Why should we not follow him?

Who was Muhammad (sallallahu alaihiwasallam) before he was forty?  An illiter­ate shepherd boy. Another ordinary person in the darkness that sur­rounded him. A honest and truthful trader. Whence did this Muhammad (sallallahu alaihiwasallam) receive such wisdom?  How did he concoct an all embracing, and eternally rel­evant, set of moral laws? How was it that he formulated, and propounded, the highest of political and economic theories? Whence did he create a set of the loftiest code of guidance which has never witnessed the least necessity for change? One man - a single individual - becomes, at once, a trail blazing social reformer, an astute legislator, a strategic military leader, a powerful statesman, a highly intelligent visionary, a man of the most extreme God-consciousness, a loving, head of the family, and friend. And yet does he say, ‘This is all not of mine own doing. It is but the Will and Power of God. He it is Who has sent me as a messenger for the guidance of humanity Follow me, therefore; for therein, lies your salvation.’ Has there been any evidence for his having spoken a false-hood?  No. Has any even alleged the commission of a great sin upon that greatest of lives? No. Has there been any other comparable example of the ideal life in the history of the world? No. Then, if that is so, why should we not obey him? Why should we not believe in him? Why should we not take him as our role model? Why should we not follow him? What of the Divine scripture that was revealed through him? It remains as the miracle of miracles even as it is the ocean of the highest knowledge itself. More than being a religious scripture, it remains as the su­per-natural attestation of the prophethood of Muhammad (sallallahu alaihiwasallam). Man­kind has not yet been able to face the challenge of that super-natural Book. Nor will mankind be able to do so in future! We have understood that in the personality of Muhammad (sallallahu alaihiwasallam), all the prophecies in the earlier scriptures concerning the mes­senger who was to come, found their true fulfillment. It follows from the fact that if the earlier scriptures, today, contain numerous prophecies, concerning Muhammad (sallallahu alaihiwasallam) despite the corruption to which they were subject, the number of such prophecies could have been much greater if the scriptures were to be available in the origi­nal purity with which they were revealed to the prophets. We can believe, therefore, that -Muhammad (sallallahu alaihiwasallam) is the messenger of God, the Creator, Sustainer, and the One worthy of the worship, of all worlds. The Messenger of Peace. The truthful prophet. The follower of all the earlier prophets. The guide unto the Creator for all humanity. Make, therefore, the unconditional obedience to him, thy creed. For that is the path to true salvation. “And We have sent you (O Muhammad sallallahu alaihiwasallam) not but as a mercy for the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists). Say: It is revealed to me that your Ilah (God) is only one Ilah (God - Allah). Will you then submit to His Will (become Muslims and stop worshipping others besides Allah)? But if they turn away say: "I give you a notice to be known to us all alike. And I know not whether that which you are promised (i.e. the torment or the Day of Resurrection) is near or far." (Quran 21: 107-109 Translated meaning) Courtesy: M M Akbar