Muhammad: The Ideal Character
MUHAMMAD The Ideal Character
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unimpeachable. In fact it had earned for him the
title of
al-amin
, —faultless custodian, unfailing
trustee.
On the occasion of his marriage at the age of twenty
five, his uncle, Abu Talib, made a speech in the
course of which he said, “Compare my nephew
Muhammad, son of Abdullah, with anyone you
know: he will outshine him in nobility, gentility,
eminence and wisdom. By God, he has a great
future and will reach a very high station”. Abu
Talib did not attach to these words the sense in
which later events proved them to be true; he
meant, of course, that anyone possessing such
virtues and such a versatile personality was bound
to rise in the world and to acquire a distinguished
position in its affairs. Little did he realize in what an
otherworldly and non-material sense all of this
would come true.
The
would-be
Prophet
possessed
great
potentialities, which he could have turned to
advantage. His qualities had greatly impressed a
rich, forty-year-old widow called Khadijah, who
offered herself to him in marriage. She had been the
