For any other religion, I’d preface this post with a nice, royalty-free picture of the founder of the faith. But since Islam forbids any image of people (or animals), since that would constitute a “potential idol,” I’m limited to words as I try to fill you in on the life of the Prophet Muhammad.
Sadly, I feel like even my words are limited. Although other faiths seem to be able to laugh off negative or humorous depictions of their founders (think of “Buddy Christ” from the movie Dogma, for example, which I thought was hilarious, despite my Catholic upbringing), there seem to be a few Muslims (although I’m sure they’re not the majority) who, well, kind of flip out if you make fun of Muhammad—or even attempt to draw a picture of him. I personally think everyone needs to have more of a sense of humor. But I’ll do my best to stay focused and positive here. Really.
Anyway . . . Muhammad was born in Mecca (in Saudi Arabia) around 570 c.e. His family was part of the Hashim clan, which was part of the Kuraish (or Quraish) tribe. (This means nothing to me, but I’m trying to learn.)
Muhammad’s father died shortly before his son’s birth, and some sources say Muhammad’s mother died soon after his birth. (Other sources say she survived and sent Muhammad to be raised by a foster mother, then took him back later, but died when he was around five years old.)
Either way, Muhammad was raised to adulthood by his uncle, Abu Talib, who set the young man to working tending his flock of sheep. Sounds like big fun for a teenager, doesn’t it?
By the time Muhammad reached his early twenties, he was known in his area for his honesty and good character. Although he was poor, he got a lucky break. He took a job leading a caravan to Syria for a wealthy woman named Khadijah, who was so impressed with him that she asked to marry him. (Just for the record, she was 40 and he was 25—which proves that cougars existed even back in the olden days.)
Muhammad and Khadijah were married for many years, and during their marriage, Muhammad became a rich merchant. (I am NOT going to mention the term gold digger. Oops.)
But even a happy marriage and successful business weren’t enough for Muhammad (nothing ever IS enough for a man, is it, ladies?).
When he was 40, Muhammad started to feel restless and began to notice, as authors Brandon Toropov and Father Luke Buckles write in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World Religions, “a powerful force in his life. A series of mystical experiences led him to conclude that he was being summoned to proclaim the word of the supreme and single God, Allah.” (Interesting—back in Muhammad’s day, a midlife crisis led to a career as a prophet, whereas today it generally leads to hair plugs and red convertibles.)
As with most people who believe God is calling them to do something, Muhammad was mostly ignored at first. Only a few friends and members of his family really believed he was, as he claimed, the last prophet of the one true God.
Over time, however, other people started to believe him—and that led the powerful chiefs of Mecca to make fun of him and, eventually, to attack him, fearing that his influence might damage the social order (if you recall the story of Jesus Christ’s life, this will all sound eerily familiar).
When Muhammad’s uncle, who had some pull with the local authorities, died, Muhammad lost a lot of his protection—and became the target of an assassination plot designed to crush his religious uprising.
Muhammad fled for his life and traveled to Yathrib (which later became known as Medina, or “City of the Prophet”). In 622, he had a group of his followers move from Mecca to Medina to join him. This exodus was called the Hegira, and it marks the first year of the Muslim era.
For a few years, there was skirmishing between Mecca and Medina. In 630, Muhammad said his enemies had violated a peace treaty, so he gathered forces and took over Mecca, destroying the idols housed there to emphasize his belief that only the one God, Allah, should be worshipped. This was the beginning of the world’s first Muslim state.
Muhammad didn’t get to enjoy his success for long, though. He died in Medina in 632.
So, what was Muhammad like as a person? Most of what we know comes from the Hadith, or the “sayings of Muhammad,” that were recorded by his followers. Unfortunately, just like with Jesus, a lot of this information was written down well after Muhammad’s death, so very little direct knowledge of Muhammad and his personality has survived.
I’m a snarky person by nature, so, of course, I always feel compelled to seek out the most negative side of any story. For Muhammad, it’s (unfortunately) pretty darn easy—just like it was for Jesus, back when I was studying Christianity in December.
I’ll limit myself to one critical comment: Despite the fact that Muhammad said no man should ever have more than four wives, Muhammad himself married a total of 14 women. But hey, he wasn’t just a sleazy womanizer. The four-wife limit, outlined in the Qur’an, was only revealed to Muhammad by God after he had already married the last of his wives. (Convenient? I think so, too.)
Okay, so let’s try to put a positive spin on this. Hmm. I’m trying. It’s just not coming to me. Let’s just go with the same thing I said about Jesus: His friends seemed to like him. How’s that?
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