The first two-thirds is entirely irrelevant to the specific time, but whatever.
Still, Muhammad becomes the victim to the same things that his religion falls under; his life is full of mystery and misunderstandings. The question that should be asked is who Muhammad was, and what do Muslims say he did, but most importantly, how true are these claims that Muslims say about their founder and prophet. Before a critical analysis, the life of Muhammad needs explanation.
Even Muslims know not much about Muhammad’s childhood, as it ultimately does not matter with their beliefs, much like Christian accounts of Jesus. According to the traditional accounts, Muhammad was born in 570 CE in Mecca. Later in childhood, he became an orphan as his father died before his birth and his mother dying at age six. This ultimately has a much larger impact on Islam than it seems at the surface because his uncle raised him, and since he was a merchant, took him on a fateful caravan trip to Syria when he was twelve. On this journey, the caravan’s route took them cave of a Christian monk, Bahira. While this caravan’s route supposedly always took them by this cave, this time the monk took notice because Muhammad had a cloud hover over his head and his head alone. The monk stopped the Meccans and insisted that they join him for a meal, and summoned Muhammad personally accompany them. During this visit, Bahira found a mark on Muhammad’s back and explained that that was the seal of prophethood and this boy was the prophet predicted by Christ.
This is not the only event that signals some sort of divine calling for Muhammad. In infancy, while under the care of his Bedouin (it was common that during that time that city-dwelling Arabs place their care of Bedouins so they to expose them to the healthy are of the desert). Halima, his Bedouin, had been struggling to nurse, suddenly became so full of milk that she was able to nurse Muhammad and her own child, even the camel’s udders became overflown with milk. However, something even more preposterous happened: “While I was with a [foster] brother of mine behind our tents shepherding the lambs, to men in white raiment came to me with a golden basin full of snow. Then they seized me and opened up my belly, extracted my heart and split it; then they extracted a black drop from it and threw it away; they washed my heart and belly with that snow” (Ibn Ishaq 72). This account appears to symbolize Muhammad’s purification for prophesy years before, not only the actual call, but before the event with the monk happened.
Other than those stories, Muhammad’s life prior to his call to prophesy remains in darkness. When he did receive it, the belief is that he was still in Mecca, where he married his first wife (according to tradition she saw him as being a holy man), and working as a merchant. During this time, the tradition is that for one month each year he would go to a cave on a mountain called Hira and pray. Not only that, but at age forty, during one of these prayer sessions, he received his first visit from the archangel Gabriel.
These visions from Gabriel would form the Qur’an, which was apparently “burned into his mind” so that he could remember them when he preached. In addition to the visions that gave Muhammad the Qur’an, Gabriel took him on a night trip to Jerusalem, where he ascended into Heaven. These visions and messages from God caused conflict between his followers and the ruling tribe in Mecca, which eventually forced his followers to out of Mecca to Medina, where he had his first encounters with Jews and Christians.
In Medina (primarily Jewish at that time), it is reported that Muhammad “established some sort of treaty with the Jews—known today as the “Constitution of Medina”—a treaty that required the two groups to help each other”(Reynolds 42), even some scholars suggesting that Muhammad molded his teachings to support the Jews. It also believed that Muslim practice of praying towards the Ka’ba came from the Jewish tradition of praying towards Jerusalem, which happened while Muhammad was praying towards Jerusalem turned around because God told him to so. (Reynolds 42). This moment began the conflict as Muhammad became frustrated with the Jews who refused to follow his ways of praying. This conflict over praying eventually turned into a bloody conflict that ended Jewish presence in Medina. On the other hand, Muhammad’s relationship with Christians differed from his with Jews as according to tradition; a caravan of Christians came to Medina and visited Muhammad, even prayed in his mosque. However, this group, divided on the issue of whether Christ was God or the Son of God, received teaching and advice from Muhammad. This story seems to explain why a large section of the third Surah is about how Christians have not submitted due to how the division in the story reflects that part of the Qur’an as opposed to how history shows the divisions in Middle Eastern church at that time.
After this incident with the Christians, Muhammad continued living in Medina while Islam spread over the region. Eventually the Muslims conquered Mecca, and during about 630 CE, Muhammad knew that his death was near and took a pilgrimage to Mecca, a pilgrimage that it taken by Muslims to this day. During this time, Muhammad continued sending out raids until he became too ill. Eventually his illness became so bad he could not lead prayer, and chose Abu Bakr has his successor, who according to Sunni Muslims took the physical place of the prophet (Reynolds 56). According to tradition, Muhammad died in the third month of the eleventh Islamic year.
This is summary of the life of Muhammad; however, there are major problems with just how accurate the accounts are on the life of Muhammad. The primary problem with Muhammad’s life is that the earliest biographies of his life, composed well after a century following his death is that one cannot view them as critically authoritative. F.E. Peters says that it unlikely that anyone would doubt that the first biography written by Ibn Ishaq in the eight century reflected the needs of the Muslim community at that time (298). Therefore, how can people ever truly know what Muhammad actually said or meant if motives not related to actually telling his life shaped the telling of the biographies? To Muslims (unlike Christians), the actions and words of Muhammad are not those of God’s and thus, the meaning of them is not what is important (Peters 299); Muslims are more concerned with Muhammad’s message, the Qur’an, than they are his life because when it all comes down to it, he was basically just the messenger. Because of this, it is probably not possible to form a truly critical, historical Muhammad.
Allahu Akbar…Ash-adu anna Muħammadan-Rasulullah, God is greatest, I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God. In reality, Muslims, unlike Christians, do not see their figure as divinity, but a prophet. A prophet, whose life other people have told stories about and shared these stories; even if these stories are not critically or historically accurate.
Works Cited
Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad. The Life of Muhammad. Translated by Alfred Guillaume. London: Oxford University Press, 1955. Print
Peters, F.E. "The Quest for the Historical Muhammad." Cambridge University Press. 23.3 (1991): 291-315. Print.
Reynolds, Gabriel. The Emergence of Islam: Classical Traditions in Contemporary Perspective. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012. Print.
