On the Anniversary of the Prophet's Birth

On January 23 the Islamic world celebrated the anniversary of the noble Prophet's birth, and to this great world The Woman's Voice raises its congratulations, praying for the perpetuation of this blessed memory.

There, in a valley without cultivation, near the desert of sands and the desert of beliefs, where customs lay barren and character had withered, where chaos reigned without order and turmoil without security—there the light of Muhammad shone forth and illumined the plains and the mountains. The sands glowed with the glow of faith, and sparks flew from a sacred ember of Muhammad's spirit and consumed every worn-out belief and toppled the gods of stone that had been worshiped; injustice and aggression fell, the thrones of corruption, ignorance, and tyranny were breached, and dreams were purified toward the loftiest ideals by the power of that great, unconquerable spirit.

The power of a spirit whose teachings are immortal, whose message endures, whose sentiments are alive, sheltering humanity with its mercy so long as there remains in humanity room for exaltation and space for light. There, in the Arabian peninsula, the angels of mercy hovered in its heights to defeat idolatry, to remove passions and revolts, and to quiet fanaticisms and vendettas.

Muhammad heard the revelation of truth and brought it near to the people's understanding, raised it up in their souls, set it running upon their tongues, and established it in their hearts; and souls grew great, hearts were made pure, and the devils of evil shrank away in the space of base inclinations before the pure spirit of the greatest Messenger and the most perfect Prophet. Faces bowed to the Living, the Self-Subsisting, and the people called out to one another: There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

Thus did Muhammad break with the error his fathers and forefathers had grown used to; he turned from the follies of his people and guided them to the knowledge of God, and made of them a great nation with a new civilization that rose above the ruins of the civilizations that went before.

And can falsehood do other than perish before your might, O Muhammad, drawn as it is from the power of God?

And who can extinguish a light that shines and pierces the veils of darkened souls, and passes through callous hearts—a light celestial and everlasting, far and near, having neither beginning nor end?

And what can sound the depths of dreams and the unknown regions of thought, overlaid as they are by hosts of illusions, but a firebrand from God?

And what can bridle tongues from mutual reviling and envy, and muzzle mouths from unbelief and slander, but a word from Him wherein are guidance and mercy, safety, love, and peace?

Far be it from Muhammad to be beguiled by what beguiles men; he stands above it, his heart closed against the greed for power and the dominion of money, proof against all that leaders boast of and all the worldly goods that entice them. His desire is to purify their hearts of covetousness, and to preserve them from casting themselves upon the goods of delusion.

O Messenger of God, you were the radiant link between the will of God and the worlds; you taught them love and said to them: The faith of none of you is complete until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

And when you entered a gathering, you sat wherever the gathering ended with you. Thus you taught them humility and equality by being their finest example, and you brought them the verses of God as a pattern: "Turn not your cheek away from people in scorn, nor walk in the earth exultantly; God loves not any conceited boaster."

Muhammad is great in his magnanimity, his kindness, his compassion, and his largeness of heart; great in his patience under terrors, his endurance of harm, and his steadfastness in the way of his call; great in the noble sayings that interpret the verses of his Lord and are inspired by His law; and he is great in his forbearance and his forgiveness. He forgave and pardoned the people of Mecca on the day of victory—they who had harmed him, tortured him, driven him out, made war on him, and sought to kill him.

The sanctity of truth is the wellspring of his greatness; and so, from childhood until he reached maturity, and until God took him to Himself, he was a living, supreme example of noble qualities, glorious deeds, and moral lessons.