A Critique of Professor Arnold G. Toynbee’s Understanding — Page 23
23 “Now would have been the moment to gratify his ambition, to satiate his lust, to get his revenge. Read the account of Muhammad’s entry into Makkah along with the account of Marius Sulla as he entered Rome, one would be in a position to recognize the magnan imity and moderation of the Prophet of Arabia. There were no proscription lists, no plunder, no wanton revenge. From a helpless orphan to the ruler of a big country was a great transition; yet the Holy Prophet retained the nobility of his character under a ll circumstances”. What did the famous biographer Sir William Muir had to write? The following description is borrowed from his book, “Life of Mahomet “, pp. 513): “The long and obstinate struggle against his pretentions maintained by the inhabitants of Makkah might have induced its conqueror to mark his indignation in indelible traces of fire and blood. But Muhammad, excepting a few criminals, granted a universal pa rdon; and, nobly casting into oblivion the memory of the past, with all its mockery, its affronts and persecution, he treated even the foremost of his opponents with a gracious and even friendly consideration”. To make the tang story sham, let us see, the influence the above events had on those, who were life long enemies of the Prophet Muhammad. The example of incomparable tolerance and general amnesty impressed the people of Makkah