One Hindu academic believes that people should try to appreciate all the world's religions in the proper spirit, to promote mutual understanding and better appreciation of other societies. "It is our duty, in a sense, if we have the ideal of becoming "citizens of the world", to make an attempt to know about the great religions and systems of philosophy that have ruled mankind," writes Professor K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, the chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Mysore, India, in his monograph. In Mohamed: The Prophet of Islam, a publication of the Bahrain-based Discover Islam Centre, Rao encourages readers to discover all the religions and philosophical systems of humanity. The author regards the Prophet as "the greatest mind among all the sons of Arabia," because he heralded "a new life, a new culture and a new civilisation" in a region that had been merely desert land. Acknowledging that he had been "a bit hesitant" at first to write about the Prophet Mohamed, as it involved writing about a religion not his own, the author concluded that the Prophet was a historic personality worthy of investigation. Noting past misconceptions about Mohamed and Islam, the author argues that such misrepresentation had been made for "political and other reasons". He quotes the Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle as writing, "the lies …heaped round this man [Mohamed] are only a disgrace to ourselves". According to the author, things have changed these days. "The theory of ‘Islam by the sword', for instance, is not now heard frequently in any quarter worth naming," he writes. He quoted historian James Gibbon as describing the charge that one of the tenets and duties of Islam is to extirpate other religions by sword as "ignorance and bigotry". He asserted that "the greatest success of Mohamed's life was effected by sheer moral force, without a stroke of the sword". For Rao, "the principle in Islam that there is no compulsion in religion is well-known". He says that wars in the time of Prophet Mohamed were purely in self-defence, and that even the battlefield was "humanised in an age of barbarism", citing the Prophet Mohamed's strict instructions "not to kill a child, a woman or an old man, and not to hew down date palm or burn it, not to cut down a fruit tree, and not to molest Monks or persons engaged in worship". The author also notes that the Prophet pardoned even his bitterest enemies. In this monograph full of quotes from the writings of mostly non-Muslim authors, Rao underlines the equality and democratic values espoused by Mohamed that made the "peasant and king equal before God". He quotes Indian poet Sarojini Naidu as noting that equality creates unity among Muslims making "a man distinctly a brother. When you meet an Egyptian, an Algerian, an Indian and Turk in London, what matter is that Egypt is the motherland of one and India is the motherland of another". Reviewing the many ways that Islam and its Prophet brought about an extraordinary change in the world, the author writes that "Islam emancipated women" and granted them equality with men. He added Islam "gave women the right to own property. Yet it was only twelve centuries later, in 1881, that England, supposedly the cradle of democracy, passed the Married Women's Act". The writer addresses many other characteristics of Prophet Mohamed that have been acknowledged by his followers and foes alike, such as his trustworthiness and truthfulness. In concluding his monograph, Rao reviews the "non-Muslim verdict" on Mohamed. He quotes Michael H. Hart from his book The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, who justified the choice of Prophet Mohamed to top the list by the fact that "he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels". While Rao's monograph is only a 28-page publication, his many quotes help inform readers about what has been written about the Prophet Mohamed in other books and publications. The author's views about the prophet of a religion that he does not profess are all positive. However, he does not address the extremist and violent practices of some people who claim to be followers of the Prophet Mohamed and to be acting upon his sayings. The author should have informed his readers that such people are not the real followers of Mohamed. He should have urged that efforts be exerted to boost a tolerant interpretation of Islam to put an end to extremist views. Mohamed: The Prophet of Islam By K.S. Ramakrishna Rao Discover Islam Centre 28 page
