仅仅瞥一眼先知的生平与他在世俗中的成功,就已引起全世界学者的关注,即便是那些也许并未认识到其教义中伟大实质与真理的人也不例外。正如以比较宗教学著称的知名作家凯伦·阿姆斯特朗(Karen Armstrong)所言,伊斯兰教是一种成功的宗教。与基督教不同,基督教的核心形象(至少在西方)是一个人在毁灭性的、耻辱的、无助的死亡中离世……穆罕默德ﷺ并非明显的失败者。无论在政治上还是在精神上,他都是耀眼的成功者,伊斯兰教也因此一路发展,不断壮大。136

A momentary glance at just the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم life and his worldly success has commanded attention from scholars worldwide, even among those who may not recognize the great substance and truth in his teachings. As Karen Armstrong, an acclaimed author on comparative religion, puts it, Islam is a religion of success. Unlike Christianity, which has as its main image, in the west at least, a man dying in a devastating, disgraceful, helpless death… Mohammed was not an apparent failure. He was a dazzling success, politically as well as in spirituality, and Islam went from strength to strength to strength.136

迈克尔·哈特是当代美国历史学家，著有《百人榜：历史上最具影响力的人物排名》，他简洁地描述了这一令人难以置信的成功故事如下：

Michael Hart, the contemporary American historian who authored The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, succinctly illustrates this mind-boggling success story as follows:

我选择穆罕默德位列世界最具影响力人物之首,这或许会让一些读者感到意外,也可能会有人提出质疑,但他是历史上唯一在宗教和世俗两个层面都取得极大成功的人物。穆罕默德出身卑微,却创立并传播了世界上伟大的宗教之一,并成为一位影响力极大的政治领袖。如今,在他去世一千三百年之后,他的影响依然强大而无处不在。本书中的大多数人物都有幸出生并成长于文明中心,或是文化高度发达、政治地位举足轻重的国家。然而,穆罕默德生于公元570年,出生在阿拉伯半岛南部的麦加城。当时那里在世界上还是一个落后的地区,远离贸易、艺术和学术的中心。穆罕默德六岁时成为孤儿,在简朴的环境中长大。伊斯兰传统告诉我们,他不识字。二十五岁时,他与一位富有的寡妇结婚,经济状况由此有所改善。尽管如此,在他接近四十岁时,几乎没有任何外在迹象表明他是一个非凡的人。

My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels. Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world’s great religions and became an immensely effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive. The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at that time a backward area of the world, far from the centers of trade, art, and learning. Orphaned at age six, he was reared in modest surroundings. Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate. His economic position improved when, at age twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow. Nevertheless, as he approached forty, there was little outward indication that he was a remarkable person.

当时大多数阿拉伯人都是多神教徒,信奉多位神灵。不过,麦加城中也有少数犹太教徒和基督教徒。毫无疑问,穆罕默德正是从他们那里首先了解到,有一位独一、全能、统治整个宇宙的真主。穆罕默德四十岁时,确信这位唯一的真神(安拉)正在对他说话,并选择他来传播真正的信仰。此后三年间,穆罕默德只向亲近的朋友和同伴传教。

Most Arabs at that time were pagans, who believed in many gods. There were, however, in Mecca, a small number of Jews and Christians; it was from them no doubt that Muhammad first learned of a single, omnipotent God who ruled the entire universe. When he was forty years old, Muhammad became convinced that this one true God (Allah) was speaking to him and had chosen him to spread the true faith. For three years, Muhammad preached only to close friends and associates.

然后,约在613年,他开始公开传教。随着信众慢慢增多,麦加当局开始视他为危险的麻烦制造者。622年,穆罕默德担心自身安全,出逃至麦地那(一座位于麦加以北约200英里的城市),那里向他提供了一个权力相当大的职位……632年穆罕默德去世时,他已是整个阿拉伯南部实际上的统治者。阿拉伯的贝都因部落以凶悍的战士而闻名。然而他们的人数很少;又因内部分裂和部落间的互相争斗,他们无法与北方定居农业地区诸王国的更大规模军队抗衡。然而,穆罕默德首次将他们统一起来,并且受到他们对独一真神的热烈信仰的激励,这些规模不大的阿拉伯军队随即开启了人类历史上最令人惊叹的一系列征服行动。137

Then, about 613, he began preaching in public. As he slowly gained converts, the Meccan authorities came to consider him a dangerous nuisance. In 622, fearing for his safety, Muhammad fled to Medina (a city some 200 miles north of Mecca), where he had been offered a position of considerable political power… When Muhammad died, in 632, he was the effective ruler of all of southern Arabia. The Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia had a reputation as fierce warriors. But their number was small; and plagued by disunity and internecine warfare, they had been no match for the larger armies of the kingdoms in the settled agricultural areas to the north. However, unified by Muhammad for the first time in history, and inspired by their fervent belief in the one true God, these small Arab armies now embarked upon one of the most astonishing series of conquests in human history.137

因此,伊斯兰教扩张的迅速也引起了许多西方历史学家的惊叹,穆斯林也将其视为伊斯兰教主张真实性的神迹明证。正如拉马丁此前所说,使穆罕默德独一无二的,不仅是那一连串惊人的征服及其引人注目的迅速,还有他所凭借的微薄手段、他对任何物质利益的无私放弃,以及在取得这一切成就之后仍然坚守其超越性的宗旨,这些才标志着他的伟大。史密斯牧师(Bosworth Smith,1908年逝世)是一位牧师兼学校教师及作家,他写道:"他既是国家的元首,也是教会的领袖;他集恺撒与教宗于一身。但他作为教宗,却没有教宗的那些野心;他作为恺撒,却没有恺撒的军团。"ﷺ

Therefore, it was also the swiftness of Islam’s expansion which beckoned the wonderment of many Western historians, and Muslims who cite it as a miraculous proof for the truth of Islam’s claims. And as Lamartine said earlier, it was not just the astonishing series of conquests and their striking rapidity that made Muhammad unique, but also the meager means through which he صلى الله عليه وسلم accomplished this, the selfless relinquishing of any material gains and the retention of his transcendent purpose despite all these accomplishments, that marked his greatness. Bosworth Smith (d. 1908), a reverend schoolmaster and author, writes, Head of the State as well as the Church; he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope’s pretensions, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar.

没有常备军，没有卫队，没有宫殿，没有固定的税收，如果说历史上曾有任何人有权宣称自己是凭神授之权统治，那就是穆罕默德ﷺ；因为他拥有全部的权力，却没有权力的工具和依托……138 凭借历史上绝无仅有的机缘，穆罕默德ﷺ同时是一个民族、一个帝国和一种宗教的三重创立者。139

Without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue, if ever any man had the right to say he ruled by a right Divine, it was Mohammed; for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports...138 By a fortune absolutely unique in history, Mohammed is a threefold founder of a nation, of an empire, and of a religion.139

许多人都赞同史密斯对穆罕默德ﷺ独特崛起之路及其无论政治是否支持都能在所及之处持久影响的着迷。爱德华·吉本的著作并非没有对穆罕默德ﷺ的敌意，但他仍忍不住记录下他对伊斯兰教在世界舞台上坚韧不拔的赞叹。他写道：“值得我们惊叹的，不是他的宗教的传播，而是它的持久。他在麦加和麦地那所刻下的那纯洁而完美的印记，经历了十二个世纪的变迁，依然保存在印度、非洲和土耳其的《古兰经》信徒身上。”140

Many have echoed Smith’s fascination with Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم unique rise to power, and his enduring influence wherever his message went, irrespective of whether it had political support there. Edward Gibbon, whose writings are not void of hostility towards Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, could not help but document his admiration of Islam’s resilience on the world stage. He writes, It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran…140

当著名的圣雄甘地(1948年去世)在狱中读到先知的传记时,他找到了先知ﷺ克服看似不可逾越的困境、取得如此全球性成功的秘密。那就是政治上的掌控力,以及不让这种政治权力支配自己的品格相结合。穆斯林相信,只有真主才能把这两种特质融于一人之身,并以这些世俗与道德上的胜利来印证他的先知身份。用甘地自己的话说:我想了解的是,这样一位人物的生平之精华,他如今在千百万人的心中享有无可争议的主导地位……我愈发确信,在当时的生活格局中为伊斯兰赢得一席之地的,并非刀剑。是先知ﷺ那严谨的朴素、彻底的自我谦抑、对誓约的一丝不苟、对同伴和追随者的深挚忠诚、他的无畏、他的坚毅,以及他对真主和自身使命的绝对信靠。正是这些,而非刀剑,使一切在他面前低头,并克服了每一道障碍。141

After the renowned Mahatma Gandhi (d. 1948) found himself in prison with the Prophet’s biography, he was able to identify the secret behind the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم overcoming insurmountable odds and reaching such stations of global success. It was the combination of political control and not allowing that political power to control him. Muslims believe that only God could have fused these two phenomena inside one man, and that He reinforced his claim to prophethood with these material and moral triumphs. In Gandhi’s words, I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind… I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle.141