Journey

Human Understanding 
Behold! There was born into the world of sense the unlettered Prophet, the comely child, noble of birth, but nobler still in the grace and wisdom of human love and human understanding; dowered with the key which opened to him the enchanted palace of nature; marked out to receive -- to receive and preach in burning words the spiritual truth and message of the Most High.

Darkness to Light 
Others before him had been born in darkness, beyond the reach of history; others again it pleased God to send as Messengers, preaching, working in the dim twilight of history, wherein men fashion legends after their own hearts and dimly seek a light afar, remote from the lives mean and sordid, such as they knew.

True Wisdom  
But Muhammad came in the fullest blaze of history; with no learning he put to shame the wisdom of the learned; with pasture folk he lived and worked, and won their love; in hills and valleys, caves and deserts, he wandered, but never lost his way to truth and righteousness; from his pure and spotless heart the Angels washed off the dust that flew around him; through the ways of crooked city folk, he walked upright and straight, and won from them the ungrudging name of the Man of Faith who never broke his word.

Loyalty  
To the Praiseworthy indeed be praise: born in the Sacred City he destroyed its superstition; loyal to his people to the core, he stood for all humanity; orphan-born and poor, he envied not the rich, and made his special care all those whom the world neglected or oppressed -- orphans, women, slaves, and those in need of food or comforts, mental solace, spiritual strength, or virtues downtrodden in the haunts of men.

Purity of Mind and Soul 
His mother and his foster-mother loved and wondered at the child; his grandfather, 'Abd al Muttalib, of all his twice-eight children and their offspring, loved him best and all his sweet and gentle ways; his uncle Abu Talib, loath though he was to give up the cult of his fathers, knew well the purity of Muhammad's mind and soul, and was his stoutest champion when the other chiefs of Mecca sought to kill the man who challenged in his person their narrow Pagan selfish lives.

The Highest Cause  
To his cousin 'Ali, the well beloved, born when he was thirty, he appeared as the very pattern of a perfect man, as gentle as he was wise and true and strong, the one in whose defense and aid he spent his utmost strength and skill, holding life cheap in support of a cause so high, and placing without reserve his chivalry, his prowess, his wit and learning, and his sword at the service of this mighty Messenger of God.