Mohammed
 and the
 Beginnings of Islam
 
Mohammed, whose full name was Abu al-Qasim Mohammed ibn
'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, was born in
Mecca around 570 AD. After the death of his father, 'Abd
Allah, Mohammed was at first under the care of his paternal
grandfather, 'Abd al-Muttalib. Because the climate of Mecca
was considered to be unhealthy, the infant was given to a
"wet" nurse from a nomadic tribe and spent some time in the
desert. At six, he lost his mother, Aminah of the clan of
Zuhra, and at eight his grandfather. Though his grandfather
had been head of the prestigious Hashem clan and was
prominent in Mecca politics, he was probably not the
leading man in Mecca as some sources suggest. Mohammed came
under the care of the new head of the clan, his uncle Abu
Talib, and is reputed to have accompanied him on trading
journeys to Syria. About 595, on such a journey, he was in
charge of the merchandise of a rich woman, Khadijah of the
clan of Asad, and so impressed her that she offered
marriage. She is said to have been about 40, but she bore
Mohammed at least two sons, who died young, and four
daughters. The best known daughter was Fatimah, the wife of
Mohammed's cousin 'Ali who is regarded as Mohammed's
divinely ordained successor by the Shi'ah branch of Islam.
Until Khadijah's death in 619, Mohammed took no other wife.
The marriage was a turning point in Mohammed's life. By
Arab custom, minors did not inherit, and therefore Mohammed
had no share in the property of his father or grandfather.
However, by his marriage he obtained sufficient capital to
engage in mercantile activity on a scale commensurate with
his abilities. Mohammed appears to have been of a
reflective turn of mind and is said to have adopted the
habit of occasionally spending nights in a hill cave near
Mecca. The poverty and misfortunes of his early life
doubtless made him aware of tensions in Meccan society.
Mecca, inhabited by the tribe of Quraysh to which the
Hashim clan belonged, was a mercantile center formed around
a sanctuary, the Ka'bah, which assured the safety of those
who came to trade at the fairs. In the later 6th century
there was extensive trade by camel caravan between the
Yemen and the Mediterranean region (Gaza and Damascus),
bringing goods from India and Ethiopia to the
Mediterranean. The great merchants of Mecca had obtained
monopoly control of this trade. Mecca was thus prosperous,
but most of the wealth was in a few hands. Tribal
solidarity was breaking up and merchants pursued individual
interests and disregarded their traditional duties to the
unfortunate. About 610, as he reflected on such matters,
Mohammed had a vision of a majestic being (later identified
with the angel Gabriel) and heard a voice saying to him,
"You are the Messenger of God. " This marked the beginning
of his career as messenger of Allah, or Prophet. From this
time, at frequent intervals until his death, he received
"revelations"; that is, verbal messages that he believed
came directly from God. Sometimes these were kept in memory
by Mohammed and his followers, and sometimes they were
written down. About 650 they were collected and written in
the Qur`an (or Koran, the sacred scriptures of Islam), in
the form that has endured. Muslims believe the Qur`an is
divine revelation, written in the words of God himself.
 
Mohammed is said to have been perturbed after the vision
and first revelation but was reassured by his wife,
Khadijah. In his later experiences of receiving messages,
there was normally no vision. Occasionally, there were
physical concomitants, such as perspiring on a cold day,
giving rise to the suggestion, now agreed to be
unwarranted, that he was an epileptic. Sometimes he heard a
noise like a bell but apparently never a voice. The essence
of such an experience was that he found a verbal message in
his heart; that is, in his conscious mind. With the help of
Khadijah's Christian cousin Waraqah, he came to interpret
these messages as identical with those sent by God through
other prophets to Jews and Christians. He also came to
believe that by the first great vision, and by the receipt
of the messages, he was commissioned to communicate them to
his fellow citizens and other Arabs. Along with proclaiming
the messages he received, Mohammed must have offered
explanations and expositions of them in his own words, as
is evident in the large body of prophetic traditions that
the community has preserved.
 
Soon he gathered some sympathetic friends who accepted his
claim to be a prophet and joined him in common worship and
prayers. These culminated in an act of prostration in which
they touched the ground with their foreheads in
acknowledgment of God's majesty; still a cardinal act in
Islamic worship. In about 613 Mohammed began preaching
publicly, and he and his followers spent their days
together in the house of a young man named al-Arqam. It is
probable that they sometimes worshipped together in the
Ka'bah, a sanctuary of the Arab pagans.
 
The people of Mecca at the time worshipped many gods, but
few believed that man was dependent on supernatural powers.
The merchants thought most things could be accomplished by
wealth and by human planning. Some men regarded Allah as a
"high god" who stood above lesser deities. Allah, the
Arabic word for God, is used by Christian Arabs as well as
by Muslims. The earliest passages of the Qur`an revealed to
Mohammed emphasize the goodness and power of God, as seen
in nature and in the prosperity of the Meccans, and call on
the Meccans to be grateful and to worship "the Lord of the
Ka'bah," who is thus identified with God. Gratitude is to
be expressed in generosity with one's wealth and avoidance
of niggardliness. As a sanction, men are warned that they
will appear before God on the Last Day to be judged
according to their deeds and assigned to heaven or hell.
 
By proclaiming this message publicly, Mohammed gained
followers, said to be 39, before he entered the house of
al-Arqam. The names of 70 followers are known prior to the
appearance of opposition to the new religion, and there
were probably more. Most were young men under 30 when they
joined Mohammed. They included sons and brothers of the
richest men in Mecca, though they might be described as
persons excluded from the most lucrative forms of commerce.
A handful of Mohammed's early followers were spoken of as
"weak," which merely means that they were not of the tribe
of Quraysh and so not effectively protected by any clan.
The new religion was eventually called Islam, meaning
"surrender (to the will of God)", and its adherents were
called Muslims, meaning "those who have surrendered",
though the Qur`an speaks of them primarily as "the
believers."
 
Although Mohammed's preaching was basically religious,
there was implicit in it a critique of the conduct and
attitudes of the rich merchants of Mecca. Attempts were
made to get him to soften his criticism by offering him a
fuller share in trade and a marriage alliance with one of
the wealthiest families, but he decisively rejected such
offers. In about 615, more active opposition appeared.
Points in the message of the Qur`an were questioned, such
as the assertion that men would be resurrected before the
Judgment. Commercial pressure was brought to bear on
Mohammed's supporters, and in some families there was mild
persecution of junior members who followed him. It is
sometimes suggested that the main reason for opposition was
the merchants' fear that the new religion would destroy the
recognition of the Ka'bah as a sanctuary, but this is
unlikely. Certainly, attacks on idols appeared in the
Bur`an, and Islam began to be characterized by the
insistence that "there is no god but God" (Allah). Despite
this, no attack was made on the Ka'bah, and the idols
mentioned had their chief shrines elsewhere.
 
A leader of the opposition arose in the person of Abu Jahl
who probably felt that Mohammed, despite his claim to be
"only a warner" of Judgment to come, was building a
position of authority that might one day make him
politically supreme in Mecca. This fear arose from the
observation that Arabs deeply respected the kind of wisdom
or knowledge that Mohammed clearly had. In about 616, Abu
Jahl organized a boycott of the clan of Hashim by the chief
clans of Mecca, allegedly because the clan continued to
protect Mohammed and did not curb his preaching; but, since
few of the clan were Muslims, other issues may have been
involved. After three years the boycott lost momentum,
perhaps because some of the participants found they were
harming their own economic interests.
 
Both Mohammed's wife, Khadijah, and his uncle Abu Talib
died in about 619. Another uncle, Abu Lahab, succeeded as
head of the clan of Hashim. He was closer to the richest
merchants, and at their instigation, he withdrew the
protection of the clan from Mohammed. This meant that
Mohammed could easily be attacked and therefore could no
longer propagate his religion in Mecca. He left for the
neighboring town of at-Ta`if, but the inhabitants were
insufficiently prepared to receive his message, and he
failed to find support. Having secured the protection of
the head of another clan, he returned to Mecca. In 620,
Mohammed began negotiations with clans in Medina, leading
to his emigration, or hijrah, there in 622.
 
It is difficult to assess the nature and extent of the
persecution of the Muslims in Mecca. There was little
physical violence, and that was usually within the family.
Mohammed suffered from minor annoyances, such as having
filth deposited outside his door. The persecution is said
to have led to the emigration of some of the Muslims to
Ethiopia about 615, but they may have been seeking
opportunities for trade or military support for Mohammed.
Some remained until 628, long after Mohammed was
established in Medina. Whatever the nature of the
persecution, the Muslims were very bitter about it.
 
In the summer of 621, 12 men from Medina, visiting Mecca
for the annual pilgrimage to the Ka'bah (still a pagan
shrine), secretly professed themselves Muslims to Mohammed
and went back to make propaganda for him at Medina. At the
pilgrimage in June 622 a representative party of 75 persons
from Medina, including two women, not merely professed
Islam, but also took an oath to defend Mohammed as they
would their own kin. These are known as the two Pledges of
al-'Aqaba. Mohammed now encouraged his faithful Meccan
followers to make their way to Medina in small groups. The
Meccans are said to have plotted to kill Mohammed before he
could leave. With his chief lieutenant, he slipped away
unperceived, used unfrequented paths, and reached Medina
safely on September 24, 622. This is the celebrated hijrah,
which may be rendered "emigration," though the basic
meaning is the severing of kinship ties. It is the
traditional starting point of Islamic history. The Islamic
Era (AH or Anno Hegirae) begins on the first day of the
Arabic year in which the hijrah took place; July 16, 622,
in the Western calendar.
 
Medina was different from Mecca. It was an oasis in which
date palms flourished and cereals could be grown.
Agriculture had been developed by several Jewish clans, who
had settled among the original Arabs, and they still had
the best lands. Later Arab immigrants belonging to the
tribes of al- Aws and al- Khazraj, however, were in a
stronger position. The effective units among the Arabs were
eight or more clans, but nearly all of these had become
involved in serious feuds. Much blood had been shed in a
battle in about 618, and peace was not fully restored. In
inviting Mohammed to Medina, many of the Arabs there
probably hoped that he would act as an arbiter among the
opposing parties. Their contact with the Jews may have
prepared them for a messianic religious leader, who would
deliver them from oppression and establish a kingdom in
which justice prevailed.
 
A document has been preserved known as the Constitution of
Medina. In its present form, it is a combination of at
least two earlier documents and was probably compiled later
than 627, but its main provisions are almost certainly
those originally agreed upon between Mohammed and the
Muslims of Medina. In form the document creates a
confederation on traditional Arab lines among nine groups;
eight Arab clans and the emigrants from Mecca. Mohammed is
given no special position of authority except that the
preamble speaks of the agreement as made between "Mohammed
the prophet" and the Muslims now resident in Medina, and it
is stated that serious disputes are to be referred to him.
For at least five years, Mohammed had no direct authority
over members of other clans, but, in the closing years of
his life, the prestige of his military successes gave him
almost autocratic power. The revelations he received at
Medina frequently contained legal rules for the community
of Muslims, but they dealt with political questions only
rarely.
 
The first 18 months at Medina were spent in settling down.
Mohammed was given a piece of land and had a house built,
which eventually held apartments grouped around a central
courtyard for each of his wives. The Muslims often joined
Mohammed at prayers in his home, which, after his death,
became the mosque of Medina. The emigrants (muhajirun, the
men from Mecca) were at first guests of brother Muslims in
Medina, but Mohammed cannot have contemplated this
situation continuing indefinitely. A few emigrants carried
on trade in the local market run by a Jewish clan. Others,
with the approval of Mohammed, set out in normal Arab
fashion on razzias (ghazawat, "raids") in the hope of
intercepting Meccan caravans passing near Medina on their
way to Syria. Mohammed himself led three such razzias in
623. They all failed, probably because traitors betrayed
the Muslim movements to the enemy. At last, in January 624,
a small band of men was sent eastward with sealed orders
telling them to proceed to Nakhlah, near Mecca, and attack
a caravan from Yemen. This they did successfully, and in
doing so they violated pagan ideas of sanctity thereby
making the Meccans aware of the seriousness of the threat
from Mohammed.
 
About the same time, there was a change in Mohammed's
general policy in important respects. One aspect was the
"break with Jews"; instead of making concessions to the
Jews in the hope of gaining recognition of his prophethood,
he asserted the specifically Arabian character of the
Islamic religion. Hitherto the Muslims had faced Jerusalem
in prayer, but a revelation now bade them face Mecca.
Perhaps because of this change some Muslims of Medina were
readier to support Mohammed. In March 624 he was able to
lead about 315 men on a razzia to attack a wealthy Meccan
caravan returning from Syria. The caravan, led by Abu
Sufyan, the head of the Umayyah clan, eluded the Muslims by
devious routes and forced marches. Abu Jahl, the head of
the Makhzum clan, however, leading a supporting force of
perhaps 800 men, wanted to teach Mohammed a lesson and did
not withdraw. On March 15, 624, near a place called Badr,
the two forces found themselves in a situation, perhaps
contrived by Mohammed, from which neither could withdraw
without disgrace. In the ensuing battle, at least 45
Meccans were killed, including Abu Jahl and other leading
men, and nearly 70 taken prisoner while only 14 Muslims
died. To Mohammed this appeared to be a divine vindication
of his prophethood, and he and all the Muslims were greatly
elated.
 
In the flush of victory, some persons in Medina who had
satirized Mohammed in verse were assassinated, perhaps with
his connivance. He also made a minor disturbance an excuse
for expelling the Jewish clan, which ran the market. This
weakened his most serious opponent there, the "hypocrite"
(munafiq), or nominal Muslim, 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy, who was
allied with the local Jews. The remaining waverers among
the Arabs probably became Muslims about this time. Thus the
victory of Badr greatly strengthened Mohammed. At the same
time he was using marriage relationships to bring greater
cohesion to the emigrants. Of his daughters, Fatimah was
married to 'Ali (later fourth caliph, or leader of the
Islamic community) and Umm Kulthum to 'Uthman (third
caliph). He himself was already married to 'A`ishah,
daughter of Abu Bakr (first caliph), and was now espoused
also to Hafsah, daughter of 'Umar (second caliph), whose
previous husband was one of the Muslims killed at Badr.
 
In the same year, Mohammed led larger Muslim forces on
razzias against hostile nomadic tribes and had some
success. Presumably, he realized that the Meccans were
bound to try to avenge their defeat. Indeed, Abu Sufyan was
energetically mobilizing Meccan power. On March 21, 625, he
entered the oasis of Medina with 3,000 men. One of the
features of Medina was a large number of small forts that
were impregnable to Arab weapons and tactics. Mohammed
would have preferred the Muslims to retire to these; but
those whose cereal crops were being laid waste persuaded
him to go out to fight. By a night march with 1,000 men, he
reached the hill of Uhud on the further side of the Meccan
camp. On the morning of March 23, the Meccan infantry
attacked and was repulsed with considerable loss. As the
Muslims pursued, the Meccan cavalry launched a flank attack
after the archers guarding the Muslim left had abandoned
their position. The Muslims were thrown into confusion.
Some made for a fort and were cut down, but Mohammed and
the bulk of his force managed to gain the lower slopes of
Uhud, where they were safe from the cavalry. The Meccans,
because of their losses, were unable to press home their
advantages and without delay set out for home, while
Mohammed the next day made a show of pursuing. The battle
produced neither a clear victor nor loser. In Badr and Uhud
together, the Meccans had killed about as many men as they
had lost; but they had boasted that they would make the
Muslims pay several times over, and they had not shown the
degree of superiority appropriate to their leading position
in Arabia. Mohammed, though he had lost above 70 men,
realized that this was a military reverse, not a defeat,
but the confidence of the Muslims and perhaps his own had
been struck a serious blow. If the victory of Badr was a
sign of God's support, did Uhud indicate that he had
abandoned the Muslims? Mohammed's faith soon overcame any
momentary doubts, and he was gradually able to restore the
confidence of his followers.
 
For two years after Uhud, both sides prepared for a
decisive encounter. In the razzias Mohammed led or
sanctioned, he seems to have aimed at extending his own
alliances and at preventing others from joining the
Meccans. In at least two cases, a small party of Muslims
was tricked or ambushed, and most of their lives were lost.
In April 627, Abu Sufyan led a great confederacy of 10,000
men against Medina. On this occasion Mohammed had ordered
the crops to be harvested and a trench to be dug to defend
the main part of the oasis from the Meccan cavalry. For a
fortnight the confederates besieged the Muslims. Attempts
to cross the trench failed, and fodder for the horses was
scarce, while Mohammed's agents among the attackers
fomented potential dissension. Then, after a night of wind
and rain the great army melted away. The Meccans had
exerted their utmost might and had failed to dislodge
Mohammed, whose position was now greatly strengthened.
 
For more than two years now there had been opposition to
Mohammed in Medina, chiefly from 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy and
other so-called hypocrites who had abandoned Mohammed at
Uhud and who together had fostered disaffection. Shortly
before the siege Mohammed had a showdown with 'Abd Allah
ibn Ubayy, who had joined in spreading slanders about
Mohammed's wife 'A`ishah. This confrontation revealed that
'Abd Allah had little support in Medina, and he became
reconciled to Mohammed. After the siege of Medina, Mohammed
attacked the Jewish clan of Qurayzah, which had probably
been intriguing against him. When they surrendered, the men
were all executed and the women and children sold as slaves.
 
Mohammed's farsightedness as a statesman is manifest in the
policies he next adopted. He might have continued to crush
the Meccans, and he indeed put economic pressure on them;
but his main aim was to gain their willing adherence to
Islam. He had already realized that, insofar as the Arabs
became Muslims, it would be necessary to direct outward the
energies expended on razzias against one another. There
could be no question of Muslims raiding Muslims. It is
noteworthy that his largest razzias, apart from the
expeditions against the Meccans, were along the route to
Syria followed by the Arab armies after his death. He
doubtless realized that the administrative skill of the
Meccan merchants would be required for any expansion of his
embryonic state.
 
In a dream, Mohammed saw himself performing the annual
pilgrimage to Mecca, and in March 628 he set out to do so,
driving sacrificial animals. He was disappointed because no
more than 1,600 men would accompany him. The Meccans were
determined to prevent the Muslims from entering their town,
so Mohammed halted at al-Hudaybiyah, on the edge of the
sacred territory of Mecca. After some critical days, the
Meccans made a treaty with Mohammed. Hostilities were to
cease, and the Muslims were to be allowed to make the
pilgrimage to Mecca in 629. The orderly withdrawal showed
how completely Mohammed controlled his followers. Partly to
reward this orderly conduct, Mohammed two months later led
the same force against the Jewish oasis of Khaybar, north
of Medina. After a siege, it submitted, but the Jews were
allowed to remain on condition of sending half of the date
harvest to Medina. Throughout 628 and 629, Mohammed's power
was growing. The success led more men to become Muslims,
for the religious attraction of Islam was apparently
supplemented by material motives.
 
Meanwhile, Mecca was in decline. Several leading men had
emigrated to Medina and become Muslims. New leaders had
taken over from Abu Sufyan but had accomplished little,
although the treaty with Mohammed had removed his pressure
on their caravans. Shortly after the treaty, Mohammed had
married Umm Habibah, a daughter of Abu Sufyan, and a widow
whose Muslim husband had died in Ethiopia. This led to an
understanding with Abu Sufyan, who began to work for the
peaceful surrender of Mecca. It was probably when he was in
Mecca for the pilgrimage in March 629 that Mohammed became
reconciled with another uncle, al-'Abbas, and married his
uncle's sister-in-law Maymunah.
 
An attack by Meccan allies in about November 629 upon
allies of Mohammed led to the Mohammed's denunciation of
the treaty of al-Hudaybiyah. After secret preparations he
marched on Mecca in January 630 with 10,000 men. Abu Sufyan
and other leading Meccans went out to meet him and formally
submitted, so Mohammed promised a general amnesty. When he
entered Mecca there was virtually no resistance. Two
Muslims and 28 of the enemy were killed. A number of people
were specifically excluded from the amnesty, but some were
later pardoned. Thus Mohammed, who had left Mecca as a
persecuted prophet, not merely entered it again in triumph
but also gained the allegiance of most of the Meccans.
Though he did not insist on their becoming Muslims, many
soon did so.
 
Mohammed spent 15 to 20 days in Mecca settling various
matters of administration. Idols were destroyed in the
Ka'bah and in some small shrines in the neighborhood. To
relieve the poorest among his followers, he demanded loans
from some of the wealthy Meccans. When he marched east to
meet a new threat, 2,000 Meccans went with him.