THE RISE OF ISLAM: FROM THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD TO A.D. 750

BY J. LUIS DIZON

Muhammad was born in 570 in Mecca. He was a member of the Quraysh tribe. His father died before he was born, and he was taken in by his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib. When he was eight, his grandfather died, and he was taken in by his uncle, Abdul Talib. As a merchant, he was involved in a lot of trade, and it was in his travels that he first encountered Jews and Christians. By the age of 25, he married a rich widow named Khadija.1

Muhammad was dissatisfied with the polytheistic paganism that pervaded Mecca then. He often retreated to a cave outside Mecca to meditate. One day, in 610, he came home claiming that he received a revelation from the angel Gabriel.2 This revelation became known as surat Al-‘Alaq, the earliest surah of the Qur’an:

Read! In the name of your Lord and Cherisher, Who created; Created man out of a clot of congealed blood; Read! And your Lord is most bountiful, He who taught (the use of) the pen; taught man that which he did not know (Qur’an 96:1-5).

Initially, Muhammad was not sure whether his revelations were really from God or a jinn. It was Khadija who convinced him that they were “from God.”3 This was different from biblical prophets, who always knew for certain when God was speaking to them. The information Muhammad recited “reflected a mixture of pre-Islamic legend, inaccurate and incomplete biblical narrative, fanciful tales, and repetitive recitation regarding the nature of a god labelled ‘Allah.’”4 The nature of these revelations also changed gradually. Early on in his career, he attempted to show continuity with Jewish and Christian thought (whom he referred to as ahl al-kitab; the people of the book). However, when he realized that he wasn’t winning them over, he became more critical of them and regarded them as “infidels.”5

Muhammad was persecuted by the pagan Meccans, who felt that his new religion was a threat to their old lifestyle. The persecution was so severe that at one point, he briefly compromised with them and said it was acceptable to worship their pagan gods. To this day, this still exists

1 Abdullah Al Araby, "Background into Islam: The Messenger and the Message," Islam Review, http://www.islamreview.com/articles/background.shtml

2 Abdullah Al Araby, "Background into Islam: The Messenger and the Message," Islam Review.3 Diane Coleman and Anees Zaka, The Truth About Islam: The Noble Qur'an's Teachings in Light of the Holy

Bible (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2004), 34.4 Ibid., 36.5 Ibid., 39.

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in the Qur’an as the “satanic verses” in surah 53:19,20.6 He also commanded some of his followers to seek protection from the Christian king of Ethiopia (even though the Qur’an later forbids this, cf. 3:28 and 5:51).7 Eventually, he moves to the city of Yathrib (later renamed Medina), in an event that Muslims today refer to as the Hijra.

This was when Muhammad’s demeanor began to change and become more militaristic. He started raiding caravans, which prompted the Meccans to attack Medina. In the battle of Badr, 314 Muslim warriors defeated 1,000 Meccans. Also, although he initially respected the Jews in Medina (even adopting their prayer practices), he eventually became hostile to them and even had all the men of the Jewish Bani Qurayza tribe beheaded and the women enslaved for rebelling against Muhammad’s rule in 627. As Robert Payne comments:

No one knows why Muhammad changed so abruptly from a benevolent despot, the devoted servant of the Merciful and Compassionate God, into a ruthless conqueror. Perhaps power corrupted him; perhaps he knew the faith would never survive without unsheathing the sword. What is certain is that his character changed.8

Eventually, Muhammad amassed an army of 10,000 and proceeded to march towards Mecca. He briefly makes a peace treaty with them, but when this treaty expires, he takes Mecca. The initial takeover was without bloodshed, but this changes when surat at-tauba is revealed and commands the slaying of the pagans (cf. 9:5) and the subjugation of Jews and Christians (cf. 9:29). Sometime later, a Jewish woman attempts to kill him by serving him a poisoned lamb leg. Although the poison fails to kill him initially, he continues to feel during the remainder of his years. In his final days, he is reported as telling Aisha, “I still feel the pain caused by the food I ate at Khaibar, and at this time, I feel as if my aorta is being cut from that poison” (Sahih Al-Bukhari 5:59:713). Finally, in 632, Muhammad succumbs to the effects of the poison and dies.

The Islamic expansion does not end there, however. The Islamic empire comes under the ruler of the caliphs. The first caliph was Abu Bakr, who becomes caliph in 632, consolidates power and conquers Syria. He is succeeded by Umar in 634, then Uthman in 644, and then Ali in 656.9 After this, disputes over the succession of Islamic leadership caused the split between the Sunni and Shi’a branches of Islam, which still exist to this day.

6 Ernest Hahn, "The Satanic Verses," Answering Islam, http://www.answering-islam.org/Hahn/satanicverses.htm

7 Robert Payne, The History of Islam, 20.8 Ibid., 32.9 Patrick Sookhdeo, A Christian's Pocket Guide to Islam (Christian Focus, 2004), 13.

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During this time, there were many battles that took place. During Abu Bakr’s reign, he had to wage war against apostates. Many Christians were martyred during this time because they initially converted to Islam but found the new religion to be spiritually dissatisfying and returned to Christianity. Another important conflict was the battle of Yamama against forces of the self-proclaimed prophet Musaylimah. in which many of the men who were charged with memorizing the Qur’an were killed. Ibn Abi-Dawud in Kitab Al-Masahif writes,

Many (passages) of the Qur’an that were sent down were known by those who died on the day of Yamama... but they were not known (by those who) survived them, nor were they written down, nor had Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman collected the Qur’an, nor were they found with even one (person) after them.10

According to Sahih Al-Bukhari, caliph Umar appointed Zaid Ibn Thabit (one of Muhammad’s scribes) to gathered whatever was left of the Qur’an, since they were afraid that a large part of the Qur’an may be lost. Ibn Thabit narrates:

I started looking for the Qur'an and collecting it from palmed stalks, thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by heart, till I found the last verse of Surat at-Tauba with Abi Khuza`ima Al-Ansari, and I did not find it with anybody other than him (Sahih Al-Bukhari 6:61:509).

However, these surahs were not compiled into one book until the reign of Uthman. In a hadith narrated by Anas bin Malik. He states that Uthman felt the need to compile it because of differences in the recitation of the Qur’an. So, he called for all the surviving manuscripts to be collated into one book. He states:

Uthman sent to every Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt (Sahih Al-Bukhari 6:61:510).

Not all accepted this, however. Muhammad’s secretary, Abdullah Ibn Masud, deemed this version to be a monstrous falsification,11 and advocated an alternate canon. However, Uthman’s Qur’an prevailed, and his 114 sura canon remains the standard canon used by Muslims today.

At this time, Islam was expanding rapidly. By 656, the caliphate had spread to Afghanistan to the east, Libya to the west and the Caucasus mountains to the north. Afterwards, Islam continued spreading west, conquering North Africa and heading north through Spain into

10 Quoted in David Wood, "Has the Qur'an Been Perfectly Preserved?," 4Truth.Net, http://www.4truth.net/fourtruthpbworld.aspx?pageid=8589953021 (accessed December 10, 2010).

11 Robert Payne, The History of Islam, 108.

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France before finally being halted in 732 in the battle of Tours.12 Christians in these conquered lands were accorded dhimmi status under Sharia law, which means they were forced to pay the Jizya tax in submission (cf. Qur’an 9:29) and disallowed from repairing churches, bearing arms, bearing testimony against Muslims, gathering publicly, reciting prayers out loud (in case Muslims might hear them), share their faith or prevent the spread of Islam in any way. Violations of these rules meant death. This is to be the standard state of affairs for centuries to come.13

12 Patrick Sookhdeo, A Christian's Pocket Guide to Islam, 1313 Samuel Shahid, "Rights of Non-Muslims in an Islamic State," Answering Islam, http://www.answering-

islam.org/NonMuslims/rights.htm (accessed December 10, 2010).

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APPENDIX: A TIMELINE OF MUHAMMAD’S LIFE14

570 (or 571) — Birth of Muhammad

595 — Muhammad’s first marriage to Khadija (which lasts until her death in 619)

609 (or 610) — Muhammad receives his first revelation; begins his career as a prophet

619 — The “Satanic Verses” incident

620 — Muhammad has vision of night journey to Jerusalem and up to Heaven

21 June - 2 July 622 — Muhammad migrates from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina), marking the beginning of the Islamic calendar

624 — The Battle of Badr; 314 Muslims defeat 1,000 pagan Meccans

625 — The Battle of Uhud; Pagans defeat Muslims

627 — The Battle of the Trench; Muslims defeat Pagans after a 2-week long siege against Medina

630 — Muslim Army conquers Mecca

8 June 632 — Muhammad dies

14 “The Timeline of Muhammad,” WikiIslam: The Online Resource on Islam, http://wikiislam.net/wiki/The_Timeline_of_Muhammad

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