Islam
- The neutrality of this article is
disputed.
Muhammad (also spelled "Mohammad", "Mohammed"; and formerly Mahomet in imitation of the
Latin spelling; محمد in
Arabic) was born circa
570 in
Mecca (or "Makkah") and died
June 8,
632 in Medina (Madinah). His full name was Abu al-Qasim Muhammad Ibn Abd
Allah Ibn Abd al-Muttalib Ibn Hashim (Ibn meaning "son of"). Muslims consider Muhammad the last
prophet of
God. He also unified
certain Arabian tribes.
After mentioning or writing the name of Muhammad or of any other
prophet, a Muslim
will often add "peace be upon him" or sallalahu aleyhi
wasallam (صلى الله عليه و سلم:
alternatively translated as "May God bless him and grant him peace" and abbreviated as "PBUH" or as "SAW"). Different groups of
Muslims have differing usages in this regard, so for example
Shia Muslims only use the
phrase for Muhammad himself and not for other prophets, and add a sub-phrase to it, making it sallalahu alayhi wa ahlihi
wasallam generalizing the blessing to "him and his family"
Life
Youth
Born (possibly on
April 20,
570) after his
father Abd Allah had died, Muhammad came into the equivalent of a
middle-class family. He first came under the care of his paternal grandfather
Abd al-Muttalib, a former leader of
the prestigious Hashim clan (which formed part of the tribe of
Quraysh). Because the
climate of Mecca had a reputation for unhealthiness, Muhammad's family gave him as an infant to a wet nurse Haleemah from a
nomadic tribe, and he spent some time in the desert. (This practice occurred commonly among the Makkan middle and upper classes.)
At the age of six Muhammad lost his mother Amina, and at the age of eight his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib. Muhammad now came
under care of his uncle
Abu Talib, the new leader of the Hashim clan of the
Quraysh tribe - the most powerful in Mecca.
Mecca comprised a desert
city-state whose main distinction lay in the
Ka'aba, reputedly built by
Abraham, the
traditional forefather of the
Arabs and
Jews. Most of
Makka's inhabitants worshipped
idols. Though the city had no natural resources of
its own, it functioned as a commercial centre, visited by many foreign traders. By all accounts Muhammad played a very active
role in the civic life of his city. His uncle Zubair founded the order of chivalry known as the
Hilf al-fudul, which assisted the
oppressed of the city, local inhabitants and foreign visitors. Muhammad participated as an enthusiastic member.
Muhammad assisted is resolving disputes,and became known as Al-Ameen ("the trustworthy") because of his
spotless reputation in all his dealings. Most notably when the Ka'aba became damaged in a
flood, and the Makkan leaders all wanted the honour of fixing the rebuilt sacred Black Stone in place, Muhammad, as
the judge chosen to solve the problem, proposed spreading a white sheet on the ground, placing the Black Stone in the middle, and
asking the tribal leaders to carry it to its site by holding the corners of the sheet. Muhammad himself then fixed the stone in
its place.
As a teenager Muhammad began accompanying his uncle on trading journeys to
Syria. He thus
became well-travelled and familiar with many foreign ways
Middle years
About 595, on a trading journey, Muhammad met
Khadijah, a rich widow then 40
years old. The young Muhammad (then 25) so impressed Khadijah that she offered him marriage. The marriage proved an important
turning point in Muhammad's life. By Arab custom minors did not inherit, so Muhammad had received no inheritance from either his
father or his grandfather, but by his marriage he obtained a large fortune. The
sira records that Khadija bore Muhammad six children. Although Muhammad had no children with his later wives he
did have a son with his Coptic slave girl Mary (Maryam). This son, called Ibrahim, died in infancy.
Timeline of Muhammad
Important dates and locations
around Muhammad's life
|
Founding of Islam
Muhammad had a reflective turn of mind and routinely spent nights in a cave near Mecca in meditation and thought. Around the
year 610, while meditating, Muhammad reportedly had a vision of the angel
Gabriel and heard a voice saying to him "You are the Messenger of God." (From this
time until his death, Muhammad reportedly received frequent revelations. Sometimes while receiving these messages, traditions
note, Muhammad would sweat and enter a trance state). This vision of Gabriel disturbed Muhammad, but his wife Khadijah reassured
him. Around 613 CE Muhammad began preaching in public. By proclaiming his message publicly
Muhammad gained followers, including the sons and brothers of the richest men in Mecca. The religion he preached became known as
Islam (submission to the Will of God). Both the
Qur'an and Muhammad's sayings indicate that Muhammad from an early stage viewed Islam as an universal religion and
not merely restricted to the Arab community.
As the ranks of his followers swelled, he became a threat to the local tribes, especially the
Quraysh, his own tribe, which had the responsibility of looking after the
Kaba, which at this time housed the several thousand
idols that Arabs at that
time worshipped as gods.
Rejection
As Muhammad preached against this pantheon, he became deeply unpopular with the rulers, and his followers suffered from
repeated attacks to person and property. Tradition holds that some Makkans launched vigorous and brutal attempts to persecute the
new Muslims: forcing them to lie on burning sand, placing huge boulders on their chests, and pouring red-hot iron over them. Many
died, but none renounced their faith. This persecution did not initially target Muhammad himself: his family simply had too much
influence. This environment became intolerable, and Muhammad advised some of his followers to go to
Abyssinia.
The Makkans tried to tempt Muhammad to give up his mission by offering him political
power. As Muhammad's following grew, opponents made attempts to get him to disband or modify his
religion. They offered him a large share in
trade, and
marriage with some of wealthiest families, but he rejected all such offers.
Makkans ultimately demanded that Abu Talib hand over his nephew for execution.
When he refused, the opposition brought commercial pressure against Muhammad's
tribe and his supporters. Eventually an assassination attempt took place. After
the death of his uncle and of Khadija, Muhammad's own clan withdrew their
protection of him. He suffered abuse, stoning, and pelting with thorns and
rubbish. However, no attempt succeeded in taking his life.
Hijrah
In 622, after increased persecution of his followers and the decision was made to assasinate him, Muhammad and his Meccan
followers left Mecca for
Medina, where he had gained many converts. This
Hijrah or emigration (traditionally translated into English as "flight")
marks the beginning of the
Islamic calendar. The Medinans
apparently hoped that Muhammad would unite them and prevent incidents such as the 618 Medinan civil war in which many had lost
their lives. A document known as the
Constitution of
Medina (circa 622-623) established a confederation between Muhammad's Makkan followers and the neighboring Arab
clans of Mecca. Madinah and its suburbs, after the ratification of this treaty, turned into a coalition state, with Madinah
proper as capital and Muhammad as ‘president’; authorities lay mainly in the hand of the Muslims, and consequently it
was a real capital of Islam. To expand the zone of peace and security the Prophet started to enter into similar treaties with
other tribes living around ‘his state’.
Medina
The quraish in response to the escape of Muhammad to Medina formed an alliance
with other polytheist tribes in Makkah to harass those
Muslims in Medina and in Makkah,
they also threatened the death of any Muslim returning to their homeland. In Medina with the muslims under alert, a few emigrant
Muslim Makkans, set out on military attacks against Makkan caravans on their way to
Syria, thus striking at the Makkan economy. About the same time Muhammad changed the direction of the
Qibla from
Jerusalem to Mecca. In March of
624 Muhammad led about 300 men in a military expedition on a Makkan caravan led by
Abu Sufyan, the head of the Umayyah clan. The caravan managed to escape but
Abu Jahl (the head of the Makhzum clan), who had
previously opposed Muhammad and organized a boycott against Muhammad's
Hashim
clan, had command of a supporting force of around 800 men and wanted to teach Muhammad a
lesson.
On March 15,
624 near a place called
Badr, the two forces clashed. Though outnumbered 800 to 300 in the
battle, the Muslims met with success, killing at least 45 Makkans, including Abu Jahl, and taking 70 prisoners; whereas only 14
Muslims died. To the Muslims this appeared as a divine vindication of Muhammad's prophethood, and he and all the Muslims rejoiced
greatly. Following this victory, the victors expelled a
hostile Jewish clan, the
banu Quainuqa, who had violated the non aggression pact, and had a few minor skirmishes before the next major battle in Uhud.
Virtually all the remaining Medinans converted and Muhammad became
de
facto ruler of the city.
Several important marriage alliances also occurred. Of Muhammad's daughters,
Fatima married
Ali (later fourth
caliph) and Umm Kulthum married
Uthman (the third
caliph). Muhammad himself, already married to
Aisha daughter of
Abu Bakr (first caliph) now also married Hafsah daughter of
Umar
(second caliph). On
March 21,
625
Abu Sufyan, hoping for revenge, entered Medina with 3,000 men. On the morning of
March 23 fighting began. The battle produced no obvious winner or loser, though the
Makkans claim victory. For two years after the
Battle of Uhud both sides prepared for a decisive encounter.
In April
627 Abu Sufyan led a great confederacy of
10,000 men against Medina. The Jews of Medina had to participate in the fighting to protect the city of Medina, as they had
agreed in the Medina Charter. The Jewish tribe of
Banu Qurayza did not participate in the fighting and they made an agreement with Abu Sufyan to attack the
Muslims from the rear after he had entered the city. Some people among the Muslims also had made such an agreement under the
leadership of
Abd Allah
ibn Ubayy: later accounts refer to them as "those that profess beliefs and opinions that one does not hold" (or "one who
pretends to pious", munafiqun).
Between the strong forces of Abu Sufyan and the forces of Banu Qurayza - which would consist of all their men of
fighting age - and the forces of the munafiqun the Muslims would have faced a
massacre if Abu Sufyan had triumphed. Islam might have ceased to exist.
To the traitors inside Medina it must have come as a surprise when the
10,000-strong force of Abu Sufyan failed to cross a trench dug around Medina by order of Muhammad, as the
Persian
scribe
Salman e-Farsi had suggested to him.
After the retreat of Abu Sufyan and his forces, the Muslims directed their attention towards the groups that had committed
treason to the Charter of Medina. The munafiqun quickly crumbled, and their leader Abd Allah ibn Ubayy pledged
allegiance to Muhammad. The Muslims then besieged the Banu Qurayza, who had intrigued against them. They had the opportunity of
choosing Muhammad as an
arbitrator, but instead the Banu Qurayza chose
Saad ibn Muadh, the leader of their
former allies, the Aus.
Saad had suffered a deadly wound in the battle against Abu Sufyan's forces and he invoked the rules of the Jews' own
scriptures the Torah, ordering the execution of the active forces of the tribe, which
would consist of all their grown men. He permitted the non-combatant women and
children to live, though having no men to support them and the Muslim community not having the resources to support them either,
they were sold into captivity.
By 627 CE Muhammad had united Medina under Islam with protected privileges for the
Jews and
Christians who lived there. Word of
the new religion, and of the peace and prosperity it brought, spread by trade. The
Bedouin became keenly interested in this new faith; they saw its potential to bring peace and plenty to their
wandering tribes, and, after much negotiation, they became allied with Muhammad. Also,
after much contact with the town and with Muslims, some gradually converted. At this stage the reported revelations that had
visited Muhammad had almost reached completion. Divine inspiration told him to return to Mecca and to reclaim the
Kaaba.
Mecca
Muhammad put economic pressure on the citizens of Mecca; but aimed primarily to gain their willing adherence to Islam. In
March 628 he set out to perform a pilgrimage in Mecca, with 1,600 men accompanying him. The Makkans however halted Muhammad on
the edge of their territory at al-Hudaybiyah. After some days the Makkans made a treaty with Muhammad. With negotiation and
assent of the elders of the Quraysh he made an unarmed pilgrimage to the Kaaba. Hostilities would cease and the Muslims would
have permission to make a pilgrimage to Mecca in the following year. Muhammad's marriage to Habiba, daughter of Abu Sufyan
(Muhammad's former enemy) further cemented the treaty.
After a period, though, the agreement broke down, and war broke out. In November 629, however, allies of the Makkans attacked
an ally of Muhammad, leading Muhammad to denounce the treaty of al-Hudaybiyah. After secret planning, Muhammad marched on Mecca
in January 630 with 10,000 men. But no bloodshed occurred. Abu Sufyan and other leading Makkans formally submitted. Muhammad
promised a general amnesty (with some people specifically excluded). When he entered Mecca, 20 years after having to flee,
virtually no resistance occurred. Though he did not insist on their becoming Muslims, most Makkans converted. In Mecca, Muhammad
destroyed the idols in the
Kaaba and various
small shrines
Unification of Arabia
After the hijrah Muhammad began to establish alliances with nomadic tribes. At first these probably consisted of
non-aggression pacts, but as his strength grew he insisted
that the prospective allied tribe should become Muslim. While in Mecca, Muhammad received word of a large concentration of
hostile tribes and he set out to confront them. A battle took place at Hunayn in which the enemy was defeated. Some now viewed
Muhammad as the strongest man in Arabia, and most tribes sent delegations to Medina seeking alliance. Before his death,
rebellions occurred in one or two parts of Arabia but the Islamic state had sufficient strength to deal with this.
Muhammad went to
Medina (at that time known as "Yathrib") where he was invited to
become arbiter between the two rival tribes of Medina (the Aws and Khasraj). He set up a welfare state, collected taxes for the
needy, organised town defences against numerous raiding parties from Mecca and beyond, and entered numerous trade agreements.
Muhammad built mosques, and established a religious culture based on respect for other
religions and their freedom to practise (the town also housed a number of Christians and Jews). Muhammad allegedly drew up the
first constitution.
Demise and afterwards
Shortly prior to his death Muhammad delivered a famous final admonition to his followers known as the Prophet's Final Sermon (http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophet_Muhammad%27s_Final_Sermon). His death in June 632 at
Medina, at the age of 63, provoked a major crisis among his followers. Indeed this dispute eventually led to the division of the
Islam between the Shia and
Sunni sects. The
Shia believe that the prophet introduced
Ali ibn Abu Talib as his successor, in a public sermon in his last
haj in a place called
Ghadir Khom, while the
Sunni dispute this.
His effect on the course of history
Muhammad's basic message emphasised belief in one God, respect for a certain kind of
morality above and beyond tribal links, and
prayer. Islamic history
records Muhammad as illiterate, though some scholars argue that Muhammad probably received some form of education, and point to
his successful career as a merchant. When he grew up, he travelled with many caravans as an administrator, with the task of
ensuring that the caravan arrived safely and with all goods intact. He did this throughout most of his working life.
The Quran is held by some scholars (and by Muslims) to have taken written form during
Muhammad's lifetime. Some other scholars, employing source criticism, contest this belief. The Quran itself claims that Muhammad
recited the entire Quran during his farewell pilgrimage to Mecca in 632, implying that it already had an established order if not
actually redacted onto parchment/paper.
In politics, Muhammad was founder of an Islamic state which his successors would
extend to encompass areas from the Atlantic to the Indus River. Some non-Muslims have criticized the methods used to establish
this state, sometimes alleging that some of Muhammad's acts were war crimes by modern standards. Muslims would strongly contest
this claim.
The many major intellectual advances which would be made by Muslims in the following centuries are often credited to the
influence of the creed he spread, and in particular to his reported injunctions to seek
knowledge "from the cradle to the grave" and "even as far as China". The effort to understand his life better was
a major factor in the development in the Muslim world of a science of
history, and of
isnad and
sunnah. This led ultimately to the
legal practice of fiqh.
Although he exercised and exercises an influence both political and historical, the most lasting legacy of Muhammad arguably
remains his role as the prophet of
Islam. He himself is said to have carefully separated
his role as prophet from that as a political leader, and Muslims make a clear distinction between the
Quran and his sayings (Ahadith) or actions (sira). His failings he credited to himself, and his achievements to
Allah. He consistently discouraged anyone from seeing him as divine. The distinction was expressed by
Abu Bakr, his life-long companion, addressing the crowd outside the mosque in Medina
immediately after Muhammad's death:
- "O people, verily, whosoever worshipped Muhammad know that Muhammad is dead. But whosoever worshipped God, know that God
is alive".
A hadith attributed to Muhammad himself has him saying:
- "When a person dies, his deeds come to an end, except in respect of three matters which he leaves behind: a continuing
charity,
knowledge from which benefit
could be derived and righteous offspring who pray for him".
In summary, Muhammad established the religion of
Islam, praticed by circa one billion
people today, and the first Islamic state, whose successors, whether unified or fractious, have had a major historical impact.
For this reason, many have seen him as one of the most influential people in history.
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