A Critique of Professor Arnold G. Toynbee’s Understanding — Page 28
28 God. All of these are very well known, and easily discernible facts. Toynbee’s statement that upon arrival in Madinah the Holy Prophet bid farewell to his Prophetic mission and obligations of his Messengership of God, displays a complete lack of judgment and is a serious misrepresentation of the true facts of the situation. It seems appropriate that this criticism be responded to by citing the events and circumstances from the life of the Holy Prophet. His sayings, deeds, his high morals, and the blessed persona lity show that indeed he continued to be engaged in the discharge of his great and noble duties as the Messenger of Allah till the last breath of his life. Admittedly, in Madinah he was granted sovereignty by mutual consent. But he dispensed and established such moral rules and set such examples as only a Messenger of God could have done. Only a perfect Prophet could provide a living example. A worldly and po litically motivated ruler could never display the kinds of characteristics and practices of the Holy Prophet. The following details from his life in Madinah provide manifest proof that the Holy Prophet was not a worldly king, nor a Caesar.