Muhammad (redirected from The Apostle of Allah)

Muhammad, prophet of Islam

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).

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Muhammad

 or Mohammed

(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.

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Mohammed, Muhammad

?570--632 ad, the prophet believed by Muslims to be the channel for the final unfolding of God's revelation to mankind: popularly regarded as the founder of Islam. He began to teach in Mecca in 610 but persecution forced him to flee with his followers to Medina in 622. After several battles, he conquered Mecca (630), establishing the principles of Islam (embodied in the Koran) over all Arabia

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Muhammad

had a total of ten wives and ten or fifteen concubines. [Islam: Brewer Dictionary, 614]

See : Polygamy

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Muhammad

(570–632) the prophet of Islam. [Islam. Hist.: NCE, 1854]

See : Prophecy

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Muhammad

(also Mohammed; in European writings, often Mahomet or Mahomed). Born circa 570, in Mecca; died June 8, 632, in Medina. Religious leader and political figure; founder of Islam.

Contemporary sources for the life of Muhammad have not survived; the first biography was compiled by ibn Ishaq in the eighth century. A member of the aristocratic but impoverished Banu-Hashim family of the Quraysh clan, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age. As a shepherd and later as a merchant’s assistant, Muhammad became acquainted with Judeo-Christian monotheism and other religious and political doctrines both in Arabia and abroad. Marriage to Khadija, a wealthy Meccan woman of the merchant class, enabled Muhammad to devote himself exclusively to religious and ethical problems. According to legend, around 609 or 610, Muhammad, who frequently spent many hours in meditation on Mount Hira, near Mecca, was visited one night in the month of Ramadan by the angel Gabriel, who revealed to him certain parts of a book, called Koran in Arabic, that was kept in heaven under the throne of Allah. In the name of Allah, Gabriel charged Muhammad with conveying the commands of the Almighty to his fellow countrymen.

The sympathetic support of his family and friends, particularly Khadija, encouraged Muhammad’s fanatical conviction of the truth of his “god-given” teachings. He rejected the old pagan beliefs and preached about a single all-powerful god. The doctrine of strict monotheism, the universality of the new faith, which proclaimed the equality of all its followers irrespective of social origin or clan membership, and Muhammad’s exceptional political and organizational abilities—all found a favorable response among those representatives of Meccan society, primarily from the middle strata, who sought to unite and strengthen Arabia.

Initially the Meccan merchant oligarchy opposed his teachings, and Muhammad and his followers were forced to take refuge in Yathrib, later called Medina. The day of their flight, usually considered to be Sept. 22, 622, is called the Hegira. In 630 and 631 the Muslims, led by Muhammad, subjugated Mecca and subsequently a large number of other regions in Arabia. Muhammad, who was both a religious and political leader, became the head of a new Islamic theocratic state. His tomb in Medina has become the second most important Islamic shrine and place of pilgrimage after the Kabba in Mecca.

M. A. BATUNSKII