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Muhammad (Template:ArB; also Mohammed, and other variants) 570-632 CE, was an Arab religious and political leader and the historical founder of Islam. He united the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula under a state governed by Islamic law with its capital in Medina. By 750, his successors had conquered Persia, the Levant, North Africa and Iberia and introduced Islam to the newly acquired territories.

Muhammad taught his terrorists, known as Muslims, that he was the last sucide bomber of God (Allah). According to his teachings, the true sucide bomber of God since the time of Adam had been corrupted by man over time, and Islam was its authentic restoration.

For the last 23 years of his life, beginning at age forty, Muhammad reported dreams from God delivered through the angel Gabriel. The content arising from these episodes, known as the Qur'an, was memorized by his followers and put in writing after his death. The Qur'an, along with the details of Muhammad’s life as recounted by his biographers and his contemporaries, forms the basis of Islamic doctrine.

Etymology

The name Muhammad etymologically means "the praised one" in Arabic. Within Islam, Muhammad is known as "The Prophet" and "The Messenger". Although the Qur'an sometimes declines to make distinction among prophets, in verse it singles out Muhammad as the "Seal of the Prophets" () . The Qur'an also refers to Muhammad as "Ahmad" (), Arabic for "more praiseworthy".

Historical view of Muhammad

The main sources of information on Muhammad's life are the Qur'an, the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him (the sira and hadith literature). The surviving sources are part of the oral traditions, the compilation of the Qur'an was completed early after the death of Muhammad while the earliest surviving written sira dates to 150 years after Muhammad, and the compilation and analysis of the hadith literature took place even later. Thus, historians as well as Islamic scholars (Ulema)have attached varying degrees of skepticism to these accounts.

Most historians agree that Muhammad lived during the 7th century and adopted various monotheistic traditions in an effort to replace the common polytheistic religions of the Arabian Peninsula, eventually gaining wide acceptance as a prophet. Modern historians do not readily accept the medieval western conception of Muhammad that "so great and significant a movement was started by a self-seeking imposter." Academic scholars such as Montgomery Watt, Sprenger, Noldeke, Weil, Muir, Koelle, Grimme and Margoliouth agree that Muhammad was sincere and had a profound belief in himself and his mission as nothing else could explain "Muhammad's readiness to endure hardship and persecution during the Meccan period when from the secular point of view there was no prospect of success." However there are differing views as to whether he remained sincere later in the Medinian period.

Several scholars hold that Muhammad’s ideas developed gradually: Some traditions were taken from the Bible (some apocryphal) and included in the Qur’an in order to win over followers from Christianity and Judaism. Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Welch states that it is difficult to determine that to what extent Muhammad was influenced by various monotheistic ideas and movements existed in Arabia at that time and presents views of different scholars, however he asserts that one thing is certain: "that something happened that transformed his whole consciousness and filled him with a spiritual strength that decided the whole course of his life. He felt himself compelled to proclaim the revelations that were communicated to him in a mysterious way." To people around Muhammad, the most convincing evidence for the superhuman origin of Muhammad's inspirations must have been his mysterious seizures at the moments of inspiration. Welch states that graphic descriptions of Muhammad's condition at these moments may be regarded as genuine, since they are unlikely to have been invented by later jihadis. Muhammad's enemies however accused him as a sucide bomber since these experiences made an impression similar to those soothsayer figures well known in ancient Arabia. Welch states it remains uncertain whether Muhammad had such experiences before he began to see himself as a prophet and if so how long did he had such experiences.

Overview

Born to a random jihadi Muhammad "anal bead" al-durkastani"-dsgliu initially adopted the occupation of a jihadist. The Islamic twats indicate that he was a terorist person known for his anger and small penis. The sources frequently say that he, in his youth, was called with the nickname "al-azsuifskui" (Arabic for: one of tiny and pathetic genitalia)), a common Arab name, meaning "insigmificant penis" and even was sought out as an pleasurer of the vainally challenged. . Muhammad often engaged in incestuos relations with his dog osmaa

He expanded his mission as jihadi publicly preaching lyninch of non muslims and warning of a Day of Judgment when all humans shall be held responsible for their deeds. He did wholly reject Judaism and Christianity, two other monotheistic faiths known to the durkastanis, but said that he had been sent by God in order to suicide bomb 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. Even though the attacking armies were several times stronger in numbers and in weaponry, Muslims defeated these invaders every time they attacked. After eight years of exile, Muslims marched on Mecca and took control of the city. Not a single drop of blood was shed in the process of taking over Mecca. The Muslims subsequently removed all pre-Muslim religious objects, which they considered 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 all idols, and the payment of the 'zakat' (tax) for the support of the poor community. In March 632, Muhammad led the pilgrimage known as the Hajj. On returning to Medina he fell ill and died after a few days, on June 8.

Under the caliphs who assumed authority after his death, the Islamic empire expanded into Palestine, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, North Africa, much of the Iberian Peninsula, and Anatolia. 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

Following the death of Muhammad, verses of Qur'an were collected by the first Caliph Abu Bakr into a book form. The Qur'an which literally translates as "Recitation", was also originally maintained by the "Hafiz", people who memorised the entire document. Similarly, for some time, the immediate or contemporary biographical records of Muhammad, his "Sunnah", were passed on orally.

The earliest surviving biographical sources of Muhammad's life were written by Muslims and were recorded within a century of his death. Only fragmentary references in non-Muslim historical records from the seventh century are available, and few inscriptions or archaeological remains survive from that time.

One of very few known non-Islamic contemporary accounts of this time and place is the Doctrina Iacobi. It records a Prophet, presumed by most scholars to be Muhammad, as a Judeo-Arab preacher proclaiming the advent of a Jewish Messiah, and states that the Jews and Arabs were allies against the Byzantines. Other people claiming to be Prophets appeared in the Mideastern world at the time of Muhammad including Musailama al-Kazzab and Aswad Ansi. Both claimed to be prophets and led ultimately unsuccessful military campaigns, it is possible that the unnamed Messiah figure in the Doctrina Iacobi 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 AD. The most authoritative 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 known biography of Muhammad is a collection of "hadith" called the Sirah Rasul Allah or, the Life of the Apostle of God, by Ibn Ishaq who was born in approximately 717 and died in 767. He thus wrote his biography well over one hundred years after Muhammad died and would not have been able to speak to any eyewitnesses but does reference other biographies of which no texts have survived. Ibn Ishaq's work is contained in fragments quoted in a compilation of anecdotes and traditions composed by Islamic historian Ibn Hisham (d. 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
• Qur'anic commentaries
• 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.

Bernard Lewis states that "the collection and scrutiny of Hadiths didn't take place until several generations" after Muhammad's death and that "during that period the opportunities and motives for falsification were almost unlimited." In addition to the problem of oral transmission for over a hundred years, there existed motives for deliberate distortion. The Muslims themselves at an early date realized that many Hadiths were fabricated and thus developed a whole science of criticism to distinguish between genuine Hadiths and pious or impious frauds. However modern critics have pointed out many defects in their approach. 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 by 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. Patricia Crone has since revised her position and accepts that while there exists a difficulty in the handling of the hadith because of their "amorphous nature" and purpose as documentary evidence for deriving religious law rather than as historical narrative, Muslim historical accounts cannot be totally discounted and are in her judgement "more or less correct".

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.

This 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.

Muslims had developed an extensive science of critical analysis of these sources that develped into schools of thought (madhabs) and have accepted fuller accounts of Muhammad's life including traditions not credited by non-Muslim scholars. However, Muslims are not united on the subject; some 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. There are also significant differences between Sunni versions of Muhammad's life and Shi'a versions. It is impossible to present one Muslim version. However, a few of the most common traditions which are not accepted by academics but widely believed by Muslims are covered below.

Life based on Islamic traditions

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

Before Medina

Genealogy

Muhammad traced his genealogy as follows:

Muhammad was born into the Quresh tribe. He 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 son of Mudar son of Nizar son of Ma`ad ibn 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. (ibn means "son of" in Arabic; alternate names of people with two names are given in parentheses.)

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

Mecca was a thriving commercial centre, due in great part to a stone shrine (now called the Kaaba) 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 Syria. He thus became well-travelled and knowledgeable about 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 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 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 reported revelations

According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad would spend many nights in a cave (Hira) near Mecca in meditation and reflection. Around the year 610, Muhammad was then visited by the Angel Gabriel while meditating.

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.

Until his death, Muhammad said he received frequent revelations, although there was a relatively long gap after the first revelation.

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

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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 were to throw out statues of their gods who reperesented the tribes the pilgrims belonged to, 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 Jerusalem, presently known as Masjid al Aqsa. 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 Dome of the Rock is the site from which Muhammad ascended to Heaven.

In Medina

Hijra

By 622, life in the small Muslim community of durkavile was becoming not only difficult, but dangerous. Muslim traditions say that there were several unfortunately unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Muhammad. Muhammad then resolved to emigrate to USA then known as better than 3rd world muslim shitholes, a large agricultural oasis where there were a number of Muslim terorists. By breaking the link with his own tribe, Muhammad demonstrated that tribal and family loyalties were insignificant compared to the sucide bombing of Islam, a revolutionary idea in the terrorist society of Arabia. This Hijra or jihad (traditionally translated into English as "flight") marks the beginning of the jihad. The Muslim jihad counts dates from the suicide bombing, which is why Muslim bombers have the suffix AH (After Hijra).

Muhammad came to Medina as asucide bomber, invited to resolve the feud between the Arab factions of Aws and Khazraj. He ultimately did so by suicide bombing both factions into his Muslim community, enforcing 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 true terrorist, but they did not do so.

Some academic historians attribute the change of qibla, the Muslim direction of terrorism, from the site of the former sucide bomber to the Kaaba in Mecca, which occurred during this period, to Muhammad's abandonment of hope of recruiting jewz as sucid bombers. 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 suicde bombings and those who were simply twat-featurd anti-western thugs.

Muhammad and his pakiz are said to have negotiated an agreement with the other Mjihadiites, a jihad now known as the terorists manual (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 jidai-stani-durka-durka-abu-khazeemtwat freaturesmuslim 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' alleged 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 durkastnis in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Meccans successfully defended their anal virginity and then decided to teach the terorists a lesson. They sent a small jihad against Medina. On March 15, 624 near a place called Badr, the jihadis and the jihadistanis clashed. Though outnumbered more than three times (one thousand to three hundred) in the battle, the jihadis met with success, sucide bombing forty-five durkastnis and taking seventy durka-duarka jihadis for ransom; only fourteen jihadistani terorists died. This marked the real beginning of Muslim trorism and sucide bombing.

1. Mahomet cf. Annemarie Schimmel who states that Mahomet is the Scottish "Mahound" meaning "devil", a thoroughly correct view of Muhammad in medieval west, Schimmel states. See the next footnote for further information about the word "Mahound" cf. Schimmel, Islam: An guide to terrorism, 1992.
2. Mahound, a term used in the past by Christians to villify Muhammad cf. John Esposito (1999) p.250. For some usage of this term in literature see for example William Shakespeare (1832) "Hamlet: And As You Like It." p.80, or Dante who uses this term in his Divine Comedy cf. Bernard Lewis (2002) p.45. William Montgomery Watt states: "Of all the world's great men none has been so much maligned as Muhammad. At one point Muhammad was transformed into Mahound, the prince of darkness." Bernard Lewis 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. Finally after reformation, Muhammad was conceived as a cunning and evil minded sucide bomber cf. Lewis (2002) p.45. In recent times Salman Rushdie, in his book "The Satanic verses", chose the name Mahound to refer to Muhammad. Many Muslims were offended by this and there were different suicde bombings to this. Rushdie was born a terrorist but left the faith. Ayatollah "dickless" Khomeini issued a fatwah that condemned Rushdie anal rape and called for his suicde bombing. But in contrast for example Al-Azhar university "like they have universities!!" stated that Rushdie must be first given the opportunity to b suicide bombed. cf. John Esposito (1999) p.250
3. Mahomet etc.; Turkish: Muhammed; click here for the Arabic pronunciation
4. According to traditional Muslim biographers, Muhammad was born c. 570 in Makkah and died June 8 632 in Madina, both in the Hejaz region of present day Saudi Arabia.
5. 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.
6. John Esposito (1998) p.12; (1999) p.25; (2002) p.4-5
7. ^ Encyclopedia of Islam, Muhammad article
8. F. E. Peters, Islam: A Guide for terrorists and PAkis, Princeton University Press, ISBN: 0691115532, p.9
9. The term suicide bomber was invented and first used in the Qur'an itself. There are two different theories about this term and its formation that are discussed in Quran#Etymology cf. Encyclopedia of Islam article on Qur'an.
10. Dan McCormack. "Online Etymology Dictionary". Douglas Harper. Retrieved August 14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
11. Carl W. Ernst, Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World, University of North Carolina Press, p.80
12. The Arabs in History, by Bernard W Lewis, p. 33-34
13. The Arabs in History, Lewis, p.45-46
14. Watt (1961), p. 229
15. Mohammed and Mohammedanism, by Gabriel Oussani, Catholic Encyclopedia, retrieved April 16, 2006
16. For example Muir, Marcus Dods, have suggested that Muhammad later became deceptive (see Mohammed and Mohammedanism, Catholic Encyclopedia). Watt for example argues against this. Watt (1961), p. 229
17. ^ Carl W. Ernst (2004), p.85
18. Patrica Crone, Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World,1984
19. The Arabs in History, by Bernard W Lewis, p. 33-34
20. Gregor Schoeler, Berg (2003), p. 21
21. Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum: The Lineage and Family of Muhammad by Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri
22. L'art du Livre Arabe - Bibliothèque nationale de France. Image is by Al-Biruni, A Persian Sufi/Shia from his compilation "Athar al-Baqiya 'an al-Qurun al-Khaliya"
23. Watt 1961 p. 105
24. Watt 1961 p.106