Prophet Muhammad and His Western Critics By 'Zafar Ali Qureshi. Mansoorah, Pakisan: ldara Ma'arif lslami, 1992, 2 vols.

Abstract

Modem Orientalists generally boast of their objective analysis and impartial
approach to problems, but facts believe their loud claims when their research
comes down to the study of the Prophet. In this case, deep prejudices are reflected
in their writings. Sometimes they indulge in frontal attacks on him, while
at other times they hit him below the belt. They try to give an impression that
the time in which the message of Islam was spread was ripe for revolution, independent
of the Prophet. So to them, the Prophet's contribution was to make a correct assessment of the prevailing situation and then make use of the opportunity
provided to project his viewpoint. The ultimate aim of such endeavors on
the part of Orientalists is to belittle the historic role of the Prophet and to unsettle
the Muslim consciousness of its cognitive certainty of the divine revelation
to the Prophet.
The author asserts that the Prophet brought about a complete revolution in
the lives of his early followers. After embracing Islam, they no longer remained
the old Arabs they became God-fearing and pious folk who were very concerned
with the life hereafter rather than riveting their attention on material considerations.
In view of these realities, it is highly callous on the part of Reverend
Watt to denigrate Muslims for what they sought to accomplish. No fair-minded
historian would point out any character failing in these noble men. Also, they
could not simply think of invading neighboring lands, as Watt would have us
believe. Likewise, Watt’s whole chain of hypotheses about the economic and
political reasons for the emigration to Abyssinia is without foundation ...