" One in every five persons on this earth firmly believes that the Prophet Muhammad SAW is the last Messenger of God. For centuries millions of men, women and children have lived all their lives, loving the Prophet SAW and trying to follow in his footsteps, as no one else has been so loved and followed. "

One in every five persons on this earth firmly believes that the Prophet Muhammad SAW is the last Messenger of God. He was a Muslim and there are more than 1.3 billion such Muslims today.

Apart from individuals, many countries take pride in declaring their allegiance to him. There are 54 such Muslim states today, ranging from those as large as Indonesia and Bangladesh, with populations of 200 and 125 million respectively, to those as tiny as the Maldives or Brunei with populations of 230,000 and 260,000. Even in non-Muslim countries, large Muslim populations constitute significant minorities: as much as 120 million in India and 20 million in China. Indeed, within the last half century, Islam, the religion brought by the Prophet Muhammad, has become the second largest religion in most European countries, as also in America and Canada.

As now so always, down the centuries, men and women have lived all their lives, loving the Prophet SAW and trying to follow in his footsteps, as no one else has been so loved and followed. They have lived and died, believed and acted, married and raised families, worshipped and ruled, made war and peace, even eaten and dressed, walked and slept, just as he did or taught them to do.

Indeed, never in history has a man influenced mankind, even beyond his death, so deeply and so pervasively as he has. He brings light and peace to countless hearts and lives. They love him more dearly than their own selves. In him they find their greatest source of inspiration and guidance. He is the ultimate norm and the perfect example for them. Faith in him is their mainstay and he is their chief source of support and comfort in all personal vicissitudes and tribulations. To him they also look to lead them through social and political turmoil. He has always inspired them to greater and greater heights of spiritual and moral upliftment and civilizational achievements. And still does.

In short, they believe that through him, a human like themselves, God has spoken to them, and guided him to live amongst them, setting an example and a model for all times to come. Even today he motivates and induces whole populations to yearn and strive to shape their private lives, politics and policies according to his teachings.

Who, then, is this man Muhammad SAW? To give an unbiased yet positive account of his character to the readers, here are some of the writings of non-Muslim writers to illustrate how he appeared in the eyes of some of these writers, taken from the book Peace of Mind by Zia Shah.