The Spotless Character Of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

Question by a Non-Muslim:
My understanding of Islam is not that great and as an "infidel" i would like to get to understand it a bit more. I've read many forums, being this one one of my favourites.. but I still don't find some answers to my questions, so if one of those Muslims who defend their religion can answer them, I'd appreciate it. 1. If one were to begin looking at a religion from its roots, being Islam in this case, I would have to go and see the life of Mohammed, right? the founder of Islam. What's Mohammed's status in Islam? He's the last prophet, right? Does that make him superior to the other prophets before him? (including Jesus?) Is Mohammed a holy person? (by the way, what's the definition of "holy" for a muslim?)

My Reply:
For us muslims, Islam is the divine faith that originated from Prophet Adam(peace by upon him) who was the very first human. This message was re-affirmed from time to time throughout the history by the divine revelations sent to various prophets and messengers belonging to different nations and tribes. The Islamic take on that is that there were roughly 124,000 prophets and messengers that were sent to all nations since the start of human life on this earth. The chain of that prophethood ended with the last prophet of Islam, prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Each Messenger brought the same set of belief system i.e. believing in one true God however their laws were different based on the needs of their society and nations. Quran is the final scripture in the series of divine scriptures that were revealed and hence contains a comprehensive message for the entire humanity to come till the end of time. Prophet Muhammad (peace by upon him) was a living Quran himself as his entire life was Quran in action since his mission was to present the humanity with a mortal human model that can act and submit to the divine will in the best possible manner. Before the divine revelation started coming to prophet Muhammad (peace by upon him), he was known to be the best person among the people of Makkah and was commonly referred to as Sadiq "Truthful" and Ameen "Trustworthy" due to the greatness of his character. According to Quran:

And thou (standest) on an exalted standard of character. (Al-Qalam:4)

His conduct was examplary even before coming the prophet. Here is the short history of the prophet's life:

When Prophet Muhammad(peace by upon him) was in Makkah for the first 13 years of his prophet hood and was personally preaching the pagans, he and his small number of followers were persecuted in every possible way. The prophet and his companions were instructed by Allah(SWT) not to respond or retaliate to those persecutions and be persistant and patient in their efforts of dawah. However, a few muslims who were too weak to surive amidst this persecution, they were instructed by the prophet to migrate to neighboring Abbyssinia which was under the rule of a noble Christian King. After the intensity of persecution by the hands of Quraish kept on rising and reached to an unbearable level, miraculously during that time, many people from Medina came to prophet after hearing his message (attributes of the last prophet were foretold to them by the Jews of their city), embraced Islam and invited him to come to Medina and become an arbirtrator for them in their daily issues and conflicts. Prophet was instructed by Allah to migrate for good to Madina. Until all his followers safely reached Medina , Prophet himself stayed in the Makkah in the greatest danger. Quraish again tried to kill the prophet during the night but he was again miraculously saved by Allah and manged to reach Medina unharmed even after a hot pursit by several groups of Quraish. After prophet and his companion settled in Medina , the pagans of Makkah looted their belongings that they left back in Makkah. This left muslim in deep sorrow and concern but there was no permission to fight from Allah (SWT) for muslims till then. When the permission of fight from Allah came for them, prophet decided to ambush a Makkan Caravan in response to that looting by Quraish. However, that ambush never took place and instead prophet and his companions totalling 313 in number with almost no resource to fight were faced against Quraish army of 1000 at the wells of Badr. This event is addressed in the following verse of Quran:

Behold! Allah promised you one of the two (enemy) parties, that it should be yours: Ye wished that the one unarmed should be yours, but Allah willed to justify the Truth according to His words and to cut off the roots of the Unbelievers;- (Chapter 8 Al-Anfal:7)

The prophet and his companion defeated that army with their steadfastness and believe in Allah and secured a lot of war booty as a result. In later years, muslims were repeatidely attacked by Quraish in the battle of Uhad, Battle of Trench etc in which they were also supported by the Jews of Medina who went against their peace treaty with muslims in helping the enemy. Muslims, afterwards decided to go to the pilgrimage of Makkah since the time of Hajj had arrived but were tackled by the Quraish again. The holy prophet then entered in a peace treaty with them known as "Treaty of Hudaibiya". This treaty although was against many interests of muslims, turned out to give them a long desired peace and the message of Islam spread through out the Arabia during that time. This treaty was later violated by Quraish themselves when some of their men killed a group of muslims. This violation led to the invasion of Makkah by the hands of Prophet. However, apart from usual invasion that results in alot of bloodshed, this was one of a kind since muslims came in Makkah in peace while their necks were bowed down in humility due to their greatfulness to Allah. Not a single soul was hurt during that invasion and despite that Quraish were the arch enemies of Prophet and his companions, they were all pardoned. Many of them after witnessing that great character and blessing of prophet submitted themselves voluntarily to Islam.

The life of prophet is spotless and apart from some injected and unauthentic hadeeths, there is nothing that even comes remotely of calling him with all bad names that enemies of Islam desparately try to present him with. Here is a quranic verse that clearly supports my point:

if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. (Chapter 5 Surah Al-Maeda:32)

Regarding Prophet Muhammad (peace by upon him) status compared to other prophets, the Quran hasn't specifically said anything regarding prophet Muhammad being better than other prophets:

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things. (Chapter 33 Al-Ahzab:40)

However there are many hadeeths according to which he lead the prayers of the rest of prophets ever sent during on the day of his Meraj to heaven and hence he is also referred to as "Imaam-ul-Anbia" i.e. the leader of prophets. There are also other hadeeths that suggest that prophet has clearly told muslims not to consider him better than the other prophets even better than Prophet Yunus (Jonah) who left his nation without prior command from Allah. It is part of our faith (Imaan) to consider all prophets honorable and not differentiate between them in terms of piety and righteouness. However, since prophet Muhammad was sent for the entire humanity starting from his time, muslims have a more real connection with him as compared to other prophets in terms of teachings and deeds. It is also a common knowledge & understanding in Islamic tradition that Allah(SWT) will reward Prophet Muhammad with a special status on the day of judgement by which he would be able to ask pardon for his muslim nation i.e. all muslims from his time onward that even had the slightest of faith in Allah and help them get out of the hell in which they might be going through the punishments of their wrong deeds based on Allah's will. Prophet Muhammad(peace by upon him) indeed was one of the holiest person ever lived since every prophet and messenger that was sent by God was unquestionably holy and free of sin according to Islamic belief. The definition of Holy in Islam for an individual is being simply a person who is pious and rightoeus and his entire existence is solely devoted to the obdience of Allah(SWT).

For the comments of many famous non-muslims in favor of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), please refer to my blog: Non-Muslims verdict on Muhammad (PBUH)