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? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires only. They found , if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man Muhammad moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men; and more than the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls. On the basis of books, every letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race... The idea of the unity of God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of fabulous theologies, was in itself such a miracle that upon its utterance from his lips it destroyed all the ancient superstitions... His endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death: all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was twofold, the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not... ... Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational beliefs, 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? By Alphones de Lamartine.. A French writer, poet and politician.
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 10:35:02 +0000