VI

Prophethood and Prophet Muhammad

The Meaning of the Prophets’ Prophethood and Mission

God creates every community of beings with a purpose and a guide or a leader. It is inconceivable that God Almighty, Who gave bees a queen, ants a leader, and birds and fish each a guide, would leave us without Prophets to guide us to spiritual, intellectual, and material perfection.

Prophethood is the highest rank and honor that a man can receive from God. It proves the superiority of that man’s inner being over all others. A Prophet is like a branch arching out from the Divine to the human realm. He is the very heart and tongue of creation, and possesses a supreme intellect that penetrates into the reality of things and events.

Moreover, he is the ideal being, for all of his faculties are harmoniously excellent and active. He strives and progresses steadily toward Heaven, waits upon Divine inspiration or Revelation for the solutions to the problems he faces, and is the connecting point between this world and the Beyond. His body is subject to and follows his heart, figuratively the seat of spiritual intellect, as does his heart. His perceptions and reflections are always directed to the Names and Attributes of God. He goes to what he perceives, and arrives at the desired destination.

A Prophet’s perception, developed to the full – seeing, hearing, and thus knowing – surpasses that of all other people. His perception cannot be explained in terms of different light, sound, or some other wavelengths. Ordinary people cannot acquire a Prophet’s knowledge.

Although we can find God by reflecting upon natural phenomena, we need a Prophet to learn why we were created, where we came from, where we are going, and how to worship our Creator properly. God sent Prophets to teach their people the meaning of creation and the truth of things, to unveil the mysteries behind historical and natural events, and to inform us of our relationship, and that of Divine Scriptures, with the universe.

Everything in the universe tries to exhibit the Names and Attributes of the All-Mighty, All-Encompassing Creator. In the same way, the Prophets note, affirm, and are faithful to the subtle, mysterious relation between God and His Names and Attributes. As their duty is to know and speak about God, they enter into the true meaning of things and events and then convey it directly and sincerely to humanity.

Without Prophets, we could not have made any scientific progress. While those who adopt evolutionary approaches to explain historical events tend to attribute everything to chance and deterministic evolution, Prophets guided humanity in intellectual – and thus scientific – illumination. Thus, farmers traditionally accept Prophet Adam as their first master, tailors accept Prophet Enoch, shipmakers and sailors accept Prophet Noah, and clock makers accept Prophet Joseph. Also, the Prophets’ miracles marked the final points in scientific and technological advances, and urged people to them.

Prophets guided people, through personal conduct and the heavenly religions and Scriptures they conveyed, to develop their inborn capacities and directed them toward the purpose of their creation. Had it not been for them, humanity (the fruit of the tree of creation) would have been left to decay. As humanity needs social justice as much as it needs private inner peace, Prophets taught the laws of life and established the rules for a perfect social life based upon justice.

The Qur’an explicitly declares: We sent among every people a Messenger (with the command): “Serve God and avoid evil” (16:36). But many people gradually forgot these Divine teachings and fell into such errors as deifying the Prophets and others or engaging in idolatry. Even accepting that there must be a tremendous difference between the original and the current form of many religions, it is quite impossible to understand the conditions that caused Confucius to appear in China and Brahma and Buddha in India. It is equally difficult to guess what their original messages were and to what degree they have been corrupted.

If the Qur’an had not introduced Prophethood to us, we would not have an accurate idea of the character, lives, missions, and teachings of many Prophets. One accurate hadith says: “A Prophet’s disciples will carry out his mission after his death, but some of his followers will later upset everything he established.” This is a very important point. Many of the religions we now consider false turned to falsehood, superstition, and legend over time through the deliberate malice of their enemies (or the mistakes of their followers), despite their possible origin in the purest, Divine source.

To say that someone is a Prophet when he is not is unbelief, as is the case with refusing to believe in a true Prophet. We should consider what Buddhism or Brahmanism may have been in their true, original forms, as well as the doctrines attributed to Confucius or the practices and beliefs of Shamanism. Maybe they still have some remnants of what they originally were.

Many once-pure religions have been distorted and altered. Therefore, it is essential to accept the purity of their original foundation. The Qur’an says: There never was a people without a warner having lived among them (35:24), and: We sent among every people a Messenger (16:36).

These Revelations declare that God sent Messengers to each group of people. The Qur’an mentions the names of 28 Prophets, out of a total of 124,000. We do not know exactly when and where many of them lived. But we do not have to know such information, for: We did in times past send Messengers before you; of them there are some whose stories We have related to you, and some whose stories We have not related to you (40:78).

Recent studies in comparative religion, philosophy, and anthropology reveal that many widely separated communities share certain concepts and practices. Among these are moving from polytheism to monotheism, and praying to the One God in times of hardship by raising their hands and asking something from Him. Many such phenomena indicate a singular source and a single teaching. If primitive tribes cut off from civilization and the influence of known Prophets have a sure understanding of His Oneness, though they may have little understanding of how to live according to that belief, a Messenger must have been sent to them at some time in the past: For every people there is a Messenger. When their Messenger comes, the matter is judged between them with justice, and they are not wronged (10:47).

As pointed out above, whenever people fell into darkness after a Prophet, God sent another one to enlighten them again. This continued until the coming of the Last Prophet. The reason for sending Prophets Moses and Jesus required that Prophet Muhammad should be sent. As his message was for everyone, regardless of time or place, Prophethood ended with him.

Due to certain sociological and historical facts, which require a lengthy explanation, Prophet Muhammad was sent as “a mercy for all worlds (21:107).” For this reason, Muslims believe in all of the Prophets and make no distinction among them:

The Messenger believes in what has been sent onto him by his Lord, and so do the believers. They all believe in God and his angels, His Scriptures and His Messengers: “We make no distinction between any of His Messengers” – and they say: “We hear and obey. Grant us Your forgiveness, our Lord; to You is the journeying.” (2:285)

That is why Islam, revealed by God and conveyed to humanity by Prophet Muhammad, is universal and eternal.

Describing Prophethood and narrating the stories of all Prophets is beyond the scope of this book. By focusing on the Prophethood of the Seal of the Prophets, who told us about the other Prophets and Divine Scriptures and made our Lord known to us, we will make the other Prophets known and prove their Prophethood.

Belief in God, the source of happiness, and following the Last Prophet and Messenger of God are the keys to prosperity in both worlds. If we want to be saved from despair and all negative aspects of life and attain intellectual, spiritual, and material perfection, we must believe whole-heartedly that Muhammad is the Messenger of God and follow his guidance.

Prophet Muhammad, upon Him Be Peace and Blessings

If we were to imagine ourselves in the world of 1,400 years ago, we would find a completely different world. The opportunity to exchange ideas would be scanty, and the means of communication limited and undeveloped. Darkness would hold sway, and only a faint glimmer of learning, hardly enough to illumine the horizon of human knowledge, would be visible. The people of that time had a narrow outlook, and their ideas of humanity and things were confined to their limited surroundings. Steeped in ignorance and superstition, their unbelief was so strong and widespread that they refused to consider anything as lofty and sublime unless it appeared in the garb of the supernatural. They had developed such an inferiority complex that they could not imagine any person having a godly soul or a saintly disposition.

The Prophet’s Homeland

In that benighted era, darkness lay heavier and thicker in one land than in any other. The neighboring countries of Persia, Byzantium, and Egypt possessed a glimmer of civilization and a faint light of learning, but the Arabian peninsula, isolated and cut off by vast oceans of sand, was culturally and intellectually one of the world’s most backward areas. The Hijaz, birthplace of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, had not passed through even the limited development of neighboring regions, and had not experienced any social evolution or attained any intellectual development of note. Although their highly developed language could express the finest shades of meaning, a study of their literature’s remnants reveals the limited extent of their knowledge. All of this shows their low cultural and civilizational standards, their deeply superstitious nature, their barbarous and ferocious customs, and their uncouth and degraded moral standards and conceptions.

It was a land without a government, for every tribe claimed sovereignty and considered itself independent. The only law recognized was that of the jungle. Robbery, arson, and the murder of innocent and weak people was the norm. Life, property, and honor were constantly at risk, and tribes were always at daggers drawn with each other. A trivial incident could engulf them in ferocious warfare, which sometimes developed into a decades-long and country-wide conflagration. As one scholar writes:

These struggles destroyed the sense of national unity and developed an incurable particularism; each tribe deeming itself self-sufficient and regarding the rest as its legitimate victims for murder, robbery and plunder. [1]

Barely able to discriminate between pure and impure, lawful and unlawful, their concepts of morals, culture, and civilization were primitive and uncouth. Their life was wild and their behavior was barbaric. They reveled in adultery, gambling, and drinking. They stood naked before each other without shame, and women circumambulated the Ka‘ba in the nude.

Their prestige called for female infanticide rather than having someone “inferior” become their son-in-law and eventual heir. They married their widowed stepmothers and knew nothing of the manners associated with eating, dressing, and cleanliness. Worshippers of stones, trees, idols, stars, and spirits, they had forgotten the earlier Prophets’ teachings. They had an idea that Abraham and Ishmael were their forefathers, but almost all of these forefathers’ religious knowledge and understanding of God had been lost.

Muhammad’s Life before His Prophethood

This was Prophet Muhammad’s homeland where he was born in 571. His father, ‘Abdullah, died before he was born, and his mother, Amina, died when he was 6 years old. Consequently, he was deprived of whatever training and upbringing an Arab child of that time received. During his childhood, he tended flocks of sheep and goats with other Bedouin boys. As education never touched him, he remained completely unlettered and unschooled.

The Prophet left the Arabian peninsula only twice. As a youth, he accompanied his uncle Abu Talib on a trade mission to al-Sham (present-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan). The other time was when he led another trade mission to the same region for the widow Khadija, a wealthy Makkan merchant 15 years his senior. They got married when he was 25, and lived happily together until she died more than 20 years later.

Being unlettered, he read no Jewish or Christian religious texts or had any appreciable relationship with them. Makka’s ideas and customs were idolatrous and wholly untouched by Christian or Jewish religious thought. Even Makka’s hanifs, those who followed some of Abraham’s pure religion in an adulterated and unclear form and rejected idolatry, were not influenced by Judaism or Christianity. No Jewish or Christian thought is reflected in these people’s surviving poetic heritage. Had the Prophet made any effort to become acquainted with their thought, it would have been noticed.

Moreover, Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, avoided the locally popular intellectual forms of poetry and rhetoric even before his Prophethood. History records no distinction that set him over others, except for his moral commitment, trustworthiness, honesty, truthfulness, and integrity. He did not lie, an assertion proven by the fact that not even his worst enemies ever called him a liar. He talked politely and never used obscene or abusive language. His charming personality and excellent manners captivated the hearts of those who met him. He always followed the principles of justice, altruism, and fair play with others, and never deceived anyone or broke his promise.

Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, was engaged in trade and commerce for years, but never entered into a dishonest transaction. Those who had business dealings with him had full confidence in his integrity. Everyone called him al-Amin (the Truthful and the Trustworthy). Even his enemies left their precious belongings with him for safe custody, and he scrupulously fulfilled their trust. He was the embodiment of modesty in society that was immodest to the core.

Born and raised among people who regarded drunkenness and gambling as virtues, he never drank alcohol or gambled. Surrounded by heartless people, his own heart overflowed with the milk of human kindness. He helped orphans, widows, and the poor, and was hospitable to travelers. Harming no one, he exposed himself to hardship for their sake. Avoiding tribal feuds, he was the foremost worker for reconciliation. He never bowed before any created thing or partook of offerings made to idols, even when he was a child, for he hated all worship devoted to that which was not God. In brief, his towering and radiant personality, when placed in the midst of such a benighted and dark environment, may be likened to a beacon of light illumining a pitch-dark night, to a diamond shining among a heap of stones.

And What Was His Message?

Suddenly a remarkable change came over him. His heart, illuminated with Divine Light, now had the power for which he had yearned. He left the confinement of the cave to which he used to retire at regular intervals, went to his people, and addressed them in the following strain:

The idols that you worship are mere shams, so stop worshipping them. No person, star, tree, stone, or spirit deserves your worship. Do not bow your heads before them in worship. The entire universe belongs to God Almighty. He alone is the Creator, Nourisher, Sustainer, and thus the real Sovereign before Whom all should bow down and Who is worthy of your prayers and obedience. So worship Him alone and obey His commands.

The theft and plunder, murder and rapine, injustice and cruelty, and all the vices in which you indulge are sins in God’s eyes. Leave your evil ways. Speak the truth. Be just. Do not kill anyone, for whoever kills a person unjustly is like one who has killed all humanity, and whoever saves a person’s life is like one who has saved all humanity (5:32). Do not rob anyone, but take your lawful share and give that which is due to others in a just manner.

Do not set up other deities with God, or you will be condemned and forsaken. If one or both of your parents reaches old age and lives with you, speak to them only with respect and, out of mercy, be humble with them. Give your relatives their due. Give to the needy and the traveler, and do not be wasteful. Do not kill your children because you fear poverty or for other reasons. Avoid adultery, for it is indecent and evil. Leave the property of orphans and the weak intact.

Fulfill the covenant, because you will be questioned about it. Do not cheat when you measure and weigh items. Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge, for your ears, eyes, and heart will be questioned about this. Do not walk around arrogantly, for you will never tear Earth open or attain the mountains in height. Speak kind words to each other, for Satan uses strong words to cause strife. Do not turn your cheek in scorn and anger toward others or walk with impudence in the land.

God does not love those who boast, so be modest in bearing and subdue your voice. Do not make fun of others, for they may be better than you. Do not find fault with each other or call each other by offensive nicknames. Avoid most suspicion, for some suspicion is a sin. Do not spy on or gossip about each other. Be staunch followers of justice and witnesses for God, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents and relatives, regardless if they are rich or poor. Do not deviate by following caprice. Be steadfast witnesses for God in equity, and do not let your hatred of others seduce you to be unjust toward them.

Restrain your rage and pardon the offences of others. Good and evil deeds are not alike, so repel the evil deed with a good one so that both of you can overcome your enmity and become loyal friends. The recompense for an intentional evil is a similar evil; but whoever pardons and amends the evildoer with kindness and love will be rewarded by God. Avoid alcohol and games of chance, for God has forbidden them.

You are human beings, and all human beings are equal in God’s eyes. No one is born with the slur of shame on his or her face or the mantle of honor around his or her neck. The only high and honored people are the God-conscious and pious, true in words and deeds. Distinctions of birth and glory of race are no criteria of greatness and honor.

On a day after you die, you will appear before a Supreme Court and account for all your deeds, none of which can be hidden. Your life’s record shall be an open book to God. Your fate shall be determined by your good or bad actions. In the court of the True Judge – the Omniscient God – there can be no unfair recommendation and favoritism. You cannot bribe Him, and your pedigree or parentage will be ignored. True faith and good deeds alone will benefit you at that time. Those who have done them fully shall reside in the Heaven of eternal happiness, while those who did not shall reside in the fire of Hell. [2]

Muhammad as a Prophet and Messenger of God

For 40 years, Muhammad lived as an ordinary man among his people. He was not known as a statesman, preacher, or orator. No one had heard him impart wisdom and knowledge, or discuss principles of metaphysics, ethics, law, politics, economy, or sociology. He had no reputation as a soldier, not to mention of being a great general. He had said nothing about God, angels, revealed Books, early Prophets, bygone nations, the Day of Judgment, life after death, or Heaven and Hell. No doubt he had an excellent character and charming manners and was well-behaved, yet nothing marked him out as one who would accomplish something great and revolutionary. His acquaintances knew him as a sober, calm, gentle, and trustworthy citizen of good nature. But when he left Hira cave with a new message, he was completely transformed.

When he began preaching, his people stood in awe and wonder, bedazzled by his wonderful eloquence and oratory. It was so impressive and captivating that even his worst enemies were afraid to listen to it, lest it penetrate their hearts or very being and make them abandon their traditional religion and culture. It was so beyond compare that no Arab poet, preacher, or orator, no matter how good, could equal its beautiful language and splendid diction when he challenged them to do so. Although they put their heads together, they could not produce even one line like the ones he recited.

Facing immediate and severe opposition, he confronted his opponents with a smile and remained undeterred by their criticism and coercion. When the people realized that their threats did not frighten this noble man and that the severest tribulations directed toward him and his followers had no effect, they played another trick – but that too was destined to fail.

A deputation of the leading members of the Quraysh (his tribe) offered him a bribe to abandon his mission:

If you want wealth, we will amass for you as much as you wish; if you want honor and power, we will swear allegiance to you as our overlord and king; if you want beauty, you shall have the hand of the most beautiful maiden of your choice.

The terms were extremely tempting for any ordinary person, but they had no significance in the Prophet’s eyes. His reply fell like a bomb upon the deputation, who thought they had played their trump card:

I want neither wealth nor power. God has commissioned me to warn humanity. I deliver His message to you. If you accept it, you shall have felicity and joy in this life and eternal bliss in the life hereafter. If you reject it, God will decide between you and me.

On another occasion he said to his uncle, who was being pressured by the tribal leaders to persuade him to abandon his mission:

O uncle! Should they place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left so as to make me renounce this mission, I shall not do so. I will never give it up. Either it will please God to make it triumph or I shall perish in the attempt. [3]

The faith, perseverance, and resolution with which he conducted his mission to ultimate success is an eloquent proof of the supreme truth of his cause. Had there been the slightest doubt or uncertainty in his heart, he would never have been able to brave the storm that continued in all its fury for 23 long years.

The unlettered Prophet spoke with a learning and wisdom that no one had displayed before and none could show after him. He expounded the intricate problems of metaphysics and theology; delivered speeches on why nations and empires rise and fall and supported his thesis with historical examples; taught ethical canons and principles of culture; and formulated such laws of social culture, economic organization, group conduct, and international relations that even eminent thinkers and scholars could grasp their true wisdom only after life-long research and vast experience. Their beauties, indeed, unfold themselves progressively as humanity advances in theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

This silent and peace-loving trader who had never handled a sword, who had no military training, and who had participated in only one battle (as a spectator!), suddenly turned into such a brave soldier that he never retreated in the fiercest battles, and became such a great general that he conquered Arabia in 9 years at a time of primitive weaponry and very poor means of communication. His military acumen and efficiency developed the military spirit to such a high pitch that he infused a motley crowd of Arabs with the training and discipline necessary to overthrow one of the two superpowers of his day – Sassanid Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire – and utterly defeat the other. These Arabs became the masters of the greater part of the then-known world within a few decades.

This reserved and quiet man who, for 40 years, had given no indication of political interest or activity, suddenly appeared on the world stage as such a great statesman that, without the aid of modern media or telecommunications, he united the scattered inhabitants of a 1.2 million square mile desert – a people who were warlike, ignorant, unruly, uncultured, and plunged in internecine tribal warfare – under one banner, law, religion, culture, civilization, and form of government. Sir William Muir, no friend of Islam, admits:

The first peculiarity, then, which attracts our attention is the subdivision of the Arabs into innumerable bodies ... each independent of the others: restless and often at war amongst themselves; and even when united by blood or by interest, ever ready on some significant cause to separate and give way to an implacable hostility. Thus at the era of Islam the retrospect of Arabian history exhibits, as in the kaleido-scope, an ever-varying state of combination and repulsion, such as had hitherto rendered abortive any attempt at a general union ... The problem had yet to be solved, by what force these tribes could be subdued or drawn to one common center; and it was solved by Muhammad. [4]

He changed people’s modes of thought, habits, and morals. He turned the uncouth into the cultured, the barbarous into the civilized, the evildoers and bad characters into pious, God-conscious, and righteous persons. Their unruly and stiff-necked natures were transformed into models of obedience and submission to law and order. A nation that had produced no great figure worth the name for centuries gave birth, under his influence and guidance, to thousands of noble souls who went to far-off lands to preach and teach the principles of religion, morals, and civilization.

In the cavalcade of world history, this sublime figure towers high above all the great people and heroes of all nations. None of them possessed the degree of genius that would allow them to make a deep impression on more than one or two aspects of human life. Some are exponents of theories and ideas but deficient in practical action, people of action who suffered from paucity of knowledge, or renowned only as statesmen; others were masters of strategy and maneuvering, totally focused on one aspect of social life so that others were overlooked, devoted their energies to ethical and spiritual verities but ignored economics and politics, or took to economics and politics but neglected morals and spirituality.

In short, one comes across heroes who are adepts and experts in one walk of life only. Prophet Muhammad is the only person in which all excellences are blended into one personality. He is a man of wisdom, a seer, and a living embodiment of his own teachings; a great statesman as well as a military genius; a legislator and a teacher of morals; and a spiritual luminary as well as a religious guide.

His vision penetrates every aspect of life, and he adorns whatever he touches. His orders and commandments cover a vast field, from regulating international relations to such daily habits as eating, drinking, and cleanliness. On the foundations of his teaching, he established a civilization and a culture and produced such a fine equilibrium among life’s conflicting aspects that no flaw, deficiency, or incompleteness can be found therein. Can anyone point to another example of such a perfect personality?

He ruled his country, but was so selfless and modest that he remained very simple and sparing in his habits. He continued to live poorly in his humble thatch-and-mud cottage, sleeping on a mattress, wearing coarse clothes, eating the simplest food of the poor, and sometimes experiencing the pangs of hunger. He spent whole nights standing in prayer before his Lord, helped the destitute and penniless, and worked like a laborer when necessary, never considering it beneath his dignity.

Even when he lay dying, he showed not the slightest taint of royal pomp or hauteur so enjoyed by the rich. Like an ordinary man, he sat and walked with people and shared their joys and sorrows. He mixed and mingled with crowds so easily and naturally that a stranger or an outsider found it hard to recognize him as his nation’s leader and ruler. Once a Bedouin came and asked for Muhammad while he was serving his Companions. His answer enshrines an eternal principle: “The master of the nation is the one who serves it.” (Daylami, al-Firdaws, 2:324.)

This is the tribute of Lamartine, the French historian to the person of the Holy Prophet of Islam:

Never a man set himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman: to subvert superstitions which had been interposed between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry then existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design no other instrument than himself, and no other aid, except a handful of men living in a corner of desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered in God’s name Persia, Khorasan, Western India, Syria, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean, Spain, and a part of Gaul.

If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great men to Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislation, empires, peoples, and dynasties, but millions of men [and women] in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls. On the basis of a Book, every letter of which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which has blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race. He has left to us as the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality, the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the followers of Muhammad: the conquest of one-third of the earth to his creed was his miracle. The idea of the unity of God proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of fabulous theogenies, was in itself such a miracle that upon its utterance from his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the world. His life, his meditations, his heroic revilings against the superstitions of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of idolatry; his firmness in enduring them for thirteen years at Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost of being a victim of his fellow-countrymen: all these and, finally his incessant preaching, his wars against odds, his faith in his success and his superhuman security in misfortune, his forbearance in victory, his ambition which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayer, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death; all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction. It was his conviction which gave him the power to restore a creed. This creed was two-fold, the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is; the latter telling what God is not. Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial states and of one spiritual state, that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask: Is there any man greater than he? [5]

In spite of his greatness, the Prophet behaved as an ordinary man with all people. He sought no reward or profit to compensate him for his life-long struggles and endeavors, and left no property for his heirs, for he lived to serve his nation. He did not ask that anything be set aside for him or his descendants, and forbade his progeny from receiving zakat so that future Muslims would not give all of their zakat to them.

He was deeply loved by his Companions, as evidenced by this historical episode:

A group from the Adal and al-Qarah tribes, who were apparently from the same ancestral stock as the Quraysh and who lived near Makka, came to the Prophet during the third year of the Islamic era and said: “Some of us have chosen Islam, so send a group of Muslims to instruct us what Islam means, teach us the Qur’an, and inform us of Islam’s principles and laws.”

The Messenger selected six Companions to go with them. Upon reaching the Hudhayl tribe’s land, the group halted and the Companions settled down to rest. Suddenly, a group of Hudhayli tribesmen fell upon them like a thunderbolt with their swords drawn. Clearly, the mission either had been a ruse from the beginning or its members had changed their minds en route. At any rate, they sided with the attackers and sought to seize the six Muslims. As soon as the Companions were aware of what was happening, they grabbed their arms and got ready to defend themselves. Three were martyred, and the rest were tied up and taken to Makka, where they were to be delivered to the Quraysh.

Near Makka, ‘Abdullah ibn Tariq managed to free his hand and reach for his sword. However, his captors saw what he was doing and stoned him to death. Zayd ibn al-Dathina and Hubayb ibn Adiy were carried to Makka, where they were exchanged for two Hudayli captives. Safwan ibn Umayya al-Qurayshi bought Zayd from the person to whom he had been sold so that he could avenge the blood of his father, who had been killed during the Battle of Badr. He took him outside Makka to kill him, and the Quraysh assembled to see what would happen.

Zayd came forward with a courageous gait and did not even tremble. Abu Sufyan, a spectator who wanted to use this chance to extract a statement of contrition and remorse or an avowal of hatred of the Prophet, stepped forward and said: “I adjure you by God, Zayd, don’t you wish that Muhammad was with us now in your place so that we might cut off his head, and that you were with your family?” “By God,” said Zayd, “let alone wishing that, I do not wish that even a thorn should hurt his foot.” Abu Sufyan, astonished, turned to those present and said: “By God, I swear I have never seen a man so loved by his followers as Muhammad.”

After a while, Hubayb was taken outside Makka for execution. Requesting the assembled people to let him perform two rak‘at of prayer, to which they agreed, he did so in all humility, respect, and absorption. Then he spoke to them: “I swear by God that if I did not think that you might think that I was trying to delay my death out of fear, I would have prolonged my prayer.”

After condemning Hubayb to crucifixion, his sweet voice was heard, with a perfect spirituality that held everyone in its spell, entreating God with these words: “O God! We have delivered the message of Your Messenger, so inform him of what has been done to us, and tell him my wish of peace and blessings upon him.” Meanwhile, God’s Messenger was returning his peace, saying: “Upon you be God’s peace and blessings, O Hubayb!” [6]

The following account shows the indelible mark that God’s Messenger has imprinted on people of every age:

One of Ibn Sina’s students told Ibn Sina that his extraordinary understanding and intelligence would cause people to gather around him if he claimed prophethood. Ibn Sina said nothing. When they were travelling together during winter, Ibn Sina woke up one morning at dawn, woke his student, and asked him to fetch some water because he was thirsty. The student procrastinated and made excuses. However much Ibn Sina persisted, the student would not leave his warm bed. At that moment, the cry of the muezzin (caller to prayer) called out from the minaret: “God is the greatest. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.”

Ibn Sina considered this a good opportunity to answer his student, so he said:

You, who averred that people would believe in me if I claimed to be a prophet, look now and see how the command I just gave you, who have been my student for years and have benefited from my lessons, has not had the effect of making you leave your warm bed to fetch me some water. But this muezzin strictly obeys the 400-year-old command of the Prophet. He got up from his warm bed, as he does every morning together with hundreds of thousands of others, climbed up to this great height, and bore witness to God’s Unity and His Prophet. Look and see how great the difference is!” [7]

The Prophet’s name has been pronounced five times a day together with that of God for 1,400 years all over the world. For further information on Prophet Muhammad with all the aspects of his life, character, and mission, see, M. Fethullah Gülen, Prophet Muhammad: Aspects of His Life (The Fountain: 2000), and “Prophethood and Muhammad’s Prophethood” in Essentials of the Islamic Faith (The Fountain: 2000.)

A Short Biography of Prophet Muhammad

Prophet Muhammad (upon him be God’s blessings and peace) was born in 571 in Makka. His father, ‘Abdullah, died several weeks before his birth in Yathrib (Madina), where he had gone to visit his father’s maternal relatives. His mother died while on the return journey from Madina at a place called Abwa when he was 6 years old. He was raised by his paternal grandfather ‘Abd al-Muttalib (Shayba) until the age of 8, and after his grandfather’s death by Abu Talib, his paternal uncle. ‘Abd al-Muttalib’s mother, Salma, was a native of Madina, and ‘Abd al-Muttalib was born and raised as a young boy in Madina before his uncle Muttalib brought him to Makka to succeed him. Many years before Muhammad’s birth, ‘Abd al-Muttalib had established himself as an influential Qurayshi leader in Makka and took care of the Ka‘ba. Makka was a city-state well connected to the caravan routes to Syria and Egypt in the north and northwest and to Yemen in the south. Muhammad was a descendant of Prophet Ishmael.

Under Abu Talib’s guardianship, Muhammad, upon him be God’s blessings and peace, began to earn a living as a businessman and a trader. At the age of 12, he accompanied Abu Talib with a merchant caravan as far as Bostra in Syria. Muhammad was popularly known as al-Amin for his unimpeachable character by the Makkans and visitors alike. This title means “the Honest, the Reliable, and the Trustworthy,” and signified the highest standard of moral and public life.

Upon hearing of Muhammad’s impressive credentials, Khadija, a rich widowed merchant, asked him, upon him be God’s blessings and peace, to take some merchandise for trade to Syria. Soon after this trip, when he was 25, Khadija proposed marriage to him through a relative. Muhammad accepted the proposal. At that time, Khadija was twice widowed and 40 years old. Khadija, may God be pleased with her, and Muhammad, upon him be God’s blessings and peace, had 6 children – four daughters and two sons. His first son Qasim died at the age of two. (Muhammad was nicknamed Abu al-Qasim [the father of Qasim]). His second son, ‘Abdulla, died in infancy. ‘Abdulla was also called affectionately Tayyib and Tahir, because he was born after Muhammad’s Prophethood. Their four daughters were Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum, and Fatima.

At this time, the Ka‘ba was filled with 360 idols. Prophet Abraham’s original pristine message had been lost and then mixed with superstitions and traditions brought by pilgrims and visitors from distant places who were used to idolatry and myths. In every generation, a small group of men and women detested the Ka‘ba’s pollution and kept pure their practice of the religion taught by Prophets Abraham and Ishmael. They used to spend some of their time away from this pollution in retreats to the nearby hills.

Muhammad, upon him be God’s blessings and peace, was 40 when, during one of his many retreats to Mount Hira for reflection during Ramadan, he received the first Revelation from the Archangel Gabriel (Jibril). Gabriel, upon him be peace, said to Muhammad: “Iqra’,” meaning “Read” or “Recite.” Muhammad replied: “I cannot read,” as he had received no formal education and was unlettered. Gabriel then embraced him until he reached the limit of his endurance and, after releasing him, said: “Iqra’.” Muhammad’s answer was the same as before. Gabriel repeated the embrace for the third time, asked him to repeat after him and said:

Recite in the name of your Lord who created! He created humanity from that which clings. Recite; and your Lord is most Bountiful, He who has taught by the pen, taught humanity what it knew not.

These Revelations are the first five verses of Surat al-‘Alaq (96:1-5). Thus, the Revelation began in the year 610.

Muhammad, upon him be God’s blessings and peace, left the cave of Mt. Hira. When he reached his home, still under the influence of the Revelation, he asked his wife: “Cover me!” After his awe had somewhat abated, Khadija asked him about his great anxiety. She then assured him by saying: “God will not let you down because you are kind to relatives; you speak only the truth; you help the poor, the orphan, and the needy; and you are an honest man.” (Bukhari, “Bad’ul-Wahy,” 1:3.) She accepted the Revelation as truth, and was the first person to accept Islam. She supported her husband in every hardship, most notably during the 3-year boycott of the Prophet’s clan by the pagan Quraysh. She died at the age of 65 during Ramadan, soon after the boycott was lifted in 620.

Gabriel, upon him be peace, visited the Prophet, as commanded by God, and revealed ayat (meaning signs, loosely referred to as verses) in Arabic over a 23-year period. The Revelations sometimes consisted of a few verses, part of a chapter, or an entire chapter. Some Revelations came down in response to an inquiry by the unbelievers. The revealed verses were recorded on a variety of available materials (e.g., leather, palm leaves, bark, shoulder bones of animals), memorized as soon as they were revealed, and were recited in daily prayers (80:13-16). Gabriel taught the order and arrangement of verses, and the Prophet instructed his scribes to record verses in that order (75:16-19; 41:41-42).

Once a year, the Prophet would recite all of the verses that had been revealed up to that time to Gabriel so that the latter could authenticate the recitation’s accuracy and the verses’ order (17:106). All of the revealed verses were compiled in the book known as Qur’an. The name Qur’an appears in the revealed verses. The Qur’an contains not even one word from the Prophet, and speaks in the first person (i.e., God’s commands to His creation). Gabriel also visited the Prophet throughout his mission to inform and teach him about events and strategy, as needed, to help complete the Prophetic mission. The Prophet’s sayings, actions, and approvals are recorded separately in collections known as Hadith.

The Prophet’s, upon him be God’s blessings and peace, mission was to restore the worship of the One True God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, as taught by Prophet Abraham and all other Prophets of God; and to demonstrate and complete the laws of moral, ethical, legal, and social conduct, as well as all other matters of significance for humanity at large.

His first followers were his cousin ‘Ali, his servant Zayd ibn Haritha, his friend Abu Bakr, and his wife and daughters. They accepted Islam by testifying that: There is no deity (worthy of worship) except The One True God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

Islam means peace by submission and obedience to the Will and Commandments of God and those who accept Islam are called Muslims, meaning those who have accepted the message of peace by submission to God.

In the first 3 years of his mission, 40 men and women accepted Islam. This small group was comprised of youth as well as older people from a wide range of economic and social backgrounds. The Prophet, directed by a Revelation, soon started reciting the Revelations public and inviting the people to Islam. The Quraysh, Makkah’s leaders, met this development with hostility. The most hostile people were his uncle Abu Lahab and his wife Umm Jamila. Initially, they and other Qurayshi leaders tried to bribe him with money, power, and kingship if he would abandon his message. When this failed, they tried to convince his uncle Abu Talib to accept the best young man of Makka in place of Muhammad, and then to allow them to kill Muhammad. His uncle tried to persuade him to stop preaching, but the Prophet said: “O uncle, if they were to put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand to stop me from preaching Islam, I would never stop. I will keep preaching until God makes Islam prevail or I die.” (I. Hisham, Sira, 1:282)

The Quraysh began to persecute Muslims by beating, torturing, and boycotting their businesses. Those who were weak, poor, or slaves were publicly tortured. The first martyr was Umm ‘Ammar (the mother of ‘Ammar ibn Yasir). Muslims from well-to-do families were physically restrained in their homes and told that their freedom of movement would be restored when they recanted. The Prophet was publicly ridiculed and humiliated by having filth thrown upon him in the street and while he prayed in the Ka‘ba. Despite great hardship and no apparent support, the Muslims remained firm in their belief. As God told the Prophet to be patient and to preach the message of Qur’an, the Prophet asked his followers to remain patient because he had not received any Revelation that allowed retaliation.

When the persecution became unbearable for most Muslims in 615, the Prophet advised them to emigrate to Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) where Ashaba (Negus, a monotheistic Christian who later believed in Prophet Muhammad) ruled. Eighty people, not counting the small children, emigrated in small groups to avoid detection. No sooner had they left the Arabian coastline than the Qurayshi leaders discovered their departure. Not willing to let them escape, they immediately sent two envoys to Negus requesting their return. However, Negus offered them his protection after he investigated their beliefs and heard the Revelations about Jesus and Mary in Sura Maryam, peace be upon them both. The emigrants were allowed freedom of worship in Abyssinia.

After this, the Quraysh made life even more difficult for the Prophet by banning all contact with his family (Bani Hashim and Muttalib). The ban was ended 3 years later, when the Qurayshi leaders discovered that their secret document defining the ban’s terms, which they had stored in the Ka‘ba, had been eaten by worms – all except for the opening words: “In Your name, O God.” This ban left the Prophet with even more personal sorrow, for shortly after its lifting his beloved wife Khadija and his uncle Abu Talib passed away.

After his uncle’s death, the Prophet went to Ta’if (about 50 miles east-southeast of Makka) to seek its people’s protection. They flatly refused, mocked him, and severely injured him by inciting their children to throw stones at him. Gabriel, upon him be peace, visited the Prophet and told him that the angels were ready to destroy the town if he would ask God to punish its people. But he answered that if even one of their descendants should accept Islam within 100 years, he could not desire their extermination. He prayed for future generations of Ta’if to accept Islam. On his return from this trip, he met in a vineyard a Christian slave named Addas, originally from Nineveh, who accepted Islam.

Soon after the terrible disappointment at Ta’if, the Prophet experienced the events of the Isra’ and Mi‘raj (621), during which Gabriel took him from the sacred mosque near the Ka‘ba to al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem in a very short time during the latter part of the night. This was then followed by his journey through all the dimensions of existence so that he could be shown the greatest signs of God. During this event, the five daily prayers were prescribed. He was then taken back to the Ka‘ba. Upon hearing of this, the Makkans mocked him. However, after he described Jerusalem, other things on the way, and the caravan that he had seen on this journey, including its expected arrival in Makka, turned out to be true, their ridicule stopped. These two events are mentioned in the Qur’an in 17:1 and in 53:1-18.

Occasional fairs were held in Makka and such nearby places as ‘Arafat, Mina, Muzdalifa, and ‘Aqaba. The Prophet would go to them every year, looking for receptive people. In the eleventh year of his mission, seven people from Madina believed in him in ‘Aqaba. They returned the next year with 70 new converts and swore that they would protect him if he emigrated to Madina.

The Hijra and Madina

In 622, the Qurayshi leaders decided to kill the Prophet. They planned to choose one man from each Qurayshi tribe and attack him altogether. Gabriel informed him of this plan and told him to leave Makka immediately. The Prophet, after arranging to return that which several unbelievers had entrusted to him, left with Abu Bakr that very night. They went south of Makka to a mountain cave of Thawr [see Qur’an 9:40] and, after staying there for 3 nights, traveled about 250 miles north to Yathrib, which the Messenger changed into Madina.

When the Qurayshi leaders learned of his escape, they offered a reward of 100 camels for his capture, either dead or alive. But despite their best scouts and search parties, God protected the Prophet and he arrived safely in Quba, a suburb of Madina. This event is known as the Hijra (Emigration) and marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. The people of Madina’s Aws and Khazraj tribes greeted him with great enthusiasm in accordance with their pledge made at ‘Aqaba. One by one, those Muslims (men and women) of Makka who were not physically restrained and who could make a secret exit, abandoned everything and left for Madina.

When the Prophet settled down in Madina, the Muslims built a mosque in which they could perform their daily prayers and use as their new city-state’s headquarters.

The Prophet, upon him be God’s blessings and peace, found complete anarchy in Madina, for the region had never had either a state or a ruler to unite its feuding tribes. In just a few weeks, he rallied the tribes together (and brought order), and established a city-state in which Muslims, Jews, pagan Arabs, and probably a small number of Christians as well, entered into a state organism by means of a social contract.

The constitutional law of this first Muslim state, which took the form of a confederacy due to its multiple population groups, has come down to us in toto. In it, we read “to Muslims their religion, and to Jews their religion,” or “that there would be benevolence and justice,” but even that “the Jews . . . are a community (in alliance) with the believers (i.e., Muslims).” All of these phrases appeared in clause 25. [8]

In other words, the autonomous Jewish villages voluntarily joined this confederate state and recognized Muhammad as its head. The document stated clearly that military defense was obligatory upon everyone, including the Jews. This implies their participation in discussing and then executing the policies adopted. In fact, section 37 laid down: “The Jews will bear their expenses and the Muslims theirs, and there will be mutual succor between them in case an aggressor attacks the parties to this document.” Further, section 45 says that war and peace will be indivisible for the parties to the document.

Some months after establishing this city-state, the Prophet concluded treaties of defensive alliance and mutual aid with the pagan Arabs around Madina. Some of them embraced Islam about 10 years later. During this decade, mutual confidence was complete.

With the arrival of God’s Messenger in Madina, the struggle between Islam and unbelief entered a new phase. In Makka, the Prophet had devoted himself almost exclusively to expounding Islam’s basic principles and to his Companions’ moral and spiritual training. After the Emigration (622), however, new Muslims belonging to different tribes and regions began to gather in Madina. Although the Muslims held only a tiny piece of land, the Quraysh allied itself with as many tribes as possible to exterminate them.

In these circumstances, the small Muslim community’s success, not to mention its very survival, depended upon several factors. In order of importance, they were:

·           Propagating Islam efficiently and effectively to convert others.

·           Demonstrating the unbelievers’ falsehoods so convincingly that nobody could doubt Islam’s truth.

·           Facing exile, pervasive hostility and opposition, economic hardship, hunger, insecurity, and danger with patience and fortitude.

·           Regaining their wealth and goods usurped by the Makkans after they emigrated.

·           Resisting, with courage and force of arms, any assault launched to frustrate their movement. While resisting, they should ignore the enemy’s numerical or material superiority.

In addition to threats from Makka and its allies, the young community had, despite the signed pact, to contend with Madina’s three Jewish tribes, which controlled its economic life. Although they had been waiting for a Prophet, the Jews opposed God’s Messenger, because he was not Jewish, and continued to harbor considerable ill-will toward him and plot against him and Islam. For example, the skilled Jewish poet Ka‘b ibn Ashraf composed poems satirizing God’s Messenger and instigating his enemies.

In Madina, another hostile element began to emerge: hypocrisy. The Hypocrites can be divided into four broad groups, as follows:

·           Those who had no faith in Islam but entered the Muslim community to cause trouble within its ranks.

·           Those who understood political realities and so sought some advantage by seeming to have converted. However, they maintained contacts with anti-Islamic forces in the hope that they could benefit from contacts with both sides and thus not be harmed.

·           Those who had not made up their minds yet, but seemed to have converted because those around them were doing so.

·           Those who accepted Islam as the true religion but found it difficult to abandon their inherited way of life, superstitions, and customs, as well as to exercise the self-discipline required by Islam.

Military Expeditions

In such severe circumstances, God’s Messenger decided to dispatch military expeditions into the desert’s heart. He had several goals in mind, some of which were as follows:

·           Unbelievers tried to extinguish the Light of God with their mouth, but, although they were averse, God willed to perfect His Light (61:8). God’s Messenger wanted to prove that the unbelievers could not exterminate Islam.

·           Makka enjoyed a central position in the Arabian peninsula. As its most formidable power, all other tribes felt some sort of adherence to it. By sending military expeditions to neighboring areas, God’s Messenger wanted to display Islam’s power and break Qurayshi dominance. Throughout history, the concept of “might is right” has usually been a norm, for “right” is often too weak to rule. In Arabia, the Quraysh had might and wealth, so the neighboring tribes obeyed them. However, Islam came to make right prevail, and so God’s Messenger had to break Makka’s grip on the neighboring tribes.

·           His mission was not restricted to a fixed period or nation, for he was sent as a mercy for all the worlds. Thus he was charged with conveying Islam as far as possible. To succeed, he had to know what was going on in the peninsula. These expeditions served as vanguards providing him with the information he needed to pave the way for the preaching of Islam.

·           The Quraysh lived on trade with the international markets in the present-day regions of Syria and Yemen, and so had to secure their trade routes. But now that the Muslims were in Madina, these routes could be threatened. While strengthening his position, the Prophet also was dispatching military expeditions to paralyze the Quraysh’s hopes and plans of defeating him.

·           Islam’s commands seek to guarantee security of life and property, of chastity and belief, as well as of physical, mental, and spiritual health. Given this, murder and theft, robbery and plundering, usurpation and interest (or usury), gambling, alcohol, illicit sexual relations, anarchy, and the propagation of atheism are all forbidden. The Arabic word for belief, iman, means giving peace and security. Thus a mu’min (believer) never cheats, and all are safe from a believer’s tongue and hand. Believers do not lie, break their promise, or betray a trust. Also, they do not earn their livelihood through such un-Islamic ways as stealing, usurpation, and interest-based transactions. In addition, they seek to harm no one, for they are convinced that those who kill even one person are like those who kill humanity.

·           When God’s Messenger was raised as a Prophet, Arabia had no security of life or property, chastity or health, or belief. This was true on a global scale. One of his tasks, therefore, was to establish absolute security in every aspect of life. Once he said to Adiy ibn Khatam: “A day will come when a woman will travel, riding in a litter, from Hira to Makka and fear nothing except God and wolves.” (Bukhari, “Manaqib,” 25.) By dispatching military expeditions, God’s Messenger sought to establish security therein and show everyone that only Islam would bring them security.

Battles

The Messenger sent military dispatches into the desert until the Battle of Badr (624), which was the first major confrontation between the believers in Madina and the Makkan polytheists.

After his emigration to Madina, the enemies of Islam increased their assault from all sides. In the second year after the Hijra, the Makkans organized a trade caravan to the region of Syria under the leadership of Abu Sufyan. Their merchandise consisted of goods which the Muslims had left behind. When the caravan was en route back to Makka, Abu Sufyan feared a Muslim attempt to retrieve stolen property and so sent a messenger to Makka asking for help and reinforcements.

This caused an uproar throughout Makka. Leading Qurayshi chiefs decided to fight the Prophet. About 1,000 fighters left Makka, amidst much pomp and show, to crush the rising power of the Muslims. They also wanted, as always, to terrorize neighboring tribes to ensure the continued safety of their trade caravans. The Prophet faced them with 310 and so soldiers at Badr. This first confrontation ended in a decisive victory for the Muslims.

In order to take vengeance, the Quraysh prepared a new, powerful army composed of 3,000 soldiers and attacked Madina the following year. Informed of the Makkans’ march upon Madina, God’s Messenger, after consulting his Companions, met them with 1,000 soldiers in the skirts of the Mount Uhud, 5 kilometers north of Madina. In the first stage of the battle, the Muslims defeated the enemy easily. When the enemy began to flee, the Muslims gathered the spoils. Then, the archers that he had placed on the mountain pass left their positions.

Khalid ibn Walid, still an unbeliever and commander of the Qurayshi cavalry, seized this opportunity to lead his men around Mount Uhud and attacked the Muslims’ flank through the pass. The fleeing enemy soldiers came back and joined the attack from the front. Now, the battle turned against the Muslims. Both of these sudden attacks by superior forces caused great confusion among them, and the Companions had to rally around the Prophet, who was wounded and had fainted. Many of them also were wounded. They retreated to mountain’s safety. When the Qurayshi army began to leave the battlefield, thinking they had revenged themselves for Badr and seeing that they could not crush the Muslims’ resistance, they mounted their camels and, only leading their horses, headed for Makka.

In 627, a group of the expelled Banu Nadir Jews, including Sallam ibn Abi al-Huqayq, Huyayy ibn Akhtab, and some of the Banu Wa’il, went to Makka. They met with the Qurayshi leaders, urged them to continue the fight, and promised their help and support. These Jews then went to the Ghatafan and Qays Aylan tribes and, promising them help, encouraged them to fight against God’s Messenger. These intrigues resulted in a great anti-Muslim confederacy of Makkan polytheists, the desert tribes of central Arabia, Jews already expelled from Madina, Madina’s remaining Jews (the Banu Qurayza), and the Hypocrites (led by ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul). The last two constituted a fifth column within Madina.

When God’s Messenger was informed of this anti-Muslim gathering of confederates (ahzab) through his intelligence service, he consulted his Companions. It was their unanimous view that they should remain in Madina and fight from there. Salman al-Farisi suggested that they dig a trench around the city. It took 6 days of feverish labor to dig this trench.

The allies advanced against Madina in the hope of destroying the Muslims on an open battlefield. However, when they faced this new strategy, they took the first blow. Numbering around 20,000, they camped near the ditch. The Madinans had no more than 3,000 soldiers. Moreover, the Jewish Banu Qurayza and the Hypocrite fifth columns already had contacted the enemy. As stated in Qur’an 33:12-20, when the Hypocrites first saw the enemy, they were already in a defeatist mood.

The Messenger’s sagacity and military genius showed themselves once again. He had kept the soldiers confined within the city and stationed them so that they could safeguard their homes against possible Banu Qurayza attacks. The most critical moment came when the Banu Qurayza sent a man into the city to learn the conditions of the Muslim women. However, when this man was killed by Safiyya, the Prophet’s aunt, their hopes were frustrated.

The siege lasted for 27 days. The Muslims suffered greatly from hunger, cold, unending barrages of arrows and stones, attempts and concentrated assaults to cross the trench, and betrayals and intrigues within Madina. After almost 4 weeks, during which the enemy was disheartened by a lack of success and the believers proved their steadfastness and loyalty, there was a piercing blast of the cold wind from the east. The enemy’s tents were torn up, their fires were extinguished, sand and rain beat their faces, and they were terrified by the portents against them. In the end, Abu Sufyan shout: “Come on, we’re going home!” The Muslims were victorious by God’s help.

The Battle of the Trench was the last Qurayshi attempt to destroy Islam and the Muslims. Following their withdrawal in defeat and humiliation, God’s Messenger declared: “From this moment we will march upon them; they will no longer be able to raid us.”

Relations with the Jewish Tribes

Madina’s Jewish tribes were not eager to honor their agreements with God’s Messenger after his Emigration. During the Battle of Badr, they favored the Makkan polytheists; after Badr, they openly encouraged the Quraysh and other Arab tribes to unite against the Muslims. They also collaborated with the Hypocrites, who were apparently an integral part of the Muslim body-politic.

To sabotage the spread of Islam, they began to fan the flames of old animosities between the Aws and Khazraj, the two tribes of Madinan Muslims. Ka‘b ibn Ashraf, chief of the Banu Nadir, went to Makka and recited stirring elegies for the Makkans killed at Badr in an attempt to provoke the Quraysh into renewed hostile action. He also slandered the Muslims and satirized God’s Messenger in his poems.

The Jewish tribes’ violation of their treaty obligations exceeded all reasonable limits. A few months after Badr, a Muslim woman was treated indecently by some Jews of the Banu Qaynuqa’, the most anti-Muslim Jewish tribe. During the ensuing fight, a Muslim was martyred and a Jew was killed. When God’s Messenger reproached them for this shameful conduct and reminded them of their treaty obligations, the Jews threatened him: “Don’t be misled by your encounter with a people who have no knowledge of warfare. You were lucky. By God, if we fight you, you will know that we are the men of war.” But God’s Messenger marched upon them and defeated them.

The Jewish Banu Nadir tribe was originally the sworn ally of the Muslims in Madina. However, its members secretly intrigued with the Makkan pagans and the Madinan Hypocrites. They even tried to kill the Prophet while he was visiting them, breaking the laws of hospitality and their treaty. God’s Messenger asked them to leave their strategic position, about 3 miles south of Madina, and they agreed to do so. But when ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy, the Hypocrites’ chief, promised them help in case of war, the Banu Nadir demurred.

The Muslim army then besieged them in their fortresses. The Banu Nadir, seeing that neither the Makkan polytheists nor the Madinan Hypocrites cared enough to help them, had to leave the city. They were dismayed, but their lives were spared. They were given 10 days to remove themselves, their families, and all they could carry. Most of them joined their brethren in the region of Syria and others in Khaybar.

When the Allies were routed during the Battle of the Trench (627) and returned to their homes in defeat, God’s Messenger turned his attention to the Banu Qurayza. They had betrayed their agreement with God’s Messenger, allied themselves with the Quraysh, and had given asylum to the Banu Nadir’s leaders, like Huyay ibn Akhtab, who had been expelled from Madina and continued to conspire against the Muslims.

Immediately after the Battle of the Trench, God’s Messenger ordered his Companions to march upon this Jewish tribe, and had his tent pitched opposite their fortresses. He would have forgiven them if they had asked, but they preferred to resist. The Messenger besieged them for 25 days. At last they asked for surrender terms, agreeing that they should submit to Sa‘d ibn Mu‘adh’s judgment, who decreed their sentence according to the Torah. This was the end of the Banu Qurayza’s conspiracies, as well as of the Jewish presence in Madina.

God’s Messenger signed a treaty of 10 years of ceasefire with the Quraysh a year after the Battle of the Trench. This treaty was a clear victory that opened a door to new and greater victories for Islam. The Makkan threat ended, and God’s Messenger sent envoys to neighboring countries to invite them to Islam. He also set out to solve the other problems he faced within Arabia.

Most of the Banu Nadir Jews had settled in Khaybar after their expulsion from Madina. Together with them, the Jews of Khaybar continued to work against Islam, sometimes with the Quraysh and sometimes with the Banu Ghatafan. The Banu Nadir had been instrumental in forming the 20,000-man anti-Muslim alliance that was defeated during the Battle of the Trench. Seeking to end this continually hostile Jewish presence so that Arabia could be made secure for the future and free preaching of Islam, the Muslims acted.

The Banu Qurayza’s defeat roused the Jews of Khaybar to ally themselves with the Banu Ghatafan and attack Madina. They were making preparations for this when, after the treaty of Hudaybiya, God’s Messenger marched upon Khaybar. After a fierce battle, the Muslims conquered Khaybar.

The Perfection of Divine Religion

As mentioned above, a year after the Battle of the Trench, the Prophet and 1,500 Companions left for Makka to perform the annual pilgrimage. They were barred from approaching the city at Hudaybiya, where, after some negotiations, a treaty was signed allowing them to come next year. This treaty facilitated the exchange of ideas among the people of the whole region without interference. Many delegations from all regions of Arabia came to the Prophet to investigate the teachings of Islam, and a large number of people accepted it within a couple of years. The Prophet sent many of his Companions (who had memorized the Qur’an by heart) to new communities to instruct them about the practice of Islam. More than 50 of them were murdered by unbelievers.

A few weeks after Hudaybiya, the Prophet sent letters to several kings and rulers (including the two superpowers – Byzantium and Persia) inviting them to Islam. Negus, the king of Abyssinia, and the ruler of Bahrayn accepted Islam, and Emperor Heraclius acknowledged Muhammad’s Prophethood. Some other rulers also entered the fold of Islam.

At the end of 629, the Quraysh violated the terms of the Treaty of Hudaybiya by helping the Banu Bakr in a surprise attack on the Banu Khuza‘a, who were allied with the Prophet. Some Banu Khuza‘a men escaped, took shelter in Makka, and sought redress. However, the Qurayshi leaders did nothing. They then sent a message to the Prophet for help.

The Prophet, after confirming all the reports of the attack and subsequent events, marched to Makka with an army of 3,000 Muslims from Madina. Muslims from other Arab communities joined him on the way, swelling the army’s numbers. Before entering the city, he sent word to citizens of Makka that anyone who remained in his home, or in Abu Sufyan’s home, or in the Ka‘ba would be safe. The army entered Makka without fighting, and the Prophet went directly to the Ka‘ba and extolled God for his triumphant entry. The Prophet pointed at each idol with a stick and said: Truth has come and falsehood has perished. Surely falsehood is by nature bound to perish (17:81). And one by one the idols fell down. The Ka‘ba was then cleansed by having the 360 idols removed and restored to its pristine status for the worship of One True God (as built by Prophets Abraham and Ishmael).

The people of the city expected general slaughter in view of their persecution and torture of Muslims for the past 20 years. While standing by the Ka‘ba, the Prophet, upon him be God’s blessings and peace, promised clemency, stating: “O Quraysh, what do you think that I am about to do with you?” They replied, “Good. You are a noble brother, son of a noble brother.” The Prophet forgave them all saying: “”I will treat you as Prophet Yusuf (Joseph) treated his brothers. There is no reproach against you. Go to your homes. You are all free.”

The Makkans then accepted Islam, including the Prophet’s staunch enemies. A few of his staunchest enemies and military commanders had fled Makka, but, after receiving his assurance of no retaliation and no compulsion in religion, they came back and gradually embraced Islam. Within a year (i.e., by 630), almost all of Arabia accepted Islam. Among the Prophet’s close companions were Muslims from such diverse regions as Persia, Abyssinia, Syria, and Rome. Several prominent Jewish rabbis, Christian bishops, and clergymen accepted Islam after discussions with the Prophet.

The great change in Arabia alarmed the two superpowers: Byzantium and Persia. Their governors, particularly the Byzantines, reacted with threats to attack Madina. Instead of waiting, the Prophet sent a small army to defend the northernmost border of Arabia. From this time onward, until his death, all of the major battles were fought on the northern front. As the Prophet did not have a standing army, whenever he received a threat he would discuss the situation with the Muslims and then call for volunteers to fight any aggression.

The Prophet performed his first and last pilgrimage in 632 in the company of tens of thousands of male and female Companions. He received the last Revelation during this time, and died 2 months later (upon him be God’s blessings and peace), Monday, 12 Rabi al-Awwal, 11 AH [June 8, 632] in Madina after a short illness. He was buried in the place where he died.

Prophet Muhammad lived a most simple, austere and modest life. He and his family used to go without cooked meals several days at a time, relying only on dates, dried bread, and water. During the day he was the busiest man, as he performed his duties in many roles all at once as head of state, chief justice, commander-in-chief, arbitrator, instructor, and family man. He was the most devoted man at night, often spending one- to two-thirds of every night in prayer and reflection. He owned only mats, blankets, jugs, and other simple things even when he was the virtual ruler of Arabia. He left nothing to be inherited except a white mule (a gift from the ruler of Egypt), some ammunition, and a piece of land that he had made a gift during his lifetime. Among his last words were: “We, the community of Prophets, are not inherited. Whatever we leave is for charity.” (Muslim, “Jihad,” 52.)

At the end of his mission, the Prophet was blessed with around 100,000 men and women who had become his followers. Thousands prayed with him at the mosque and listened to his sermon. They would find every opportunity to be with him following the five daily prayers and at other times. They used to seek his advice for their everyday problems, and listened attentively to the interpretation and application of revealed verses to their situation. They followed the message of the Qur’an and the Messenger of God with utmost sincerity, and supported him with every thing they had. The most excellent among them are Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman, Ali, Talha, Zubayr, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas, Sa‘id ibn Zayd, Abu ‘Ubayda, Hasan, Hussayn, and several dozen others. They faithfully carried the message of Islam after the Prophet, and within 90 years the light of Islam reached Spain, North Africa, the Caucasus, northwest China, and India.

Jesus in the Qur’an

The Qur’an, the last of the Divine Books, which was revealed by the Creator to the Last of the Messengers and has come down to us uncorrupted, is a source of knowledge about Jesus that is generally unknown to most students of Christianity. The Qur’an not only leads us toward a better understanding of who he was, but also, through that understanding, increases our respect and love for him. The last Revelation, coming as it did some 600 years after Jesus’ birth, tells us what is important for us to know about his life and teachings, and places his role as a Prophet in the vast perspective that the Unitarians (Muwahhids) realized lay behind prophecy itself. The Qur’an gives a perspective that no other source can provide:

And truly We gave to Moses the Book and caused a train of Messengers to follow after him, and We gave to Jesus, son of Mary, clear proofs and supported him with the Pure Spirit. (2:87)

The following passage reminds us of the line of Messengers, of which Jesus was a part. After mentioning Abraham, it continues:

And We bestowed on him (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob, each of whom We guided; We guided Noah in an earlier time; and of his progeny David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron. Thus We reward the good. And Zechariah, John, Jesus, and Elijah, each of whom was of the righteous. And Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah, Lot, each of whom We preferred above the (other) creatures. (6:84-86)

(And the list of the Messengers is by no means complete, for) there are Messengers We have mentioned to you before and Messengers We have not mentioned to you. (4:164)

In fact, Prophet Muhammad, peace of God be upon him, said that Jesus was one of the Prophets, about whom there is no cause for conflict or argument. God tells His Messenger:

Say: “We believe in God and what is revealed to us; what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Prophets among Jacob’s descendants; and what was entrusted to Moses, Jesus, and the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have surrendered.” (3:84)

God sent all the Prophets with the same purpose, and Jesus was not different from them:

We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, confirming what was before him, and bestowed upon him the Gospel, wherein is guidance and light, confirming that which was before it in the Torah – a guidance and an admonition to those who are careful.” (5:46)

Jesus, son of Mary, said: “O Children of Israel! See! I am the messenger of God to you, confirming what was before me in the Torah, and bringing good news of a messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad (the Praised One).” (61:6)

The Qur’an relates his birth and the nature of his mission:

 (Remember, O Muhammad) when the angels said: “O Mary, God gives you glad tidings of a word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter and one of those brought near (unto God). He will speak to humanity in his cradle and in his manhood, and he is one of the righteous.” She said: “My Lord, how can I have a child when no man has touched me?” He said: “So (it will be). God creates what He wills. If He decrees a thing, He says to it only: ‘Be!’ and it is. He will teach him the Book and the wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel, and will make him a Messenger to the Children of Israel, (saying): ‘I come to you with a sign from your Lord. See! I fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, and I breathe into it and it is a bird, by God’s leave. I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I raise the dead, by God’s leave. I announce to you what you eat and what you store up in your houses. Here truly is a portent for you, if you are to be sincere believers. (I come) confirming what was before me of the Torah, and to make lawful some of what was forbidden to you. I come to you with a sign from your Lord, so keep your duty to God and obey me. God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is a straight path.” But when Jesus became conscious of their disbelief, he called out: “Who will be my helpers in the cause of God?” The disciples said: “We will be helpers in God’s (cause). We believe in God and bear witness that we have surrendered (to Him). Our Lord, we believe in what You have revealed and follow him whom You have sent. Enroll us among those who witness (to the Truth).” (3:45-53)

Such was Jesus, son of Mary. (This is) a statement of the Truth concerning that which they doubt. It does not befit (God’s Majesty) that He should take to Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decrees a thing, He says to it only “Be!” and it is. And see! God is my Lord and your Lord. So serve Him. That is the right path. (19:34-36)

They say: “God has taken a son.” Glorified be He! He has no needs! His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. You have no warrant for this. Do you tell concerning God that which you do not know? (10:68)

They indeed are unbelievers who say: “God is the Messiah, the son of Mary.” Say: “Who then can do anything against God, if He had willed to destroy the Messiah, son of Mary, and his mother, and everyone on Earth?” God’s is the Sovereignty of the heavens and Earth and all that is between them. He creates what He will. God is able to do all things. (5:17)

When God says: “O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to humanity: ‘Take me and my mother for two gods beside God?’ he says: ‘(May You) be glorified! It was not mine to utter something that I had no right to utter. If I used to say it, then You know it. You know what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Your mind. You, only You, are the Knower of Things Hidden. I spoke to them only what You commanded me, (saying): “Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.” I was a witness of them while I lived among them, and when You took me You were the Watcher over them. You are Witness over all things. If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them (they are Your slaves). You, only You, are the All-Honored with irresistible might, the All-Wise.’” (5:116-18)

Some Jews say: “Ezra is the son of God,” and the Christians say: “The Messiah is the son of God.” That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. God (Himself) fights against them. How perverse they are! They have taken as lords beside God their rabbis, their monks, and the Messiah, son of Mary, when they were ordered to worship only One God. There is no god except Him. (9:30-31)

O People of the Book! Do not exaggerate in your religion, nor utter anything concerning God except the Truth. The Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God, and His word that He conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers, and do not say “Three” – Stop! (It is) better for you! – God is only One God. It is far removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And God is enough as Defender. The Messiah will never scorn to be a slave to God, nor will the favored angels. Whoever scorns His service and is proud, all of them will He gather to Himself. As for those who believed and did good works, to them He will pay their wages in full, adding to them of His bounty. As for those who were scornful and proud, He will punish them with a painful doom, and they will not find any protecting friend or helper for themselves against God. (4:171-73)