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M. Cherif Bassiouni: So now Muhammad is saying, "You know that one God we spoke of? When you are going to die, you don't just disappear. But you're going to be accountable to that God for the good deeds and the bad deeds." Hamza Yusuf: The Arabs did not believe in after life. They really thought that life ended with death and there was no resurrection, there was no coming back, there was no reincarnation. Karen Armstrong: He was bringing a moral, ethical, social message to his people -- that we're all in the same boat before God and we must treat each other well with compassion and justice, and equity. In the tribal system Muhammad was protected by his uncle, Abu Talib, so the Meccans went to Abu Talib and asked him to turn Muhammad over to them. Karen Armstrong: Abu Talib was in a difficult position. He was not a Muslim. But it went against the grain for him to simply hand over his beloved nephew to these people who would kill him with impunity. So he took Muhammad to one side and said, "Look don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do this to us. Can't you just keep quiet?" Hamza Yusuf: And at that point the Prophet says, "If they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand I will not stop preaching what I am preaching until this message is conveyed or I die conveying it." And this is what he tells his uncle, and at that point he begins to weep. And his Uncle looks at him and realizes the depth of the conviction of this man and he says, "Say whatever you want, you have my protection." U.S. Congressional aide Jameel Johnson: One of the things that the prophet Muhammad S.A.W. taught us was that it is our duty to try to correct injustices in the world. If you see something wrong, change it with your hands. If you're not able to, then speak out against it. If you're not able to do that, then feel bad about it in your heart. But that is the weakest form of faith. Wherever possible the Muslim should try to take action. And not let an injustice go by without calling it what it is, and asking for change. Karen Armstrong: Muhammad was always very insistent that he was not a divine figure and he always warned his followers not to do with him what the Christians had done to Jesus and put him on a pedestal and say that he was God or divine. He was not, he was an ordinary human being and the Muslims have taken that seriously. But what they do say is that Muhammad is the perfect man. That if you look at Muhammad you can see how a perfect act of surrender to the divine had been made. |