The Prophet ﷺ As Architect of One World

Caxton Hall, London.

Maulana Muhammad Yaqub Khan

(Text of a lecture delivered by the Imam of the Shah Jehan Mosque, Woking (England) at Caxton Hall on the Prophet´s birthday anniversary on October 24, 1956)

Our friend, Mr. Rofe told you that the Prophet ﷺ brought Divine light to completion. It was completion in more than one sense. It was completion in the sense that we consider revelation to be continual and universal process which manifested itself in all times, and among all people of the world. But it was also a completion in point of scope and richness in variety. It contains guidance and inspiration for every detail of human life, for the numerous ups and downs that humanity is called upon to face. That was perhaps the reason why in providential wisdom, the Prophet ﷺ was made to rise from the position of a mere orphan and go through all the vicissitudes of life that an ordinary man has to face and in all these walks, blaze an example for humanity. And therefore, when I thought of giving a talk on this occasion, I said to myself: Has the Prophet´s ﷺ life any light and inspiration to give to the modern world?

Challenge to religion and Islam`s stand

Humanity stands at the most critical crossroads of history today. It is confronted with a deep crisis and herein lies challenge to religion – viz., whether it can meet the problems of this modern world. The reconstruction of a new world order – that is the big challenge of the times. Islam does take up that challenge and suggests ways and means to build a better world.Even in the smaller details of life you can find light and inspiration in the Quran, and the Prophet´s ﷺ life. The other day when I was reading my newspaper, I came to know that ecclesiastical circles in this country were hotly discussing the question of divorce and remarriage of divorced persons. Now these things were all settled long ago by Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Divorce was not considered something very good, but it was permissible, and the remarriage of divorced persons was strongly commended.

Another very small question, but really a very big one too, I found hotly discussed in the Press one day was: What to do with old people? The whole thing struck me as a sad reflection on our civilization. Old people´s homes, it is argued, could not give them the sense that they were members of a community. On the other hand, it would give them the impression that society had no use for them, that they were unwanted. What light has the Quran to give us on this very important aspect of human life? It contains instructions even on this very small detail of social life and tells us how to treat our parents. “When they (your parents) attain to old age”, says the Quran. “don´t accost them even with a word of reproof”. It enjoins on us to extend the wings of our service and protection to them and pray to God saying:

“O God; bless them, just as they brought me up with kindness when I was a little one”.

A complete and universal Message

Now for every walk of life you have got some light and inspiration, and it is in this sense that the Prophet´s message is complete and universal. It is for all people and for all nations, as our friend told us. The Quran teaches that there has not been any nation, but a messenger has sent unto them, and light was given to them. That is true. But at the same time, it gives us light and guidance for every situation of life that may arise. Now, the biggest question before humanity is: Are we going to evert another war, or to let loose another conflagration that may blast the whole of this civilization. What to do with the fast-drifting currents of social and political life which in spite of ourselves, are carrying us into that direction? Can religion take up that challenge? Can the life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ tell us something about it?

Before I come to answer that question and tell you about the kind of one world which the Prophet ﷺ gives us, let me give you a very brief view of what other people have to offer us. There are many other people who are talking tall about this one world idea, and we find a new world idea on sale all around these days in world market by many political parties. One such party is well known to you. That is the Communist party. They say we are out to build a better order, well and good: If you can give us a better world order, so much the better. But what do we find there? Regimentation of human mind! You cannot speak out what you have in your mind. Forced labour, concentration camps, purges every now and then, and other such like methods of liquidation – this is what Communism has to give us. I don´t think any man in his right senses will touch with a pair of tongs this kind of a new dispensation which our Communist friends have to offer us – a bargain at the cost of our very human dignity and soul.There is another bloc, which holds before us the promise of a better world. It is the democratic bloc. They are a very good effort indeed. I have every respect for their great endeavour to found a new order based on human rights and human equality. With all their good intentions, however, our friends in America have not yet been able to open their schools to their Negro fellow citizens. White citizens have their white schools and their white Churches which are out of bounds for their fellow American Negro citizens. Well, it is highly creditable that they are attempting to give the Negro a fair deal, but the fact remains that they have yet to set us an example that it can be done.

Prophet´s ﷺ one-world

In the Prophet´s one-world, it was done, and that is what makes all the difference. Many of you know that one of the Prophet´s bosom friend was a Negro, Bilal by name. The Prophet´s heart was so thoroughly free from colour prejudice that the jet-black Negro, Bilal was the sweetest man in his eyes. The Prophet ﷺ himself, we must remember, was a man of a very white complexion. Bilal, on the other hand, physically speaking, had no redeeming feature about him. But Prophet ﷺ simply loved him. To him was entrusted the most important duty of saying the Azan, call to prayer. The Prophet ﷺ would say to him; “Arihna ya Bilal i.e., “O Bilal give us pleasure”. When Bilal would chant Azan, the Prophet´s heart was filled with pleasure. This was the man who was so close to the Prophet´s heart. Would you believe it what he said of the spiritual eminence of this Negro: “O Bilal” he once told this man. “I hear the sound of your footfalls going ahead of me in Paradise”.

This is just one snap from the Prophet´s life as to the treatment of other people. But to come back to the democratic countries, well, I should say the British people made a very great contribution towards the building of the new order by voluntarily withdrawing from the Indian sub-continent. That was a big step, a great contribution towards the making of a new world. And, no doubt, it has taken the world very long towards the achievement of that goal. But I fail to understand their backing the wrong horse of French colonialism in North Africa, and their stand in the Suez dispute. This amounts to a retreat from the previous high position they took up in the worlds onward march towards the democratic ideals.Nevertheless, it is heartening that a serious attempt is being made in the democracies to found a new and a better world order, although the flesh is weak and it has not been possible for them to achieve what they do want to. Possibly inspiration and light from the Prophet´s life may give them a push forward in that direction.

Before I come to tell you more about that life, I can´t resist the temptation of referring to another brand of a new world order. And that is from our good neighbouring country (neighbouring to Pakistan) where they have discovered what they call the gospel of co-existence, and the gospel of neutrality. Their formula to form a better world order, they say is; “Stand apart from both of these blocs! Have nothing to do with them! Just sit on the fence and watch! Let them fight it out, if they want to! And incidentally get as much out of both as you can!” Now, this is a very sweet gospel which our friends in the neighbouring country of Pakistan have evolved … the gospel of co-existence, non-aggression, and non-interference with other people’s affairs. A very sweet gospel to preach, but very difficult to practise. As you all know the high priest of this gospel, Pandit Nehru, rather than co-exist with the people of Kashmir, has been sitting tight on them for the last nine years.

No regimentation of thought

Well, let us come now to what the Prophet ﷺ has to give us. There was no regimentation there. There was complete freedom of conscience, complete freedom of speech. “There is no compulsion in religion” – it is laid down in the Quran as an emphatic injunction upon every Muslim. As regards Freedom of speech, here is a typical instance. Any student of history will tell you that once when a man like the great Caliph Umar was speaking in the Mosque on a Friday, one of the congregation got up and said “We are not going to listen to you. I think you have not been straight in the distribution of that property. And unless you explain that conduct, well, we are not going to listen to you.” Umar pointed to his son who was present there, and knew all the matter, and he explained the whole thing to the satisfaction of the audience. What I mean to say is that freedom of speech was vouchsafed to the humblest citizen.Well, take another thing. These days, we hear a great deal of talk of social justice and Welfare State. The idea of a Welfare State was practised in the Muslim society in a more perfect form centuries ago. If you just take stock of history, you will find that this very Caliph who was the product of the Prophet´s message one night took food on his back to a starving family. All this may sound something of a fiction, but these are hard facts of history. In dealing with the message of Islam and the Prophet we have got one great advantage. That is that we have got a firm grip on facts. Their lives are not enshrouded in the haze of superstition or mystery. The smallest details have been recorded, and therefore we are on a very firm ground, and we can claim that what we say is not a mere paper or academic thing, but a hard reality translated into life. A Welfare State was actually functioning.  

Respect for human personality  

Respect for human personality as such was another feature of the Islamic society. A Jew´s dead body was one day being carried along in a funeral procession along the route by the Mosque. By way of respect, the Prophet ﷺ    got up, as the funeral approached. Somebody said: “Prophet, this is only the corpse of a Jew.” “Is not such a Jew a creature of God?” replied the Prophet ﷺ. A Jew was just as much a creature of God to the Prophet as a Muslim. He made no distinction between a Jew and a Gentile. And so what do we find in the course of history when the Jews were persecuted throughout Europe in the Middle Ages? Where did they find an asylum? History tells us they found an asylum in Muslim Spain where, thanks to Islam´s liberating influences, arts and sciences and learning flourished, while Christian Europe from one end to the other lay sunk in ignorance and superstition. They found ready welcome there and made a good contribution of their own towards enriching that civilization. How is that Islam was able to give the world such a high standard of human freedom and rights which even in these days of great enlightenment we have not been able to achieve? The reason lay in the idea of Divine Unity in which Islam is rooted, and from which stem all the levelling values of Islam. The United Nations also wants to establish one-world, but its endeavours have not so far met with much success because of a big difference between its charter and Islam. With the United Nations charter it is really a matter of necessity and expediency that some sort of one world order should be evolved, otherwise the alternative is very grim, that of war. With a Muslim it is a matter of conviction. All these ideas of one-world, one-humanity, freedom, human rights and social justice flow as logical corollaries from the basic Islamic doctrine that God is One. From this also follows the sequence that the spiritual light which God has given to humanity is also one, as our friend before me told you. Throughout the ages the religious light has been one and the same, various Prophets Abraham, Moses and Jesus being so many channels of that light. The Quran is so keen on this point of universality of revelation that it reminds in so many words that many of the Prophets have not been mentioned by name. On this presumption, a Muslim cannot but respect and revere the Teachers who were sent to other nations, even though not mentioned in the Quran. Now, what is the significance of this doctrine of the universality of revelation which is the cornerstone of Islam? The obvious significance is that Islam has extended the hand of fellowship to Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Chinese, infact to followers of all the revealed religions of the world. And remember, the Quran is so particular about conciliating people and not alienating them that it doesn´t call the Christians and Jews as infidels or heathens. It calls them the “People of the book”. “O People of the Book, it says, “Let us discuss together what is common to all of us.”

A vital human need

To wind up, I would say that it is no more an academic issue whether religion is worthwhile or not. It is a live issue as much of a live issue as any political issue of the day. The Suez issue is a burning topic. But if we really want to find a solution for these repeated eruptions in the international situation, we will have to seriously consider rediscovering the unifying, liberalising and humanising force of religion which the great spiritual Teachers of the world gave to humanity. The Quran is the last, the only authentic and the most complete repository of the tremendous spiritual and moral forces of religion. The force of faith can no longer be dismissed as a myth. It has become a vital human need – the only force with which to counter the challenge inherent in the demon of the atomic energy. Faith-force alone can neutralize this deadly current set-in motion by this latest discovery of man. The new and better world where human freedom and peaceful co-existence between nations and nations shall reign supreme can thus be built only on the foundations of moral and spiritual values, of which the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the last and most perfect exponent.