Muhammad
Muhammad listen ▶ (Arabic: محمد, also transliterated Mohammad, Mohammed, Muhammed, and sometimes Mahomet, following the Latin or Turkish), is considered the final prophet of Islam by mainstream Muslims, and the founder of Islam by non-Muslims.
According to traditional Muslim biographers, he was born ca. 570C.E. in Mecca (Makkah) and died June 8, 632 in Medina (Madinah); both Mecca and Medina are cities in the Hejaz region of present day Saudi Arabia.
Summary
Born Muhammad ibn Abdullah, he is said to have been a merchant who traveled widely. Muslims say that in 610, at about the age of forty, while meditating in a cave near Mecca, he experienced a vision. Later he described the experience to those close to him as a visit from the Angel Gabriel, who commanded him to memorize and recite the verses later collected as the Qur'an. Gabriel told him that God (Allah in Arabic) had chosen him as the last of the prophets to mankind. He eventually expanded his mission as a the apostle or prophet of Islam, publicly preaching a strict monotheism and predicting a Qiyamah (Day of Judgement) for sinners and idol-worshippers, such as his tribe and neighbors in Mecca. He was a successful leader on both religious and political levels. He did not completely reject Judaism and Christianity, two other monotheistic faiths known to the Arabs which are referred to in the Qur'an; he said to have been sent by God in order to complete and perfect their teachings. He soon acquired a following by some and rejection and hatred by others in the region. In 622 he was accepted an inviation from believers in the City of Yathrib (now known as [Medina)to take refuge their, and to lead that city. Known as the Hijra, or migration, this event marked the beginnin of the Islamic calendar. with his followers, where he was the leader of the first avowedly Muslim community. War between Mecca and Medina followed, in which Muhammad and his followers were eventually victorious. The military organization honed in this struggle was then set to conquering the other pagan tribes of Arabia. By the time of Muhammad's death, he had unified Arabia and launched a few expeditions to the north, towards Syria and Palestine.
Under Muhammad's immediate successors the Islamic empire expanded into Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain. Later conquests, commercial contact between Muslims and non-Muslims, and missionary activity spread Islam over much of the globe.
How do we know about Muhammad?
The Sira: Biographical Literature
The sources available to us for information about Muhammad are the sira biographies, and the hadith (sayings and deeds of Muhamamd) collections. Technically hadith refers to a single saying (the plural is ahadith) but in English it is customary to use the singular. While the Qur'an is not a biography of Muhammad, it does provide some information about his life; on the other hand, knowledge of Muhammad's life provides Muslims with the 'situation of revelation' without which understanding the Qur'an becomes problematical. The Qur'an does refer to incidents in Muhammad's life, public and private circumstances, so it does contain information about him. The earliest surviving biographies are the Life of the Apostle of God, by Ibn Ishaq (d. 768), edited by Ibn Hisham (d. 833); and al-Waqidi's (d. 822]]) biography (sira) of Muhammad. Ibn Ishaq wrote his biography some 120 to 130 years after Muhammad's death. The third source, the hadith collections, like the Qur'an, are not a biography per se. In the Sunni belief, they are the accounts of the words and actions of Muhammad and his companions. In the Shia belief, they are the accounts of the words and actions of Muhammad, of the Household of the Prophet (Ahl al-Bayt) and their companions, the sahabah (see below).
Non-Muslim Skepticism
Some skeptical scholars such as John Wansbrough, Michael Cook, Patricia Crone, and others have raised doubts about the reliability of these sources, especially the hadith collections. They argue that by the time the oral traditions were being collected, the Muslim community had fractured into rival schools of thought. Each sect and school had its own sometimes conflicting traditions of what Muhammad and his companions had done and said. Traditions multiplied, and Muslim scholars made a strenuous effort to weed out what they felt were spurious stories. Traditionalists rely on their efforts; the skeptics feel that the question must be revisited, using modern methods. Other scholars, such as Joseph Schacht (1902-1969), had been pessimistic about the reliablity of the hadith but Cook and Crone go further, doubting the whole chronology of Muhammad's life which they regard as a post-638 fabrication, a heilgeschichte invented after the conquest of Jerusalem to lend religious sanction to Arab territorial expansion. They regard this creation as owing most to Jewish sources and legend, with Mecca serving as an Arab Sinai, thus making Moses a fore-type of Muhammad (1977: 25). There is, they argue, 'no indication of the existence of the Koran before the end of the 7th century'(18) and that what emrged as 'Islam', a mix of Arab (Hagarite) and Samaritan legends, 'can plausibly' be dated from 'the reign of 'Abd al-Malik' (646-705)(29), who built the Dome. The Qur'an's composition possibly involved Muslim Ibn al-Hajjaj (810-75), editor of the second most authoratative collection of hadith for Sunni Muslims. Commenting that the inscriptions on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem 'attest the existence, at the end of the seventhc entury, of materials immediately recognisable as Koranic' they add that this does not give any indication 'of the literary form in which those materials normally appeared at the time' (18). Wansbrough argued that it was more likely that the Qur'an's recession followed rather than preceded the codification of the hadith, which took place in the ninth century; the Qur'anic revelation could only have been effected within the community once its concent could be related to that of the prophetic Sunna and, perhaps more important, to the historical figure delineated therein' (1977: 52). Following Schacht, he thinks it significant that 'with very few exceptions, Muslim jurisprudence was not derived from the contents of the Qur'an' (44). Thus, the traditional Muslim account of the recession of the Qur'an under the third caliph, Uthman (580-656)is fictitious. Earlier, Abraham Geiger (1896) had explained Islam as in the main derived from Judaism
- In general he was in favour of borrowing from earlier religions. He desired no peculiarity, no new religion which should oppose all that had gone before; he sought rather to establish one founded on the ancient creeds purified from later changes and additions, one which should adopt this or that new idea, and which should above all things acknowledge him as a divinely commissioned prophet. He let all that was already established stand good, as is seen from the lists of the prophets quoted above (21-22).
The Hadith Literature
Muslim and non-Muslim scholars alike agree that there are many inauthentic traditions concerning the life of Muhammad in the hadith collections. A very small minority called the "Quran Alone Muslims" consider all hadith as unreliable. Non-Muslims cholars, though, are much more skeptical about the reliablity of hadith literature. Schacht (1964) argued that each faction invented hadith to justify their own claims and also to accuse anyone who diagreed with their views of ilegitimacy, that is, apostasy or heresy. Coulson (1964) agreed with Schacht that, 'the vast majority of legal dicta attributed to the prophet are apocryphaal' (64), while Sir William Muir (1894) had it that since the sword was used to silence any doubt, 'absence of candid and free investigation into the origin and early incidents of Islam ... charcterises the Muslim mind even to the present day' (xxxviii-ix). Muir believed that 'pious fraud' and 'perverted tradition' was the 'chief instrument employed to accomplish' different parties' goals, thus 'traditions were coloured, distorted and fabricated'. He believed that the tendency was to idealize Muhammad by surrounding him with mystique, and by attributing miracles and futuristic predictions to him but that material that reflects less favorably on Muhammad (his supposed moral failings) was more likely to be authentic.
The historicity of the biographical material about Muhammad presented in the summary above is not less contested than legal material, with the exception of such scholars as Wansbrough, Cook and Crone although Ibn Warrack (1995) points out that historical and legal material was handled, collected and codified by the same people, which must raise questions about the authenticity of the whole corpus (69-70). Traditionalists, both Muslim and non-Muslim, paint a much more detailed picture of Muhammad's life, as described below. Many non-Muslim scholars think that 570C.E. as Muhammad's birth is a back-projection to make him 40 when he received his first revelation, emphasising the parralel with Moses (Bennett, 2001: 18). Most think that 622C.E. for the hijrah is a safe date (which marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar).
Six collections of hadith are recognised by most Sunni as especially trustworthy - those by Bukhari (d. 870), Muslim Ibn al-Hajjaj (d.875) (referred to above by Cook and Crone), Tirmidhi (d. 892), Nasa'i (d. 915), Ibn Majah (d.885), and Abu Da'ud (d.888). Together these are called the "six books" (al-kutub al-sitta). Shi'a use the above but also have their own collections which include sayings of the Imams (male descendants of Muhammad); the collections of al-Kulayni (d. 940), Ibn Babuya (d. 991), Al Tusi (d. 1058) who authored two collections (making four) have special status. Many Muslims believe that the whole of Buckari is authentic although hadith are given different catergories, depending on the reliablity of their transmitter ranging from the highest, sahih, to the lowest, da`îf (weak). Rules concerning hadith includ that all transmitters (the isnad, or chain of transmission must trace back to a close companion of Muhamamd)must be pious, their content (matn) must not contradict the Qur'an or what was commonly accepted to have been Muhammad's opinion, any penalty prescribed must not be disproprortionate to the offence or crime involved, they must not depict Muhammad as predicting the future or performing miracles. With reference to the latter, many hadith do. However, Muslims have always been free to question the authenticity of hadith, even of those contained in the above mentioned collections. Bennett (2001) suggested that the issue is not whether Muslims attributed Muhammad with mystique but whether he deserved this reverence or not, thus:
- admitting that 'myths' were created, I am interested in why. Was it to surround Muhammad with a mystique he neither had nor deserved, or was it to depict metaphorically (and in the idom of the day) a mystique he really had? If the former, we may impute insincerity to the compilers; if the latter, this seems to be an inappropriate judgement, however farfetched, by toaday's standards, the myths seem to be (54).
Muhammad's life according to Sira
Muhammad's genealogy
According to tradition, Muhammad traced his genealogy back as far as Adnan, whom the northern Arabs believed to be their common ancestor. Adnan in turn is said to be a descendant of Ismaeel (Ishmael), son of Ibrahim (Abraham) though the exact genealogy is disputed. Muhammad's genealogy up to Adnan is as follows:
Muhammad ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muttalib (Shaiba) ibn Hashim (Amr) ibn Abd Manaf (al-Mughira) ibn Qusai (Zaid) ibn Kilab ibn Murra ibn Ka`b ibn Lu'ay ibn Ghalib ibn Fahr (Quraish) ibn Malik ibn an-Nadr (Qais) ibn Kinana ibn Khuzaimah ibn Mudrikah (Amir) ibn Ilyas ibn Mudar ibn Nizar ibn Ma`ad ibn Adnan. (ibn = "son of" in Arabic; alternate names of people with two names are given in brackets.)
His nickname was Abul-Qasim, "father of Qasim", after his short-lived first son.
Childhood
Muhammad was born into a well-to-do family settled in the northern Arabian town of Mecca. Some calculate his birthdate as April 20, 570 (Shia Muslims believe it to be April 26), and some as 571; tradition places it in the Year of the Elephant. Muhammad's father, Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muttalib, had died before he was born and the young boy was brought up by his paternal grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, of the tribe of Quraysh. Tradition says that as an infant, he was placed with a Bedouin wetnurse, Halima, as desert life was believed to be safer and healthier for children. 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 was a thriving commercial center, due in great part to a stone temple called the Ka'ba that housed many different idols. Merchants from different tribes would visit Mecca during the pilgrimage season, when all inter-tribal warfare was forbidden and they could trade in safety.
As a teenager Muhammad began accompanying his uncle on trading journeys to Syria. He thus became well-travelled and knowledgeable as to foreign ways. Muhamamd gained a reputation for honesty and earned the nick-name, al-amin (the trust-worthy). During the rebuilding of the Ka'bah after a flood (some sources say fire), a fight almost broke out over who would have the honor of putting the Black Stone back in its place. Abu Umayyah, Makkah's oldest man, suggested that the first man to enter the gate of the mosque the next morning would decide the matter. That man was the Muhammad. The Makkans were ecstatic. "This is the trustworthy one (Al-Amin)," they shouted in a chorus. "This is Muhammad".
He came to them and they asked him to decide on the matter. He agreed.
Muhammad proposed a solution that all agreed to-putting the Black Stone on a cloak, the elders of each of the clans held on to one edge of the cloak and carried the stone to its place. The Prophet then picked up the stone and placed it on the wall of the Ka'ba. The precise date of this incident is not known.
Middle years
One of Muhammad's employers was Khadijah, a rich widow then forty years old. The young twenty-five-year old Muhammad so impressed Khadijah that she offered him marriage in the year 595C.E. He became a wealthy man by this marriage. By Arab custom minors did not inherit, so Muhammad had received no inheritance from either his father or his grandfather.
Ibn Ishaq records that Khadijah bore Muhammad five children, one son and four daughters. All of Khadija's children were born before Muhammad started preaching about Islam. His son Qasim died at the age of two. The four daughters are said to be Zainab bint Muhammad, Ruqayyah bint Muhammad, Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad, and Fatima Zahra.
The Shi'a say that Muhammad had only the one daughter, Fatima, and that the other daughters were either children of Khadijah by her previous marriage, or children of her sister.
| Timeline of Muhammad | |
|---|---|
| Important dates and locations in the life of Muhammad | |
| c. 570 | Possible birth (April 20): Mecca |
| 570 | End of ancient South Arabian high culture |
| 570 | Unsuccessful Abyssinian attack on Mecca |
| 576 | Mother dies |
| 578 | Grandfather dies |
| c. 583 | Takes trading journeys to Syria |
| c. 595 | Meets and marries Khadijah |
| 610 | First reports of Qur'anic revelation: Mecca |
| c. 610 | Appears as Prophet of Islam: Mecca |
| c. 613 | Begins public preaching: Mecca |
| c. 614 | Begins to gather following: Mecca |
| c. 615 | Emigration of Muslims to Abyssinia |
| 616] | Banu Hashim clan boycott begins |
| c. 618 | Medinan Civil War: Medina |
| 619 | Banu Hashim clan boycott ends |
| c. 620 | Isra (Night Journey) and Miraj (Ascent) |
| c. 620 | Converts tribes to Islam: Medina |
| 622 | Emigrates to Medina (Hijra) |
| 622 | Takes leadership of Medina (Yathrib) |
| c. 622 | Preaches against Ka'aba pantheon: Mecca |
| 622 | Meccans attack Muhammad |
| c. 622 | Confederation of Muslims and other clans |
| c. 623 | Constitution of Medina |
| 624 | Battle of Badr - Muslims defeat Meccans |
| 625 | Battle of Uhud |
| c. 625 | Expulsion of Banu Nadir tribe |
| 626 | Attacks Dumat al-Jandal: Syria |
| c. 627 | Opponents' unsuccessful siege: Medina |
| 627 | Battle of the Trench |
| 627 | Destruction of the Banu Qurayza tribe |
| c. 627 | Bani Kalb subjugation: Dumat al-Jandal |
| c. 627 | Unites Islam: Medina |
| 628 | Treaty of Hudaybiyya |
| c. 628 | Gains access to Mecca shrine Ka'ba |
| 628] | Conquest of the Battle of Khaybar oasis |
| 629 | First hajj pilgrimage |
| 629 | Attack on Byzantine empire fails: Battle of Mu'ta |
| 630 | Attacks and bloodlessly captures Mecca |
| c. 630 | Battle of Hunayn |
| c. 630 | Siege of al-Ta'if |
| 630 | Establishes rule by divine law (nomocracy): Mecca |
| c. 631 | Subjugates Arabian peninsula tribes |
| c. 632 | Attacks the Ghassanids: Tabuk |
| 632 | Farewell hajj pilgrimage |
| 632 | Dies (June 8): Medina |
| c. 632 | Tribal rebellions throughout Arabia |
| c. 632 | Abu Bakr (Caliph) reimposes rule by divine law |
The first revelations
Muhammad had a reflective turn of mind and routinely spent nights in a cave (Hira) near Mecca in meditation and thought. Muslims believe that around the year 610, while meditating, Muhammad had a vision of the Angel Gabriel and heard a voice saying to him (in rough translation) "Read in the name of your Lord the Creator. He created man from something which clings. Read, and your Lord is the Most Honored. He taught man with the pen; taught him all that he knew not." (See surat Al-Alaq, Q96.) Muslims stress that Muhammad had never taken part in idol worship (just as Abraham kept himself apart from idolatry in Ur; see Q6: 79). This experience took place on what became known as the (the "Night of Power and Excellence," the night worth a thousand months, Qur'an 97:1-5) in the month of Ramadan (the month of the fast).
The first vision of Gabriel disturbed Muhammad, but his wife Khadijah reassured him that it was a true vision and became his first follower. She is said to have consulted her relative, Warakah, renowned for his knowledge of scripture (Christian scripture), who ws also convinced that Muhammad was being chosen as a Prophet by God. She was soon followed by Muhammad's ten-year-old cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, and Abu Bakr, whom Sunnis assert to have been Muhammad's closest friend. Some sources reverse the order of their conversion.
Until his death, Muhammad reportedly received frequent revelations, although there was a relatively long gap after the first revelation. This silence worried him, until he received surat ad-Dhuha, whose words provided comfort and reassurance. The hadith tell us more about how Muhammad experienced revelation. (add here ....)
Around 613, Muhammad began to spread his message amongst the people. Most of those who heard his message ignored it. A few mocked him. Some, however, believed and joined his small group.
Rejection
As the ranks of Muhammad's followers swelled, he became a threat to the local tribes and the rulers of the city. Their wealth, after all, rested on the Ka'aba, a sacred house of idols and the focal point of Meccan religious life. If they threw out their idols, as Muhammad preached, there would be no more pilgrims, no more trade, and no more wealth. Muhammad’s denunciation of polytheism was especially offensive to his own tribe, the Quraysh, as they were the guardians of the Ka'aba. Muhammad and his followers were persecuted. Some of them fled to Abyssinia and founded a small colony there.
Several suras and parts of suras are said to date from this time, and reflect its circumstances: see for example al-Masadd, al-Humaza, parts of Maryam and al-Anbiya, al-Kafirun, and Abasa. It was during this period that the episode known as the Satanic Verses may have occurred. It is said that Muhammad was briefly tempted to relax his condemnation of Meccan polytheism and buy peace with his neighbors, but later recanted his words and repented (see the article on the Satanic Verses). The incident is reported in only a few sources, and Muslims disagree as to its authenticity.
In 619, both Muhammad's wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib died; it was known as "the year of mourning." Muhammad's own clan withdrew their protection of him. Muslims patiently endured hunger and persecution. It was a bleak time.
Isra and Miraj
About 620, Muhammad went on the Isra and Miraj, a two-part journey he took in one night. Isra is the Arabic word referring to what it regarded as Muhammad's miraculous night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, specifically, to the site of Masjid al-Aqsa. It is believed to have been followed by the Miraj, his ascension to heaven, where he toured heaven and hell, and spoke with Allah and earlier prophets.
Hijra
By 622, life in the small Muslim community of Mecca was becoming not only difficult, but dangerous. Muslim traditions say that there were several attempts to assassinate Muhammad. Muhammad then resolved to emigrate to Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural oasis where there were a number of Muslim converts. 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).
Muhammad came to Medina as a mediator, invited to resolve the feud between the Arab factions of Aws and Khazraj. He ultimately did so by absorbing both factions into his Muslim community, and forbidding bloodshed among Muslims. However, Medina was also home to a number of Jewish tribes (whether they were ethnically as well as religiously Jewish is an open question, as is the depth of their "Jewishness"). Muhammad had hoped that they would recognize him as a prophet, but they did not do so. Some academic historians suggest that Muhammad abandoned hope of recruiting Jews as allies or followers at this time, and thus the qibla, the Muslim direction of prayer, was changed from the site of the former Temple in Jerusalem to the Kabaa in Mecca.
Non-Muslim settlements within Muslim territories were taxed rather than expelled. Muhammad drafted a document now known as the Constitution of Medina (ca. 622-623), which laid out the terms on which the different factions, specifically the Jews, could exist within the new Islamic State. In this system, the Jews and other "Peoples of the Book" were allowed to keep their religions as long as they paid tribute. This system would come to typify Muslim relations with their non-believing subjects and that tradition was one reason for the stability of the later Muslim caliphate or Khilafah. In this, the Islamic empire was more tolerant than the other great powers of the area, the Byzantine and Sassanid empires, which were actively hostile to any religions or sects other than the state-sponsored religions (Orthodox Christianity and Zoroastrianism).
War
Relations between Mecca and Medina rapidly worsened (see surat al-Baqara). Meccans confiscated all the property that the Muslims had left in Mecca. In Medina, Muhammad signed treaties of alliance and mutual help with neighboring tribes.
Muhammad turned to raiding caravans bound for Mecca. Caravan raiding was an old Arabian tradition; later Muslims justified the raids by the state of war deemed to exist between the Meccans and the Muslims. Secular scholars will agree that this was a matter of survival for the Muslims as well. They owned no land in Medina and if they did not raid, they would have to live on charity and whatever wage labor they could find.
In March of 624, Muhammad led some 300 warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Meccans successfully defended the caravan and then decided to teach the Medinans a lesson. They sent a small army against Medina. On March 15, 624 near a place called Badr, the Meccans and the Muslims clashed. Though outnumbered 800 to 300 in the battle, the Muslims met with success, killing at least forty-five Meccans and taking seventy prisoners for ransom; only fourteen Muslims died. This marked the real beginning of Muslim military achievement.
Muhammad's rule consolidated
To the Muslims, the victory in Badr appeared as a divine vindication of Muhammad's prophethood, and he and all the Muslims rejoiced greatly. Following this victory, after minor skirmishes, and the breaking of a treaty that risked the security of the city state, the victors expelled a local Jewish clan, the Banu Qainuqa. Virtually all the remaining Medinans converted, and Muhammad became de facto ruler of the city.
After Khadija's death, Muhammad married again, to Aisha 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). These marriages sealed relations between Muhammad and his top-ranking followers.
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 of the first four caliphs were linked to Muhammad by blood, marriage, or both. Sunni Muslims regard these caliphs as the Rashidun, or Rightly Guided. (See Succession to Muhammad for more information on the controversy regarding the question of who the first caliph should have been).
Continued warfare
In 625 the Meccan general Abu Sufyan marched on Medina with 3,000 men. The ensuing Battle of Uhud took place on March 23, ending in a stalemate. The Meccans claimed victory, but they had lost too many men to pursue the Muslims into Medina.
In April 627 Abu Sufyan led another strong force against Medina. But Muhammad had dug a trench around Medina and successfully defended the city in the Battle of the Trench.
Many of the Muslims believed that Abu Sufyan had been aided by sympathizers among the Medinans, the Jewish tribe of the Banu Qurayza. As soon as the battle was over, the Muslims turned upon the Banu Qurayza. After the Banu Qurayza were defeated, all the adult men as well as one woman, were beheaded by the order of Saad ibn Muadh, an arbiter chosen by the Banu Qurayza. The remaining women and children were taken as slaves or for ransom. Some critics of Islam feel that this was unjust; Muslims believe that this was necessary. The matter is discussed at greater length in the article on the Banu Qurayza.
Following 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.
The conquest of Mecca
By 628, the Muslim position was strong enough that Muhammad decided to return to Mecca, this time as a pilgrim. In March of that year, he set out for Mecca, followed by 1,600 men. After some negotiation, a treaty was signed at the border town of al-Hudaybiyah. While Muhammad would not be allowed to finish his pilgrimage that year, hostilities would cease and the Muslims would have permission to make a pilgrimage to Mecca in the following year.
The agreement lasted only two years, however, as war broke out again in 630. Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number 10,000 men. Eager to placate the powerful Muslims and anxious to regain their lucrative tribal alliances, the Meccans submitted without a fight. Muhammad in turn promised a general amnesty (from which some people were specifically excluded). Most Meccans converted to Islam and Muhammad destroyed the idols in the Kaaba. Henceforth the pilgrimage would be a Muslim pilgrimage and the shrine a Muslim shrine.
Unification 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 world under Muhammad's authority. This authority was not enforced by any formal governments, however, as he 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 submit to Muhammad.
Muhammad as a warrior
For most of the sixty-three years of his life, Muhammad was a merchant, then a prophet. He took up the sword late in his life. He was a warrior for only ten years.
Much criticism has been leveled at Muhammad for engaging in caravan raids and wars of conquest. Critics say that his wars went well beyond self-defense. Muslim commentators, however, argue that he fought only to defend his community against the Meccans, and that he insisted on humane rules of warfare.
Muhammad's family life
| The Wives of Muhammad |
|---|
|
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid Sawada bint Zama Hafsa bint Umar Zaynab bint Khuzayma Umm Salama Hind bint Abi Umayya Zaynab bint Jahsh Juwayriya bint al-Harith Ramlah bint Abu Sufyan Safiyya bint Huyayy Maymuna bint al-Harith Maria al-Qibtiyya* *disputed |
From 595 to 619, Muhammad had only one wife, Khadijah. After her death he married Aisha, then Hafsa. Later he was to marry more wives, for a total of eleven (nine or ten living at the time of his death). Some say that he also married his slave girl Maria al-Qibtiyya, but other sources speak to the contrary.
Khadija was Muhammad's first wife and the mother of the only child to survive him, his daughter Fatima. He married his other wives after the death of Khadija. Some of these women were recent widows of warriors in battle. Others were daughters of his close allies or tribal leaders. One of the later unions resulted in a son, but the child died when he was ten months old.
His marriage to Aisha is often criticized today citing traditional sources that state she was only nine years old when he consummated the marriage. (See Aisha for a discussion of other, conflicting, traditions). Critics also question his marriage to his adopted son's ex-wife, Zaynab bint Jahsh, and his alleged violation of the Qur'anic injunction against marrying more than four wives. For further information on Muhammad's family life and consideration of these criticisms, see Muhammad's marriages.
Companions of Muhammad
The term companions (sahabah) refers to anyone who met three criteria. First, he must have been a contemporary of Muhammad. Second, he must have seen or heard Muhammad speak on at least one occasion. Third, he must have converted to Islam. Companions are responsible for the transmission of hadith, as each hadith must have as its first transmitter a companion. There were many other companions in addition to the ones listed here.
List in alphabetic order:
- Aamir
- Abdullah ibn Abbas
- Abdulrahman
- Abu Bakr
- Ali ibn Abi Talib
- Hamza
- Sa'd
- Sa'eed
- Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas
- Salman the Persian
- Talha
- Umar ibn al-Khattab
- Uthman] ibn Affan
- Zubair
The death of Muhammad
After a short illness, Muhammad died around noon on Monday 8 June 632, in the city of Medina at the age of sixty-three.
According to Shi'a Islam, Muhammad had appointed his son-in-law Ali as his successor, in a public sermon at Ghadir Khumm. But Abu Bakr and Umar intrigued to oust Ali and make Abu Bakr the leader or caliph. The majority, the Sunni, dispute this, and say that the leaders of the community conferred and freely chose Abu Bakr, who was pre-eminent among the followers of Muhammad. However it happened, Abu Bakr became the new leader. He spent much of his short reign suppressing rebellious tribes in the Ridda Wars.
With unity restored in Arabia, the Muslims looked outward and commenced the conquests that would eventually unite the Middle East under the caliphs.
Muhammad's descendants
Muhammad was survived only by his daughter Fatima and her children. (Some say that he had a daughter Zainab, who had borne a daughter, Amma or Umama, who survived him as well.)
In Shi'a Islam, it is believed that Fatima's husband 'Ali and his descendants are the rightful leaders of the faithful. The Sunni do not accept this view, but they still honor Muhammad's descendents.
Descendents of Muhammad are known by many names, such as sayyids, syeds سيد, and sharifs شريف (plural: ِأشراف Ashraaf). Many rulers and notables in Muslim countries, past and present, claim such descent, with various degrees of credibility, such as the Fatimid dynasty of North Africa, the Idrisis, the current royal families of Jordan and Morocco, and the Agha Khan Imams of the Ismaili branch of Islam. In various Muslim countries, there are societies that authenticate claims of descent; some societies are more credible than others.
Muhammad's historical significance
Before his death in 632, Muhammad had established Islam as a social and political force and had unified most of Arabia. A few decades after his death, his successors had united all of Arabia, and conquered Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Armenia, and much of North Africa. By 750, Islam had emerged as the spiritual counterpart to the two great monotheistic belief systems, Judaism and Christianity, and as the geopolitical successor to the Roman Empire. The rest of north Africa had come under Muslim rule, as had the southern part of Spain and much of Central Asia (including Sind, in the Indus Valley).
Under the Ghaznavids, in the tenth century, Islam was spread to the Hindu principalities east of the Indus by conquering armies in what is now northern India. Even later, Islam expanded peacefully into much of Africa and Southeast Asia. Islam is now the faith of well over a billion people all over the globe, and believed to be the second largest religion of the present day.
Muslim veneration of Muhammad
The name "Muhammad" written in Arabic calligraphy. Many Muslims believe that Islam prohibits art depicting humans or animals; much Islamic art is decorative calligraphy or arabesque (abstract pattern).
A 16th century Persian miniature painting celebrating Muhammad's ascent into the Heavens, a journey known as the Miraj. Muhammad's face is veiled.
Most Muslims feel a great love and veneration for Muhammad, and express this feeling in many ways.
- When speaking or writing, Muhammad's name is preceded by the title "Prophet" and is followed by the phrase, Peace be upon him, or Peace be upon him and his descendents by Shias; in English often abbreviated as "pbuh" and "pbuh&hd", or just simply as "p".
- Concerts of Muslim and especially Sufi devotional music include songs praising Muhammad (see Muslim music, Qawwali).
- Some Muslims celebrate the birthday of Muhammad (Mawlid) with elaborate festivities. Others do not, believing that such festivities are modern innovations.
- Criticism of Muhammad is often equated with blasphemy, which is punishable by death in some Muslim states.
- Muhammad is often referenced with titles of praise.
- Muhammad's relics, such as his grave, his sword, his clothing, even strands of his hair, are revered by some.
- Even non-iconic representations of Muhammad are traditionally discouraged. From the 16th century however, Persian and Ottoman art frequently represented Muhammad in miniatures, albeit with his his face either veiled, or emanating radiance (see e.g. Siyer-i Nebi).
- Beyond the stories accepted as canonical by Islamic scholars of hadith, or oral traditions, there are many folktales praising Muhammad and recounting miraculous stories of his birth, upbringing and life.
See also
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Armstrong, Karen (1993). Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 0062508865.
- Haykal, Muhammad Husayn (1995). The Life of Muhammad. Islamic Book Service. ISBN 1577311957.
- Lings, Martin (1987). Muhammad: His Life Based on Earliest Sources. Inner Traditions International, Limited. ISBN 0892811706.
- Rodinson, Maxime (1861). Muhammad. New Publishers. ISBN 1565847520.
- Warraq, Ibn (March 2000). The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1573927872.
External links
Non-sectarian biography:
- Public Broadcasting System program on Muhammad
- Encarta Encyclopedia
- 1911 Encyclopedia article of Muhammad
Sunni biography:
- Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar)- Memoirs of the Noble Prophet
- The Life of Muhammad Muhammad Husayn Haykal Translated by Isma'il Razi A. al-Faruqi
- Islamonline
- About Muhammad
- Muhammad Biography and more
Shia biography:
- A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims by Sayed Ali Asgher Razwy
- The Life of Muhammad The Prophet by Syed Saeed Akhtar Rizvi
- Beacons of Light by Abu Ali al Fadl
Critical perspectives:
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