise honest and upright men. That's
in volume 12 in
second. The next letter R another
impressive uh tribute to Muhammad peace
be upon him is the very well-ritten work
of Michael Hart. It's called the 100, a
ranking of the most influential people
throughout
history. He states that the most
influential person in all history was
Muhammad peace be upon him and Jesus as
the second. Examine these actual words.
This is what it says from the book the
100, a ranking of the most influential
persons in history.
He said, "My choice of Muhammad to lead
the list of the world's most influential
persons may surprise some readers and
may be questioned by others, but he was
the only man in history who was
supremely successful on both religious
and secular
level." And that's from the book
published by Heart Publishing Company
1978. It's on page
33. By the way, we're up to the letter
S. And while we are reviewing statements
from famous non-Muslims about prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him, let us
consider
this. This is by Larin in the history
dei which is Paris
1854 volume 2 pages 276 to 277. He says
philosopher, orator, apostle,
legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas,
restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult
without images, the founder of 20
terrestrial empires, and of one
spiritual empire, that is Muhammad. As
regards all standards by which human
greatness may be measured, we may well
ask, is there any man greater than he?
letter T and then we read what George
Bernard Shaw a famous writer and
non-Muslim says this is in the genuine
Islam Singapore volume 1 number 8 and
it's uh
1936 he
says he will he must be called the
savior 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 much needed
peace and happiness. What a beautiful
testimony and certainly something well
appreciated these days. Letter U. Then
we find that KS Rakam Krishna Reo in his
he was a Hindu professor of philosophy a
booklet that he has it's called Muhammad
the prophet of Islam and he calls him
the perfect model for human life.
He explains his point by saying the
personality of Muhammad is most
difficult to get into the whole truth of
it. Only a glimpse of it can I catch.
What a dramatic succession of
picturesque scenes. There is Muhammad
the prophet. There is Muhammad the
warrior. Muhammad the businessman.
Muhammad the statesman. Muhammad the
orator. Muhammad the reformer. Muhammad
the refuge of the orphans. Muhammad the
protector of the slaves. Muhammad the
emancipator of women. Muhammad the
judge, Muhammad the saint,
all all in all these magnificent roles
in all these departments of human
activities. He is a like to a
hero. If we stop there, that'd be
enough. But we've got more. The letter
V.
What should we think about our prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him when someone
with the worldly status such as Mahatma
Gandhi speaking on the character of
Muhammad peace be upon him says in his
uh work it's called young India he said
I wanted to know the best of one who
holds today undisputed sway over the
hearts of millions of mankind I became
more than convinced that it was not the
sword that won a place of Islam in those
days in the scheme of
life. It was the rigid simplicity, the
utter self affacement of the prophet
peace be upon him, the scrupulous regard
for his pledges, his intense devotion to
his friends and followers, his intri,
his fearlessness, his absolute trust in
God and in his mission. these and not
the sword carried everything before them
and surmounted every obstacle. When I
closed the second volume, he's talking
about the prophet's biography. I was
sorry that there was not more for me to
read of this man's great
life. Again, if we stopped that would be
sufficient, but let us read on. Letter
W. It was the English author Thomas
Carlilele in his heroes and hero worship
simply amazed as to, and there's the
quote, "How can one man
singlehandedly wield the waring tribes
and wandering
bedinss into a most powerful and
civilized nation in less than two
decades?" Again, if we stop, that's
sufficient. But we'll go on. Letter
X and Dwan Shand Sharma writes in
Prophets of the East he says Muhammad
was the soul of kindness and his
influence was felt and never forgotten
by those who are around
him. That's in Prophets of the East
published in Kolkata in 1935 on page
12. If we have nothing more than this to
mention about the prophet Muhammad, it
should be sufficient. Yet we'll
continue. You see, Muhammad peace be
upon him was nothing more or less than a
human being. But he was a man with a
noble mission which was to unite
humanity on the worship of one and only
one God and could teach them a way to be
honest, upright and living based on the
commandments of Almighty God. He always
described himself as a servant and a
messenger of God. And so indeed every
action of his life proclaimed exactly
that. Let's go on letter Y. Speaking on
the aspect of equality before God in
Islam, the famous poetist of
India, Nadu says it was the first
religion that preached and practiced
true democracy. For in the mosque when
the call for prayer was sounded and
worshippers gathered together, the
democracy of Islam was embodied five
times a day when the peasant and the
king kneel side by side and they
proclaimed that God alone is the
greatest. I have been struck over and
over again by this indivisible unity of
Islam that makes man instinctively a
brother to his fellow man.
This was from ideals of Islam and the
speeches and writings in the medas. This
was uh in Madras India which is now
called Shennai by the way. It was
published in 1918. It's on page 169 Z.
Now we come to Z. In the words of
professor Harangrin Gi, he says that the
League of Nations founded by the prophet
of Islam put the principle of
international unity and human
brotherhood on such universal
foundations as to show candle to other
nations. He continues, "The fact is that
no nation of the world can show a
parallel to what Islam has done towards
the realization of the idea of the
League of Nations.
So now we're going to come to the next
Z. I had to come up with another letter
because we still got more to say. So the
next Z,
Z2, it was Edward Gibbon and Simon
Oakley on the profession of Islam. They
write in history of the Cesareian
empires. He says, "I believe in one God
and Muhammad an apostle of God is the
simple and inbearable profession of
Islam." He's quoting the statement. He
said that this statement I believe in
God and Muhammad is the apostle of God
is an simple and invariable profession
of Islam. The intellectual image of the
deity has never been degraded by any
visible idol. Islam doesn't allow that.
You see, the honor of the prophet
Muhammad has been never transgressed the
measure of human virtues and his living
precepts have restrained the gratitude
of his disciples within the bounds of
reason and religion. That's in the
history of the ceerian empires published
in London in 1870. It's on page 54 if
you want to look it up. Next Z, we got
another Z coming up. This is Z3. Wolf
gang go. He says uh and he's perhaps the
greatest European poet ever and when he
talks about Muhammad peace be upon him
he says that he is a prophet and not a
poet and therefore his Quran is to be
seen as divine law not as a book of a
human being made for education or for
entertainment. We want to mention that
people do not hesitate to raise the
divinity and even make gods out of other
individuals whose lives and missions
have been lost in legend. Historically
speaking, none of these legends achieves
even a fraction of what Muhammad peace
be upon him had
accomplished. And all of his striving
was for the sole purpose of uniting
mankind for the purpose of worship of
one God on the codes of moral
excellence. Muhammad peace be upon him
or his followers never at any time
claimed that he was a god or a son of a
god or an incarnate of God or a man of
divinity. But he always was and is even
today considered as a simple messenger
chosen by God. Today, after a lapse of
14 centuries, the life and the teachings
of Muhammad peace be upon him have
survived without the slightest loss,
alteration, or
interpolation. These teachings offer the
same undying hope for treating mankind's
many ills, which they did when he was
alive. This is not a claim of Muhammad
peace be upon him or his followers but
it's the inescapable conclusion forced
upon a critical and unbiased
history. Now it's up to
you. You're a rational thinking
concerned human
being. As such, you should already be
asking yourself, could these
extraordinary, revolutionary, and
amazing statements all about this one
man really be
true? What if it is
true?
Then who do you
say is Muhammad peace be upon him?
For more references and information
about this program, visit our internet
website at
islamways.com/muhammmed. Spell it is s a
l w a
ys.com/muhammmed m uh h a m a d. You'll
find our website is always open 24 hours
a day and always plenty of free parking.
Until next
time, there's only one God and Muhammad
is his messenger.