Enlightening Quote on Muhammad

[resistingrexmundi]

"A POOR SHEPHERD PEOPLE, ROAMING UNNOTICED IN ITS DESERTS SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD: A HERO-PROPHET WAS SENT DOWN TO THEM WITH A WORD THEY COULD BELIEVE: SEE, THE UNNOTICED BECOMES WORLD-NOTABLE, THE SMALL HAS GROWN WORLD-GREAT; WITHIN ONE CENTURY AFTERWARDS, ARABIA IS AT GRENADA (Spain) ON THIS HAND, AT DELHI (India) ON THAT; -GLANCING IN VALOUR AND SPLENDOUR AND THE LIGHT OF GENIUS, ARABIA SHINES THROUGH LONG AGES OVER A GREAT SECTION OF THE WORLD. BELIEF IS GREAT, LIFE-GIVING. THE HISTORY OF A NATION BECOMES FRUITFUL, SOUL ELEVATING, GREAT, SO SOON AS IT BELIEVES. THESE ARABS, THE MAN MAHOMET, AND THAT ONE CENTURY, -IS IT NOT AS IF A SPARK HAD FALLEN, ONE SPARK, ON A WORLD OF WHAT SEEMED BLACK UNNOTICEABLE SAND; BUT LO, THE SAND PROVES EXPLOSIVE POWDER, BLAZES HEAVEN HIGH FROM DELHI TO GRENADA! I SAID, THE GREAT MAN WAS ALWAYS AS LIGHTNING OUT OF HEAVEN; THE REST OF MEN WAITED FOR HIM LIKE FUEL, AND THEN THEY TOO WOULD FLAME."

Thomas Carlyle


This quote, by the Calvinist born essayist Thomas Carlyle, has a unique and enlightening way for  Christians to understand the inspiration behind Muhammad and his religion. Know that the above quote was accorded by Mr. Carlyle as a compliment, but it is all the more enlightening knowing his agenda wasn't to expose the evil behind Muhammad.

"...THE MAN MAHOMET...-IS IT NOT AS IF A SPARK HAD FALLEN ON A WORLD OF WHAT SEEMED BLACK UNNOTICEABLE SAND...BLAZES HEAVEN HIGH FROM DELHI TO GRENADA! I SAID, THE GREAT MAN WAS ALWAYS AS LIGHTNING OUT OF HEAVEN; THE REST OF MEN WAITED FOR HIM LIKE FUEL, AND THEN THEY TOO WOULD FLAME."


Compare these descriptions to the Word of God.

Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. 

Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 

Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 

These are just things to ponder.

God bless

[Peter]

(disappeared then restored manually from database)

"Nobody is born a Calvanist" and I am sure you meant born into a Calvanist family. Carlyle had no faith.
Seems he had a stunningly ignorant view, considering that Judaism and Christianity were alive and well, even on those desert sands, though Muslims like to pretend that Mohammed invented monotheism. Also they confuse terms like "influential" with necessarily meaning something like "great" (which itself can simply mean large), or wonderful. Hitler was, of course, very influential too.

It's interesting that Muslims (at least on YouTube) so frequently quote atheists, secular humanists, and communists, like Carlyle and Shaw as having complimenting Mohammed, though I don't think most of those who quote these men know their secular backgrounds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carlyle

From Wikipedia:
"Heroes and Hero Worship

These ideas were influential on the development of Socialism, but - like the opinions of many deep thinkers of the time - are also considered to have influenced the rise of Fascism[6]. Carlyle moved towards his later thinking during the 1840s, leading to a break with many old friends and allies, such as Mill and, to a lesser extent, Emerson. His belief in the importance of heroic leadership found form in his book "On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History", in which he compared a wide range of different types of heroes, including Oliver Cromwell, Odin, William Shakespeare and Mohammed."

Seems he not only couldn't find God but went reprobate into man worshiping - his heros. But then Muslims worship Mohammed too.]___________________________

But what did a truly great man say about Mohammed and his religion?

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live…The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities…but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa…and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.” - by Sir Winston Churchill - The River War, Vol. II, pp. 248-50, London; Longman, Green & Co., 1899
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu8LUvtFKICoB7LRXNyoA?p=churchill+greatest+englishman&fr2=sb-top&fr=yfp-t-102&sao=1
   

[resistingrexmundi]

In my original version I added the fact that he had no faith and had ultimately abandoned it. I only left it out because I just happened to come across this quote in one of Ahmed Deedat's books and didn't know enough about Thomas Carlyle to write extensively on it. I was really only interested in this quote. I saw the quote and the similarities to it presented in the scriptures just sprang into my head. The fact that Ahmed Deedat used it as a compliment to Muhammad, even with its possible scriptural warnings, amused me. I had never heard of Thomas Carlyle before then.

[Peter]

My main goal was to temper the OP with a dose of reality before our friends misunderstood it as cause for celebration. "Wet blanket" as it were.