polite_gandalf wrote on Jul 14
th, 2014 at 11:46am:
Gandhi:
Quote:I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind.... I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life.
George Bernard Shaw:
Quote:“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity."
Bernard Lewis:
Quote:Muslim fighters are commanded not to kill women, children, or the aged unless they attack first; not to torture or otherwise ill-treat prisoners; to give fair warning of the opening of hostilities or their resumption after a truce; and to honor agreements. ... At no time did the classical jurists offer any approval or legitimacy to what we nowadays call terrorism. Nor indeed is there any evidence of the use of terrorism as it is practiced nowadays
James Michener in ‘Islam: The Misunderstood Religion,’
Quote:No other religion in history spread so rapidly as Islam. The West has widely believed that this surge of religion was made possible by the sword. But no modern scholar accepts this idea, and the Qur’an is explicit in the support of the freedom of conscience.
Ghandi from a Christian perspective would be termed a false prophet right along with mohammed so from that perspective their would be no surprises in his stamp of approval on another false prophet. It is interesting he also rejected Christianity citing Christians not Jesus as the fault but conveniently ignored every muslim on the planet
. For him to embrace Christianity meant losing his status. To embrace Islam no such loss, old Ghandi wasn't dumb. Just like mohammed and his book couldn't embrace Christianity.
James Michener doesn't speak for all modern scholars for starters.
Bernard Lewis clearly lacks knowledge of what the Quar'an actually says.
George Bernard Shaw clearly writes as though he is a muslim and is ignorant to many of the facts of mohammeds life and islam.
Most claimed to have studied, most clearly cherry pick and ignore the full story and writings. Making a claim to have studied is not a right of passage until one has. Claiming to speak on behalf of all modern scholars is just ludicrous.
All one has to do is look at its fruits according to its core doctrine.