siapa yang tidak mengenal Napoleon Bonaparte, seorang Jendral dan Kaisar Prancis yang tenar kelahiran Ajaccio, Corsica 1769. Namanya terdapat dalam urutan ke-34 dari Seratus tokoh yang paling berpengaruh dalam sejarah yang ditulis oleh Michael H. Hart.
Sebagai seorang yang berkuasa dan berdaulat penuh terhadap negara Prancis sejak Agustus 1793, seharusnya ia merasa puas dengan segala apa yang telah diperolehnya itu.
Tapi rupanya kemegahan dunia belum bisa memuaskan batinnya, agama yang dianutnya waktu itu ternyata tidak bisa membuat Napoleon Bonaparte merasa tenang dan damai.
Akhirnya pada tanggal 02 Juli 1798, 23 tahun sebelum kematiannya ditahun 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte menyatakan ke-Islamannya dihadapan dunia Internasional.
Apa yang membuat Napoleon ini lebih memilih Islam daripada agama lamanya, Kristen ?
Berikut penuturannya sendiri yang pernah dimuat dimajalah Genuine Islam, edisi Oktober 1936 terbitan Singapura.
"I read the Bible; Moses was an able man, the Jews are villains, cowardly and cruel. Is there anything more horrible than the story of Lot and his daughters ?"
"The science which proves to us that the earth is not the centre of the celestial movements has struck a great blow at religion. Joshua stops the sun ! One shall see the stars falling into the sea... I say that of all the suns and planets,..."
"Saya membaca Bible; Musa adalah orang yang cakap, sedang orang Yahudi adalah bangsat, pengecut dan jahat. Adakah sesuatu yang lebih dahsyat daripada kisah Lut beserta kedua puterinya ?" (Lihat Kejadian 19:30-38)
"Sains telah menunjukkan bukti kepada kita, bahwa bumi bukanlah pusat tata surya, dan ini merupakan pukulan hebat terhadap agama Kristen. Yosua menghentikan matahari (Yosua 10: 12-13). Orang akan melihat bintang-bintang berjatuhan kedalam laut.... saya katakan, semua matahari dan planet-planet ...."
Selanjutnya Napoleon Bonaparte berkata :
"Religions are always based on miracles, on such things than nobody listens to like Trinity. Yesus called himself the son of God and he was a descendant of David. I prefer the religion of Muhammad. It has less ridiculous things than ours; the turks also call us idolaters."
"Agama-agama itu selalu didasarkan pada hal-hal yang ajaib, seperti halnya Trinitas yang sulit dipahami. Yesus memanggil dirinya sebagai anak Tuhan, padahal ia keturunan Daud. Saya lebih meyakini agama yang dibawa oleh Muhammad. Islam terhindar jauh dari kelucuan-kelucuan ritual seperti yang terdapat didalam agama kita (Kristen); Bangsa Turki juga menyebut kita sebagai orang-orang penyembah berhala dan dewa."
Selanjutnya :
"Surely, I have told you on different occations and I have intimated to you by various discourses that I am a Unitarian Musselman and I glorify the prophet Muhammad and that I love the Musselmans."
"Dengan penuh kepastian saya telah mengatakan kepada anda semua pada kesempatan yang berbeda, dan saya harus memperjelas lagi kepada anda disetiap ceramah, bahwa saya adalah seorang Muslim, dan saya memuliakan nabi Muhammad serta mencintai orang-orang Islam."
Akhirnya ia berkata :
"In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate. There is no god but God, He has no son and He reigns without a partner."
"Dengan nama Allah yang Maha Pengasih dan Maha Penyayang. Tiada Tuhan selain Allah. Ia tidak beranak dan Ia mengatur segala makhlukNya tanpa pendamping."
Napoleon Bonaparte mengagumi AlQuran setelah membandingkan dengan kitab sucinya, Alkitab. Akhirnya ia menemukan keunggulan-keunggulan AlQuran daripada Alkitab, juga semua cerita yang melatar belakanginya.
DID YOU KNOW ? Napoleon Bonaparte embraced Islam?
England's foe for many years has been France. The legacy remains as seen in the Capital of England, London, where monuments dedicated to defeats over France, are evident. The defeats have been most significant against that of when France was being ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte. (Nelson's Column, Trafelgar Square, Waterloo Station to name but a few.)
Yet, history is seldom seen in the truthful light, and is nearly always partial to the 'winning side' - in whose hand the pen remains, long after both the battle and the war have been won. Yet, recent discoveries have seemed to suggest some interesting facts about Napoleon and his religious beliefs.
In the book, ‘Satanic Voices - Ancient and Modern’ by David M. Pidcock, (1992 ISBN: 1-81012-03-1), it states on page 61, that the then official French Newspaper, Le Moniteur, carried the accounts of his conversion to Islam, in 1798 C.E.
It mentions his new Muslim name, which was ‘Aly (Ali) Napoleon Bonaparte’. He commends the conversion of his General Jacques Menou, who became known as General ‘Abdullah-Jacques Menou’, who later married an Egyptian, Sitti Zoubeida - who was descended from the line of the Prophet Muhammad (on whom be peace).
Napoleon did recognise the superiority of the Islamic (Shari'ah) Law - and did attempt to implement this in his Empire. Most of this, as one can imagine, has been removed/replaced by modern-day secular laws in France and other parts of Europe, but some aspects of the Islamic (Shari'ah) Law do currently exist in French constitution as the basis for some of their laws from the Code Napoleone. One publicised case was that of the fatal car accident with Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Al-Fayed. "The photographers were charged with an old part of the French Jurisprudence, for ‘not helping at the scene of an accident’- which is taken from the Shari'ah Law of Imam Malik." (David M. Pidcock, 1998 C.E.)
Further detailed accounts of this can be found in the book 'Napoleon And Islam' by C. Cherfils. ISBN: 967-61-0898-7
http://www.shef.ac.uk/~ics/whatis/articles/napoleon.htm
BONAPARTE SAID
NAPOLEON (BONAPARTE):
Napoleon I (1769-1821 [1237 A.H.]), who went into history as a military genius and statesman, when he entered Egypt in 1212 [C.E. 1798], admired Islam's greatness and genuineness, and even considered whether he should become a Muslim. The following excerpt was paraphrased from Cherfils's book (Bonapart et Islam):
"Napoleon said:
The existence and unity of Allahu ta'ala, which Musa 'alaihis-salam', had announced to his own people and Isa 'alaihis-salam' to his own ummat, was announced by Muhammad 'alaihis-salam' to the entire world. Arabia had become totally a country of idolaters. Six centuries after Isa 'alaihis-salam', Muhammad 'alaihis-salam' initiated the Arabs into an awareness of Allahu ta'ala, whose existence prophets previous to him, such as Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail, Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus) alaihim-us-salam', had announced. Peace in the east had been disturbed by the Arians, [i.e. Christians who followed Arius], who had somehow developed a degree of friendship with the Arabs, and by heretics, who had defiled the true religion of Isa 'alaihis-salam' and were striving to spread in the name of religion a totally unintelligible credo which is based on trinity, i.e. God, Son of God, and the Holy Ghost. Muhammad 'alaihis-salam' guided the Arabs to the right way, taught them that Allahu ta'ala is one, that He does not have a father or a son, and that worshiping several gods is an absurd custom which is the continuation of idolatry."
At another place in his book he quotes Napoleon as having said, "I hope that in the near future I will have the chance to gather together the wise and cultured people of the world and establish a government that I will operate [in accordance with the principles written in Qur'an al-karim.]"