Muhammad SAW- Was He not a Prophet?
Dr. Syed Hasanuddin Ahmad
There are
generally two types of critics of the Prophet Muhammad SAW (Salla Allaho Alaihi
wa-Sallam). The first type, due to its religious and political prejudice and
partisanship, does not find any good, virtuous, and spiritual attribute in him.
The second type, knowing that the knowledge has now spread to common man and
the Islamic literature is easily available to him, does admit the moral and
spiritual attributes of Muhammad SAW, but still does not accept him as a
messenger of God. Our concern in this article are this
latter type of critics and their criticism. Some of these critics claim that
the Prophet SAW was just a reformer of his society. They assert that, during
the mission of reforming his society, he gradually developed the notion that he
had divine authority for it, and hence claimed himself to be a prophet of God.
Some other critics have accused him of claiming prophethood to fulfill his
‘hidden motive’ of seeking power and worldly substance..
All of these critics do not accept the Qur’an as a divine Book revealed to him.
They claim that it is a book written and compiled by the Prophet SAW on the basis of hearsay
and information provided to him by either
Christian and Jewish monks and rabbis of
The first claim that the Prophet SAW
had gradually developed the notion of prophethood during his struggle of
reforming the society is not only totally absurd, but also is an attempt to
hide the history as well. All scholars- Muslims or non-Muslims alike- know that
the Prophet SAW declared his prophethood all of a sudden, and started his
preaching of monotheism at the age of forty years only. Before it, one does not
find a single trace in the history to show that he had started preaching
monotheism, or he was undergoing some change in his behavior or attitude. In
fact, first he declared that he was a Prophet of Allah and then he started
working on his mission of purifying the beliefs and the characters. This accusation
of gradual development of the notion of prophethood is so baseless that the
less said the better.
It is well known that at the time of
his declaration of prophethood, he had all the wealth and worldly possession.
He had a loving and beautiful wife, money, slaves, flourishing trade, houses,
and honor, etc. What else could one have more? In fact, in the struggle to
establish Islam as the way of life, he had used up all his wealth and had
become poor, but did not stop his struggle. A sane person, who has a hidden
motive of accumulating wealth, will never sacrifice all his belongings and then
remain content with it. As far as the hidden motive of seeking power is
concerned, the following two stories are enough to repudiate the theory. Once the leaders of Makkah complained against him to his uncle Abu
Talib. In order to stop him preaching against their gods, they offered
to make him their Chief. Now there was an opportunity for him to get power.
Instead of grabbing the offered power and status, he refused to budge, and
declined the power saying: “ Let them put the sun in
my one hand and the moon in my other hand, and even then I will not stop my
mission.” Yet, at another time, Utabah
Bin Rabiya’, a representative of the chiefs and elders of Makkah, talked to the
Prophet SAW thus: “ O Nephew! If you want treasure, we
will provide it to you. If you want leadership, we will make you our king. If you want to marry a beautiful woman, will arrange it for you.
If you are sick, we will provide you the best treatment. Let us know your price
of stopping your preaching against our gods.” Here was
another opportunity to achieve his alleged hidden motive of power. But in
answer to these offers, instead of accepting the offers, he recited the verses
from the Chapter Fussilat to Utabah and left (Ibn Katheer, Maudoodi). These
stories clearly show how baseless is this accusation.
Let us now look at the claim that the
Qur’an was compiled by the Prophet SAW on the basis of information obtained from the Christian and
Jewish scribes during his journeys to Syria; or was dictated by the non-Arab
slaves of Makkah. First of all the Prophet SAW had made only two journeys to
Syria- one with his uncle when he was only twelve years old, and the other when
he was sent on trade assignment by Lady Khadija RA at the age of twenty five
years. There is no record to show that at the age of twelve years he met
Christian or Jewish scribes, and learnt something from them. His uncle, who
never accepted his teachings, never attributed his teachings to the Christians
or the Jews.
His
companions on the second journey never accused him of taking lessons from the Christian or
Jewish scribes in
The second alleged source of
information i.e. the Christian and the Jewish slaves of Makkah is equally ridiculous. First of all one should not forget
the fact that these alleged slaves- Addas, Yasar, Jabr-
were non-Arabs. How could non-Arab slaves compile the Quranic verses which other learned literate Arabs could not do
themselves in spite of the fact that the Qur’an had challenged them to make
even one chapter like it (Yunus 10: 38)? Moreover, why did their Arab masters
not blame them, and punish them for it? Whereas, the history says that they
severely punished and tortured some other non-Arab slaves such as Bilal RA, and
Khabbab RA, just because they had accepted Islam. Moreover, if Muhammad SAW
could claim prophethood on the basis of the compilation of non-Arab slaves, why
did those slaves themselves not claim to be prophets? On the other hand, the
history says they all themselves accepted Islam.
The accusation that- May Allah forgive
me for its narration!- the Prophet SAW used to have epileptic fits, and the
Qur’an is nothing but what he uttered during these fits shows how low one can
degrade himself in denying his prophethood! Quite often the verses of the
Qur'an were revealed to him in front of many Muslims and non-Muslims. During
the revelation of the verses he used to perspire, and his body would become
heavy. But none of the spectators ever accused him of having epileptic fits.
The medical science tells us that during such fits, the victim loses the
balance of his brain. The victim loses control over his actions and talks. The
talks become non-coherent and senseless.
Now are the verses of the Qur’an non-coherent and senseless? On the
other hand a scholar of Arabic literature knows that the Qur’an is an
unparalleled Book in Arabic language. It had predicted future events very
accurately as well. The Prophet SAW has regarded it as his Miracle (Abu
Hurairah RA, Bukhari). Also, the medical science says that when the victim
recovers and regain his senses, he can not recall his talks during the fits.
The Prophet SAW used to recite and dictate later on all the verses after the
process of revelations were over.
To end this article, it is quite
appropriate to quote Allah’s words about such critics: “
Allah has set a seal on their hearts and their hearing, and on their
eyes there is a covering.” May Allah help us in showing light to those who are
in darkness! Amen1