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Many centuries ago, a very significant event in the Muslim tradition occurred. More specifically, this occasion occurred in the later part of the mid sixth century. In about the year 570 AD, Muhammad ibn Abdullah was born in Mecca. Just six weeks before his birth, his father had passed away. He continued to live in Mecca where he was cared for by his foster mother; a Bedouin woman named Halifax.
Unfortunately, she died when Muhammad was only six years old. He then went to live with his grandfather Abdul Muttalib, whom also died just two years later. Finally, he went to live with his uncle Abu Talib, a merchant. These tragic losses made him a very sensitive person who would always emphasize the need to be especially kind to orphans, women, and the weak in society.
These are also a few of the basic building blocks of the Islamic faith, which would eventually become the second largest religion (in numbers of followers) due to its beliefs and its founder, Muhammad ibn Abdullah. This religion, although very popular and rapidly growing in size, would turn out to be forced on people more so than allowing them to adopt the beliefs for themselves. When Muhammad was in his youth, religion meant numerous gods and goddesses that were often worshipped through trees and stones. Also, the tribal code encouraged the notion of muruwwa, manhood, which was the glorification of tribal chivalry. Female infanticide was also very common among these times. The society in which Muhammad lived in was very unstable and on the verge of anarchy and disorder.
This rough period for him and many others was known as Jahiliyya, or, the age of ignorance. Muhammad ibn Abdullah was a very unique and incredible man. He was not a mythological or semi-divine figure, but instead, lived just like other people. He had such gentleness, compassion, and piety which would help explain why for Muslims, that he is simply called inn-i-kamil; the perfect person. This is most greatly shown in the year 610, when Muhammad was about forty years old. He had heard the voice of the angel Gabriel.
It ordered him to recite some of the divine verses of Quran, which contains the messages of God. It was then the Quran was revealed, and the world would know Muhammad as the Prophet of Islam. The Prophet was a very modest man, living like the people that surrounded him. He did not want to be known as anything better or anything worse than anyone else, but instead as an equal to them. One way he showed this was by doing his own shopping and making his own clothes.
One story, which shows his desire to be known as an equal to the people around him, takes place as follows: The Prophet went to market to buy some clothes. The seller stood up and kissed the hand of the Prophet. The Prophet withdrew his hand and stopped the man from kissing his hand, saying, This is the practice of the Persians with their kings. I am not a king. I am only a man from among you.
The garments were purchased, and the man wanted to carry them for the Prophet. The Prophet did not allow him and said, The owner of something has more right to carry it. 1 Following this, the Prophet was then married. A woman named Kadijahs was a heavily involved in trading. She was attractive and wealthy and had heard of many great things about the Prophet. She gave some of her things to her slave May sarah, to take to Muhammad to sell for her. Muhammad made more profit for her than she has ever seen, and when he returned from the caravan with her slave, she was very pleased to hear about all of this.
She sent out a friend to ask the Prophet why he has not yet married. His response was that he did not have enough money to support a family. This act again showed his humble nature. However, to his response, Kadijahs friend had told the Prophet that there was a wealthy and attractive woman who was interested in a marriage offer by him. So the Prophet went with his uncles to ask Kadijahs uncle for her hand in marriage, and he agreed.
They had two sons and four daughters, but unfortunately again for the Prophet, the two sons died not very long after their birth. In 622, the Prophet starts what is known as the Islamic calendar. He sets out on his journey to Yathrib (Madinah), which was over four hundred kilometers across the Arabian desert. It was here that he created rules and regulations which govern a society that still, with these same laws, influence Muslims today.
Also, his sayings are called hadith. Muhammad was so influential and had such an impact to this area, that he would later be buried there in Madinah so the people could show their appreciation for his life and its accomplishments. Another one of his many contributions was Muhammad's five pillars that he created. These pillars were created and still exist as the way people rest Islamic belief and practice.
The first pillar is that Muslims shall worship their lord and sustainer. This basically shows that the people of Islam had to be loyal to their lord. Next, they had to perform their five daily sale, or prayers. Their commitment and faithfulness to their beliefs is greatly shown through this because there are many religions that do not require five daily prayers to be completed. The third pillar was that they must fast during their month of Ramadan. Fasting is a very important thing in some religions, but especially in that of the Islam faith.
Hunger is probably the most important necessity to any human being and to be able to withstand it to show your love for God is saying quite a bit, to say the least. The fourth pillar was to make pilgrimage to their house. And finally, the fifth pillar was that they must pay the zakat on their property willingly and obey whatever Muhammad commands them. It is good that these people were taxed on their property, because it would almost make them value the place they live a little more than they would if it was tax-free.
The second half of this last pillar seems rather odd however. The reason I say this is because Muhammad was such a great person inside and out and the Muslim faith was rapidly growing in size and in popularity during his time of living, but in this last pillar that he developed, he commands that the people listen to whatever he tells them to do. It almost seems as if he is trying to force these beliefs onto them by using his power to make people do anything he says. He doesnt seem like a man who would try to abuse such a rule in his religion, but just the way it is worded makes it sound like he has power over his people in a sense that his words are considered almost more valuable than anyone elses.
There is even another example of Muhammad forcing these beliefs on these people. Prior to the year 624, Muslims and Jews were very close and had a very strong relationship with each other. When praying, which they would do together, they would always face in the direction of Jerusalem. One day, however, Muhammad supposedly receives inspiration from God to instruct his followers to pray in the direction of Mecca.
This immediately caused great tensions between these two faiths. Two of the three tribes that existed of the Jews in this time, fled city which they were in. The remaining tribe eventually had its men executed for challenging the differing beliefs of the Muslims. Therefore, the women and children were sold as slaves.
Muhammad was pushing his beliefs too far by killing people the way he did. And yet, despite this, there is yet another rule that he makes that challenges my first impressions of him that consisted of nothing negative, and everything good and positive. The Prophet would set out on pilgrimages to the Kabah (a place where rituals and sacred sanctuaries would be completed at) to carry out traditional ceremonies of the Muslim faith. This used to be permitted by people of all religions, whether they were Muslim or not. However, in 632, this forever changed. He prohibited everyone who was non-Muslim from practicing religious ceremonies here, making his Muslim faith just that much more powerful.
In conclusion, I would like to say that I value Muhammad very much and what he stood for. As I began to read about him in the beginning, I could not help but agree with why his people called him the inn-i-kamil, or perfect person. Despite his power and respect that he earned among his people, he did not want to be known as such a person, but rather be treated as an equal to all of those around him. However, as I read further about him and the rapid growth of his religion, something else came into being; a somewhat different opinion that I did not expect to have, emerged. He started becoming this person that wanted to spread his religion as much as possible, which is understandable for someone of his stature. However, what is wrong with this picture is the way he went about doing so.
It is wrong to try and force a religion on someone, no matter how many people believe in it. It can almost be compared to someone who has no belief in a higher power (an atheist) and making them convert to Catholic. While I myself am Catholic, I would never dream of forcing someone into that religion just because of my feelings toward it. Religion has to be adapted by someone who knows a great deal about it and makes a decision for themselves; that that is the direction they want to go in terms of their belief. This is why I view Muhammad as a great man who stood for a lot of good things in his lifetime, but also as a man who had one huge fault, demanding his beliefs to be followed by other people.
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Research essay sample on Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Good Or Bad You Decide
