The Prophet Muhammad a Mercy To the World

Florandes & Marseille "the Eastern World"

Muhammad the messenger of Islam possessed noble traits such as gentleness, bravery, and the noblest of morals. A person was not able to evaluate him without being affected by these attributes. Muhammad bore the enmity of his family and tribe for years without losing determination or strength. His nobility was such that he would never be the first to withdraw his hand from one who shook hands with him even from a child and he would never pass by a group of people men or children without giving a greeting of peace, all the while smiling sweetly and with beautiful words which would enchant he who heard them and win his heart.

The English Orientalist Hollen Paul

The Qur'an is a splendid humanistic document which explains in detail the secret of the behaviour of Muhammad in all the events of his life. We even find therein an additional subject matter through which we are able to follow the progress of Islam from its inception and appearance in its early history. We do not find the like in Buddhism or Christianity or any of the other ancient religions. These are the unique features of Islam and they confirm and prove that it is the complete religion for humanity and that it is the religion of the future.

The Scottish Orientalist Ronald A. Nicholson

The greatest success of Mohammad's life was affected by sheer moral force. It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran.... The Mohammedans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man. 'I believe in One God and Mohammad the Apostle of God' is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honours of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion.

Edward Gibbon & Simon Oakley 'History of the Saracen Empire' London, 1870

Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically.... the teachings of the Prophet, the Qur'an has invariably kept its place as the fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with a grandeur a majesty, an invariable purity and with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam.... A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvellous power of winning its way into the consciences of men.

T. W. Arnold 'The Preaching of Islam' London 1913

Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race... To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God.

Dr. William Draper 'History of Intellectual Development of Europe'

The Arabian Prophet had powerful and strong morals and a personality which weighed up, examined, and tested every step he took in his life. There is no fault in his character whatsoever. Given that we are in need of a complete paradigm to fulfil our needs in life, the personality of Muhammad the Holy Prophet fulfils this need. It is the mirror which reflects for us lofty reasoning, magnanimity, nobility, bravery, patience, kindness, humility, forgiveness, humbleness and modesty and all the essential morals of which humanitarianism. We see this present in the personality of the Prophet Muhammad in glowing colours.

Lord Hadleigh

I thought and prayed for forty years so that I might arrive at the truth. I must confess that my visit to the Islamic east filled me with respect for the serene [Islamic] faith which induces one to worship God all throughout one's life not just on Sundays. I am eternally grateful to God that he has guided me to Islam which has become a firm reality in my heart and has allowed me to attain happiness and tranquillity which previously were not attainable. I was in a dark cavern, then Islam took me out into an expansive land illuminated by the Sun and I began to smell the pure fresh sea air.

Transliteration

In the Arabic language, there are a number of letters that do not have a corresponding equivalent in the English language. As a result the sound or pronunciation of those letters would be unfamiliar to the English reader who has not come across them before. Some of them may easily be pronounced by the English reader, whereas s/he would find others difficult to pronounce, unless he has already been exposed to the sounds of the Arabic alphabet.

The Arabic consonant characters are given below along with their equivalent English characters or sounds.

b = ب z = ز f = ف t = ت s = س q = ق th = ث sh = ش k = ك j = ج s = ص l = ل h} = ح d = ض m = م kh = خ t = ط n = ن d = د dh = ظ h = ? dh = ذ c = ع w = و r = ر gh = غ y = ي The Arabic vowel characters are Short a = ´ i = ِ u = ُ Long a = ا i = ي u = و

This presentation is an effort to describe the sounds of these letters, and or explain how their sounds are generated, hoping that the reader may obtain some idea about those particular characters, when they appear in some Arabic terms used in this work.

To distinguish these letters, either a combination of two letters are used or, in the case of the majority of the difficult letters, a normal Latin letter is used in association with a dot below it or a line or diacritic above as shown in the table above. Furthermore there are a couple of letters in the Arabic alphabet which are indicated using the symbols ' and c. Beginning with the easy ones, there is the letter that is symbolized as:

th, which sounds like the th in the word 'three'. dh, which sounds like the th in the word 'there'. As for the difficult ones, they are as follows: H or h

The sound of this letter resembles the sound of 'strong, breathy' H. The sound for h is generated from the proximity of the throat that the normal h is, but from an area slightly further up the throat, with more tension in the local throat muscle, with the back end of the tongue closing in against the roof of the throat immediately before the uvula.

Kh or kh

The sound for this is perhaps somewhere between of that of 'h' and 'k', as far as the location of mouth where it is generated is concerned. It is generated at the back of the mouth, by pressing the back end of the tongue against the soft

palate whilst forcing the air through in the outward direction, causing the uvula to vibrate. Example of the sound of kh found in English or that the English reader may be familiar with is Loch, the Scottish word for lake, where the ch in loch is pronounced as the designated kh in Arabic.

S or s

The sound of this letter resembles the sound of 'strong' S. It is generated by involving the main trunk of the tongue, by slightly curving the centre of the front half of the tongue in the downward direction. In aid of pronouncing the sound of the 'strong' S, it would be helpful if you consider saying the normal letter 'S', when the front upper and lower teeth are brought closer together reducing the airflow, thus producing the sound of the letter 'S'. The opposite process is used to generate the sound of the 'strong' S, i.e. the sound is produced when slightly moving apart the upper and lower teeth, thus pronouncing the 'strong' S.

D or d

The sound of this letter is somewhere near the sound of the normal D. Whereas the sound of a normal D is generated by placing the front end of the tongue at the front end of the hard palate or the roof of the mouth adjoining the top teeth, the sound of d is generated by touching, to the same location, more of the front trunk of the tongue while caving in the middle part of the tongue.

Dh or dh

The best description of this sound is that it could be the strong version of the sound of 'dh' as in the word 'there'. Whereas 'dh' is generated by placing the tip of the tongue between the

upper and lower front teeth, whilst pressing against the upper front teeth, the sound for dh is generated by pressing more of the front end of the tongue between the upper and lower front teeth, whilst pressing against the upper front teeth, and the centre of the tongue is curved downwards.

T or t

The sound of this letter resembles a 'strong' T. Whereas a normal T is generated by involving the front end of the tongue, the 'strong' T is generated by pressing the front end of the trunk of the tongue against the front end of the hard palate or the roof of the mouth. Also when the normal T is pronounced, the lower jaw does not move, whereas in the case of pronouncing the strong T, or T, the lower jaw moves outwards.

' or the hamzah, which is the character representing the glottal stop. c also shown as '

This symbol is used to characterize an Arabic alphabet that represents the sound of a strong 'throaty' A. Just as the sound for A is generated at the back of the throat, in the same proximity, the sound for c or ' is also generated with the difference that the entire throat back is engaged in the process by a stroke of contraction in the muscle there. In this process more of the throat is blocked, which also involves the back end of the tongue, than when pronouncing the normal A. Just in the case of the normal A, the sound is actually generated at the time of the release of the contraction of the muscles involved.

Gh or gh

The nearest sound for this is that of the French R.

Q or q

The sound for this letter is a short and sharp version of the letter 'gh' or the French R. Whereas in the process of generating the sound of 'gh' the back end of the tongue is pressed slightly against the uvula, allowing some air to flow, in the case of the sound of the Arabic alphabet represented by Q, the same process takes place with the difference that the passage is completely blocked, and the sound is actually generated by he sudden release of the passage.

'Long' a

There are also cases when there is a diacritic or a small horizontal line above the letter, like a : this is to represent 'long' a, an alternative to writing aa. The nearest example for the long a, or a, in English words is case of "far" as opposed to the word "fat". In the case of "far", the 'a' is elongated in its pronunciation, whereas in the case of "fat", the 'a' is short.

'Long' i

In the case of i, it represents the pronunciation of the ee in the word 'need'.

'Long' u

In the case of u, it represents the pronunciation of the oo in the word 'noon'.

'Double' letters

In the Arabic language, there are many instances where a letter in a word has double pronunciations with a very slight pause between the two. The first pronunciation is always the sound of the letter itself, and the second is the sound of the letter together with that of the following letter. For correct pronunciation of the word, it is important that there is a very slight pause between the sounds of the double letters. Some examples are as follows:

Allah, where the presence of 'll' indicates the requirement of the double pronunciation of the letter 'l'. It may help if the word is considered as Al-lah, with the pause due to the hyphen being very slight. Another example is Muhammad.

N.B.

To emphasise the correct pronunciation of some Arabic words, the transliteration characters are normally used for words like Allah, Qur'an, Muhammad, surah, ayah, etc. On the other hand, to adhere to simplicity it has been decided that diacritics and other transliteration characters are to be avoided where possible - in common words - where it is assumed that reader is or would be familiar with the pronunciation of those words, and that such characters are only used for less common and unfamiliar words only. So for such words as the above-mentioned, they would be written simply as Allah, Qur'an, Muhammad, surah, ayah, etc.

Along similar lines, names of prophets and messengers are generally presented in the Latin form in this work, although on the initial occasion for each case, the equivalent of the Arabic pronunciation is also given. e.g. in the case of the name of prophet Abraham, its Arabic equivalent of Ibrahim is also given for the first time, and subsequently only the Latin form is used for the sake of ease and simplicity for the English reader.

About The Author

Ayatollah al-Udhma al-Imam Sayyid Muhammad Husayni Shirazi is undoubtedly the most eminent Marje' or authority on Islam in modern times. A charismatic leader who is known for his high moral values, modesty and spirituality, Imam Shirazi is a mentor and a source of aspiration to millions of Muslims; and the means of access to authentic knowledge and teachings of Islam. He has tirelessly devoted himself, and his entire life, to the cause of Islam and Muslims in particular, and to that of mankind in general. He has made extensive contributions in various fields of learning ranging from Jurisprudence and Theology to Government, Politics, Economics, Law, and Sociology. Through his original thoughts and ideas he has championed the causes of issues such as the family, human rights, freedom of expression, political pluralism, non-violence, and Shura or consultative system of leadership.

Born in Najaf, Iraq, in 1347 AH, 1928 CE, the young Muhammad Shirazi continued his studies of different branches of learning under the guidance of various eminent scholars and specialists, as well as his father, the renowned Marje' of the time, Ayatollah al-Udhma Mirza Mahdi Shirazi. In the course of his training he showed an outstanding talent and a remarkable appetite for learning as well as a tireless commitment to his work and the cause he believed in. His extraordinary ability, and effort, earned him the recognition at the age of 25, by the Maraje' and scholars of the time, of being a Mujtahid, a fully qualified religious scholar and lawmaker in the sciences of Islamic jurisprudence and law. He was subsequently able to assume the office of the Marje' at the age of 33 in 1380 AH, 1961.

Imam Shirazi is distinguished for his intellectual ability and holistic vision. He has written various specialized studies that are considered to be among the most important references in the relevant fields. He has enriched the world with his staggering contribution of more than 1100 books, treatise and studies on various branches of learning. His works range from introductory works for the youth to literary and scientific masterpieces. Deeply rooted in the Holy Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet of Islam, his vision and theories cover such areas as Theology, Philosophy, History, Legislation, Management, Environment, Governance, Law and Islamic Doctrine. His work on Islamic Jurisprudence (the al-Fiqh series) for example constitutes 150 volumes, which run into more than 70,000 pages.

Imam Shirazi came to prominence in Iraq from the early 1960's for his works and his relentless efforts in setting up educational projects and institutions throughout the country. He endeavoured to bring about a renaissance amongst the Muslims and their countries through education and reawakening the Muslim masses about the teachings of Islam. But education of the masses is not something despotic regimes are fond of. His works and efforts were ruthlessly crushed by the iron-fisted tyrannical regime of the country's Ba'thist regime run by the then deputy president the notorious Saddam Hussein. Having arrested and subjected his brother, Ayatollah Hasan Shirazi, to near death torture, Saddam's Ba'thist regime sentenced Imam Muhammad Shirazi to the death by firing squad in absentia, which forced him to migrate to Kuwait in 1970.

Throughout the 1970's in Kuwait Imam Shirazi continued his movement of mass education as he had in Iraq.

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In 1980 Imam Shirazi moved to the holy city of Qum in Iran, to continue his endeavour to disseminate the teachings of Islam as taught by the Prophet Muhammad and his impeccable descendents - the Ahl al-Bayt.

Throughout his life, because of his total dedication to the teachings of Islam, and because of his views on various issues of concern, which are based on those teachings, Imam Shirazi came under sustained pressure. His views on, and his call for issues such as freedom of expression, party political pluralism, peace and non-violence brought about the wrath of the authorities. His freedom and activities were restricted; his staff, followers, and family members were subjected to continued harassment, arbitrary arrest and torture, throughout the eighties and the nineties. Having spent the entire of his adult life striving for the greater enlightenment of the Muslims and mankind, Imam Shirazi died in the holy city of Qum, Iran, on Monday the 2nd Shawwal 1422 AH, 17th December 2001. Imam Shirazi believed in the fundamental and elementary nature of freedom in mankind. He used to call for freedom of expression, debate and discussion, tolerance and forgiveness. He continuously called for the establishment of the universal Islamic government to encompass all the Muslim countries. These and other ideas are discussed in detail in his works of more than 1100 titles.