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Muhammad

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Who2 Biography: Muhammad, Religious Figure
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Muhammad
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  • Born: c. 570
  • Birthplace: Mecca (now in Saudi Arabia)
  • Died: c. 632 (natural causes)
  • Best Known As: Founding prophet of Islam

Muhammad is the central prophet of the Islamic faith. Born into a noble Quraish (Quraysh) clan, he was orphaned at an early age. He grew up to be a successful merchant, then turned contemplative; it's said that beginning when he was 40, Muhammad was commanded by Allah (God) to recite the words that would later become Islam's holy book, the Qur'an (or Koran). As the revelations continued, Muhammad preached publicly of the duty to submit to the one true god, gaining followers and earning the enmity of the polytheistic authorities. To escape persecution, Muhammad was forced to flee in 622 to Yathrib (later called Medina). His poetic recitations and pleas for social justice continued to win converts, and Muhammad was repeatedly called into battle in his efforts to unite Arabia behind the faith known as Islam (meaning "submission"). After finally conquering Mecca in 630, Muhammad returned to Medina, where he died in 632.

The prophet's name is sometimes spelled 'Mohammed' or 'Mohamet'... To show respect, many Muslims say or write "peace be upon him" (abbreviated "pbuh") after the name of Muhammad and other prophets... Boxer Cassius Clay took the name Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam in the 1960s.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Muhammad
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(born c. 570, Mecca, Arabia — died June 8, 632, Medina) Arab prophet who established the religion of Islam. The son of a merchant of the ruling tribe, he was orphaned at age six. He married a rich widow, Khadijah, with whom he had six children, including Fatimah, a daughter. According to tradition, in 610 he was visited by the angel Gabriel, who informed Muhammad that he was the messenger of God. His revelations and teachings, recorded in the Qur'an, are the basis of Islam. He began to preach publicly c. 613, urging the rich to give to the poor and calling for the destruction of idols. He gained disciples but also acquired enemies, whose plan to murder Muhammad forced him to flee Mecca for Medina in 622. This flight, known as the Hijrah, marks the beginning of the Islamic era. Muhammad's followers defeated a Meccan force in 624; they suffered reverses in 625 but repelled a Meccan siege of Medina in 627. He won control of Mecca by 629 and of all Arabia by 630. He made his last journey to Mecca in 632, establishing the rites of the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. He died later that year and was buried at Medina. His life, teachings, and miracles have been the subjects of Muslim devotion and reflection ever since.

For more information on Muhammad, visit Britannica.com.

Biography: Mohammed
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Mohammed (ca. 570-632) was the founder of the religion of Islam and of a political unit at Medina that later developed into the Arab Empire, or Caliphate, and a multitude of successor states.

Arabia lay on the periphery of the two empires, the Byzantine and the Persian (Sassanian), which in the early 7th century controlled most of the region from the eastern Mediterranean to India. During the 6th century each made many efforts to gain advantages in Arabia at the expense of the other. From 572 until 628 there was almost constant war between the two, and this left the Byzantine Empire exhausted and the Persian on the point of collapse. This factor contributed largely to the rapidity of the Arab military advance into Persia, Iraq, Syria, and North Africa between 634 and 650.

The town of Mecca, where Mohammed was born about 570, was a commercial center which by 600 had gained monopolistic control of the caravan trade passing up and down the west coast of Arabia, conveying luxury goods from India and East Africa to Syria. In their own business interests the merchants of Mecca had remained neutral toward the two empires. Growing prosperity had led to a malaise among the inhabitants of Mecca, accompanied by religious questioning. Mohammed's clan of Hashim, like most of the Meccan clans, gained a livelihood by commerce, but some of the other clans had been more successful and were now wealthier.

Call To Be a Prophet

Mohammed's personal situation made him keenly aware of the tensions in Mecca. He was born posthumously, and his grandfather, Abdu-l-Muttalib, and his mother both died when he was a child. As a minor, he was unable by Arab custom to inherit anything. He was thus relatively poor until about 595, when a wealthy woman, Khadija, asked him to go to Syria as steward of her merchandise and, on the successful accomplishment of the mission, offered marriage. From this time onward Mohammed was comfortably off, but he began to spend time in solitary reflection on the problems of Mecca.

During a period of solitude about 610 Mohammed had two visions in which he beheld a supernatural being who said to him, "You are the Messenger of God" (this being the title more frequently given to him by Moslems than that of prophet). He also found certain words "in his heart" (that is, his mind). Friends helped to convince him that he was called to convey messages from God to the Arabs as Moses and Jesus had done to the Jews and Christians. He continued to receive such messages from time to time until his death. They were collected into chapters, or suras, partly during Mohammed's lifetime and definitively about 650, and constitute the Koran (Qur'ān). The Koran, though mediated by Mohammed's consciousness, is held by Moslems to come from God and should not be referred to as being of Mohammed's composition.

Meccan Preacher

At first Mohammed communicated these messages only to sympathetic friends, but from 612 or 613 he proclaimed them publicly. Many people in Mecca, especially among the younger men, became followers of Mohammed and Moslems, or adherents of his religion of Islam (submission, namely to God). In the course of time, however, opposition to Mohammed appeared among the leading merchants of Mecca, and he and his followers were subjected to various petty forms of persecution. Apparently to escape from such persecution some 80 of his followers emigrated for a time to Ethiopia. About 616, pressure in the form of a boycott was placed on the clan of Hashim to make it cease protecting Mohammed, but until after the death of the head of the clan, Mohammed's uncle Abu-Talib, about 619, it was felt that to abandon him would be dishonorable.

The new head, Abu-Lahab, however, found a way of justifying abandonment, and it became virtually impossible for Mohammed to continue preaching in Mecca. An attempt to move to the neighboring town of Taif proved abortive; but in September 622, after secret negotiations over the previous 2 years, he settled in the oasis of Medina, 200 miles to the north, where 70 of his followers had already gone. This "emigration" (rather than "flight") is the Hijra (Latin, hegira), on which the Islamic era is based.

First Years at Medina

The Arab clans of Medina mostly acknowledged Mohammed's prophethood and entered into alliance with him and the emigrants from Mecca. At first the emigrants depended on Medinese hospitality, but soon small groups of them began to attempt raids on Meccan caravans. Later the Moslems of Medina also joined in. This was a variant of the common Arab practice of the razzia. At first the raids had little success, but in March 624 a larger band of just over 300, led by Mohammed himself, after failing to intercept a caravan, decisively defeated a supporting force of perhaps 800 Meccans with heavy losses. This was a serious blow to Meccan prestige, and the Moslems felt that God was vindicating Mohammed.

To teach Mohammed a lesson, the Meccans in March 625 invaded the Medinese oasis with about 3,000 men. Mohammed, obliged to fight by some supporters, stationed his force of 1,000 on the lower slopes of Uhud, a hill in the north of the oasis, where they were safe from the Meccan cavalry. An attack of the Meccan infantry was repulsed by the Moslems, but as they pursued the fugitives, the cavalry managed to attack them on the flank. Many were killed before they could regain the safety of the hill. Militarily this was not a serious reverse for Mohammed, since the Meccans had also suffered casualties and retreated immediately without following up their advantage; but the reverse shook the belief that God was vindicating him, and confidence was only gradually restored.

Though the Moslems were now making several smaller razzias each year with a measure of success, the next major event was the siege of Medina by 10,000 Meccans and allies in April 627. Mohammed protected the central part of the oasis by a trench which foiled the cavalry, and after a fortnight the alliance broke up and the siege was raised. The Meccans had now shot their bolt and failed to dislodge Mohammed. When he went to Mecca in March 628 with 1,600 men, ostensibly to perform traditional pilgrimage rites, the Meccans turned him back but concluded the Treaty of al-Hudaybiya with him.

Though the terms of the treaty slightly favored the Meccans, the signing of it was a triumph for Mohammed. In the following months many nomadic tribesmen and a few leading Meccans went to Medina to join Mohammed and become Moslems. When the treaty was denounced in January 630 after an incident involving allies of each side, Mohammed was able to march on Mecca with 10,000 men. There was virtually no resistance, and Mohammed entered Mecca in triumph. A few persons guilty of hostile or objectionable acts were proscribed, but the Meccans in general were leniently treated. A fort-night later 2,000 joined Mohammed's army in opposing a concentration of tribesmen east of Mecca and shared in the victory of Hunayn.

New Religion

By 630 the religion of Islam had attained a definite form. In the earliest parts the Koran had emphasized God's goodness and power and had called on men to acknowledge this in worship. It had also asserted the reality of the Day of Judgment, when men would be assigned to paradise or hell in accordance with their attitude to God's revelation, their generosity with their wealth, and similar points. These matters were relevant to the tensions of Mecca, which were seen as arising from the merchants' overconfidence in their wealth and power. After the appearance of opposition to Mohammed, the Koran contained attacks on idols and an insistence that "there is no deity but God."

The religious practices of the Moslems included communal worship or prayers several times a day, in which the climax was prostration, the touching of the ground with the forehead in acknowledgement of God's majesty. They also gave alms in the form of a kind of tithe. At Medina the fast from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan was introduced; and when circumstances made it possible, some of the ceremonies of the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca became a duty for Moslems.

Years of Triumph

In 622 Mohammed, though recognized as prophet in Medina, had been only one clan chief among nine. His power and authority grew, however, with the success of the razzias and other expeditions undertaken by the Moslems, especially those against the Meccans. There were Jewish clans in Medina, wealthy but now politically subordinate to the Arab clans, and these made damaging criticisms of Mohammed's religious teaching and sometimes intrigued with his enemies. On suitable occasions in 622, 624, and 625 he attacked the three main clans and expelled them. In the last case all the men were put to death.

Beyond Medina a system of alliances was gradually built up with the nomadic Arab tribes. As Mohammed grew stronger, he came to insist that those wanting an alliance should become Moslems. After the conquest of Mecca and the victory at Hunayn in January 630, he was the strongest man in Arabia, and deputations came from tribes or parts of tribes in eastern, central, and southern Arabia, seeking alliance with him. When he died on June 8, 632, he was in effective control of a large part of Arabia, but it is impossible to define exactly the area he ruled, since we do not know how important in the tribe or local community was the group allied to Mohammed.

His Personality and Achievement

Mohammed is said to have been a fast walker, of sturdy build, with a prominent forehead, a hooked nose, large brownish-black eyes, and a pleasant smile. He showed great tact in his dealings with people and, when appropriate, gentleness and even tenderness. Medieval Europe, however, on the defensive against Arab armies and Islamic culture, came to look on him as a monster or demon. Even scholars depicted him as treacherous and lecherous and an impostor. The last he certainly was not, for as Thomas Carlyle pointed out in 1840, a great religion cannot be founded on imposture.

At time Mohammed was indeed harsh to those in his power, but this was not out of keeping with the age. His marital relations - at his death he had nine wives and one concubine - must also be judged in the context of the age. A political purpose can be traced in all his marriages, and he was also creating a new family structure to replace older matrilineal family structures associated with undesirable polyandric practices. For his time he was a social reformer.

Politically his great achievement was to create the framework which made possible the uniting of the Arab tribes and was capable of being developed to include an empire. Mohammed was aware at least by 627 that it would be necessary to expand beyond Arabia, since tribes allied to him could not raid other allies and must direct their energies further afield. He thus devoted special attention to the tribes on the route to Syria and to a lesser extent on the route to Iraq. He was also to win over to his cause his chief Meccan opponents, and their administrative skills were later invaluable in conquering and ruling numerous provinces. The growth of the Arab Empire, and with it of the religion of Islam, was made possible by favorable circumstances; but the opportunity would not have been grasped but for Mohammed's gifts as visionary, statesman, and administrator.

Further Reading

The most recent full account of Mohammed is contained in the two works by W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad at Mecca (1953) and Muhammad at Medina (1956). These volumes are briefly summarized in Watt's Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman (1961). Tor Andrae, Mohammed: The Man and His Faith (trans. 1936), is chiefly concerned with the religious aspect. Rather slighter is the section on Mohammed in Francesco Gabrieli, Muhammad and the Conquests of Islam (1967; trans. 1968). The primary Arabic biography is translated by Alfred Guillaume as The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah (1955).

Norman Daniel, Islam and the West: The Making of an Image (1960), discusses the medieval distortions. The best of the numerous translations of the Koran are those by George Sale, Selections from the Kur-an (1734; 5th ed. 1855), and Arthur J. Arberry, The Koran Interpreted (1955). Richard Bell, Introduction to the Qur'an (1953; rev. ed. 1958), is also recommended. For general background see G. E. von Grunebaum, Classical Islam: A History, 600 A.D.-1258 A.D. (1971), and P.M. Holt, Ann K. S. Lambton, and Bernard Lewis, eds., The Cambridge History of Islam (2 vols., 1971).

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Muhammad
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Muhammad (məhăm'əd) [Arab.,=praised], 570?-632, the name of the Prophet of Islam, one of the great figures of history, b. Mecca.

Early Life

Muhammad was the son of Abdallah ibn Abd al-Muttalib and his wife Amina, both of the Hashim clan of the dominant Kuraish (Quraysh) tribal federation. Muhammad was orphaned soon after birth, and was brought up by his uncle Abu Talib. When he was 24, he married Khadija, a wealthy widow much his senior; he had no other wife in Khadija's lifetime. Khadija's daughter Fatima was the only child of Muhammad to have issue. His position in the community was that of a wealthy merchant.

Call to Prophecy

When he was 40, Muhammad felt himself selected by God to be the Arab prophet of true religion. The Arabs, unlike other nations, had hitherto had no prophet. In the cave of Mt. Hira, N of Mecca, he had a vision in which he was commanded to preach. Thereafter throughout his life he continued to have revelations, many of which were collected and recorded in the Qur'an. His fundamental teachings were: there is one God; people must in all things submit to Him; in this world nations have been amply punished for rejecting God's prophets, and heaven and hell are waiting for the present generation; the world will come to an end with a great judgment. He included as religious duties frequent prayer and almsgiving, and he forbade usury.

Enemies and Converts

In his first years Muhammad made few converts but many enemies. His first converts were Khadija, Ali (who became the husband of Fatima), and Abu Bakr. From about 620, Mecca became actively hostile, since much of its revenues depended on its pagan shrine, the Kaaba, and an attack on the existing Arab religion was an attack on the prosperity of Mecca. While he was gaining only enemies at home, Muhammad's teaching was faring little better abroad; only at Yathrib did it make any headway, and on Yathrib depended the future of Islam. In the summer of 622 Muhammad fled from Mecca as an attempt was being prepared to murder him, and he escaped in the night from the city and made his way to Yathrib. From this event, the flight, or Hegira, of the Prophet (622), the Islamic calendar begins.

Muhammad spent the rest of his life at Yathrib, henceforth called Medina, the City of the Prophet. At Medina he built his model theocratic state and from there ruled his rapidly growing empire. Muhammad's lawgiving at Medina is at least theoretically the law of Islam, and in its evolution over the next 10 years the history of the community at Medina is seen.

Medina lies on the caravan route N of Mecca, and the Kuraishites of Mecca could not endure the thought of their outlawed relative taking vengeance on his native city by plundering their caravans. A pitched battle between Muhammad's men and the Meccans occurred at Badr, and the victory of an inferior force from the poorer city over the men of Mecca gave Islam great prestige in SW Arabia. More than a year later the battle of Uhud was fought but with less fortunate results. By this time pagan Arabia had been converted, and the Prophet's missionaries, or legates, were active in the Eastern Empire, in Persia, and in Ethiopia.

As he believed firmly in his position as last of the prophets and as successor of Jesus, Muhammad seems at first to have expected that the Jews and Christians would welcome him and accept his revelations, but he was soon disappointed. Medina had a large Jewish population which controlled most of the wealth of the city, and they steadfastly refused to give their new ruler any kind of religious allegiance. Muhammad, after a long quarrel, appropriated much of their property, and his first actual conquest was the oasis of Khaibar, occupied by the Jews, in 628. The failure of several missions among the Christians made him distrustful of Christians as well as Jews.

His renown increased, and in 629 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca without interference. There he won valuable converts, including Amr and Khalid (who had fought him at Uhud). In 630 he marched against Mecca, which fell without a fight. Arabia was won. Muhammad's private life-the fact that he had nine wives-has received a vast, and perhaps disproportionate, amount of attention. His third wife, Aishah, was able and devoted; he died in her arms June 8, 632.

Legends and Veneration

Islam has enshrouded Muhammad's life with a mass of legends and traditions (contained in the Hadith). Islamic dogma stresses his exclusively human nature, while presenting him as infallible on matters of prophecy. Muhammad is still perceived as the ultimate subject of emulation. At a popular level, Muslims throughout the world venerate Muhammad by expressing their love and devotion to him through numerous poems, folk songs, and formulaic prayers invoking God's blessings. Many believe that he will intercede for the Muslim community on the day of judgment. His deeds and sayings are collected in the sunna. He is considered by most Muslims to have been sinless. Muhammad is probably the most common given name, with variations including the W African Mamadu and the Turkic Mehmet. He was known to medieval Christianity as Mahomet.

Bibliography

See biographies by T. Andrae (tr. 1936, repr. 1971), W. M. Watt (1953), M. Hamidullah (1959), M. Rodinson (tr. 1971), M. Lings (1983), and K. Armstrong (1992 and 2006); see also A. Schimmel, And Muhammad Is His Messenger (1985).

Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia: Muhammad
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570 - 632

The Prophet of Islam.

Muhammad is referred to by Muslims as rasul allah (the messenger of God) or al-nabi (the Prophet), an appellation that they always follow with the invocation salla allah alayhi wa sallam (May God's peace and blessing be upon him).

Early Life

He was born in Mecca in 570, the year of the Elephant, a fortuitous year in tradition, since Mecca in that year survived an Abyssinian invasion directed through Yemen. Although one of various pagan centers in Arabia, Mecca was considered the most important one on account of the Kaʿba, a cubical religious sanctuary revered since ancient times. A spiritual focal point for devotees, who came to it as pilgrims with sacrifices, Mecca provided a convenient meeting point for merchants who exchanged goods there and poets who displayed their literary talents and competed for the attention of its wealthy guests and residents. Authority over the city rested in a loose confederation of tribal groups largely dominated by the tribe of Quraysh. Muhammad was born to the clan of Banu Hashim (Hashimites), a branch within Quraysh that was known less for its wealth than for its religious prestige. The patriarch of the clan was traditionally entrusted with caring for the Kaʿba and maintenance of the pilgrimage facilities, such as the renowned well of zamzam, where Islamic tradition states that in ancient times Ismaʿil, abandoned with his mother Hagar by Abraham (Ibrahim), struck water in the desert and thereby attracted settlement in that spot. Because Mecca is situated on the overland route between Yemen and Syria, its importance as a station, market, and religious center grew with the increasing caravan trade in the region.

Muhammad grew up as an orphan, having lost both of his parents by the age of six. He was then cared for briefly by his grandfather, Abd al-Muttalib, the patriarch of his clan, and afterward by his uncle Abu Talib. In his adolescent years, Muhammad joined his uncle on trade journeys, the most notable of which were to Syria, and he noticed the effects of this commercial boom on his city. The growth of excessive competition in Mecca was gradually undermining traditional Arab tribal values that emphasized principles of solidarity, mutual help, and magnanimity (muru'a), and leaving a pool of destitute and disenfranchised Meccans who were abandoned by a new, wealth-driven generation. In this troubled Arab milieu, Muhammad, who attracted attention in Mecca because of his fair dealing, honesty, and moral sensitivity, was commissioned by a wealthy widow, Khadija, to take charge of her caravan trade. Aged twenty-five, Muhammad married Khadija, fifteen years his senior; she bore him two sons (al-Qasim and Abdullah), who died in infancy, and four daughters (Zaynab, Ruqiyya, Umm Kulthum, and Fatima).

Beyond his distress about the social malaise in Mecca, Muhammad was dissatisfied with the pagan beliefs of the Meccans. The Kaʿba, surrounded by idols that catered to various pagan cults, had become a platform for profit making and opportunism.

Beginning of Islamic Religion

Seeking a full break with this society, Muhammad found solace in spiritual retreats that he undertook in a mountain cave, Hira, on the outskirts of Mecca. According to tradition, Muhammad spent long stretches of time alone in the cave, and it was on one of these occasions, in the year 610, that the angel Gabriel ( Jabril) appeared to him and presented him with the words, "Recite in the name of thy Lord, the Creator" (Sura 96:1). Gabriel announced to Muhammad that he was to be the messenger of God and called on him to warn his people against polytheism and to lead them to the worship of the one God. The first words of the Qurʾan came to light in the month of Ramadan - hence the religious importance of that month - and other verses followed in later years in various contexts over the course of Muhammad's life. Those closest to Muhammad - his wife, Khadija, his cousin Ali, his companion Abu Bakr, and his servant Zayd - were the first to hear the words of the Qurʾan and to embrace the new message, Islam (meaning literally surrendering oneself to the will of God). After overcoming some initial hesitation, Muhammad grew confident in his sense of mission and took the message to the public arena of Mecca.

The earliest Qurʾanic recitations of Muhammad emphasized the belief in absolute monotheism. Meccans were called on to cast aside all polytheism and to worship the one God, Allah, the creator of the universe. The Qurʾan described the omniscience and omnipotence of God and invited the people (al-nas) to ponder the signs of creation. The Qurʾan also admonished the Meccans for their exploitative business practices, involving usurious transactions and unfairness, and warned them of the existence of Judgment Day, when all would be rewarded or punished according to their deeds. This admonishment, together with Muhammad's public denigration of paganism, elicited the hostility of the leading Meccan merchants, who, in addition to feeling their pride offended, feared that the Islamic concept of one God would undermine the status of Mecca as a pagan center and an economic hub. Recognizing the significance of Hashimite solidarity, the Meccans at first attempted to make Muhammad abandon his attack on paganism by such methods as offering to make him king of Mecca, but when all failed, they declared a boycott against him and tried to extend it to all his clan.

In Mecca, Muhammad gained few Islamic converts (primarily young men, some from affluent families), and his attempt to preach in the neighboring town of Taʾif elicited even greater hostility than in Mecca. Finally, in 620, the prospects of the new religion began to change when Muhammad met six men from Medina who were visiting Mecca. This Medinese group, from the tribe of Khazraj, had long been familiar with messianic expectations that circulated in the discourse of Jews and Christians living in the region and proved receptive to the Islamic prophecy. The next year, this group held a larger meeting between Muhammad and seventy residents of Medina who pledged loyalty to the Prophet and invited him to their town. After years of rivalry in Medina between its two leading tribes, the Aws and the Khazraj, Muhammad's leadership offered the possibility of a neutral authority that could mediate disputes, administer the affairs of a diverse community, and contribute to its social recovery. As the hostility of the Meccans to the new religion and its adherents mounted, Muhammad finally decided to migrate, with Abu Bakr, to Medina in a secret journey that took place on 17 September 622. The trip, known in Arabic as hijra (migration), would later mark the beginning of the Islamic lunar calendar.

Rise of Islamic State

Once established in Medina, Muhammad set about organizing the nascent Islamic community and strengthening fraternalist ties between the Meccan emigrants (al-muhajirun) and the Medinese, known as the helpers (al-ansar). In a document referred to by scholars today as the Constitution of Medina, Muhammad declared the unity of the community (umma) of Medina under his leadership and stipulated that all matters of legal and political concern were to be referred to him. Medina's hosting of the new religion soon made it the target of Meccan hostility. In 624, mounting tension between the two cities finally led to the first military confrontation at the battle of Badr, where a small Muslim force succeeded in beating back a larger Meccan army. The significance of Badr was not so much military as political. Muhammad's victory strengthened his support in Medina, attracted the admiration of tribal leaders from around the Arabian peninsula, and undermined the prestige of the Meccan order. Between the years 624 and 628, Mecca engaged the Medinese in numerous military skirmishes and battles, the most famous of which was the battle of alKhandaq (the Trench) in 626. In that year, Mecca assembled a massive confederation of neighboring tribes to invade Medina, but the campaign was forestalled by the Medinese strategy of digging a trench around Medina. The Meccan army, unprepared for a siege and composed of tribal groups that had united for a quick battle only, soon dispersed and retreated.

This last confrontation definitively turned Muhammad into the central leadership figure, and it was then only a matter of time before Mecca would itself become vulnerable to conquest. In 628, Muhammad set out to Mecca on pilgrimage with the new community, only to find his way blocked by the Meccans. At the peace of al-Hudaybiyya in that year, the Meccans called for a long-term truce, after which Muslims would be allowed access to Mecca for pilgrimage. Two years later, the treaty was violated by confederate tribesmen of Mecca, and this opened the way for the Islamic conquest of Mecca, which took place peacefully in 630. A year later, various Arab tribal chiefs from around the peninsula converged on Medina to pay homage or pledge allegiance to the Prophet. Whether nominal or effective, Muhammad's political authority had extended over the greater part of the peninsula, and texts of letters can be obtained from Islamic sources that Muhammad sent to neighboring kings of Persia and Byzantium, as well as various regional princes, inviting them to embrace Islam.

Medina continued its role as the capital of the Islamic state, although Mecca, after the destruction of the idols around the Kaʿba, became the spiritual center of Islam. In 632, soon after completing pilgrimage at Mecca and setting out again for Medina, Muhammad fell mortally ill from a fever. In his final days, he made no specific arrangements for succession. With illness preventing him from leading the prayers, the Prophet asked Abu Bakr to lead the community in prayers, and this gesture would later be interpreted in Sunni Islam as a recommendation for political succession. Shiʿite Islam, in contrast, turns toother traditions describing Muhammad's praise for Ali as a reflection of the Prophet's general designation of Ali as his successor. Ali was also, through his marriage to Fatima, the father of Muhammad's two grandchildren, al-Hasan and al-Husayn.

The life of Muhammad has long captivated the attention of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Muslims look on him not only as a spiritual guide but also as an exemplar in social, ethical, and political terms. Islamic law grew not only from Qurʾanic edicts but also from the Islamic understanding of Muhammad's day-to-day manner of handling all sorts of temporal issues. Oral tradition (hadith) transmitted through Muhammad's companions recounts in detail his instructions and how he lived. Outside observers, on the other hand, continue to weigh Muhammad's achievements in comparison with those of other spiritual masters. In his confrontation with polytheism and his experience of migration, he is compared to Abraham, whereas as promulgator of the rudiments of Islamic law, he evokes a connection with Moses; in his political leadership of the community, he evokes a connection with David. In the vast desert on the fringes of the urban and sophisticated empires of the time - those of the Byzantines and the Sassanians, each with long traditions of structured governmental institutions - Muhammad united both the nomadic and sedentary Arabs into a coherent social unit that would later conquer these powers. Although this political expansion took place under his successors, Muhammad had laid the foundation for an Islamic universalist social vision that was rooted in a unifying monotheistic belief. The memory of the prophetic experience of hijra between cities henceforth inspired its emulation on a grander scale outside Arabia.

Bibliography

Cook, Michael. Muhammad. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Guillaume, Alfred. The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of IbnIshaq's "Sirat Rasul Allah." London, 1955.

Lings, Martin. Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, revised edition. Cambridge, U.K.: Islamic Texts Society, 2001.

Muir, Sir William. The Life of Mohammad (1912). New York: AMS Press, 1975.

Rodinson, Maxime. Mohammed, translated by Anne Carter. New York: Pantheon, 1971.

Watt, W. Montgomery. Muhammad at Mecca. Oxford: Clarendon, 1953.

Watt, W. Montgomery. Muhammad at Medina. Oxford: Clarendon, 1956.

Watt, W. Montgomery. Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1961; reprint 1974.

— TAYEB EL-HIBRI

Islamic Dictionary: Abu al-QAsim Muhammad ibn `Abd AllAh ibn `Abd al-Muttalib ibn HAshim Arab
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(ca. 572-632) prophet and founder of Islam. Mohammad was born of the Koreish people in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Each year he would climb Mt. Hira for meditation. One year he returned from the mountain, declaring himself a prophet, or messenger, of God. Returning to Mecca, he preached his message for nine years, attracting many disciples, much to the dismay of those practicing established beliefs (much like the experience of Jesus). In 612 A.D. he was forced to flee from enemies. This year marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar: 1A.H. (= After Hejrat, i.e. "after the flight"). His flight allowed him to gather his followers and in 630 A.D. he returned to wrest Mecca from the hands of the Koreish. He was then acknowledged the last prophet of Allah by all Arabia.

Etymology: Muhammad "praised, extolled" passive participle of intensive hammada "to extoll" from hamida "to praise." Akin to Ahmad, Hamid, Hamdi, and Mahmud (see also 'Arabic language').


Quotes By: Mohammed
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Quotes:

"Patience is the key to contentment."

"Believe, if thou wilt, that mountains change their place, but believe not that man changes his nature."

"If anyone tells you someone has changed their character; don't believe it."

"Give the laborer his wages before his perspiration be dry."

"A man's true wealth is the good he does in the world."

"The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr."

See more famous quotes by Mohammed

The Dream Encyclopedia: Muhammad
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According to tradition, Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was born in 570 c.e., the same year Mecca was attacked by the army of Abrahah, ruler of Yemen. At the age of forty, during the holy month of Ramadan while he was sleeping in a mountaintop cave between the hills of Safa and Meeva, near Mecca, he received the first revelation of the Qur'an. By that time, he had already experienced visions of isolated luminous and sonorous impressions that he described as "the breaking of the light of dawn." He himself was never able to translate some of those images, which appear as isolated letters placed at the beginning of several parts of the Qur'an.

In the "Lailatal-Miraj" or ("Night Journey"), the dream in which Muhammad's religious mission as well as portions of the Qur'an were revealed, the angel Gabriel appeared to him, leading Elboraq, a half-human silver mare. Riding Elboraq, and led by Gabriel, Muhammad traveled to Jerusalem in an instant, and there he conversed and prayed with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Continuing on his journey, he traversed the seven celestial spheres. Each sphere is infused with its own color, the esoteric meanings of which relate to the seven levels of existence: material, vegetable, animal, human, and three more beyond ordinary human nature. Then he reached across the ocean of white light, and, finally, he approached God. According to some versions of the story, Muhammad also descended to the depths of the earth.

Belief in the inspiration given to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel during this dream is a fundamental element of Islam. According to Muhammad, he is the last prophet placed at the end of a long line of precursors, who had been inspired in the same way. Their inspiration, to which Islamic theology gives the name revelation, was destined to be made public, and such inspiration ceased after Muhammad's death.

Muhammad showed considerable concern for dreams, and it is said that each morning after prayers he asked his assembled followers what they had dreamed, interpreted the most significant dreams, and reported his own. By doing this, he believed he could glean from the dreams any messages from God.

The principles of dream interpretation that Muhammad used were common to those of other Near Eastern religions, and much importance was given to truthful telling of dreams, which was best done immediately on waking, as well as to the quality of the dream interpreter. According to Muhammad, a dream is a conversation between humanity and God.

Wikipedia: Muhammad
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For other persons named Muhammad, see Muhammad (name). For other uses, see Muhammad (disambiguation).
The name "Muhammad" in traditional Thuluth calligraphy by the hand of Hattat Aziz Efendi.[1]

A series of articles on

Muhammad callig.gif
Prophet of Islam
Muhammad

Life
Companions · Family tree · In Mecca · In Medina · Conquest of Mecca · The Farewell Sermon · Succession

Career
Diplomacy · Family · Wives · Military leadership

Succession
Farewell Pilgrimage · Pen and paper · Saqifah · General bay'ah

Interactions with
Slaves · Jews · Christians

Perspectives
Muslim (Poetic and Mawlid) · Medieval Christian · Historicity · Criticism · Depictions

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Texts and laws

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Fiqh · Sharia · Kalam · Sufism

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Glossary of Islamic terms

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Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh (Arabic: محمّد; Transliteration: Muḥammad;[2] pronounced [mʊħɑmmæd]  ( listen); also spelled Mohammed or Muhammed)[3][4][5] (ca. 570/571 Mecca[مَكَةَ ]/[ مَكَهْ ] – June 8, 632 Medina),[6] is the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of God (Arabic: الله‎ Allāh), the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets as taught by the Qur'an 33:40–40. Muslims thus consider him the restorer of an uncorrupted original monotheistic faith (islām) of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets.[7][8][9] He was also active as a diplomat, merchant, philosopher, orator, legislator, reformer, military general, and, according to Muslim belief, an agent of divine action.[10]

Born in 570 in the Arabian city of Mecca,[11] he was orphaned at a young age and brought up under the care of his uncle Abu Talib. He later worked mostly as a merchant, as well as a shepherd, and was first married by age 25. Discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he claimed to receive his first revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām) is the only way (dīn)[12] acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as other Islamic prophets.[9][13][14]

Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was met with hostility from some Meccan tribes; he and his followers were treated harshly. To escape persecution Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina (then known as Yathrib) in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad united the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to ten thousand, conquered Mecca. In 632, a few months after returning to Medina from his Farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam; and he united the tribes of Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity.[15][16]

The revelations (or Ayat, lit. "Signs of God")—which Muhammad reported receiving until his death—form the verses of the Qur'an, regarded by Muslims as the “Word of God” and around which the religion is based. Besides the Qur'an, Muhammad’s life (sira) and traditions (sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims. They discuss Muhammad and other prophets of Islam with reverence, adding the phrase peace be upon him whenever their names are mentioned.[17] While conceptions of Muhammad in medieval Christendom and premodern times were largely negative, appraisals in modern times have been far less so.[14][18] Besides this, his life and deeds have been debated by followers and opponents over the centuries.[19]

Contents

Names and appellations in the Qur'an

The name Muhammad means "Praiseworthy" and occurs four times in the Qur'an.[20] The Qur'an addresses Muhammad in the second person not by his name but by the appellations prophet, messenger, servant of God ('abd), announcer (bashir), warner (nathir), reminder (mudhakkir), witness (shahid), bearer of good tidings (mubashshir), one who calls [unto God] (dā‘ī) and the light-giving lamp (siraj munir). Muhammad is sometimes addressed by designations deriving from his state at the time of the address: thus he is referred to as the enwrapped (al-muzzammil) in Qur'an 73:1 and the shrouded (al-muddaththir) in Qur'an 74:1.[21] In the Qur'an, believers are not to distinguish between the messengers of God and are to believe in all of them (Surah 2:285). God has caused some messengers to excel above others 2:253 and in Surah 33:40 He singles out Muhammad as the "Seal of the Prophets".[22] The Qur'an also refers to Muhammad as Aḥmad "more praiseworthy" (Arabic: أحمد‎, Surah 61:6).

Sources for Muhammad's life

Prophet Muhammad at the Ka'ba, The Life of the Prophet Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul (Inv. 1222/123b), illustration by Nakkaş Osman [c. 1595].
Main articles: Historiography of early Islam and Historicity of Muhammad

Being a highly influential historical figure, Muhammad's life, deeds, and thoughts have been debated by followers and opponents over the centuries, which makes a biography of him difficult to write.[14]

The Qur'an

Muslims regard the Qur'an as the primary source of knowledge about the historical Muhammad.[14] The Qur'an has a few allusions to Muhammad's life,[23]. The Qur'an responds "constantly and often candidly to Muhammad's changing historical circumstances and contains a wealth of hidden data."[14]

Early biographies

Next in importance are the historical works by writers of the third and fourth century of the Muslim era.[24] These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him (the sira and hadith literature), which provide further information on Muhammad's life.[25]

The earliest surviving written sira (biographies of Muhammad and quotes attributed to him) is Ibn Ishaq's Life of God's Messenger written ca. 767 (150 AH). The work is lost, but was used verbatim at great length by Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari.[23][26]

Another early source is the history of Muhammad's campaigns by al-Waqidi (death 207 of Muslim era), and the work of his secretary Ibn Sa'd al-Baghdadi (death 230 of Muslim era).[24]

Many scholars accept the accuracy of the earliest biographies, though their accuracy is unascertainable.[23] Recent studies have led scholars to distinguish between the traditions touching legal matters and the purely historical ones. In the former sphere, traditions could have been subject to invention while in the latter sphere, aside from exceptional cases, the material may have been only subject to "tendential shaping".[27]

In addition, the hadith collections are accounts of the verbal and physical traditions of Muhammad that date from several generations after his death.[28] Hadith compilations are records of the traditions or sayings of Muhammad. They might be defined as the biography of Muhammad perpetuated by the long memory of his community for their exemplification and obedience.[29]

Western academics view the hadith collections with caution as accurate historical sources.[28] Scholars such as Madelung do not reject the narrations which have been complied in later periods, but judge them in the context of history and on the basis of their compatibility with the events and figures.[30]

Finally, there are oral traditions. Although usually discounted by historians, oral tradition plays a major role in the Islamic understanding of Muhammad.[19]

Non-Arabic sources

The earliest Greek source for Muhammed is the 9th century writer Theophanes. The earliest Syriac source is the 7th century John bar Penkaye.[31]

Background

Main articles: Pre-Islamic Arabia and Jahiliyyah
Approximate locations of some of the important tribes and Empire of the Arabian Peninsula at the dawn of Islam (approximately 600 CE / 50 BH).

The Arabian Peninsula was largely arid and volcanic, making agriculture difficult except near oases or springs. The landscape was thus dotted with towns and cities, two prominent ones being Mecca and Medina. Medina was a large flourishing agricultural settlement, while Mecca was an important financial center for many surrounding tribes.[32] Communal life was essential for survival in the desert conditions, as people needed support against the harsh environment and lifestyle. Tribal grouping was encouraged by the need to act as a unit, this unity being based on the bond of kinship by blood.[33] Indigenous Arabs were either nomadic or sedentary (or bedouins), the former constantly travelling from one place to another seeking water and pasture for their flocks, while the latter settled and focused on trade and agriculture. Nomadic survival was also dependent on raiding caravans or oases, the nomads not viewing this as a crime.[34][35]

In pre-Islamic Arabia, gods or goddesses were viewed as protectors of individual tribes, their spirits being associated with sacred trees, stones, springs and wells. As well as being the site of an annual pilgrimage, the Kaaba shrine in Mecca housed 360 idol statues of tribal patron deities. Aside from these gods, the Arabs shared a common belief in a supreme deity called Allah (literally "the god"), who was remote from their everyday concerns and thus not the object of cult or ritual. Three goddesses were associated with Allah as his daughters: Allāt, Manāt and al-‘Uzzá. Monotheistic communities existed in Arabia, including Christians and Jews.[36] Hanifs – native pre-Islamic Arab monotheists – are also sometimes listed alongside Jews and Christians in pre-Islamic Arabia, although their historicity is disputed amongst scholars.[37][38] According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a Hanif and one of the descendants of Ishmael, son of Abraham.[39]


Life

Main article: Muhammad in Mecca

Muhammad in Mecca

Muhammad was born and lived in Mecca for the first 52 years of his life (570–622) which was divided into two phases, that is before and after declaring the prophecy.

Childhood and early life

See also: Year of the Elephant, Mawlid, and Family tree of Muhammad

Muhammad was born in the month of Rabi' al-awwal in 570. He belonged to the Banu Hashim, one of the prominent families of Mecca, although it seems not to have been prosperous during Muhammad's early lifetime.[14][40] Tradition places the year of Muhammad's birth as corresponding with the Year of the Elephant, which is named after the failed destruction of Mecca that year by the Aksumite king Abraha who had in his army a number of elephants. Recent scholarship has suggested alternative dates for this event, such as 568 or 569.[41]

Muhammad's father, Abdullah, died almost six months before he was born.[42] According to the tradition, soon after Muhammad's birth he was sent to live with a Bedouin family in the desert, as the desert-life was considered healthier for infants. Muhammad stayed with his foster-mother, Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb, and her husband until he was two years old. Some western scholars of Islam have rejected the historicity of this tradition.[43] At the age of six Muhammad lost his mother Amina to illness and he became fully orphaned.[44] He was subsequently brought up for two years under the guardianship of his paternal grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, of the Banu Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe. When Muhammad was eight, his grandfather also died. He now came under the care of his uncle Abu Talib, the new leader of Banu Hashim.[41] According to Watt, because of the general disregard of the guardians in taking care of weak members of the tribes in Mecca in sixth century, "Muhammad's guardians saw that he did not starve to death, but it was hard for them to do more for him, especially as the fortunes of the clan of Hashim seem to have been declining at that time."[45]

While still in his teens, Muhammad accompanied his uncle on trading journeys to Syria gaining experience in the commercial trade, the only career open to Muhammad as an orphan.[45] According to tradition, when Muhammad was either nine or twelve while accompanying the Meccans' caravan to Syria, he met a Christian monk or hermit named Bahira who is said to have foreseen Muhammed's career as a prophet of God.[46]

Little is known of Muhammad during his later youth, and from the fragmentary information that is available, it is hard to separate history from legend.[45] It is known that he became a merchant and "was involved in trade between the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean Sea."[47] Due to his upright character he acquired the nickname "Al-Amin" (Arabic: الامين), meaning "faithful, trustworthy" and was sought out as an impartial arbitrator.[11][14][48] His reputation attracted a proposal from Khadijah, a forty-year-old widow in 595. Muhammad consented to the marriage, which by all accounts was a happy one.[47]

Beginnings of the Qur'an

See also: Origin and development of the Qur'an and Wahy
The cave Hira in the mountain Jabal al-Nour where, according to Muslim beliefs, Muhammad received his first revelation.

At some point Muhammad adopted the practice of meditating alone for several weeks every year in a cave on Mount Hira near Mecca.[49][50] Islamic tradition holds that during one of his visits to Mount Hira, the angel Gabriel appeared to him in the year 610 and commanded Muhammad to recite the following verses:[51]

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.(Qur'an 96:1-5)

According to some traditions, upon receiving his first revelations Muhammad was deeply distressed and contemplated throwing himself off the top of a mountain but the spirit moved closer and told him that he has been chosen as a messenger of God. Muhammad returned home and was consoled and reassured by his wife, Khadijah and her Christian cousin, Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Shia tradition maintains that Muhammad was neither surprised nor frightened at the appearance of Gabriel but rather welcomed him as if he had been expecting him.[52] The initial revelation was followed by a pause of three years during which Muhammad gave himself up further to prayers and spiritual practices. When the revelations resumed he was reassured and commanded to begin preaching: Your lord has not forsaken you nor does he hate [you] (Qur'an 93:1-11).[53][54]

According to Welch these revelations were accompanied by mysterious seizures, and the reports are unlikely to have been forged by later Muslims.[14] Muhammad was confident that he could distinguish his own thoughts from these messages.[55] According to the Qur'an, one of the main roles of Muhammad is to warn the unbelievers of their eschatological punishment (Qur'an 38:70, Qur'an 6:19). Sometimes the Qur'an does not explicitly refer to the Judgment day but provides examples from the history of some extinct communities and warns Muhammad's contemporaries of similar calamities (Qur'an 41:13–16).[21] Muhammad is not only a warner to those who reject God's revelation, but also a bearer of good news for those who abandon evil, listen to the divine word and serve God.[56] Muhammad's mission also involves preaching monotheism: The Qur'an demands Muhammad to proclaim and praise the name of his Lord and instructs him not to worship idols apart from God or associate other deities with God.[21]

The key themes of the early Qur'anic verses included the responsibility of man towards his creator; the resurrection of dead, God's final judgment followed by vivid descriptions of the tortures in hell and pleasures in Paradise; and the signs of God in all aspects of life. Religious duties required of the believers at this time were few: belief in God, asking for forgiveness of sins, offering frequent prayers, assisting others particularly those in need, rejecting cheating and the love of wealth (considered to be significant in the commercial life of Mecca), being chaste and not to kill newborn girls.[14]

Opposition

v • d • e
Campaigns of Muhammad

Ghazah (Wars which he took part)
Caravan Raids – Waddan – Safwan – Al Bawat – Dul Ashir – Badr – Banu Salim – Eid – Zakat – Banu Qaynuqa – Sawiq – Thi Amr – Ghatfan – Bahran – Uhud – Al-Asad – Dhatur-Riqa – Badru-Ukhra – Dumatul-Jandal – Banu Nadir – Trench – Banu Qurayza – Banu Lahyan – Banu Mustaliq – Thi Qerd – Hudaybiyyah – Khaybar – Mu'tah – Mecca – Hunayn – Autas – Ta'if – Hawazan – Tabouk

Sirya (Wars which he ordered)
See also: Persecution of Muslims by the Meccans and Migration to Abyssinia
The destruction of icons at the Kaaba by Muhammad, in L'Histoire Merveilleuse en Vers de Mahomet, anonymous 11th century illustration.

According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad's wife Khadija was the first to believe he was a prophet.[57] She was soon followed by Muhammad's ten-year-old cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, close friend Abu Bakr, and adopted son Zaid.[57] Around 613, Muhammad began his public preaching (Qur'an 26:214).[58] Most Meccans ignored him and mocked him, while a few 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.[59]

According to Ibn Sad, the opposition in Mecca started when Muhammad delivered verses that condemned idol worship and the Meccan forefathers who engaged in polytheism.[60] However, the Qur'anic exegesis maintains that it began as soon as Muhammad started public preaching.[61] As the number of followers increased, 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 Quraysh, as they were the guardians of the Ka'aba.[59] The powerful merchants tried to convince Muhammad to abandon his preaching by offering him admission into the inner circle of merchants, and establishing his position therein by an advantageous marriage. However, he refused.[59]

Tradition records at great length the persecution and ill-treatment of Muhammad and his followers.[14] Sumayyah bint Khabbab, a slave of Abu Jahl and a prominent Meccan leader, is famous as the first martyr of Islam, having been killed with a spear by her master when she refused to give up her faith. Bilal, another Muslim slave, was tortured by Umayyah ibn Khalaf who placed a heavy rock on his chest to force his conversion.[62][63] Apart from insults, Muhammad was protected from physical harm as he belonged to the Banu Hashim clan.[64][65]

Location of Abyssinia (Aksumite Empire).

In 615, some of Muhammad's followers emigrated to the Ethiopian Aksumite Empire and founded a small colony there under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian emperor Aṣḥama ibn Abjar.[14]

An early hadith known as "The Story of the Cranes" (translation: قصة الغرانيق, transliteration: Qissat al Gharaneeq) was propagated by two Islamic scholars, Ibn Kathir al Dimashqi and Ibn Hijir al Masri, where the former has strengthened it and the latter called it fabricated[66] (see Science of hadith). The hadith describes Muhammad's involvement at the time of migration in an episode which historian William Muir called the "Satanic Verses." The account holds that Muhammad pronounced a verse acknowledging the existence of three Meccan goddesses considered to be the daughters of Allah, praising them, and appealing for their intercession. According to this account, Muhammad later retracted the verses at the behest of Gabriel.[67] Islamic scholars have weakened the hadith[68] and have denied the historicity of the incident as early as the tenth century.[69] In any event, relations between the Muslims and their pagan fellow-tribesmen were already deteriorated and worsening.

In 617 the leaders of Makhzum and Banu Abd-Shams, two important Quraysh clans, declared a public boycott against Banu Hashim, their commercial rival, to pressurize it into withdrawing its protection of Muhammad. The boycott lasted three years but eventually collapsed as it failed in its objective.[70][71]

Last years in Mecca

Road to Ta'if in the foreground, mountains of Ta'if in the background (Saudi Arabia).

Muhammad's wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib both died in 619, the year thus being known as the "year of sorrow." With the death of Abu Talib, the leadership of the Banu Hashim clan was passed to Abu Lahab, an inveterate enemy of Muhammad. Soon afterwards, Abu Lahab withdrew the clan's protection from Muhammad. This placed Muhammad in danger of death since the withdrawal of clan protection implied that the blood revenge for his killing would not be exacted. Muhammad then visited Ta'if, another important city in Arabia, and tried to find a protector for himself there, but his effort failed and further brought him into physical danger.[14][71] Muhammad was forced to return to Mecca. A Meccan man named Mut'im b. Adi (and the protection of the tribe of Banu Nawfal) made it possible for him safely to re-enter his native city.[14][71]

Many people were visiting Mecca on business or as pilgrims to the Kaaba. Muhammad took this opportunity to look for a new home for himself and his followers. After several unsuccessful negotiations, he found hope with some men from Yathrib (later called Medina).[14] The Arab population of Yathrib were familiar with monotheism because a Jewish community existed there.[14] Converts to Islam came from nearly all Arab tribes in Medina, such that by June of the subsequent year there were seventy-five Muslims coming to Mecca for pilgrimage and to meet Muhammad. Meeting him secretly by night, the group made what was known as the "Second Pledge of al-`Aqaba", or the "Pledge of War"[72] Following the pledges at Aqabah, Muhammad encouraged his followers to emigrate to Yathrib. As with the migration to Abyssinia, the Quraysh attempted to stop the emigration. However, almost all Muslims managed to leave.[73]

Isra and Mi'raj

Main article: Isra and Mi'raj
The Al-Aqsa Mosque, adjacent to the Dome of the Rock, the site from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven.

Islamic tradition relates that in 620, Muhammad experienced the Isra and Mi'raj, a miraculous journey said to have occurred with the angel Gabriel in one night. In the first part of the journey, the Isra, he is said to have travelled from Mecca to "the farthest mosque" (in Arabic: masjid al-aqsa), which Muslims usually identify with the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. In the second part, the Mi'raj, Muhammad is said to have toured heaven and hell, and spoken with earlier prophets, such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.[74] Ibn Ishaq, author of the first biography of Muhammad, presents this event as a spiritual experience whereas later historians like Al-Tabari and Ibn Kathir present it as a physical journey.[74] Some western scholars of Islam hold that the oldest Muslim tradition identified the journey as one traveled through the heavens from the sacred enclosure at Mecca to the celestial al-Baytu l-Maʿmur (heavenly prototype of the Kaaba); but later tradition identified Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Jerusalem.[75]

Timeline of Muhammad in Medina
Important dates and locations in the life of Muhammad in Medina
c. 618 Medinan Civil War
622 Emigrates to Medina (Hijra)
622 Ascension to heaven
624 Battle of Badr: Muslims defeat Meccans
624 Expulsion of Banu Qaynuqa
625 Battle of Uhud: Meccans defeat Muslims
625 Expulsion of Banu Nadir
627 Battle of the Trench
627 Demise of Banu Qurayza
628 Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
c. 628 Gains access to Meccan shrine Kaaba
628 Conquest of the Khaybar oasis
629 First hajj pilgrimage
629 Attack on Byzantine Empire fails: Battle of Mu'tah
630 Bloodless conquest of Mecca
c. 630 Battle of Hunayn
c. 630 Siege of Ta'if
c. 631 Rules most of the Arabian peninsula
c. 632 Attacks the Ghassanids: Tabuk
632 Farewell hajj pilgrimage
632 Death (June 8): Medina
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Muhammad in Medina

Hijra

Main articles: Hijra (Islam) and Muhammad in Medina

A delegation consisting of the representatives of the twelve important clans of Medina, invited Muhammad as a neutral outsider to Medina to serve as chief arbitrator for the entire community.[76][77] There was fighting in Yathrib mainly involving its Arab and Jewish inhabitants for around a hundred years before 620.[76] The recurring slaughters and disagreements over the resulting claims, especially after the Battle of Bu'ath in which all clans were involved, made it obvious to them that the tribal conceptions of blood-feud and an eye for an eye were no longer workable unless there was one man with authority to adjudicate in disputed cases.[76] The delegation from Medina pledged themselves and their fellow-citizens to accept Muhammad into their community and physically protect him as one of themselves.[14]

Muhammad instructed his followers to emigrate to Medina until virtually all his followers left Mecca. Being alarmed at the departure of Muslims, according to the tradition, the Meccans plotted to assassinate Muhammad. With the help of Ali, Muhammad fooled the Meccans who were watching him, and secretly slipped away from the town with Abu Bakr.[78] By 622, Muhammad emigrated to Medina, a large agricultural oasis. Those who migrated from Mecca along with Muhammad became known as muhajirun (emigrants).[14]

Establishment of a new polity

Main article: Constitution of Medina

Among the first things Muhammad did in order to settle down the longstanding grievances among the tribes of Medina was drafting a document known as the Constitution of Medina, "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 Jews and other "Peoples of the Book").[76][77] The community defined in the Constitution of Medina, Ummah, had a religious outlook but was also shaped by practical considerations and substantially preserved the legal forms of the old Arab tribes.[14] It effectively established the first Islamic state.

The first group of pagan converts to Islam in Medina were the clans who had not produced great leaders for themselves but had suffered from warlike leaders from other clans. This was followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina, apart from some exceptions. According to Ibn Ishaq, this was influenced by the conversion of Sa'd ibn Mu'adh (a prominent Medinan leader) to Islam.[79] Those Medinans who converted to Islam and helped the Muslim emigrants find shelter became known as the ansar (supporters).[14] Then Muhammad instituted brotherhood between the emigrants and the supporters and he chose Ali as his own brother.[80]

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With the early general conversion of the pagans, the pagan opposition was never of prime importance in the affairs of Medina. Those remaining pagans were very bitter about the advance of Islam. In particular, Asma bint Marwan and Abu 'Afak had composed verses taunting and insulting the Muslims. These two were assassinated and Muhammad did not disapprove of it. No one dared take vengeance on them, and some members of Asma bint Marwan's clan who previously converted to Islam in secret, now professed Islam openly. This ended overt opposition to Muhammad among the pagans.[81]

Beginnings of armed conflict

A map of the Badr campaign.
Main article: Battle of Badr

Following the emigration, the Meccans seized the properties of the Muslim emigrants in Mecca.[82] Economically uprooted and with no available profession, the Muslim migrants turned to raiding Meccan caravans as an act of war, deliberately initiating armed conflict between the Muslims and Mecca.[83][84] Muhammad delivered Qur'anic verses permitting the Muslims to fight the Meccans (see Qur'an 22:39–40).[85] These attacks pressured Mecca by interfering with trade, and allowed the Muslims to acquire wealth, power and prestige while working towards their ultimate goal of inducing Mecca's submission to the new faith.[86][87] In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Muslims set an ambush for them at Badr.[88] Aware of the plan, the Meccan caravan eluded the Muslims. Meanwhile, a force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan, continuing forward to confront the Muslims upon hearing that the caravan was safe. The Battle of Badr began in March of 624.[89] Though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle, killing at least forty-five Meccans with only fourteen Muslims dead. They also succeeded in killing many Meccan leaders, including Abu Jahl.[90] Seventy prisoners had been acquired, many of whom were soon ransomed in return for wealth or freed.[83][91][92] Muhammad and his followers saw in the victory a confirmation of their faith.[14] The Qur'anic verses of this period, unlike the Meccan ones, dealt with practical problems of government and issues like the distribution of spoils.[93]

Muhammad expelled from Medina the Banu Qaynuqa, one of three main Jewish tribes.[14] Following the Battle of Badr, Muhammad also made mutual-aid alliances with a number of Bedouin tribes to protect his community from attacks from the northern part of Hijaz.[14]

Conflict with Mecca

Map of the Battle of Uhud, showing the Muslim and Meccan lines respectively.
Main article: Battle of Uhud

The attack at Badr committed Muhammad to total war with Meccans, who were now anxious to avenge their defeat. To maintain their economic prosperity, the Meccans needed to restore their prestige, which had been lost at Badr.[94] In the ensuing months, Muhammad led expeditions on tribes allied with Mecca and sent out a raid on a Meccan caravan.[95] Abu Sufyan subsequently gathered an army of three thousand men and set out for an attack on Medina.[96]

A scout alerted Muhammad of the Meccan army's presence and numbers a day later. The next morning, at the Muslim conference of war, there was dispute over how best to repel the Meccans. Muhammad and many senior figures suggested that it would be safer to fight within Medina and take advantage of its heavily fortified strongholds. Younger Muslims argued that the Meccans were destroying their crops, and that huddling in the strongholds would destroy Muslim prestige. Muhammad eventually conceded to the wishes of the latter, and readied the Muslim force for battle. Thus, Muhammad led his force outside to the mountain of Uhud (where the Meccans had camped) and fought the Battle of Uhud on March 23.[97][98] Although the Muslim army had the best of the early encounters, indiscipline on the part of strategically placed archers led to a Muslim defeat, with 75 Muslims killed including Hamza, Muhammad's uncle and one of the best known martyrs in the Muslim tradition. The Meccans did not pursue the Muslims further, but marched back to Mecca declaring victory. They were not entirely successful, however, as they had failed to achieve their aim of completely destroying the Muslims.[99][100] The Muslims buried the dead, and returned to Medina that evening. Questions accumulated as to the reasons for the loss, and Muhammad subsequently delivered Qur'anic verses [Qur'an 3:152] which indicated that their defeat was partly a punishment for disobedience and partly a test for steadfastness.[101]

Abu Sufyan now directed his efforts towards another attack on Medina. He attracted the support of nomadic tribes to the north and east of Medina, using propaganda about Muhammad's weakness, promises of booty, memories of the prestige of the Quraysh and use of bribes.[102] Muhammad's policy was now to prevent alliances against him as much as he could. Whenever alliances of tribesmen against Medina were formed, he sent out an expedition to break them up.[102] When Muhammad heard of men massing with hostile intentions against Medina, he reacted with severity.[103] One example is the assassination of Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, a chieftain of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir who had gone to Mecca and written poems that helped rouse the Meccans' grief, anger and desire for revenge after the Battle of Badr.[104] Around a year later, Muhammad expelled the Banu Nadir from Medina.[105] Muhammad's attempts to prevent formation of a confederation against him were unsuccessful, though he was able to increase his own forces and stop many potential tribes from joining his enemies.[106]

Siege of Medina

Battle of Khandaq (Battle of the Trench).
Main article: Battle of the Trench

With the help of the exiled Banu Nadir, the Quraysh military leader Abu Sufyan had mustered a force of 10,000 men. Muhammad prepared a force of about 3000 men and adopted a new form of defense unknown in Arabia at that time: the Muslims dug a trench wherever Medina lay open to cavalry attack. The idea is credited to a Persian convert to Islam, Salman the Persian. The siege of Medina began on March 31 627 and lasted for two weeks.[107] Abu Sufyan's troops were unprepared for the fortifications they were confronted with, and after an ineffectual siege lasting several weeks, the coalition decided to go home.[108] The Qur'an discusses this battle in verses Qur'an 33:9-33:27.[61] During the battle, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, located at the south of Medina, had entered into negotiations with Meccan forces to revolt against Muhammad. Although they were swayed by suggestions that Muhammad was sure to be overwhelmed, they desired reassurance in case the confederacy was unable to destroy him. No agreement was reached after the prolonged negotiations, in part due to sabotage attempts by Muhammad's scouts.[109] After the coalition's retreat, the Muslims accused the Banu Qurayza of treachery and besieged them in their forts for 25 days. The Banu Qurayza eventually surrendered and all the men, apart from a few who converted to Islam, were beheaded, while the women and children were enslaved.[110][111] In the siege of Medina, the Meccans exerted their utmost strength towards the destruction of the Muslim community. Their failure resulted in a significant loss of prestige; their trade with Syria was gone.[112] Following the Battle of the Trench, Muhammad made two expeditions to the north which ended without any fighting.[14] While returning from one of these (or some years earlier according to other early accounts), an accusation of adultery was made against Aisha, Muhammad's wife. Aisha was exonerated from the accusations when Muhammad announced that he had received a revelation confirming Aisha's innocence and directing that charges of adultery be supported by four eyewitnesses.[113]

Truce of Hudaybiyyah

Main article: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

Although Muhammad had already delivered Qur'anic verses commanding the Hajj,[114] the Muslims had not performed it due to the enmity of the Quraysh. In the month of Shawwal 628, Muhammad ordered his followers to obtain sacrificial animals and to make preparations for a pilgrimage (umrah) to Mecca, saying that God had promised him the fulfillment of this goal in a vision where he was shaving his head after the completion of the Hajj.[115] Upon hearing of the approaching 1,400 Muslims, the Quraysh sent out a force of 200 cavalry to halt them. Muhammad evaded them by taking a more difficult route, thereby reaching al-Hudaybiyya, just outside of Mecca.[116] According to Watt, although Muhammad's decision to make the pilgrimage was based on his dream, he was at the same time demonstrating to the pagan Meccans that Islam does not threaten the prestige of their sanctuary, and that Islam was an Arabian religion.[116]

Negotiations commenced with emissaries going to and from Mecca. While these continued, rumors spread that one of the Muslim negotiators, Uthman bin al-Affan, had been killed by the Quraysh. Muhammad responded by calling upon the pilgrims to make a pledge not to flee (or to stick with Muhammad, whatever decision he made) if the situation descended into war with Mecca. This pledge became known as the "Pledge of Acceptance" (Arabic: بيعة الرضوان , bay'at al-ridhwān‎) or the "Pledge under the Tree." News of Uthman's safety, however, allowed for negotiations to continue, and a treaty scheduled to last ten years was eventually signed between the Muslims and Quraysh.[116][117] The main points of the treaty included the cessation of hostilities; the deferral of Muhammad's pilgrimage to the following year; and an agreement to send back any Meccan who had gone to Medina without the permission of their protector.[116]

A rendering of the seal attributed to Muhammad used in the letters sent to other heads of state.

Many Muslims were not satisfied with the terms of the treaty. However, the Qur'anic sura "Al-Fath" (The Victory) (Qur'an 48:1-29) assured the Muslims that the expedition from which they were now returning must be considered a victorious one.[118] It was only later that Muhammad's followers would realise the benefit behind this treaty. According to Welch, these benefits included the inducing of the Meccans to recognise Muhammad as an equal; a cessation of military activity posing well for the future; and gaining the admiration of Meccans who were impressed by the incorporation of the pilgrimage rituals.[14]

After signing the truce, Muhammad made an expedition against the Jewish oasis of Khaybar, known as the Battle of Khaybar. This was possibly due to it housing the Banu Nadir, who were inciting hostilities against Muhammad, or to regain some prestige to deflect from what appeared to some Muslims as the inconclusive result of the truce of Hudaybiyya.[96][119] According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad also sent letters to many rulers of the world, asking them to convert to Islam (the exact date is given variously in the sources).[14][120][121] Hence he sent messengers (with letters) to Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire (the eastern Roman Empire), Khosrau of Persia, the chief of Yemen and to some others.[120][121] In the years following the truce of Hudaybiyya, Muhammad sent his forces against the Arabs on Transjordanian Byzantine soil in the Battle of Mu'tah, in which the Muslims were defeated.[122]

Final years

Conquest of Mecca

Main articles: Conquest of Mecca and Muhammad after the conquest of Mecca
The Kaaba in Mecca held a major economic and religious role for the area. It became the Muslim Qibla (prayer direction).
An anonymous artist's 16th-century illustration of Muhammad and his companions advancing on Mecca. The angels Gabriel, Michael, Israfil and Azrail, are also shown.
Muhammad prohibits intercalary months during the Farewell Pilgrimage. 17th century Ottoman copy of a 14th century (Ilkhanate) manuscript (Edinburgh codex). Illustration of Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī's The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries.
The Mosque of the Prophet (Al-Masjid al-Nabawi) is Islam's second most sacred site. The green dome in the background stands above Muhammad's tomb.

The truce of Hudaybiyyah had been enforced for two years.[123][124] The tribe of Banu Khuza'a had good relations with Muhammad, whereas their enemies, the Banu Bakr, had an alliance with the Meccans.[123][124] A clan of the Bakr made a night raid against the Khuz'aah, killing a few of them.[123][124] The Meccans helped the Banu Bakr with weapons and, according to some sources, a few Meccans also took part in the fighting.[123] After this event, Muhammad sent a message to Mecca with three conditions, asking them to accept one of them. These were that either the Meccans paid blood money for those slain among the Khuza'ah tribe; or, that they should disavow themselves of the Banu Bakr; or, that they should declare the truce of Hudaybiyya null.[125]

The Meccans replied that they would accept only the last condition.[125] However, soon they realized their mistake and sent Abu Sufyan to renew the Hudaybiyya treaty, but now his request was declined by Muhammad.

Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign.[126] In 630, Muhammad marched on Mecca with an enormous force, said to number more than ten thousand men. With minimal casualties, Muhammad took control of Mecca.[127] He declared an amnesty for past offences, except for ten men and women who had mocked and ridiculed him in songs and verses. Some of these were later pardoned.[128] Most Meccans converted to Islam and Muhammad subsequently destroyed all the statues of Arabian gods in and around the Kaaba.[129][130] The Qur'an discusses the conquest of Mecca.[61][131]

Conquest of Arabia

Main articles: Battle of Hunayn and Battle of Tabouk

Soon after the conquest of Mecca, Muhammad was alarmed by a military threat from the confederate tribes of Hawazin who were collecting an army twice the size of Muhammad's. The Banu Hawazin were old enemies of the Meccans. They were joined by the Banu Thaqif (inhabiting the city of Ta'if) who adopted an anti-Meccan policy due to the decline of the prestige of Meccans.[132] Muhammad defeated the Hawazin and Thaqif tribes in the Battle of Hunayn.[14]

In the same year, Muhammad made the expedition of Tabuk against northern Arabia because of their previous defeat at the Battle of Mu'tah as well as reports of the hostile attitude adopted against Muslims. Although Muhammad did not make contact with hostile forces at Tabuk, he received the submission of some local chiefs of the region.[14][133]

A year after the Battle of Tabuk, the Banu Thaqif sent emissaries to Medina to surrender to Muhammad and adopt Islam. Many bedouins submitted to Muhammad in order to be safe against his attacks and to benefit from the booties of the wars.[14] However, the bedouins were alien to the system of Islam and wanted to maintain their independence, their established code of virtue and their ancestral traditions. Muhammad thus required of them a military and political agreement according to which they "acknowledge the suzerainty of Medina, to refrain from attack on the Muslims and their allies, and to pay the Zakat, the Muslim religious levy."[134]

Farewell pilgrimage and death

Main article: The Farewell Pilgrimage

At the end of the tenth year after the migration to Medina, Muhammad carried through his first truly Islamic pilgrimage, thereby teaching his followers the rites of the annual Great Pilgrimage (Hajj).[14]

After completing the pilgrimage, Muhammad delivered a famous speech known as The Farewell Sermon. In this sermon, Muhammad advised his followers not to follow certain pre-Islamic customs such as adding intercalary months to align the lunar calendar with the solar calendar. Muhammad abolished all old blood feuds and disputes based on the former tribal system and asked for all old pledges to be returned as implications of the creation of the new Islamic community. Commenting on the vulnerability of women in his society, Muhammed asked his male followers to “Be good to women; for they are powerless captives (awan) in your households. You took them in God’s trust, and legitimated your sexual relations with the Word of God, so come to your senses people, and hear my words ...”. He also told them that they were entitled to discipline their wives but should do so with kindness. Muhammad also addressed the issue of inheritance by forbidding false claims of paternity or of a client relationship to the deceased and also forbidding his followers to leave their wealth to a testamentary heir. He also upheld the sacredness of four lunar months in each year.[135][136] According to Sunni tafsir, the following Qur'anic verse was delivered in this incident: “Today I have perfected your religion, and completed my favours for you and chosen Islam as a religion for you.”(Qur'an 5:3)[14] According to Shia tafsir, it refers to appointment of Ali ibn Abi Talib at the pond of Khumm as Muhammad's successor, this occurring a few days later when Muslims were returning from Mecca to Medina.[137]

A few months after the farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and suffered for several days with head pain and weakness. He died on Monday, June 8, 632, in Medina. He is buried where he died which was in his wife Aisha's house and is now housed within the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina.[14][138][139] Next to Muhammad's tomb, there is another empty tomb that Muslims believe awaits Jesus.[139][140]

Aftermath

See also: Rashidun, Muslim conquest, and Succession to Muhammad
Conquests of Muhammad and the Rashidun.

Muhammad united the tribes of Arabia into a singular Arab Muslim religious polity in the last years of his life. With Muhammad's death, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community.[16] Umar ibn al-Khattab, a prominent companion of Muhammad, nominated Abu Bakr, Muhammad's friend and collaborator. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the first caliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held that Ali ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated the successor by Muhammad at Ghadir Khumm. Abu Bakr's immediate task was to make an expedition against the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman Empire) forces because of the previous defeat, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode referred to by later Muslim historians as the Ridda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy".[141]

The pre-Islamic Middle East was dominated by the Byzantine and Sassanian empires. The Roman-Persian Wars between the two had devastated the inhabitants, making the empires unpopular amongst local tribes. Furthermore, most Christian Churches in the lands to be conquered by Muslims such as Nestorians, Monophysites, Jacobites and Copts were under pressure from the Christian Orthodoxy who deemed them heretics. Within only a decade, Muslims conquered Mesopotamia and Persia, Roman Syria and Roman Egypt.[142] and established the Rashidun empire.

Wives and children

Main articles: Muhammad's wives and Ahl al-Bayt

Muhammad's life is traditionally defined into two periods: pre-hijra (emigration) in Mecca (from 570 to 622), and post-hijra in Medina (from 622 until 632). Muhammad is said to have had thirteen wives or concubines (there are differing accounts on the status of some of them as wife or concubine[143])[144] All but two of his marriages were contracted after the migration to Medina.

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Muhammadwives.png
Umm-al-Momineen
Wives of Muhammad

Khadijah bint Khuwaylid

Sawda bint Zama

Aisha bint Abi Bakr

Hafsa bint Umar

Zaynab bint Khuzayma

Hind bint Abi Umayya

Zaynab bint Jahsh

Juwayriya bint al-Harith

Ramlah bint Abi Sufyan

Rayhana bint Zayd

Safiyya bint Huyayy

Maymuna bint al-Harith

Maria al-Qibtiyya

At the age of 25, Muhammad married Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. The marriage lasted for 25 years and was a happy one.[145] Muhammad relied upon Khadija in many ways and did not enter into marriage with another woman during this marriage.[146][147] After the death of Khadija, it was suggested to Muhammad by Khawla bint Hakim, that he should marry Sawda bint Zama, a Muslim widow, or Aisha, the six- or seven-year-old daughter of Abu Bakr.[148][149] Muhammad is said to have asked her to arrange for him to marry both.[113] Later, Muhammad married additional wives nine of whom survived him.[144] Aisha, who became known as Muhammad's favourite wife in Sunni tradition, survived him by many decades and was instrumental in helping to bring together the scattered sayings of Muhammad that would form the Hadith literature for the Sunni branch of Islam.[113]

After migration to Medina, Muhammad (who was now in his fifties) married several women. These marriages were contracted mostly for political or humanitarian reasons, these wives being either widows of Muslims who had been killed in the battles and had been left without a protector, or belonging to important families or clans whom it was necessary to honor and strengthen alliances.[150]

Muhammad did his own household chores and helped with housework, such as preparing food, sewing clothes and repairing shoes. Muhammad is also said to have had accustomed his wives to dialogue; he listened to their advice, and the wives debated and even argued with him.[151][152][153]

Khadijah is said to have borne Muhammad four daughters (Ruqayyah bint Muhammad, Umm Kulthum bint Muhammad, Zainab bint Muhammad, Fatimah Zahra) and two sons (Abd-Allah ibn Muhammad and Qasim ibn Muhammad) who both died in childhood. All except two of his daughters, Fatimah and Zainab, died before him.[154] Shi'a scholars contend that Fatimah was Muhammad's only daughter.[155] Maria al-Qibtiyya bore him a son named Ibrahim ibn Muhammad, but the child died when he was two years old.[154]

Muhammad's descendants through Fatimah are known as sharifs, syeds or sayyids. These are honorific titles in Arabic, sharif meaning 'noble' and sayed or sayyid meaning 'lord' or 'sir'. As Muhammad's only descendants, they are respected by both Sunni and Shi'a, though the Shi'as place much more emphasis and value on their distinction.[156]

Slaves

Main article: Muhammad and slavery

Muhammad was the owner of slaves, including concubines, a wetnurse, and his adopted son Zayd.[157]

Legacy

Reforms

Main article: Early reforms under Islam

According to William Montgomery Watt, for Muhammad, religion was not a private and individual matter but rather “the total response of his personality to the total situation in which he found himself. He was responding [not only]… to the religious and intellectual aspects of the situation but also to the economic, social, and political pressures to which contemporary Mecca was subject."[158] Bernard Lewis 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.[159]

9th century Qur'an.

Historians generally agree that Islamic social reforms in areas such as social security, family structure, slavery and the rights of women and children improved on the status quo of Arab society.[159][160] For example, according to Lewis, Islam "from the first denounced aristocratic privilege, rejected hierarchy, and adopted a formula of the career open to the talents".[159] Muhammad's message transformed the society and moral order of life in the Arabian Peninsula through reorientation of society as regards to identity, world view, and the hierarchy of values.[161] Economic reforms addressed the plight of the poor, which was becoming an issue in pre-Islamic Mecca.[162] The Qur'an requires payment of an alms tax (zakat) for the benefit of the poor, and as Muhammad's position grew in power he demanded that those tribes who wanted to ally with him implement the zakat in particular.[163][164]

Sunnah

The Sunnah represents the actions and sayings of Muhammad (preserved in reports known as Hadith), and covers a broad array of activities and beliefs ranging from religious rituals, personal hygiene, burial of the dead to the mystical questions involving the love between humans and God. The Sunnah is considered a model of emulation for pious Muslims and has to a great degree influenced the Muslim culture. The greeting that Muhammad taught Muslims to offer each other, “may peace be upon you” (Arabic: as-salamu `alaykum) is used by Muslims throughout the world. Many details of major Islamic rituals such as daily prayers, the fasting and the annual pilgrimage are only found in the Sunnah and not the Qur'an.[165]

The Sunnah also played a major role in the development of the Islamic sciences. It contributed much to the development of Islamic law, particularly from the end of the first Islamic century.[166] Muslim mystics, known as sufis, who were seeking for the inner meaning of the Qur'an and the inner nature of Muhammad, viewed the prophet of Islam not only as a prophet but also as a perfect saint. Sufi orders trace their chain of spiritual descent back to Muhammad.[167]

Traditional views

Muslim veneration

See also: Islamic views of Muhammad, Naat, Depictions of Muhammad, Islamic music, Qawwali, Islamic view of miracles, and List of films about the Prophet Muhammad
Topkapı Palace gate with Shahadah and his seal. The Muslim Profession of faith, the Shahadah, illustrates the Muslim conception of the role of Muhammad – "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is His Messenger."
Persian manuscript miniature depicting Muhammad, from Rashid al-Din's Jami al-Tawarikh, approximately 1315, illustrating the episode of the Black Stone.[168]
"Muhammad preaching" (1840–1850) by Grigory Gagarin - a 19th Century Russian view of the founder of Islam.

Following the attestation to the oneness of God, the belief in Muhammad's prophethood is the main aspect of the Islamic faith. Every Muslim proclaims in the Shahadah that "I testify that Muhammad is a messenger of Allah". The Shahadah is the basic creed or tenet of Islam. Ideally, it is the first words a newborn will hear, and children are taught as soon as they are able to understand it and it will be recited when they die. Muslims must repeat the shahadah in the call to prayer (adhan) and the prayer itself. Non-Muslims wishing to convert to Islam are required to recite the creed.[169]

Muslims have traditionally expressed love and veneration for Muhammad. Stories of Muhammad's life, his intercession and of his miracles (particularly "Splitting of the moon") have permeated popular Muslim thought and poetry. The Qur'an refers to Muhammad as "a mercy (rahmat) to the worlds" (Qur'an 21:107).[14] The association of rain with mercy in Oriental countries has led to imagining Muhammad as a rain cloud dispensing blessings and stretching over lands, reviving the dead hearts, just as rain revives the seemingly dead earth (see, for example, the Sindhi poem of Shah ʿAbd al-Latif).[14] Muhammad's birthday is celebrated as a major feast throughout the Islamic world, excluding Wahhabi-dominated Saudi Arabia where these public celebrations are discouraged.[170] Muslims experience Muhammad as a living reality, believing in his ongoing significance to human beings as well as animals and plants.[170] When Muslims say or write the name of Muhammad or any other prophet in Islam, they usually follow it with Peace be upon him (Arabic: sallAllahu `alayhi wa sallam) like "Muhammad(Peace be upon him)".[17]

According to the Qur'an, Muhammad is only the last of a series of Prophets sent by Allah for the benefit of mankind, and thus commands Muslims to make no distinction between them and to surrender to one God Allah. Qur'an 10:37–37 states that "...it (the Qur'an) is a confirmation of (revelations) that went before it, and a fuller explanation of the Book - wherein there is no doubt - from The Lord of the Worlds.". Similarly Qur'an 46:12–12 states "...And before this was the book of Moses, as a guide and a mercy. And this Book confirms (it)...", while Qur'an 2:136–136 commands the believers of Islam to "Say: we believe in God and that which is revealed unto us, and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered."

Historian Denis Gril believes that the Qur'an does not overtly describe Muhammad performing miracles, and the supreme miracle of Muhammad is finally identified with the Qur’an itself.[171] However, Muslim tradition credits Muhammad with several supernatural events.[172] For example, many Muslim commentators and some Western scholars have interpreted the Surah 54:1-2 as referring to Muhammad splitting the Moon in view of the Quraysh when they began persecuting his followers.[171][173]

European and Western views

See also: Medieval Christian view of Muhammad

The biographical knowledge about Muhammad in the learned, Latin circles of the Middle Ages in Europe, was remarkably precise to some extent and a good amount of concrete data about his life was known. Learned European circles of the time interpreted the data in such a way that Muhammad was viewed as a charlatan driven by ambition and eagerness for power, and who seduced the Saracens into his submission under a religious guise.[14] This knowledge about Muhammad's life in Latin theological texts was not reflected in the popular literature of the Middle Ages, in which Muhammad was viewed as an idol or one of the heathen gods.[14] Some medieval Christians said he died in 666, alluding to the number of the beast, instead of 632;[174] others changed his name from Muhammad to Mahound, the "devil incarnate".[175] Bernard Lewis writes "The development of the concept of Mahound started with considering Muhammad as a kind of demon or false god worshipped with Apollyon and Termagant in an unholy trinity."[176] A later medieval work, Livre dou Tresor represents Muhammad as a former monk and cardinal.[14] Dante's Divine Comedy (Canto XXVIII), puts Muhammad, together with Ali, in Hell "among the sowers of discord and the schismatics, being lacerated by devils again and again."[14]

After the reformation, Muhammad was no longer viewed as a god or idol, but as a cunning, ambitious, and self-seeking impostor.[14][176] Guillaume Postel was among the first to present a more positive view of Muhammad.[14] Boulainvilliers described Muhammad as a gifted political leader and a just lawmaker.[14] Gottfried Leibniz praised Muhammad because "he did not deviate from the natural religion".[14] Thomas Carlyle defines Muhammed as "A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest" [177]. Edward Gibbon in his book The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire observes that "the good sense of Mohammad despised the pomp of royalty." Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt (1851) described Muhammad as "an ominous destroyer and a prophet of murder."[14] Later Western works, many of which, from the 18th century onward, distanced themselves from the polemical histories of earlier Christian authors. These more historically-oriented treatments, which generally reject the prophethood of Muhammad, are coloured by the Western philosophical and theological framework of their authors. Many of these studies reflect much historical research, and most pay more attention to human, social, economic, and political factors than to religious, theological, and spiritual matters.[19].

It was not until the latter part of the 20th century that Western authors combined rigorous scholarship as understood in the modern West with empathy toward the subject at hand and, especially, awareness of the religious and spiritual realities involved in the study of the life of the founder of a major world religion.[19] According to Watt and Richard Bell, recent writers have generally dismissed the idea that Muhammad deliberately deceived his followers, arguing that Muhammad “was absolutely sincere and acted in complete good faith”.[178] Watt says that sincerity does not directly imply correctness: In contemporary terms, Muhammad might have mistaken his own subconscious for divine revelation.[179] Watt and Lewis argue that viewing Muhammad as a self-seeking impostor makes it impossible to understand the development of Islam.[180][181] Welch holds that Muhammad was able to be so influential and successful because of his firm belief in his vocation.[14] Muhammad’s readiness to endure hardship for his cause when there seemed to be no rational basis for hope shows his sincerity.[182]

Other religious traditions

See also

Notes

  1. ^ See Muhittin Serin (1988)
  2. ^ Unicode has a special "Muhammad" ligature at U+FDF4 ﷴ
  3. ^ Ar-muhammad.ogg click here (help·info) for the Arabic pronunciation.
  4. ^ Variants of Muhammad's name in French: "Mahon, Mahomés, Mahun, Mahum, Mahumet"; in German: "Machmet"; and in Old Icelandic: "Maúmet" cf Muhammad, Encyclopedia of Islam
  5. ^ The sources frequently say that, in his youth, he was called by the nickname "Al-Amin" meaning "Honest, Truthful" cf. Ernst (2004), p. 85.
  6. ^ Elizabeth Goldman (1995), p. 63
  7. ^ Esposito (1998), p. 12.
  8. ^ Esposito (2002b), pp. 4–5.
  9. ^ a b F. E. Peters (2003), p. 9.
  10. ^ Alphonse de Lamartine (1854), Historie de la Turquie, Paris, p. 280:
    "Philosophe, orateur, apôtre, législateur, guerrier, conquérant d'idées, restaurateur de dogmes, d'un culte sans images, fondateur de vingt empires terrestres et d'un empire spirituel, voilà Mahomet!"
  11. ^ a b Encyclopedia of World History (1998), p. 452
  12. ^ 'Islam' is always referred to in the Qur'an as a dīn, a word that means "way" or "path" in Arabic, but is usually translated in English as "religion" for the sake of convenience
  13. ^ Esposito (1998), p. 12; (1999) p. 25; (2002) pp. 4–5
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq Alford Welch, Muhammad, Encyclopedia of Islam
  15. ^ "Muhmmad," Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world
  16. ^ a b See:
    • Holt (1977a), p.57
    • Lapidus (2002), pp 0.31 and 32
  17. ^ a b Ann Goldman, Richard Hain, Stephen Liben (2006), p.212
  18. ^ Watt (1974) p. 231
  19. ^ a b c d Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. "Muhammad". Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9105853/Muhammad. Retrieved 2008-03-20. 
  20. ^ Jean-Louis Déclais, Names of the Prophet, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  21. ^ a b c Uri Rubin, Muhammad, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  22. ^ Ernst (2004), p. 80
  23. ^ a b c S. A. Nigosian(2004), p. 6
  24. ^ a b Watt (1953), p.xi
  25. ^ Reeves (2003), pp. 6–7
  26. ^ Donner (1998), p. 132
  27. ^ Watt (1953), p.xv
  28. ^ a b Lewis (1993), pp. 33–34
  29. ^ Cragg, Albert Kenneth. "Hadith". Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9105855/Hadith. Retrieved 2008-03-30. 
  30. ^ Madelung (1997), pp.xi, 19 and 20
  31. ^ Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 10th edition (1970), p.112.
  32. ^ Watt (1953), pp.1–2
  33. ^ Watt (1953), pp. 16–18
  34. ^ Loyal Rue, Religion Is Not about God: How Spiritual Traditions Nurture Our Biological,2005, p.224
  35. ^ John Esposito, Islam, Expanded edition, Oxford University Press, p.4–5
  36. ^ See:
    • Esposito, Islam, Extended Edition, Oxford University Press, pp.5–7
    • Qur'an 3:95
  37. ^ Kochler (1982), p.29
  38. ^ cf. Uri Rubin, Hanif, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  39. ^ See:
    • Louis Jacobs(1995), p.272
    • Turner (2005), p.16
  40. ^ See also [Qur'an 43:31] cited in EoI; Muhammad
  41. ^ a b Watt (1974), p. 7.
  42. ^ Josef W. Meri (2005), p. 525
  43. ^ Watt, Halimah bint Abi Dhuayb, Encyclopaedia of Islam
  44. ^ Watt, Amina, Encyclopaedia of Islam
  45. ^ a b c Watt (1974), p. 8.
  46. ^ Armand Abel, Bahira, Encyclopaedia of Islam
  47. ^ a b Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History (2005), v.3, p. 1025
  48. ^ Esposito (1998), p. 6
  49. ^ Emory C. Bogle (1998), p.6
  50. ^ John Henry Haaren, Addison B. Poland (1904), p.83
  51. ^ Brown (2003), pp. 72–73
  52. ^
    • Emory C. Bogle (1998), p.7
    • Razwy (1996), ch. 9
    • Rodinson (2002), p. 71.
  53. ^ Brown (2003), pp. 73–74
  54. ^ Uri Rubin, Muhammad, Encyclopedia of the Quran
  55. ^ Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam (1977), p. 31.
  56. ^ Daniel C. Peterson, Good News, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  57. ^ a b Watt (1953), p. 86
  58. ^ Ramadan (2007), p. 37–9
  59. ^ a b c Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam (1977), p. 36.
  60. ^ F. E. Peters (1994), p.169
  61. ^ a b c Uri Rubin, Quraysh, Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an
  62. ^ Jonathan E. Brockopp, Slaves and Slavery, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  63. ^ W. Arafat, Bilal b. Rabah, Encyclopedia of Islam
  64. ^ Watt (1964) p. 76.
  65. ^ Peters (1999) p. 172.
  66. ^ Muhammad Nasiruddin Al-Albani, Nasb al Majaneeq fil Radd 'Ala Qissat al Gharaneeq, 1996, pg.1
  67. ^ The aforementioned Islamic histories recount 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). cf Ibn Ishaq, A. Guillaume p. 166.
  68. ^ Al-Albani, pg.1
  69. ^ Shahab Ahmed, Satanic Verses, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  70. ^ F. E. Peters (2003b), p. 96
  71. ^ a b c Moojan Momen (1985), p. 4
  72. ^ Watt (1974) p. 83
  73. ^ Peterson (2006), pg. 86-9
  74. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (2003), p. 482
  75. ^ Sells, Michael. Ascension, Encyclopedia of the Quran.
  76. ^ a b c d Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam, p. 39
  77. ^ a b Esposito (1998), p. 17.
  78. ^ Moojan Momen (1985), p. 5
  79. ^ Watt (1956), p. 175, p. 177.
  80. ^ "Ali ibn Abitalib". Encyclopedia Iranica. http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v1f8/v1f8a043.html. Retrieved 2007-10-25. 
  81. ^ Watt (1956), p. 179.
  82. ^ Fazlur Rahman (1979), p. 21
  83. ^ a b Lewis (2002), p. 41.
  84. ^ Watt (1961), p. 105.
  85. ^ John Kelsay (1993), p. 21
  86. ^ Watt(1961) p. 105, p. 107
  87. ^ Lewis (1993), p. 41.
  88. ^ Rodinson (2002), p. 164.
  89. ^ Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam, p. 45
  90. ^ Glubb (2002), pp. 179–186.
  91. ^ Watt (1961), p. 123.
  92. ^ Rodinson (2002), pp. 168–9.
  93. ^ Lewis(2002), p. 44
  94. ^ Watt (1961), p. 132.
  95. ^ Watt (1961), p. 134
  96. ^ a b Lewis (1960), p. 45.
  97. ^ C.F. Robinson, Uhud, Encyclopedia of Islam
  98. ^ Watt (1964) p. 137
  99. ^ Watt (1974) p. 137
  100. ^ David Cook(2007), p.24
  101. ^ See:
    • Watt (1981) p. 432;
    • Watt (1964) p. 144.
  102. ^ a b Watt (1956), p. 30.
  103. ^ Watt (1956), p. 34
  104. ^ Watt (1956), p. 18
  105. ^ Watt (1956), pp. 220–221
  106. ^ Watt (1956), p. 35
  107. ^ Watt (1956), p. 36, 37
  108. ^ See:
    • Rodinson (2002), pp. 209–211;
    • Watt (1964) p. 169
  109. ^ Watt (1964) pp. 170–172
  110. ^ Peterson(2007), p. 126
  111. ^ Ramadan (2007), p. 141
  112. ^ Watt (1956), p. 39
  113. ^ a b c Watt, Aisha, Encyclopedia of Islam
  114. ^ [Qur'an 2:196-210]
  115. ^ Lings (1987), p. 249
  116. ^ a b c d Watt, al- Hudaybiya or al-Hudaybiyya Encyclopedia of Islam
  117. ^ Lewis (2002), p. 42.
  118. ^ Lings (1987), p. 255
  119. ^ Vaglieri, Khaybar, Encyclopedia of Islam
  120. ^ a b Lings (1987), p. 260
  121. ^ a b Khan (1998), pp. 250–251
  122. ^ F. Buhl, Muta, Encyclopedia of Islam
  123. ^ a b c d Khan (1998), p. 274
  124. ^ a b c Lings (1987), p. 291
  125. ^ a b Khan (1998), pp. 274–5.
  126. ^ Lings (1987), p. 292
  127. ^ Watt (1956), p. 66.
  128. ^ Rodinson (2002), p. 261.
  129. ^ Harold Wayne Ballard, Donald N. Penny, W. Glenn Jonas (2002), p.163
  130. ^ F. E. Peters (2003), p.240
  131. ^ [Qur'an 110:1]
  132. ^ Watt (1974), p.207
  133. ^ M.A. al-Bakhit, Tabuk, Encyclopedia of Islam
  134. ^ Lewis (1993), pp.43–44
  135. ^ Devin J. Stewart, Farewell Pilgrimage, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  136. ^ Al-Hibri (2003), p.17
  137. ^ See:
  138. ^ Leila Ahmed (1986), 665–91 (686)
  139. ^ a b F. E. Peters(2003), p.90
  140. ^ "Isa", Encyclopedia of Islam
  141. ^ See:
    • Holt (1977a), p.57
    • Hourani (2003), p.22
    • Lapidus (2002), p.32
    • Esposito(1998), p.36
    • Madelung (1996), p.43
  142. ^ Esposito (1998), p.35–36
  143. ^ See for example Marco Schöller, Banu Qurayza, Encyclopedia of the Quran mentioning the differing accounts of the status of Rayhana
  144. ^ a b Barbara Freyer Stowasser, Wives of the Prophet, Encyclopedia of the Quran
  145. ^ Esposito (1998), p. 18
  146. ^ Bullough (1998), p. 119
  147. ^ Reeves (2003), p. 46
  148. ^ D. A. Spellberg, Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: the Legacy of A'isha bint Abi Bakr, Columbia University Press, (1996) ISBN 0231079990, p. 40: "in Ibn Sa'd, the age of Aisha at marriage varies between six and seven"
  149. ^ Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet, Harper San Francisco, 1992, p. 157.
  150. ^ Momen (1985), p.9
  151. ^ Tariq Ramadan (2007), p. 168–9
  152. ^ Asma Barlas (2002), p. 125
  153. ^ Armstrong (1992), p. 157
  154. ^ a b Nicholas Awde (2000), p.10
  155. ^ Ordoni (1990) pp. 32, 42–44.
  156. ^ "Ali". Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 
  157. ^ Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya recorded the list of some names of Muhammad's female-slaves in Zad al-Ma'ad, Part I, p. 116
  158. ^ Cambridge History of Islam (1970), p. 30.
  159. ^ a b c Lewis (1998)
  160. ^
  161. ^ Islamic ethics, Encyclopedia of Ethics
  162. ^ Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam, p. 34
  163. ^ Esposito (1998), p. 30
  164. ^ Watt, The Cambridge History of Islam, p. 52
  165. ^ Muhammad, Encyclopædia Britannica, p.9
  166. ^ J. Schacht, Fiḳh, Encyclopedia of Islam
  167. ^ Muhammad, Encyclopædia Britannica, p.11–12
  168. ^ Ali, Wijdan (1999),p. 3
  169. ^ Farah (1994), p.135
  170. ^ a b Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Encyclopedia Britannica, Muhammad, p.13
  171. ^ a b Denis Gril, Miracles, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  172. ^ A.J. Wensinck, Muʿd̲j̲iza, Encyclopedia of Islam
  173. ^ Daniel Martin Varisco, Moon, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  174. ^ Göran Larsson (2003), p. 87
  175. ^ Reeves (2003), p. 3
  176. ^ a b Lewis (2002) p. 45.
  177. ^ On heroes and hero worship by Thomas Carlyle
  178. ^ Watt, Bell (1995) p. 18
  179. ^ Watt (1974), p. 17
  180. ^ Watt, The Cambridge history of Islam, p. 37
  181. ^ Lewis (1993), p. 45.
  182. ^ Watt (1974), p. 232
  183. ^ Smith, P. (1999). A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford, UK: Oneworld Publications. pp. 251. ISBN 1851681841. 
  184. ^ James A. Toronto (August 2000). "A Latter-day Saint Perspective on Muhammad". Ensign. http://www.lds.org/portal/site/LDSOrg/menuitem.b12f9d18fae655bb69095bd3e44916a0/?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=bbaba1615ac0c010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1. Retrieved 2007-11-19. 
  185. ^ Peter Teed (1992), p.424
  186. ^ John Paul II, Pope (1994). Crossing the Threshold of Hope. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.. pp. 93–94. ISBN 0-679-76561-1. 

References

Encyclopedias

  • William H. McNeill, Jerry H. Bentley, David Christian, ed (2005). Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History. Berkshire Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0974309101. 
  • Richard C. Martin, Said Amir Arjomand, Marcia Hermansen, Abdulkader Tayob, Rochelle Davis, John Obert Voll, ed (2003). Encyclopedia of Islam & the Muslim World. MacMillan Reference Books. ISBN 978-0028656038. 
  • P.J. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs, ed. Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. Brill Academic Publishers. ISSN 1573-3912. 
  • Lindsay Jones, ed (2005). Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd edition ed.). MacMillan Reference Books. ISBN 978-0028657332. 
  • Jane Dammen McAuliffe, ed (2005). Encyclopedia of the Qur'an. Brill Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-9004123564. 
  • Encyclopedia of World History. Oxford University Press. 1998. ISBN 0198602235. 
  • The New Encyclopedia Britannica (Rev Ed edition ed.). Encyclopedia Britannica, Incorporated. 2005. ISBN 978-1593392369. 

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