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Dictionary Of Hindu Religion | Sketches
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Muhammad |
Muhammad 570/571 AD - June 8, 632 AD = 62 yrs See also Muhammad in Ved and Puraan
Muhammad Saahab's name (Mohammed, or
Muhammad bin Abdullaah) appears in
Bhavishya Puraan, 3/17 Muhammad Saahab was the one who started Muslim
(Islam) religion. His followers consider him the Messenger or Prophet of God (Allaah).
He was the last prophet according to Quraan. he is considered the restorer of
monotheistic faith of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus
and other prophets. Their religious book (scripture) is Quraan (Koraan).
He was born in 570 AD in the Arabian
city of Meccaa. His parents died at an eary age and he was brought up by his
uncle Aboo Taleeb. he worked as a shepherd and merchant and was first married at
the age of 25. He did not like his life so he went to a mountain cave for meditation.
According to Islamic beliefs it was here, at the age of 40, in the month of Ramaadaan,
where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event
Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God
is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (literarily. Islaam) is
the only way (Deen = Dharm) acceptable to God, and that he himself was a prophet
and messenger of God. Some became his followers and some went hostile. The hostile
people treated his followers harshly.
To escape persecution, Muhammad sent
some of his followers to Abyssinia (today's Ethiopia) before he and his
remaining followers in Meccaa migrated to Medinaa (then known as Yathrib) in the
year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islaamik calendar,
also known as the Hijaree Calendar. In Medinaa, Muhammad united the conflicting
tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers,
who by then had grown to 10,000, conquered Meccaa. In 632, a few months after
returning to Medinaa from his Farewell pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill and died.
By the time of his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam,
and he had united the tribes of Arabia into a single Muslim religious polity.
The revelations, Aayat (the signs of
God) which Muhammad received until his death, later became the verses of Quraan.
His life and deeds have been debated and criticized by his followers as well as
his opponents over the centuries - this makes difficult to write his biography.
But he is revered as a true prophet and Manifestation of God in the Bahaai
Faith. The Quraan is the primary source of Muhammad's life. The name Muhammad
means "Praiseworthy" and occurs only four times in the Quraan. The Quraan
addresses Muhammad in second person, not by his name but by the appellations,
prophet, messenger, servant of God ('abd), announcer (basheer), warner (nathir),
reminder (mudhakkeer), witness (shaahid), bearer of good tidings (mubashshir),
one who calls [unto God] and the light-giving lamp (siraaj muneer).
Birth of Muhammad
Little is known of Muhammad during
later years of his youth, and from the fragmentary information that is available,
\it is hard to separate history from legend. It is known that he became a merchant
and "was involved in trade between the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean
Sea".
How the Quraan Began
Muhammad's wife Khadeejaa was the
first to believe that Muhammad was a prophet. She was soon followed by
Muhammad's ten-year-old cousin Ali ibn Abee Taalib, close friend Abboo Bakar,
and adopted son Zaid. Around 613, Muhammad began his public preaching. Most
Meccans ignored him and many mocked him, while a few others became his
followers. There were three main groups of early converts to Islam: younger
brothers and sons of great merchants; people who had fallen out of the first
rank in their tribe or failed to attain it; and the weak, mostly unprotected
foreigners.
As the number of his followers
increased, he became a threat to the local tribes and rulers of the city whose
wealth rested upon the Kaaba, the focal point of Meccan religious life, which
Muhammad threatened to overthrow. The powerful merchants threatened him to stop
his preaching but Muhammad refused. In 615, some of Muhammad's followers
emigrated to the Ethiopian Aksumite Empire and founded a small colony there
under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian emperor Ashaamaa ibn Abjaar.
Tradition relates that in 620,
Muhammad experienced the Isra and Miraj, a miraculous journey said to have
occurred with the angel Gabriel in one night. In the first part of the journey,
the Isra, he is said to have traveled from Mecca on a winged horse to "the
farthest mosque" (in Arabic: masjid al-aqsa), which Muslims usually identify
with the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. In the second part, the Miraj, Muhammad is
said to have toured heaven and hell, and spoken with earlier prophets, such as
Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. When he was transported to Heaven, he reported seeing
an angel with "70,000 heads, each head having 70,000 mouths, each mouth having
70,000 tongues, each tongue speaking 70,000 languages; and every one involved in
singing God's (Allah's) praises." After calculation these numbers would mean
the angel spoke 24 quintillion (2.401 × 1019) languages for the praise of Allah.
This description is similar word for word to the description of an angel seen by
Moses in "The Revelation of Moses".
Last Years in Meccaa
In Madeenaa
Among the first things Muhammad did
in order to settle down the longstanding grievances among the tribes of Madeenaa
was drafting a document known as the "Constitution of Madeenaa" (Ummaa),
"establishing a kind of alliance or federation" among the eight Madeenaa
tribes and Muslim emigrants from Maccaa, which specified the rights and duties of
all citizens and the relationship of the different communities in Medina (including
that of the Muslim community to other communities). Those Madeenaans who converted
to Islam and helped the Muslim emigrants find shelter became known as the Ansar
(supporters). Under this process Muhammad chose Alee as his own brother.
The Muslims who emigrated to Madeenaa,
after losing their wealth, started looting Maccaan caravans. Muhammad also supported
this by quoting Quraan Aayat. A great battle took place between Maccaans and the
Muslims and the Muslims won. This strengthened the situation of Muslims in Madeenaa.
At the same time this became the beginning of Total War with Maccaans. After the
battle of Badr another battle was fought in which Maccaans lost. Their trade with
Syria was also gone. After this an accusation of adultery was made to Muhammad's
wife Aaishaa. Muhammad announced the innocence of Aaishaa proved by a revelation
and asked people to present four eye witnesses.
Muhammad ordered his 1,400 Muslims,
for Umaraa to Maccaa. Maccaa tribes 200 foot soldiers to stop them, but the
Maccaans did not allow them to enter Maccaa. Muhammad sent many letters to many
kings to become Muslims. he sent his force against the Arabs but got defeated.
Later Muhammad sent a message to Maccaa with three conditions, asking them to
accept one of them - (1) either the Maccaans paid blood money for those slain
among the Khuzaah tribe; or, (2) that they should disavow themselves of the Banu
Bakr; or, (3) that they should declare the truce of Hudaybiyyah (conditions of
Hajj) null. They agreed to the third one but realizing their mistake they sent a
man to renew the Hajj treaty, but then Muhammad began to campaign. In 630, Muhammad
marched on Maccaa with an enormous force, said to number more than 10,000 men. With
minimal casualties, Muhammad took control of Maccaa. After this Muhammad had to face
another enemy and he won him.
At last in the 10th year since
Muhammad came to Madeenaa, he got ready o do his first pilgrimage (Hajj). After
completing the Hajj, he delivered his last sermon and after this he fell ill and
suffered for many days with fever and headache. he died on Monday, June 8, 632
at the age of 63. With his head resting on Aisha's lap he murmured his final
words soon after asking her to dispose of his last worldly goods, which were seven
coins: "Rather, God on High and paradise." -Muhammad. He was buried where
he died, which was in Aaishaa's house. |
Created by Sushma Gupta on 3/15/06
Contact: sushmajee@yahoo.com
Updated on
05/21/13