Muhammad

I recently read Muhammad: A Prophet for our Time by Karen Armstrong. This book was revealing for me because it gave a brief overview of his life and I came to this story with no prior knowledge about him. I have been around several conversations lately with people criticizing Muslims. I believe much of these conversations are based in a lack of knowledge and misunderstanding about the majority of practicing Muslims. My hope was to find a book that would start to educate me about this faith and have more to offer a discussion than simply an intuition and uncomfortable feeling that many Westerners have an opinion way off base and out of line with the teachings of Jesus on peace and forgiveness and how to treat people of different beliefs. What better place to start learning about this than with Muhammad?

Karen Armstrong originally wrote this book after the fatwah was issued against Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses, where he speaks of Muhammad in a blasphemous way. She wanted to shed truth on the religion of Islam in light of the misconceptions about this faith. After September 11th, she felt the need to re-write the book to guide others to a more honest, intelligent dialogue. (Interestingly enough, I was just about ready to start an on-line book discussion of The Satanic Verses when I came across Karen Armstrong's book and I have since found Rushdie's book much more rich and readable as a result of her biography.)

There was very little known about Muhammod until about the age of forty. He grew up an orphan, married an elite woman named Khadijah whom he loved very much and was a merchant. One day he was in a cave sleeping on a mountain outside of Mecca and heard the command to recite and although he protested, new scripture came to him. He brought scripture to the Arabs for twenty-three years thereafter and those revelations became the Qur'an. This does not sound like something he wanted to do or a role that he had prepared himself for or expected. Much like Moses, he did not feel qualified for the job of a prophet.

He once said: "Never once did I receive a revelation without thinking that my soul had been torn away from me."

Muhammad preached for a few years to a few people, but then was instructed to give his message to his whole tribe, which caused him great trepidation. He believed in practicing works of justice, wanted man and woman to be treated equally and worked to cultivate in people a spirit of thankfulness and humbleness, rather than pride. The richer leaders of Mecca were not interested in his message and he ended up spending more time among the poor. He instructed people to develop hilm, a traditional Arab virtue, meaning to be patient and merciful. This was opposite of the culture of the time.

Eventually, he led the Muslim people of Mecca to migrate (hijrah) and leave their tribe and protection. He originally wanted to end violence but did go to war for a time trying to achieve a lasting peace. During the times of battle one can see Muhammad moving he and his people towards an attitude of mercy, forgiveness and peace. He was certainly a man and an imperfect one at that. He had weaknesses and made mistakes, but the sense of repentance and redemption resonate through the story of his life. An example is the story behind the satanic verses in the Qur'an, where it appears Muhammad tried to create peace between those who worshipped other gods in addition to Allah. In an attempt for peace he chanted scriptures about the three daughters of God and later attempted to fix his error. Shortly after, it became clear that Allah was the only deity and there were not multiple gods and that Islam was truly different from the other religious cultures of that time.

After Khadijah died he married multiple wives. One thing very interesting was his stance on polygamy. This practice was actually beneficial to helping woman in his day keep their inheritance, establish rights and have a legal status. He wanted men and woman to be treated equally. Karen Armstrong also speaks of the hijab verses that are now used to justify women wearing veils. It is fascinating to read them in context, where it appears that the scriptures were in reference to his wives and the orders were given to protect them from harassment.

After Muhammad's death, he wanted to make it clear that he was not to be worshipped, because only God is to be worshipped. The Islam faith is a monotheistic faith, just like Jewish and Christian faith. Their roots are with Abraham and they are the descendents of Hager and Abraham. I have much more to learn, but have enjoyed learning the narrative of this part of history a great deal and hope to learn more that will help to create understanding and peace between the East and the West.