Islam and the Prophet Muhammad

¶ … Life of Muhammad and Islam History: Medina and the Emergence as the Prophet of Allah

Muhammad, the prophet of Allah, is considered the Muslims' direct link to the god of Islam. Born from the Quraysh tribe of Mecca and orphaned at an early age, Muhammad lived a life of comfort for the first 40 years of his life. However, at the age 40, it was indoctrinated that Muhammad had "experienced" Islam when angel Gabriel informed him that he was Allah's "chosen messenger" (Dallal, 2002). Indeed, with this new revelation sent to him, Muhammad had started preaching the news of Allah and Islam, spreading the new religion to lands and nations that will become the cradle of Islam nations (the present Middle Eastern Islamic nations).

One of the earliest followers of Muhammad to spread the new religion of Islam was his wife, Khadija, who was 15 years Muhammad's senior. However, Muhammad's task is not a simple feat. Muhammad can be likened to Jesus Christ's ordeals in the Christian doctrine, wherein he was either adored, detested, or both by Christians. Muhammad, as he introduces the religious philosophy of Islam, encountered criticisms from other people; eventually, he received acceptance in the city of Yathrib, where Islam flourished and became established as a new religion. The city of Yathrib gradually became known as the "city of the Prophet," or Medina (Dallal, 2002).

It is evident that much of Islam's origins and history stem from one important location: Medina. Considered the place where Islam truly became a religion for the Muslims, Medina plays an essential part in illustrating not only the history of Islam as a religion, but the life and times of Muhammad as the "chosen messenger" of Allah. This paper discusses significant events that occurred in Muhammad's life that concerns the history of Islam in Medina. This paper posits that as a predominantly Islam polity, Medina helped in the development of Islam as a religion and emergence of Muhammad as Allah's prophet in the modern teachings and doctrine of the religion.

According to Tabari's (1997) analysis and discussion of the history of Islam and the emergence of Muhammad as a prophet, it is in Medina that Muhammad became "the king of hijaz" (xi). Criticisms and disputes in Mecca over Muhammad's prophethood spurred conflicts within the city, resulting to "attacks" against Medina (when Muhammad transferred to the city after Mecca failed to accept his prophethood). However, over time, Medina emerged as the center of Islamism: "the position of Muhammad and of the community acknowledging his prophethood and following the religion embodied in the Qur'an changed dramatically... By the end of the period Mecca itself had capitulated, and most of its influential leaders had become at least nominal Muslims. Medina itself had become a purely Muslim polity" (xi).

This passage from Tabari's analysis is illustrated in Qur'anic texts that illustrate Muhammad as, indeed, the prophet of Allah and leader of the Islam religion. Establishing a geographic territory in Medina promoted and spurred the development of Islam, mainly because Muslims became strict adherents of the religion. Outside Medina, the influence of Islam is also taking over, leading to the reinforcement of the society, culture, and philosophy of Islam.

Qur'an serves as the most immediate source of Muhammad's life in Medina. Muhammad's establishment as a prophet in Medina, is, at best, an estimation of Muslim followers' documentation of his arrival in the city. According to Peters (1994), "Muslim authorities seem to give tacit recognition to the uncertainty of any of the chronological indications passed on about the Prophet's life at Mecca... They... must have felt that the historical ground grew firm only at Muhammad's migration to Medina, it was that date, in any event, that they chose to begin the Muslim calendrical era..." (103). Peters' contention shows that Muhammad's life began at Medina, and not at Mecca, where, at the age of 40, he was chosen to become Allah's prophet.

According to the holy bible of Islam (Qur'an), Muhammad as a teacher and prophet of Allah is illustrated as follows:

The Apostle of God used to say to his companions, "I am the most Arab of you all. I am of the Quraysh and I was suckled among the Banu Sa'd ibn Bakr. It is alleged by some, but God knows the truth, that when his foster mother brought him to Mecca, he escaped her among the crowd while she was taking him to his people. She sought him and could not find him, so she went to Abd al-Muttalib and said: "I brought Muhammad tonight and when I was in the upper part of Mecca he escaped me and I don't know where he is." So Abd al-Muttalib went to the Ka'ba praying to God to restore him. They assert that Waraqa ibn Nawfal and another man of Quraysh found him and brought him to Abd al-Muttalib saying 'We have found this son of yours in the upper part of Mecca.' Abd al-Muttalib took him and put him on his shoulder as he went round the Ka'ba confiding him to God's protection and praying for him; then he sent him to his mother Amina."