The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 1
1 Background WHEN MUHAMMAD, THE PROPHET OF ISLAM, WAS born in August, 570, of the Christian era, at Mecca, the principal town of Arabia, the civilizations associated with the names of’ Egypt, Babylon, and Greece were already matters of history -. They awaited the researches of the archaeologist, the antiquary, and the scholar to b e rescued from oblivion. Europe was still largely pagan, devoted to the worship of Nordic, Teuton, and a host of other gods. In South Asia, Brahmanism and Buddhism had long passed their prime and had entered upon a placid and prolonged old age. In the Far East, the homely philosophy of Confucius and the “way” of Lao - Tze pursued a sluggish and somnolent course. They had earlier been stirred by the advent of Buddhism into China, but had fallen back into passivity, along with Buddhism. Chinese schol ars, feeling that a period of decline and decay had set in made sporadic efforts at revival. The two great empires of Iran and Byzantium were interlocked in a struggle which ultimately resulted in death for both. The sudden end of one and the slow expiration of the other followed in due course, though the final blows in each case