Page:The young Moslem looks at life (1937).djvu/51

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
LAST OF THE PROPHETS
37

Moslem missionaries. But the early centuries of Moslem power were marked by the use of military force in the form of the jihad, or holy war, for the spread of the Moslem rule and religion.


"THE GREATEST OF THE PROPHETS"

As Islam has spread across Africa and Asia it has proudly maintained Mohammed's claim that he was the last of the prophets, with a revelation that supersedes all others. Titles of honor and glory—two hundred and one of them in the Arabic list—have been heaped upon him. He has been called the Light of God, the Peace of the World, the Glory of the Ages, and the First of all Creatures. He alone will successfully intercede for his people on the day of judgment. His abode is the highest heaven, and he excels Jesus in honor and position by several degrees. While no Moslem ever prays to Mohammed, every Moslem prays for him, and in fact his name is never spoken or written without a prayer for God's blessing and peace to rest upon him. As Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer, one of the great Christian authorities on Islam, so well puts it:

"Ya Muhammad" ["O Mohammed"] is the open-sesame to every door of difficulty—temporal or spiritual. One hears that name in the bazaar and in the street, in the mosque and from the minaret. Sailors sing it while hoisting their sails; hamals [porters] groan it, to raise a burden; the beggar howls it, to obtain alms; it is the Bedouin's cry in attacking a caravan; it hushes babes to sleep, as a cradle-