স্যাগেশাস শহীদ আসসালামু আলাইকুম, আশা করি আল্লাহর রহমতে সবাই ভাল আছেন। আমি কোন ব্লগার নই। সৌখিনতা থেকেই ব্লগে লিখি। তাই জানি নাব্লগে কী লিখতে হয়? কীভাবে লিখতে হয়? তাই বলে মনের ইচ্ছাকে তো আর দমিয়ে রাখতে পারি না। ইচ্ছা শক্তিকে কাজে লাগিয়েই লেখার চেষ্টা করছি।

ভুল-ত্রুটি হলে আশা করি ক্ষমার চোখে দেখবেন। ইসলাম সম্পর্কে ভিন্ন ধর্মালম্বী মনীষীদের কিছু বাণী নিয়েই আমার আজকের লেখা সাজিয়েছি। ইসলাম একটি আরবি শব্দ, যার অর্থ শান্তি। এটি যে শুধু একটি আরবী শব্দ তা নয়; এটি একটি মহান ধর্মের নাম যার প্রবর্তক স্বয়ং আল্লাহ, যার প্রচারক সর্বকালের সর্বশ্রেষ্ঠ মানব হযরত মুহাম্মদ (সঃ)। যার ছোঁয়ায় যুগে যুগে ধরণীর বুকে নেমে এসেছে স্বর্গীয় শান্তি।

যার সুশীতল ছায়ায় এখনও শান্তি খুঁজে পায় প্রায় দেড়শ কোটি মানুষ। দেখা যাক, যুগে যুগে সেই ইসলাম সম্পর্কে ভিন্ন ধর্মাবলম্বী মনীষীরা কী বলে গেছেন- • "Despite the growth of antagonism, Moslem (Muslim) rulers seldom made their Christian subjects suffer for the Crusades. When the Saracens finally resumed the full control of Palestine the Christians were given their former status as dhimmis. The Coptic Church, too had little cause for complaint under Saladin's (Salahuddin) strong government, and during the time of the earlier Mameluke sultans who succeeded him the Copts experienced more enlightened justice than they had hitherto known. The only effect of the Crusaders upon Egyptian Christians was to keep them for a while from pilgrimage to Jerusalem, for as long as the Frank were in charge heretics were forbidden access to the shrines. Not until the Moslem victories could they enjoy their rights as Christians." » James Addison in 'The Christian Approach to the Moslem,' p. 35 • "It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel any thing but reverencefor that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put to you I shall say many things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself feel whenever I re-read them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher." » Annie Besant, The life and teachings of Muhammad, Madras, 1932, p. 4. • "The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only." "A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world’s Maker had ordered so." » Thomas Carlyle in 'Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,' 1840 • "...there is much that the world can learn from Islam. It is now practised by one of every four people on Earth." » President Clinton, White House Eid ul-Fitr presentation, Jan. 10, 2000. • "Islam is the fastest-growing religion in America, a guide and pillar of stability for many of our people..." » First Lady Hillary Rodman Clinton, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1996, p.3 • "Medieval Islam was technologically advanced and open to innovation. It achieved far higher literacy rates than in contemporary Europe; it assimilated the legacy of classical Greek civilization to such adegree that many classical books are now known to us only through Arabic copies. It invented windmills, trigonometry, lateen sails and made major advances in metallurgy, mechanical and chemical engineering and irrigation methods. In the middle-ages the flow of technology was overwhelmingly from Islam to Europe ratherfrom Europe to Islam. Only after the 1500's did the net direction of flow begin to reverse." » Jared Diamond, UCLA sociologist, and physiologist who won the Pulitzer Prize for his book: "Guns, Germs, and Steel." • Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D.569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race... To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race,may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God. » Dr. William Draper in 'History of IntellectualDevelopment of Europe'' • "Muhammed is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities." » Encyclopedia Britannica • 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. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life. » Mahatma Gandhi. 'Young India,'1924 [সময় স্বল্পতার কারণে লেখাটি আজ শেষ করতে পারলাম না] সকল প্রশংসা আল্লাহর জন্য যিনি আমাকে একটি মুসলিম পরিবারে পাঠিয়েছেন এবং এই রকম একটি লেখা লেখার তৌফিক দান করেছেন। ।