Muhammad (570-632 C. E.)

Muhammad was born in what is today Saudi Arabia. His father died before he was born and his mother died when he was a small child. He was raised by extended family.

He married a widow named Khadijah. He had been working under her as a caravan driver. She had inherited the caravan company from her deceased husband. Tradition says they married when he was 25 and she was 40. They had six children, but no son that would live to reach adulthood. This became important to the development of Islam because Muhammad did not leave a male heir to carry on his teachings.

Muhammad was a religious man and would visit caves in the hills of Mecca to ponder and meditate. During one of these retreats he received what the Qur’an calls his first revelation.

“A bright presence came to him and held before his eyes a cloth covered with writing. It commanded three times that he recite what was written there.

‘Recite in the name of the Lord who created—created man from clots of blood.
Recite! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One, who by the pen taught man what he did not know.
Indeed, man transgresses in thinking himself his own master; for to your Lord all things return…
Prostrate yourself and come nearer.’”

Muhammad did not immediately embrace his experience. He questioned his sanity first. He spoke to Khadijah about it, and she encouraged him to accept this experience as a direct communication from God. He became convinced that the bright light was the angel Gabriel. He continued to have revelations and shared them with his close family and friends, who were the first Muslims. The word Muslim means “people who submit” to God (Allah).

His message was not readily received by the world around him. The most important distinction of Islam is the idea of One God. Muslims view the Christian concept of the Trinity as polytheism and blasphemy. They did at one time coexist peacefully with Jews and Christians. Muslims believed that Jews and Christians were “people of the book,” and understood the connection they shared to Abraham.

Jewish scripture tells a story of Abraham being challenged by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. God, upon seeing Abraham’s willingness to obey, provided Abraham with a ram to sacrifice instead, sparing his son. In Muslim tradition, it was Ishmael, not Isaac, that God asked for, and who was spared.
To understand why this is significant, see my blog:
http://progressiveu.org/blog/50362-abrahams-covenant

Early on Jews would reject Muhammad and his teachings because he recognized Jesus as a prophet and disputed the completeness and correctness of the Hebrew scriptures.

Another distinction that made Islam stick out was the revelation that forbade the worship of other gods and demanded the destruction of statues and images. Muhammad denounced usury and the failure to make and keep fair contracts. These ideas threatened the business people in Mecca and the local tribes who worshiped and kept images of multiple gods.

Muhammad and his followers were heavily persecuted and fled Mecca in 622 c.e. for Yathrib, a city 300 miles north of Mecca, which is called Medina today. Here he established the first mosque and executed or banished his enemies. His goal was always to return to Mecca. In 624 c.e. a battle between citizens of Mecca and Yathrib ensued wherein Muslim soldiers triumphed. In 630 c.e. Muhammad returned to Mecca as a victor, took control of the city, destroyed all images displayed in public, and began to institutionalize his religious ideals. His control extended into Arabia. Muhammad died in 632 C.E. in Yathrib