Narration of Muhammad’s Life

Muhammad is generally regarded by non-Muslims to have been the founder of

Islam and universally considered by Muslims to have been the last prophet sent by God

to mankind to restore Islam, which they believe to be the unaltered original monotheistic

faith of other prophets. Born approximately in 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca,

orphaned at an early age; he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib.

After his childhood Muhammad primarily worked as a merchant. Occasionally he would

retreat to a cave in the mountains for several nights of seclusion and prayer; later, at

age of 40, he reported his spot, that he was visited by Gabriel and received his first

revelation from God. Three years after this event Muhammad started preaching these

revelations publicly, proclaiming that there is only one God that complete surrender to

Him is the only way acceptable to God, and that he was a prophet and messenger of

God, similar to the other prophets of Islam.

In pre-Islamic Arabia, gods and goddesses were viewed as protectors of

individual tribes, their spirits being associated with sacred trees and stones as well as

being the site of an annual pilgrimage, the Kaaba shrine in Mecca housed 360 idol

statues of tribal patron deities. Three goddesses were associated with Allah as his

daughters. The opposition in Mecca started when Muhammad delivered verses that

condemned idol worship and the Meccan forefathers who engaged in polytheism. As

the number of followers increased, he became a threat to the local tribes and rulers of

the city, whose wealth rested upon the Ka’aba. Muhammad’s denunciation of the

Meccan traditional religion was specially offensive to his own tribe, as they were the

guardians of Ka’aba. The powerful merchants attempted to convince Muhammad to

abandon his preaching by offering him admission into the inner circle of merchants, and

establishing his position therein by an advantageous marriage. However, he refused

both.

Persecution and ill-treatment towards Muhammad and his followers continues.

Sumayyah bint Khabbab, a slave of a prominent Meccan leader is famous as the first

martyr of Islam killed with a spear by her master when she refused to renounced her

faith. Another Muslim slave, was tortured who used to place a heavy rock on his chest

to force his conversion. Apart from insults, Muhammad was protected from physical

harm as he belonged to the Banu Hashim clan.

Muhammad’s followers emigrated to the Ethiopian Empire and founded a small

colony under the protection of the Christian Ethiopian Emperor but later moved to

Medina. The first group of converts to Islam in Medina were the clans without great

leaders; these clans had been subjugated to hostile leaders from outside. This was

followed by the general acceptance of Islam by the pagan population of Medina.

Following the emigration, the people of Mecca seized property of Muslim

emigrants to Medina. After which, Muhammad delivered Quaranic verses permitting

Muslims to fight the Meccans. These attacks allowed the migrants to acquire wealth,

power and prestige while working towards the ultimate goal of conquering Mecca.

Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan.

The Muslims set an ambush for the caravan at Badr. Aware of the plan, the Meccan

caravan eluded the Muslims. A force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan, and

continued en route to confront the Muslims upon receiving word that caravan was safe.

Though outnumbered, the Muslims won the battle. Muhammad and his followers saw

the victory as confirmation of their faith and Muhammad ascribed the victory as assisted

from an invisible host of angels.

Meccans were eager to avenge their defeat. They sent ambush parties to Medina

while Muhammad led expeditions against tribes allied with Mecca and sent raiders onto

a Meccan caravan. Abu Sufyan gathered an army of three thousand men and set out for

an attack on Medina. Muhammad led his force outside to the mountain and fought the

battle. Although the Muslim army had an advantage in early encounters, lack of

discipline on the part of the archers led to a Muslim defeat. Muslims were killed

including Hamza. Meccans did not pursue the Muslims, instead they marched back to

Mecca declaring victory. Muslims buried the dead, and returned to Medina that evening.

Muhammad ordered his followers to prepare for pilgrimage to Mecca, saying that

God had promised him the fulfillment of this goal. Muhammad called upon the pilgrims

to make a pledge and if the situation descended into war with Mecca. The main points

of the treaty included cessation of hostilities, the deferral of Muhammad’s pilgrimage to

the following year, and agreement to send back any Meccan to Medina without

permission from their protector. Many Muslims were not satisfied with the treaty.

However, revelations assured them that the expedition must be considered a victorious

one. It was later that Muhammad’s followers realized the benefit behind the treaty.

These benefits included the requirement of the Meccan’s to identify Muhammad as an

equal, cessation of military activity allowing Medina to gain strength, and the admiration

of Mecccans who were impressed by the pilgrimage rituals.

After signing the truce, Muhammad assembled an expedition against the Jewish

oasis of Khaybar, known as the Battle of Khaybar. According to the Muslim tradition,

Muhammad also sent letters to many rulers, asking them to convert to Islam.

Muhammad began to prepare for a campaign. Muhammad marched on Mecca

with 10,000 Muslim converts. With minimal casualties, Muhammad seized control of

Mecca. Most Meccans converted to Islam and Muhammad proceeded to destroy all the

statues of Arabian gods in and around the Kaaba.

At the end of the tenth year after migration to Medina, Muhammad completed his

first truly Islamic pilgrimage, known as Hajj. A few months after the farewell pilgrimage,

Muhammad fell ill and suffered for several days with fever, head pain and weakness.

Then Muhammad uttered a word saying that “there is only one God that is Allah and

Muhammad is the prophet”.

Reaction

Muhammad is undoubtedly one of the prophets for he received messages from

the Creator and pursued practice of monotheistic religion. Even though struggles and

problems occurred during the first year of Islamic era, Muhammad still continues to

claim that he is the messenger and that there is only God in the name of Allah. There

are also some martyrs in the early days of Islamic era that even though they may be

killed if they will not renounce their religion and actually some them died by not following

the orders of their leaders.

Muhammad also accepts the fact that progress of the Islamic regime is very

impossible due to some irregularities in the early Meccan empire that is very different in

the practice of Islam. Early Mecca followed polytheistic in which they praised gods and

goddesses as their savior which was represented by statues that is very different in the

practice of Islam. Although large extent of impossibility of the conquered of Mecca

indicates in early stages, Muhammad still believed that Allah will never leave them and

that the angel of God will always guide them wherever they go and whatever challenges

they will came through.

Muhammad also came to the extent that people praised him but he denied it and

explaining that Muhammad is just a human and that the message of God is only relayed

to him; that Muhammad is capable of dying and that the God cannot die, God cannot be

protected inside the Ka’aba because He is the one who protects us.

Lastly, Muhammad explained at the last pilgrimage message, he told them in

view of the Quranic verse “Today I have perfected your religion, and completed my

favors for you and chosen Islam as a religion for you”. Which means as a goodbye

message to all the followers of Islam and clearly states that Islam is the religion

preferred and must be followed by all not just by words but also by faith and by deeds.