THE ROLE OF MUHAMMAD IN ISLAM
Muhammad: The Prophet of Islam’s name is revered upon the lips of the Muslim Community.
They have much respect for him. No matter whom they were; beggars, sick people, dying
people, soldiers, they honored him. Some even put his name on the door post of their homes
and babies are sung a song to help them go to sleep. Muhammad’s name is holy among
Muslims. The way Muhammad’s name is honored in the Islamic society, Jesus’ name is honored in the Christian society.
According to the Qur’an, Allah sent a prophet to every nation to inform the people that there is
only one true God. According to the Qur’an it is said that 124,000 prophets were sent out to
mankind and each prophet’s revelation was for that time period only. If one of the great prophets was given a book by God all previous books were superseded. When Muhammad came on the scene, all revelations were superseded including the Bible, for Muhammad’s revelation was for all time.
The Message was the same for all prophets, there is only one God, they had to submit to Allah’s
laws and do good works so they would be ready for the day of judgment.
Just like the Bible where you have the Synoptic Gospel, Matthew, Mark and Luke, people say
the stories aren’t the same but remember you have three people’s interpretation of what they
saw, it is not going to be the same. In the Qur’an you have different prophets and their message is delivered differently. People distort the prophets interpretation but it’s basically the same.
When Muhammad was born the culture he lived in was polytheistic. He was among the Quraysh tribe who possessed Mecca and flourished as a commercial trade community. They were very powerful and believed in appeasing various spirits and demons.
Muhammad’s father was a member of the powerful Quraysh tribe when he was born. His father and mother died and his grandfather took care of him for a short while, then his father’s brother (his uncle) Abu Talib raised him.
Muhammad grew up in poverty and in the beginning shared in the belief of his community but
soon grew tired of serving/worshipping 360 gods and idols according to the Qur’an.
As an adult he became a camel boy to Khadija, proved himself to be trustworthy and became her manager of all trading interest, overseeing caravans in her name.
During his travels meeting different people he observed the degenerate state of the religion and morals of his own people in Mecca. Muhammad observed their teaching about a future judgment of all and if you lived right you would be rewarded but if you lived wrong and was wicked you would be punished and suffer in hell. This particular teaching became a central tenet of Islam. But in this time period Muhammad was taught that Jesus was not God, that he was not the son of God, that He was not a Savior or Redeemer, and that He was just a man who was a prophet of God.
Muhammad married Khadija and no longer had to work so he spent time on Spiritual matters and went on long periods of seclusion and meditation. Khadija had an Ebionite Christian background where they deny the deity of Jesus Christ and stated he was a man and the son of Joseph and Mary. This will affect Muhammad’s view of Jesus in the future.
During Muhammad’s time spiritually minded people retreated once a year to a cave in utter
solitude. Muhammad did this in a cave in Mount Hira. He’s encountered by Gabriel, choked
until he yields and recites the revelations given to him. At first concerned about the revelations
but then monthly later saw himself as a genuine prophet of Allah.
Muhammad believed that the earlier revelations were corrupted and incomplete and he now
brought about Allah’s complete and final revelation. Muhammad recited the revelations for
23 years and they later became the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book.
Muhammad was uneducated and unable to write. He was known as the “unlettered prophet.”
Muhammad’s main message to the Islamic people was that Allah is the one true God and
that Allah appointed him as his messenger. Remember, this culture is polytheist and
Muhammad is now trying to make it monotheist. Muhammad taught that man was Allah’s salve
and was to submit and obey Allah. He taught about man’s future judgment, the righteous will be
rewarded the wicked punished and sent to hell.
According to Muslim tradition it is stated that miracles accompanied Muhammad’s
revelations but did he do as much as Jesus?
At first Muhammad had few converts, mainly the poorer classes. It interfered with the rich
classes’ businesses. The money of the businesses came from travelers world-wide to worship the
360 idols in the Ka’ba. Muhammad saying these idols are false, visitors would stop coming to
Mecca and business would drop off tremendously.
The more they persecuted Muhammad the stronger he felt he was a true prophet because he
placed himself with the persecution Moses and Jesus went through. Muhammad was able to be
protected from these attacks because of the influence and prestige Khadija and his Uncle Abu
Talib had. But when they died in AD 619, things turned for the worst for Muhammad and his
Muslim followers.
They were now ready to assassinate Muhammad and he was warned by the angel Gabriel to
leave. He did with 150 followers and they fled to Yathrib, a city 280 miles north of Mecca, on
September 25, AD 622. This was an important date in history for the Muslims and became
the first year of the Muslim calendar and it marks the official beginning of Islam, Hijra
(Literally, “emigration.”)
Many of the people in Yathrib were monotheistic and they accepted Muhammad with open
arms. He became their leader and combined both politics and religion. He became their king
and prophet and to honor him the town was changed to Medina – “city of the prophets.”
He thought the Jews and Christians were going to accept him and his ways of teaching but they
didn’t and he became very bitter toward them. Prayers were changed toward Mecca not
Jerusalem and this marked Muhammad’s abandonment of the Jewish-Christians tradition
and the beginning of Islam as an independent religion.
“In keeping with this, early references to Christians and Jews in the Qur’an was quite amicable
(Sura 2:62, 256). Later references became more hostile (Sura 9:5, 29).”
Times were hard because the people moving from Medina to Mecca had little or no money. All
of a sudden Muhammad receives a revelation from Allah to raid caravans enroute to Mecca.
This is where their enemies lived (Sura 9:74). This action lead to war with the Meccans.
Muhammad made a treaty with the leaders of the Quraysh tribe in AD 628 stating they will keep
peace for ten years and Muhammad and his followers were permitted to make pilgrimages to
Mecca. All that changed in January 630 when a Meccan murdered a Muslim. Muhammad
attacked with a force of 10,000 men. The leaders of the Quraysh tribe surrendered without
conflict and Muhammad took control. He destroyed all idols in Ka’ba and made it a center
for religious pilgrimage. By Muhammad granting general amnesty and pardons to his former
enemies many of them were won over to his side and they followed Muhammad in future
campaigns.
Two years after his conquest Muhammad died. This was a sudden death and he did not
designate who would become leader when he died. Choosing a leader after his death caused
problems. Muslims who believed the caliphs should be elected by Islamic leadership were
represented by the Sunni Muslims. Muslims who believed the caliphs should be hereditary were
represents by the Shi’ite Muslims. Muhammad chose Abu Bakr to lead prayer when he was
absent and they elected him as the new caliph (“representative” or “delegate”).
To the Muslims Muhammad’s life and character showed he was the last and greatest of all
the prophets and the growth of Islam around the world proves that he and his religion had
divine approval.
***Muhammad was the “prophet of the sword,” actively using it for the furtherance of
Islam.***
“Only after Muhammad sanctioned use of the sword did Islam begin to grow rapidly. This
hardly constitutes proof of divine blessing.”
Muhammad did not perform any supernatural feats of nature. The Qur’an was his miracle (Sura
29:48-58).
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