Muhammad and the Origins of Islam
Niall Christie
According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad was born in about 570 in the Arabian city of Mecca. At the time Mecca was an important trade and pagan pilgrimage centre, and like much of Arabia its society was arranged along tribal lines. Muhammad’s start in this environment was not auspicious, for his father had died before he was born, and his mother also died when he was very young. However, he was able to make his way in society, following his father’s trade as a merchant and establishing a reputation for trustworthiness. He attracted the attention of a wealthy widow named Khadija, becoming her business manager, and then her husband. The two loved each other deeply, and while she was alive Muhammad took no other wives, something that was unusual in the society of the time.
Muhammad was dissatisfied with the pagan beliefs followed by most of the Meccans, and he took to meditating in the mountains outside the city, seeking a deeper spirituality and relationship to the divine. It was during one of these retreats, on 27 Ramadan 610, that he was approached by the angel Gabriel, who revealed to him the first verses of the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book, initiating what would be an ongoing series of revelations that would take place during the rest of Muhammad’s lifetime. These revelations called humans to reject idol-worship and to return to good behaviour and the worship of the one true God, the same deity followed by the Christians and the Jews. Muhammad had been appointed by God as Rasul Allah, and it was now his duty to bring God’s message to humanity.
The Prophet began preaching the following year, attracting converts from his own household (starting with Khadija) and others. However, he also encountered opposition from the leaders in Mecca, as his message opposed the dominant pagan faith and thus threatened the wealth that visits from pilgrims brought into the city. As the Prophet, he also became the de facto leader of the new Muslim community, which threatened the authority of the traditional tribal leaders of the city. Muslims began suffering from verbal and physical attacks, and the situation came to a head in 619, when both Khadija and Abu Talib, Muhammad’s uncle and principal protector, died. Muhammad began seeking support outside Mecca, and in 622 he and his followers emigrated to the oasis of Yathrib, some 200 miles to the north, after he was invited to help the community there resolve a bitter feud between two tribes that was tearing it apart. This emigration is known in Arabic as the hijra, and is the event from which Muslims date their calendar.[1] Most of the Yathribis converted to Islam, although there were also a number of Jewish tribes who maintained their faith. Yathrib became known as Madinat al-Nabi, often shortened to al-Madina, and rendered as Medina in English.
Circumstances drove Muhammad into a war with Mecca. If Islam was ever to become more than a local cult, he would