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Muhammad

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15th century illustration in a copy of a manuscript by Al-Bīrūnī, depicting Muhammad preaching the Qur'ān in Mecca.
15th century illustration in a copy of a manuscript by Al-Bīrūnī, depicting Muhammad preaching the Qur'ān in Mecca.[1]

According to the religion of Islam which he founded, Muhammad was not only a prophet but also the last prophet of Allah.

Born to ‘Abdu’llah ibn ‘Abdu’l-Muttalib in what was said to be "the year of the Elephant". His family belonged to the Hashim, a branch of the Quraysh tribe. Muhammad initially adopted the occupation of a shepherd, later became a merchant, robber baron and eventualy warlord. In his youth, he was called by the nickname "Al-Amin" (Arabic: الامين), meaning "faithful, trustworthy"[2] and was sought out as an impartial arbitrator.[3][4][5]

Contents

[edit] The Revelations

During the month of Ramadan, Muhammad would retreat to a cave located at the summit of Mount Hira, just outside Mecca in the Arabian Hijaz, where he fasted and prayed. According to Islamic belief, when he was about forty years old (610 CE) he was visited by Angel Gabriel and commanded to recite verses sent by God. These verses would later become what is believed to be the first part of Sura 96. After this first divine insight no new ones came for a time but then after a long period they started up again and continued at a steady rate till his death.

Over time the revelations changed style from more poetic at first to a more straight forward and simple type in the later years. The messages of the revelations also changed from warnings about disobedience to god to regulations about culture and society. These alterations followed Islams place in society. When there were few Muslims spreading the message of Allah took precedence. Later when Muhammad was governor of Medina societal rules were more important.

These revelations continued until his death twenty-three years later. The collection of these verses is known as the Qur'an. How the divine revelations come to him is described in hadiths (Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 1):

As told by Aisha (the mother of the faithful believers): Al-Harith bin Hisham asked God's Apostle "O God's Apostle! How is the Divine Inspiration revealed to you?" God's Apostle replied, "Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell, this form of Inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes ' off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says." 'Aisha added: Verily I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the Sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over).

[edit] Islam Grows

He expanded his mission as a prophet, publicly preaching strict monotheism, condemning the social evils of his day, and warning of a Day of Judgment when all humans shall be held responsible for their deeds.[4]

After ignoring Muhammad's preaching, the elites in Mecca, felt threatened by his message. The hardships reached a new level for Muhammad after the deaths of his wife Khadija and his uncle Abu Talib, who, although not becoming a Muslim, had protected Muhammad throughout. Eventually, in 622, Muhammad left Mecca in a journey known to Muslims as the Hijra (the Migration).[4] He settled in the area of Yathrib (now known as Medina) with his followers, where he was the leader of the first Muslim community.

Six years of continuous war between Muslim and Meccan forces followed, culminating later in the bloodless Muslim victory and conquest of Mecca. The Muslims subsequently removed everything they considered idolatrous from the Kaaba. Most of the townspeople accepted Islam. In March 632, Muhammad led the pilgrimage known as the Hajj.[3] On returning to Medina he fell ill and died after a few days, on June 8.[6]

Under the caliphs who assumed authority after his death, the Islamic empire expanded into Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, southern Spain, and Anatolia. Later conquests, commercial contact between Muslims and non-Muslims, and missionary activity spread Islam over much of the Eastern Hemisphere, including China and Southeast Asia.

[edit] Muhammad in Medina

By 622, Muhammad then emigrated to Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural oasis. By breaking the link with his own tribe, Muhammad demonstrated that tribal and family loyalties were insignificant compared to the bonds of Islam, a revolutionary idea in the tribal society of Arabia. This Hijra or emigration (traditionally translated into English as "flight") marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. The Muslim calendar counts dates from the Hijra, which is why Muslim dates have the suffix AH (After Hijra).[citation needed]

Medina was home to a number of Jewish tribes, divided into three major clans: Banu Qainuqa, Banu Qurayza and Banu Nadir, and some minor groups.[7] Among the things Muhammad did in order to settle down the longstanding grievances among the tribes of Medina was drafting a document known as the Constitution of Medina (date debated), "establishing a kind of alliance or federation" among the eight Medinan tribes and Muslim emigrants from Mecca, which specified the rights and duties of all citizens and the relationship of the different communities in Medina.[7][8]

In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Meccans successfully defended the caravan, but then decided to teach the Muslims a lesson and marched against Medina. On March 15, 624 near a place called Badr, the Meccans and the Muslims clashed. Though outnumbered more than three times (one thousand to three hundred - majority of Muslim historians put the exact total at 313) in the battle, the Muslims met with success, killing at least forty-five Meccans and taking seventy prisoners for ransom; only fourteen Muslims died.[9] This marked the real beginning of Muslim military battles.

After Khadija's death, Muhammad married Aisha when she was six years old, the daughter of his friend Abu Bakr (who would later emerge as the first leader of the Muslims after Muhammad's death). In Medina, he married Hafsah, daughter of Umar (who would eventually become Abu Bakr's successor). [citation needed]

After his migration to Medina, Muhammad's attitude towards Christians and Jews changed. Norman Stillman states:

During this fateful time, fraught with tension after the Hidjra [migration to Medina], when Muhammad encountered contradiction, ridicule and rejection from the Jewish scholars in Medina, he came to adopt a radically more negative view of the people of the Book who had received earlier scriptures. This attitude was already evolving in the third Meccan period as the Prophet became more aware of the antipathy between Jews and Christians and the disagreements and strife amongst members of the same religion. The Qur'an at this time claims that it will "relate [correctly] to the Children of Israel most of that about which they differ" ( XXVII, 76).

Jewish opposition "may well have been for political as well as religious reasons".[10]On religious grounds, the Jews were skeptical of the possibility of a non-Jewish prophet,[11] and also had concerns about possible incompatibilities between the Qur'an and their own scriptures.[11][12] The Qur'an's response regarding the possibility of a non-Jew being a prophet was that Abraham was not a Jew. The Qur'an also claimed that it was "restoring the pure monotheism of Abraham which had been corrupted in various, clearly specified, ways by Jews and Christians".[11]

After each major battle with the Medinans, Muhammad accused one of the Jewish tribes of treachery (see Qur'an 2:100) and attacked it. After Badr and Uhud, the Banu Qainuqa and Banu Nadir, respectively, were expelled "with their families and possessions" from Medina. After the Battle of the Trench in 627, the Muslims accused the Jews of Banu Qurayza of conspiring with the Meccans, then wiped them out.[13]

Two types of explanations are given for Muhammad's treatment of the Jews of Medina: Theological and Political. The theological explanation given by some Arab historians and biographers is that:"the punishment of the Medina Jews, who were invited to convert and refused, perfectly exemplify the Quran's tales of what happened to those who rejected the prophets of old." Others offered a political explanation.[14]

[edit] Death

In the year 632 Muhammad became infirm with sever head pain and weakness. He on June, 8th, 632. Some Muslims believe that he was poisoned but the Qur'an does not say it outright. He was buried in his house near the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina.

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Bibliothèque nationale de France Le Prophète Mahomet L'art du livre arabe
  2. ↑ Historian Welch (cf. "Muhammad","Encyclopedia of Islam") holds that "Al-Amin" was a common Arab name and further suggest that al-Amin might have been Muhammad's give name, a masculine form from the same root as his mother's name, Āmina.
  3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named EoI-Muhammad
  4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named EncWorldHistory
  5. ↑ Esposito(1998), p.6
  6. ↑ "caliph." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Cambridge History of Islam (1977), p. 39
  8. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Esp
  9. ↑ Glubb (2002), pp.179-186.
  10. ↑ Endress (2003), p.29
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Cambridge History of Islam (1977), pp.43-44
  12. ↑ Cohen (1995), p.23
  13. ↑ Esposito (1998), pp.10-11
  14. ↑ F.E.Peters(2003), p.77

[edit] See also

[edit] External Links

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