Excerpts from Karen Armstrong’s Muhammad – Prophet for our time

“The life of Prophet Muhammad was as crucial to the unfolding Islamic ideal as it is today. His career revealed the inscrutable God’s activity in the world and illustrated the perfect surrender that every human being should make to the divine.”

“Some Muslim fundamentalists have based their militant ideology on the life of Muhammed; Muslim extremists believe that he would have condoned and admired their atrocities. Other Muslims are appalled by these claims, and point to the extraordinary pluralism and of the Quran, which condemns aggression and sees all rightly guided religions as deriving from the one God. We have a long history of Islamophobia in western culture that dates back to the time of the Crusades……………. we can no longer afford to indulge this type of bigotry, because it is a gift to extremists who can you such statements to prove that the western world is indeed engaged on the new crusade against the Islamic world. Mohammed was not a man of violence. We must approach his life in a balanced way, in order to appreciate his considerable achievements. To cultivate and in a great prejudice damages the tolerance, liberality, and compassion that are supposed to characterize western culture.”

“As the paradigmatic personality, Mohammed has important lessons, not only for Muslims, but also for western people. His life was a jihad: this word does not mean “holy war,” it means “struggle.” Mohammad literally sweated with the effort to bring peace to war torn Arabia, and we need people who are prepared to do this today. His life was a tireless campaign against greed, injustice and arrogance. He realized that Arabia was at a turning point and that the only way of thinking would no longer suffice, so he wore himself out in the crate to afford to evolve and entirely new solution. We must strive with equal intensity to develop a different outlook.”

“He was handsome, with a compact, solid body of average height. His hair and beard was thick and curly, and he had a strikingly luminous expression and a smile of enormous charm. He was decisive and wholehearted in everything he did, so intent on the task at hand that he never looked over his shoulder, even if his cloak got caught in a thorny bush. When he did turn to speak to somebody, he used to swing his entire body around and address him full face. When he shook hands, he was never the first to withdraw his own. He inspired such confidence that he was known as Al-Amin, the Reliable One (truthful).”

“Some Muslim thinkers regard the jihad against mecca as the climax of Mohammed’s career and fail to note that he eventually abjured warfare and adopted a non-violent policy. Western critics also persist this in viewing the Prophet of Islam as a man of war and fail to see that from the very first he was opposed to the jahili arrogance and egotism that not only fueled the aggression of his time but is much in evidence in some leaders, Western and Muslims alike, today. The Prophet, whose aim was peace and practical compassion, is becoming a symbol of division and strife – a development that is not only tragic but also dangerous to the stability on which the future of our species depends.”

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