ISLAM: February 2010

Muhammad was born at Mecca in 570 in a Quraish tribe that ruled over the city and the surrounding area. His father died on a trading trip at Yathrib just before Muhammad's birth and his mother was left to raise him. Mothers in Quraish tribes traditionally handed their infants over to a nurse from a Bedouin tribe believing that the air of the desert was healthier. Muhammad was given to Halima, who nursed him for 2 years before returning the boy to his mother. Muhammad's mother feared for his health in the air of Mecca and instructed the nurse to take him back to the desert for two more years. When Halima returned a second time she reported that Muhammad had been having fits and she feared that he may be demon possessed. She was once again persuaded to return Muhammad to the desert. However, after an increasing number of epileptic seizures, she returned him to his mother at the age of five. Shortly thereafter, while returning from a trip to Yathrib, Muhammad's mother died leaving him to the care of his grandfather.

After his grandfather's death 2 years later, Muhammad's uncle Abu Talib raised him. At age 12, Muhammad began accompanying his uncle on mercantile trips to Damascus and other cities. He spent his youth tending the sheep and goats in the valleys of Mecca. Later in life he would recall his childhood saying, "Even such as I used to gather, feeding the flocks in the valley of Mecca: and truly no prophet hath been raised up but first he hath done the work of a shepherd."

Regardless of Muhammad's writing abilities, it is not disputed that he had a proclivity toward dreams, trances, and visions and was said to be so troubled by them at times that he sought escape by suicide. It was during one of these suicide attempts that Islam teaches the angel Gabriel called out to him, "O Muhammad, thou who art the Prophet of the lord, I am Gabriel". It is also said that when Muhammad would have a revelation sweat would pop up on his brow and he would drop to the ground, at which time Gabriel would again appear to him and repeat his instruction that Muhammad was a prophet of Allah sent to reclaim the lost people of the land. It was these visions and Muhammad's revelations from the Angel Gabriel that led to the religion of Islam. When Muhammad first began having the visions, he feared that the messages were coming from Jinn, or evil spirits. It was his wife who convinced him that they were divinely inspired and that Muhammad was a true prophet. Thus he began spreading his revelations and gathering followers of the "one true religion" of Islam.

As Muhammad's converts grew, he began to speak out against the Meccans and their idol worship. It was this conflict with the Meccans that led to the first blood shed in the name of Islam. As the opposition grew, Muhammad instructed his followers who could not protect themselves to go into hiding in Ethiopia. Not able to protect his remaining followers, Muhammad compromised with the Meccans by incorporating some of their idols into the evolving religion of Islam. He proclaimed that Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat, three Meccan deities, were exalted goddesses and their intercession was to be sought. This led to the Meccans accepting Islam, but Muhammad later had to confess that the compromise was inspired by Satan.

Ten years after he introduced Islam to the world, Muhammad's wife died. Two months later he married a widow and then a seven-year-old girl. He would eventually be married to 15 women. In fact, he married someone new every year following his first wife's death, many of them as a result of war and plunder. Women left alive after a war with rival tribes would be taken as Muhammad's wives. Other wives were taken for political gain because of their importance or relation to local government officials. Islam taught that men were only allowed four wives. Muhammad made an exception for himself, however, in Surat 33:50.

O Prophet! Lo! We have made lawful unto thee thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowries, and those whom thy right hand possesseth of those whom Allah hath given thee as spoils of war, and a believing woman if she give herself unto the Prophet and the Prophet desire to ask her in marriage - a privilege for thee only, not for the rest of believers.
In Indonesia Laskar Jihad waged a violent campaign against Christians in neighboring Maluku province where at least 9,000 Christians have been killed since 1999. This religious cleansing can be found in all areas of the world where Islam has rooted itself. The quest for an Islamic world, taken by force if need be, still continues today, all in the name of Allah, and as taught and practiced by the prophet Muhammad.

What they say about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

“He was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without Pope’s pretensions, Caesar without the legions of Caesar: without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue; if ever any man had the right to say that he ruled by the right divine, it was Mohammad, for he had all the power without its instruments and without its supports.” [Bosworth Smifu, Mohammad and Mohammadanism. London 1874, p. 92.]

“It is impossible for anyone who studies the life and character of the great Prophet of Arabia, who knows how he taught and how he lived, to feel anything but reverence for that mighty Prophet, one of the great messengers of the Supreme. And although in what I put to you I shall say many things which may be familiar to many, yet I myself feel whenever I re-read them, a new way of admiration, a new sense of reverence for that mighty Arabian teacher.” [Annie Besant, The Life and Teachings of Muhammad, Madras 1932, p.4]

“His readiness to undergo persecutions for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad.” [W. Montgomery, Mohammad at Mecca, Oxford, 1953, p. 52.]

“Muhammad, the inspired man who founded Islam, was born about A.D. 570 into an Arabian tribe that worshipped idols. Orphaned at birth, he was always particularly solicitous of the poor and needy, the widow and the orphan, the slave and the downtrodden. At twenty he was already a successful businessman, and soon became director of camel caravans for a wealthy widow. When he reached twenty-five his employer, recognizing his merit, proposed marriage. Even though she was fifteen years older, he married her, and as long as she lived remained a devoted husband.

Like almost every major prophet before him, Muhammad fought shy of serving as the transmitter of God’s word, sensing his own inadequacy. But the angel commanded ‘Read’. So far as we know, Muhammad was unable to read or write, but he began to dictate those inspired words which would soon revolutionize a large segment of the earth; “There is one God”.

Prophet Muhammad’s Teachings
Prophet Muhammad preached that there is only one God
He taught the people to change from worshipping idols to one God.
He taught them to respect their parents and elders.
He taught about equal rights and respect for women.
He taught that the rich and poor are alike in the sight of God and that their good deeds will help them meet God in heaven.
He taught them to live honestly and that working hard to earn a living is also considered worship of God.
God is called “Allah” in Arabic and he taught people to remember God at all times.
Prophet Muhammad’s Influence
His teachings brought about peace and prosperity to the Middle East and all the lands ruled by the Muslims. During the medieval times, the great prosperity was due to a large extent from the preaching of Prophet Muhammad who said, “To obtain knowledge travel into China if necessary.”
This made the people travel great distances in order to learn more and there was great trading and learning by meeting the people of India, China, Persia and the West. This prosperity spread to Spain where the Muslims ruled for 700 years, and in fact, the majority of the sailors on the Columbus ships were Muslims who had gained great experience from their travels and trading with the lands of India, Africa and China.
Before Prophet Muhammad started teaching about Islam, many Arabs did not know how to read. Prophet Muhammad's teachings from the Quran began a great education of all the people. Becoming a writer and a calligrapher was a great honor and Arabic grammar was established with Hazrat Ali as the main advisor.
In the medieval times, Muslims were great scholars and scientists and preserved the work of the Greeks by translating them into Arabic. They used this knowledge as well as knowledge of making paper from China, of mathematics from India and they built the first University of the world in Egypt. This University called Al Azhar University, which is still in existence, a thousand years later.
In all things Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim died, an eclipse occurred, and rumors of God’s personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon Muhammad is said to have announced, ‘An eclipse is a phenomenon of nature. It is foolish to attribute such things to the death or birth of a human being’.

At Muhammad’s own death an attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to become his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of the noblest speeches in religious history: ‘If there are any among you who worshipped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you worshipped, He lives forever’.