We've barely entered into the 21st century and already
things are beginning to fall apart. Suddenly, the world has
begun to question why we believe the things we believe.
For
instance, the Koran's the greatest miracle, we're told
from birth, because Muhammad WAS
an uneducated man and yet he gave us a masterpiece of a
book for all time dictated by Allah through his myriad
angels, chief among them Gabriel.
Yes, we're
told to believe Muhammad WAS
illiterate and that's why the Koran is the greatest book
ever written. Some people pontificate and rationalize
that, yes, Muhammad WAS illiterate
but he was NOT
innumerate.
"Karen Armstrong has [a]
tendency," says Abdul Mutaal, "to treat lightly the subject
matter of her work. In her other book about Islam, she says
something to the effect that 'a merchant of Mecca sees a
vision and the course of history changes'. This obviously is
no more than a flippant approach."
What do we mean
by "flippant approach"?
To be a good merchant in
the Arabia of those days, it is safe to presume one had to
be terribly good at one's job and, much the same as today's
peripatetic CEO, quite well informed about the world around
oneself.
So when this merchant --
for Muhammad was no prophet while raking in nothing but
profit from Khadijah's mercantile fleet -- had a vision to
improve the lot of his fellow man and the condition of the
teeming humanity around him and around the world, the course
of history was bound to change.
I think it
is most profound, historically accurate, and otherwise
reasonable to say that Muhammad WAS a merchant
(and a very good one, too, if you ask Khadijah who
first summoned him for an interview after hearing of
Muhammad's reputation as Al-Amin, the Trusted One).
My point
is this: No matter how else we choose to say
it, there's nothing better than a simple, punchy
sentence, e.g., "A merchant of Mecca saw a vision and
changed the course of history."
Compare
this to the powerful story-telling diction of James
Clavell, the theme of whose big blockbuster of a book,
SHOGUN, one can sum up in one sentence: "An Englishman
went to Japan and became a samurai."
I doubt
if Clavell will run for his shot-gun!
Rashid Mughal
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