Prophet Muhammed: The Infinite Light of Radiance

(Second Prize-Awarded Essay of Milad-UL-Nabi Contest Conducted by SKSSF India)
 

“The Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) remains indispensable. The great debates of modern Islam continue to be fought through the legacy of the Prophet, in his name, because of the Prophet and in spite of him.”
This is how renowned scholar Jonathan AC Brown starts the preface of his famous and best seller book “Misquoting Muhammed: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy. And here are some verses that imply who was Prophet Muhammed, to showcase the whole character of the Prophet.
“You had exalted specimen in the Messenger of God” Also said, “Thee had of sublime character.” “We have sublimed your fame”. At whole, Prophet was a model human being in both mundane and earthly matters, in his lifetime and after it and undoubtedly he inspires millions of even these days.

Renovation
The Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) is regarded as a great reformer through various types of renovations he implemented, practised and established in terms of the economic, societal, cultural spectrum of whole human life. He sliced apart those stereotypic rituals, convictions that lasted for centuries and had cemented among them by the way of some superstitious beliefs. According to the women society, he changed the existing misconceptions about ‘womanhood’ by putting an end to their brutal practices like Burying alive and chopping the head which was the demeanour of those Jahili Arabs. Besides, Prophet uplifted the status of women in and off the family, and every other wakes of life such as wife, mother, daughter, employee, scholar etc. He described the mother as a gateway to Heaven. Also, he told once, "a happy marital life that includes a pleasant and good character wife and determined two daughters with perfect upbringing pathway for father to enter into Paradise".
Furthermore, our Prophet Uprooted the discriminations that had existed among the votaries, followers and all human beings on the basis of caste, colour, creed, cuisine and costume etc. with his vociferous words “There is no supremacy for Arab over non-Arab and non-Arab over Arab and no supremacy for a white man over a black man and black man over white man except with the yardstick of piety to God Almighty”. Based on this agenda, Islam started off its journey by embracing the marginalized, downtrodden people of society and making their status high and sublime above others with certain conditions it instructs. For instance, Allah revealed ten verses on the issue of Ibn Ummi Makhtum, the blind man and even intended to be an inferior one, who was later adorned as one of two Muazins in Madina.
The Prophetic manoeuvre of renovations consisted of the implementation of strong and vibrant ethics which the society relies upon and has a pivotal role in shaping the general opinion of the public and government. The ethics code he introduced stretched down from individual to family and then to society. As Gandhi referred to a such-like collaboration in one of his write-ups or speeches, the result of the implementation of moral codes needs strain and struggle even at the utmost level.

Ideological Supremacy
It has been so long since the debate ‘How Islam differs from other ideologies’ arouse before and after the advent and enlightenment of Prophet Muhammed. Ideology was and is a key factor that sustains Islam in the limelight as many surveys refer to it as the fastest-growing religion in the world.
The Ideological supremacy which both combined political and religious matters alike, helped Prophet to build a strong government in Medina, both ethically and militarily. (To combine both mundane and earthly matters in theological basis lie as the key difference between Islam and Christianity)
The prophet could be considered a staunch advocate of interfaith dialogue. It is worth mentioning that the Prophet’s efforts to eradicate discriminations between communities and his efforts to mitigate the generation-long clashes, bringing alike the vociferous communities and making communities united and stubborn in the face of enemies are quite undeniably a herculean task as per the prevalent circumstances. 
Islam stands upon the profound foundation of moral codes, values and ethics which consists of the steps to repeal the innate inclination towards sins from the mind-sets humankind. Chopping hands of stealer, stoning the adulterer, strict retaliation methods towards aggressor and miscreants etc. are, even detracted inhuman on behalf of some human rights codes, stringent steps to clean the society of immoral shenanigans.
The Holy religion of Islam banned alcohol and all intoxicating substances which inscribe harm firstly to the body of the consumer and to society. Along with that, adultery and fornication were strictly prohibited, as the perpetrator would have languished to severe punishment methods publically.
All the efforts Prophet Muhammed took his own risks were to raise the disparity of Ummah Muhammadiyya (But it is mention-worthy that they divided into a lot of sects after His demise) through a plethora of methods. Among them, the factor of universal brotherhood is the foundation of Islam, as Prophet says: “All of you are from Adam and Adam is from Soil.”
Prophet described himself as an ocean of knowledge and some of his companions even below his erudition as the doors of the Knowledge City of Islam. Companions have witnessed that Prophet taught them about everything below the sky and above the earth. And it was for this reason of imbibing knowledge from Knowledge the Companions as Abu Huraira accompanied him every time.
One of the major characteristics that differ him from all other prophets is his advent after God selected him as the last messenger of God after completing all of His duties. “Today I
 have finished your religion and have completed my blessings upon you” in His farewell speech at Mecca. Moreover, all the legal instructions or laws were told by Him through his Hadiths and Quran was formed in his lifetime, in contrast to the Christianity of which Paulose jotted down lion share of Christian laws which stretches down in 27 holy books.

Detractions
Since Prophet started off to propagate his religion which went against the conventional societal norms of that age, he faced a lot of detractions, harms, abhorrence and humiliation etc. Physical and mental harm was beyond the level of tolerance not only in his life but also centuries after his demise, it continues intact. Moreover, arrows of criticisms continue without hindrance, but in India in the genre of anti-minority or as a key agenda of far-right movements.
Thomas Carlyle replies to a detraction which says Prophet Muhammed was a fraud saying some hollow truths and fallacies can never even build a home, lest a religion which sustained for centuries and followed even these days by millions of people. Based on this argument, even the criticism of greediness for power and women declines its existence turning null and void.
Portrayed as a religion of violence, criticizers have used to baloonize mustard-like issues, to establish Islam as immoral and incompatible with the modern age. While on the course, they argue that Islam spread across the world through the arrows and sword, referring to the jurisprudential order for the speaker (Khatib) to hold the sword in Friday sermons (Khutuba). Major points relating to the issue are ignored wisely, of which how the war to a tribe or community takes place that denotes the political, strategical steps to reach into that.
Gibbon says that the Prophetic wars and military movements were intended to defend himself. Quran also says No compulsion in religion. At whole, we can get into that the Prophet was detracted in many ways often only because of the misunderstanding in the mind of other people which sets as the defect of the whole Muslim world. Moreover, the writing process of history began in the eighth or ninth century as the reliability and authenticity decreased and also which paved the way to the formation of a lot of denominations.

Recognition
The way the whole world celebrated the Prophet was quite amazing and unbelievable, as Michael H Hart, a renowned American astrophysicist and author ranked him as the foremost influential person in history. Hart preferred him to so many personalities such as Aristotle, Confucius, Buddha, Alexander the Great and Plato etc.
Similarly, so many other historians also have ranked Prophet Muhammed as the greatest personality like William Macneill, James Gavin, George Bernard Shah, Jules Masterman. Moreover, Thomas Carlyle in his famous speech ‘Heroes and Hero Worship’ refuted the misunderstandings of the West regarding the greatness of His personality.
Despite Islam sustains via different and various denominations, everyone tries to establish their loyalty to Prophet. Jonathan Brown says: Salafis, Sufis, modernists, reformists, Wahabis whichever Muslim group by whatever name one calls them and in all their conceivable permutations, portray themselves as bearing the mantle of the Prophet.
Even though Prophet Muhammed is considered the greatest man the history has ever produced the inferiority complex of the whole Muslim Ummah compel them to describe him as maximum level the great or the greatest. Ahmed Deedat, the well-known Muslim evangelist and Islamic speaker of the 20th century describes two such events in his book ‘Muhammed’. The overall idea he presents in the portion is that it is because Ummah Muhammadiyya has become fragile and vulnerable.

Conclusion
As Michael H. Hart ranked Prophet Muhammed in his famous book His personality could not be neglected among the greatest innovators and leaders ever. As we study Prophetic life in its every nook and cranny and approaches to various subjects, the way the influence imbibe by other human beings in history in the past and present should be regarded with concern not much less than the former.
As Karan Amstrong says in her book: We cannot understand his achievement unless we appreciate what he was up against”, to study the Prophetic life is not possible within weeks or months. Instead, it would take years and thousands of pages to jot down his holy life as traditional Sira books offer a vast range of scholarship regarding that. Yet, through renovations implemented, achievements yielded and fame yearned Prophet Muhammed could be described as the greatest man ever in human history.