Muhammad

For other people named Muhammad, see Muhammad (disambiguation).

Muḥammad (Template:ArB; also Mohammed, Mahomet, and other variants), 570-632 CE, established the religion of Islam and the Muslim community (Ummah). Muslims believe him to have been God's final prophet, to whom the Qur'an was divinely revealed.

The name Muhammad etymologically means "the praised one" in Arabic , being a passive participle from the root Template:ArabDIN Template:Ar "to praise". Within Islam, Muhammad is known as "The Prophet" and "The Messenger". The Qur'an (^{[Quran 33:40]}) also refers to him as the "Seal of the Prophets". In verse 61:6 he is referred to as Ahmad, Arabic for 'more praiseworthy'.

Overview

Born to ‘Abdu’llah ibn ‘Abdu’l-Muttalib, Muhammad initially adopted the occupation of a merchant. He was renowned amongst all tribes as being "sadaq" and "ameen", meaning honest and truthful, respectively. He often retreated to a cave on a mountain outside Mecca called Hira for contemplation. Muslims believe that in the year 610, when Muhammad was about forty, he was visited in the cave by the Angel Gabriel who commanded him to recite verses sent by God. These first verses started, "READ, in the name of thy Sustainer, who has created man out of a germ-cell" and continued through the end of Prophet's life. These verse, the Qur'an, were revealed to Muhammad over a period of about twenty-three years, until his death.

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

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

The Meccans started attacking Medina to destroy the Islamic state. Even though the attacking armies were several times stronger in numbers and in weaponry, Muslims defeated these invaders every time they attacked. Muslims finally attacked Mecca under the leadership of Muhammad after eight years of Hijra and took control of the city. The Muslims subsequently removed all idols from the Kaaba except for the Black Stone. Most of the townspeople accepted Islam. Deputations began to come in from other Arabian tribes. The conditions for their adherence were: the acceptance of Islam, the destruction of idols, and the payment of the 'zakat' (tax) for the support of the poor community. In March 632, Muhammad led the pilgrimage, 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

Main article: Historiography of early Islam

In the immediate aftermath of the death of Muhammad, Muslims generally kept the verses in pieces written on animal skin simultaneously when they arrived. Following the death of Prophet, verses of Quran were collected by the first khalif Abu Bakr into a book form. Quran which literally translates as "Recitiation", was also originally maintained by the "Hafiz", people who memorised the entire Qur'an. Similarly, for some time, the immediate or contemporary biographical records of Muhammad, his "Sunnah", were passed on orally.

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

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

The hadith are the written collection of the Arab oral traditions concerning Muhammad. The dates often given for Muhammad's life are 570-632 CE. The most 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 biography of Muhammad known is a collection of hadith: the Sirah Rasul Allah or, the Life of the Apostle of God, by Ibn Ishaq, who was born about 717 and died in 767. He thus wrote his biography well over one hundred years after Muhammad died. He would not have been able to speak to any eyewitnesses, only to those who had heard their accounts, or accounts of their accounts. Ibn Ishaq's work is contained in fragments quoted in a compilation of anecdotes and traditions composed by Islamic historian Ibn Hisham (???-834) and al-Tabari (838-923).

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

Bernard Lewis states that 'the collection and scunity 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'. Besides the problem of oral transmittion for over a hundred years, there were furthermore 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 of Ibn Ishaq does not contain any dates or explicit details; yet, later Islamic narratives have progressively more dates, with minute details of Muhammad's life being inserted into their accounts as successive generations of scholars relay the story, such that by the time we arrive at contemporary renditions of Muhammad's story, dates and details have exploded exponentially without explanation. These skeptics believe that many hadith and other traditions were manufactured, or doctored, to support one or another of the many political or doctrinal factions that had developed within Islam in its first century or later. The life of Muhammad was believed to be the exemplar for all Muslims; hence the importance of showing that Muhammad said or did something proving that a particular faction was right. If the skeptics are right, and if much of the early material cannot really be trusted, then all that is factually known is what is contained in the summary above.

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

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

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

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

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

Life based on Islamic traditions

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

Before Medina

Main article: Muhammad before Medina

Genealogy

File:Muhammad callig.gif

"Muhammad" in Arabic calligraphy.

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.

Childhood

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

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

Middle years

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

Ibn Ishaq records that Khadijah bore Muhammad 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.

Timeline of Muhammad
Important dates and locations in the life of Muhammad
c. 569	Death of his father, `Abd Allah
c. 570	Possible date of birth, April 20: Mecca
570	Legendary unsuccessful Ethiopian attack on Mecca
576	Death of Mother
578	Death of Grandfather
c. 583	Takes trading journeys to Syria
c. 595	Meets and marries Khadijah
610	First reports of Qur'anic revelation: Mecca
c. 610	Appears as Prophet of Islam: Mecca
c. 613	Begins spreading message of Islam publicly: Mecca
c. 614	Begins to gather following: Mecca
c. 615	Emigration of Muslims to Ethiopia
616	Banu Hashim clan boycott begins
c. 618	Medinan Civil War: Medina
619	Banu Hashim clan boycott ends
619	The year of sorrows: Khadijah and Abu Talib dies
c. 620	Isra and Miraj
622	Emigrates to Medina (Hijra)
624	Battle of Badr Muslims defeat Meccans
624	Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa
625	Battle of Uhud Meccans defeat Muslims
625	Expulsion of Banu Nadir
626	Attack on Dumat al-Jandal: Syria
627	Battle of the Trench
627	Destruction of Banu Qurayza
627	Bani Kalb subjugation: Dumat al-Jandal
628	Treaty of Hudaybiyya
c. 628	Gains access to Mecca shrine Kaaba
628	Conquest of the Khaybar oasis
629	First hajj pilgrimage
629	Attack on Byzantine empire fails: Battle of Mu'tah
630	Attacks and bloodlessly captures Mecca
c. 630	Battle of Hunayn
c. 630	Siege of Taif
630	Establishes theocracy: Conquest of Mecca
c. 631	Subjugates most of the Arabian peninsula
c. 632	Attacks the Ghassanids: Tabuk
632	Farewell hajj pilgrimage
632	Death (June 8): Medina

The first revelations

Muhammad had a reflective turn of mind and routinely spent nights in a cave (Hira) near Mecca in meditation and thought. Muslims believe that around the year 610, while meditating, Muhammad was visited by the Angel Gabriel.

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

Until his death, Muhammad claimed to have received frequent revelations, although there was a relatively long gap after the first revelation. This silence worried him, until he received surat ad-Dhuha, whose words provided comfort and reassurance.

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

Rejection

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

Several suras and parts of suras are said to date from this time, and reflect its circumstances: see for example al-Masadd, al-Humaza, parts of Maryam and al-Anbiya, al-Kafirun, and Abasa.

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

Isra and Miraj

Some time in 620, Muhammad told his followers that he had experienced the Isra and Miraj, a miraculous journey said to have been accomplished in one night along with Angel Gabriel. In the first part of the journey, the Isra, he is said to have travelled from Mecca to the furthest mosque, in 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

Main article: Muhammad in Medina

Hijra

By 622, life in the small Muslim community of Mecca was becoming not only difficult, but dangerous. Muslim traditions say that there were several attempts to assassinate Muhammad. Muhammad then resolved to emigrate to Medina, then known as Yathrib, a large agricultural oasis where there were a number of Muslim converts. By breaking the link with his own tribe, Muhammad demonstrated that tribal and family loyalties were insignificant compared to the bonds of Islam, a revolutionary idea in the tribal society of Arabia. This Hijra or emigration (traditionally translated into English as "flight") marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. The Muslim calendar counts dates from the Hijra, which is why Muslim dates have the suffix AH (After Hijra).

Muhammad came to Medina as a mediator, invited to resolve the feud between the Arab factions of Aws and Khazraj. He ultimately did so by absorbing both factions into his Muslim community, forbidding bloodshed among Muslims. However, Medina was also home to a number of Jewish tribes (whether they were ethnically as well as religiously Jewish is an open question, as is the depth of their "Jewishness"). Islamic tradition refers to the conversion to Islam of one of the leaders of the Jews named Ibn Salam. Muhammad had hoped that his conversion would be emulated by the other Jews, and that those others would also recognize him as a prophet, but they did not do so.

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

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

War

Relations between Mecca and Medina rapidly worsened (see surat al-Baqara). Meccans confiscated all the property that the Muslims had left in Mecca. In Medina, Muhammad signed treaties of alliance and mutual help with neighboring tribes.

Muhammad turned to raiding caravans bound for Mecca. Caravan-raiding was an old Arabian tradition and according to Watt was "a kind of sport rather than war" and that the object of the raids was to take animals and other goods but killing was carefully avoided. ; Muslims justified the raids by the Meccans' confiscation of the property they had left at Mecca and the state of war deemed to exist between the Meccans and the Muslims.

In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Meccans successfully defended the caravan and then decided to teach the Medinans a lesson. They sent a small army against Medina. On March 15, 624 near a place called Badr, the Meccans and the Muslims clashed. Though outnumbered more than three times (one thousand to three hundred) in the battle, the Muslims met with success, killing at least forty-five Meccans and taking seventy prisoners for ransom; only fourteen Muslims died. This marked the real beginning of Muslim military achievement.

Rule consolidated

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

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

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

Continued warfare

In 625 the Meccan general Abu Sufyan marched on Medina with three thousand men. The ensuing Battle of Uhud took place on March 23 and ended in a stalemate. The Meccans claimed victory, but they had lost too many men to pursue the Muslims into Medina.

In April 627, Abu Sufyan led another strong force against Medina. But Muhammad had dug a trench around Medina and successfully defended the city in the Battle of the Trench.

Many of the Muslims believed that Abu Sufyan had been aided by sympathizers among the Medinans, being the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, with whom the Muslims had a treaty. They attacked and defeated the Banu Qurayza, and subsequently executed hundreds of the adult men of the tribe, after trying them for treason.This execution has been the subject of some controversy.

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

The truce of Hudaybiyya

Main article: Treaty of Hudaybiyya

Although revelation (^{[Quran 2:196]}-^{[Quran 2:210]}) about the performing of Hajj had already come, Muhammad and Muslims did not do it due to the enmity of the Quraish. It was the month of Shawwal 6 A.H. when Muhammad saw in a vision that he was shaving his head after the Hajj. Muhammad therefore decided to perform the Haj in the following month. Hence around the 13th of March, 628 with 1400 Companions he went towards Medina without the least intention of giving a battle. But the Quraish were determined to offer resistance to Muslims and they posted themselves outside Mecca, closing all access to the city. . In order to settle the dispute peacefully Muhammad halted at a placed called Hudaybiyya. Hence after series of talks a treaty was signed. The main points of treaty were the following.

1. They have agreed to lay down the burden of war for ten years
2. Muhammad, should not perform Hajj this year
3. They may come next year to perform Haj (unarmed) but shall not stay in Mecca for more than three days
4. Any Muslim living in Mecca cannot settle in Medina but Medina Muslim may come and join Meccans (and will not be returned).

Many of Muslims were not satisfied with the terms the treaty is made. However, on the way to Madina, God revealed the Prophet a new chapter of Quran named "Al-Fath" (The victory) ^{[Quran 48:1]}-^{[Quran 48:29]}. The new Revelation left no doubt in Muslims' minds that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one. . With the passage of time it become more and more apparent why the Koran had declared the truce a victory. The men of Mecca and Medina could now meet in peace and discuss Islam hence during the following two years the community of Islam was more than doubled.

Muhammad letters to the Heads-of-State

"Muhammad Original Letter to Heraclius".

After the truce signed by the Hudaybiyya, Muhammad decided to send letters to many rulers of the world, inviting them to Islam Hence he sent messengers (with letters) to Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire (The eastern Roman Empire), Chosroes of Persia, the chief of Yemen and to some others.

After the conquest

Main article: Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca

The conquest of Mecca

Main article: Conquest of Mecca

The truce of Hudaybiyya had been in force since two years. . The tribe of Khuz'aah was in friendly relationship with Muhammad, while on the other hand their enemies, Banu Bakr had aliance with Meccans. A clan of Bakr made a night raid against Khuz'aah, killing few of them . Meccans helped their allies (i.e. Banu Bakr) with weapons and according to some sources few Meccans also took part in the fighting . After the fighting Muhammad offered Meccans following three conditions.

1. The Meccans were to pay blood-money for those slain among Khuza'ah tribe. Or
2. They should have nothing to do with Banu Bakr. Or
3. They should declare the truce of Hudaybiyya null.

The Meccan replied that they would accept only the third condition. 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. .

In 630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. After some scattered skirmishes, in which only twenty-four Meccans were killed,[reference needed] the Muslims seized Mecca. Muhammad promised a general amnesty to all but a few of the Meccans. Most Meccans converted to Islam, and Muhammad destroyed all the idols in the Kaaba except for the Black Stone. Henceforth the pilgrimage would be a Muslim pilgrimage and the shrine a Muslim shrine.

Unification of Arabia

The capitulation of Mecca and the defeat of an alliance of enemy tribes at Hunayn effectively brought the greater part of the Arabian peninsula under Muhammad's authority. However, this authority was not enforced by a regular government, as Muhammad chose instead to rule through personal relationships and tribal treaties. The Muslims were clearly the dominant force in Arabia, and most of the remaining tribes and states hastened to convert to Islam.

Death

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

According to Shi'a Islam, Muhammad had appointed his son-in-law Ali as his successor in a public sermon at Ghadir Khumm. Shi'a believe that Muhammad's companions Abu Bakr and Umar conspired to oust Ali and make Abu Bakr the leader or caliph. Sunni Muslims dispute this, and say that the leaders of the community conferred and freely chose Abu Bakr, who was among the followers of Muhammad. The matter is further discussed in the article Succession to Muhammad.

Muhammad the reformer

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

John Esposito sees Muhammad as a reformer who did away with many of the terrible practices of the pagan Arabs. He states that Muhammad's "insistence that each person was personally accountable not to tribal customary law but to an overriding divine law shook the very foundations of Arabian society... Muhammad proclaimed a sweeping program of religious and social reform that affected religious belief and practices, business contracts and practices, male-female and family relations.". Esposito holds that the Qur'an's reforms consists of 'regulations or moral guidance that limit or redefine rather than prohibit or replace existing practices.' He cites slavery and women's status as two examples.

Social security and Family structure

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

Slavery

Main article: Islam and Slavery

Slavery existed in all the ancient civilizations of Asia, Africa, Europe, and pre-Columbian America and had been accepted and even endorsed by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as other religions of the world, Lewis states. Lewis however states that Islam brought two major changes to ancient slavery 'which were to have far-reaching effects. One of these was the presumption of freedom; the other, the ban on the enslavement of free persons except in strictly defined circumstances.' The position of the Arabian slave was "enormously improved": The Arabian slave 'was now no longer merely a chattel but was also a human being with a certain religious and hence a social status and with certain quasi-legal rights.' The practice of slavery in the Islamic empire represented a 'vast improvement on that inherited from antiquity, from Rome, and from Byzantium.'

Although slavery was not abolished, but Schimmel asserts that as the reforms seriously limited the supply of new slaves, slavery would be theoretically abolished with the expansion of Islam.

Women's rights

John Esposito states that the reforms affected marriage, divorce, and inheritance. "Marriage was a contract, with women entitled to their dower (^[Quran 4:4]). Polygamy was restricted (^[Quran 4:3]), men were commanded to treat their wives fairly and equally (^{[Quran 4:129]}). Women were given inheritance rights in a patriarchal society that had previously restricted inheritance to male relatives."

Watt believes that Islam is still, in many ways, a man’s religion however states that Muhammad, in the historical context of his time, can be seen as a figure who testified on behalf of women’s rights and improved things quite a lot. Watt explains the historical context of the situation women at the time of Muhammad: "it appears that in some parts of Arabia, notably in Mecca, a matrilineal system was in the process of being replaced by a patrilineal one at the time of Muhammad. Growing prosperity caused by a shifting of trade routes was accompanied by a growth in individualism. Men were amassing considerable personal wealth and wanted to be sure that this would be inherited by their own actual sons, and not simply by an extended family of their sisters’ sons. This led to a deterioration in the rights of women. At the time Islam began, the conditions of women were terrible - they had no right to own property, were supposed to be the property of the man, and if the man died everything went to his sons." Muhammad however by "instituting rights of property ownership, inheritance, education and divorce, gave women certain basic safeguards."

Haddad, and Esposito state that 'although Islam is often criticized for the low status it has ascribed to women, many scholars believes that it was primarily the interpretation of jurists, local traditions, and social trends which brought decline about a decline in the status of Muslim women. In this view Muhammad granted women rights and privileges in the sphere of family life, marriage, education, and economic endeavors, rights that help improve women's status in society.' however 'the Arab Bedouins were dedicated to custom and tradition and resisted changes brought by the new religion' Haddad and Esposito state that in this view 'The inequality of Muslim women happened because of the preexisting habits of the people among whom Islam took root. The economics of these early Muslim societies were not favorable to comfortable life for women. More important, during Islam's second and third centuries the interpretation of the Qur'an was in the hands of deeply conservative scholars, whose decisions are not easy to challenge today... The Qur'an is more favorable to women than is generally realized. In principle, except for a verse or two, the Quran grants women equality. For example, Eve was not the delayed product of Adam’s rib (as in the tradition for Christians and Jews); the two were born from a single soul. It was Adam, not Eve, who let the devil convince them to eat the forbidden fruit. Muslim women are instructed to be modest in their dress, but only in general terms. Men are also told to be modest. Many Muslims believe the veiling and seclusion are later male inventions, social habits picked up with the conquest of the Byzantine and Persian Empires.'

Miracles in the Pre-Modern and Modern Muslim biographies

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 conquerers.'

Carl Ernst 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. Daniel Brown adds two more reasons: First, Muslims in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were faced with a social and political turmoil. The need 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.' Ernst states that this main shift reflects the growth of bourgeois scientific rationalism in Muslim countries.

Muhammad as a military leader

Main article: 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.

Family life

Main article: Muhammad's marriages

From 595 to 619, Muhammad had only one wife, Khadijah. After her death, it was suggested to Muhammad by Khawla bint Hakim, , that he should marry Sawda bint Zama, a Muslim widow, or Aisha. 'Muhammad said to have asked her to arrange for him to marry both. It had already been agreed that Aisha should marry another man, whose father, though still pagan, was friendly to the Muslims. By common consent, however, this agreement was set aside and Aisha was betrothed to Muhammad.' Later Muhammad married more wives, to make for a total of eleven, of whom nine or ten were living at the time of his death. The status of Maria al-Qibtiyya is disputed; she may have been a slave, a freed slave, or a wife. Watt in Encyclopedia of Islam states that 'Muhammad had a political aim in nearly all his marriages' and for example Muhammad in his marriage to Aisha 'must have seen ... a means of strengthening the ties between himself and Abu Bakr, his chief follower.' Watt believes Aisha 'cannot have been more than ten years old when marriage was consummated'

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

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

Muhammad's household included not only his wives and children but also several slaves that Muhammad owned according to numerous hadiths. Muhammad owned both white and black, male and female slaves. His wives owned several slaves as well.

Companions

Main articles: Sahaba and Salaf

The term Sahaba (companion) refers to anyone who met three criteria. First, he must have been a contemporary of Muhammad. Second, he must have seen or heard Muhammad speak on at least one occasion. Third, he must have converted to Islam. Companions are considered the ultimate sources for the oral traditions, or hadith, on which much of Muslim law and practice are based. There were many other companions in addition to the ones listed here.

List in alphabetic order:

• Abdullah ibn Abbas
• Abu Bakr
• Abu Dharr
• Ali ibn Abi Talib
• Ammar

• Bilal
• Hamza
• Al-Miqdad
• Sa'd
• Zayd

• Salman the Persian
• Talha
• Umar
• Uthman
• Zubair

Legacy

Historical impact and Western historians' view of his historical impact

Main articles: Muslim conquests and Muslim culture

After Muhammad, a rapid creation of an Empire under the Umayyads established a new polity from the Atlantic to the Indus River. Within a few decades after his death, his successors had united all of Arabia under an Islamic empire, which essentially became the successor to the Sassanid, Byzantine, and ultimately Roman empires. With a historically unprecedented swiftness, they conquered present-day Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Armenia, and most of North Africa. By 750, Islam was as fully established as the two great earlier monotheistic belief systems, Judaism and Christianity, and had become the world's greatest military power. The rest of North Africa came under Muslim rule, as well as most of the Iberian Peninsula, much of Central Asia, and Sindh).

Islam today is the faith of 1.3-1.7 billion people all over the globe, and is now the second largest religion after Christianity by the number of adherents.

Descendants

Muhammad was survived by his daughter Fatima and her children. Some say that he had a daughter Zainab, who had borne a daughter, Amma or Umama, who survived him as well.

Descendants of Muhammad are known by sharifs شريف (plural: ِأشراف Ashraaf). Many rulers and notables in Muslim countries, past and present, claim such descent, with various degrees of credibility, such as the Fatimid dynasty of North Africa, the Idrisids, and the current royal families of Jordan and Morocco. In various Muslim countries, there are societies that authenticate claims of descent; some societies are more credible than others.

In the Islamic prayer, Muslims end with the second tashahhud asking God to bless Muhammad and his descendants just as Abraham and his descendants were blessed.

Views on Muhammad

Islamic view

Muslim beliefs concerning Muhammad upon some aspects can vary widely between the sects of Islam. This article focuses on the more common beliefs about Muhammad. For how different sects differ in their views see : Islamic views of Muhammad.

More traditions

There are Muslim traditions that are believed by many Muslims, but may be questionable to non-Muslim academic historians.

• Muslims believe that as an infant Muhammad was placed with a Bedouin wet nurse, Halima Sadia, as desert life was believed to be safer and healthier for children. Many stories are told of his life in the desert.
• After he returned to Mecca, he is said to have been beloved by all around him because he was such a polite and honest child.
• As a youth, he was called upon to solve a vexing political problem for his Meccan neighbors. They were rebuilding the Kaaba and feuding over which clan should have the honor of raising the Black Stone into place. Muhammad suggested that the heads of each clan raise the Black Stone on a cloth, so that all had the honor of lifting it. Muhammad then put the stone into its place.
• As a young man and a merchant, Muhammad was known to be trustworthy and honest. The other Meccans called him "Al-Amin", the trustworthy one or the honest one. After he proclaimed his prophethood, however, his neighbors turned against him.

Depictions of Muhammad

Main article: Depictions of Muhammad

File:Miraj2.jpg

A 16th century Persian miniature painting celebrating Muhammad's ascent into the Heavens, a journey known as the Miraj. Muhammad's face is veiled, a common practice in Islamic art.

Oral and written descriptions are readily accepted by all traditions of Islam, while Muslims differ as to whether or not visual depictions of Muhammad are permissible: Some Muslims believe that to prevent idolatry and shirk, or ascribing partners to Allah, visual depictions of Muhammad and other prophets of Islam should be prohibited. Other Muslims believe respectful depictions should be allowed . Both sides have produced Islamic art — the aniconists through calligraphy and arabesque, the pictorialists through book illustration and architectural decoration . Negative portrayal of Muhammad, whether spoken, written, drawn, or filmed, may be taken as a great offense by Muslims, see Muslim veneration for Muhammad.

Muslim veneration of Muhammad

Main article: Muslim veneration for Muhammad

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

• When speaking or writing, Muhammad's name is often preceded by the title "Prophet" and is followed by the phrase, Peace be upon him, or Peace be upon him and his descendants by Shias; in English often abbreviated as "(pbuh)" and "pbuh&hd", or just simply as "p". Also in some English texts, the notation "(saw)" is used. This is an abbreviation of sallalahu alayhi wasallam, which is an Arabic transliteration for "peace be upon him".
• His contemporaries gave him the title Apostle of God (Arabic: Rasul-Allah or Rasulallah), which is also used by Muslims today.
• Concerts of Muslim and especially Sufi devotional music include songs praising Muhammad (see Muslim music, Qawwali). See also:Praise of Muhammad in poetry
• Criticism of Muhammad is often equated with blasphemy, which is punishable by death in many Muslim states.
• Many Muslims believe that Islam prohibits depicting the prophet Muhammad in art. Others have accepted such depictions. See Depiction of Muhammad.

Non-Muslim view

Main article: Non-Muslim view of Muhammad

There are a range of views held by prominent non-Muslims on the significance and historical role of Muhammad. Their views are sometimes positive, for example the view of Mahatma Gandhi and William Montgomery Watt, while others have a significantly darker view, such as Henri Lammens.

Muhammad in related religious traditions

• Muhammad is also a prophet in the Zikri, and the Ahmadiyya traditions. These are sects closely related to Islam, and are considered by their followers to be sects thereof, but mainstream Muslims (Shias and Sunnis) see them as separate religions.
• The Druze, who accept most but not all Qur'anic revelations, also consider him a prophet.
• Bahá'ís venerate Muhammad as one of a number of prophets or "Manifestations of God", but consider his teachings to have been superseded by those of Bahá'u'lláh.

See also

• Arabian tribes that interacted with Muhammad
• Depictions of Muhammad
• Family tree of Muhammad
• Hadith
• Hanif
• Islam
• Islamic view of Muhammad
• Islamic views of Muhammad

• List of films about Muhammad

• Mohammad, Messenger of God (aka The Message)

• List of founders of major religions
• List of Islamic terms in Arabic
• Muezza
• Muhammad's marriages
• Sira

Bibliography

• Andrae, Tor (2000). Mohammed: The Man and His Faith. Dover. ISBN 0-486-41136-2.
• Armstrong, Karen (1993). Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN 0-06-250886-5.
• Cook, Michael (1983). Muhammad. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-287605-8 (reissue 1996).
• Dashti, Ali (1994). Twenty-Three Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad. Mazda. ISBN 1-56859-029-6.
• Glubb, John Bagot (1970). The Life and Times of Muhammad. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-8154-1176-6 (reprint 2002).
• Guillaume, Alfred, ed. (1955). The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-636033-1. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Hamidullah, Muhammad (1998). The Life and Work of the Prophet of Islam. [s.n.](Islamabad: Islamic Research Institute). ISBN 969-8413-00-6.
• Haykal, Muhammad Husayn (1995). The Life of Muhammad. Islamic Book Service. ISBN 1-57731-195-7.
• Lings, Martin (1987). Muhammad: His Life Based on Earliest Sources. Inner Traditions International, Limited. ISBN 0-89281-170-6.
• Motzki, Harald, ed. (2000). The Biography of Muhammad: The Issue of the Sources (Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and Texts, Vol. 32). Brill. ISBN 90-04-11513-7. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Rodinson, Maxime (1961). Muhammad. New Publishers. ISBN 1-56584-752-0.
• Rubin, Uri (1995). The Eye of the Beholder: The Life of Muhammad as Viewed by the Early Muslims (A Textual Analysis). Darwin Press. ISBN 0-87850-110-X.
• Schimmel, Annemarie (1985). And Muhammad is His Messenger: The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4128-5.
• Warraq, Ibn (2000). The Quest for the Historical Muhammad. Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-787-2.
• Watt, W. Montgomery (1961). Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-881078-4.

Additional Reading

• Berg, Herbert (Ed.) (2003). Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins. E. J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-12602-3.
• Lewis, Bernard (2002). The Arabs in History (6th edition ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280310-7. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Stillman, Norman (1975). The Jews of Arab Lands: a History and Source Book. Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0.

External links

Non-sectarian biography

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

Muslim biographies

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

Nonmuslim/Critical biographies

• William Muir: The Life of Mahomet