Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 04:25, 10 July 2006

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Muhammad" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Part of a series on
Islam
Beliefs Oneness of God Angels Revealed Books Prophets Day of Resurrection Predestination
Practices Profession of Faith Prayer Almsgiving Fasting Pilgrimage
Texts Foundations Quran Sunnah (Hadith, Sirah) Tafsir (exegesis) Aqidah (creed) Qisas al-Anbiya ("Stories of the Prophets") Mathnawi (Poems) Fiqh (jurisprudence) Sharia (law)
History Timeline Jahiliyyah Muhammad Ahl al-Bayt Sahabah Rashidun Caliphate Imamate Spread of Islam Succession to Muhammad
Culture and society Academics Animals Art Association football Calendar Children Circumcision Demographics Diaspora Denominations Sunni Shia Economics Education Ethics Exorcism Feminism Festivals Finance Madrasa Moral teachings Mosque Music Mysticism Philosophy Poetry Politics Proselytizing Science Sexuality LGBTQ Slavery Concubinage Social welfare Women
Related topics Apostasy Criticism Muhammad Quran Hadith Arabic language Other religions Islamism Violence terrorism war Islamophobia Jihad Jihadism Salafi jihadism Deobandi jihadism Military laws Glossary
Islam portal
v t e

Muhammad, Template:Lang-ar Template:ArabDIN; also Mohammed and other variants, (c. 571 – 632) established the religion of Islam and the Muslim community. Muslims believe him to have been God's final prophet, to whom the Qur'an was revealed.

According to traditional Muslim biographers, Muhammad was born c. 570 in Mecca and died June 8 632 in Medina, both in the Hejaz region of present day Saudi Arabia.

The name Muhammad was originally a title meaning "the praised one" in Arabic, being a passive participle from the root Template:ArabDIN Template:Ar "to praise". Within Islam, Muhammad is known as "The Prophet" and "The Messenger". The Qur'an () also refers to him as the "Seal of the Prophets" (Arabic: Template:ArabDIN). In verse 61:6 he is referred to as Ahmad, which in Arabic means 'more praiseworthy'.

Summary

Born ibn `Abdu'llah ibn `Abdu'l-Muttalib, the man who later came to be called Muhammad was said to have initially been a merchant who traveled widely. Muhammad often retreated to a cave in the mountains outside Mecca, for contemplation. Muslims believe that in 610, at about the age of forty, while in a cave in the mountain called Hira, he was visited by the Angel Gabriel, who commanded him to recite the verses sent by God. These verses were later collected as part of the Qur'an (which was revealed to him over a period of about twenty-three years until his death).

He expanded his mission as a prophet, publicly preaching strict monotheism and warning of a Day of Judgment when all humans shall be held responsible for their deeds. He did not completely reject Judaism and Christianity, two other monotheistic faiths known to the Arabs, but said that he had been sent by God in order to complete and perfect those teachings.

Many in Mecca resented his preaching and persecuted him and his followers. Eventually, in 622, he was forced to move out of Mecca in a journey known to Muslims as the Hijra (the Migration). He settled in the area of Yathrib (now known as Medina) with his followers, where he was the leader of the first avowedly Muslim community.

The Meccans started attacking Medina to destroy the Islamic state. Even though the attacking armies were several times stronger in numbers and in weaponry, Muslims defeated these invaders every time they attacked. Muslims finally attacked Mecca under the leadership of Mohammad after eight years of Hijra and took control of the city. The Muslims subsequently removed all idols from the Kaaba. Most of the townspeople accepted Islam. Deputations began to come in from other Arabian tribes. The conditions for their adherence were: the acceptance of Islam, the destruction of idols, and the payment of the 'zakat' (tax) for the support of the Muslim community. In March 632, Mohammed led the pilgrimage, the Hajj. On returning to Medina he fell ill and died after a few days, on June 8.

Under Muhammad's immediate successors, the Islamic empire expanded into Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, and Iberia. Later conquests, commercial contact between Muslims and non-Muslims, and missionary activity spread Islam over much of the Eastern Hemisphere, including China and Southeast Asia.

Sources for Muhammad's life

In the immediate aftermath of the death of Muhammad, Muslims generally kept records orally, rather than in written form. The Qur'an itself, which literally translates as "Recitiation", was originally maintained by "Hafiz" people who have memorised the entire Qur'an. Similarly, for some time, the immediate or contemporary biographical records of Muhammad, his "Sunnah", were passed on orally.

When they were written, most biographical sources of Muhammad were written by Muslims and were recorded in writing centuries after his death. Only fragmentary references in non-Muslim historical records from the seventh century are available, and no inscriptions or archaeological remains survive from that time.

One of very few known non-Islamic contemporary accounts of this time and place, the Doctrina Iacobi, records a Judeo-Arab preacher whom it does not name proclaiming the advent of a Jewish Messiah, and states that the Jews and Arabs were allies against the Byzantines, which does not correspond with the Hadiths, and it also states that this Messiah's power was "diminished and torn asunder", which is almost entirely opposite to the traditions. Other people claiming to be Prophets appeared in the Mideastern world at the time of Muhammad, such as Musailama al-Kazzab or Aswad Ansi, who both claimed to be prophets and both led ultimately unsuccesfull military campaigns, and it is possible that the unnamed Messiah figure relates to one of these.

The hadith are the written collection of the Arab oral traditions concerning Muhammad. The dates often given for Muhammad's life are 570-632 CE. The most authoritive hadiths in Sunni Islam are compiled in the "Sahih Bukhari", or "Sahih Muslim", while in Shia'ism more emphasis is placed on the "Usul al-Kafi".

The earliest biography of Muhammad known is a collection of hadith: the Sirah Rasul Allah or, the Life of the Apostle of God, by Ibn Ishaq, who was born about 717 and died in 767. He thus wrote his biography well over one hundred years after Muhammad died. He would not have been able to speak to any eyewitnesses, only to those who had heard their accounts, or accounts of their accounts. Ibn Ishaq's work is contained in fragments quoted in a compilation of anecdotes and traditions composed by Islamic historian Ibn Hisham (???-834) and al-Tabari (838-923).

Other sources for biographies of Muhammad are: the military chronicles of Waqidi (745-822); the biographies of Ibn Sa'd (783-845), a student of Waqidi; later histories; Quranic commentaries; and collections of Prophetic hadith. These texts were recorded more than a century, and often several centuries, after the death of Muhammad. Some passages in the Qur'an are believed to shed some light on Muhammad's biography; however, they require a great deal of interpretation to be useful.

Some skeptical scholars (Wansbrough, Cook, Crone, and others) have raised doubts about the reliability of the Islamic sources, especially the hadith collections. They note for instance that the earliest biography of Muhammad of Ibn Ishaq does not contain any dates or explicit details; yet, later Islamic narratives have progressively more dates, with minute details of Muhammad's life being inserted into their accounts as successive generations of scholars relay the story, such that by the time we arrive at contemporary renditions of Muhammad's story, dates and details have exploded exponentially without explanation. These skeptics believe that many hadith and other traditions were manufactured, or doctored, to support one or another of the many political or doctrinal factions that had developed within Islam in its first century or later. The life of Muhammad was believed to be the exemplar for all Muslims; hence the importance of showing that Muhammad said or did something proving that a particular faction was right. If the skeptics are right, and if much of the early material cannot really be trusted, then all that is factually known is what is contained in the summary above.

Other academic scholars, such as Montgomery Watt and Wilferd Madelung, have been much more willing to trust the Islamic sources. Their accounts of the life of Muhammad are similar to those held by most believing Muslims. These historical "traditionalists," both Muslim and non-Muslim, present a much more detailed picture of Muhammad's life.

There is a great deal of possibly unreliable material available on the life of Muhammad, but very little that is accepted by all academics. In a 2003 article, Gregor Schoeler summarizes it thus:

The current research on the life of Muhammad is characterized by the fact that two groups of researchers stand directly opposed to one another: The one group advocates, somewhat aggressively, the conviction that all transmitted traditions, in part because of great inner contradictions, legendary forms, and so forth, are to be rejected. The other group is opposed to that view. According to these researchers, the Islamic transmission, despite all these defects, has at least a genuine core, which can be recognized using the appropriate source-critical methods. The difficulty certainly consists of finding criteria by which the genuine is to be differentiated from spurious.

Many, but not all of the first group of scholars would probably accept the first section of this article, the Summary. The second group of academics is more willing to accept the traditional Muslim accounts, shorn of hagiography and supernatural claims and based on the earliest accounts rather than later traditions.

Many Muslims accept even fuller accounts of Muhammad's life. They believe traditions not credited by non-Muslim scholars. However, Muslims are not of one mind on the subject. Some Muslims accept "naturalistic" versions pared of most supernatural elements; some Muslims believe in versions of Muhammad's life full of miracles. There are versions of Muhammad's life favoring different traditions within Islam. A Sunni version of Muhammad's life is very different from a Shi'a version. It is impossible to present one Muslim version. However, a few of the most common traditions, ones that are not accepted by academics but widely believed by Muslims, are covered in a final section.

Life based on Islamic traditions

Most Muslims, and the Western academics who are willing to trust some of the Islamic traditions, accept a much more detailed version of Muhammad's life.

Genealogy

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 have been a descendant of Ishmael, son of Abraham, though the exact genealogy is disputed. Muhammad's genealogy up to Adnan is as follows:

Muhammad is the son of Abd Allah, who is son of Abd al-Muttalib (Shaiba) son of Hashim (Amr) ibn Abd Manaf (al-Mughira) son of Qusai (Zaid) ibn Kilab ibn Murra son of Ka`b ibn Lu'ay son of Ghalib ibn Fahr (Quraish) son of Malik ibn an-Nadr (Qais) the son of Kinana son of Khuzaimah son of Mudrikah (Amir) son of Ilyas aon of Mudar son of Nizar son of Ma`ad ibn Adnan. (ibn means "son of" in Arabic; alternate names of people with two names are given in parentheses.)

He was also called Abul-Qaasim (meaning "father of Qaasim") by some, after his short-lived first son.

Description

William Montgomery Watt accepts the following description of Muhammad from the Islamic sources:

Muhammad, according to some apparently authentic accounts, was of average height or a little above the average. His chest and shoulders were broad, and altogether he was of sturdy build. His arms were long, and his hands and feet rough. His forehead was large and prominent, and he had a hooked nose and large black eyes with a touch of brown. The hair of his head was long and thick, straight or slightly curled. His beard also was thick, and he had a thin line of fine hair on his neck and chest. His cheeks were spare, his mouth large, and he had a pleasant smile. In complexion he was very handsome. He always walked as if he was rushing downhill, and others had difficulty in keeping up with him. When he turned in any direction, he did so with his whole body. He was given to sadness, and there were long periods of silence when he was deep in thought; yet he never rested but was always busy with something. He never spoke unnecessarily. What he said was always to the point and sufficient to make his meaning clear, but there was no padding. From the first to last he spoke rapidly. Over his feelings he had a firm control. When he was annoyed he would turn aside; when he was pleased, he lowered his eyes. His time was carefully apportioned according to the various demands on him. In his dealings with people he was above all tactful. He could be severe at times, though in the main he was not rough but gentle. His laugh was mostly a smile.

Of the many stories illustrating his gentleness and tenderness of feeling, some at least are worthy of credence...

He seems to have been specially fond of children and to have got on well with them. Perhaps it was the yearning of a man who saw all his sons die as infants. Much of his paternal affection went to his adopted son Zayd. He was also attached to his younger cousin 'Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, who had been a member of his household for a time; but he doubtless realized that 'Ah had not the makings of a successful statesman. For a time a grand-daughter called Umamah was a favourite. He would carry her on his shoulder during the public prayers, setting her down when he bowed or prostrated, then picking her up again. On one occasion he teased his wives by showing them a necklace and saying he would give it to the one who was dearest to him; when he thought their feelings were sufficiently agitated, he presented it not to any of them, but to Umamah.

He was able to enter into the spirit of childish games and had many friends among children. He had fun with the children who came back from Abyssinia and spoke Abyssinian. In one house in Medina there was a small boy with whom he was accustomed to have jokes. One day he found the small boy looking very sad, and asked what was the matter. When he was told that his pet nightingale had died, he did what he could to comfort him. His kindness extended even to animals, which is remarkable for Muhammad's century and part of the world. As his men marched towards Mecca just before the conquest they passed a bitch with puppies; and Muhammad not merely gave orders that they were not to be disturbed, but posted a man to see that the orders were carried out.

Childhood

Muhammad was born into a well-to-do family settled in the northern Arabian town of Mecca. Some calculate his birthdate as having been 20 April, 570, while Shi'a Muslims believe it to have been 26 April 570. Other sources calculate the year of his birth to have been 571; tradition places it in the Year of the Elephant. Muhammad's father, Abdullah, had died almost six months before he was born and the young boy was brought up by his paternal grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, of the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraish tribe. At the age of six, Muhammad lost his mother Amina. When he was eight years of age, his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, who had become his guardian, also died. Muhammad now came under the care of his uncle Abu Talib, the new leader of the Hashim clan of the Quraish tribe, the most powerful in Mecca.

Mecca was a thriving commercial centre, due in great part to a stone temple (now called the Kaaba) that housed many different cult figures (idols). Merchants from various tribes would visit Mecca during the pilgrimage season, when all inter-tribal warfare was forbidden and they could trade in safety. While still in his teens, Muhammad began accompanying his uncle on trading journeys to Syria. He thus became well-travelled and knowledgeable as to foreign ways.

Middle years

Muhammad became a merchant. One of his employers was Khadijah, a forty-year-old widow. She was impressed with Muhammad's character and intelligence, and proposed to him in the year 595. Muhammad consented to the marriage, which by all accounts was a happy one.

Ibn Ishaq records that Khadijah bore Muhammad five children: two sons named Al Qasem and Abdullah (who is also called Al Tayeb and Al Taher) and four daughters. All of Khadija's children were born before Muhammad received his first revelation. His son Qasim died at the age of two. The four daughters are said to be Zainab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum, and Fatima.

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.

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 was visited by the Angel Gabriel.

His wife Khadijah and her Christian cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal were the first to believe that Muhammad was a prophet. They were soon followed by Muhammad's ten-year-old cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, close friend Abu Bakr and adopted son Zaid bin Haarith. (The identity of the first male Muslim is a hotly debated topic.)

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.

Around 613, Muhammad began to spread his message amongst the people. Most of those who heard his message ignored it. A few mocked him. Others believed and joined him.

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 Kaaba, the focal point of Meccan religious life. If they threw out their idols due to the preachings of Muhammad, the tribal and city leaders feared, there would be no more pilgrims, no more trade, and no more wealth. Muhammad’s denunciation of the Meccan traditional religion was especially offensive to his own tribe, the Quraysh, as they were the guardians of the Ka'aba. Muhammad and his followers were persecuted. Some of them fled to the Ethiopian Kingdom of Aksum and founded a small colony there under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian king (called Al-Negashi, or "The King").

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.

In 619, both Muhammad's wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib died; it was known as aamul hazn ("the year of sorrows.") Muhammad's own clan withdrew their protection of him. Muslims patiently endured persecution: ostracism, an economic embargo and consequent poverty and hunger, even beatings and death threats.

Isra and Miraj

Some time in 620, Muhammad told his followers that he had experienced the Isra and Miraj, a miraculous journey said to have been accomplished in one night along with Angel Gabriel. In the first part of the journey, the Isra, he is said to have travelled from Mecca to the furthest mosque. In the second part, the Miraj, Muhammad is said to have toured Heaven and Hell, and spoken with earlier prophets, such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.

Muslims believe that the Jerusalem mosque on the Temple Mount known as the Masjid al-Aqsa or furthest mosque, is the site from which Muhammad ascended to Heaven.

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, 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"). Islamic tradition refers to the conversion to Islam of one of the leaders of the Jews named Ibn Salam. Muhammad had hoped that his conversion would be emulated by the other Jews, and that those others would also recognize him as a prophet, but they did not do so.

Some academic historians attribute the change of qibla, the Muslim direction of prayer, from the site of the former Temple in Jerusalem to the Kaaba in Mecca, which occurred during this period, to Muhammad's abandonment of hope of recruiting Jews as allies or followers. According to Muslims, the change of qibla was seen as a command from God both reflecting the independence of the Muslims as well as a test to discern those who truly followed the revelation and those who were simply opportunistic.

Muhammad and his followers are said to have negotiated an agreement with the other Medinans, a document now known as the Constitution of Medina (date debated), which laid out the terms on which the different factions, specifically the Jews and other "Peoples of the Book" could exist within the new Islamic State.

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 and according to Watt was "a kind of sport rather than war" and that the object of the raids was to take animals and other goods but killing was carefully avoided. ; Muslims justified the raids by the Meccans' confiscation of the property they had left at Mecca and the state of war deemed to exist between the Meccans and the Muslims.

In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred 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 more than three times (one thousand to three hundred) 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.

Rule consolidated

To his followers, the victory in Badr apparently seemed a divine authentication of Muhammad's prophethood. Following this victory, the victors expelled a local Jewish clan, the Banu Qainuqa, whom they accused of have broken a treaty by conspiring with the attacking Meccan forces. Muhammad and his followers were now a dominant force in the oasis of Yathrib (Medina).

After Khadija's death, Muhammad had married Aisha, the daughter of his friend Abu Bakr (who would later emerge as the first leader of the Muslims after Muhammad's death). In Medina, he married Hafsah, daughter of Umar (who would eventually become Abu Bakr's successor).

Muhammad's daughter Fatima married Ali, Muhammad's cousin. According to the Sunni, another daughter, Umm Kulthum, married Uthman. Each of these men, in later years, would emerge as successors to Muhammad and political leaders of the Muslims. Thus, all four caliphs were linked to Muhammad by marriage. Sunni Muslims regard these caliphs as the Rashidun, or Rightly Guided. (See Succession to Muhammad for more information on the controversy on the succession to the caliphate).

Continued warfare

In 625 the Meccan general Abu Sufyan marched on Medina with three thousand men. The ensuing Battle of Uhud took place on March 23 and ended 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, being the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. They attacked and defeated the Banu Qurayza, and subsequently killed hundreds of the adult men of the tribe. This execution has been the subject of much controversy.

Following the Muslims' victory at the Battle of the Trench, the Muslims were able, through conversion and conquest, to extend their rule to many of the neighboring cities and tribes.

The conquest of Mecca

By 628, the Muslim position was so strong that Muhammad decided to return to Mecca, this time as a pilgrim performing Umrah. In March of that year, he set out for Mecca, followed by one thousand six hundred 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 the following year.

Muhammad's followers were disgruntled at the inconclusive result of the Treaty of Hudaybiyya. Norman Stillman suggests that to deflect their opposition, Muhammad needed a new military victory:

The Muslims had been disappointed by the Prophet's recent abortive attempt to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and by his signing a truce with the Quraysh at al-Hudaybiyya. They needed a victory to raise their spirits. Furthermore, it was clear from the circumstances surrounding the incident at al-Hudaybiyya that most of the Bedouin were still not closely tied to the Umma (the Muslim community). Muhammad needed to show them that it was worth their while to be allied to his cause.

The Muslim traditions, however, state that the attack on the rich oasis of Khaybar was in retribution for its role in the Battle of the Trench. Khaybar was inhabited by several Jewish tribes including the members of the Banu Nadir. In June 628, the Muslims captured Khaybar after a siege and, as some scholars hold, killed all Banu Nadir men present. But most sources don't mention any such execution, and so this particular issue is contentious among scholars. It was here that Muhammad married Safiyya bint Huyayy, daughter of the Banu Nadir chief, and who claimed direct lineage from the biblical and Quranic Prophet Aaron. Other Jews of Khaybar were allowed to remain in the oasis on condition of paying heavy tribute. Muslims also took substantial booty.

Muhammad subsequently moved to attack Mecca. Tribal allies of the Muslims and the Meccans had clashed, and Muhammad regarded this incident as a breach of the treaty. Therefore, in 630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. After some scattered skirmishes, in which only twenty-four Meccans were killed, the Muslims seized Mecca. Muhammad promised a general amnesty to all but a few of the Meccans. 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 peninsula under Muhammad's authority. However, this authority was not enforced by a regular government, as Muhammad chose instead to rule through personal relationships and tribal treaties. The Muslims were clearly the dominant force in Arabia, and most of the remaining tribes and states hastened to convert to Islam.

Muhammad the reformer

According to scholars such as William Montgomery Watt, Muhammad was a both a social and moral reformer in his day and generation. He claims Muhammad created a "new system of social security and a new family structure, both of which were a vast improvement on what went before. By taking what was best in the morality of the nomad and adapting it for settled communities, he established a religious and social framework for the life of many races of men."

Bernard Lewis believes the advent of Islam in a sense was a revolution which only partially succeeded after long struggles due to tensions between the new religon and very old societies in the countries that the Muslims conquered. He thinks that one such area of tension was a consequence of what he sees as the egalitarian nature of Islamic doctrine. Lewis believes that "the equality of Islam is limited to free adult male Muslims," but according to him "even this represented a very considerable advance on the practice of both the Greco-Roman and the ancient Iranian world. Islam from the first denounced aristocratic privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents."

Muhammad as a military leader

For most of the sixty-three years of his life, Muhammad was a merchant, then a religious leader. He took up the sword late in his life. He was an active military leader for ten years.

Critics claim that Muhammad expanded his realm and imposed his religion by force. Muslim commentators, however, argue that he fought only to defend his community against the Meccans, and that he insisted on humane rules of warfare. The rules stated that women are not to be harmed or molested, children are not to be harmed. No non combatent is to be fought and if the enemy does not wish to fight you then escort him to a place of sicurity. In reference to the Quran "fight those who fight you and do not commit agression for God does not like those who commit agression" ()

Family life

From 595 to 619, Muhammad had only one wife, Khadijah. After her death, he married Sawda bint Zama and Aisha (which marriage came first is disputed), then Hafsa. Later he was to marry more wives, to make for a total of eleven, of whom nine or ten were living at the time of his death. The status of Maria al-Qibtiyya is disputed; she may have been a slave, a freed slave, or a wife.

Muhammad had children by only two of these unions. Khadijah is said to have borne him four daughters and a son; only one daughter, Fatima, survived her father. Shi'a Muslims dispute the number of Muhammad's children, claiming that he had only one daughter, and that the other "daughters" were step-daughters. Maria al-Qibtiyya bore him a son, but the child died when he was ten months old.

Muhammad's marriages have been the subject of some criticism, especially his marriage to Aisha. Some consider it wrong that he had more wives than the four generally allowed by the Qur'an (although one Qur'anic verse makes an exception for Muhammad). They question the circumstances of some of his marriages, such as those to Zaynab bint Jahsh, his adopted son's ex-wife, and to Aisha, who according to hadith was nine years old when the marriage was consummated. (though there is reason to believe that she was in fact older and that the hadiths that state she was nine are weak).

Companions

The term Sahaba (companion) 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 considered the ultimate sources for the oral traditions, or hadith, on which much of Muslim law and practice are based. There were many other companions in addition to the ones listed here.

List in alphabetic order:

Death

One day, upon returning from a visit to a cemetery, Muhammad became very ill. He suffered for several days with head pain and weakness. Muhammad finally succumbed to his malady around noon on Monday, June 8, 632, in the city of Madina, at the age of sixty-three. He is buried in the Mosque of the Prophet in Madina.

According to Shi'a Islam, Muhammad had appointed his son-in-law Ali as his successor in a public sermon at Ghadir Khumm. Shi'a believe that Muhammad's companions Abu Bakr and Umar conspired to oust Ali and make Abu Bakr the leader or caliph. Sunni Muslims 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. The matter is further discussed in the article Succession to Muhammad.

Abu Bakr 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.

Descendants

Muhammad was survived 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.

Descendants of Muhammad are known by 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 Idrisids, and the current royal families of Jordan and Morocco. In various Muslim countries, there are societies that authenticate claims of descent; some societies are more credible than others.

Popular Muslim traditions

These traditions are believed by many Muslims, but may be questionable to secular academic historians.

Many Muslims believe that as an infant Muhammad was placed with a Bedouin wetnurse, Halima Sadia, as desert life was believed to be safer and healthier for children. Many stories are told of his life in the desert.

After he returned to Mecca, he is said to have been beloved by all around him because he was such a polite and honest child.

As a youth, he was called upon to solve a vexing political problem for his Meccan neighbors. They were rebuilding the Kaaba and feuding over which clan should have the honor of raising the Black Stone into place. Muhammad suggested that the heads of each clan raise the Black Stone on a cloth, so that all had the honor of lifting it. Muhammad then put the stone into its place.

As a young man and a merchant, Muhammad was known to be trustworthy and honest. The other Meccans called him "Al-Amin", the trustworthy one or the honest one. After he proclaimed his prophethood, however, his neighbors turned against him.

Muslim veneration for Muhammad

It is traditional for Muslims to illustrate and express their love and veneration for Muhammad in a number of different ways.

• When speaking or writing, Muhammad's name is often preceded by the title "Prophet" and is followed by the phrase, Peace be upon him, or Peace be upon him and his descendants by Shias; in English often abbreviated as "(pbuh)" and "pbuh&hd", or just simply as "p". Also in some English texts, the notation "(saw)" is used. This is an abbreviation of sallalahu aleyhi wasallam, which is an Arabic transliteration for "peace be upon him".
• His contemporaries gave him the title Apostle of God (Arabic: Rasul-Allah or Rasulallah), which is also used by Muslims today.
• Concerts of Muslim and especially Sufi devotional music include songs praising Muhammad (see Muslim music, Qawwali).
• Muslims celebrate the birthday of Muhammad (Mawlid) with elaborate festivities. Some do not, believing that such festivities are modern innovations.
• Criticism of Muhammad is often equated with blasphemy, which is punishable by death in many Muslim states.
• Muhammad is often referred to with titles of praise.
• 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.
• Many Muslims believe that Islam prohibits depicting the prophet Muhammad in art. Others have accepted such depictions. See Depiction of Muhammad.

Muhammad in other traditions

• Muhammad is also a prophet in the Mustaˤliyya, Nizarī, Alawites, Zikri, and the Ahmadiyya traditions. These are closely related to Islam, and are considered by their followers to be sects thereof, but mainstream Muslims see them as separate religions.
• The Druze, who accept most but not all Qur'anic revelations, also consider him a prophet.
• Bahá'ís venerate Muhammad as one of a number of prophets or "Manifestations of God", but consider his teachings to have been superseded by those of Bahá'u'lláh.
• Some humanists see Muhammad, like Jesus and Buddha, as an important ethical leader.
• In the Middle Ages, Jewish writers commonly referred to Muhammad as ha-meshuggah ("the madman" or "possessed"), a title contemptuously used in the Hebrew Bible for impostors who think of themselves as prophets.
• Many Christians view Muhammad as a false prophet and not as the bringer of any divine revelation. It was John of Damascus who coined the pejorative phrase "false prophet". During the Middle Ages, especially in places where there was frequent Christian-Muslim conflict, it was popular to depict Muhammad being tortured by the demons in Hell. One such example is in Dante's The Divine Comedy in which Muhammad is in the ninth ditch of the eighth circle of hell.

Historical significance

Before his death in 632, Muhammad had established Islam as a social and political force and had unified most of Arabia through both conversion and conquest. Within a few decades after his death, his successors had united all of Arabia under an Islamic empire, 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 earlier monotheistic belief systems, Judaism and Christianity, and as the geopolitical successor to the Sassanid empire. The rest of North Africa came under Muslim rule, as well as most of the Iberian Peninsula, much of Central Asia, and parts of South Asia (including Sind, in the Indus Valley).

In the tenth century, the armies of the Ghaznavids conquered northern India bringing Islam into the mainly Hindu principalities east of the Indus river. (Here, however, most of the people in those areas remained Hindus.) Islam was carried across the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain by the Moors, only to retreat due to the Reconquista. The Ottoman conquests extended the sway of Islam over the Balkans, as well as much of the Caucasus. Even later, Islam expanded into much of Africa and Southeast Asia (becoming especially successful in Indonesia and Malaysia). Islam is now the faith of over a billion people all over the globe, and is now the second largest religion after Christianity by the number of adherents.

Michael H. Hart in his book The 100 claims Muhammad was the most influential person in history due to his supreme success on both the religious and secular levels.

See also

Notes and references

1. Mahomet etc.; Turkish: Muhammed; click here for the Arabic pronunciation
2. This does not mean that Muhammad was the first to propagate the submission to one god (= monotheism). Here, "Islam" and "Muslim" are used in their active lexical senses, not in their etymological senses.
3. Gregor Schoeler, Berg (2003), p. 21
4. Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum: The Lineage and Family of Muhammad by Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri
5. Watt (1961), p. 229
6. Watt 1961 p. 105
7. Watt 1961 p.106
8. Lewis (2002), pp. 41-44
9. Stillman (1975), p. 8
10. Stillman (1975), p. 7, 8; "Khaybar", Encyclopaedia of Islam
11. Watt (1961), p. 229
12. Lewis, Bernard (January 21, 1998). "Islamic Revolution". The New York Review of Books.
13. Sahih Bukhari Template:Bukhari-usc, , Template:Bukhari-usc, Template:Bukhari-usc, Template:Bukhari-usc, Template:Bukhari-usc Sahih Muslim Template:Muslim-usc, Template:Muslim-usc
14. D. A. Spellberg, Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: the Legacy of A'isha bint Abi Bakr, Columbia University Press, 1994
15. USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts: About the Prophet Muhammad
16. Stillman (1975), p. 236
17. Source: "The Fountain of Wisdom" (pege gnoseos), part II: "Concerning Heresy" (peri aipeseon)
18. Hart (1992), p. 3

Bibliography

• Andrae, Tor (2000). Mohammed: The Man and His Faith. Dover. ISBN 0486411362.
• Armstrong, Karen (1993). Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 0062508865.
• Berg, Herbert (Ed.) (2003). Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins. E. J. Brill. ISBN 9004126023.
• Cook, Michael (1983). Muhammad. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192876058 (reissue 1996).
• Dashti, Ali (1994). Twenty-Three Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad. Mazda. ISBN 1568590296.
• Glubb, John Bagot (1970). The Life and Times of Muhammad. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0815411766 (reprint 2002).
• Guillaume, Alfred, ed. (1955). The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0196360331. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Hamidullah, Muhammad (1998). The Life and Work of the Prophet of Islam. (Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute). ISBN 9698413006.
• Haykal, Muhammad Husayn (1995). The Life of Muhammad. Islamic Book Service. ISBN 1577311957.
• Lewis, Bernard (2002). The Arabs in History (6th edition ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192803107. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Lings, Martin (1987). Muhammad: His Life Based on Earliest Sources. Inner Traditions International, Limited. ISBN 0892811706.
• Motzki, Harald, ed. (2000). The Biography of Muhammad: The Issue of the Sources (Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and Texts, Vol. 32). Brill. ISBN 9004115137. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Rodinson, Maxime (1961). Muhammad. New Publishers. ISBN 1565847520.
• Rubin, Uri (1995). The Eye of the Beholder: The Life of Muhammad as Viewed by the Early Muslims (A Textual Analysis). Darwin Press. ISBN 087850110X.
• Schimmel, Annemarie (1985). And Muhammad is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807841285.
• Stillman, Norman (1975). The Jews of Arab Lands: a History and Source Book. Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0827601980.
• Warraq, Ibn (2000). The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1573927872.
• Watt, W. Montgomery (1961). Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198810784.

External links

Non-sectarian biography

• Public Broadcasting System program on Muhammad
• Encarta Encyclopedia
• 1911 Encyclopedia article of Muhammad

Muslim biographies

• The earliest biography of Muhammad, by ibn Ishaq
• Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum (The Sealed Nectar) (comprehensive and authoritative modern biography of the prophet)
• Toward Understanding Muhammad: Some issues in peace and violence (by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq)
• Muhammad: A Brief Introduction with Annotation (by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq)
• Biography by Harun Yahya
• About Muhammad
• Tauheed Sunnat - Islamic Multimedia Library - Seerat of the Prophet Muhammed

• 570 births
• 632 deaths
• Islam
• Muhammad