Prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad (570-610)
Most religious historians view Islam as having been founded in 622 CE
by Muhammad the Prophet. The religion started in Mecca, when the angel
Jibreel (Gabriel) read the first revelation to Muhammad. (Mohammed and
Muhammed are alternate spellings for his name.) Muhammad's family belonged
to the clan of Hashim, a branch of the Quraysh tribe which was active
in the caravan trade.
Muhammad's father Abdallah died before the birth of his son, and his
mother died when he was six. Muhammad was put in the care of relatives.
It is believed by Muslim theologians that Muhammad did not have any
education. While still young, he was sent into the desert to be raised
by a foster family. This was a common practice at the time. As a child,
he worked as a shepherd. Later, as a youth, he was employed as a camel
driver managing caravans on behalf of merchants on the trade routes
between Syria and Arabia. He met people of different religious beliefs
on his travels, and was able to observe and learn about Judaism, Christianity
and the indigenous Pagan religions.
It was while working as a
trader, that Muhammad came to know the wealthy widow (and divorcee)
Khadija, who was the owner of a caravan company where Muhammad was employed.
At the age of 25 Muhammad married her, she at the age of 40. Khadija
had children from both of her former marriages, and together, they had
seven more children.
The First Revelation
Muhammad received his first revelation in 610, on the mountain of Hira
outside Mecca. Critical of the lax moral standards and polytheistic
practices of the inhabitants of Mecca, he began to lead a contemplative
life in the desert. In a dramatic religious vision, the angel Gabriel
announced to Muhammad that he was to be a prophet and given the task
of converting his countrymen from their pagan, polytheistic beliefs
and what he regarded as moral decadence, idolatry, hedonism and materialism.
Encouraged by Khadija, he
devoted himself to the reform of religion and society. Polytheism was
to be abandoned. But leaders of the Quraysh generally rejected his teaching,
accusing him of little respect for the religion of the forefathers.
The process of converting was slow in the early years, and Muhammad
gained only a small following and suffered much persecution by other
Meccans. His religion had some resemblance with Islam, but was polytheistic.
Khadija died in 619, and
soon Muhammad remarried. Unlike what had been the case with his marriage
to Khadija, he now chose to have several wives, up to nine according
to the many sources. Some of the marriages were for political reasons,
in order to knot closer relations with powerful people in the society,
and some from compassion: widows without economical support. But in
some rare instances, the sources tell us that Muhammad did provoke the
death of husbands of wives he wanted to marry.
The Hijra (622)
A large part of Muhammad's followers had to seek refuge in Abyssinia
in 615, due to the resistance among the Meccans to the message of Muhammad.
The resistance continued, and was so fierce, that Muhammad had to escape
to Yathrib, (later called Madina) north of Mecca. The trek, in 622,
is known as the Hegira (Hijra, meaning "emigration") of Muhammad
from Mecca, (where he was not honored) to Medina, where he was well
received, and marks the beginning of the Muslim era.
Muhammad is believed to have
been invited to Yathrib, as a hakim, a judge, and here he could establish
the first Muslim community, and Muhammad served as the head of the leaders
of the other communities of Yathrib. Soon after, Yathrib started to
be called madinatu r-rasûl, 'the city of the messenger', or in
short Madina.
Madina and the rise to power(622-630)
Many of the inhabitants of Yathrib converted to Islam, but among the
large Jewish community that lived here, only few converted. A large
part of the converts are called hypocrites, by the first Muslim sources.
After only two years, Muhammad's relationship with the Jews had begun
to deteriorate, and the remaining Jewish believers were later expelled,
and some even executed, for cooperating with Muhammad's enemies.
Muhammad enforced his position in the region, and in particular in Yathrib,
through successful military campaigns, like the one at Badr in 624,
and the defence battles in Uhud (where the Muslims faced a slight defeat)
in 625 and Ditsh in 627.
Neighbouring tribes started to enter into agreements with Muhammad,
and in 628, after Muhammad tried to perform the pilgrimage, hajj he
concluded a treaty with the Meccans, that allowed the Muslims to enter
Mecca the following year for its performance. In 630 Muhammad he marched
on Mecca, after a number of military conflicts and conquered it. A general
amnesty was granted to all Qurayshis, Muhammad's former enemies, even
if they did not convert to Islam.
Ruler of Hijaz and the Muslims (630-632)
This increased Muhammad's importance even more, and in 632 he was able
to perform the hajj. Soon after his return to Madina, he died in the
presence of his favourite wife, 'A'isha and her father, Abu Bakr.
Muhammad was buried in his own house, which had already served as a
mosque for some years. The mosque still lies there, and is counted as
the second most important mosque in Islam, and a place of pilgrimage.
Madina is the second most holy city.
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