Mohammad Ibn Abdullah

• General Notes
  • Mohammed had ten wives altogether. Only by his first wife did he have children. Muhammed's only grandchildren were by his daughters Zaynab and Fatima.
    
    I INTRODUCTION
    
    Muhammad (prophet) (570?-632), founder of Islam, whose prophetic teachings, encompassing political and social as well as religious principles, became the basis of Islamic civilization and have had a vast influence on world history.
    
    HISTORICAL ESSAYS
    Internationalization of Islam
    Encarta Historical Essays reflect the knowledge and insight of leading historians. This collection of essays is assembled to support the National Standards for World History. In this essay, Richard Foltz examines the dynamics and consequences of the rapid expansion of Islam that began in the 7th century ad.
    
    Muhammad was born in Mecca. He belonged to the clan of Hashim, a poor but respected branch of the prestigious and influential tribe of Quraysh. His father died before he was born, and after his mother's death when he was six, he was brought up by his uncle Abu Talib. Pensive and withdrawn in temperament, he displayed an acute moral sensitivity at an early age, and he was known as al-Amin (“the trusted one”). Like his fellow tribesmen, he became a trader and made several journeys to Syria, where he may have met and conversed with Christians. He then began to manage the business of a rich widow, Khadija; she was greatly impressed by both his honesty and ability, and she shortly offered him marriage, which he accepted at the age of 25.
    
    II FIRST REVELATION
    
    HISTORIC SPEECHES
    The Teachings of Muhammad
    During the early 7th century, a trader named Muhammad was meditating in a cave near Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia, when he experienced a vision of the archangel Gabriel who declared Muhammad to be a prophet of God. Other revelations followed, and Muhammad began to preach to others, reciting in verse the instructions he had received from God. These revelations became the Koran, the sacred scripture of Islam. In this passage from Muhammad’s teachings, he teaches his followers, called Muslims, to lead a righteous life through their faith and works.
    
    Muhammad probably heard Christians and Jews expound their religious views at commercial fairs in Mecca, and, troubled by the questions they raised, he periodically withdrew to a cave outside Mecca to meditate and pray for guidance. During one of these retreats he experienced a vision of the archangel Gabriel, who proclaimed him a prophet of God. He was greatly perplexed by the experience but was reassured by his wife, and, as new revelations followed, he came to accept his prophetic mission. His wife and his cousin Ali became his first followers, and eventually he began to preach in public, reciting the verses of his revelation, which came to be known as the Qur'an (Koran). He gained some prominent converts, but the movement grew slowly.
    
    III TEACHINGS
    
    GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE
    The Merciful
    Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the direct word of God as it was revealed to the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. Also known as the Koran, this book is the sacred scripture of Islam. Divided into 114 chapters called suras, the Qur’ansets forth the basic requirements of Muslim life, including spiritual, social, and legal codes of conduct. This sura calls on both humans and jinn (spirits created from fire) to acknowledge the power of God.
    
    Muhammad's earliest teachings emphasized his belief in one transcendent but personal God, the Last Judgment, and social and economic justice. God, he asserted, had sent prophets to other nations throughout history, but, having failed to reform, those nations had been destroyed. Muhammad proclaimed his own message, the Qur'an, to be the last revealed Book and himself to be the last of the prophets, consummating and superseding the earlier ones.
    
    IV OPPOSITION
    
    Insisting on the necessity of social reform, Muhammad advocated improving the lot of slaves, orphans, women, and the poor and replacing tribal loyalties with the fellowship of Islamic faith. This egalitarian and reformist tendency quickly aroused the enmity of the rich merchants who dominated Mecca. They persecuted some of Muhammad's weaker followers, and in 615 he ordered 83 families to take refuge in Ethiopia. When both his beloved wife Khadija and his uncle and protector Abu Talib died in 619, he despaired of his position in Mecca. After an unsuccessful effort to convert the nearby town of AtTa’if, he was approached by a delegation from Yathrib (later Medina), a city about 300 km (about 186 mi) to the north that was divided by tribal feuds. They asked him to arbitrate the feuds, offering him considerable authority. After careful negotiations, Muhammad accepted and asked his followers to emigrate from Mecca to Medina.
    
    V THE HEGIRA
    
    Muhammad left Mecca just as his enemies were preparing to murder him, and he arrived in Medina eight days later. His emigration became known as the Hegira (Arabic hijrah) and marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.
    
    Muhammad was soon given supreme authority in Medina, and he began to establish the ritual practices of Islam and to carry out social reforms. He promulgated a charter that specified the rights and relationships of the Muslims, Jews, and other groups of the city. The Meccans, meanwhile, persisted in their hostility, demanding the extradition of Muhammad and his Meccan followers. They were supported in Medina by a group, referred to in the Qur'an as the Hypocrites, who had submitted to Islam but were secretly working against it. This group in turn was aided by the three Jewish tribes that were residing in Medina.
    
    VI WAR WITH MECCA
    
    Muhammad's strategy in the developing conflict with Mecca was to attack Meccan trade caravans returning from Syria and thus economically weaken the city. In 624, the first major battle occurred, in which the Muslims, despite their inferiority in numbers and weapons, soundly defeated the Meccans. In the next major battle, the following year, the Meccans had the advantage but were unable to achieve a decisive victory. A Meccan army of 10,000 besieged Medina in 627 but failed to take the city. Muhammad meanwhile eliminated his enemies within Medina. After each of the first two battles he expelled a Jewish tribe, and after the third major battle he had the males of the remaining tribe massacred for collaborating with his opponents.
    
    VII VICTORY
    
    Dome of the Rock The oldest extant Islamic structure, the Dome of the Rock stands on the sacred rock in Jerusalem where the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven. Caliph Abd al-Malik built the mosque during the late 7th century. The mosque’s basic octagonal design encloses a central space topped by a dome. A rich mosaic decoration covers the outer walls.Israel Ministry of Tourism
    
    In 630, the Meccans, unable to conquer Medina and crippled by the severing of their trade routes, finally submitted peacefully to Muhammad, who treated the city generously, declaring a general amnesty. Tribal delegations arrived from throughout Arabia, and their tribes were soon converted to Islam. Muhammad, now the most powerful leader in Arabia, enforced the principles of Islam and established the foundation of the Islamic empire. He ordered the destruction of the idols in the Kaaba, the traditional place of pilgrimage in Mecca, which then became the holiest shrine of Islam. He granted Jews and Christians religious autonomy as “peoples of the Book,” whose revelations anticipated his own. On his last visit to Mecca, at the time of the annual pilgrimage, he gave a sermon in which he summarized his reforms, declared the brotherhood of Muslims, and repudiated all distinctions of class, color, and race. He died suddenly and unexpectedly in Medina about a year later, on June 8, 632.
    
    HISTORIC SPEECHES
    Muhammad's Universe
    Muhammad is the chief prophet of Islam, one of the world’s major religions. Islam is based largely on the Qur’an (Koran), believed by Muslims to be divine revelation conveyed to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel. Author Michael Cook describes the core concepts of Muhammad’s worldview, in particular how the Islamic conception of the universe equates religion and politics. Quoting liberally from the Qur’an, Cook argues that Muhammad’s political worldview proved instrumental to the survival and spread of Islam.
    
    VIII DESCENDANTS
    
    As long as Khadija lived, Muhammad took no other wives. After her death in 619, when he was 50, he eventually married nine women, including Aisha, the daughter of his kinsman and early follower Abu Bakr, who was to become the first caliph, or successor to Muhammad. He also took a Christian Coptic slave as a concubine. Muhammad's sons all died in infancy, and the only daughter to survive him was Fatima, who married Ali, the fourth caliph.
    
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Click here for details of Mohammad's family with Khadijah Bint Khuwailid

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