Searching for clarity, he would sometimes meditate at Mount Hira, near Mecca. On one of these occasions, the Archangel Gabriel Jibra'il in Arabic appeared to him and instructed him to recite "in the name of [your] lord.
These early revelations pointed to the existence of a single God, contradicting the polytheistic beliefs of the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula. Initially overwhelmed by the significance of what was being revealed to him, Muhammad found unflinching support in his wife and slowly began to attract followers. His strong monotheistic message angered many of the Meccan merchants.
They were afraid that trade, which they believed was protected by the pagan gods, would suffer. From that point forward, Muhammad was ostracized in Mecca. For a time, the influence and status of his wife and his uncle, Abu Talib, the chief of the clan, protected Muhammad from persecution. After they died, however, Muhammad's situation in Mecca became dire. The Hijra Emigration became the only hope for Muhammad and his followers' survival. In , they headed to Medina, another oasis town, where they were promised freedom to practice their religion.
The move from Mecca to Medina is known as the hijra —the flight—and marks year 1 of the Islamic, or hijri , calendar. Spreading the Message of Islam In Medina, Muhammad continued to receive divine revelations and built an ever-expanding community around the new faith.
The conflict with the Quraish continued, but after several years of violent clashes, Mecca surrendered. Muhammad and his followers soon returned and took over the city, destroying all its pagan idols and spreading their belief in one God. One night, while the Prophet was sleeping, the Archangel Gabriel came and led him on a journey. According to a text collected by historian Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad was involved with a well-known story about setting the Black Stone in place in the wall of the Kaaba in CE.
The Black Stone, a sacred object, had been removed to facilitate renovations to the Kaaba. The leaders of Mecca could not agree on which clan should have the honor of setting the Black Stone back in its place. They agreed to wait for the next man to come through the gate and ask him to choose. That man was the year-old Muhammad, five years before his first revelation. He asked for a cloth and put the Black Stone in its center.
The clan leaders held the corners of the cloth and together carried the Black Stone to the right spot; then Muhammad set the stone in place, satisfying all who were present. Muhammad and the Black Stone: An illustration from c. Occasionally he would retreat to a cave in the mountains for several nights of seclusion and prayer; it is reported that it was at this spot that he was visited by Gabriel and received his first revelation from God.
Muhammad received revelations from CE, and they became the basis for the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. When he was nearly 40, Muhammad began spending many hours alone in prayer and speculating over the aspects of creation. The moral degeneration of his fellow people, and his own quest for a true religion, further lent fuel to this, with the result that he began to withdraw periodically to a cave called Mount Hira, three miles north of Mecca, for contemplation and reflection.
During this period Muhammad began to have dreams replete with spiritual significance that were fulfilled according to their true import; this was the commencement of his divine revelation. Islamic tradition holds that during one of his visits to Mount Hira in the year CE, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and commanded Muhammad to recite verses that would later be included in the Quran. Upon receiving his first revelations, Muhammad was deeply distressed.
When he returned home, he was consoled and reassured by Khadijah and her Christian cousin. Muhammad feared that others would dismiss his claims as evidence of him being possessed. The cave Hira: The cave Hira in the mountain Jabal al-Nour where, according to Muslim belief, Muhammad received his first revelation from the angel Gabriel. The initial revelation was followed by a pause of three years a period known as fatra during which Muhammad felt depressed and further gave himself to prayers and spiritual practices.
When the revelations resumed, he was reassured and began preaching. Muslims believe that the Quran was verbally revealed from God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December CE, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in CE, the year of his death. At the beginning of these revelations, Muhammad was confident that he could distinguish his own thoughts from the messages.
Medieval commentators such as Al-Tabari maintained that the term induced two meanings: firstly, the inability to read or write in general, and secondly, the inexperience or ignorance of books or scriptures. However, priority was given to the first meaning. For example, according to Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, if Muhammad had mastered writing and reading he possibly would have been suspected of having studied the books of the ancestors. Some scholars such as Watt prefer the second meaning.
According to the Quran, one of the main roles of Muhammad is to warn the unbelievers of their punishment at the end of the world. A depiction of Muhammad receiving his first revelation from the angel Gabriel: Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad, the proof of his prophethood, and the culmination of a series of divine messages revealed by the angel Gabriel from — CE.
Religious duties required of the believers at this time were few: belief in God, asking for forgiveness of sins, offering frequent prayers, assisting others, particularly those in need, rejecting cheating and the love of wealth considered to be significant in the commercial life of Mecca , being chaste, and not killing newborn girls.
Around , Muhammad began to preach to the public. Most Meccans ignored and mocked him, but he did begin to gain followers. There were three main groups of early converts to Islam: younger brothers and sons of great merchants; people who had fallen out of the first rank in their tribe or failed to attain it; and the weak, mostly unprotected foreigners. Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion articulated by the Quran, which is considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God Allah , and, for the vast majority of adherents, by the teachings and normative example called the sunnah , composed of accounts called hadith of Muhammad.
An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim. Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable and that the purpose of existence is to worship God. Nearly all Muslims consider Muhammad to be the last prophet of God. Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
Muslims believe the Quran to be both the unaltered and the final revelation of God. Religious concepts and practices include the Five Pillars of Islam and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, from banking and welfare to the status of women and the environment.
The Five Pillars of Islam are five basic acts in Islam; they are considered mandatory by believers and are the foundation of Muslim life. They are summarized in the famous hadith of Gabriel.
The Five Pillars are:. As Islam faced more political and religious opposition in Mecca, Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina in CE.
During the first three years of his ministry, Muhammad preached Islam privately, mainly among his near relatives and close acquaintances. Most Meccans ignored and mocked him, though a few became his followers. However, the Quran maintains that it began when Muhammad started public preaching. As Islam spread, Muhammad threatened the local tribes and Meccan rulers because their wealth depended on the Kaaba. The ruling tribes of Mecca perceived Muhammad as a danger that might cause tensions similar to the rivalry of Judaism and Bedouin Polytheism in Yathrib.
The powerful merchants in Mecca attempted to convince Muhammad to abandon his preaching by offering him admission into the inner circle of merchants and an advantageous marriage. However, Muhammad turned down both offers. At first, the opposition was confined to ridicule and sarcasm, but later morphed into active persecution that forced a section of new converts to migrate to neighboring Abyssinia present day Ethiopia.
Orphaned before he had reached the age of six, he was raised under the protection of his uncle Abu Talib. Muhammad began working as a merchant and became known for his trustworthiness. When he was about twenty-five, he married Khadija, a wealthy widow whose status elevated Muhammad's position in Meccan society. Muhammad and Khadija had four daughters and two sons, both of whom died in infancy.
About fifteen or twenty years after his marriage, he began to have visions and hear mysterious voices. He sought solitude in a cave on Mount Hira on the outskirts of Mecca. One night during Ramadan , the traditional month of spiritual retreat, when Muhammad was about forty years old, an angel appeared to him in the form of a man and ordered him to;. Muhammad, fearing that he was being attacked by an evil spirit, fled down the mountain in terror.
Eventually, the angel told Muhammad to begin proclaiming God's message. Muhammad slowly began to attract some followers, most of them young and of modest social standing, including his cousin Ali, the son of his uncle and protector Abu Talib. When Muhammad began to impugn the traditional polytheism of his native town, the rich and powerful merchants of Mecca realized that the religious revolution taking place under their noses might be disastrous for business, which was protected by the Meccan pantheon of gods and goddesses.
The ruling elite ganged up against Muhammad and his followers, and began to persecute them.
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