[nukkad] Prophet Mohammed

["Dr.M.C. Gupta" <>]

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*PROPHET MOHAMMED*



What is common between Jesus, Rahim and Ram ? All three are representatives
of God. Ram, Hindus prefer to refer to as an incarnation. The remaining two
are referred as prophets. Basically, all three were humans on which godly
characteristics were bestowed with the passage of time in view of the
transcendental nature of their life and teachings.



This is the month of celebration of birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammed.
He brought revolutionary changes in the Arab society in which he was born.
The Arab culture at that time was rather primitive. Women had scant respect.
Female infants were buried alive. It was with great difficulty that over a
span of 23 years, was able to spread the message of Allah, as revealed to
him, and was able to bring the concept of brotherhood among the various
warring tribes. It is recognition of his momentous efforts and the appeal of
his message that has resulted in Islam being today the second largest faith
in the world.



Simple common sense tells that nobody can force a faith down anybody's
throat. People follow a faith because they want to follow it. Kamla Das, the
well known writer from Kerala, has converted to Islam out of her choice, not
compulsion. There are many, many more like her. Many people in the West have
embraced Islam out of their free will. In fact, that is a commendable thing.
That is one way how fresh winds of thoughts may be expected to flow in
Islam. Suppose, for a moment, that Bush or a few Nobel laureates or a few
PMs convert to Islam. Would they not bring modernity to Islam? BTW, such
conversion is not something fictional. After all, Tony Blair has recently
converted to Catholicism.



It is tempting to the unwary to denounce Islam as against women. But,
compared to what prevailed in Arabia earlier, the Holy Prophet was certainly
a prophet of bringing a whiff of freedom to the oppressed and subjugated
women.



What has gone wrong? The ills of Islam today are because the religion is
frozen in time. It has failed to move with the times. It needs to be
modernized. But, by whom? The answer has to be: by Muslims themselves. USA
cannot do so. US bombs cannot do so. Invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, with
an itch to invade Iran and Syria cannot do so. All such actions simply would
lead to further regression into the shell and hardening of postures.



If US cannot lend a helping hand to let Islam be modernized, let it, at
least stay away from Islam. The question, naturally, arises: how can US help
modernize Islam? I will not repeat here what I have written elsewhere,
available at: http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1238898



M C Gupta


-- 
Prof. M C Gupta
MD (Medicine), MPH,  LL.M.,

Advocate & Health and Medico-legal Consultant

mcgupta44@gmail.com
www.writing.com/authors/mcgupta44
http://mcgupta44.blogspot.com/

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A poem is never finished, only abandoned. -Paul Valery, poet 
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