Non-western views
Mahatma Gandhi stated: "I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind.... I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in Allah(God) and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life".[194]
European and Western views
See also: Medieval Christian view of Muhammad
A few learned circles of Middle Ages Europe—primarily Latin-literate scholars—had access to fairly extensive biographical knowledge about the life of Muhammad(SAW), but they interpreted that information through a Christian religious filter that viewed Muhammad(SAW) as a charlatan driven by ambition and eagerness for power, and who seduced the Saracens into his submission under a religious guise.[10] Popular European literature of the time portrayed Muhammad(SAW) as though he were worshipped by Muslims in the manner of an idol or a heathen god.[10] Some medieval Christians believed he died in 666, alluding to the number of the beast, instead of his actual death date in 632;[195] others changed his name from Muhammad(SAW) to Mahound, the "devil incarnate".[196] Bernard Lewis writes "The development of the concept of Mahound started with considering Muhammad(SAW) as a kind of demon or false god worshipped with Apollyon and Termagant in an unholy trinity."[197] A later medieval work, Livre dou Tresor represents Muhammad(SAW) as a former monk and cardinal.[10] Dante's Divine Comedy (Canto XXVIII), puts Muhammad(SAW), together with Ali, in Hell "among the sowers of discord and the schismatics, being lacerated by devils again and again."[10] Cultural critic and author Edward Said wrote in Orientalism regarding Dante's depiction of Muhammad(SAW):
Empirical data about the Orient...count for very little; ... What ... Dante tried to do in the Inferno, is ... to characterize the Orient as alien and to incorporate it schematically on a theatrical stage whose audience, manager, and actors are ... only for Europe. Hence the vacillation between the familiar and the alien; Mohammed(SAW) is always the imposter (familiar, because he pretends to be like the Jesus we know) and always the Oriental (alien, because although he is in some ways "like" Jesus, he is after all not like him).[198]
After the reformation, Muhammad(SAW) was no longer viewed by Christians as a god or idol, but as a cunning, ambitious, and self-seeking impostor.[10][197] Guillaume Postel was among the first to present a more positive view of Muhammad(SAW).[10] Boulainvilliers described Muhammad(SAW) as a gifted political leader and a just lawmaker.[10] Gottfried Leibniz praised Muhammad(SAW) because "he did not deviate from the natural religion".[10] Thomas Carlyle in (1840) defines Muhammed(SAW) as "A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest".[199] Edward Gibbon in his book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire observes that "the good sense of Mohammad(SAW) despised the pomp of royalty." Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1851) described Muhammad(SAW) as "an ominous destroyer and a prophet of murder."[10] Later Western works, many of which, from the 18th century onward, distanced themselves from the polemical histories of earlier Christian authors. These more historically oriented treatments, which generally reject the prophethood of Muhammad(SAW), are coloured by the Western philosophical and theological framework of their authors. Many of these studies reflect much historical research, and most pay more attention to human, social, economic, and political factors than to religious, theological, and spiritual matters.[15]
Simon Ockley wrote in his book The History of the Saracen Empires (1718);
"The greatest success of Mohammad’s(SAW) life was effected by sheer moral force...It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved, after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran. . . The Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith an devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man. 'I believe in One Allah(God) and Mahomet the Apostle of Allah'(God) is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honours of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion."[200]
Reverend Benjamin Bosworth Smith in his book Muhammad(SAW) and Muhammadanism (1874) commented that;
“...if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammad(SAW), for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports. He cared not for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life...In Mohammadanism every thing is different here. Instead of the shadowy and the mysterious, we have history….We know of the external history of Muhammad(SAW)….while for his internal history after his mission had been proclaimed, we have a book absolutely unique in its origin, in its preservation….on the Substantial authority of which no one has ever been able to cast a serious doubt.”[201]
Alphonse de Lamartine quoted in Histoire de la Turquie (1854) on Muhammad(SAW);
"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means and outstanding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad(SAW)."[202]
"Never has a man proposed for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a goal more sublime, since this goal was beyond measure: undermine the superstitions placed between the creature and the Creator, give back Allah(God) to man and man to Allah(God), reinstate the rational and saintly idea of divinity in the midst of this prevailing chaos of material and disfigured gods of idolatry.... The most famous have only moved weapons, laws, empires; they founded, when they founded anything, only material powers, often crumbling before them. This one not only moved armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, millions of men over a third of the inhabited globe; but he also moved ideas, beliefs, souls. He founded upon a book, of which each letter has become a law, a spiritual nationality embracing people of all languages and races; and made an indelible imprint upon this Muslim world, for the hatred of false gods and the passion for the Allah(God), One and Immaterial....Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of a rational dogma for a cult without imagery, founder of twenty earthly empires and of a spiritual empire, this is Muhammad(SAW)".[203]
It was not until the latter part of the 20th century that Western authors combined rigorous scholarship as understood in the modern West with empathy toward the subject at hand and, especially, awareness of the religious and spiritual realities involved in the study of the life of the founder of a major world religion.[15]
Annie Besant in The Life and Teachings of Muhammad(SAW) (1932) wrote
“It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme...”[204]
George Bernard Shaw in The Genuine Islam (1936) predicted;
"The wonderful man and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, 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 the much needed peace and happiness"[205]
According to William Montgomery Watt and Richard Bell, recent writers have generally dismissed the idea that Muhammad(SAW) deliberately deceived his followers, arguing that Muhammad(SAW) "was absolutely sincere and acted in complete good faith"[206] and that Muhammad’s(SAW) readiness to endure hardship for his cause when there seemed to be no rational basis for hope shows his sincerity.[207] Watt says that sincerity does not directly imply correctness: In contemporary terms, Muhammad(SAW) might have mistaken his own subconscious for divine revelation.[208] Watt and Bernard Lewis argue that viewing Muhammad(SAW) as a self-seeking impostor makes it impossible to understand the development of Islam.[209][210] Alford T. Welch holds that Muhammad(SAW) was able to be so influential and successful because of his firm belief in his vocation.[10] Michael H. Hart in his first book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (1978) which was a ranking of the 100 people who most influenced human history.[211] Hart chose Muhammad(SAW) as the first person on his list[212] attributing this to the fact that Muhammad(SAW) was "supremely successful" in both the religious and secular realms. He also accredits the authorship of the Qur'an to Muhammad(SAW), making his role in the development of Islam an unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which entitles Muhammad(SAW) to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.
Other religious traditions
- Bahá'ís venerate Muhammad(SAW) as one of a number of prophets or "Manifestations of Allah(God)", but consider his teachings to have been superseded by those of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Bahai faith.[213]
- Muhammad(SAW) is regarded as one of the Saints of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not regard Muhammad(SAW) as a prophet, nor accept the Qur’an as a book of scripture. However, they do respect Muhammad(SAW) as one who taught moral truths which can enlighten nations and bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.[214]
- Guru Nanak, a founder of Sikhism, viewed Muhammad(SAW) as an agent of the Hindu Brahman.[215]
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