Injil Iso Masih haqida xabar berishicha, u haqiqiy payg'ambarlarni soxta payg'ambarlardan ajratish uchun quyidagi mantiqiy mezonlarni bergan:

The Bible reports that Jesus Christ  offered the following logical criteria for distinguishing true prophets from false ones:

Soxta payg'ambarlardan ehtiyot bo'linglar. Ular qo'y terisiga o'ralgan holda sizlarning oldingizga keladilar, lekin ichlarida ular yirtqich bo'rilardir. Ularni mevalaridan tanib olasizlar. Tikanzordan uzum, yoki eshakdan tikan terib olish mumkinmi? Shunday ekan, har bir yaxshi daraxt yaxshi meva beradi, yomon daraxt esa yomon meva beradi. Yaxshi daraxt yomon meva bera olmaydi, yomon daraxt ham yaxshi meva bera olmaydi. Yaxshi meva bermagan har bir daraxt kesilib, olovga tashlanadi. Shunday ekan, ularni mevalaridan tanib olasizlar.47

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.47

Payg‘ambar Iso ushbu “mevalar” orqali, odamning xarakteri haqida harakatlar so‘zlardan ko‘ra kuchliroq gapirishini, shuning uchun haqiqiy payg‘ambarning shaxsiy xulq-atvori yaxshi bo‘lishi kerakligini nazarda tutgan bo‘lishi mumkin. U yana, uning ta’limotlarining boshqalarga ijobiy ta’siri yaxshi bo‘lishini yoki xabarning o‘zi poklik va yaxshilikka aniq chaqiriq bo‘lishi kerakligini nazarda tutgan bo‘lishi mumkin. Muhammad ﷺ faoliyatini tahlil qilishning go‘zalligi shundaki, bu uchala talqin ham u zot uchun to‘g‘ri keladi. Quyidagi uch bob uning xarakteri, yutuqlari va xabari uning payg‘ambarligi uchun qanday kuchli dalil bo‘lishini ko‘rsatadi — bu bobda esa uning xarakteridan boshlanadi.

The Prophet Jesus  may have intended by these “fruits” that actions speak louder than words about a person’s character, and therefore the personal conduct of a true prophet must be good. He may have also intended that the positive impact of his teachings on others will be good, or that the message itself must be a clear call to purity and goodness. The beauty of analyzing the ministry of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is that all three interpretations would stand true for him. The following three chapters will illustrate how his character, his accomplishments, and his message all make a powerful case for his prophethood— beginning with his character in this chapter.

Alloh Muhammadda ﷺ eng yorqin fazilatlarni jamlagan, bu uning Ilohiy irodadan vakolat olganining dalilidir. Uning xarakteri har tomondan yaraqlab turardi, buni uni bevosita ko'rgan kishilar ham, keyinchalik uning hayotiy tarjimasini o'qigan kishilar ham sezdilar. Ularning hammasi Muhammadda ﷺ nubuvatiga shubha qiluvchi har qanday kishi uchun kuchli to'siq bo'ladigan darajada samimiylik, e'tiqod va fazilatga to'la ajoyib hayot tarzini topdilar. Taniqli musulmon ilohiyotchisi Ibn Taymiya (vafoti 1328) shunday degan: "Ma'lumki, o'zini payg'ambar deb da'vo qilayotgan kishi yaratilganlarning eng yaxshi va eng olijanoblaridan yoki ularning eng yomon va eng fojiasidan bo'ladi… Shunday ekan, eng yaxshi va eng olijanob bilan eng yomon va eng fojia o'rtasida qanday chalkashlik bo'lishi mumkin?… Nubuvatni da'vo qilgan hech bir yolg'onchi yo'qki, uning johilligi, halolsizligi, yovuzligi va shaytoniy yo'llari har qanday oz bo'lsa-da farqlash qobiliyatiga ega kishiga ayon bo'lmagan bo'lsin."48

God combined in Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم the most illustrious qualities, as evidence that he was in fact authorized by the Divine. His character sparkled from every angle, and this was noticed both by those who experienced him firsthand and those who later read his biography. They all found in Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم a lifestyle of extraordinary sincerity, conviction, and virtue that posed a formidable challenge to any doubter in his prophethood. As Ibn Taymīyah (d. 1328), an eminent Muslim theologian, said, It is known that someone who claims to be a prophet is either one of the best and noblest of the creation, or the worst and most wicked of them … so how could there ever be any confusion between the best and noblest and between the worst and most wicked? … There has never been any liar who claimed prophethood except that his ignorance, dishonesty, wickedness, and devilish ways became clear to anyone who possessed the smallest degree of discernment.48

Bir kishi quyidagi sahifalardagi rivoyatlarning tarixiy ishonchliligi haqida o‘ylashi va nega ular Muhammad ﷺning xarakterining buyukligi haqida uning hurmatlovchilarining taqvodor mubolag‘alaridan boshqa narsa ekaniga ishonish kerakligini so‘rashi mumkin. Bu shubha mo‘jizalar haqidagi muhokama doirasida batafsilroq ko‘rib chiqiladi, lekin bu yerda islom payg‘ambarlik an'analari ishonchliligini o‘rganishga ixtisoslashgan ikki nomusulmon tarixchining guvohligini keltiramiz. Ingliz sharqshunosi, mashhur Devid S. Margoliut (vafoti 1940-yil) islom ilmidagi isnod tizimi haqida shunday degan edi. Bu tizim xabarlar faqat qat'iy tekshirilgan rivoyatchilar silsilasi orqali naql qilinishini talab qiladi: «Uning aniqlikni ta'minlashdagi qadri shubha ostiga olinishi mumkin emas, va musulmonlar hadis ilmi bilan faxrlanishga haqlidirlar. Boshqa qadimgi manbalarda biz muallifning o‘z so‘zlariga tayanishimiz kerak: yunon yoki rim tarixchisi o‘z ma'lumotlarining manbasini bizga kamdan-kam aytib beradi…»49 Hatto zamonaviy davrda islom va musulmonlarning qattiq tanqidchisi bo‘lgan keskin sharqshunos Bernard Lyuis (vafoti 2018-yil) ham hadis an'analarining kuchini tan olgan. Britaniya-amerika tarixchisi shunday yozgan: «Ularning rivoyat silsilalarini ehtiyotkorlik bilan tekshirishi va naql qilingan hikoyalardagi variantlarni nozik tarzda to‘plab, saqlashi o‘rta asr arab tarixnavisligiga qadimgi davrda misli ko‘rilmagan va o‘sha davrdagi G‘arbda tengi bo‘lmagan professionallik va murakkablikni bergan. Bu bilan solishtirganda, Lotin nasroniylik tarixnavisligi kambag‘al va ojiz ko‘rinadi, hatto yunon nasroniylarining rivojlangan va murakkab tarixnavisligi ham hajmi, xilma-xilligi va tahliliy chuqurligi jihatidan islom tarixiy adabiyotiga yetib bormaydi».50

A person may wonder about the historical reliability of the reports in the following pages, and why trust that these are anything more than pious exaggerations by Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم admirers on the greatness of his character. This concern will be revisited in greater detail amidst the discussion on miracles, but let us cite here the testimony of two non-Muslim historiographers who specialized in the traceability of Islam’s prophetic traditions. David S. Margoliouth (d. 1940), the famous English Orientalist, said regarding the isnād system in Islamic scholarship, which requires that reports only be transmitted through a rigorously scrutinized chain of narrators, …its value in making for accuracy cannot be questioned, and the Muslims are justified in taking pride in their science of tradition. In other ancient records, we have to take what is told on the author’s assertion: it is rare that a Greek or Roman historian tell us the source of his information…49 Even a staunch Orientalist like Bernard Lewis (d. 2018), who was a sharp critic of Islam and Muslims in modern times, acknowledged the strength of the Hadith tradition. The British- American historiographer wrote, But their careful scrutiny of the chains of transmission and their meticulous collection and preservation of variants in the transmitted narratives give to medieval Arabic historiography a professionalism and sophistication without precedent in antiquity and without parallel in the contemporary medieval West. By comparison, the historiography of Latin Christendom seems poor and meagre, and even the more advanced and complex historiography of Greek Christendom still falls short of the historical literature of Islam in volume, variety and analytical depth.50

Quyidagi sahifalarda Muhammadning ﷺ xarakteri haqidagi qisqacha sharh ham unga qarshi tez-tez takrorlanadigan ayblovlarni — uning soxta payg‘ambar yoki shafqatsiz harbiy boshliq ekanligini — rad etishini, ham uning Allohning dunyodagi so‘nggi payg‘ambari ekanligi haqidagi da’vosining haqiqatini isbotlashini ko‘rsatadi.

The following pages will demonstrate how even a brief overview of Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم character not only refutes the oft-recycled charges leveled against him—being an imposter prophet or a ruthless warlord—but also establishes the truth of his claim that he was God’s final prophet to the world.