Islam means ‘Submission’ to One and only God. It is a religion, which Allah (SWT) sent all His prophets, without any exception, to preach and practice.

“And who will ever renounce Abraham’s creed except one who fools himself? We certainly chose him in the (present) world, and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the Righteous. When his Lord said to him, ‘Submit’, he said, ‘I submit to the Lord of the worlds’. Abraham enjoined this (creed) upon his children, and (so did) Jacob, (saying), ‘My children! Allah has indeed chosen this religion for you; so never die except as those who submit to Him. Were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his children, ‘What will you worship after me?’ They said, ‘We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, the One God, and to Him do we submit’.” (2:130-133)

The message of Islam to mankind is that of peace. A major part of Prophet Muhammad (saww)’s mission was to bring peace to the world. One of the ways in which he (saww) strove towards this end was to attempt to convince people that all men and women, from different regions of the world, and seemingly different from one another in colour, culture and language, were infact each others brothers and sisters.

His message was crucial, for a proper relationship of love and respect can only be established if that is how human beings regard one another.

To inculcate such feelings, the Prophet (saww) told his followers: “You are all Adam’s offspring and Adam was created of clay”. He (saww) would tell the people, “Every religion has some special characteristic, that of Islam being modesty”. In the absence of such a virtue, no community can have lasting peace. Prophet Muhammad (saww)’s own modesty, coupled with great strength of character is depicted in a well-known story of an old woman who hated him. Every morning when the Prophet (saww) passed by her house, she would empty a basket of rubbish on his head from the upper storey of her house. He (saww) never once argued with her on this.

One day, when the Prophet (saww) passed by the same place, no rubbish fell on his head. Thinking that the old woman must be ill, he (saww) went upstairs to inquire how she was and found her ill in bed. When she discovered that the Prophet (saww) had come to visit her, she began to weep and said, “I ill-treated you, and now you come to inquire after my health!” Ultimately she became one of his followers.

Sa’d bin Hisham bin Aamir once said to Aayesha, the wife of Prophet Muhammad (saww), “O Mother of the Faithful! Tell me about the character of the Messenger of Allah”. She asked, “Don’t you read the Quran?” Sa’d replied, “I do”. She said, “The character of the Apostle of Allah was the Quran”. (Saheeh al-Muslim)

George Bernard Shaw has said about him, “He (Muhammad) must be called the saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it mush need peace and happiness”. (The Genuine Islam, Singapore, Vol.1, no.8,1936)

Mahatma Gandhi, speaking on the character of Prophet Muhammad (saww) said, “I wanted to know the best of one who holds today’s undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind…I became more convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle†(Young India)

Source: en.shafaqna.com