The Birthday of Hazrat Muhammad is one of profound significance for the world and for India. The religion he founded is a major force in the world today, and we in India are proud that it is a vital component of the composite society and culture of this ancient land.

It is not for me, after listening to the speeches of the great scholars who have preceded me, to say anything elaborate or comprehensive about the glorious life and teaching of Hazrat Muhammad. I shall only say a few things on some aspects that strike by the spectacular speed with which the religion he preached and the political sway that accompanied it. During the lifetime of the Prophet himself, all the Arab lands were brought under its sway, and within twenty-five years of his death, it extended to the vast region from Spain to Mongolia. It is an idea that is still on the march as a force for peace and human enlightenment.

One is persuaded to ask what has been the secret of the remarkable success of the teachings of the Prophet? An American scholar wrote that: “ He was the only man in the history who was supremely successful on both religious and secular levels”. H.G. Wells in his “Outline of History” described him as the “Fighting Prophet”. The simplicity and favor of his ideas has an elemental power. The audacity of the summons that he sent to the rulers of the world that “there is only one God, and Muhammad is His Prophet”’ astounded them on and aroused curiosity in them on this new force that had arisen. But it is not the simplicity, favor and audacity alone, of the new religion, that enabled it to spread like wild fire. It was the irresistible idea of human equality and brotherhood. Swami Vivekananda wrote: “It my experience, if ever any religion approached to this equality is an appreciable manner, it is Islam and Islam alone”.

The basis of this concept of equality was that all human beings are the children of the same God, all of them had come from one and same man, Adam. In the eyes of God, the Caliph and the Negro were the same. After the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet asked the Negro slave, and not a person of noble birth as hitherto, to go up on the roof and give the call to prayer. During the occasion of his Last Pilgrimage the Prophet specifically dwelt upon this concept of equality. “No Arab” he said, “has superiority over a non-Arab, and no non-Arab has superiority over an Arab. No black man has superiority over a red and no red over a black. All are born of Adam and Adam was born of the earth”. I was this simple but revolutionary principle of equality, that burst upon the world and enabled the dazzling success and expansion of Islam.

It has been asked whether this concept of equality that the Prophet preached was not confined within the fold of Islam. Even so, that was of profound significance and appeal. We have argued that the success of Islam among the people, especially the under privileged common people, was due to this appeal. I can visualize what could be, the prestige and power of a religion or a country. In the world today, if it could practice within its own fold, human equality and human brotherhood. After all any idea or virtue , if it is to be widely accepted and successful should begin within one’s own confines. Besides, we have seen from the words of the Prophet that I have just quoted, that he did not admit any sort of superiority based on race or colour.

Though a “Fighting Prophet”, Hazrat Muhammad, was a reluctant fighter. It has been said that for 15 years he had been something of a pacifist. He endured much persecution with patience. He hated the idea of fighting even in self-defence. At the same time he did not shun from battle when required, and he fought heroically, often against much superior numbers. He was also a military strategist as well as a tactician. The trench and the wall that he created in the last battle, that Mecca imposed upon him in Medina, baffled the vastly superior army of Mecca. With all his military skill and heroic character, the Prophet tried to avoid battles and bloodshed.

In human as well as social relations the Prophet advocated gentleness. He told his wife Aisha “God is gentle, and he likes gentleness in every matter”. He also advised his followers: “Join hands with those who break away from you, forgive those who wrong you, and be good to those who harm you”. This reveals the sublimity of his character as well as his simple but effective prescription for happy and harmonious human relations.

In matters of social ethics the Prophet was a moral reformer and social revolutionary. It is interesting that he had forcefully advocated the abolition of infanticide, commonly practiced in those days in Arabia, especially of female infanticide. Does not this sound very contemporary, tragically contemporary? In many countries of the developing world, including ours, this is an injunction that is urgently required to be observed.

I am struck by another injunction of Prophet Muhammad. The Holy Koran has said “Would you enjoin righteousness on others and forget yourselves”. How one wishes to ask this question to people in our owntime: The dichotomy between precept and practice is a problem of major dimensions in our time, and how the Prophet had anticipated it.

While felicitating you all on this holy occasion may I end by quoting two lines from Iqbal, KUWAT-E-ISQ SE HAS PAST KO BALA KAR DEDEHR MAIN ISM-E-MUHAMMAD SE UJALA KAD DE.

Thank you