'The Prince of Peace and Mercy'

BY NAFEELA Mukthar

LET me greet every Sri Lankan with the great formula, "May Peace and the Mercy of God be upon you. According to the Quranic verse 9:128, mercy was the characteristic closest to the heart of the Prince of Peace, the Prophet Muhammed.

Muhammad was chosen as the messenger, to guide humanity for the purpose of spreading the message of peace - Islam. In the Quran Allah emphasised: "We sent thee not, but as a mercy for all creatures". (21:107).

The Prophet is introduced thus in chapter 9:128: "Now hath come upto you. An apostle from amongst yourselves: it grieves him, that you should perish. Ardently anxious is he over you: to the Believers, Is he most kind and Merciful."

Prophets have been sent since the beginning of the creation of man, Adam. Some of them are Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus ending with Muhammed; in order to maintain the harmonisation of man's will to the will of God and thus to be at peace with the creator and all that has been created by him.

In one article of faith, Islam insists on the principles of respecting all religious prophets and personalities of different eras. Islam the message of peace and self surrender existed before the preaching of Muhammad on this earth and has been and will be for all times and all peoples.

As the Quran declares in 2:62: "Those who believe and those who are Jewis, and Christians and Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve." So we realise Islam has thus formulated a scheme for inter-religious and inter-national peace.

Ponder on the last sermon of the Prophet. O people! Your God is one and your ancestor is also one. You are all the progeny of Adam who was created from dust (clay).

The most respected before God amongst you is one who is most God-fearing. No Arab has preferences over a non-Arab or a non-Arab over an Arab." What an inspiring declaration! Isn't this a grand statement of peace among men as it smashes the superiority and inferiority complexes?

Important principle

In order to maintain peace among people of different religions the Quran lays down an important principle: "And insult not those who they worship besides Allah, lest they insult God wrongfully without knowledge." Thus we have made alluring to each people its own doings.

Very often unintentionally people lash out with their tongues and disturb the tranquillity between people. See how beautifully couched are the words of the Quran which Muhammad preached and practiced!

"Oh ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others. It may be that the latter are better than the former. Nor let some women laugh at others nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other nor call each other nicknames" (49:11).

The term Islam means peace - a call for lasting universal peace. We cannot agree with the criticism of some European writers of by-gone years. That the sword was used to spread the belief.

There is ample testimony in the Quran and the traditions as to how the Prophet strived for peace among men. He always beseeched God to perpetrate peace. Study this verse of the Quran that proclaims the spirit of peace and love:

"Therefore if they withdraw from you and fight not against you and offer you peace then God has opened no way for you to war against them". (4:90).

At the time the Prophet started to preach his message, war was the general rule in Arabia. The Arabs had tribal warfare even on the flimsiest grounds.

Drinking, gambling, oppression of the weak, murder and corruption was rampant. It was in the midst of such moral degradation Prophet Muhammad was entrusted with the responsibility of a revolutionary religion.

Self-control and enlightenment

Through his peace loving nature the Prophet taught the Arabs self-control and enlightenment even on the battle field. When a section of the army was engaged in prayers some kept guard alternately. Most of the warfare erupted after the Prophet migrated to Medinah. Nothing was more repulsive to him than war.

Those wars were not to conquer or colonise. It was a conflict between two groups of people of the same land - one aimed at rescuing the people from ignorance and an evil system, while the other was bent on retaining this corrupt system.

The Prophet constantly discouraged war by saying: "Do not desire to meet the enemy and ask God to preserve the Peace!!". He decreed that the Muslims should not fight unless they were attacked. For, ins't he the chosen Prophet, the Merciful Lord presented to us in such sublime terms.

"We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures" (21:107) When God said "all creatures" the Prophet knew he was not merely a Mercy to only humanity but to birds and beasts and the vegetable Kingdom too. He demanded that a Muslim when dealing with Muslims or non-Muslims should be tolerant, create no disputes, but live amicably in peace and amity.

He abolished the difference between black and white, rich and poor, practised the principles of democracy as a basic doctrine of Islam. Raised the status of women by saying, "Paradise has under the feet of your mother" and that there should be no compulsion in religion and prohibited cutting down of green and fruit bearing trees.

It was in order to realise the deeper mysteries of life and nature, and live peacefully that he exhorted man to acquire knowledge.

In all humility I feel it is appropriate to include opinion on non-Muslims scholars on Prophet Muhammad. The Jewish scholar Michael Hart has placed Prophet Muhammad on the top of the list in his book "Ranking of 100 Most influential persons in History."

The same writer emphasises his choice with his reasoning thus:

a. I have ranked these 100 great persons in order of importance.

b. It is his unparallel combination of successful and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.

"The personality of Muhammad was one of such simplicity, yet in it the world saw the rarest phenomenon on this earth. Every second, conscious of his Maker and His guidance he marshalled such moral force and unlimited reverence of his followers. If we are to catch a glowing glimpse of him where can I start?

We see Muhammed the magnanimous leader, the merciful leader to mankind. The statesman, the emancipator of slaves, the General. The emancipator of women. The reformer and as stated in the Quran "A perfect pattern of conduct."

Caesar and Pope

Reverend Bosworth Smith reiterated his supreme qualities thus: "Head of the State as well as the church; he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope's pretensions, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without a standing Army.

Without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue, if any man had the right to say he ruled by the right divine, it was Muhammad, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its support (Muhammad and Muhammad p.92). Let us see how even a hostile critic writes about the Prophet."

They called him Prophet, you say? Why, he stood there face to face with them; bare, not enshrined in any mystery, visibly clouting his own cloak, cobbling his own shoes fighting, counselling, ordering in the midst of them. They must have seen what kind of man he was, let him be CALLED what you like!

No Emperor with his tiaras was obeyed as this man in a cloak of his own clouting. During three and twenty years of rough actual trial, I find something of a veritable hero necessary for that of itself? (Carlyle in 'Heroes and Hero Worship').

What appeals to me most is what George Bernard Shaw states, " I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation, because of its wonderful vitality - Medieval ecclesiastics, either through ignorance or bigotry, painted Mohammedism in the darkest colours.

They were in fact trained to hate both the man, Mohammad and his religion. To them Muhammad was anti-Christ. I have studied him, the wonderful man, and in my opinion far from being 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 the problems in a way that would bring in the much-needed peace and happiness."

The sermon was his last will to humanity which echoes his masterly oratory and his sacred personality; Sympathy for the down trodden the weak and the poor and love for all creatures was the music of his soul.

Dear reader don't you realise the sense of justice and the cry of democracy ringing in your ears when absorbing the uniqueness of his sermon? It was this doctrine of the equality of mankind and universal brotherhood which he proclaimed inspired some of the greatest non-Muslims Scholars write in admiration and awe.

Peace between people

Finally, let me quote what the great writer La Marmitane writes in his Histoire de la Tarqale. "If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad....Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Warrior, Conqueror of ideas.

Restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images, the founder of twenty 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?"

Let me conclude by quoting the Prophet himself "Let me inform you of something which is better in degree than fasting, charity and prayer...it is making peace between people."