Milad-un-Nabi: A special day for the Muslims

Mahatma Gandhi, in a statement published in the 'Young India' in 1924,  said about Hazrat Muhammad, the last messenger of God: "I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind. I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission."
History has presented great men and heroes. Highly influential individuals-- thanks to their personal charisma, intelligence, wisdom, or political skill-- utilised their power in a way that had a decisive historical impact. Such great men are the products of their societies, and their actions would not have been possible without the social conditions built during and before their lifetimes. They are great men indeed.
But, among the great men are the supermen, the prophets, whose capacity to influence the history are divinely inspired. They are not mere humans. They have shaped history through both their personal attributes and divine inspiration. Not blind to a particular religion, great men, like Mahatma Gandhi, have always been inspired by those prophets who served as the truest ambassadors of God on this planet.
Hazrat Muhammad was born on the 12th day of the Islamic month of Rabi-ul-Awwal. Called Milad-un-Nabi, this is a holy day to Muslims all over the world and the national holiday in Bangladesh. This year, the holy day begins in Bangladesh on the evening of January 02 and continues until the evening of January 03.
The day is special for the Muslims all over the world to celebrate by remembering the great episodes from the life of Prophet Muhammad. The day is well celebrated if only we, especially our children, are taught about the Prophet's teachings, bravery, and especially his forgiving character. Children should be encouraged to ask questions and allowed to make their own comparative studies of different faiths and religions before they are advised to follow their hereditary religions. Islam does not allow Muslims to be blind in their faith nor does it teach Muslims to unleash a reign of terror as ISIS is doing.
Islam, if we study the religion from a neutral perspective, is perhaps the only religion that taught its followers to respect humanity above all and not to frown at others' religions.
An advocate of forbearance, Prophet Muhammad campaigned for religious tolerance and told his followers to spread out not only to preach Islam but also to garner knowledge from afar. Learning about the life of Hazrat Muhammad is like travelling through the history to know the ways of truth and love. The last prophet of Islam, according to many scholars, was the world's most influential person. He was a rare man in history who was enormously successful on both the religious and secular levels.
Hazrat Muhammad was of humble origins and he was unlettered. He had not the advantage of being born and raised in the centres of civilization. He was born in the city of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, at that time a backward area of the world, far away from the great centres of trade, art and learning like those highly cultured nations such as Greece in Europe.
Orphaned at age six, the way he was groomed and then founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, and ultimately became an immensely effective political leader speaks why God had chosen him as the last messenger to salvage humanity. Unlike many prophets of other faiths and religions, Hazrat Muhammad was secular as well as a religious leader. Today, 1383 years after his death, his powerful and pervasive influence is motivating hundreds of people around the world to embrace Islam almost everyday.
 George Bernard Shaw, one of the greatest writers of all times, said about the last prophet of Islam: "I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make it appeal to every age. I have studied him--the wonderful man and in my opinion, far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the 'Saviour of  Humanity'.  I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness. I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today".
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