| Revision as of 23:26, 18 January 2007 view sourceElinorD (talk | contribs)Rollbackers15,294 edits →Modern Western Academic view of Muhammad← Previous edit | Revision as of 04:08, 19 January 2007 view source 217.44.105.249 (talk) ←Replaced page with 'Paedophile'Next edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| Paedophile | |||
| {{Muhammad}} | |||
| :''For other persons named Muhammad, see ]. For other uses, see ].'' | |||
| '''Muhammad''' ({{lang-ar|'''محمد'''}} ''{{ArabDIN|muḥammad}}''; also ''Mohammed'', ''Mohamet'', and other variants<ref>]: ''Muhammed''; {{Audio|Ar-muhammad.ogg|click here}} for the Arabic pronunciation.</ref><ref> Welch, noting the frequency of Muhammad being called as "Al-Amin"(Arabic: الامين ), a common Arab name, suggests the possibility of "Al-Amin" being Muhammad's given name as it is a masculine form from the same root as his mother's name, A'mina. cf. "Muhammad", ''Encyclopedia of Islam Online''; The sources frequently say that he, in his youth, was called with the nickname "Al-Amin" meaning "Honest, Truthful" cf. Ernst (2004), p.85.</ref>), (]-] ]/]),<ref>According to traditional Muslim biographers, Muhammad was born c. ] in ] and died ] ] in ], both in the ] region of present day ].</ref><ref name="EncWorldHistory">''Encyclopedia of World History'' (1998), p.452</ref> was a religious, political, and military leader who established ] and the ] community (Arabic: أمة '']''). He united the tribes of the ] into a federation of allied tribes with its capital at ]. | |||
| According to Islamic traditions, Muhammad began receiving revelations from ] (Arabic: ألله '']'') from the age of 40, delivered through the angel ] over the last 23 years of his life. The content of these revelations, known as the ],<ref> The term ''Qur'an'' was first used in the Qur'an itself. There are two different theories about this term and its formation that are discussed in ] cf. "Qur'an", ''Encyclopedia of Islam Online''.</ref> was memorized and recorded by his followers and compiled into a single volume shortly after his death. The Qur'an, along with the details of ] and his ], forms the basis of Islamic ]. Within ], he is considered the last and most important ] of God.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977) writes that "It is appropriate to use the word 'God' rather than the transliteration 'Allah'. For one thing it cannot be denied that Islam is an offshoot of the Judaeo-Christians tradition, and for another the Christian Arabs of today have no other word for 'God' than 'Allah'" cf p.32.</ref> Muslims do not regard him as the founder of a new religion but as the restorer of the original ] faith of ], ] and other ] whose messages had become misinterpreted or ] over time (only misinterpreted according to some<ref>"If…they mean that the Qur’an confirms the textual veracity of the scriptural books which they now possess—that is, the Torah and the Gospels—this is something which some Muslims will grant them and which many Muslims will dispute. However, most Muslims will grant them most of that." (quote from Ibn Taymiyya), see Accad (2003)</ref>).<ref>Accad (2003)</ref><ref name="EspositoI">Esposito (1998), p.12; (1999) p.25; (2002) pp.4-5</ref><ref name="EoI-Muhammad">"Muhammad", ''Encyclopedia of Islam Online''</ref><ref name="Peters">Peters (2003), p.9</ref><ref>"Qur'an and Polemics", ''Encyclopedia of the Qur'an'' (2005)</ref> | |||
| ==Etymology== | |||
| ] | |||
| The ] etymologically means "the praised one" in Arabic.<ref>{{cite web|author=Dan McCormack|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|publisher=Douglas Harper|accessdate=August 14|accessyear=2006|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Muhammad}}</ref> | |||
| Within Islam, Muhammad is known as ] (Prophet) and ] (Messenger). Although the Qur'an sometimes declines to make a distinction among prophets, in verse {{Quran-usc|33|40}} it singles out Muhammad as the "]" ({{Quran-usc|33|40}}).<ref name="Ernst">Ernst (2004), p.80</ref> The Qur'an also refers to Muhammad as "Ahmad" ({{Quran-usc|61|6}}) (Arabic :أحمد), Arabic for "more praiseworthy". | |||
| ==Overview== | |||
| Born to ], Muhammad initially adopted the occupation of a merchant. The Islamic sources say that he was a charismatic person known for his integrity.<ref>Ernst (2004), p.85</ref> who in his youth was called by the nickname "Al-Amin" (Arabic: الامين ), a common Arab name meaning "faithful, trustworthy," and was sought out as an impartial arbitrator.<ref name="EoI-Muhammad"/><ref name="EncWorldHistory"/> During the month of ], Muhammad would retreat to a cave located at the summit of Mount Hira, just outside Mecca in the Arabian Hijaz, where he fasted and prayed. According to Islamic belief, when Muhammad was about forty (610 CE), ] visited him in the cave and commanded him to recite verses sent by God. These revelations continued until his death twenty-three years later. The collection of these verses is known as the ]. | |||
| He expanded his mission as a ], publicly preaching ], preaching against the social evils of his day, and warning of a ] when all humans shall be held responsible for their deeds.<ref name="EncWorldHistory"/> He did not wholly reject ] and ], two other monotheistic faiths known to the ]s, but said that he had been sent by God in order to complete and perfect them.{{fact}} | |||
| After initially ignoring Muhammad's preaching, the elites in Mecca, commercially threatened by the growing popularity of his message, persecuted Muhammad and his followers. This continued, and intensified, over more than a decade. The hardships reached a new level for Muhammad after the deaths of his wife Khadija and his uncle Abu Talib, an important political protector of Muhammad. Eventually, in ], he was forced to move out of Mecca in a journey known to Muslims as the ] (the Migration).<ref name="EncWorldHistory"/> He settled in the area of ''Yathrib'' (now known as ]) with his followers, where he was the leader of the first Muslim community. | |||
| Eight years of war between Muhammad and Meccan forces followed, ending with the Muslim victory and conquest of Mecca. The Muslims subsequently removed everything they considered ] from the ]. Most of the townspeople accepted Islam. In March 632, Muhammad led the pilgrimage known as the ]. On returning to Medina he fell ill and died after a few days, on June 8. | |||
| Under the ] who assumed authority after his death, the Islamic empire expanded into ], ], ], ], ], ], southern ], and ]. Later conquests, commercial contact between Muslims and non-Muslims, and missionary activity spread Islam over much of the ], including ] and ]. | |||
| ==Sources for Muhammad's life== | |||
| {{main|Historiography of early Islam}} | |||
| The dates often given for Muhammad's life are 570-632 AD/CE. The earliest ''surviving'' biography of Muhammad is a collection of ] called the ] or, the ''Life of the Apostle of God'', by ], a member of the ] generation who was born 85 years after ] — approximately ] — and who died in ]. | |||
| Other sources for biographies of Muhammad are: | |||
| *the Ibn Hisham's Prophetic ] (Arabic: السيرة النبوية), which is a detailed trace of the Prophet's lineage and life | |||
| *the military chronicles of ] (745-822) | |||
| *the biographies of ] (783-845), a student of Waqidi | |||
| *later histories | |||
| *Qur'anic commentaries | |||
| *collections of Prophetic hadith | |||
| These texts were recorded more than a century, and often several centuries, after the death of Muhammad. The Qur'an is generally considered by academic scholars to record the words spoken by Muhammad.<ref>F. E. Peters, ''The Quest for Historical Muhammad'', International Journal of Middle East Studies (1991) p.291-315</ref> The Qur'an (a word that literally translates as "Recitation") was also maintained by the "]", people who memorised the entire document and recited it. | |||
| ==Modern Western Academic view of Muhammad== | |||
| {{POV-section}} | |||
| {{main|Non-Islamic view of Muhammad's historicity}} | |||
| ] script]] | |||
| From a scholarly point of view, the most credible source providing information on events in Muhammad's life is the Qur'an, even though its chronological interpretation is complex, and even though it contains very little in the way of coherent biography.{{fact}} Next in importance are the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him (the ] and ] literature), which provide further information on Muhammad's life.<ref>Reeves (2003), p.6-7</ref> All, or most, of the Qur'an was apparently written down by Muhammad's secretaries while he was alive, but it was, then as now, primarily an orally related document, and the written compilation of the whole Qur'an in its definite form as we have it now was completed early after the death of Muhammad.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), p.32</ref> The earliest surviving written ] (Biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) dates to 150 years after Muhammad, the compilation and (critical) analysis of which took place even later.<ref>Lewis (2002), p. 33-34</ref> | |||
| Modern historians agree that Muhammad lived during the ] and adopted various monotheistic traditions in an effort to replace the common polytheistic religions of the ], eventually gaining wide acceptance as a prophet.{{fact}} | |||
| ==Life based on Islamic traditions== | |||
| {{islam}} | |||
| Most Muslims, and Western academics who trust ], accept a much more detailed version of Muhammad's life. | |||
| ===Before Medina=== | |||
| {{main|Muhammad before Medina}} | |||
| ====Genealogy==== | |||
| {{main|Family tree of Muhammad}} | |||
| Muhammad traced his ] as follows: | |||
| Muhammad was born into the ] tribe. He is the son of ], who is son of ] (Shaiba) son of ] (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 (]) son of Malik ibn an-Nadr (Qais) the son of Kinana son of Khuzaimah son of Mudrikah (Amir) son of Ilyas son of ] son of Nizar son of Ma'ad ibn ], whom the northern ]s believed to be their common ancestor. Adnan in turn is said to have been a descendant of ], son of ]. (''ibn'' means "son of" in Arabic; alternate names of people with two names are given in parentheses.)<ref> by Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri </ref> | |||
| He was also called ''Abu-Qaasim'' (meaning "father of Qaasim") by some, after his short-lived first son. | |||
| ====Childhood==== | |||
| Muhammad was born into an affluent family settled in the northern Arabian town of ]. Tradition places it in the ], commonly identified with ]. Some{{fact}} calculate his birthday as ] of that year, while ] believe it to have been ] ]. Other sources calculate the year of his birth to have been ]. Muhammad's father, ], had died almost six months before he was born and the young boy was brought up by his paternal grandfather ], of the ] ] of the ] ]. At the age of six, Muhammad lost his mother ] and became fully orphaned. "Many years later, when he was exiled by his Meccan opponents, on his first pilgrimage from Medina to Mecca, he stopped at his mother's grave and cried bitterly, bringing tears to the eyes of his companions."<ref>Reeves (2003), p.11</ref> 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 ], the new leader of the ] clan of the Quraish tribe, the most powerful in Mecca. | |||
| Mecca was a thriving commercial center, due in great part to a shrine (now called the ]) that housed statues of many Arabian gods. 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 ]. He thus became well-travelled and knowledgeable about foreign ways. | |||
| ====Middle years==== | |||
| Muhammad became a merchant. He "was involved in trade between the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean Sea."<ref name="BerkWorldHistory">''Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History'' (2005), v.3, p.1025 </ref> He gained a reputation for reliability and honesty that attracted a proposal from ]h, a forty-year-old widow in ].<ref name="BerkWorldHistory"/> Muhammad consented to the marriage, which by all accounts was a happy one. | |||
| ] records that Khadijah bore Muhammad six 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 reported receiving his first ]. His son ] died at the age of two. The four daughters are said to be ], ], ], and ]. | |||
| The ] 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 Beginnings of the Qur'an==== | |||
| ] | |||
| Muhammad often retreated to ] near Mecca. Islamic tradition holds that the angel ] began communicating with him here in the year ] and commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses:<ref>Brown (2003), pp.72-73</ref> | |||
| :<blockquote>''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.''<ref>{{Quran-usc|96|1}}-{{Quran-usc|96|5}}</ref></blockquote> | |||
| Upon receiving the first revelation he was scared, and when he returned home he related the event to his wife ]. He was consoled and reassured by Khadijah and her Christian cousin, ]. Waraqah was immediately enthusiastic, but Khadijah proceeded more cautiously, and was only satisfied that the revelations had indeed come from a good source after the conclusion of a test she had devised to determine that very thing. This was followed by a pause of three years during which Muhammad had gave himself up further to prayers and spiritual practices. When the revelations resumed he was reassured and commanded to begin preaching.<ref>Brown (2003), pp.73-74</ref><ref>{{Quran-usc|93|1}}-{{Quran-usc|93|11}}</ref> | |||
| According to Welch, the revelations were accompanied by mysterious seizures.<ref name="EoI-Muhammad"/> Muhammad was confident that he could distinguish his own thoughts from these messages.<ref name="Cambridge31"/> | |||
| ====Rejection==== | |||
| His wife Khadijah and Waraqah, were the first to believe that Muhammad was a prophet. They were soon followed by Muhammad's ten-year-old cousin ], close friend ] and adopted son ] (later known as Zaid bin Haarith.) | |||
| Around ], Muhammad began to preach amongst Meccans most of whom ignored it and a few mocked him, while some others became his followers. There were three main groups of early converts to Islam: younger brothers and sons of great merchants; people who had fallen out of the first rank in their tribe or failed to attain it; and the weak, mostly unprotected foreigners.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), p.36</ref> | |||
| As the ranks of Muhammad's followers swelled, he became a threat to the local tribes and the rulers of the city, whose wealth rested upon the Kaaba, the focal point of Meccan religious life, which Muhammad threatened to overthrow. Muhammad’s denunciation of the Meccan traditional religion was especially offensive to his own tribe, the ], as they were the guardians of the Ka'aba. The great merchants tried to come to some arrangements with Muhammad in exchange for abandoning his preaching. They offered him admission into the inner circle of merchants and establishing his position in the circle by an advantageous marriage. <ref>''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), p.36</ref> Muhammad and his followers were thus persecuted. Some of them fled to the ] ] and founded a small colony there under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian ]. (See ]). | |||
| Several '']'' and parts of ''suras'' are said to date from this time, and reflect its circumstances: see for example '']'', '']'', parts of '']'' and '']'', '']'', and '']''. | |||
| In 619, the "year of sorrows", both Muhammad's wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib died. The relationship between Muhammad's group of followers and Muhammad's own Quraysh clan, which were already bad, worsened still further.<ref>Hourani (2003), p.17</ref> The controversial ] incident, if it happened, happened at this time. <ref> Some early Islamic ] that as Muhammad was reciting Sūra Al-Najm (Q.53), as revealed to him by the angel Gabriel, Satan tempted him to utter the following lines after verses 19 and 20 :"Have you thought of Allāt and al-'Uzzā and Manāt the third, the other; These are the exalted Gharaniq, whose intercession is hoped for. (Allāt, al-'Uzzā and Manāt were three goddesses worshiped by the Meccans). These histories then say that these 'Satanic Verses' were shortly afterward repudiated by Muhammad at the behest of the angel ]. cf Ibn Ishaq, A. Guillaume p.166. Academic scholars such as ] and ] argued for its authenticity while scholars such as ] and ] rejected the tradition. </ref> | |||
| ====Isra and Miraj==== | |||
| {{Main|Isra and Mi'raj}} | |||
| ] painting celebrating Muhammad's ascent into the Heavens, a journey known as the ]. Muhammad's face is veiled, a common practice in Islamic art.]] | |||
| Some time in ], Muhammad told his followers that he had experienced the '']'', a miraculous journey said to have been accomplished in one night along with ]. In the first part of the journey, the ''Isra'', he is said to have travelled from ] to "the farthest mosque" (in Arabic: ''masjid al-aqsa''), which Muslims usually identify with the ] in ]. In the second part, the ''Miraj'', Muhammad is said to have toured ] and ], and spoken with earlier prophets, such as ], ], and ]. ], author of first ] of Muhammad, presents this event as a spiritual experience while later historians like ] and ] present it as a physical journey.<ref>''Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World'' (2003), p.482</ref>{{dubious}} Those Muslims subscribing to the latter view consider the place under the ] the site from which Muhammad ascended to heaven. | |||
| <!-- BEGIN TIMELINE --> | |||
| {| align="right" width="30%" style="border:1px solid #ddd; margin:0 0 1em 1em; padding:0 0 1em 1em; vertical-align:right;" | |||
| !colspan="2" align="center"|<big>Timeline of Muhammad</big> | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="2" align="center"|<small>Important dates and locations in the life of Muhammad | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Death of his father, `Abd Allah | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Possible date of birth, ]: ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Legendary unsuccessful ] attack on Mecca | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Death of Mother | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Death of Grandfather | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Takes trading journeys to ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Meets and marries ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |First reports of ]: Mecca | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Appears as ]: Mecca | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Begins spreading message of Islam publicly: Mecca | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Begins to gather following: Mecca | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Emigration of Muslims to ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |] clan boycott begins | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Medinan Civil War: ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Banu Hashim clan boycott ends | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |The year of sorrows: ] and ] die | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Emigrates to ] (]) | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |] Muslims defeat Meccans | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Expulsion of ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |] Meccans battle Muslims | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Expulsion of ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Attack on Dumat al-Jandal: Syria | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| ||Destruction of ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Bani Kalb subjugation: ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Gains access to Mecca shrine ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Conquest of the ] oasis | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |First ] pilgrimage | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Attack on ] fails: ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Attacks and bloodlessly captures Mecca | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Establishes ]: ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Rules most of the Arabian peninsula | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|''c''. ] | |||
| |Attacks the ]: ] | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Farewell ] pilgrimage | |||
| |- | |||
| |align="right">|] | |||
| |Death (]): Medina | |||
| |} | |||
| <!-- END TIMELINE --> | |||
| ====Hijra to Ethiopia==== | |||
| {{main|Migration to Abyssinia}} | |||
| In ] AD/CE, a band of Muslims were counseled by the Prophet Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca and travel to ], which was ruled by a Christian king. (see ]) In that year, his followers were fleeing from Mecca's leading tribe, the Quraish, who sent emissaries to bring them back to Arabia, but the King of Ethiopia protected Muhammad's followers. Since then, Muhammad himself instructed his followers who came to Ethiopia, to respect and protect Ethiopia as well as live in peace with Ethiopian Christians. Accordingly, some scholars state that Ethiopia was the country that saved Islam from its near destruction and termination. | |||
| ===Muhammad in Medina=== | |||
| ====Hijra to Medina==== | |||
| {{main|Migration to Medina}} | |||
| {{main|Muhammad in Medina}} | |||
| By 622, life in the small Muslim community of Mecca was becoming not only difficult, but dangerous. Muslim traditions say that there were several {{fact}} attempts to assassinate Muhammad. Muhammad then emigrated to ], then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural ] 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 ], a revolutionary idea in the tribal society of Arabia. This '']'' or emigration (traditionally translated into English as "flight") marks the beginning of the ]. 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 ] and ]. 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, divided into three major clans: Banu Qainuqa, Banu Qurayza and Banu Nadir, and some minor groups.<ref name="Cambridge39">''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), p. 39</ref> | |||
| There was fighting in Yathrib for around a hundred years before 620. The Jewish tribes allied with other clans and were sometimes on opposing sides.<ref name="Cambridge39"/> The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the great battle of Bu'ath in which all the clans were involved, made it obvious to them that the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and ] were no longer workable unless "there was one man with authority to adjudicate in disputed cases."<ref name="Cambridge39"/> A delegation from Medina, consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad as a neutral outsider to Medina to serve as the chief arbitrator for the entire community.<ref name="Cambridge39"/><ref name="Esp"/> Among the things Muhammad did in order to settle down the longstanding grievances among the tribes of Medina was drafting a document known as the ] (date debated), "establishing a kind of alliance or federation" among the eight Medinan tribes and Muslim emigrants from Mecca, which specified the rights and duties of all citizens and the relationship of the different communities in Medina (including that of the Muslim community to other communities specifically the ]s and other "]").<ref name="Cambridge39"/><ref name="Esp"/> | |||
| Some academic historians attribute the change of ], the Muslim direction of prayer, from the site of the former ] to the ] 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 ] 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.{{fact}} This change happened once the idols in Kaaba were removed and destroyed.{{fact}} | |||
| ====Beginnings of conflict==== | |||
| Relations between ] and ] rapidly worsened (see ''surat'' '']''). Meccans confiscated all the property that the Muslims had left in Mecca.{{fact}} In Medina, Muhammad signed treaties of alliance and mutual help with neighboring tribes. | |||
| In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a ] on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Meccans successfully defended the caravan, but then decided to teach the Muslims a lesson and marched against Medina. It should be noted that ]s question narratives regarding looting the caravan on the basis of the Qur'anic version of the account.<ref>They argue that these narratives contradict the ]ic version of the account, asserting that the caravan was one of the two targets which "weak believers" wanted to attack ({{quran-usc-range|8|5|8}}), but that the Muslims actually fought against Meccan army, as looting a defenceless caravan wouldn't require preparations which the Qur'an talks about ({{quran-usc|8|43}}). ''See, e.g.,'' Tariq Hashmi. '''', ]; ]. '']'', Ist Ed., (Lahore: Faraan Foundation 2003), pp. 427-40; ]. ''Siratu al-Nabi,'' Ist Ed. vol. 2, (Lahore: Qazi Publishers 1981) pp. 49-52; ], ''Hayaat-e Rasul-e Ummi,'' 1st ed. (Lahore: Dar al-Tazkeer 2003), pp.319-25</ref>{{lopsided}} On ], ] near a place called ], the Meccans and the Muslims clashed. Though outnumbered more than three times (one thousand to three hundred - majority of Muslim historians put the exact total at 313) in the battle, the Muslims met with success, killing at least forty-five Meccans and taking seventy prisoners for ransom; only fourteen Muslims died.<ref>Glubb (2002), pp.179-186.</ref> This marked the real beginning of Muslim military achievement. | |||
| To his followers, the ] appeared to be divine authentication of Muhammad's prophethood. Muhammad and his followers were now a dominant force in the oasis of Yathrib (Medina). | |||
| After Khadija's death, Muhammad married ], the daughter of his friend ] (who would later emerge as the first leader of the Muslims after Muhammad's death). In Medina, he married ], daughter of ] (who would eventually become Abu Bakr's successor). | |||
| Muhammad's daughter ] married ], Muhammad's cousin. According to the Sunni, another daughter, Umm Kulthum, married ]. Each of these men, in later years, would emerge as successors to Muhammad and political leaders of the Muslims. Thus, all four ] were linked to Muhammad by marriage. Sunni Muslims regard these caliphs as the '']'', or ''Rightly Guided''. (See ] for more information on the controversy on the succession to the caliphate). | |||
| ====The conflict with Mecca==== | |||
| In ] the ]n leader ] marched on ] with three thousand men. Urged on by younger Muslims fired up by the victory at Badr and against the advice of ] to last out the attack inside the town, Muhammad led his force outside and fought the ] on ], that ended in a Muslim defeat (According to Watt however it was not a Muslim defeat from a military standpoint. The Meccans, thinking themselves of having Arabia under their control, had aimed to destroy Muslims completely. But they completely failed to achieve this aim. They killed 75 Muslims for the loss of 77 of their own in Badr. <ref> Watt (1974) p.140 </ref>) However, the Meccan did not occupy the town and withdrew to Mecca because he could not attack on Muhammad's position again for military loss, low morale and possibility of Muslim resistance in the town. There was also hope that Abd-Allah ibn Ubayy leading a group of Muslims in Medina could be win over by diplomacy. <ref> Watt (1974) p.141</ref> In April ], Abu Sufyan led another strong force against Medina, but couldn't overcome the defenders in the ]. | |||
| 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.{{fact}} | |||
| ==== Muhammad and the Jewish tribes of Medina ==== | |||
| {{totally-disputed-section}} | |||
| {{main|Muhammad and the Jews}} | |||
| In the course of Muhammad's proselytizing in Mecca, he viewed Christians and Jews (whom he referred to as "]") as natural allies who shared the core principles of his teachings, and he anticipated their acceptance and support.<ref name="Esp">Esposito (1998), p. 17</ref><ref name= "ER">"Muhammad", ''Encyclopedia of Religion'' (2005)</ref>{{lopsided}} | |||
| Many Medinans converted to the faith of the Meccan immigrants, but the Jewish tribes did not. Much to Muhammad's disappointment, they rejected his claim to be prophet.<ref name="Esp"/> Their opposition "may well have been for political as well as religious reasons".<ref>Endress (2003), p.29</ref>On religious grounds, the Jews were skeptical of the possibility of a non-Jewish prophet,<ref name="Cambridge4344">''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), pp.43-44</ref> and also had concerns about possible incompatibilities between the Qur'an and their own scriptures.<ref name="Cambridge4344"/><ref name="Cohen">Cohen (1995), p.23</ref> The Qur'an's response regarding the possibility of a non-Jew being a prophet was that Abraham was not a Jew. The Qur'an also claimed that it was "restoring the pure monotheism of Abraham which had been corrupted in various, clearly specified, ways by Jews and Christians".<ref name="Cambridge4344"/> | |||
| After each major battle with the Medinans, Muhammad attacked one of the Jewish tribes (see {{Quran-usc|2|100}}). After Badr and Uhud, the Banu Qainuqa and Banu Nadir, respectively, were expelled "with their families and possessions" from Medina. After the ] in 627, the Muslims accused the Jews of ] of conspiring with the Meccans, then wiped them out.<ref>Esposito (1998), pp.10-11</ref> | |||
| Watt states that the Qurayza did not commit any hostile act,<ref name="WattEnc">"Banu Qurayza", ''Encyclopedia of Islam Online''</ref> and that they were probably negotiating with Mecca.<ref name="WattEnc"/> After the Qurayza had succumbed to a siege, several members of the Aws interceded on behalf of their old allies. Muhammed agreed to appoint on of their chiefs as a judge, who decided that the Qurayza men should be beheaded, the women and children enslaved, and their properties confiscated. The Muslims exacted this punishment.<ref>Watt (1961), pp.173-174</ref> However, there is a scholar who challenges this view of events, citing concerns about the reliability of certain early historical sources.<ref name="900Jews">Arafat (1976)</ref> | |||
| ====The truce of Hudaybiyya==== | |||
| {{main|Treaty of Hudaybiyya}} | |||
| Although Muhammad had already delivered verses ({{Quran-usc|2|196}}-{{Quran-usc|2|210}}) about the performing of ], Muhammad and Muslims did not perform it due to the enmity of the Quraish. It was the month of ] 6 A.H. when Muhammad saw in a vision that he was shaving his head after the ].<ref>Khan (1998), p.242</ref><ref>Lings (1987), p.249</ref> Muhammad therefore decided to perform the ] in the following month. Hence around the 13th of March, 628 with 1400 Companions he went towards Mecca without the least intention of giving battle.<ref name=Khan_243>Khan (1998), p.243</ref> But the ] were determined to offer resistance to Muslims and they posted themselves outside Mecca, closing all access to the city.<ref name=Khan_243/> In order to settle the dispute peacefully, Muhammad halted at a place called ]. Hence after series of talks a treaty was signed. The main points of treaty were the following: | |||
| # The two parties and their allies should desist from hostilities against each other<ref name=treaty_terms>Lings (1987), p.253</ref><ref>Haykal (1995), p.353</ref> | |||
| # Muhammad, should not perform Hajj this year<ref name=treaty_terms/><ref name=treaty_terms_khan>Khan (1998), p.245</ref> | |||
| # They may come next year to perform Hajj (unarmed) but shall not stay in Mecca for more than three days<ref name=treaty_terms/><ref name=treaty_terms_khan/> | |||
| # Any Muslim living in Mecca cannot settle in Medina, but Medinan Muslims may come and join Meccans (and will not be returned).<ref>Khan (1998), p.246</ref> | |||
| Many Muslims were not satisfied with the terms of the treaty. However, the Qur'anic sura "Al-Fath" (The Victory) {{Quran-usc|48|1}}-{{Quran-usc|48|29}} assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one.<ref>Lings (1987), p.255</ref><ref>Khan (1998), p.247</ref> The Muslims did benefit following the treaty; the men of Mecca and Medina could now meet in peace and discuss Islam. Hence, during the following two years the community of Islam more than doubled.<ref>Lings (1987), p.259</ref><ref>Khan (1998), p.248</ref><ref>Haykal (1995), p.356</ref> | |||
| ==== Muhammad's letters to the Heads of State ==== | |||
| According to Muslim tradition, after the signing of the truce, Muhammad sent letters to many rulers of the world, asking them to convert to Islam.<ref name=King_Lings>Lings (1987), p. 260</ref><ref name=Kings_Khan>Khan (1998), pp.250-251</ref><ref>Haykal (1995), p. 360</ref> Hence he sent messengers (with letters) to ] of the ] (the eastern Roman Empire), ] of ], the chief of ] and to some others.<ref name=King_Lings/><ref name=Kings_Khan/> | |||
| ===Conquest of Mecca=== | |||
| {{Main|Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca}} | |||
| ] in ] held a major economic and religious role for the area, it became the Muslim ], or direction for ]]] | |||
| {{main|Conquest of Mecca}} | |||
| The ] had been in force for two years.<ref name=khan_274>Khan (1998), p.274</ref><ref>Lings (1987), p.291</ref> The tribe of ''Khuz'aah'' had a friendly relationship with Muhammad, while on the other hand their enemies, the ''Banu Bakr,'' had an alliance with the Meccans.<ref name=khan_274/><ref name=Lings_291>Lings (1987), p.291</ref> A clan of the Bakr made a night raid against the ''Khuz'aah'', killing a few of them.<ref name=khan_274/><ref name=Lings_291/> The Meccans helped their allies (i.e., the Banu Bakr) with weapons and, according to some sources, a few Meccans also took part in the fighting.<ref name=khan_274/> After this event, Muhammad sent a message to Mecca with three conditions, asking them to accept one of them. These were the following<ref name=khan_274_275>Khan (1998), pp.274-275</ref> | |||
| # The Meccans were to pay blood-money for those slain among the Khuza'ah tribe, or | |||
| # They should have nothing to do with the Banu Bakr, or | |||
| # They should declare the truce of Hudaybiyya null. | |||
| The Meccans replied that they would accept only the third condition.<ref name=khan_274_275/> However, soon they realized their mistake and sent Abu Safyan to renew the Hudaybiyya treaty, but now his request was declined by Muhammad. | |||
| Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign.<ref>Lings (1987), p.292</ref> | |||
| In 630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. Most Meccans converted to Islam, and Muhammad subsequently destroyed all of the statues of Arabian gods in and around the ], without any exception. Henceforth the pilgrimage would be a Muslim pilgrimage and the shrine was converted to a Muslim shrine. | |||
| ====Unification of Arabia==== | |||
| The capitulation of Mecca and the defeat of an alliance of enemy tribes at ] 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. | |||
| ====Death==== | |||
| ] is Islam's second most sacred site; the Green dome in the background stands above ]]] | |||
| In ] Muhammad fell ill and suffered for several days with head pain and weakness. He succumbed on Monday, ], ], in the city of Medina, at the age of sixty-three. He is buried in the ](his house) adjacent to ] in ]. | |||
| ===Muhammad as a military leader=== | |||
| {{main| Muhammad as a general}} | |||
| 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. | |||
| {{sect-stub}} | |||
| ===Family life=== | |||
| {{main|Muhammad's marriages}} | |||
| Muhammad's life is traditionally defined into two epochs: ], a city in northern Arabia, from the year ] to ] , and ], from ] until his death in ]. All but two of his marriages were contracted after the ]. | |||
| He married 11 or 13 women depending upon the differing accounts of who his wives were. At the age of 25, Muhammad married ] which lasted for 25 years.<ref name="Esp2">Esposito (1998), p.18</ref> This marriage is described as "long" and "happy," and he relied upon Khadija in many ways.<ref>Bullough (1998), p.119</ref><ref name="Reeves46">Reeves (2003), p.46</ref> After her death, friends of Muhammad advised him to marry again, but he was reluctant to do so.<ref name="Reeves46"/><ref>Bullough (1998), p.119</ref> It was suggested to Muhammad by Khawla bint Hakim, that he should marry ], a Muslim widow, or ]. Muhammad is said to have asked her to arrange for him to marry both. Later, Muhammad married additional wives, to make for a total of eleven, of whom nine or ten survived him. Scholars such as Esposito and Watt hold that most of the marriages had political or social motives.<ref name="EoI_Aisha">"Aisha", ''Encyclopedia of Islam Online'': Watt writes: "Muhammad had a political aim in nearly all his marriages"; for example his marriage to Aisha, "must have seen in this one a means of strengthening the ties between himself and Abu Bakr, his chief follower."</ref><ref>Esposito (1998), p.16</ref> | |||
| The status of several of Muhammad's wives is disputed by scholars. ] may have been a slave, a freed slave, or a wife.{{fact}} While there is some debate about the age of Aisha (Ayesha), most references, including the Bukhari Hadith, put the marriage age at 5 or 6 and consummation of the marriage at the age of 9. The debate is the source of considerable controversy.{{fact}} | |||
| Muhammad had children by only two wives. Khadijah is said to have borne him four daughters and a son; only one daughter, ], survived her father. Shi'a Muslims dispute the number of Muhammad's children, stating that he had only one daughter, and that the other "daughters" were step-daughters. Maria al-Qibtiyya bore him a son, but the child died when he was ten months old. | |||
| There is some dispute between ] scholars regarding the ] on whether they were born to Khadijah from her marriage to Muhammad, an earlier marriage, or if they were in fact the daughters of a widowed and dead sister of Khadija. ]'s believe he had four daughters with Khadîjah. Shi'a accept Fatimah to be Muhammad's only surviving child,{{fact}} while some Sunni question that.{{fact}} | |||
| There is also a difference of opinion regarding whether he had two or four sons. The conflict arises from some reports on the sons of Khadijah mentioning two sons called Tahir and Tayyab,{{fact}} and another mentioning one called Abdullah who was also called Tahir and possibly also called Tayyab.{{fact}} Ibrâhîm was the only child borne to him by Maria during his residence in Medina and the last to be born. Abdullâh was born after he declared himself a prophet but died during his residence in Mecca. All his other sons died before his claims of prophecy. | |||
| Children of Khadijah: | |||
| Sons: | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| Daughters: | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| Children of Maria: | |||
| *] | |||
| ==== Muhammad as a husband and role model==== | |||
| As Muhammad is viewed by Muslims as a role model, his treatment of women and others is of special importance. Muhammad's treatment of women is viewed as surprisingly progressive for the time period in which he lived. Indeed, the Quran is credited with advancing women's rights in a way that was revolutionary for the seventh century world of Muhammad.<ref>Schimmel (1992), p.65</ref><ref>Esposito (2004), p.339</ref> | |||
| A number of Muhammad's contemporaries were "shocked by the way he allowed his wives to stand up to him and answer him back. Muhammad regularly helped with household chores, mended his own clothes, prepared his food and took his wives’ advice seriously. On one occasion Umm Salamah helped him to prevent a mutiny."<ref name= "ER">"Muhammd", ''Encyclopedia of Religion'' (2005)</ref> | |||
| ===Companions=== | |||
| {{main|Sahaba|Salaf}} | |||
| The term Sahaba (''companion'') refers to anyone who meets three criteria: to be a contemporary of Muhammad, to have heard Muhammad speak on at least one occasion, and to be a convert to Islam. Companions are considered the ultimate sources for the oral traditions, or '']'', on which much of Muslim law and practice are based. The following are a few examples in alphabetic order: | |||
| {{col-begin}} | |||
| {{col-break}} | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| {{col-break}} | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| {{col-break}} | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| {{col-end}} | |||
| == Muhammad the reformer == | |||
| {{POV-section}} | |||
| {{OR-section}} | |||
| {{seealso|Muhammad the Reformer}} | |||
| {{main|Reforms under Islam (610-661)}} | |||
| ] 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.<ref name="LewisNYRB">{{cite news | last=Lewis | first=Bernard | title=Islamic Revolution |date=January 21, 1998 | publisher=The New York Review of Books | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/4557}}</ref> To Watt, Muhammad was a moral and social reformer.<ref>Watt (1974), p.234</ref> | |||
| Historians generally agree that Islamic social reforms in areas such as social security, family structure, and the rights of women improved on what was present in existing Arab society.<ref name="LewisNYRB"/><ref>Watt (1974), p.234</ref><ref>Robinson (2004) p.21</ref><ref>Esposito (1998), p. 98</ref><ref>"Ak̲h̲lāḳ", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam Online''</ref> According to Lewis, Islam "from the first denounced aristocratic privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents",<ref name="LewisNYRB"/> and Esposito says that Qur'anic prescriptions regarding the rights of women granted them a status not present in pre-Islamic Arabia.<ref>Esposito (1998), p. 98</ref> Walzer writes that Muhammad brought about a radical change in tribal morality with the establishment of new virtues derived from "the sanctions of the new religion".<ref>"Ak̲h̲lāḳ", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam Online''</ref> | |||
| Lewis states that the Qur'an urges kindness toward slaves and recommends manumission (while continuing to recognize the institution of slavery). "The humanitarian tendency in the Qur'an" was somewhat counteracted by other influences over time, but "Islamic practice still represented a vast improvement on that inherited from antiquity, from Rome, and from Byzantium".<ref>Lewis (1992), pp.5-7</ref> | |||
| Economic reforms addressed the plight of the poor, which was becoming an issue in pre-Islamic Mecca.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), p.34</ref> The Qur'an requires payment of an alms tax (]) for the benefit of the poor,<ref>Esposito (1998), p.30</ref> and as Muhammad's position grew in power he demanded that those tribes who wanted to ally with him implement the zakat in particular.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), p.52</ref> | |||
| == Miracles in the Muslim Biographies == | |||
| {{main|Islamic view of miracles}} | |||
| ], built atop the ] in Jerusalem, marks the spot from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to Paradise.]] | |||
| The pre-modern Muslim biographies of Muhammad envisions Muhammad as a cosmic figure, invested with superhuman qualities. Modern Muslim biographies of Muhammad however portray him as a progressive social reformer, a political leader and a model of human virtue. The view of these modern biographies is that Muhammad's real miracle, as Daniel Brown states modern historians would probably agree, 'was not a moon split or a sighing palm tree, but the transformation of the Arabs from marauding bands of nomads into world conquerors.'<ref name="Brown">Brown (1999), p.65</ref> | |||
| ] believes that this main shift in the treatment of Muhammad has been a response to the stridently negative depictions of Muhammad created by European authors.<ref>Ernst (2004), p.84</ref> Daniel Brown adds two more reasons: First, Muslims in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were faced with social and political turmoil. The desire for the restoration of the Muslim community encouraged them to view Muhammad as a model for social and political reform. And lastly, 'the ongoing challenge of reforming or reviving Islamic law perpetuated concern for the life of Muhammad as a normative model for human behavior.'<ref name="Brown">Brown (1999), p.65</ref> Ernst states that this main shift reflects the growth of bourgeois scientific rationalism in Muslim countries.<ref name="Ernst"/> | |||
| {{sect-stub}} | |||
| ==Criticism of Muhammad== | |||
| {{Main|Criticism of Muhammad}} | |||
| ], like many other 19th century scholars, divides the life of Muhammad into Meccan and Madinian periods,<ref>Reeves (2003) </ref> and argues that Muhammad acted in good faith in Mecca, but after relocating to and attaining political power in ] abused his position and manufactured purportedly divine revelations for his own self-aggrandizement and gratification.<ref>Muir (1878), p.583</ref> Other historians, such as Watt, and Schimmel, accept Muhammad's claims of revelations as sincere.<ref name="Cambridge31">''The Cambridge History of Islam'' (1977), p.31</ref><ref>Reeves (2003), p.6</ref><ref name="Cambridge31"/><ref>Schimmel (1995) p.51-2</ref>. | |||
| Critics have faulted Muhammad for his ownership of slaves<ref>Stark (2003), p.388</ref> and have criticized his treatment of enemies as being cruel.<ref>Warraq (1995), pp.99,320</ref> Defenders respond by highlighting instances of Muhammad freeing and befriending slaves,<ref>Crow (2005), p.143</ref> and by questioning the validity of stories that claim he treated his enemies unjustly.<ref name="900Jews"/> | |||
| Another topic of criticism revolves around ], especially with ] who, according to ], was six when Muhammad established a marriage contract with her father and nine when they started living together.<ref></ref><ref></ref><ref></ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Anthony Browne | title=Film-maker is murdered for his art |date=November 3, 2004 | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1342091,00.html | publisher=Times Online}}</ref> | |||
| ==Legacy== | |||
| ] writes:<ref>Esposito (2004), p.212</ref> | |||
| <blockquote> Muhammad served as administrator, legislator, judge, and commander-in-chief as well as teacher, preacher, and prayer leader of the Muslim community. For the scholars of Islamic law he is the legislator-jurist who defined ritual observance; for the mystic he is the ideal seeker of spiritual perfection; for the philosopher and statesman he is the role model of both a conqueror and a just ruler; for ordinary Muslims, he is a model of God's grace and salvation. </blockquote> | |||
| ===Historical impact=== | |||
| {{main|Muslim conquests|Muslim culture}} | |||
| After Muhammad, a rapid creation of an empire under the ]s established a new polity from the ] to the ]. Within a few decades after his death, ] had united all of Arabia under an ] which conquered the ] and ] empires. With a historically unprecedented swiftness, they conquered present-day ], ], ], ], ], ], and most of ]. Soon pressing on over the rest of Byzantine held North Africa, as well as most of the ], much of ], and ] (in present day ]). By 750, Islam was as fully established as the other two Abrahamic belief systems, Judaism and Christianity, and had become the world's greatest military power.{{fact}} As of 2006, Islam is estimated to be the religion of 1.3 billion people.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html | title=Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents | publisher=Adherents.com | accessdate=2007-01-09}}</ref> | |||
| ===Descendants=== | |||
| Muhammad was survived by his daughter ] and her children, see ]. Some say that his daughter ], mother to a daughter called Amma or Umama, survived him as well.{{fact}} | |||
| Descendants of Muhammad are known as ]s شريف (plural: ِأشراف Ashraaf) or ]. Many rulers and notables in Muslim countries, past and present have professed such descent, with various degrees of credibility, such as the ] dynasty of ], the ]s, the current royal families of ], Many Scholars of ] and ]. In various Muslim countries, there are societies of varying credibility that authenticate claims of descent.{{cn}} | |||
| In the Islamic prayer, Muslims end with the second tashahhud asking God to bless Muhammad and his descendants just as ] and his descendants were blessed. | |||
| ===Views on Muhammad=== | |||
| =====Seal of the Prophets===== | |||
| ] of faith, the ], illustrates the Muslim conception of the role of Muhammad - "There is No God (''ʾilāh'')<ref>] is also translated as Deity, and means God in the sense of where there can be more than one, in plural, like the Roman Gods, Allah, on the other hand, can be translated as ‘The God’, and can only mean God where there is one, alone</ref> but God(''Allāh''), and Muhammad is His Messenger." As shown on the ]]] | |||
| Muslims believe Muhammad to be the last in a line of prophets of ] (Arabic ]) and regard his mission as one of restoring the original ] faith of ], ] and other ] that had become ] by man over time.<ref name="EspositoI">Esposito (1998) p.12; (1999) p.25; (2002) pp.4-5</ref><ref name="EoI-Muhammad"/><ref name="Peters">Peters (2003), p.9</ref> The Qur'an specifically refers to Muhammad as the "]", which is taken by most Muslims to believe him to be the last and greatest of the prophets.<ref>For further information on the meaning of the term, See Friedmann, 'Finality of Prophethood'; G.G. Stroumsa, 'Seal of the prophets: The Nature of a Manichaen Metaphor', JSAI, 7 (1986), 61-74; C.Colpe, 'Das Siegel der Propheten', Orientalia Suecana, 33-5 (1984-6), 71-83, revised version in C.Colpe, Das Siegel der Propheten, (Berlin, 1990), 227-43</ref><ref name="Ernst"/> Scholars such as Welch however hold that this Muslim belief is most likely a later interpretation of the ].<ref name="EoI-Muhammad"/> ] considers this phrase to mean that Muhammad's "imprint on history is as final as a wax seal on a letter".<ref name="Ernst"/> ] states that the meaning of this term is not certain.<ref>Madelung (2004), p.17</ref> | |||
| =====More traditions===== | |||
| ] of Pre-Prophethood Muhammad re-dedicating the Black Stone at the Kaaba. From ], ] and can be found in ]s ] ("''The Universal History''" or "''Compendium of Chronicles''"), held in the ].]] | |||
| *Muslims tradition narrates miracles during his time growing up in the desert as an infant during the period when Muhammad was placed in the care of a ] wet nurse - ]. | |||
| *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 ] 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, Muslim tradition asserts that Muhammad was known to be trustworthy and honest. The other Meccans called him "Al-Amin", the trustworthy one or the honest one.<ref> </ref> After he proclaimed his prophethood, however, his neighbors turned against him. | |||
| =====Depictions of Muhammad===== | |||
| {{main|Depictions of Muhammad}} | |||
| {{Unreferenced|date=January 2007}} | |||
| Muslims differ as to whether or not visual depictions of Muhammad are permissible. The position of the four main Sunni Muslim Maddhabs is that, to prevent ] and ], visual depictions of Muhammad are forbidden; some non-maddhab groups, such as the ] movement, take a similar line. | |||
| The Shia and others have historically taken a much less restrictive view of such depictions, allowing them if they are meant to praise Muhammad, while a school of Sufi'ism uses calligraphy of the name of Muhammad, Ali, Hussein and other important people in ] to create images of the people. | |||
| =====Muslim veneration of Muhammad===== | |||
| {{see also|Muslim veneration for Muhammad|Praise of Muhammad in poetry|Depiction of Muhammad|Islamic music|Qawwali}} | |||
| ] in ]. Originally a ] church, it was converted into a ] after the ].]] | |||
| It is traditional for Muslims to illustrate and express love and veneration for Muhammad. This is observed in a number of different ways. When Muslims say or write Muhammad's name, they usually follow it with '']'' or its Arabic equivalent, ''sallalahu alayhi wasallam'', and for Shias this is extended to ''Peace be upon him and his descendants''. In English this is often abbreviated to ''"(])"'', ''"(saw)"'' and ''"pbuh&hd"'' for Shias, or even just simply as "p". | |||
| The Quran gave him the title '''Apostle of God''' (Arabic: '']-]'' or ''Rasulallah''), which has also been used by ], as well as the title "Prophet". Concerts of Muslim, and especially ], devotional music include songs praising Muhammad. There are religious songs ] which regularly praise Muhammad. | |||
| Conversely, ] is often equated with ], which is punishable by death in Pakistan.<ref>''See, e.g.,'' Pakistani Penal Code, Act III of 1986, s 295-C and 298-C.</ref> | |||
| ====Medieval Christian views of Muhammad==== | |||
| {{Main|Image of Muhammad in the West}} | |||
| While Muslim tradition has glorified and mythified Muhammad over centuries, Western tradition often has been critical towards him.<ref>Esposito (1998) p.14</ref> The medieval scholars and churchmen held that Islam was the work of Muhammad who in turn was inspired by ]. Theories emerged, for example in order to show that Muhammad was the ], it was asserted that Muhammad died not in the year 632 but in the year 666 - the number of the Beast. A verbal expression of Christian contempt for Islam was expressed in turning his name from Muhammad to Mahound, the "devil incarnate".<ref> Reeves (2003), p.3 </ref> ] states that "The development of the concept of Mahound started with considering Muhammad as a kind of demon or false god worshipped with Apollyon and Termangant in an unholy trinity. After the reformation, Muhammad was conceived as a cunning and self-seeking impostor." <ref>Lewis (2002) p.45</ref>. Such criticisms have become less common over the last two centuries.<ref> Watt (1974) p.231.</ref> | |||
| ====Other religious traditions in regard to Muhammad==== | |||
| * The ], who accept most but not all Qur'anic revelations, also consider him a prophet. | |||
| * ] venerate Muhammad as one of a number of prophets or "]", but consider his teachings to have been superseded by those of ]. | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| {{col-begin}} | |||
| {{col-break}} | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| {{col-break}} | |||
| * ] | |||
| :*'']'' (''aka'' The Message) | |||
| :*''] (documentary) | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| {{col-end}} | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;"> | |||
| <!--See ] for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags--> | |||
| <references/> | |||
| </div> | |||
| ==References== | |||
| *{{cite journal | last=Accad | first=Martin | authorlink=Martin Accad | title=The Gospels in the Muslim Discourse of the Ninth to the Fourteenth Centuries: An Exegetical Inventorial Table (Part I) | journal=Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations | volume=14 | issue=1 |date=2003}} | |||
| *{{cite journal | last=Arafat | first=W. N. | authorlink=W. N. Arafat | title=Did Prophet Muhammad ordered 900 Jews killed? | journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (JRAS) |date=1976 | pages=100-107}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Bloom | first=Jonathan | authorlink=Jonathan Bloom | coauthors=] | title=Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power | publisher=Yale University Press | year=2002 | id=ISBN 0-300-09422-1}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Brown | first=Daniel | authorlink=Daniel Brown | title=A New Introduction to Islam | publisher=Blackwell Publishing Professional | year=2003 | id=ISBN 978-0631216049}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Brown | first=Daniel | authorlink=Daniel Brown | title=Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1999 | id=ISBN 0-521-65394-0}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Bullough | first=Vern | authorlink=Vern L. Bullough | coauthors=Brenda Shelton, Sarah Slavin | title=The Subordinated Sex: A History of Attitudes Toward Women | publisher=University of Georgia Press | year=1998 | id=ISBN 978-0820323695}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Cohen | first=Mark R. | authorlink=Mark R. Cohen | title=Under Crescent and Cross | publisher=Princeton University Press | edition=Reissue edition | year=1995 | id=ISBN 978-0691010823}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Crow | first=Karim | authorlink=Karim D. Crow | title=Facing One Qiblah: Legal and Doctrinal Aspects of Sunny and Shi'ah Muslims | publisher=Ibex Publishers | year=2005 | id=ISBN 9971-77-552-2}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Endress | first=Gerhard | authorlink=Gerhard Endress | title=Islam | publisher=New Age Books | year=2003 | id=ISBN 978-8178221564}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Ernst | first=Carl | authorlink=Carl Ernst | year = 2004 | title = Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World | publisher = University of North Carolina Press | id = ISBN 0-8078-5577-4}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Esposito | first=John | authorlink=John Esposito | year=1998 | title=Islam: The Straight Path | publisher=Oxford University Press | id=ISBN 0-19-511233-4}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Esposito | first=John | authorlink=John Esposito | year=1999 | title=The Islamic Threat: Myth Or Reality? | publisher=Oxford University Press | id=ISBN 0-19-513076-6}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Esposito | first=John | authorlink=John Esposito | title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam | publisher=Oxford University Press, USA | year=2004 | id=ISBN 978-0195125597}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Esposito | first=John | authorlink=John Esposito | year=2002 | title=What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam | publisher=Oxford University Press | id=ISBN 0-19-515713-3}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Glubb | first=John Bagot | authorlink=John Bagot Glubb | title=The Life and Times of Muhammad | publisher=Hodder & Stoughton | year=1970 (reprint 2002) | id=ISBN 0-8154-1176-6}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Haykal | first=Muhammad Husayn | authorlink=Muhammad Husayn Haykal | title=The Life of Muhammad | publisher=Islamic Book Service | year=1995 | id=ISBN 1-57731-195-7}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Holt | first=P. M. | authorlink=P. M. Holt | coauthors=Ann K. S. Lambton, ] | title=The Cambridge History of Islam (Paperback) | year=1977 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | id=ISBN 978-0521291354}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Hourani | first=Albert | authorlink=Albert Hourani | coauthor=] | title=A History of the Arab Peoples | year=2003 | publisher=Belknap Press | edition=Revised edition | id=ISBN 978-0674010178}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Ishaq | first=Ibn | authorlink=Ibn Ishaq | coauthor=], ed. | title=The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2002 | id=ISBN 978-0196360331}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Khan | first=Majid Ali | authorlink=Majid Ali Khan | title=Muhammad The Final Messenger | publisher=Islamic Book Service, New Delhi, 110002 (India) | year=1998 | id=ISBN 81-85738-25-4}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Lewis | first=Bernard | authorlink=Bernard Lewis | year=2002 | title=The Arabs in History | publisher=Oxford University Press | id=ISBN 0-19-280310-7}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Lewis | first=Bernard | authorlink=Bernard Lewis | title=Race and Slavery in the Middle East: An History Enquiry | publisher=Oxford University Press, USA | edition=Reprint edition | year=1992 | id=ISBN 978-0195053265}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Lings | first=Martin | authorlink=Martin Lings | title=Muhammad: His Life Based on Earliest Sources | publisher=Inner Traditions International, Limited | year=1987 | id=ISBN 0-89281-170-6}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Madelung | first=William | authorlink=William Madelung | title=The Succession to Muhammad | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2004 | id=ISBN 978-0521561815}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Muir | first=William | authorlink=William Muir | title=Life of Mahomet | publisher=Kessinger Publishing | year=1878 | id=ISBN 0-7661-7741-6}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Neusner | first=Jacob | authorlink=Jacob Neusner | title=God's Rule: The Politics of World Religions | year=2003 | publisher=Georgetown University Press | id=ISBN 978-0878409105}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Peters | first=F. E. | authorlink=F. E. Peters | year=2003 | title=Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians| publisher=Princeton University Press | id=ISBN 0-691-11553-2}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Reeves | first=Minou | authorlink=Minou Reeves | title=Muhammad in Europe: A Thousand Years of Western Myth-Making | year=2003 | publisher=NYU Press | id=ISBN 978-0814775646}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Robinson | first=David | authorlink=David Robinson | title=Muslim Societies in African History | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2004 | id=ISBN 052153366X}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Schimmel | first=Annemarie | authorlink=Annemarie Schimmel | year=1992 | title=Islam: An Introduction | publisher=SUNY Press | id=ISBN 0-7914-1327-6}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Schimmel | first=Annemarie | authorlink=Annemarie Schimmel | year=1995 | title=Mystische Dimensionen des Islam | publisher=Insel, Frankfurt | id=ISBN 3458334157}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Stark | first=Rodney | authorlink=Rodney Stark | title=For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery | year=2003 | publisher=Princeton University Press | id=ISBN 0-691-11436-6}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Tucker | first=Judith E. | authorlink=Judith E. Tucker | coauthors=] | title=Women in the Middle East and North Africa | publisher=Indiana University Press | year=1999 | id=ISBN 0-253-21264-2}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Warraq | first=Ibn | authorlink=Ibn Warraq | title=Why I Am Not a Muslim | publisher=Prometheus Books | year=1995 | id=ISBN 0879759844}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Watt | first=W. Montgomery | authorlink=William Montgomery Watt | title=Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1961 | id=ISBN 0-19-881078-4}} | |||
| *{{cite book | last=Watt | first=W. Montgomery | authorlink=William Montgomery Watt | title=Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1974 | edition=New Edition | id=ISBN 0-19-881078-4}}. | |||
| ====Encyclopedias==== | |||
| *{{cite encyclopedia | editor=William H. McNeill, Jerry H. Bentley, David Christian | encyclopedia=Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History | publisher=Berkshire Publishing Group | year=2005 | id=ISBN 978-0974309101}} | |||
| *{{cite encyclopedia | editor=Richard C. Martin, Said Amir Arjomand, Marcia Hermansen, Abdulkader Tayob, Rochelle Davis, John Obert Voll | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam & the Muslim World | publisher=MacMillan Reference Books | year=2003 | id=ISBN 978-0028656038}} | |||
| *{{cite encyclopedia | editor=P.J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs | encyclopedia=] Online | publisher=Brill Academic Publishers | id=ISSN 1573-3912}} | |||
| *{{cite encyclopedia | editor=Lindsay Jones | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Religion | publisher=MacMillan Reference Books | edition=2nd edition | | year=2005 | id=ISBN 978-0028657332}} | |||
| *{{cite encyclopedia | editor=Jane Dammen McAuliffe | encyclopedia=] | | publisher=Brill Academic Publishers | year=2005 | id=ISBN 978-9004123564}} | |||
| *{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World History | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=199 | id=ISBN 0198602235}} | |||
| *{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia=The New Encyclopedia Britannica | publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica, Incorporated | edition=Rev Ed edition | year=2005 | id=ISBN 978-1593392369}} | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=Mohammed: The Man and His Faith | publisher=Dover | year=2000 | id=ISBN 0-486-41136-2}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet | location=San Francisco | publisher=Harper | year=1993 | id=ISBN 0-06-250886-5}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=], ed. | title=Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins | publisher=E. J. Brill | year=2003 | id=ISBN 90-04-12602-3}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=Muhammad | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1983 | id=ISBN 0-19-287605-8 (reissue 1996)}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=Twenty-Three Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad | publisher=Mazda | year=1994 | id=ISBN 1-56859-029-6}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=The Life and Work of the Prophet of Islam | publisher=(Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute) | year=1998 | id=ISBN 969-8413-00-6}} | |||
| *{{cite book |author=], ed. | title=The Biography of Muhammad: The Issue of the Sources (Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and Texts, Vol. 32) | publisher=Brill | year=2000 |id=ISBN 90-04-11513-7}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=Muhammad | publisher=New Publishers | year=1961 | id=ISBN 1-56584-752-0}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=Muhammad: Prophet of Islam | publisher=Tauris Parke Paperbacks | year=2002 | id=ISBN 1-86064-827-4}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=The Eye of the Beholder: The Life of Muhammad as Viewed by the Early Muslims (A Textual Analysis) | publisher=Darwin Press | year=1995 | id=ISBN 0-87850-110-X}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=And Muhammad is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety | publisher=The University of North Carolina Press | year=1985 | id=ISBN 0-8078-4128-5}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | year=1975 | title=The Jews of Arab Lands: a History and Source Book | publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America | id=ISBN 0-8276-0198-0}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | title=The Quest for the Historical Muhammad | publisher=Prometheus Books | year=2000 | id=ISBN 1-57392-787-2}} | |||
| *{{cite book | author=] | year=2004 | title=] | publisher=CricketSong Books | id=ISBN 978-0971448124}} | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{sisterlinks|Muhammad}} | |||
| ;Non-sectarian biographies | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| ;Muslim biographies | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * by Muhammad Husayn Haykal | |||
| * summarised version | |||
| * <small>(by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq)<small/> | |||
| * <small>(by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq)<small/> | |||
| * | |||
| *(University of Southern California) | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| {{Prophets in the Qur'an}} | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
Revision as of 04:08, 19 January 2007
Paedophile