Muhammad
Muhammad (
Arabic: محمد
[2] Muḥammad; also Mohammed, Muhammed, Mahomet, and other variants)
[3][4][5] (c. 570
Mecca- June 8, 632 CE
Madina), was the founder of
Islam and is regarded by
Muslims as the last messenger and
prophet of God (Arabic: الله
Allah).
[6] Muslims believe that he was not the creator of a new religion, but the restorer of the original, uncorrupted monotheistic faith of Adam, Abraham and others. They see him as the last and the greatest in a series of
prophets.
[7]Sources on Muhammad’s life concur that he was born ca.
570 CE in the city of
Mecca in
Arabia.
[8] He was orphaned at a young age and was brought up by his uncle, later worked mostly as a merchant, and was married by age 26. At some point, discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic tradition, it was here at age 40, in the month of
Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event, Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "
God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām)
[9] is man's religion (
dīn),
[10] and that he was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as
Adam,
Noah,
Abraham,
Moses,
David,
Jesus, and
other prophets.
[11][12][13]Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was largely met with hostility from the tribes of Mecca; he was treated harshly and so were his followers. To escape persecution, Muhammad and his followers migrated to
Yathrib (
Medina)
[14] in the year
622. This historic event, the
Hijra, marks the beginning of the
Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad managed to unite the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to ten thousand, conquered Mecca. In
632, on returning to Medina from his '
Farewell pilgrimage', Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of
Arabia had converted to Islam.
The revelations (or
Ayats, lit. Signs of God), which Muhammad had continued receiving till his death, form the verses of the
Qur'an,
[15] regarded by Muslims as the “word of God”, around which the religion is based. Besides the Qur'an, Muhammad’s life (
sira) and traditions (
sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims.
Etymology
15th century illustration in a copy of a
manuscript by
Al-Bīrūnī, depicting Muhammad preaching the Qur'ān in Mecca.
[16]The
name Muhammad literally means "Praiseworthy".
[17] [18] Within Islam, Muhammad is known as
Nabi (Prophet) and
Rasul (Messenger). Although the Qur'an sometimes declines to make a distinction among prophets, in Surah
33:40 it singles out Muhammad as the "
Seal of the Prophets".
[19] The Qur'an also refers to Muhammad as "Ahmad" (Surah
61:6) (Arabic :أحمد), Arabic for "more praiseworthy".
Overview
Born to
‘Abdu’llah ibn ‘Abdu’l-Muttalib, Muhammad initially adopted the occupation of a shepherd, and later became a merchant. In his youth, he was given the nickname "Al-Amin" (Arabic: الامين), meaning "faithful, trustworthy"
[20] and was sought out as an impartial arbitrator.
[12][8][21] 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) he was visited by
Angel Gabriel and commanded to recite verses sent by God. These revelations continued until his death twenty-three years later. The collection of these verses is known as the
Qur'an.
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.
[8]After initially ignoring Muhammad's preaching, the elites in Mecca felt threatened by his message, and began to harass Muhammad and persecute his followers.
[citation needed] This continued and intensified over more than a decade.
[citation needed] 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).
[8] 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.
[12] On returning to Medina he fell ill and died after a few days, on
June 8.
[22]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.
[citation needed]Sources for Muhammad's life
Main articles:
Historiography of early Islam and
Historicity of Muhammad11th century Persian Qur'an folio page in
kufic script
From a scholarly point of view, the most credible source providing information on events in Muhammad's life is the Qur'an.
[23][24] The Qur'an has some, though very few, casual allusions to Muhammad's life.
[24] The Qur'an, however, responds "constantly and often candidly to Muhammad's changing historical circumstances and contains a wealth of hidden data that are relevant to the task of the quest for the historical Muhammad."
[25] All or most of the Qur'an was apparently written down by Muhammad's followers after being revealed by the Angel Gabriel while he was alive, but it was, then as now, primarily an orally related document, and the written compilation of the whole Qur'an in its definite form was completed early after the death of Muhammad.
[26] The Qur'an in its actual form is generally considered by academic scholars to record the words spoken by Muhammad because the search for variants in Western academia has not yielded any differences of great significance.
[27]Next in importance are the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him (the
sira and
hadith literature), which provide further information on Muhammad's life.
[23] The earliest surviving written
sira (biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) is
Ibn Ishaq's
Sirah Rasul Allah (Life of God's Messenger). Although the original work is lost, portions of it survive in the recensions of
Ibn Hisham (Sirah al-Nabawiyyah, Life of the prophet) and
Al-Tabari.
[28] According to Ibn Hisham, Ibn Ishaq wrote his biography some 120 to 130 years after Muhammad's death. Many, but not all, scholars accept the accuracy of these biographies, though their accuracy is unascertainable.
[24] The
hadith collections, accounts of the verbal and physical traditions of Muhammad, date from several generations after the death of Muhammad. Western academics view the hadith collections with caution as accurate historical sources.
[29]There are a few non-Muslim sources which, according to S. A. Nigosian, confirm the existence of Muhammad. The earliest of these sources date to shortly after
634, and the most interesting of them date to some decades later. These sources are valuable for corroboration of the Qur'anic and Muslim tradition statements.
[24]Life based on Islamic traditions
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IslamophobiaGlossary of Islamic termsIslam PortalviewBefore Medina
Main article:
Family tree of MuhammadMuhammad traced his
genealogy as follows (ibn means "son of" in Arabic; alternate names of people with two names are given in parentheses):
Muhammad was born into the
Quraysh tribe. He is the son of
Abd Allah, son of
Abd al-Muttalib (Shaiba) son of
Hashim (Amr) ibn Abd Manaf (al-Mughira) son of Qusai (Zaid) ibn Kilab ibn Murra son of Ka'b ibn Lu'ay son of Ghalib ibn Fahr (
Quraish) son of Malik ibn an-Nadr (Qais) the son of Kinana son of Khuzaimah son of Mudrikah (Amir) son of Ilyas son of
Mudar son of Nizar son of Ma'ad ibn
Adnan, whom the northern
Arabs believe to be their
common ancestor. Adnan in turn is said to have been a descendant of
Ishmael, son of
Abraham.
[30]Childhood
See also:
Year of the Elephant and
MawlidMuhammad was born into the family of Banu Hashim, one of the better class families of
Mecca but the family seems to have not been prosperous during Muhammad's early lifetime.
[12][31] Tradition places Muhammad's birth in the
Year of the Elephant, commonly identified with 570.
[32] Western historians hitherto had accepted the Year of the Elephant to be 570, however according to
Watt some new discoveries suggest that the
Year of the Elephant might have been
569 or
568.
[32] Welch on the other hand holds that the
Year of the Elephant should have taken place considerably earlier than 570 and further argues that Muhammad may have been born even later than 570.
[12]Muhammad's birthday is considered by
Sunni Muslims to have been the 12th day of the month of
Rabi'-ul-Awwal, the third month of the Muslim calendar.
[33] Shi'a Muslims believe it to have been the dawn of 17th of the month of
Rabi'-ul-Awwal.
[34]Muhammad's father,
Abdullah, died almost six months before he was born.
[35] In accordance with tribal custom, Muhammad was sent to live with a Bedouin family in the desert for four or five years where he was wetnursed by
Thuwaybah and
Halimah bint Abdullah.
[citation needed] Shortly after he returned to his mother at the age of six, Muhammad lost his mother
Amina to illness and he became fully orphaned.
[citation needed] He was subsequently brought up for two years under the guardianship of his paternal grandfather
Abd al-Muttalib, of the
Banu Hashim clan of the
Quraysh tribe. When he was eight years of age, his grandfather also died. Muhammad now came under the care of his uncle
Abu Talib, the new leader of the
Hashim clan of Hashim tribe.
[32] According to
Watt, because of the general disregard of the guardians in taking care of the weak members of the tribes in Mecca in
sixth century, "Muhammad's guardians saw that he did not starve to death, but it was hard for them to do more for him, especially as the fortunes of the clan of Hashim seems to have been declining at that time."
[36]Mecca was a thriving commercial center. There was an important shrine in Mecca (now called the
Kaaba) that housed statues of many Arabian gods.
[37] Merchants from various tribes would visit Mecca during the pilgrimage season,
[37] when all inter-tribal warfare was forbidden and they could trade in safety.
[citation needed] While still in his teens, Muhammad began accompanying his uncle on trading journeys to
Syria gaining some experience in commercial career; the only career open to Muhammad as an orphan.
[36]Middle years
Little is known of Muhammad during his youth, and from the fragmentary information that we have, it is hard to separate history from legend.
[38] It is known that he became a merchant and "was involved in trade between the
Indian ocean and the
Mediterranean Sea."
[39] He gained a reputation for reliability and honesty that attracted a proposal from
Khadijah, a forty-year-old widow in
595.
[39] Muhammad consented to the marriage, which by all accounts was a happy one.
The earliest surviving image of Muhammad from
Rashid al-Din's Jami' al-Tawarikh, approximately
1315, depicting the episode of the
Black Stone.
[40]Ibn Ishaq records that Khadijah bore Muhammad six children: two sons named Al Qasem and Abdullah (who is also called Abdullah Al Tayeb or Abdullah Al Taher), and four daughters:
Zainab,
Ruqayyah,
Umm Kulthum, and
Fatima. Muhammad was called Abu Al-Qasim (father of Qasim) after his eldest son Qasim, according to Arab customs. All of Khadija's children were born before Muhammad reported receiving his first
revelation. Both of Muhammad's sons died in childhood, with
Qasim dying at the age of two.
According to the Muslim tradition, the young Muhammad played a role in the restoration of the Kabba, after parts of it had been destroyed by one of Mecca's frequent flash floods.
[41] When the reconstruction was almost done, disagreements arose as to who would have the honor of lifting the
Black Stone into place and different clans were about to take up arm against each other. One of the elders suggested they take the advice of the first one who entered the gates of the
Haram. This happened to be Muhammad. He spread out his cloak, put the stone in the middle and had members of the four major clans raise it to its destined position. The cloak became an important symbol for later poets and writers.
[42]The Beginnings of the Qur'an
See also:
WahyThe mountain of Hira where, according to Muslim tradition, Muhammad received his first revelation.
Muhammad often retreated to
Mount Hira near Mecca. Islamic tradition holds that the angel
Gabriel began communicating with him here in the year
610 and commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses:
[43]Proclaim! (or read!) in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created- Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,- He Who taught (the use of) the pen,- Taught man that which he knew not.(Surah
96:1-5)
Upon receiving the first revelation, he was scared. When he returned home he related the event to his wife
Khadijah. He was consoled and reassured by Khadijah and her Christian cousin,
Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Waraqah was immediately enthusiastic, but Khadijah proceeded more cautiously, and was only satisfied that the revelations had indeed come from a good source after the conclusion of a test she had devised to determine that very thing. This was followed by a pause of three years during which Muhammad had gave himself up further to prayers and
spiritual practices. When the revelations resumed he was reassured and commanded to begin preaching (Surah
93:1-11).
[44]According to
Welch, these revelations were accompanied by mysterious seizures as the reports are unlikely to have been forged by later Muslims.
[12] Muhammad was confident that he could distinguish his own thoughts from these messages.
[45]Opposition in Mecca
According to Muslim tradition, Khadijah, Muhammad's wife, was the first to believe that he was a prophet.
[46] She was soon followed by Muhammad's ten-year-old cousin
Ali ibn Abi Talib, close friend
Abu Bakr and adopted son
Zaid (later known as Zaid bin Haarith.) The
Identity of first male Muslim is very controversial.
[46]Around
613, Muhammad began to preach amongst Meccans most of whom ignored it and a few mocked him, while some others became his followers. There were three main groups of early converts to Islam: younger brothers and sons of great merchants; people who had fallen out of the first rank in their tribe or failed to attain it; and the weak, mostly unprotected foreigners.
[47]As the ranks of Muhammad's followers swelled, he became a threat to the local tribes and the rulers of the city, whose wealth rested upon the Kaaba, the focal point of Meccan religious life, which Muhammad threatened to overthrow. Muhammad’s denunciation of the Meccan traditional religion was especially offensive to his own tribe, the
Quraysh, as they were the guardians of the Ka'aba. The great merchants tried (but failed) to come to some arrangements with Muhammad in exchange for abandoning his preaching. They offered him admission into the inner circle of merchants and establishing his position in the circle by an advantageous marriage.
[48] Tradition records at great length the persecution and ill-treatment of Muhammad and his followers.
[12] Sumayya bint Khubbat, a slave of Abū Jahl and a prominent Meccan leader, is famous as the first martyr of Islam, having been killed with a spear by her master when she refused to give up her faith.
Bilal, another Muslim slave, suffered torture at the hands of Umayya ibn khalaf by placing a heavy rock on his chest to force his conversion.
[49][50]Hijra to Ethiopia
Main article:
Migration to AbyssiniaIn
615, some of Muhammad's followers emigrated to the
Ethiopian Kingdom of Aksum and founded a small colony there under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian
king.
[12] While the traditions view the persecutions of Meccans to have played the major role in the emigration,
William Montgomery Watt, a professor of
Islamic studies, states "there is reason to believe that some sort of division within the embryonic Muslim community played a role and that some of the emigrants may have gone to Abyssinia to engage in trade, possibly in competition with prominent merchant families in Mecca."
[12]Last years in Mecca
The
neutrality of this section is
disputed.Please see the discussion on the
talk page.
In
619, the "year of sorrow", both Muhammad's wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib died. The relationship between Muhammad's followers and Muhammad's own Quraysh clan, already bad, further worsened.
[51]Muhammad then tried to establish himself in another important city in Arabia, Ta'if, but his effort failed and further brought him into physical danger. Muhammad returned to Mecca. A Meccan man named Mut'im b. Adi made it possible for him safely to re-enter his native city.
[12] Many people were visiting Mecca on business or as pilgrims to the
Kabaa. Muhammad took this opportunity to look for a new home for himself and his followers. After several unsuccessful negotiations, he found hope with some men from Yathrib (later called
Medina).
[12] The Arab population of Yathrib were somewhat familiar with monotheism because a Jewish community existed in that city.
[12]Some of the earliest biographies describe Muhammad at this time delivering what Western scholars have dubbed the "
satanic verses," in which he recognized the validity of three Meccan goddesses considered to be the daughters of Allah, although its historicity is disputed.
[52] According to Cook, Muhammad later reverted to the purity of his message, and relations between his followers and their pagan fellow-tribesmen became bitterly hostile.
[53] Later Islamic scholars rejected the account, which they called the "story of the cranes," arguing, among other reasons, that its chain of narration is unreliable.
[54]Isra and Miraj
Main article:
Isra and Mi'rajA 16th century
Persian miniature painting celebrating Muhammad's ascent into the Heavens, a journey known as the
Miraj. Muhammad's face is veiled, a practice in
Islamic art of this
genre.
The
Al-Aqsa Mosque congregation building. The site from which Muhammad is believed by Muslims to have ascended to heaven.
Some time in
620, Muhammad told his followers that he had experienced the
Isra and Miraj, a miraculous journey said to have been accomplished in one night along with the angel
Gabriel. In the first part of the journey, the Isra, he is said to have travelled from
Mecca to "the farthest mosque" (in Arabic: masjid al-aqsa), which Muslims usually identify with the
Al-Aqsa Mosque in
Jerusalem. In the second part, the Miraj, Muhammad is said to have toured
heaven and
hell, and spoken with earlier prophets, such as
Abraham,
Moses, and
Jesus.
Ibn Ishaq, author of first
biography of Muhammad, presents this event as a spiritual experience while later historians like
Al-Tabari and
Ibn Kathir present it as a physical journey.
[55] Those Muslims subscribing to the latter view consider the
Foundation Stone under the Dome of the Rock to be the site from which Muhammad ascended to heaven on the
Buraq.
[citation needed]Muhammad in Medina
Main articles:
Migration to Medina and
Muhammad in MedinaA delegation from Medina, consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad as a neutral outsider to Medina to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community.
[56][57] There was fighting in Yathrib mainly involving its Arab and Jewish inhabitants for around a hundred years before 620.
[56] The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the
battle of Bu'ath in which all the clans were involved, made it obvious to them that the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and
an eye for an eye were no longer workable unless "there was one man with authority to adjudicate in disputed cases."
[56]By 622, Muhammad then emigrated to
Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural
oasis. 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]Muhammad came to Medina as a mediator, invited to resolve the feud between the Arab factions of
Aws and
Khazraj.
[citation needed] Medina was also home to a number of Jewish tribes, divided into three major clans:
Banu Qaynuqa,
Banu Qurayza and
Banu Nadir, and some minor groups.
[56] 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 (including that of the Muslim community to other communities specifically the
Jews and other "
Peoples of the Book").
[56][57]Beginnings of conflict
The Muslim migrants were economically uprooted, and did not wish to be wholly dependent on the Medinans. They turned to raiding Meccan caravans for their income. Medina and Mecca were in the state of war, and raids on merchant caravans were seen as a natural and legitimate act of war, Lewis states.
[58] In performing the raids the Muslims were taking the offensive; Muhammad was deliberately challenging and provoking the Meccans. The raids were made solely or primarily by the emigrants from Mecca who believed to have been mistreated by Meccans (see [
Qur'an 22:39])
[59] The raids put pressure on Mecca by blocking trade routes, and allowed the Muslims to begin to acquire power, prestige and wealth, while working toward their ultimate goal of inducing Mecca's submission to the new faith.
[60]In March of
624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a
raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. 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.
[61] The raiders won much booty, and the battle helped to stabilize the Medinan community.
[62] From this period on, the Medinan verses of the Qur'an are very different from those of Mecca, dealing with practical problems of government, the distribution of booty, and other temporal matters.
[63] The victory also made possible a reaction against the Jews and Christians, who were accused of falsifying their scriptures in order to conceal prophecies about Muhammad. Islam began to change; the new religion became more strictly Arab, and the conquest of Mecca became a religious duty.
[64]After Khadija's death, Muhammad married the six-years old
Aisha, 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 the twenty-year old
Hafsah, daughter of
Umar (who would eventually become Abu Bakr's successor).
[citation needed]Muhammad's daughter
Fatima married
Ali, Muhammad's cousin. According to the Sunni, another daughter,
Umm Kulthum, married
Uthman. Each of these men, in later years, would emerge as successors to Muhammad and
political leaders of the Muslims. Thus, all four
caliphs were linked to Muhammad by marriage.
Sunni Muslims regard these caliphs as the
Rashidun, or Rightly Guided. (See
Succession to Muhammad for more information on the controversy on the succession to the caliphate).
[citation needed]Conflict with Mecca
In
625 the
Meccan leader
Abu Sufyan marched on
Medina with three thousand men. Urged on by younger Muslims spirited by the victory at Badr and against the advice of
Abdallah ibn Ubayy to last out the attack inside the town, Muhammad led his force outside and fought the
Battle of Uhud on
March 23, that ended in a Muslim defeat (According to
Watt however it was not a Muslim defeat from a military standpoint. The Meccans, thinking themselves of having Arabia under their control, had aimed to destroy the Muslims completely, but they failed to achieve this aim. They killed 75 Muslims for the loss of 77 of their own in Badr.
[65]) The Meccans did not occupy the town however and withdrew to Mecca because they could not attack on Muhammad's position again for military loss, low morale and possibility of Muslim resistance in the town. There was also hope that Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy leading a group of Muslims in Medina could be won over by diplomacy.
[66] In April
627, Abu Sufyan led another strong force against Medina, but could not overcome the defenders in the
Battle of the Trench.
Following the Muslims' victory at the Battle of the Trench, the Muslims were able, through conversion and conquest, to extend their rule to many of the neighboring cities and tribes.
[citation needed]Jewish tribes of Medina
Main article:
Muhammad and the JewsAfter 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".
[67]On religious grounds, the Jews were skeptical of the possibility of a
non-Jewish prophet,
[68] and also had concerns about possible incompatibilities between the Qur'an and their own scriptures.
[68][69] 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".
[68] According to Peters, "The Jews also began secretly to connive with Muhammad's enemies in Mecca to overthrow him."
[70]After each major battle with the Medinans, Muhammad accused one of the Jewish tribes of treachery (see Surah
2:100) and attacked it. After Badr and Uhud, the
Banu Qaynuqa 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 exterminated the male members of the Banu Qurayza. The females and children were sold as slaves.
[71]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.
[72] F.E. Peters, a western scholar of Islam, states that Muhammad's treatment of Jews of Medina was essentially political being prompted by what Muhammad read as treasonous and not some transgression of the law of God.
[70] Peters adds that Muhammad was possibly emboldened by his military successes and also wanted to push his advantage. Economical motivations according to Peters also existed since the poorness of the Meccan migrants was a source of concern for Muhammad.
[73] Peters argues that Muhammad's treatment of the Jews of Medina was "quite extraordinary", "matched by nothing in the Qur'an", and is "quite at odds with Muhammad's treatment of the Jews he encountered outside Medina."
[70]Truce of Hudaybiyya
Main article:
Treaty of HudaybiyyaAlthough Muhammad had already delivered verses [
Qur'an 2:196-210] about the performing of
Hajj, Muhammad and Muslims did not perform it due to the enmity of the Quraish. It was the month of
Shawwal 6 A.H. when Muhammad reported seeing in a vision that he was shaving his head after the
Hajj.
[74] According to Bernard Lewis, "In the early spring of 628, Muhammad felt strong enough to attempt an attack on Mecca. On the way it became clear that the attempt was premature and the expedition was converted into a peaceful pilgrimage. The Muslim leaders met Meccan negotiators at a place called
Hudaybiyya". The negotiation ended in a ten-year truce.
[75] The main points of treaty were the following:
The two parties and their allies should desist from hostilities against each other
[76]Muhammad, should not perform Hajj this year
[76]They may come next year to perform Hajj (unarmed) but shall not stay in Mecca for more than three days
[76]Any Muslim living in Mecca cannot settle in Medina, but Medinan Muslims may come and join Meccans (and will not be returned).
[citation needed]Many Muslims were not satisfied with the terms of the treaty. However, the Qur'anic sura "Al-Fath" (The Victory) (
48:1-29) assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one.
[77] The Muslims did benefit following the treaty; the men of Mecca and Medina could now meet in peace and discuss Islam. Hence, during the following two years the community of Islam more than doubled.
[78][Quotation from source requested on
talk page to verify interpretation of source] Some opposition among the more enthusiastic Muslims to this apparently inconclusive result was deflected by an attack on the Jewish oasis of
Khaybar.
[79]According to Muslim tradition, after the signing of the truce, Muhammad sent letters to many rulers of the world, asking them to convert to Islam.
[80][81][82] Hence he sent messengers (with letters) to
Heraclius of the
Byzantine Empire (the eastern Roman Empire),
Chosroes of
Persia, the chief of
Yemen and to some others.
[80][81]Conquest of Mecca
Main articles:
Conquest of Mecca and
Muhammad after the conquest of MeccaThe
Kaaba in
Mecca held a major economic and religious role for the area, it became the Muslim
Qibla, or direction for
SalatThe
truce of Hudaybiyya had been enforced for two years.
[83][84] The tribe of Khuz'aah had a friendly relationship with Muhammad, while on the other hand their enemies, the Banu Bakr, had an alliance with the Meccans.
[83][85] A clan of the Bakr made a night raid against the Khuz'aah, killing a few of them.
[83][85] The Meccans helped their allies (i.e., the
Banu Bakr) with weapons and, according to some sources, a few Meccans also took part in the fighting.
[83] After this event, Muhammad sent a message to Mecca with three conditions, asking them to accept one of them. These were the following
[86]The Meccans were to pay
blood-money for those slain among the Khuza'ah tribe, or
They should have nothing to do with the Banu Bakr, or
They should declare the truce of Hudaybiyya null.
The Meccans replied that they would accept only the third condition.
[86] However, soon they realized their mistake and sent Abu Safyan to renew the Hudaybiyya treaty, but now his request was declined by Muhammad. Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign.
[87]In
630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. Most Meccans converted to Islam, and Muhammad subsequently destroyed all of the statues of Arabian gods in and around the
Kaaba, without any exception. Henceforth the pilgrimage would be a Muslim pilgrimage and the shrine was converted to a Muslim shrine.
[citation needed]Conquest of Arabia
The capitulation of Mecca and the defeat of an alliance of enemy tribes at
Hunayn effectively brought the greater part of the
Arabian peninsula under Muhammad's authority. However, this authority was not enforced by a regular government, as Muhammad chose instead to rule through personal relationships and tribal treaties. The Muslims were clearly the dominant force in Arabia, and most of the remaining tribes and states hastened to convert to Islam.
[citation needed]Death
The
Al-Masjid al-Nabawi is Islam's second most sacred site; the Green dome in the background stands above
Muhammad's tombIn 632, Muhammad fell ill and suffered for several days with
head pain and weakness. He succumbed on Monday, June 8, 632, in the city of Medina. He is buried in
his tomb (which previously was in his wife Aisha's house) which is housed within
Mosque of the Prophet in
Medina.
[88]Marriages and children
Main article:
Muhammad's marriagesMuhammad's life is traditionally defined into two epochs:
pre-hijra (emigration) in Mecca, a city in northern Arabia, from the year 570 to 622, and
post-hijra in Medina, from 622 until his death in 632. All but two of his marriages were contracted after the
migration to Medina.
He married 11 or 13 women depending upon the differing accounts of who his wives were. At the age of 25, Muhammad married
Khadijah which lasted for 25 years.
[89] This marriage is described as "long" and "happy," and he relied upon Khadija in many ways.
[90][91] Muhammed did not enter into marriage with another woman during his marriage with Khadija. After her death, friends of Muhammad advised him to marry again, but he was reluctant to do so.
[91][92] It was suggested to Muhammad by Khawla bint Hakim, that he should marry
Sawda bint Zama, a Muslim widow, or
Aisha. Muhammad is said to have asked her to arrange for him to marry both. Later, Muhammad married additional wives, most of them widows, to make for a total of eleven, of whom nine or ten survived him. Scholars such as
Watt and
Esposito hold that most of the marriages aimed at strengthening political ties (according to the Arabian custom) or providing a livelihood to widows (it was hard for widows to remarry in a culture that emphasized virgin marriages).
[93][94]The status of several of Muhammad's wives is disputed by scholars.
Maria al-Qibtiyya may have been a slave, a freed slave, or a wife.
[citation needed] While there is some debate about the age of Aisha (Ayesha), most references, including the Bukhari Hadith, put the marriage age at 5 or 6 and consummation of the marriage at the age of 9.
[95][96][97]Only two of Muhammad's wives bore him children. Khadijah is said to have borne him four daughters and two sons, though only one daughter,
Fatima and her children survived her father. Maria al-Qibtiyya bore him a son, but the child died when he was ten months old. Some say that his daughter
Zainab, mother to a daughter called Amma or Umama, survived him as well.
[citation needed] Shi'a Muslims dispute the number of Muhammad's children, stating that he had only one daughter, and that the other "daughters" were step-daughters.
Descendants of Muhammad are known as
sharifs شريف (plural: ِأشراف Ashraaf) or
sayyid. Many rulers and notables in
Muslim countries, past and present have professed such descent, with various degrees of credibility, such as the
Fatimid dynasty of
North Africa, the
Idrisids, the current
royal families of
Jordan. In various Muslim countries, there are societies of varying credibility that authenticate claims of descent.
[citation needed]There is some dispute between
Shia scholars regarding the
genealogy of the four daughters of Khadija on whether they were born to Khadijah from her marriage to Muhammad, an earlier marriage, or if they were in fact the daughters of a widowed and dead sister of Khadija. Sunnis believe he had four daughters with Khadîjah. Shi'a accept Fatimah to be Muhammad's only surviving child,
[citation needed] while some Sunni question that.
[citation needed]There is also a difference of opinion regarding whether he had two or four sons. The conflict arises from some reports on the sons of Khadijah mentioning two sons called Tahir and Tayyab,
[citation needed] and another mentioning one called Abdullah who was also called Tahir and possibly also called Tayyab.
[citation needed] Ibrâhîm was the
only child borne to him by Maria during his residence in Medina and the last to be born. Abdullâh was born after he declared himself a prophet but died during his residence in Mecca. All his other sons died before his claims of prophecy.
In the Islamic prayer, Muslims end with the second tashahhud asking God to bless Muhammad and his descendants just as
Abraham and his descendants were blessed.
Children of Khadijah:
Sons:
Abd-Allah ibn MuhammadQasim ibn MuhammadDaughters:
Ruqayyah bint MuhammadUmm Kulthum bint MuhammadZainab bint MuhammadFatima ZahraChildren of Maria:
Ibrahim ibn MuhammadCompanions
Main articles:
Sahaba and
SalafThe term Sahaba (companion) refers to anyone who meets three criteria: to be a contemporary of Muhammad, to have heard Muhammad speak on at least one occasion, and to be a convert to Islam. Companions are considered the ultimate sources for the oral traditions, or
hadith, on which much of
Muslim law and practice are based. The following are a few examples in alphabetic order:
Main article:
Early reforms under IslamAccording to
William Montgomery Watt, for Muhammad, religion was not a private and individual matter but rather “the total response of his personality to the total situation in which he found himself. He was responding [not only]... to the religious and intellectual aspects of the situation but also to the economic, social, and political pressures to which contemporary Mecca was subject."
[98]Bernard Lewis says that there are two important political traditions in Islam - one that views Muhammad as a statesman in Medina, and another that views him as a rebel in Mecca. He sees Islam itself as a type of revolution that greatly changed the societies into which the new religion was brought.
[99]Historians generally agree that Islamic social reforms in areas such as
social security, family structure, slavery and the rights of women and children improved on what was present in existing Arab society.
[99][100][101][102][103] For example, according to Lewis, Islam "from the first denounced aristocratic privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents"
[99]Muhammad's message transformed the society and
moral order of life in the Arabian Peninsula through reorientation of society as regards to identity,
world view, and the hierarchy of values.
[104]Economic reforms addressed the plight of the poor, which was becoming an issue in
pre-Islamic Mecca.
[105] The Qur'an requires payment of an alms tax (
zakat) for the benefit of the poor,
[106] and as Muhammad's position grew in power he demanded that those tribes who wanted to ally with him implement the zakat in particular.
[107]Miracles in the Muslim biographies
Main article:
Islamic view of miraclesWhile, according to historian Denis Gril, the Qur'an does not overtly describe Muhammad performing miracles,
[108] and Muhammad did not claim to have done so,
[12] Muslim tradition credits Muhammad with several supernatural events.
[109] For example, many Muslim commentators and some western scholars have interpreted the Surah
54:1-2 to refer to Muhammad
splitting the Moon in view of the Quraysh when they had begun to persecute his followers.
[108][110] This tradition has inspired many Muslim poets, especially in India.
[12]Modern Muslim biographies of Muhammad more often portray him as a progressive social and political reformer, successful military leader and model of human virtue.
[111] According to
Carl Ernst, Muslims began to deemphasize superhuman views of Muhammad following the growth of scientific
rationalism in Muslim countries.
[112] Daniel Brown adds that Muslims of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, faced with social and political turmoil and the challenge of reforming Islamic law, began looking to Muhammad's life for examples which might more practically address these problems.
[111]Traditional views of Muhammad
Muslims have traditionally expressed love and veneration for Muhammad. Stories of Muhammad's life, his intercession and of his miracles (particularly "
Splitting of the moon") have permeated popular Muslim thought and poetry. The Qur'an refers to Muhammad as "a mercy (rahmat) to the worlds" [
Qur'an 21:107].
[12] The association of rain with rahmat (mercy) in Oriental countries has led to imagination of Muhammad as a rain cloud dispensing blessing and stretching over lands, reviving the dead hearts, just as rain revives the seemingly dead earth (see for example the Sindhi poem of Shah ʿAbd al-Latif).
[12] The story of ascention of Muhammad to heaven (mi'radj) is described in much details by poems in Turkey, India, Africa and other countries. The folk traditions contain miracles attributed to Muhammad not mentioned in the Qur'an (such as trees bowing before Muhammad, or a cloud protecting him from the sun).
[12]Muslims regard Muhammad as God's last messenger, and
al-insan al-kamil, meaning, the "perfect man".
[citation needed] There are legends telling of how the whole world was filled with light at Muhammad's birth.
[12]Seal of the prophets
Wazir Khan Mosque (16th century) Fresco painting with floral designs surrounding the words "Allah" and "Muhammad" in blue. Inscribed inside the names are Qur'anic verses; the one inside the word "Allah" is the
Ayat-ul-Kursi and the one inscribed inside the word "Muhammad" asserts that Muhammad is the
last prophet.
Topkapi Palace gate with Shahadah and his seal. The Muslim
Profession of faith, the
Shahada, illustrates the Muslim conception of the role of Muhammad - "There is no god (ʾilāh)
[113] but God(Allāh), and Muhammad is His Messenger."
Muslims believe Muhammad to be the last in a line of prophets of
God (Arabic
Allah) and regard his mission as one of restoring the original
monotheistic faith of
Adam,
Abraham and other
prophets of Islam that had become
altered by man over time.
[11][12][13] The Qur'an specifically refers to Muhammad as the "
Seal of the Prophets", which is taken by most Muslims to believe him to be the last of the prophets.
[114][19] Welch however holds that this Muslim belief is most likely a later interpretation of the
Seal of the Prophets.
[12] Carl Ernst considers this phrase to mean that Muhammad's "imprint on history is as final as a wax seal on a letter".
[19] Wilferd Madelung states that the meaning of this term is not certain.
[115]Depictions of Muhammad
Main article:
Depictions of MuhammadMuslims differ as to whether or not visual depictions of Muhammad are permissible. The position of the four main Sunni Muslim Maddhabs is that, to prevent
idolatry and
shirk, visual depictions of Muhammad are forbidden; some non-maddhab groups, such as the
Salafi movement, take a similar line.
[116]The Shia and others have historically taken a much less restrictive view, allowing depictions praising Muhammad, while a school of Sufi'ism uses calligraphy of the name of Muhammad, Ali, Hussein and other important people in
Muslim History to create their images.
[117]Muslim veneration of Muhammad
See also:
Muslim veneration for Muhammad,
Naat,
Depiction of Muhammad,
Islamic music, and
QawwaliMuhammad's name, engraved in gold, adorns the walls of
Hagia Sophia in
Istanbul. Originally a
Christian church, it was converted into a
mosque after the
Fall of Constantinople.
It is traditional for Muslims to illustrate and express love and veneration for Muhammad. This is observed in a number of different ways. When Muslims say or write Muhammad's name, they usually follow it with
Peace be upon him or its Arabic equivalent, sallalahu alayhi wasallam, and for Shias this is extended to Peace be upon him and his descendants. In English this is often abbreviated to "(
pbuh)", "(saw)" and "pbuh&hd" for Shias, or even just simply as "p". The Quran gave him the title Apostle of God (Arabic:
Rasul-
Allah or Rasulallah), which has also been used by
Muslims, as well as the title "Prophet". Concerts of Muslim, and especially
Sufi,
devotional music include songs praising Muhammad. There are religious songs
Nasheeds which regularly praise Muhammad.
Conversely,
criticism of Muhammad is often equated with
blasphemy[citation needed], which is punishable by death in Pakistan.
[118]Christian and Western views of Muhammad
Main article:
Christian view of MuhammadWhile Muslim tradition tended to glorify Muhammad,
Western tradition has at times denigrated and vilified him.
[119][120]Popular image of Muhammad in medieval times
In the
12th century,
Chansons de geste that mentioned Muhammad presented him as an idol to whom Muslims prayed for aid in battle.
[12][121] Some medieval Christians said he had died in
666, alluding to the number of the beast, instead of 632.
[122]; others changed his name from Muhammad to
Mahound, the "devil incarnate".
[123] Bernard Lewis writes "The development of the concept of
Mahound started with considering Muhammad as a kind of demon or false god worshipped with
Apollyon and
Termangant in an unholy trinity."
[124] To discredit Islam, Muhammad was represented as an idol or one of the heathen gods during the first and
second Crusade.
[12]Later medieval representations
From the middle of the 13th century, mentions of Muhammad in
vernacular chivalric romance literature begin to appear. A poem represents Muhammad as "someone in bondage. Through his cleverly contrived marriage to the widow of his former master, he not only attains his freedom and wealth but also knows how to cover up his epileptic attacks as phenomena accompanying visitations of angels and to pose as a new messenger of God's will through deceitful machinations."
[12] From this period is Scala Mahomete, a translation of an Arabic text, largely without Christian evaluations.
[12] In a polemical tone, Livre dou Tresor represents Muhammad as a former monk and cardinal.
[12] Dante's
The Divine Comedy (Canto
XXVIII), puts Muhammad, together with Ali, in
Hell "among the sowers of discord and the schismatics, being lacerated by devils again and again."
[12]Early modern times
After the
reformation, Muhammad was no longer viewed as a god or idol, but as a cunning, ambitious, and self-seeking impostor.
[125][12]Guillaume Postel was among the first to present a more positive view of Muhammad.
[12] Boulainvilliers described Muhammad as a gifted political leader and a just lawmaker.
[12] Leibniz praised Muhammad because "he did not deviate from the natural religion".
[12]Modern times
Friedrich Bodenstedt (1851) describes Muhammad as "an ominous destroyer and a prophet of murder"
[12]According to
Watt and Richard Bell, recent writers have generally dismissed the idea that Muhammad deliberately deceived his followers, arguing that Muhammad “was absolutely sincere and acted in complete good faith”.
[126] Watt says that sincerity does not directly imply correctness: In contemporary terms, Muhammad might have mistaken for divine revelation his own unconscious.
[127]Although Muhammad's image in the west is much less unfavorable than in the past, prejudicial folk beliefs remain.
[128]Watt and
Lewis argue that viewing Muhammad as a self-seeking imposter makes it impossible to understand the development of Islam.
[129][130] Welch holds that Muhammad able to be so influential and successful because of his firm belief in his vocation.
[131] Muhammad’s readiness to endure hardship for his cause when there seemed to be no rational basis for hope shows his sincerity.
[132]Other religious traditions in regard to Muhammad
The
Druze, who accept most but not all Qur'anic revelations, also consider him a prophet.
Bahá'ís venerate Muhammad as one of a number of prophets or "
Manifestations of God", but consider his teachings to have been superseded by those of
Bahá'u'lláh.
