HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD, INDEED HE WAS NOT CRUEL

Submitted by Mohamad Nozzi (Singapore), Apr 30, 2009 at 10:17

The words in bold below are the extracted words from Biolgraphy of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), by Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq:

Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 C.E. in Makkah (Bakka, Baca, Mecca). His father, Abdullah, died several weeks before his birth in Yatrib (Medinah) where he went to visit his father's maternal relatives. His mother died while on the return journey from Medinah at a place called bwa?When he was six years old. He was raised by his paternal grandfather Abdal Muttalib (Shaybah) until the age of eight, and after his grandfather's death by Abu Talib, his paternal uncle. Abdal Muttalib's mother, Salma, was a native of Medinah and he was born and raised as a young boy in Medinah before his uncle Muttalib brought him to Makkah to succeed him. Many years before Muhammad's birth, Abdal Muttalib had established himself as an influential leader of the Arib tribe in Makkah and took care of the Holy sanctuary. Makkah was a city state well connected to the caravan routes to Syria and Egypt in the north and northwest and Yemen in the south. Muhammad was a descendant of Prophet Ismail through the lineage of his second son Kedar.

Muhammad was forty when, during his one of many retreats to Mount Hira for meditation during the month of Ramadan, he received the first revelation from the Archangel Jibril (Gabriel). One this first appearance, Gabriel (as) said to Muhammad: 'Iqraa', meaning Read or Recite. Muhammad replied, 'I cannot read,' as he had not received any formal education and did not know how to read or write. The Angel Gabriel then embraced him until he reached the limit of his endurance and after releasing said:, 'Iqraa.' Muhammad's answer was the same as before. Gabriel repeated the embrace for the third time, asked him to repeat after him and said:

'Recite in the name of your Lord who created! He created man from that which clings. Recite; & thy Lord is most Bountiful, He who has taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not.'

These revelations are the first five verses of Surah (chapter) 96 of the Quran. Thus it was in the yuear 610 CE the revelation began.

Muhamad was terrified by the whole experience of the revelation and fled the cave of Mt. Hira (Quran 81:19-29). When he reached his home, tired and frightened, he asked his wife: cover me, cover me in a blanket. After his awe had somewhat abated, his wife Khadijah asked him about the reason of his great anxiety and fear. She then assured him by saying: 'Allah (The One God) will not let you down because you are kind to relatives, you speak only the truth, you help the poor, the orphan and the needy, and you are an honest man. Khadijah then consulted with her cousin Waraqa who was an old, saintly man possessing knowledge of previous relevations and scriptures. Waraqa confirmed to her that the visitor was none other than the Angel Gabriel who had come to Moses. He then added that Muhammad is the expected Prophet. Khadijah accepted the revelation as truth and was the first person to accept Islam. She supported her husband in every hardship, most notably during the three-year boycott of the Prophet clan by the pagan Quraish. She died at the age of sixty-five in the month of Ramadan soon after the lifting of the boycott in 620C.E.

Prophet Muhammad was not so fierce as what Muslim extremists described since he was terrified when the angel, Gabriel, appeared to him and he asked his wife covered him with blanket. As mentioned above, also that he was the first convert for muslim. Despite he was the first convert, he did not slaughter those pagans around but conveying message for his wife to repent then. Her wife mentioned that Allah would not let him down since, it is mentioned that, Prophet Muhammad was kind to relatives (the pagans), he spoke only the truth, he helped the poor (hote: he was surrounded by pagans), the orphan and the needy, and he was an honest man. However, muslims abuse the Holy Quran and assumed that he was so bad that he would kill all non-muslims without waiting for their repentance. Even though he was surrounded by pagans, he would help the poor and this should show how merciful that Prophet Muhammad was. Prophet Muhammad did not fight with the pagans but helping them, the poor. Indeed, his life style was entirely different from what we heard from the public today. Should we behave as Prophet Muhammad to help the poor pagans and to show good deeds to them so that they would repent to turn back to Allah due to our good conducts?

Gabriel (as) visited the Prophet as commanded by Allah revealing Ayat (meaning signs, loosely referred to as verses) in Arabic over a period of twenty-three years. The revelations that he received were sometimes a few verses, a part of a chapter or the whole cahpter. Some revelations came down in response to an inquiry bny the non-believers. The revealed verses were recorded on a variety of available material (leather, palm leaves, bark, shoulder bones of anmials), memorized as soon as they were revealed, and were recited in daily payers by Muslims (Quran 80:13-16). Angel Gabriel taught the order and arrangement of verses, and the Prophet instructed his several scribes to record verses in that order (Quran 75:16-19 and 41:41-42). Once a year, the Prophet used to recite all the verses to him up to that time to Gabriel to authenticate the accuracy of recitation and the order of verses (Quran 17:106). All the revealed verses (over a period of 23 years and ending in 632 CE) were compiled in the book known as Quran. The name Quran appears in the revealed verses. The Quran does not contain even a word from the Prophet. The Quran speaks in the first person, ie., Allah's commandments to His creation. Gabriel also visited the Prophet throughout his mission informing and teaching him of events and strategy as needed to help in the completion of the prophetic mission. The Prophet sayings, actions, and approvals are recorded separately in collections knowns as Hadith.

For instance, if Allah's mission for Prophet Muhammad was to slaughter the pagans without leaving any mercy to share the message of Allah to them, Gabriel should have informed him to do that for his initial three years with his wife, friends and associates. However, he did not slaughter them and it implies the teaching on slaughtering the pagans without mercy is erroneous. As it is mentioned above that some revelations came down in response to an inquiry by the non-believers, it implies that in certain circumstance, the pagans did approach Prophet Muhammad for certain enquiries and that the angel was willing to reveal to the pagans through Prophet Muhammad. As Allah would reply to the pagans for their doubts about our muslims, it implies that Allah demanded all the pagans to repent and that, the teaching from muslim extremists to kill showing no mercy by no sharing the message of Allah to them is indeed erroneous.

The first few people who followed this mesage were: his cousin Ali, his servant, Zayd ibn Harithah, his friend Abu Bakr and his wife and daughers. They accepted Islam by testifying that

'There is no Deity (worthy of worhsip) except Allah (The One True God) and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.'

Islam means peace by submission and obedience to the Will and Commandments of God and those who accepts Islam are called Muslims, meaning those who have accepted the message of peace by submission to God.

When Prophet Muhammad become the first muslim and then followed by his wife, they did not slaughter the pagans, such as, his servant Zayd ibn Harithah, his friend Abu Bakr and his daugthers. Prophet Muhammad kept on preaching the message of Allah so that his servant, friends and his daughters were muslim converts then. For instance, if Allah's mission to him is to slaughter all the pagans by not sharing the message of Allah to them, his servant, friend and his daughters could have died in his hands without hearing the message of Allah. For instance, if Prophet Muhammad was cruel and he was so selfish that he did not want the pagans to know the message from Allah, he would simply keep the words by not sharing it to them and he simply slaugthered non-muslims from one place to another and act accordingly as what muslim extremists behave nowadays. As Prophet Muhammad was merciful and he wants his surrounding pagans to be saved fromt the Last Judgment Day, that is why he went to preach to his wife, his friend and even his servant, the lower class, in which many people would look down to them.

In the first three years of his mission forty people (men and women) accepted Islam. This small group comprised of youth as well as older people from a wide range of economic and social background.)

The slow growing number of only forty new converts within three years implies that Prophet Muhammad was willing to wait patiently for the repentance of the pagans. The prhase, youth as well as older people from a wide range of economic and social backgournd, implies that Prophet Muhammad did not look down on those poor pagants and he was willing to step down to lower his position rather as a Prophet to reach out to poor pagans for their conversions to muslims. Indeed, we, moderate muslims, should be proud of him since he was the man that was willing to mix with the poor pagans. He did not abuse his authority to kill and kill all the pagans that he saw but was willing to reach out even the poor pagans. Sad to say, nowadays, muslim extremists did not respect the lives of the poor pagans and they did not want them to hear even the message from Allah and they did not want them to be saved from the Last Judgment Day.

The Prophet was directed by a recent revealation to start preaching Islam to everyone. He then began to recite revelations to people in public and invite them to Islam. the Quraish, THE LEADERS OF MAKKAH, TOOK HIS PREACHING WITH HOSTILITY. THE MOST HOSTILE AND CLOSEST TO THE PROPHET WAS HIS UNCLE ABU LAHAB AND HIS WIFE. Initially, they and other leaders of Quraish tried to bribe him with money and power including an offer to make him king if he were to abandon his mesage. When this did not work, they tried to convince his uncle Abu Talib to accept the best young man of Makkah in place of Muhammad and ALLOW THEM TO KILL MUHAMMAD. His uncle tried to persuade the Prophet to stop preaching but the Prophet said, "O uncle, if they were to put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand to stop me from preaching Islam, I would never stop. I will keep preaching un til Allah makes Islam previal or I die."

Prophet Muhmmad is merciful since he did not want to see pagans to be killed during the Last Judgment Day and that is why he kept on preaching the message of Allah to the pagans even though his uncle intended to kill him. Take note that there were people around to be hostile with him at the time of his preaching and yet he mentioned that if they were to put sun in his right hand and the moon in his left hand to stop him from preaching Islam, he would never stop. Do you see how important that Prophet Muhammad felt to reach out to the pagans? However, sad to say, now the situation is the other way round, muslim extremists wish all non-muslims die and start killing them without wanting them to repent. Prophet Muhammad would wish all the pagans to be saved and yet muslim extremists do not like them to repent but kill and kill. What the sad thing happens in the world!

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