Muhammad’s Life and Teachings, Part I

Fifth in a series

This article begins our look at Muhammad’s life and teachings. They won’t cover all of Islam’s tenets, but will focus on some of the significant ones and if they changed over time.

Before that, a bit about the information sources. Muhammad was born relatively recently, compared to other major religions founders. Therefore, one might think there are relatively more works written about him, his life, and teachings. However, that is not the case. Instead, we only know of him from Islamic sources. We will look at those resources later on.

Sources

For these articles on his life and teachings, we will use the following two sources: a book on the meaning of the Qur’an, and one of the sirat – the biographies of Muhammad’s life. The specific works used are M. Pickthall’s The Meaning of the Glorious Qur’an[1], and A. Guillaume’s translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah.[2] It is important one uses another text, such as a sirat, providing context for the Qur’an’s verses. References either by a sirat paragraph number (number only), or a Qur’an verse (numbers preceded by an “S”).

A general belief among Muslims is the Qur’an is that translations into other languages result in losing some of the meaning. However, this is problematic as most of the world’s Muslim population does not speak or read Arabic, let alone know the high Arabic text contained in the earliest manuscripts. Pickthall’s writing is generally accepted by Muslims as accurately translating the Qur’an’s literal meaning into English.

Tradition has it that Ibn Ishaq’s sirat is one of the earliest of Muhammad’s biographies. Today’s version comes from copies edited by Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari. Even though these works are Islamic sources, they are still quite revealing regarding Islam’s basic tenets and their evolution. However, one must take their content with a grain of salt. Even the sirat uses phrases such as ‘it is alleged’ and ‘only God knows the truth’ in describing some events.

Muhammad’s Early Life

Very little is actually known about Muhammad’s early life. He is thought to have been born about 570 AD within the Hashim clan of the Quraysh tribe. ‘Abdullah was Muhammad’s father. ‘Abdullah means “servant of Allah” or “slave of Allah”. He died before Muhammad’s birth. Muhammad lived the first few years of his life with his mother, Amina, and his grandfather. His mother died when he was six, and his grandfather died two years later.

After his grandfather’s death, an uncle named Abu Talib became Muhammad’s guardian. Abu Talib was apparently fond of Muhammad and took good care of him. The sirat says Muhammad went on at least one caravan to Syria with his uncle, and while he was in Syria he met a monk named Bahira. Tradition has it this monk identified Muhammad as being a prophet of his people, but no documentation exists for this claim outside of Islam.

We know little else about Muhammad’s youth until he marries his first wife Khadija, when he was about twenty five years of age. She was the mother of all Muhammad’s children but one, and only his daughters lived past childhood. Khadija was one of Muhammad’s distant cousin, but this was not an uncommon occurrence in cultures of that period. Tradition says Khadija was also one of Mecca’s best born women.

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She was a wealthy widow, hiring men for her caravans. She hired Muhammad to sell her goods, and bring other goods back to Mecca to sell. Muhammad reportedly doubled the property value entrusted to him. She proposed marriage to Muhammad, and he accepted. During her lifetime, Muhammad had no other wives.

Islam’s Development in Mecca

Muhammad’s First Vision

Tradition has it Muhammad received his first vision in 610 when he was about forty. He often withdrew for extended periods of solitary contemplation during the month of Ramadan, a practice performed by pre-Islamic Arabs during this period. The sirat says the angel Gabriel appeared in a vision while he slept, demanding Muhammad read some writing presented to him. Muhammad initially didn’t believe the vision. Instead he thought he was not in his right mind, becoming either a poet or possessed by a demon. The vision prevented Muhammad from taking his own life. After returning home, Khadija and her cousin Waraqa convinced Muhammad that his vision was real.

Muhammad did not preach publicly for three years after this vision. During that time about two dozen converted to Islam, most from Mecca’s lower social classes. They initially prayed together in seclusion. The Quraysh did not ‘withdraw or turn against’ Muhammad until he began speaking against their gods. Hostility grew between the people of Mecca and Muhammad and his followers. Muhammad’s uncle, Abu Talib, protected him from harm, but Muhammad was subject to many insults.

Persecution Grows

Tradition has it the people of Mecca offered money, honor, sovereignty, and the opportunity to be cured from his ghost in attempts to heal the rift. He refused. The people asked Muhammad to perform a miracle. He stated that was not his purpose. The people made these offers to know if Muhammad’s position as a prophet was truthful, that he might take something for himself so they would know his superiority over them, and finally that he might hasten the punishment against them he had frightened them with.

The persecution of Muhammad’s followers became so severe that about 83 men and their families migrated to Abyssinia, where they stayed for a number of years. The sirat says Muhammad became very concerned about the divide within the people of Mecca. After a period of meditation, he received what people refer to as the Satanic verses. The three entities referred to in this revelation are the daughters of the pagan god Hubal.

“By the star when it sets your comrade errs not and is not deceived, he speaks not from his own desire. Have you thought of al-Lat and al-Uzza and Manat the third, the other, these are the exalted Charaniq (exalted birds) whose intercession is approved.”[3]

This revelation temporarily healed the rift between Muhammad and those not following his teachings. After the rift healed, his followers returned from Abyssinia. The above revelation was shortly abrogated by another annulling what Satan had suggested through the above verses. After the abrogation, the persecution of Muhammad’s followers grew even more intense.

Migrating to Medina

Sometime later Muhammad spoke of a night journey to Jerusalem taken while he slept. A dream or vision. From Jerusalem he rose through the seven heavens where he met Adam and many of the prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Muhammad related his experience to the people of Mecca, but tradition has it many did not believe him. Tradition says some of his followers left Islam after hearing this story.

Two additional events occurred a short time later in about 619; both his wife Khadija and Abu Talib died in the same year. With his protection and closest support gone, Muhammad began offering his teachings at fairs to the people who came from other locations. In 621 a delegation coming to Mecca from Medina learned Islam from Muhammad. They were from the Ansar clan. A larger group returned from Medina the following year, offering Muhammad protection. The Ansar asked him to arbitrate some feuds in Medina. After receiving Medina’s offer of assistance, tradition says Muhammad received a revelation giving him permission to fight against those who wronged him or treated him badly.

With Abu Talib gone, and his replacement by another uncle who was not as supportive, clan support in Mecca became undependable. His followers began emigrating to Medina in about 622.

Islam’s Early Teachings

Up to this time Islam’s main tenets included:

Worshiping Allah alone (S72.18)
Praying towards Jerusalem[4]
Peace, to each their religion (S109, S43.88-9)
Caring for the widows, orphans, and needy (S76.8-10)
There will be a day of judgment (S101.6-9)
Muhammad was the last in the line of prophets that began with Moses (S37.19-26)

By this time the five pillars of Islam were also being taught. These are: the shahada (creed of belief), salat (prayer), zakat (alms), swam (fast during the month of Ramadan), and the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). We will end this article here; the next reviews the changes in Islam’s tenets once Muhammad reached Medina.

Last, the next page contains an approximate timeline including the significant events during Muhammad’s life.