Prophet Muhammad was and supposed to be a role model for all people. He was known for his honesty, truthfulness, courage, compassion, love, care and mercy towards everyone.
He is the last prophet chosen by God to preach His divine message and deliver His last words and guidance to all mankind. Muslims respect, cherish and love Prophet Muhammad along with all the other prophets that came before him. Whenever a Prophet name is mentioned, it is followed by phrases such as "May God send peace and blessing upon him" or "Peace be upon him" as a sign of respect.
Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the last (end) of the Prophets. And Allah is Ever All-Aware of everything.
(Surah A-Ahzab:40)
Prophet Muhammad was born in Makkah in 570 A.D. He was an orphan raised by his uncle: his father died by the time of his birth while his mother died when he was a child. He received his first divine Verse of the Qur'an, sent by God, through the angel Gabriel, at the age of forty. Throughout the twenty-three years of his prophet hood, he suffered many hardships in order to fulfill his mission, which was to make people aware of the oneness of Allah and guide them to the right path.
Indeed We have sent Our Messengers with clear proofs, and revealed with them the Scripture and the Balance (justice) that mankind may keep up justice. And We brought forth iron wherein is mighty power (in matters of war), as well as many benefits for mankind, that Allah may test who it is that will help Him (His religion) and His Messengers in the unseen. Verily, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty.
(Surah al-Hadid:25)
As with all the prophets before him, Muhammad was granted miracles by God as a proof of his prophecy and to testify to the truth of his message. Some of the miracles granted to him included:
1) The Qur'an, the eternal miracle of Islam
Allah through His Words in the Qur'an challenged mankind to replicate at least one chapter of the Qur'an and promised to preserve it until the end of civilization. The challenge was never met at that time, in spite of the linguistic abilities of the people then. It has not been matched and it will never be matched. This is due to the Qur'an's fine composition, articulacy, eloquence, succinctness and it's perfect wording and meaning. Such a challenge is similar to all other miraculous challenges presented by other prophets sent by God, where then the prophets presented their given miracle and challenged their people to bring a comparable miracle. The Prophet Muhammad did present his miracle given to him by God, however; the difference in this case is that God in this miracle has challenged all of humanity to replicate the Qur'an. He not only challenged the people of his time, but also the people from this time and even the people that have yet to be until the end of civilization.
And if you (disbelievers) are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down (The Qur'an) to Our slave (Muhammad), then produce a chapter of the like thereof, and call your witnesses (supporters and helpers) besides Allah if you are truthful.
(Surah al-Baqarah:23)
Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Qur'an and surely We will guard it (from Corruption).
(Surah al-Hijr:9)
2) The Splitting of the Moon
The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder (the people of Makkah requested Prophet Muhammad to show them a miracle so he showed them the splitting of the moon). And if they see a sign, they turn away, and say: "This is continuous magic." They belied (the Verses of Allah- this Qur'an), and followed their own lusts. And every matter will be settled (according to the kind of deeds: good deeds will take their doers to Paradise, and similarly evil deeds will take their doers to Hell).
(Surah Al-Qamar:1-3)
3) Water flowing between Prophet Muhammad fingers
It was narrated by Anas bin Malik a companion of Prophet Muhammad:
A bowl of water brought to the Prophet while he was at AzZawra. He placed his hand in it and the water started flowing among his fingers. All the people performed ablution (with that water). Qatada asked Anas, "How many people were you?" Anas replied, "Three hundred or nearly three-hundred".
Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Volum 4 , Book 56, No. 772.
How others perceive Prophet Muhammad?
1."Muhummed is the most successful of all prophets and religious personalities." Encyclopedia Britannica
2."Muhummad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him." The Hindu scholar, Diwan Chand Sharma, in The Prophets of the East, Calcutta 1935, p. 122.
3."Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born at Makkah, in Arabia the man who, of all men exercised the greatest influence upon the human race ... Mohammed " John William Draper, M.D., Lld., In a History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, London 1875.
4."I doubt whether any man whose external conditions changed so much ever changed himself less to meet them." R. V. C. Bodley, In the Messenger, London 1946, p.9.
5."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." George Bernard Shaw, The Genuine Islam, vol. 1, p. 8,1936.
6."My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the secular and religious level... It is probable that the relative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on christianity… it is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.'' Michael Hart in The 100, a ranking of the most influential persons in history, New York, 1978.
