Born in about 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca,[11][12] he was orphaned at an early age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25.[13] Being in the habit of periodically retreating to a cave in the surrounding mountains for several nights of seclusion and prayer, he later reported that it was there, at age 40,[11][14] that 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) is the only way (dīn)[n 2] acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.[15][16][17]
Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was met with hostility from some Meccan tribes; he and his followers were treated harshly. To escape persecution, Muhammad sent some of his followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers in Mecca migrated to Medina (then known as Yathrib) in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, which is also known as the Hijri Calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. After eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to 10,000, took control of Mecca in the largely peaceful Conquest of Mecca. He destroyed the pagan idols in the city[18] and then sent his followers out to destroy all of the remaining pagan temples in Eastern Arabia.[19][20] In 632, a few months after returning to Medina from The Farewell Pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam, and he had united Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity.[21][22]
The revelations (or Ayah, lit. "Signs [of God]") — which Muhammad reported receiving until his death — form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the “Word of God” and around which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammad’s life (sira) and traditions (sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims as the sources of sharia law. They discuss Muhammad and other prophets of Islam with reverence, adding the phrase peace be upon him whenever their names are mentioned.[23] While conceptions of Muhammad in medieval Christendom and premodern times were largely negative, appraisals in modern history have been far less so.[17][24]
Names and appellations in the Quran
Sources for Muhammad's life
Main articles: Historiography of early Islam and Historicity of Muhammad
Quran
The Quran is the central religious text of Islam and Muslims believe that it represents the words of God revealed to Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel.[28][29][30]
Although it mentions Muhammad directly only four times,[31] there are verses which can be interpreted as allusions to Muhammad's life.[17][n 3] The Quran however provides little assistance for a chronological biography of Muhammad, and many of the utterances recorded in it lack historical context.[32][33]
Early biographies
Main article: Prophetic biography
Next in importance are historical works by writers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries of the Muslim era (A.H. -- 8th and 9th century C.E.).[34] These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad (the sira literature), which provide further information on Muhammad's life.[35]The earliest surviving written sira (biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) is Ibn Ishaq's Life of God's Messenger written ca. 767 CE (150 AH). The work is lost, but was used verbatim at great length by Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari.[36][37] Another early source is the history of Muhammad's campaigns by al-Waqidi (death 207 of Muslim era), and the work of his secretary Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi (death 230 of Muslim era).[34]
Many scholars accept the accuracy of the earliest biographies, though their accuracy is unascertainable.[36] Recent studies have led scholars to distinguish between the traditions touching legal matters and the purely historical ones. In the former sphere, traditions could have been subject to invention while in the latter sphere, aside from exceptional cases, the material may have been only subject to "tendential shaping".[38]
Hadith
Main article: Hadith
In addition, the hadith collections are accounts of the verbal and physical traditions of Muhammad that date from several generations after his death.[39]Western academics view the hadith collections with caution as accurate historical sources.[39] Scholars such as Madelung do not reject the narrations which have been compiled in later periods, but judge them in the context of history and on the basis of their compatibility with the events and figures.[40]
Non-Arabic sources
The earliest documented Christian knowledge of Muhammad stems from Byzantine sources. They indicate that both Jews and Christians saw Muhammad as a "false prophet". In the Doctrina Jacobi nuper baptizati of 634, Muhammad is portrayed as being "deceiving[,] for do prophets come with sword and chariot?, [...] you will discover nothing true from the said prophet except human bloodshed."[41] Another Greek source for Muhammad is the 9th-century writer Theophanes. The earliest Syriac source is the 7th-century writer John bar Penkaye.[42]Pre-Islamic Arabia
Politically Arabia at the time was divided between two tribal confederations, the Banu Qais, loosely allied with Byzantium and who were originally powerful in Northern and Western Arabia, and the Banu Kalb, who had originally come from Yemen, and were loosely allied with Sassanid Persia. These rivalries were suppressed by Islam but continued to influence events in the Middle East and North Africa in post-Islamic times.
In pre-Islamic Arabia, gods or goddesses were viewed as protectors of individual tribes, their spirits being associated with sacred trees, stones, springs and wells. As well as being the site of an annual pilgrimage, the Kaaba shrine in Mecca housed 360 idol statues of tribal patron deities. Three goddesses were associated with Allah as his daughters: Allāt, Manāt and al-‘Uzzá. Monotheistic communities existed in Arabia, including Christians and Jews.[47] Hanifs – native pre-Islamic Arabs who "professed a rigid monotheism"[48] – are also sometimes listed alongside Jews and Christians in pre-Islamic Arabia, although their historicity is disputed amongst scholars.[49][50] According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a Hanif and one of the descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham.[51]
Life
Life in Mecca
| [hide]Timeline of Muhammad(S.A.W) in Mecca | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Important dates and locations in the life of Muhammad(S.A.W) | |||
| c. 569 | Death of his father, Abdullah | c. 570 | Possible date of birth: April 19 570 dC, 12 Rabi al Awal: in Mecca Saudi Arabia |
| 576 | Death of his mother, Aminah | ||
| 578 | Death of his grandfather Abdul Muttalib | ||
| c. 583 | Takes trading journeys to Syria | ||
| c. 595 | Meets and marries Khadijah | ||
| 597 | Birth of Zainab, his first daughter, followed by: Ruqayyah, Umm Khultoom, and Fatima Zahra | ||
| 610 | Qur'anic revelation begins in the Cave of Hira on the Jabaal an Nur the " Mountain of Light" near Mecca | ||
| 610 | Prophethood begins at 40 years old: Angel Jebreel (Gabriel) appears to him on the mountain and calls him: The Prophet of Allah | ||
| 610 | Begins in secret to gather followers in Mecca | ||
| c. 613 | Begins spreading message of Islam publicly to all Meccans | ||
| c. 614 | Heavy persecution of muslims begins | ||
| c. 615 | Emigration of a group of Muslims to Ethiopia | ||
| 616 | Banu Hashim clan boycott begins | ||
| 619 | The year of sorrows: Khadija (his wife) and Abu Talib (his uncle) die | ||
| 619 | Banu Hashim clan boycott ends | ||
| c. 620 | Isra and Mi'raj (the ascention to heaven to meet God) | ||
| 622 | Emigrates to Medina (called Yathrib): Emigration known as Hijra | ||
| 624 | Battle of Badr | ||
| 625 | Battle of Uhud | ||
| 627 | Battle of the Trench (also known as the siege of Medina) | ||
| 628 | The Meccan tribe of Quraysh and the Muslim community in Medina signed a 10 year truce called the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah | ||
| 629 | Peaceful conquest of Mecca | ||
| 632 | Farewell pilgrimage and demise of the Prophet Muhammad | ||
Main article: Muhammad in Mecca
Muhammad was born in Mecca and lived there for roughly the first 52
years of his life (c.570–622). This period is generally divided into two
phases, before and after declaring the prophecy.Childhood and early life
See also: Mawlid and Family tree of Muhammad
Muhammad was born about the year 570[11] and his birthday is usually celebrated by Muslims in the month of Rabi' al-awwal.[52] He belonged to the Banu Hashim clan, one of the prominent families of Mecca, although it seems not to have been prosperous during Muhammad's early lifetime.[17][53] The Banu Hashim clan was part of the Quraysh tribe. Tradition places the year of Muhammad's birth as corresponding with the Year of the Elephant, which is named after the failed destruction of Mecca that year by the Aksumite king Abraha
who had in his army a number of elephants. 20th-century scholarship has
suggested alternative dates for this event, such as 568 or 569.[54]
While still in his teens, Muhammad accompanied his uncle on trading journeys to Syria gaining experience in commercial trade, the only career open to Muhammad as an orphan.[13][59] Islamic tradition states that when Muhammad was either nine or twelve while accompanying the Meccans' caravan to Syria, he met a Christian monk or hermit named Bahira who is said to have foreseen Muhammed's career as a prophet of God.[60]
Little is known of Muhammad during his later youth, and from the fragmentary information that is available, it is difficult to separate history from legend.[13][59] It is known that he became a merchant and "was involved in trade between the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean Sea."[61] Due to his upright character he acquired the nickname "al-Amin" (Arabic: الامين), meaning "faithful, trustworthy" and "al-Sadiq" meaning "truthful"[62] and was sought out as an impartial arbitrator.[12][17][63] His reputation attracted a proposal in 595 from Khadijah, a 40-year-old widow who was 15 years older than he. Muhammad consented to the marriage, which by all accounts was a happy one.[13][61]
Several years later, according to a narration collected by historian Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad was involved with a well-known story about setting the Black Stone in place in the wall of the Kaaba in 605 C.E. The Black Stone, a sacred object, had been removed to facilitate renovations to the Kaaba. The leaders of Mecca could not agree on which clan should have the honour of setting the Black Stone back in its place. They agreed to wait for the next man to come through the gate and ask him to choose. That man was the 35-year-old Muhammad, five years before his first revelation. He asked for a cloth and put the Black Stone in its centre. The clan leaders held the corners of the cloth and together carried the Black Stone to the right spot, then Muhammad set the stone in place, satisfying the honour of all.[64]
Beginnings of the Quran
After returning home, Muhammad was consoled and reassured by Khadijah and her Christian cousin, Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Upon receiving his first revelations, he was deeply distressed and resolved to commit suicide.[69] He also feared that others would dismiss his claims as being possessed.[46] Shi'a tradition maintains that Muhammad was neither surprised nor frightened at the appearance of Gabriel but rather welcomed him as if he had been expecting him.[70] The initial revelation was followed by a pause of three years during which Muhammad further gave himself to prayers and spiritual practices. When the revelations resumed he was reassured and commanded to begin preaching: "Thy Guardian-Lord hath not forsaken thee, nor is He displeased."[71][72][73]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.
The key themes of the early Quranic verses included the responsibility of man towards his creator; the resurrection of the dead, God's final judgment followed by vivid descriptions of the tortures in hell and pleasures in Paradise; and the signs of God in all aspects of life. Religious duties required of the believers at this time were few: belief in God, asking for forgiveness of sins, offering frequent prayers, assisting others particularly those in need, rejecting cheating and the love of wealth (considered to be significant in the commercial life of Mecca), being chaste and not to kill newborn girls.[17]
Opposition
See also: Persecution of Muslims by the Meccans and Migration to Abyssinia
According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad's wife Khadija was the first to believe he was a prophet.[78] She was soon followed by Muhammad's ten-year-old cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, close friend Abu Bakr, and adopted son Zaid.[14][78] Around 613, Muhammad began his public preaching (Quran 26:214).[79] Most Meccans ignored him and mocked him,[77]
while a few 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.[80]
Tradition records at great length the persecution and ill-treatment of Muhammad and his followers.[17][77] Sumayyah bint Khabbab, a slave of a prominent Meccan leader Abu Jahl, 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, was tortured by Umayyah ibn Khalaf who placed a heavy rock on his chest to force his conversion.[83][84] Apart from insults, Muhammad was protected from physical harm as he belonged to the Banu Hashim clan.[77][85][86]
In 615, some of Muhammad's followers emigrated to the Ethiopian Aksumite Empire and founded a small colony there under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian emperor Aṣḥama ibn Abjar.[17][77]
Muhammad desperately hoping for an accommodation with his tribe, either from fear or in the hope of succeeding more readily in this way, pronounced a verse acknowledging the existence of three Meccan goddesses considered to be the daughters of Allah, and appealing for their intercession. Muhammad later retracted the verses at the behest of Gabriel, claiming that the verses were whispered by the devil himself.[77][87][n 4] This episode known as "The Story of the Cranes" (translation: قصة الغرانيق, transliteration: Qissat al Gharaneeq) is also known as "Satanic Verses". Some scholars argued against its historicity on various grounds.[88] While this incident got widespread acceptance by early Muslims, strong objections to it were raised starting from the tenth century, on theological grounds. The objections continued to be raised to the point where the rejection of the historicity of the incident eventually became the only acceptable orthodox Muslim position.[89] This incident is not mentioned in any of the old Hadith books and Muslims dispute that this incident ever occurred.[citation needed]
In 617, the leaders of Makhzum and Banu Abd-Shams, two important Quraysh clans, declared a public boycott against Banu Hashim, their commercial rival, to pressure it into withdrawing its protection of Muhammad. The boycott lasted three years but eventually collapsed as it failed in its objective.[90][91] During this, Muhammad was only able to preach during the holy pilgrimage months in which all hostilities between Arabs were suspended.[92]
Isra and Mi'raj
Main article: Isra and Mi'raj
Last years in Mecca before Hijra
Muhammad's wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib both died in 619, the year thus being known as the "year of sorrow". With the death of Abu Talib, the leadership of the Banu Hashim clan was passed to Abu Lahab, an inveterate enemy of Muhammad. Soon afterwards, Abu Lahab withdrew the clan's protection from Muhammad. This placed Muhammad in danger of death since the withdrawal of clan protection implied that the blood revenge for his killing would not be exacted. Muhammad then visited Ta'if, another important city in Arabia, and tried to find a protector for himself there, but his effort failed and further brought him into physical danger.[17][91][92] Muhammad was forced to return to Mecca. A Meccan man named Mut'im b. Adi (and the protection of the tribe of Banu Nawfal) made it possible for him safely to re-enter his native city.[17][91][92]Many people were visiting Mecca on business or as pilgrims to the Kaaba. 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).[17] The Arab population of Yathrib were familiar with monotheism and prepared for the appearance of a prophet because a Jewish community existed there.[17][97] They also hoped by the means of Muhammad and the new faith to gain supremacy over Mecca, as they were jealous of its importance as the place of pilgrimage.[97] Converts to Islam came from nearly all Arab tribes in Medina, such that by June of the subsequent year there were seventy-five Muslims coming to Mecca for pilgrimage and to meet Muhammad. Meeting him secretly by night, the group made what was known as the "Second Pledge of al-`Aqaba", or the "Pledge of War"[97][98] Following the pledges at Aqabah, Muhammad encouraged his followers to emigrate to Yathrib. As with the migration to Abyssinia, the Quraysh attempted to stop the emigration. However, almost all Muslims managed to leave.[99]
Hijra
| [hide]Timeline of Muhammad in Medina | |
|---|---|
| c. 622 | Emigrates to Medina (Hijra) |
| 623 | Caravan Raids begin |
| 623 | Al Kudr Invasion |
| 624 | Battle of Badr: Muslims defeat Meccans |
| 624 | Battle of Sawiq, Abu Sufyan escapes capture |
| 624 | Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa |
| 624 | Invasion of Thi Amr, Muhammed raids Ghatafan tribes |
| 624 | Assassination of Khaled b. Sufyan & Abu Rafi |
| 625 | Battle of Uhud: Meccans defeat Muslims |
| 625 | Tragedy of Bir Maona and Al Raji |
| 625 | Invasion of Hamra al-Asad, successfully terrifies enemy to cause retreat |
| 625 | Banu Nadir expelled after Invasion |
| 625 | Invasion of Nejd, Badr and Dumatul Jandal |
| 627 | Battle of the Trench |
| 627 | Invasion of Banu Qurayza, successful siege |
| 628 | Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, gains access to Kaaba |
| 628 | Conquest of the Khaybar oasis |
| 629 | First hajj pilgrimage |
| 629 | Attack on Byzantine Empire fails: Battle of Mu'tah |
| 630 | Bloodless conquest of Mecca |
| 630 | Battle of Hunayn |
| 630 | Siege of Ta'if |
| 631 | Rules most of the Arabian peninsula |
| 632 | Attacks the Ghassanids: Tabuk |
| 632 | Farewell hajj pilgrimage |
| 632 | Wasal (June 8): Medina |
Main article: Hijra (Islam)
The Hijra is the migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca
to Medina in 622 CE. In September 622, warned of a plot to assassinate
him, Muhammad secretly slipped out of Mecca, moving with his followers
to Medina,[97] 320 kilometres (200 mi) north of Mecca. The Hijra is celebrated annually on the first day of the Muslim year.Migration to Medina
Main article: Muhammad in Medina
A delegation consisting of the representatives of the twelve
important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad as a neutral outsider to
Medina to serve as chief arbitrator for the entire community.[100][101] There was fighting in Yathrib mainly involving its Arab and Jewish inhabitants for around a hundred years before 620.[100] The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the Battle of Bu'ath in which all 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.[100]
The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow-citizens
to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as
one of themselves.[17]Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until virtually all his followers left Mecca. Being alarmed at the departure of Muslims, according to the tradition, the Meccans plotted to assassinate Muhammad. With the help of Ali, Muhammad fooled the Meccans who were watching him, and secretly slipped away from the town with Abu Bakr.[97][102] By 622, Muhammad emigrated to Medina, a large agricultural oasis. Those who migrated from Mecca along with Muhammad became known as muhajirun (emigrants).[17]
Establishment of a new polity
Main article: Constitution of Medina
Among the first things Muhammad did to settle down the longstanding
grievances among the tribes of Medina was drafting a document known as
the Constitution of Medina,
"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").[100][101] The community defined in the Constitution of Medina, Ummah,
had a religious outlook but was also shaped by practical considerations
and substantially preserved the legal forms of the old Arab tribes.[17] It effectively established the first Islamic state.Several ordinances were proclaimed to win over the numerous and wealthy Jewish population. But these were soon rescinded as the Jews insisted on preserving the entire Mosaic law, and did not recognize him as a prophet because he was not of the race of David.[97]
The first group of pagan converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans.[citation needed] This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina, apart from some exceptions. According to Ibn Ishaq, this was influenced by the conversion of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh (a prominent Medinan leader) to Islam.[103] Those Medinans who converted to Islam and helped the Muslim emigrants find shelter became known as the ansar (supporters).[17] Then Muhammad instituted brotherhood between the emigrants and the supporters and he chose Ali as his own brother.[104]
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Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
God!
There is no god but He,
the Living, the Everlasting.
Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep;
to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth.
Who is there that shall intercede with Him save by His leave?
He knows what lies before them and what is after them,
and they comprehend not anything of His knowledge
save such as He wills.
His Throne comprises the heavens and earth;
the preserving of them oppresses Him not;
He is the All-high, the All-glorious.
Beginning of armed conflict
Following the emigration, the Meccans seized the properties of the Muslim emigrants in Mecca.[106] Economically uprooted and with no available profession, the Muslim migrants turned to raiding Meccan caravans, initiating armed conflict with Mecca.[107][108][109] Muhammad delivered Quranic verses permitting the Muslims to fight the Meccans (see sura Al-Hajj, Quran 22:39–40).[110] These attacks allowed the migrants to acquire wealth, power and prestige while working towards their ultimate goal of conquering Mecca.[111][112]
In March 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Muslims set an ambush for them at Badr.[114] Aware of the plan, the Meccan caravan eluded the Muslims.[109] Meanwhile, a force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan, continuing forward to confront the Muslims upon hearing that the caravan was safe. The Battle of Badr began in March 624.[115] Though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle, killing at least forty-five Meccans with only fourteen Muslims dead. They also succeeded in killing many Meccan leaders, including Abu Jahl.[116] Seventy prisoners had been acquired, many of whom were soon ransomed in return for wealth or freed.[107][109][117][118] Muhammad and his followers saw in the victory a confirmation of their faith[17] as Muhammad ascribed the victory to the assistance of an invisible host of angels.[119] The Quranic verses of this period, unlike the Meccan ones, dealt with practical problems of government and issues like the distribution of spoils.[120][121]
The victory strengthened Muhammad's position in Medina and dispelled earlier doubts among his followers.[122] As a result the opposition to him became less vocal. Pagans who had not yet converted were very bitter about the advance of Islam. Two pagans, Asma bint Marwan and Abu 'Afak, had composed verses taunting and insulting the Muslims. They were killed by people belonging to their own or related clans, and no blood-feud followed.[123]
Muhammad expelled from Medina the Banu Qaynuqa, one of three main Jewish tribes.[17] Although Muhammad wanted them executed, Abd-Allah ibn Ubaiy chief of the Khazraj tribe did not agree and they were expelled to Syria but without their property.[121] Following the Battle of Badr, Muhammad also made mutual-aid alliances with a number of Bedouin tribes to protect his community from attacks from the northern part of Hijaz.[17]
Conflict with Mecca
Main article: Battle of Uhud
The Meccans were now anxious to avenge their defeat. To maintain
their economic prosperity, the Meccans needed to restore their prestige,
which had been lost at Badr.[125]
In the ensuing months, the Meccans sent ambush parties on Medina while
Muhammad led expeditions on tribes allied with Mecca and sent out a raid
on a Meccan caravan.[126] Abu Sufyan subsequently gathered an army of three thousand men and set out for an attack on Medina.[121][127]A scout alerted Muhammad of the Meccan army's presence and numbers a day later. The next morning, at the Muslim conference of war, there was dispute over how best to repel the Meccans. Muhammad and many senior figures suggested that it would be safer to fight within Medina and take advantage of its heavily fortified strongholds. Younger Muslims argued that the Meccans were destroying their crops, and that huddling in the strongholds would destroy Muslim prestige. Muhammad eventually conceded to the wishes of the latter, and readied the Muslim force for battle.[121] Thus, Muhammad led his force outside to the mountain of Uhud (where the Meccans had camped) and fought the Battle of Uhud on 23 March.[128][129] Although the Muslim army had the best of the early encounters, indiscipline on the part of strategically placed archers led to a Muslim defeat, with 75 Muslims killed including Hamza, Muhammad's uncle and one of the best known martyrs in the Muslim tradition. The Meccans did not pursue the Muslims further, but marched back to Mecca declaring victory. This is probably because Muhammad was wounded and thought to be dead. When they knew this on their way back, they did not return back because of false information about new forces coming to his aid.[121] They were not entirely successful, however, as they had failed to achieve their aim of completely destroying the Muslims.[130][131] The Muslims buried the dead, and returned to Medina that evening. Questions accumulated as to the reasons for the loss, and Muhammad subsequently delivered Quranic verses 3:152 which indicated that their defeat was partly a punishment for disobedience and partly a test for steadfastness.[132]
Abu Sufyan now directed his efforts towards another attack on Medina. He attracted the support of nomadic tribes to the north and east of Medina, using propaganda about Muhammad's weakness, promises of booty, memories of the prestige of the Quraysh and use of bribes.[133] Muhammad's policy was now to prevent alliances against him as much as he could. Whenever alliances of tribesmen against Medina were formed, he sent out an expedition to break them up.[133] When Muhammad heard of men massing with hostile intentions against Medina, he reacted with severity.[134] One example is the assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, a chieftain of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir who had gone to Mecca and written poems that helped rouse the Meccans' grief, anger and desire for revenge after the Battle of Badr.[135][136] Around a year later, Muhammad expelled the Banu Nadir from Medina[137] to Syria allowing them to take some of their possessions because he was unable to subdue them in their strongholds. The rest of their property was claimed by Muhammad in the name of God because it was not gained with bloodshed. Muhammad surprised various Arab tribes, one by one, with overwhelming force which caused his enemies to unite to annihilate him.[138] Muhammad's attempts to prevent formation of a confederation against him were unsuccessful, though he was able to increase his own forces and stop many potential tribes from joining his enemies.[139]
Siege of Medina
Main article: Battle of the Trench
Allah is the Light
of the heavens and the earth.
The Parable of His Light is
as if there were a Niche
and within it a Lamp:
the Lamp enclosed in Glass:
the glass as it were a brilliant star:
Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive,
neither of the east nor of the west,
whose oil is well-nigh luminous,
though fire scarce touched it:
Light upon Light!
Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light:
Allah doth set forth Parables for men:
and Allah doth know all things.
In the siege of Medina, the Meccans exerted their utmost strength towards the destruction of the Muslim community. Their failure resulted in a significant loss of prestige; their trade with Syria was gone.[150] Following the Battle of the Trench, he made two expeditions to the north which ended without any fighting.[17][138] While returning from one of these (or some years earlier according to other early accounts), an accusation of adultery was made against Aisha, Muhammad's wife. Aisha was exonerated from the accusations when Muhammad announced that he had received a revelation confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses (sura 24, An-Nur).[151]
Truce of Hudaybiyyah
Main article: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
Although Muhammad had already delivered Quranic verses commanding the Hajj,[152] the Muslims had not performed it due to the enmity of the Quraysh. In the month of Shawwal 628,[138] Muhammad ordered his followers to obtain sacrificial animals and to make preparations for a pilgrimage (umrah)
to Mecca, saying that God had promised him the fulfillment of this goal
in a vision where he was shaving his head after the completion of the
Hajj.[153]
Upon hearing of the approaching 1,400 Muslims, the Quraysh sent out a
force of 200 cavalry to halt them. Muhammad evaded them by taking a more
difficult route, thereby reaching al-Hudaybiyya, just outside of Mecca.[154]
According to Watt, although Muhammad's decision to make the pilgrimage
was based on his dream, he was at the same time demonstrating to the
pagan Meccans that Islam does not threaten the prestige of their
sanctuary, and that Islam was an Arabian religion.[154]Negotiations commenced with emissaries going to and from Mecca. While these continued, rumors spread that one of the Muslim negotiators, Uthman bin al-Affan, had been killed by the Quraysh. Muhammad responded by calling upon the pilgrims to make a pledge not to flee (or to stick with Muhammad, whatever decision he made) if the situation descended into war with Mecca. This pledge became known as the "Pledge of Acceptance" (Arabic: بيعة الرضوان , bay'at al-ridhwān) or the "Pledge under the Tree". News of Uthman's safety, however, allowed for negotiations to continue, and a treaty scheduled to last ten years was eventually signed between the Muslims and Quraysh.[154][155] The main points of the treaty included the cessation of hostilities; the deferral of Muhammad's pilgrimage to the following year;[156] and an agreement to send back any Meccan who had gone to Medina without the permission of their protector.[154]
Many Muslims were not satisfied with the terms of the treaty. However, the Quranic sura "Al-Fath" (The Victory) (Quran 48:1–29) assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one.[157] It was only later that Muhammad's followers would realise the benefit behind this treaty. These benefits included the inducing of the Meccans to recognise Muhammad as an equal;[156] a cessation of military activity posing well for the future; and gaining the admiration of Meccans who were impressed by the incorporation of the pilgrimage rituals.[17]
After signing the truce, Muhammad made an expedition against the Jewish oasis of Khaybar,[156] known as the Battle of Khaybar. This was possibly due to it housing the Banu Nadir, who were inciting hostilities against Muhammad, or to regain some prestige to deflect from what appeared to some Muslims as the inconclusive result of the truce of Hudaybiyya.[127][158] According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad also sent letters to many rulers of the world, asking them to convert to Islam (the exact date is given variously in the sources).[17][159][160][161] Hence he sent messengers (with letters) to Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire (the eastern Roman Empire), Khosrau of Persia, the chief of Yemen and to some others.[159][160][161] In the years following the truce of Hudaybiyya, Muhammad sent his forces against the Arabs on Transjordanian Byzantine soil in the Battle of Mu'tah, in which the Muslims were defeated.[161][162]
Final years
Conquest of Mecca
Main articles: Conquest of Mecca and Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca
The Meccans replied that they would accept only the last condition.[165] However, soon they realized their mistake and sent Abu Sufyan to renew the Hudaybiyyah treaty, but now his request was declined by Muhammad.[161]
Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign.[166] In 630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. With minimal casualties, Muhammad took control of Mecca.[167][168] He declared an amnesty for past offences, except for ten men and women who were "guilty of murder or other offences or had sparked off the war and disrupted the peace".[169] Some of these were later pardoned.[168][170] Most Meccans converted to Islam and Muhammad subsequently had destroyed all the statues of Arabian gods in and around the Kaaba.[168][171][172] According to reports collected by Ibn Ishaq and al-Azraqi, Muhammad personally spared paintings or frescos of Mary and Jesus, but other traditions suggest that all pictures were erased.[173] The Quran discusses the conquest of Mecca.[82][174]
Conquest of Arabia
Main articles: Battle of Hunayn and Battle of Tabouk
Soon after the conquest of Mecca, Muhammad was alarmed by a military
threat from the confederate tribes of Hawazin who were collecting an
army twice the size of Muhammad's. The Banu Hawazin were old enemies of the Meccans. They were joined by the Banu Thaqif (inhabiting the city of Ta'if) who adopted an anti-Meccan policy due to the decline of the prestige of Meccans.[175] Muhammad defeated the Hawazin and Thaqif tribes in the Battle of Hunayn.[17][176]In the same year, Muhammad made the expedition of Tabuk against northern Arabia because of their previous defeat at the Battle of Mu'tah as well as reports of the hostile attitude adopted against Muslims. With the greatest difficulty he collected thirty thousand men, half of whom, however, on the second day after their departure from Mecca, returned with Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy, untroubled by the damning verses which Muhammad hurled at them.[177] Although Muhammad did not make contact with hostile forces at Tabuk, he received the submission of some local chiefs of the region.[17][178]
He also ordered the destruction of remaining pagan idols in Eastern Arabia. The last city to hold out against the Muslims in Eastern Arabia was Taif. Muhammad refused to accept the surrender of the city until they agreed to convert to Islam and let his men destroy their statue of their goddess Allat.[179][180][181]
A year after the Battle of Tabuk, the Banu Thaqif sent emissaries to Medina to surrender to Muhammad and adopt Islam. Many bedouins submitted to Muhammad to be safe against his attacks and to benefit from the booties of the wars.[17][177] However, the bedouins were alien to the system of Islam and wanted to maintain their independence, their established code of virtue and their ancestral traditions. Muhammad thus required of them a military and political agreement according to which they "acknowledge the suzerainty of Medina, to refrain from attack on the Muslims and their allies, and to pay the Zakat, the Muslim religious levy."[177][182]
Farewell pilgrimage
Main article: The Farewell Pilgrimage
In 632, at the end of the tenth year after the migration to Medina,
Muhammad carried through his first truly Islamic pilgrimage, thereby
teaching his followers the rites of the annual Great Pilgrimage (Hajj).[17] After completing the pilgrimage, Muhammad delivered a famous speech known as The Farewell Sermon, at Mount Arafat
east of Mecca. In this sermon, Muhammad advised his followers not to
follow certain pre-Islamic customs. He declared that an Arab has no
superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an
Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any
superiority over white except by piety and good action.[183] He abolished all old blood feuds and disputes based on the former tribal
system and asked for all old pledges to be returned as implications of
the creation of the new Islamic community. Commenting on the
vulnerability of women in his society, Muhammed asked his male followers
to “Be good to women; for they are powerless captives (awan) in your households. You took them in God’s trust, and legitimated your sexual relations
with the Word of God, so come to your senses people, and hear my words
...” He told them that they were entitled to discipline their wives but
should do so with kindness. He addressed the issue of inheritance by
forbidding false claims of paternity or of a client relationship to the
deceased, and forbade his followers to leave their wealth to a
testamentary heir. He also upheld the sacredness of four lunar months in
each year.[184][185][186] According to Sunni tafsir,
the following Quranic verse was delivered during this event: “Today I
have perfected your religion, and completed my favours for you and
chosen Islam as a religion for you.”(Quran 5:3)[17][187] According to Shia tafsir, it refers to the appointment of Ali ibn Abi Talib at the pond of Khumm as Muhammad's successor, this occurring a few days later when Muslims were returning from Mecca to Medina.[188]Death and tomb
He was buried where he died, in Aisha's house.[17][190][191][192] During the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I, the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet) was expanded to include the site of Muhammad's tomb.[193] The Green Dome above the tomb was built by the Mamluk sultan Al Mansur Qalawun in the 13th century, although the green color was added in the 16th century, under the reign of Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.[194] Among tombs adjacent to Muhammad's are those of his companions (Sahabah), the first two Muslim caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar, and an empty one that Muslims believe awaits Jesus.[191][195][196] When bin Saud took Medina in 1805, Muhammad's tomb was stripped of its gold and jewel ornaments.[197] Adherents to Wahhabism, bin Sauds' followers destroyed nearly every tomb dome in Medina in order to prevent their veneration,[197] and the one of Muhammad is said to have narrowly escaped.[198] Similar events took place in 1925 when the Saudi militias retook—and this time managed to keep—the city.[199][200][201] In the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, burial is to take place in unmarked graves.[198] Although frowned upon by the Saudis, many pilgrims continue to practice a ziyarat—a ritual visit—to the tomb.[202][203] Although banned by the Saudi, the first ever photos from inside of the tomb of Muhammad and his daughter's (Fatemeh) house were published on Oct 2012 demonstrating it was constructed in a very simple way, decorated in green.[204]Rather, God on High and paradise.[189]—Muhammad
Post Muhammad
The pre-Islamic Middle East was dominated by the Byzantine and Sassanian empires. The Roman-Persian Wars between the two had devastated the region, making the empires unpopular amongst local tribes. Furthermore, in the lands that would be conquered by Muslims many Christians (Nestorians, Monophysites, Jacobites and Copts) were disaffected from the Christian Orthodoxy which deemed them heretics. Within only a decade, Muslims conquered Mesopotamia and Persia, Byzantine Syria and Byzantine Egypt.[206] and established the Rashidun Caliphate.
Early reforms under Islam
Main article: Early reforms under Islam
According 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."[207] 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.[208]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 the status quo of Arab society.[208][209] 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".[208] 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.[210] Economic reforms addressed the plight of the poor, which was becoming an issue in pre-Islamic Mecca.[211] The Quran requires payment of an alms tax (zakat) for the benefit of the poor, and as Muhammad's position grew in power he demanded that those tribes who wanted to ally with him implement the zakat in particular.[212][213]
Appearance
Muhammad was middle-sized, did not have lank or crisp hair, was not fat, had a white circular face, wide black eyes, and long eye-lashes. When he walked, he walked as though he went down a declivity. He had the "seal of prophecy" between his shoulder blades ... He was bulky. His face shone like the moon. He was taller than middling stature but shorter than conspicuous tallness. He had thick, curly hair. The plaits of his hair were parted. His hair reached beyond the lobe of his ear. His complexion was azhar [bright, luminous]. Muhammad had a wide forehead, and fine, long, arched eyebrows which did not meet. Between his eyebrows there was a vein which distended when he was angry. The upper part of his nose was hooked; he was thick bearded, had smooth cheeks, a strong mouth, and his teeth were set apart. He had thin hair on his chest. His neck was like the neck of an ivory statue, with the purity of silver. Muhammad was proportionate, stout, firm-gripped, even of belly and chest, broad-chested and broad-shouldered.The "seal of prophecy" between the Prophet's shoulders is generally described as having been a type of raised mole the size of a pigeon's egg.[215] Another description of Muhammad was provided by Umm Ma'bad, a woman he met on his journey to Medina:[216]
I saw a man, pure and clean, with a handsome face and a fine figure. He was not marred by a skinny body, nor was he overly small in the head and neck. He was graceful and elegant, with intensely black eyes and thick eyelashes. There was a huskiness in his voice, and his neck was long. His beard was thick, and his eyebrows were finely arched and joined together.Descriptions like these were often reproduced in calligraphic panels (hilya or, in Turkish, hilye), which in the 17th century developed into an art form of their own in the Ottoman Empire.[216]
When silent, he was grave and dignified, and when he spoke, glory rose up and overcame him. He was from afar the most beautiful of men and the most glorious, and close up he was the sweetest and the loveliest. He was sweet of speech and articulate, but not petty or trifling. His speech was a string of cascading pearls, measured so that none despaired of its length, and no eye challenged him because of brevity.
Household
Main articles: Muhammad's wives and Ahl al-Bayt
At the age of 25, Muhammad married the wealthy Khadijah bint Khuwaylid who was 40 years old at that time.[219] The marriage lasted for 25 years and was a happy one.[220] Muhammad relied upon Khadija in many ways and did not enter into marriage with another woman during this marriage.[221][222] After the death of Khadija, it was suggested to Muhammad by Khawla bint Hakim that he should marry Sawda bint Zama, a Muslim widow, or Aisha, daughter of Um Ruman and Abu Bakr of Mecca. Muhammad is said to have asked her to arrange for him to marry both.[151]
Traditional sources dictate that Aisha was six or seven years old when betrothed to Muhammad,[151][223][224] with the marriage not being consummated until after she had reached puberty at the age of nine, ten or eleven years old.[151][223][225][226][227][228][229] While the majority of traditional sources indicate Aisha was 9 (and therefore a virgin) at the time of marriage, a small number of more recent writers have variously estimated her age at 15 to 24.[230][231][232][233]
After migration to Medina, Muhammad (who was now in his fifties) married several women. These marriages were contracted mostly for political or humanitarian reasons. The women were either widows of Muslims who had been killed in battle and had been left without a protector, or belonging to important families or clans whom it was necessary to honor and strengthen alliances with.[234]
Muhammad did his own household chores and helped with housework, such as preparing food, sewing clothes and repairing shoes. He is also said to have had accustomed his wives to dialogue; he listened to their advice, and the wives debated and even argued with him.[235][236][237]
Khadijah is said to have had four daughters with Muhammad—(Ruqayyah bint Muhammad, Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad, Zainab bint Muhammad, Fatimah Zahra)—and two sons—(Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad and Qasim ibn Muhammad)—who both died in childhood. All except one of his daughters Fatimah died before him.[238] Some Shi'a scholars contend that Fatimah was Muhammad's only daughter.[239] Maria al-Qibtiyya bore him a son named Ibrahim ibn Muhammad, but the child died when he was two years old.[238]
Nine of Muhammad's wives survived him.[218] Aisha, who became known as Muhammad's favourite wife in Sunni tradition, survived him by many decades and was instrumental in helping bring together the scattered sayings of Muhammad that would form the Hadith literature for the Sunni branch of Islam.[151]
Muhammad's descendants through Fatimah are known as sharifs, syeds or sayyids. These are honorific titles in Arabic, sharif meaning 'noble' and sayed or sayyid meaning 'lord' or 'sir'. As Muhammad's only descendants, they are respected by both Sunni and Shi'a, though the Shi'a place much more emphasis and value on their distinction.[240]
Zayd ibn Harith was a slave that Muhammad bought, freed, and then adopted as his son. He also had a wetnurse.[241] Muhammad owned other slaves as well, whom he bought usually to free.[242]
Legacy
Muslim views
Main article: Muhammad in Islam
In Islamic belief, Muhammad is regarded as the last of a series of Prophets sent by God[244][245][246][247] for the benefit of mankind. Quran 10:37 states that "...it (the Quran) is a confirmation of (revelations) that went before it, and a fuller explanation of the Book - wherein there is no doubt - from The Lord of the Worlds.". Similarly Quran 46:12 states "...And before this was the book of Moses, as a guide and a mercy. And this Book confirms (it)...", while 2:136 commands the believers of Islam to "Say: we believe in God and that which is revealed unto us, and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered."
Historian Denis Gril believes that the Quran does not overtly describe Muhammad performing miracles, and the supreme miracle of Muhammad is finally identified with the Quran itself.[248] However, Muslim tradition credits Muhammad with several miracles or supernatural events.[249] For example, many Muslim commentators and some Western scholars have interpreted the Surah 54:1–2 as referring to Muhammad splitting the Moon in view of the Quraysh when they began persecuting his followers.[248][250]
The Sunnah represents the actions and sayings of Muhammad (preserved in reports known as Hadith), and covers a broad array of activities and beliefs ranging from religious rituals, personal hygiene, burial of the dead to the mystical questions involving the love between humans and God. The Sunnah is considered a model of emulation for pious Muslims and has to a great degree influenced the Muslim culture. The greeting that Muhammad taught Muslims to offer each other, “may peace be upon you” (Arabic: as-salamu `alaykum) is used by Muslims throughout the world. Many details of major Islamic rituals such as daily prayers, the fasting and the annual pilgrimage are only found in the Sunnah and not the Quran.[251]
The Sunnah also played a major role in the development of the Islamic sciences. It contributed much to the development of Islamic law, particularly from the end of the first Islamic century.[252] Muslim mystics, known as sufis, who were seeking for the inner meaning of the Quran and the inner nature of Muhammad, viewed the prophet of Islam not only as a prophet but also as a perfect saint. Sufi orders trace their chain of spiritual descent back to Muhammad.[253]
Islamic depictions of Muhammad
Main article: Depictions of Muhammad
The earliest extant depictions come from 13th-century Anatolian Seljuk and Ilkhanid Persian miniatures, typically in literary genres describing the life and deeds of Muhammad.[262][263] During the Ilkhanid period, when Persia's Mongol rulers converted to Islam, competing Sunni and Shi'a groups used visual imagery, including images of Muhammad, to promote their particular interpretation of Islam's key events.[264] Influenced by the Buddhist tradition of representational religious art predating the Mongol elite's conversion, this innovation was unprecedented in the Islamic world, and accompanied by a "broader shift in Islamic artistic culture away from abstraction toward representation" in "mosques, on tapestries, silks, ceramics, and in glass and metalwork" besides books.[265] In the Persian lands, this tradition of realistic depictions lasted through the Timurid dynasty until the Safavids took power in the early sixteenth century.[264] The Safavaids, who made Shi'i Islam the state religion, initiated a departure from the traditional Ilkhanid and Timurid artistic style by covering Muhammad's face with a veil to obscure his features and at the same time represent his luminous essence.[266] Concomitantly, some of the unveiled images from earlier periods were defaced.[264][267][268] Later images were produced in Ottoman Turkey and elsewhere, but mosques were never decorated with images of Muhammad.[261] Illustrated accounts of the night journey (mi'raj) were particularly popular from the Ilkhanid period through the Safavid era.[269] During the 19th century, Iran saw a boom of printed and illustrated mi'raj books, with Muhammad's face veiled, aimed in particular at illiterates and children in the manner of graphic novels; reproduced through lithography these were essentially "printed manuscripts".[269] Today, millions of historical reproductions and modern images are available in some Muslim countries, especially Turkey and Iran, on posters, postcards, and even in coffee-table books, but are unknown in most other parts of the Islamic world, and when encountered by Muslims from other countries they can cause considerable consternation and offense.[261][262]
Other views
Non-Muslim views regarding Muhammad have ranged across a large spectrum of responses and beliefs, many of which have changed over time.[270][271]Historical Western views
See also: Medieval Christian views on Muhammad
According to Hossein Nasr, earliest European literature often refers to Muhammad unfavorably. A few learned circles of Middle Ages
Europe—primarily Latin-literate scholars—had access to fairly extensive
biographical material about Muhammad. They interpreted that information
through a Christian religious filter that viewed Muhammad as a
charlatan driven by ambition and eagerness for power, and who seduced
the Saracens into his submission under a religious guise.[17]
Popular European literature of the time portrayed Muhammad as though he
were worshipped by Muslims in the manner of an idol or a heathen god.[17] Some medieval Christians believed he died in 666, alluding to the number of the beast, instead of his actual death date in 632;[272] others changed his name from Muhammad to Mahound, the "devil incarnate".[273] 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 Termagant in an unholy trinity."[274] A later medieval work, Livre dou Tresor represents Muhammad as a former monk and cardinal.[17] Dante's 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."[17] Cultural critic and author Edward Said wrote in Orientalism regarding Dante's depiction of Muhammad:Empirical data about the Orient...count for very little; ... What ... Dante tried to do in the Inferno, is ... to characterize the Orient as alien and to incorporate it schematically on a theatrical stage whose audience, manager, and actors are ... only for Europe. Hence the vacillation between the familiar and the alien; Mohammed is always the imposter (familiar, because he pretends to be like the Jesus we know) and always the Oriental (alien, because although he is in some ways "like" Jesus, he is after all not like him).[275]After the Reformation, Muhammad was often portrayed as a cunning and ambitious impostor.[17][274] Guillaume Postel was among the first to present a more positive view of Muhammad.[17] Boulainvilliers described Muhammad as a gifted political leader and a just lawmaker.[17] Gottfried Leibniz praised Muhammad because "he did not deviate from the natural religion".[17] Thomas Carlyle in his book Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History (1840) describes Muhammed as "[a] silent great soul; [...] one of those who cannot but be in earnest".[276] Edward Gibbon in his book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire observes that "the good sense of Mohammad despised the pomp of royalty." Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1851) described Muhammad as "an ominous destroyer and a prophet of murder."[17]
Simon Ockley wrote in his book The History of the Saracen Empires (1718);
The greatest success of Mohammad’s life was effected by sheer moral force...It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved, after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran. . . The Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man. 'I believe in One God and Mahomet the Apostle of God' is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honours of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion.[277]
...if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammed, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports. He cared not for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life...In Mohammadanism every thing is different here. Instead of the shadowy and the mysterious, we have history....We know of the external history of Muhammad....while for his internal history after his mission had been proclaimed, we have a book absolutely unique in its origin, in its preservation....on the Substantial authority of which no one has ever been able to cast a serious doubt.[278]Alphonse de Lamartine's Histoire de la Turquie (1854) says about Muhammad:
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means and outstanding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad.[279]
Never has a man proposed for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a goal more sublime, since this goal was beyond measure: undermine the superstitions placed between the creature and the Creator, give back God to man and man to God, reinstate the rational and saintly idea of divinity in the midst of this prevailing chaos of material and disfigured gods of idolatry.... The most famous have only moved weapons, laws, empires; they founded, when they founded anything, only material powers, often crumbling before them. This one not only moved armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, millions of men over a third of the inhabited globe; but he also moved ideas, beliefs, souls. He founded upon a book, of which each letter has become a law, a spiritual nationality embracing people of all languages and races; and made an indelible imprint upon this Muslim world, for the hatred of false gods and the passion for the God, One and Immaterial. ... Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of a rational dogma for a cult without imagery, founder of twenty earthly empires and of a spiritual empire, this is Muhammad.[279]Annie Besant in The Life and Teachings of Muhammad (1932) wrote
It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme...[280]According to William Montgomery 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"[281] and that Muhammad’s readiness to endure hardship for his cause when there seemed to be no rational basis for hope shows his sincerity.[282] Watt says that sincerity does not directly imply correctness: In contemporary terms, Muhammad might have mistaken his own subconscious for divine revelation.[283] Watt and Bernard Lewis argue that viewing Muhammad as a self-seeking impostor makes it impossible to understand the development of Islam.[284][285] Alford T. Welch holds that Muhammad was able to be so influential and successful because of his firm belief in his vocation.[17] Michael H. Hart in his first book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (1978), a ranking of the 100 people who most influenced human history,[286] chose Muhammad as the first person on his list,[287] attributing this to the fact that Muhammad was "supremely successful" in both the religious and secular realms. He also credits the authorship of the Quran to Muhammad, making his role in the development of Islam an unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.
Other religious traditions
See also: Judaism's views on Muhammad
- 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, the founder of the Bahai faith.[288]
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints neither regards Muhammad as a prophet nor accepts the Quran as a book of scripture. However, it does respect Muhammad as one who taught moral truths which can enlighten nations and bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.[289]
Criticism
Main article: Criticism of Muhammad
Criticism of Muhammad has existed since the 7th century. He has been attacked for preaching monotheism, as well as for his marriages and military expeditions.
During the Middle Ages he was frequently demonized in European and
other non-Muslim polemics. In modern times, his sincerity in claiming to
be a prophet has been questioned, and the laws he established have been criticized.
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