archived as www.stealthskater.com/Documents/Islam_01.doc
(also …Islam_01.pdf) => doc pdf URL-doc URL-pdf
more from PBS is on the /Science.htm#NOVA page at doc pdf
URL
note: because important websites are frequently "here today but gone tomorrow", the following was
archived from http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/muhammadand.shtml on October 17, 2010. This
is NOT an attempt to divert readers from the aforementioned website. Indeed, the reader should
only read this back-up copy if the updated original cannot be found at the original author's site.
Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet
Muhammad's career changed the world he lived in. His legacy continues to influence us today. Learn
more about him and view clips from the film concerning gender issues, other religions and prophets,
violence and jihad, the Qur'an, and how Muhammad informs American Muslims' lives today.
The materials in this section were developed, written, and edited by Michael Wolfe, Alexander
Kronemer, Michael Schwarz, and members of the film's Advisory Board.
The Life of Muhammad
570 AD - Muhammad's Birth and Infancy
Muhammad was born in the year 570 in the town of Mecca, a mountain town in the high desert
plateau of western Arabia. His name derives from the Arabic verb hamada meaning "to praise, to
glorify". He was the first and only son of Abd Allah bin Al-Muttalib and Amina bint Wahb.
Abd Allah died before Muhammad's birth and Muhammad was raised by his mother Amina who in
keeping with Meccan tradition entrusted her son at an early age to a wet nurse named Halima from the
nomadic tribe of the Sa'd ibn Bakr. He grew up in the hill country, learning their pure Arabic.
1
575 - Muhammad Becomes an Orphan
When Muhammad was 5-or-6, his mother took him to Yathrib, an oasis town a few hundred miles
north of Mecca, to stay with relatives and visit his father's grave there. On the return journey, Amina
took ill and died. She was buried in the village of Abwa on the Mecca-Medina Road. Halima, his nurse,
returned to Mecca with the orphaned boy and placed him in the protection of his paternal grandfather
Abdul Al-Muttalib.
In this man's care, Muhammad learned the rudiments of statecraft. Mecca was Arabia's most
important pilgrimage center and Abdul Al-Muttalib its most respected leader. He controlled important
pilgrimage concessions and frequently presided over Mecca's Council of Elders.
578 - Muhammad in Mecca in Care of an Uncle
Upon his grandfather's death in 578, Muhammad, aged about 8, passed into the care of a paternal
uncle Abu Talib. Muhammad grew up in the older man's home and remained under Abu Talib's
protection for many years.
Chroniclers have underscored Muhammad's disrupted childhood. So does the Qur'an: "Did God not
find you an orphan and give you shelter and care? And He found you wandering and gave you
guidance. And he found you in need and made you independent" (93:6-8).
580-594 - Muhammad's Teens
When young boy, Muhammad worked as a shepherd to help pay his keep (his uncle was of modest
means). In his teens, he sometimes traveled with Abu Talib who was a merchant, accompanying
caravans to trade centers.
On at least one occasion, he is said to have traveled as far north as Syria.
recognized his character and nicknamed him El-Amin (the one you can trust).
Older merchants
594 - Muhammad Acts as Caravan Agent for Wealthy Tradeswoman, Khadija
In his early 20s, Muhammad entered the service of a wealthy Meccan merchant, a widow named
Khadija bint Khawalayd. The two were distant cousins. Muhammad carried her goods to the north and
returned with a profit.
595-609 - Muhammad's Marriage and Family Life
Impressed by Muhammad's honesty and character, Khadija eventually proposed marriage. They
were wed in about 595. He was 25. She was nearly 40.
Muhammad continued to manage Khadija's business affairs and their next years were pleasant and
prosperous. 6 children were born to them -- tw2o sons who both died in infancy and 4 daughters.
Mecca prospered too, becoming a well–off trading center in the hands of an elite group of clan
leaders who were mostly successful traders.
610 - Muhammad Receives First Revelation
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Mecca's new materialism and its traditional idolatry disturbed Muhammad. He began making long
retreats to a mountain cave outside town. There, he fasted and meditated.
On one occasion after a number of indistinct visionary experiences, Muhammad was visited by an
overpowering presence and instructed to recite words of such beauty and force that he and others
gradually attributed them to God. This experience shook Muhammad to the core. It was several years
before he dared to talk about it outside his family.
613 - Muhammad Takes his Message Public
After several similar experiences, Muhammad finally began to reveal the messages he was receiving
to his tribe. These were gathered verse-by-verse and later would become the Qur'an (Islam's sacred
scripture).
In the next decade, Muhammad and his followers were first belittled and ridiculed, then persecuted
and physically attacked for departing from traditional Mecca's tribal ways. Muhammad's message was
resolutely monotheistic. For several years, the Quraysh (Mecca's dominant tribe) levied a ban on trade
with Muhammad's people, subjecting them to near famine conditions.
Toward the end of the decade, Muhammad's wife and uncle both died. Finally, the leaders of Mecca
attempted to assassinate Muhammad.
622 - Muhammad and the Muslims Emigrate to Medina
In 622, Muhammad and his few hundred followers left Mecca and traveled to Yathrib, the oasis
town where his father was buried. The leaders there were suffering through a vicious civil war, and they
had invited this man well known for his wisdom to act as their mediator.
Yathrib soon became known as Medina, the City of the Prophet. Muhammad remained here for the
next 6 years building the first Muslim community and gradually gathering more-and-more people to his
side.
625-628 - The Military Period
The Meccans did not take Muhammad's new success lightly. Early skirmishes led to 3 major battles
in the next 3 years. Of these, the Muslims won the first (the Battle of Badr, March, 624); lost the second
(the Battle of Uhud, March, 625); and outlasted the third, (The Battle of the Trench and the Siege of
Medina, April, 627).
In March, 628, a treaty was signed between the 2 sides which recognized the Muslims as a new force
in Arabia and gave them freedom to move unmolested throughout Arabia. Meccan allies breached the
treaty a year later.
630 - The Conquest of Mecca
By now, the balance of power had shifted radically away from once-powerful Mecca toward
Muhammad and the Muslims.
In January, 630, they marched on Mecca and were joined by tribe-after-tribe along the way. They
entered Mecca without bloodshed. The Meccans -- seeing the tide had turned -- joined them.
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630-632 - Muhammad's Final Years
Muhammad returned to live in Medina. In the next 3 years, he consolidated most of the Arabian
Peninsula under Islam. In March, 632, he returned to Mecca one last time to perform a pilgrimage and
tens-of-thousands of Muslims joined him.
After the pilgrimage, he returned to Medina. 3 months later on June 8, 632, he died there after a
brief illness. He is buried in the mosque in Medina.
Within a hundred years Muhammad's teaching and way of life had spread from the remote corners of
Arabia as far east as Indo-China and as far west as Morocco, France, and Spain.
Muhammad and the Jews of Medina
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/ma_jews.shtml
Judaism was already well established in Medina 2 centuries before Muhammad's birth. Although
influential, the Jews did not rule the oasis. Rather, they were clients of 2 large Arab tribes there (the
Khazraj and the Aws Allah) who protected them in return for feudal loyalty. Medina's Jews were expert
jewelers and weapons- and armor-makers. There were many Jewish clans-some records indicate more
than 20 of which three were prominent-the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qaynuqa, and the Banu Qurayza.
Various traditions uphold different views and it is unclear whether Medina's Jewish clans were
Arabized Jews or Arabs who practiced Jewish monotheism. Certainly they were Arabic speakers with
Arab names. They followed the fundamental precepts of the Torah (although scholars question their
familiarity with the Talmud and Jewish scholarship) and there is a suggestion in the Qur'an that they
may have embraced unorthodox beliefs such as considering the Prophet Ezra the son of God.
There were rabbis among the Jews of Medina who appear in Muslim sources soon after Muhammad
proclaimed himself a prophet. At that time, the quizzical Meccans -- knowing little about monotheism -are said to have consulted the Medinan rabbis in an attempt to put Muhammad to the test. The rabbis
posed 3 theological questions for the Meccans to ask Muhammad, asserting that they would know by his
answers whether-or-not he spoke the truth. According to later reports, Muhammad replied to the rabbis'
satisfaction. But the Meccans remained unconvinced.
Muhammad arrived in Medina in 622 believing the Jewish tribes would welcome him. Contrary to
expectation, his relations with several of the Jewish tribes in Medina were uneasy almost from the start.
This was probably largely a matter of local politics. Medina was not so much a city as a fractious
agricultural settlement dotted by fortresses and strongholds and all relations in the oasis were uneasy. In
fact, Muhammad had been invited there to arbitrate a bloody civil war between the Khazraj and the Aws
Allah in which the Jewish clans (being their clients) were embroiled.
At Muhammad's insistence, Medina's pagan, Muslim and Jewish clans signed a pact to protect each
other. But achieving this new social order was difficult. Certain individual pagans and recent Medinan
converts to Islam tried to thwart the new arrangement in various ways and some of the Jewish clans
were uneasy with the threatened demise of the old alliances. At least 3 times in 5 years, Jewish leaders,
uncomfortable with the changing political situation in Medina, went against Muhammad hoping to
restore the tense and sometimes bloody-but predictable-balance of power among the tribes.
According to most sources, individuals from among these clans plotted to take his life at least twice.
And once they came within a bite of poisoning him. Two of the tribes (the Banu Nadir and the Banu
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Qaynuqa) were eventually exiled for falling short on their agreed upon commitments and for the
consequent danger they posed to the nascent Muslim community.
The danger was great. During this period, the Meccans were actively trying to dislodge Muhammad
militarily, twice marching large armies to Medina. Muhammad was nearly killed in the first
engagement on the plains of Uhud just outside of Medina. In their second and final military push
against Medina (now known as the Battle of the Trench), the Meccans recruited allies from northwestern
Arabia to join the fight including the assistance of the 2 exiled Jewish tribes. In addition, they sent
envoys to the largest Jewish tribe still in Medina (the Banu Qurayza) hoping to win their support. The
Banu Qurayza's crucial location on the south side of Medina would allow the Meccans to attack
Muhammad from 2 sides.
The Banu Qurayza were hesitant to join the Meccan alliance. Bbut when a substantial Meccan army
arrived, they agreed.
As a siege began, the Banu Qurayza nervously awaited further developments. Learning of their
intention to defect and realizing the grave danger this posed, Muhammad initiated diplomatic efforts to
keep the Banu Qurayza on his side. Little progress was made.
In the third week of the siege, the Banu Qurayza signaled their readiness to act against Muhammad
although they demanded that the Meccans provide them with hostages first to ensure that they wouldn't
be abandoned to face Muhammad alone. Yet that is exactly what happened.
The Meccans, nearing exhaustion themselves, refused to give the Banu Qurayza any hostages. Not
long after, cold heavy rains set in and the Meccans gave up the fight and marched home to the horror
and dismay of the Banu Qurayza.
The Muslims now commenced a 25-day siege against the Banu Qurazya's fortress. Finally, both
sides agreed to arbitration. A former ally of the Banu Qurayza -- an Arab chief named Sa'd ibn Muadh
(now a Muslim) was chosen as judge. Sa'd, one of the few casualties of battle, would soon die of his
wounds. If the earlier tribal relations had been in force, he would have certainly spared the Banu
Qurayza.
His fellow chiefs urged him to pardon these former allies but he refused. In his view, the Banu
Qurayza had attacked the new social order and failed to honor their agreement to protect the town. He
ruled that all the men should be killed. Muhammad accepted his judgment and the next day according to
Muslim sources, 700 men of the Banu Qurayza were executed. The women and children were kept as
slaves. Although Sa'd judged according to his own views, his ruling coincides with Deuteronomy
20:12-14.
Most scholars of this episode agree that neither party acted outside the bounds of normal relations in
7 century Arabia. The new order brought by Muhammad was viewed by many as a threat to the ageold system of tribal alliances, as it certainly proved to be. For the Banu Qurayza, the end of this system
seemed to bring with it many risks. At the same time, the Muslims faced the threat of total
extermination and needed to send a message to all those groups in Medina that might try to betray their
society in the future. It is doubtful that either party could have behaved differently under the
circumstances.
th
Yet Muhammad did not confuse the contentiousness of clan relations in the oasis with the religious
message of Judaism. Passages in the Qur'an that warn Muslims not to make pacts with the Jews of
5
Arabia emerge from these specific wartime situations. A larger spirit of respect, acceptance, and
comradeship prevailed as recorded in a late chapter of the Qur'an:
We sent down the Torah -- in which there is guidance and light -- by which the Prophets
who surrendered to God's will provided judgments for the Jewish people. Also, the
rabbis and doctors of the Law (did likewise) according to that portion of God's Book with
which they were entrusted and they became witnesses to it as well…. Whoever does not
judge by what God has sent down (including the Torah), they are indeed unbelievers.
(5:44)
Some individual Medinan Jews (including at least one rabbi) became Muslims. But generally, the
Jews of Medina remained true to their faith. Theologically, they could not accept Muhammad as a
messenger of God since in keeping with Jewish belief, they were waiting for a prophet to emerge from
among their own people.
The exiled Banu Nadir and the Banu Qaynuqa removed to the prosperous northern oasis of Khaybar
and later pledged political loyalty to Muhammad. Other Jewish clans honored the pact they had signed
and continued to live in peace in Medina long after it became the Muslim capital of Arabia.
Muhammad and Other Religions
The Qur'an asserts that every community is sent its prophets and that all of these prophets share the
same essential message. Some are mentioned by name in the Qur'an, many of whom are figures found
in the Hebrew Scriptures including Adam, Job, David, Elijah, Jonah, Jacob, Joseph, Lot, and Moses
among others. The New Testament figures including Jesus, Mary, John-the-Baptist, and John-theBaptist's father Zechariah are often mentioned too. One of the Qur'an's chapters is titled Mary. Finally,
certain pre-Islamic Arabian prophets appear too. Thus, although there are many shared themes and
stories, there are many other aspects that are unique to the Qur'an.
Muhammad viewed his mission as a continuation of the religious careers of these earlier people.
From the beginning, he closely identified his message with the Jewish and Christian traditions. In
difficult times, he often drew strength from their example. During the period of fierce persecution
against the Muslims, for example, he would remind his beleaguered followers of the patience and
forbearance shown by Moses and the Jews when they were persecuted in Egypt. And according to
Muslim tradition, it was the Qur'anic references to Mary and the birth of Jesus that convinced the
Christian king of nearby Axum (present day Ethiopia) to grant asylum to Muslim refugees fleeing
Meccan persecution.
Muslim sources cite other individual Christians and Jews who played important roles in
Muhammad's life including his wife's cousin Waraqa, a Christian ascetic who first observed that
Muhammad's experiences of revelation resembled Moses' encounters with the Divine. This parallel
reassured Muhammad at a time when he feared he might be possessed.
The Qur'an refers to Christians and Jews as "People of the Book" and calls on Muslims to respect
them. In more than one Qur'anic passage, Christian and Jewish believers are specifically mentioned as
having God's favor:
Be they Muslims, Jews, Christians, or Sabaeans,
Those who believe in God and the Last Day
And who do well
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Have their reward with their Lord.
They have nothing to fear,
And they will not sorrow. (Qur'an: 2:62 and 5:69)
The reference to the mysterious community of the Sabians has been a topic of some debate in
Islamic history. No one has definitively concluded who they were. Some scholars maintain that they
are a small, forgotten community. Others assert that that they are Zoroastrians. Still others offer a much
broader interpretation, saying that the Sabians are the believers of any divinely revealed faith besides the
Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
Muhammad's relationship with Christians and Jews was not, however, always warm. Nor is every
Qur'anic reference to them positive. Political and tribal issues put Muhammad and some Jewish tribes
in conflict and this led to bloodshed more than once.
On occasion, the Qur'an also criticizes Christians and Jews, mainly with regard to their views
concerning prophets. Christians are criticized for calling Jesus 'divine'. In the Muslim view, though
born of the Virgin Mary and revered as a major prophet, Jesus was a man of flesh and blood. The Jews,
on the other hand, are criticized for rejecting certain prophets as well as others whose warnings the
Children of Israel ignored. They are also taken to task for their rejection of Jesus and, of course,
Muhammad. Muhammad's own comments follow the Qur'an in making clear that Islam was not to be
considered a new religion but rather as a continuation of the original religion of Abraham. As expressed
in the Qur'an:
They say (to the Muslims): "Become Jews or become Christians and find the right way."
Answer them: "No. We follow the way of Abraham the upright, who was not an
idolater." Say: "We believe in God and what has been sent down to us, and what was
given to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and Jacob's sons, and that which was
given to Moses and Christ and to (all) the (other) prophets by their Lord. We make no
distinction among them and we submit to God." (2:135-136)
Despite theological disagreements and political disputes, Muhammad remained respectful of both
faiths. A few years before he died when his leadership of the Arabs was generally accepted, a
delegation of 60 Christians with scholars and judges among them arrived in Medina from the southern
capitol of Najran. In a kind of interfaith council rare in those days, Muslims and Christians joined by
Medina's Jewish rabbis sat together discussing and arguing the meaning of their beliefs. This occurred
at a time when not far to the north, Christians and Persians had been engaged for decades in massively
destructive religious wars. According to Muslim chroniclers, when the council in Medina ended, the
Najran Christians mounted their camels and rode peacefully back home.
Muhammad once came upon a group of Muslims arguing about which religion had primacy over all
others. This was the occasion for one of the Qur'an's most often quoted revelations:
"If God had so willed, He would have made all of you one community. But He has not
done so in order that He may test you according to what He has given you. So compete
in goodness. To God shall you all return and He will tell you the truth about what you
have been disputing." (Qur'an: 5:48.)
Muhammad and Women
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/ma_women.shtml
7
At the time of Muhammad's birth, women in 7th Century Arabia had few if any rights. Even the right
of life could be in question since it was not uncommon for small girls to be buried alive during times of
scarcity. In the Qur'an, it is said that on Judgment Day "buried girls" will rise out of their graves and
ask for what crime they were killed. Part of Muhammad's legacy was to end infanticide and establish
explicit rights for women.
Islam teaches that men and women are equal before God. It grants women divinely sanctioned
inheritance, property, social, and marriage rights including the right to reject the terms of a proposal and
to initiate divorce. The American middle-class trend to include a prenuptial agreement in the marriage
contract is completely acceptable in Islamic law.
In Islam's early period, women were professionals and property owners as many are today.
Although in some countries today the right of women to initiate divorce is more difficult than intended,
this is a function of patriarchal legislation and not an expression of Islamic values. Muhammad himself
frequently counseled Muslim men to treat their wives and daughters well. "You have rights over your
women," he is reported to have said. "And your women have rights over you."
Muhammad was orphaned at an early age. He once remarked that "Heaven lies at the feet of
mothers." As the father of 4 daughters in a society that prized sons, he told other fathers that if their
daughters spoke well of them on the Day of Judgment, they would enter Paradise.
Beginning from the time of Muhammad's marriage to his first wife Khadijah, women played an
important role in his religious career. According to Muslim sources, Khadijah was the first person
Muhammad spoke to about his initial, terrifying experience of revelation. She consoled him and became
the first convert to Islam. She remained a confidant and source of support throughout their entire
marriage. Though men commonly took more than one wife in 7th Century Arabia, Muhammad
remained in a monogamous marriage with Khadijah until her death when Muhammad was in his 50s.
By then, Muhammad was working to establish a new community. In that context, over the next 10
years he married 7 women. In some cases, these marriages occurred in order to cement political ties
according to the custom of the day. In some cases, the marriage provided physical and economic shelter
to the widows of Muslims who had died or who had been killed in battle and to the wife of a fallen foe.
Of all his marriages, only one appears to have been controversial and it was to the divorced wife of his
adopted son.
Only one of his wives had not been previously married. Her name was Aisha, the daughter of one of
his closest companions. Aisha was betrothed to Muhammad while still a girl. But she remained in her
parents' home for several years until she reached puberty. Years later when absent from Medina,
Muhammad often recommended that if religious questions arose, people should take them to his wife
Aisha. After Muhammad's death, Aisha became a main source of information about Muhammad and on
medicine and poetry as well.
Aisha's assertion that Muhammad lived the Qur'an became the basis for Muslims ever since to
emulate his example.
Muhammad's daughters also played an important and influential role, both in his life and in the
establishment of Islam. Most notable was his daughter Fatima who is still revered by all Muslims
(particularly Shiite Muslims).
Following the Battle of Uhud (625) in which scores of male combatants died leaving unprotected
widows and children, Muhammad and the Qur'an decreed that in order to protect the orphans of such
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families, men might take up to 4 wives. The permission itself is surrounded with language that
discourages the very thing it permits, saying that unless a man can treat several wives equally, he should
never enter into multiple marriages. The usual supposition in the modern monogamous West -- i.e., that
Islam institutionally encourages lustful arrangements -- is rejected by Muslims themselves as an illinformed stereotype. At the same time, Muslim feminists point out that in various cultures at different
economic strata, the laws of polygamy have frequently operated to the clear detriment of women.
Polygamy is an uncommon occurrence in the modern Muslim world.
Today, Islamic legal and social systems around the World approach and fall short of women's rights
by varying degrees. Muslims themselves generally view Islam as progressive in these matters. Many
Muslim feminists hold the view that the problems presently hindering Muslim women are those that
hinder women of all backgrounds worldwide -- e.g., oppressive cultural practices, poverty, illiteracy,
political repression, and patriarchy. There is a strong, healthy critique of gender oppression among
Muslim feminist authors and activists worldwide.
It would be anachronistic to claim that Muhammad was a feminist in our modern sense. Yet the
same present-day barriers to women's equality prevailed in 7th Century Arabia and he opposed them.
Because in his own lifetime Muhammad improved women's position in society, many modern Muslims
continue to value his example which they cite when pressing for women's rights.
Muhammad and the Qur'an
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/ma_quran.shtml
Muslims view the Qur'an as a divine scripture revealed by God in the same way that many
Christians and Jews view their scriptures. The Arabic word "Qur'an" means "the Recitations" or "the
Revelations." It is a collection of the revelations that Muslims believe Muhammad received starting in
610 when he was 40 years old. According to its own message, the Qur'an does not establish a new
religion. Instead, it confirms and clarifies the truth of the original monotheism of Abraham, the focus of
the Torah and Gospels.
Rather than a chronological narrative, the Qur'an addresses the social and inner condition of
believers. Ethical and spiritual by turns, it occasionally refers to Biblical prophets, religious figures, and
events (e.g., Joseph in Egypt, Noah and the Flood, Jesus and the Virgin Mary among many others).
But it is not a book of history or narration. Rather, the Qur'an is concerned with people's spiritual
destiny, the Day of Judgment, and what it means to believe in God and be a responsible person. In this
last regard, the Qur'an occasionally lays down rules of behavior. But it is not a detailed book of laws
like Leviticus or Deuteronomy.
Like many of the Biblical prophets, Muhammad described the experience of revelation as
wrenching. He felt as if his "soul was being ripped away." He doubted its validity at first until
reassured first by his wife, then by a Christian ascetic, and eventually by the revelations themselves. All
his life he distinguished between his personal opinions and the words conveyed to him in revelation.
Nonetheless, the year 610 became the watershed of Muhammad's life. Once he began to hear
messages and convey them, nothing would ever be the same for him. Or for the World. From a humble
merchant and family man, the experience transformed him into a spiritual teacher, lawgiver, and
ultimately leader of the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. The book he delivered grew in stature from a
text that was first reviled and ridiculed by many to become the most memorized text in the World. A
9
spiritual comfort to hundreds of millions and the scripture for a global religion of more than 1.2 billion
followers.
The Qur'an consists of several thousand verses arranged in 114 chapters with the longest chapters
coming first and the shorter chapters near the end. According to Muslim tradition, its contents arrived
unexpectedly to Muhammad a few verses at a time over weeks, months, and years. As this long,
intermittent burst of sacred language emerged, it was memorized and written down by others and later
reorganized into the book form that we have now.
The Qur'an may be called rhymed prose. It is often said to have a striking beauty when heard in
Arabic. Its deft use of associations, rhymes, near rhymes, and shifts in cadence seems proof to many of
its Divine origin. Some prominent figures during Muhammad's lifetime converted to Islam after hearing
or reading a part of it. The language of the Qur'an quickly became the basis of Classical Arabic (both
written and spoken).
For readers today, the Qur'an bears the stamp of its time and place. Yet for many, its message
transcends time and history to express universal truths. An English version of the first 10 verses of the
91st chapter "The Sun" reads:
Consider the sun and its radiance and the moon reflecting the sun.
Consider the day as it reveals the world
and the night that veils it in darkness.
Consider the sky and its wonderful composition,
the earth and its expanse.
Consider the human self and He Who perfected it
And how He imbued it with awareness
of what is right and wrong.
The one who helps this self to grow in a clean way
attains to happiness.
The one who buries it in darkness is really lost.
Today, the Qur'an is memorized and recited in classical Arabic by millions of people from gradeschoolers to professional performers. It is also the basis for much of the decoration in Islamic
architecture around the World where calligraphy beautifully executed in mortar and paint enhances the
walls and corridors of mosques, schools, and other public buildings. The central purpose, however, is
not to provide decoration but rather to honor the Divine Word.
Muslims hear and use the Qur'an every day. The 5 daily prayers themselves all incorporate passages
from it. The call to prayer heard from minarets is composed of Qur'anic lines and phrases. In view of
its religious value for over a billion human beings, the Qur'an remains one of the modern world's most
influential books.
Muhammad and Violence and Jihad
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/ma_violence.shtml
Muhammad's religious career is often divided into 2 periods: (I) the Meccan Period which lasted for
13 years from the start of his revelations to his emigration to Medina and (II) the Medinan period which
lasted the remaining 10 years of his life.
10
The Meccan Period is characterized by the more elliptical and otherworldly portions of the Qur'an
and by the story of the rejected and persecuted prophet. Had the assassination plot against him in 621
succeeded, his religious career would have been similar in broad outline to that of Jesus.
However, Muhammad escaped the trap set for him and went to live in the oasis of Medina. There he
evolved from the charismatic head of a small group to the political and spiritual director of a large
community. For the first time he had to wrestle with the challenges of creating a new society.
The Qur'an continued to be revealed to him. But the focus of the message broadened now from the
purely spiritual to include the more temporal issues of community building, lawmaking, and social
institutions. Muhammad also came under formal military attack for the first time in Medina.
Consequently, the Qur'an and Muhammad's teaching also focused on delineating the concept of the just
war. Formal permission to fight is first applied in the Medinan Period:
"They will question you concerning the holy month and fighting in it. Say: 'Fighting in it
is a heinous thing. But to bar people from God's way, to disbelieve in Him and the Holy
Mosque and to expel its people from I, that is more heinous in God's sight. And
persecution is more heinous than fighting." (Qur'an 2:217)
Through most of the Medina period, the Muslim community was in mortal danger and surviving in a
defensive mode. Between 624 and 627 especially, the Muslim community was often quite literally
fighting for its life. It is no accident that the concepts of jihad and martyrdom were developed at this
time.
Though the Qur'an takes on more temporal issues in the Medinan Period, it does not abandon the
notions of spiritual striving and God consciousness that were hallmarks of the Meccan Period. Even the
concept of defensive warfare is placed within the larger concept of jihad as striving for what is right.
Though jihad might involve bloodshed, it has the broader meaning of exerting an effort for
improvement. Not only in the political or military realm but also in the moral, spiritual, and intellectual
realms. Muhammad is often cited in Islamic tradition for calling the militant aspect of jihad the "minor"
or "little" jihad while referring to the improvement of one's self as the "greater" jihad.
Other revelations and rulings during this period concerned the proper treatment of prisoners of war
and non-combatants, the sanction against killing innocent civilians, and the respectful treatment of
enemy corpses (in contrast to the custom of the time which was mutilation.) The wanton destruction of
property or agricultural resources was put off limits too. Even words of consolation for prisoners of war
are found in the Qur'an:
"Prophet, tell the captives you have taken: 'If God finds some good in your hearts, He
will reward you with something better than was taken away from you and forgive your
sins. For God is forgiving and kind." (Qur'an 8:70)
Various Muslim traditions define the time and place when the concept of martyrdom first appeared.
One tells the story of a young man who becomes a Muslim and is killed the next morning in a skirmish.
The young man's distraught wife comes to Muhammad, asking what will be the fate of her husband's
soul, as he never prayed or performed even one act of worship. Muhammad answered that dying in
defense of faith is the sign of ultimate submission to God. A person dying this way would be considered
a martyr and go to Heaven.
At the same time, the Prophet warned against those who claim to be fighting for the sake of
righteousness but in fact are fighting for selfish or unjust reasons. Such a person will not be rewarded.
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Those who die in certain other ways including women who die in childbirth and people who die in
natural catastrophes including burning buildings,are considered martyrs too.
With many of the billion-plus Muslims living in poverty or oppression, Islam has become a rallying
point for independence movements worldwide. Since jihad and martyrdom were placed within a
religious context during the Medinan period, some of these independence movements have deployed the
same concepts as sanctified tools for motivating combatants in the face of overwhelming odds. Thus,
some seek a military solution to their political aspirations.
At the far end of the spectrum lies a fairly recent tendency to justify acts of terror with
quotations from the traditions of Islam. This exercise in legal sleight-of-hand -- placed beyond the
pale by all except the terrorists themselves -- has bred enormous doubt throughout the World about the
essentially peaceful nature of Islam.
Especially since the tragic events of September 11, most religious scholars around the World have
rejected these interpretations as spurious. Rather, they have re-emphasized the Prophet's saying that "the
true jihad is only that which exalts God's word. Which is truth."
The Qur'an condemns as an ultimate act of blasphemy actions that attempt to dismantle the very
fabric of existence by destroying and spreading ruin on the Earth. Elsewhere it states that God has
willed Muslims "to be a community of moderation." (Qur'an 2:143)
Muhammad and America
Muslims are one of the fastest growing religious groups in the United States and among the most
ethnically diverse. America's Muslim population has been estimated at between 2 and 10 million
people. The generally accepted number of American Muslims today is about 6-to-7 million.
Somewhat less than 50% of American Muslims are first generation immigrants. And in all
generations, South Asian Muslims are about twice as numerous as Arab Muslims. African-American
Muslims are variously estimated to be from 30-to-45 percent of all Muslims in the country.
Most African-American Muslims practice mainstream Islam. A very much smaller number are
members of the Nation of Islam. Before 1975, most African-American Muslims were followers of its
founder, Elijah Muhammad. The teachings of this group diverged dramatically from Islam as practiced
everywhere else in the World and included separatist, race-based, and militant strategies as well as rites
and rituals invented by Elijah Muhammad. After his death in 1975, the great majority followed Elijah's
son Wallace into mainstream Islam. 3 years later, a small number of people led by Louis Farrakhan
separated from Wallace to revive the Nation of Islam including certain of Elijah Muhammad's original
anti-white and separatist doctrines.
American Muslims (indigenous or not) are generally well-educated and a large percentage of the
adults vote.
To varying degrees, most American Muslims face many of the same challenges as other minority
religions including how to integrate into a mainstream culture while preserving their core values. This is
further compounded by such Islamic practices as the hijab (i.e., covering of the hair by Muslim women)
which is often perceived as oppressive or anti-American. Even the Muslim prayer and common Muslim
phrases have become suspect in some quarters due to their slipshod association with terrorism.
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Post-9/11, American Muslims face extra challenges of negative stereotyping too. The World War II
incarceration of over 100,000 Japanese American citizens hangs like a specter over the Muslim
community today and the power of guilt by association has persuaded many of them to vote and
campaign proactively to protect their civil rights.
This is particularly upsetting to immigrant American Muslims since many have reached these shores
escaping religious and political oppression. Although the social norms of American society may be
more permissive than some Muslims can approve, they nonetheless are able practice their faith without
hindrance and build and staff their mosques and schools without state interference.
Some Americans associate Islam with dictatorship since so many Muslims live in countries that
presently lack a real democratic process. Yet Muslims in the United States participate freely in a
democracy without religious contradictions. Historically, the real obstacle to democracy in the
traditional Muslim world has not been 'Islam'. It is poverty, lack of education, and corrupt and
repressive regimes. Muslims living under oppressive regimes don't appear any happier with the
arrangement than Americans would be. Indeed, many Muslims have come here to escape them.
Muslims in America face a major challenge today: to distinguish themselves by word and deed from
terrorist groups throughout the World that use Islam as a justification for violence and anarchy.
America has experienced this kind of confusion before as, for instance, in the Jim Crow decades of the
segregated South when the Ku Klux Klan used Biblical rhetoric and burning crosses to dress a violent
manifesto in religious symbolism. American Muslims are no more sympathetic with Al-Qaeda and
"Islamic" terrorism than most believing Christians were once supportive of the Klan.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Muslim leaders, community centers, advocacy
groups, and mosques have greatly increased their efforts to speak up, to explain their faith, and to define
more publicly their place as American citizens. They often emphasize that:
● Islam, Judaism and Christianity are all monotheistic.
● Islam advocates the right to participate in society, educate oneself, and pursue a profession.
● The Qur'an (on which Islamic laws are based) enjoins Muslims to govern themselves by
discussion and consensus.
● Islam is institutionally egalitarian and its houses of worship are racially and ethnically
integrated.
● The Pledge of Allegiance (one nation under God) and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (all people
are "created equal") express themes that are also basic to Islam.
The Hajj
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/virtualhajj.shtml
The Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslims is urged to perform once in a
lifetime. The Hajj is a dynamic process that changes its shape and purpose as it moves from point to
point over several days. 2 million people make up the Hajj today coming from every corner of the
World. Each one performs the same rites in the same way.
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The experience is both shared and public on the hand and intensely personal on the other. For most
would-be pilgrims, preparations begin months and sometimes years before the event. From the first step
away from home to your last step on pilgrim soil, the whole process is one event with many stages.
Step 1 - Arrival and Change: The Purifying Rite of Ihram
The first rites of the Hajj take place at one of the border stations on the edge of Mecca's sacred
territory. A pilgrim arrives here as a person identified by a name, social position, race, nationality, and a
daily way of life. Before crossing into Hajj territory, the pilgrim leaves all this behind, intentionally
adopting the universal identity of a person dedicated to God.
To mark this profound change of perspective, men and women exchange their distinguishing clothes
for more uniform garments. Men put on 2 strips of unadorned white cloth and women adopt more
modest forms of their usual dress. The clothes act as a leveler. They de-emphasize the differences that
separate people (e.g., race, wealth, social position) and underscore the humanity that all of us share as
we stand before God.
Step 2 - City of Mecca
The Hajj rites continue in Mecca -- a spiritual crossroads that has attracted pilgrims since prerecorded times. Muslims believe that Abraham visited Mecca and helped his son Ishmael build a house
of worship (the Kabah) here. Many centuries later, Muhammad was born in Mecca. The first Muslim
community emerged within its walls. Today, Mecca is a modern city of more than a million people.
The Kabah still occupies the town center. The enormous open-air mosque that surrounds it is the focal
point of the next stage of the Hajj.
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Inside the mosque walls, every pilgrim performs several simple rites. First, you circle the Kabah
seven times in a counter-clockwise direction. This rite (called Turning or Tawaf) is a form of prayer
performed only in Mecca. Going around the shrine's draped walls, you literally place God's House at the
center of your life.
Pilgrims now cross the mosque to a long corridor on its southern side. The corridor (or Masa'a) runs
between 2 foothills enclosed within the building. Here, pilgrims walk back-and-forth 7 times at a brisk
pace in a rite called Running (or Sa'y) that imitates the steps of Hagar (Ishmael's mother in the Torah)
who rushed between the hills in search of life-giving water for her infant son. The story and the rite
express the effort required in a person's search for salvation. The sudden appearance of a well in this
desert landscape is the core of a miracle that Muslims believe saved Hagar and saved a branch of
Abraham's family in Mecca. Not accidentally, this rite places a mother's story at the heart of the Hajj.
The Zamzam well that saved Hagar and Ishmael is within the mosque too. Each pilgrim sips from
its water as a reminder of the real results of spiritual effort and to be connected with the foundations of a
religious tradition that emphasizes the worship of one God.
Step 3 - Mina Valley, Plain of Arafat
At this point, the Hajj becomes a moveable ritual, stopping 4 times along a circular 15-mile route
through a desert landscape ringed with granite hills.
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On the 8th day of the pilgrimage month, pilgrims all leave the city and troop 5 miles east into Mina
Valley. Here, a tent city of enormous proportions fills the valley for miles around. Pilgrims pass the
night in Mina, leaving behind the comforts of civilization and further dissolving class and cultural
distinctions as everyone becomes a wayfarer.
On the morning of the 9th day, the exodus pushes another 5 miles east to the Plain of Arafat. Here
the high point of the Hajj takes place in the form of a group vigil called the Day of Standing Together
(Yawm al-Wakuf).
At Arafat, pilgrims are transported into a timeless frame of mind. Arafat is the location where
Muslims believe Adam and Eve were reunited after leaving Eden. This is a place set aside for spiritual
reunion where pilgrims come to seek pardon, reclaim their faith, and re-collect their spirit. Muslims
often refer to this portion of the Hajj as a rehearsal for the Day of Judgment.
Step 4 - Muzdalifah
At sundown, the Hajj population moves en masse to a nearby open plain called Muzdalifa. Here,
pilgrims participate in a meditative nightlong vigil. They rest, pray, read, eat, and share their
experiences in a quiet period. Many also collect the pebbles they will throw at the "Jamarat" pillars in
the morning.
At dawn, the Hajj is on its way again.
Step 5 - return to Mina Valley and conclusion of the Hajj
On the 10th day, starting at dawn the pilgrims circulate back to Mina Valley.
3 pillars stand at the center of Mina Valley. In the next 3 days, each pilgrim will pass by them 3
separate times, performing a rite called the "Stoning" in which you cast small pebbles at a series of 3
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pillars representing Satan. This athletic activity engages each pilgrim, physically and symbolically, in
resisting temptation and warding off wrong.
At Mina pilgrims are free to exchange the Hajj garments for their usual dress. Many mark this
transition by having their hair cut.
Now a 3-day feast begins to celebrate the end of Hajj. Muslims around the World join in this
celebration.
During this period, pilgrims may return again to Mecca. Before leaving the city for home, they
perform the 7 turns around the Kabah one last time.
The formal Hajj is completed now. It is up to each pilgrim to carry its spirit back home.
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Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (the film)
September 25, 2002
PBS
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/transcripts/muhammad_script.pdf
Narrator: 1400 years ago, a humble merchant who could not read or write changed the face of Arabia.
His name was Muhammad. Today, his influence has spread to every corner of the world
including the United States. This is his story. And the story of millions of Americans who
revere him as God’s final prophet.
"He was neither tall and lanky, nor short and heavy set. When he looked at someone,
he looked them in the eyes. He was the most generous hearted of men, the most truthful
of them in speech, the most mild-tempered of them, and the noblest of them in lineage.
Anyone who would describe him would say I never saw before or after him the like of
him." -- Muhammad described by a contemporary.
Karen Armstrong: Muhammad was a man who faced an absolutely hopeless situation. There was a
whole continent virtually of people killing one another in an endless hopeless vendetta, going
down a chute of violence and warfare. Feeling that society was coming to an end and had no
hope. He gave them hope single-handedly. In a space of 23 years, he brought peace and new
hope to Arabia and a new beacon for the World.
Narrator: Islam -- the religion Muhammad first brought to Arabia -- now claims 1.2 billion followers
around the World. There are an estimated 7 million Muslims in America where it is the
country’s fastest growing religion and the most diverse.
Michael Wolfe: Like America itself, the Muslims in this country come from all over the World. They
have a common bond. Not only in their religious faith and in their mosques but also in this story
of Muhammad. They all look to it. This is the source of how to behave; of how to be a
constructive citizen; of how to be a good parent; of how to be a good child; of how to seek
knowledge and truth. These are values that are expressed most clearly for Muslims in the story
of Muhammad.
Jameel Johnson: In the Qur'an, Allah says that Muhammad is the best example of behavior for you.
And that’s what he is the guide for the way we deal with each other and when we’re in a position
of authority how we attempt to implement justice and law.
Kevin James: Prophet Muhammad, he asked the question to people around him Ddo you love your
Creator? Serve your fellow man first. What does that tell you? It tells you forget about all this
intellectual, yeah, I love God and this and that. If you're gonna, you know, forget about talking
the talk, walk the walk. You want to serve God, serve people. What more noble way to serve
people than to risk your own life to save them.
Daisy Kahn: September 11th has changed the whole w\World and it has also put the Muslim
community in the spotlight. Muslims have a lot of hostility being hurled at them. But this is also
a time of transformation. Many people are very eager to understand Islam and want to know
who is the Prophet? What is the Qur'an? Who are the Muslims? How do they live?
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Najah Bazzy: Through the stories about Prophet Muhammad, we were able to make connections. And
all of a sudden, you would feel you can relate to things that happened back 1500 years ago. And
that the issues weren't old fashioned. They were universal. And that’s what he’s taught me.
Narrator: This is the story Muslims have passed down from generation to generation for 1400 years. A
story about the merchant, husband, father, statesman, and warrior whom they consider the final
prophet. The man whose legacy continues to shape their lives today.
John Voll: The life of Muhammad is even in its details probably better known than any other major
religious figure before modern times. His followers made careful efforts to record memories that
they had of things that he had said, and things that he had done. Many of these traditions may
have been made up later on. But at the core there seems to me to be little reason to doubt that
there is a picture and a portrait of a living man.
Narrator: According to Muslim sources, Muhammad bin Abdullah (or son of Abdullah) was born in
the year 570 AD in the city of Mecca in what is today Saudi Arabia. A poet of the times
described Mecca as a place where winter and summer were equally intolerable. The world into
which Muhammad arrived was a brutal on, defined by hunger, violence, and tribal warfare.
Karen Armstrong: You could not exist without your tribe. An individual in this dangerous world had
absolutely no chance of survival. And that meant that the tribe had become, perhaps, the most
sacred value in Arabia.
Hamza Yusuf: It's a society that's based on the idea of vigilantism. That if somebody attacked my
clan, then I have a right to go and attack anyone from his clan. They saw justice as taking
revenge.
Narrator: The Arabs of the 6th Century had no written code of law, no common religion, and no central
government. In this dangerous world, Muhammad had the good fortune to be born into Mecca’s
powerful tribe, the Quraysh. But his father died before he was born and his mother died when he
was only 6. His uncle Abu Talib was left to raise the young orphan.
M. Cherif Bassiouni: He surely had to have worried about his future, what will he be. And so he must
have been a very introspective child. Muhammad had the habit of going out in the desert and
contemplating the stars and thinking about why he was an orphan. And how would life be to
him in the future.
Karen Armstrong: Orphans were marginal people and he felt very, very strongly identified with the
poor and disadvantaged for the rest of his life.
Narrator: The Mecca of Muhammad's youth was both a religious and a commercial center,located at
the crossroads of 2 major trading routes. Pilgrims came from all over Arabia to worship the
hundreds of idols that surrounded the Ka'aba, an ancient shrine in the heart of the city. The
Ka’aba was surrounded by a sacred area where fighting was not allowed. The commerce
generated by the pilgrims made it possible for a young man in Muhammad’s circumstances to
make a living in the markets of Mecca.
Soon Muhammad began acting as an agent for wealthy merchants, taking their goods on
caravans throughout Arabia. These journeys exposed him to a variety of other tribes and
communities and a range of new ideas.
19
M. Cherif Bassiouni: He probably learned the differences that exist between different tribes. People
speaking different languages. He encountered Christians and Jews. And learned from them
what their faith, what their religion, what their cultures are.
Karen Armstrong: Muhammad would have become aware that for the Jews and the Christians the
holy scripture was very important. Both got scriptures in which God had sent a sacred message
to prophets and this was a way in which people could relate to the divine.
When Muhammad was about 25 years old, he had a major change in his life. A wealthy
widow, older woman named KHADIJA asked him to take her caravans into Syria for her.
Daisy Kahn: Muhammad took all her goods and went with the caravan to Syria and did an incredible
job. And her respect for him turned into admiration for him. She inquired about him through
one of her friends.
Narrator: Shortly thereafter Khadija asked Muhammad to marry her. “I like you because of our
relationship,” she said. “And your high reputation among your people, your trustworthiness,
good character, and truthfulness.”
Hamza Yusuf: And this is interesting. She is a very beautiful woman. But she's 40. She is moving
into her maturity. And he's a 25-year-old youth. Um, he's an orphan. And accepts this proposal
and it's arranged through the family. And he does, indeed, marry her.
Karen Armstrong: And people have often said rather sneeringly that this was just a marriage of
convenience on his part. He had just married the wealthy widow for his own ah gain and profit.
But there's no doubt in my mind that he deeply, deeply loved Khadija.
Narrator: Over the course of their marriage, Khadija and Muhammad had 4 daughters and 2 sons who
died as infants. He was a family man and a successful and respected merchant. But as
Muhammad approached his own 40th birthday, he was becoming increasingly restless and
troubled by the problems of Meccan society.
Karen Armstrong: Within a few generations, they had gone from this kind of brutal existence in the
Arabian Steppes to becoming financiers, bankers, businessmen, merchants with a lot of money.
And this was great, of course, and people were delighted. But it was a very disturbing time
because the market economy demanded -- as we know only too well in the West -- a strong
competitive streak. People no longer felt that they had to take care of the poor and the needy and
the weaker members of Quraysh any longer. They had to make as much money as they possibly
could.
Bassiouni: They had a marvelous society. They had a trading town; they were booming; they were
doing business. They were living like an affluent society. And when you have an affluent
society, the tendency is to become hedonistic. To look at, you know, what are the pleasures of
life?
Narrator: Muhammad would often retreat to the mountains outside Mecca to meditate. It was on one
such retreat in the year 610 that Muhammad had an experience that would transform History.
NASR: The prophet used to retire from time to time into a hill called Jabal al-Nur (the Mountain of
Light). When you climb up that mountain -- and many people still do it -- on top of it is a cave
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called al-Hira in Arabic into which the Prophet would often times retire in order to contemplat,
and to pray. To be still with God. The coming of the revelation was an immediate act. The
descent from Heaven came suddenly.
Armstrong: Muhammad was woken from sleep and felt himself absolutely enveloped by a terrifying
Divine presence. He says it’s an angel that seemed to squeeze him in a devastating embrace. It
felt as though all the breath was being squeezed out of his body. A voice said to him: "Recite."
And Muhammad said "no, I am not a reciter."
The voice again said "Recite. Recite." And then squeezed as he said almost beyond his
endurance, Muhammad felt the first inspired words of a new scripture in Arabic pouring from his
lips.
NASR: (in Arabic) That is recite in the name of thy lord who created.
Armstrong: And Islam had come into being.
NASR: And the prophet, of course, having received the Divine word began to tremble and tremendous
fear because there’s no common ground between the human reality and the Divine reality. He
ran out of the cave. When he ran out of the cave, he looked back and the Archangel filled up the
whole of the sky.
Armstrong: Everywhere you looked there was Gabriel. Not just a single angelic image but a Presence,
a Being, a Power.
This is how the ineffable, incomprehensible, utterly transcendent, indescribable God makes
itself known to us.
Hamza Yusuf: This was something that really shook him to the very core of his being. He goes down
from that mountain and he is shaking. And I think it's shock. Here is somebody who has gone
looking for this transcendent Teality and this transcendent Reality is now replying!
Narrator: Muhammad was so shaken by this experience, he feared he might be possessed. He ran
home directly to Khadija.
Armstrong: And there he flung himself into her lap and he said "cover me, cover me, hold me" until
the terror had passed. Khadija was the person who reassured him. He said "Have I become a
kahin, a soothsayer?" And she said "No, my dear. This is not what God does. This revelation
comes from God."
Narrator: The message Muhammad received on the Mountain of Light was simple. He was to recite
the words of the one true God. But Muhammad still had doubts that his experience was genuine.
Armstrong: Khadija thought it would be a good idea to go to consult her cousin Waraqa who was a
Christian.
Hamza Yusuf: She is saying we need to go to somebody that knows about these things. Because if
you're told that you're being given a message from God, well, there have been previous
messages. So, let's go ask Waraqa who knows the scripture. He knows the Torah and the
Gospel.
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Armstrong: And as soon as Waraqa heard about this, he immediately said "Muhammad is the prophet
ah who will bring the revelation of the one God to the Arabs." And he warned Muhammad uh
that he would have a really rough time.
Hamza Yusuf: He says your people are going to reject you and they will chase you out of this city.
This has never come to any human being except they were persecuted. Because this is basically
undermining the paradigm.
Reuven Firestone: And after a while Muhammad began to realize that the messages he had been
receiving fit a pattern that he knew about from Jewish and Christian tradition as well. And that is
that there are such things as prophets. There are people who receive messages from the divine
and that he began to realize that indeed he was one of them as well.
Mohamed Zakariya: When we think of prophecy, we come from a tradition in America where we
think of Charlton Heston. You know, the great big beard and the winds always blowing. And
he's wearing raggedy clothes and they're ranting people. You know, they're ranting and raving.
In the Islamic view, a prophet isn't this kind of person at all. But it's the person who has been
selected very reluctantly from his people. God selected him and he couldn’t get out of the
clutches in a sense. He had to do it.
M. Cherif Bassiouni: You have to think in terms of a tribal Bedouin society. What is the worst thing
that could happen to somebody? It is not death. It is shame. And so I am sure that in his own
mind, the idea of being shamed was probably very important.
I mean, think of the double loss of face. You know he’s gonna lose face. He’s gonna be
shamed in front of his people. He’s gonna be shamed in front of Allah who gave him that
message.
Kevin James: One of the drawing features to me as a non-Muslim who came from just a very diverse
background was his humility. And his humanness.
Narrator: Kevin James is a Supervising Fire Marshal in Brooklyn, New York who converted to Islam as
a young man.
Kevin James: I felt a kinship to him also personally. And there's probably about a billion Muslims
who would say the same thing. Personal. This personal kinship that they feel with him. He
grew up an orphan. Now I'm not an orphan; I have two parents.
But my position in society, I've always felt separate. America is a racial nation. And either
you’re Black, you're White, you're Italian, you're Jewish, you're this and that. So coming from a
mixed background, I've felt kind of like in limbo.
My father is Native American and African-American and my mother is Jewish. They were
very a-religious, I would say, to the point of being atheist or agnostic. I recall as a child we'd get
a dreidel on Hanukkah. We had a menorah in the house and we also had a Christmas tree and
exchanged presents. So, I just never really identified with any religion but what was always
emphasized was discussion and dialogue and seeking for the truth.
So I went through a period of trial and error searching. And I stumbled, I guess. I almost
literally stumbled on Islam. What appealed to me was the universality of the message. Any
22
religion that gives a code of righteous ethical conduct and respect and gratitude and obedience to
one being is Islam.
So here's a book -- the Holy Qur'an -- that validates other religions, the diversity of mankind.
And it puts the onus of salvation on the believer.
The Qur'an teaches you that the saving of one life is as if you've saved all of humanity. And
that's one of the reasons why I became a firefighter. What more noble calling than that to save a
person's life, to save people, to save their property?
From being a fire-fighter, I became a Fire Marshall. That's an arson investigator. That's
another form of prevention, of saving lives.
The fire-fighter, he'll risk his life to save you whether you're Black, brown, red, Jew, Muslim,
Christian, Atheist. He's not asking you what your philosophy is or looking at your color. He's
looking to get you out of the building.
That's why many people say that fire-fighting is a calling because of that self-sacrifice. The
willingness to just put others before yourself.
To be a good Muslim, you serve people. And specifically, Prophet Muhammad asked the
question to people around him: "Do you love your Creator? Serve your fellow man first."
Narrator: The message that Muhammad had received from God revealed that his people would be held
accountable in the next life for their behavior in this one. Although Muhammad was initially
reluctant to tell others about his experience, a new revelation commanded him to make his
message public.
Hamza Yusuf: So he calls all of his family members together and he says "What would you say if I
told you that there was this army waiting to attack us on the other side of that hill?" They said
"We would believe you." And he said "What would you say if I told you I'm a messenger from
God?" They think it's absurd.
"You you called us together for this?" And he says "Will no one support me in this?" And
the only person is a child Ali who is his cousin who gets up and says "I will support you." And
they think this is hilarious. That this is who is going to follow this prophet is a child!
M. Cherif Bassiouni: Think about it. There is a man -- a middle-aged man -- who doesn't know how to
read or write, who has no wealth, who is an orphan (yes, he is from a very important tribe but he
works for a woman). And he now says "I'm the Prophet. God has spoken to me." This is not
going to fly.
Narrator: The Divine message that Muhammad brought to his fellow Meccans carried with it a sharp
warning for their increasingly materialistic society.
Karen Armstrong: He was coming to warn the people of Mecca and the surrounding countryside and
his own tribe of Quraysh that unless they pulled themselves together and started creating a more
just and decent society, restoring the old tribal values of looking after the poor, the orphan, the
widow, the oppressed, then there was going to be a terrible catastrophe.
23
Hamza Yusuf: The Arabs did not believe in the Afterlife. They really thought that life ended with
death and there was no resurrection, there was no coming back, there was no reincarnation.
Bassiouni: So now Muhammad is saying "You know that one God we spoke of? When you are going
to die, you don't just disappear. But you're going to be accountable to that God for the good
deeds and the bad deeds."
Armstrong: He was bringing a moral, ethical, social message to his people. That we're all in the same
boat before God and we must treat each other well with compassion and justice and equity.
Narrator: The revelation that Muhammad received on the Mountain of Light was only the first of many
that he would continue to receive for the rest of his life.
Hamza Yusuf: The revelation does not come in a lump sum. It doesn't just come down from Heaven
like "Here is the book. Now go out and teach it to the people." No, it is coming down slowly.
It's coming down as events unfold. And it's explaining the events.
But it's also coming down in a way that he can absorb it. Because the idea is that this thing is
so tremendous! This thing is so immense that it's not something that we can give you all at once.
This is going to take time.
Armstrong: He used to say that "I never once experienced a revelation without feeling that my soul
had been torn from my body."
Seyyed Hossein Nasr: The prophet could be sitting, he could be on horseback, he could be walking, he
could be talking. He was suddenly seized by the Divine word.
Armstrong: He would feel a great weight descend upon him. He would sweat profusely even on a cold
day. Sometimes he said it would be like the reverberations of a bell. And that he said is hardest
for me, it's not the words that were coming. But he would have to listen very hard for the
meaning of what communication, Divine communication was coming through.
Narrator: After Muhammad received each revelation, he would recite it to the people who were with
him, and they would pass it on to the community.
Bassiouni: When the Prophet -- who did not know how to read and write -- started revealing the words
of the Qur'an, they acquired credibility because of the very nature of the words spoken. People
would look at it. "This is, my goodness, this cannot be the words of a man. He could not have
made this up."
Armstrong: The Qur'an is the most extraordinary beautiful discourse. It doesn’t come over in
translation but the Arabic is extraordinary. When the first Muslims heard the Qur'an, many of
them were converted to the Prophet’s message. Not necessarily because of its content but
because of its beauty.
John Voll: That revelation was presented in a society where there were people who were professional
memorizers. They could hear something recited once and they could repeat it. The recitation
then by Muhammad was carefully preserved immediately in the minds of memorizers and in the
minds of people who were able to write down notes. What we now call the Qur'an represented
the complete collection of those words that Muhammad recited when he said this is the
revelation of God.
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Mohamed Zakariya: All we have of the prophet and all we have of the word of God are actually
words. We don't have any pictures. We don't have any statues. All we have left are words. We
can take those words and through the art of calligraphy we can make them more vivid, more
accessible.
Narrator: For Mohamed Zakariya, words are the basis of an art form. To prevent idolatry, Muhammad
discouraged the creation of any images of himself or other prophets. Calligraphy eventually
became Islam’s highest art form. Among the sacred texts that Zakariya writes is the Hilye, a
portrait of the Prophet in words.
Mohamed Zakariya: Transmitted from Ali who, when asked to describe the Prophet, would say: “His
face was not narrow, nor was it fully round. But there was a little bit of roundness to it. When
he looked at someone, he looked at them with his face turned perfectly towards them. Whoever
saw him unexpectedly was in awe of him. And whoever associated with him familiarly loved
him. Anyone who would describe him would say ‘I never saw before him or after him the like of
him. Peace be upon him.’ ”
That’s the most famous of the Hilyes. It gives you a description of the qualities of a person
so that you can almost see them in your mind’s eye. I like to think it’s like having a little
memento of the Prophet near you so that you can look at it and think of it now-and-then. And of
course, he’s not with us. But the Hilye brings his presence a little closer.
Karen Armstrong: Muhammad was always very insistent that he was not a Divine figure. He always
warned his followers not to do with him what the Christians had done to Jesus and put him on a
pedestal and say that he was God or Divine. Muhammad was not. He was an ordinary human
being and the Muslims have taken that seriously.
But what they do say is that Muhammad is the perfect man. That if you look at Muhammad,
you can see how a perfect act of surrender to the Divine had been made.
Narrator: Muhammad’s message slowly began to attract followers. Especially among the downtrodden
and the oppressed within Meccan society.
Hamza Yusuf: It's really the people that don't have anything to lose and everything to gain. They are
the ones that are responding to this message. Many of the followers are poor people, slaves,
women that don't have protectors. It's spreading amongst the disenfranchised of Mecca.
Imam Qazwini: Prophet Muhammad noticed that he lives in a society that denigrate women. They
were viewed as second-hand citizens, an object or personal belongings that belong to the man.
And that disturbed the Prophet.
Narrator: Early in his prophetic career, Muhammad condemned female infanticide. Later revelations
would give women legal rights in marriage, allow them to divorce, and protect their inheritance
rights.
Armstrong: Of course, it's absurd and anachronistic to expect Muhammad to be a feminist in the 21st
Century sense. But nevertheless, what he did for women in the context of his times was
amazing.
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Narrator: Although most women were second-class citizens in pre-Islamic Arabia, Muhammad's own
wife Khadija was wealthy and powerful.
Hamza Yusuf: There's been this idea that women prior to Islam were chattel. That they had no rights.
And I think that for many many levels of the women, that is true. But for a certain level of
woman which Khadija would have been amongst, that is not true.
Daisy Khan: Khadija is an inspiration because in spite of the male-dominated society that she lived in.
She was a working woman. And so there are some parallels for modern women to learn from
her example.
I grew up in Kashmir which is in the foothills of the Himalayas, northern India. I came to
America when I was 15 years old. As I started becoming part and parcel of this culture and
society, I gravitated towards just wanting to be like everybody else. And tended to stray away
from my own faith. For a while there, I went through some very, very dark stages in my life
where I wanted nothing to do with my faith and almost just walked away from my faith.
As I got older, I recognized that there was this very empty hole inside of me. So I started
searching for God in all kinds of places. You know, Rumi has this beautiful story where he says
“I looked for God, I went to a temple, and I didn't find him there. Then I went to a church and I
didn't find him there. And then I went to a mosque and I didn’t find him there. And then finally
I looked in my heart. And there he was.”
The challenges that I faced in my life are the very same challenges that a lot of young girls
are facing. And when they come to me with their questions, I feel like a person who has already
traveled the road. I dispense advice to them, from real experience as to how I would have dealt
with something.
[woman in pink sweater]: I've noticed how when it comes to women, we are only supposed to marry
Muslim men. Why is that now? Especially because the Qur'an says that, believing men and
women should marry, it doesn't point out that men can marry such and women can't.
[woman in pink jihab]: I’ve heard plenty of people say that in fact that’s an interpretation.
Daisy Khan: Some of the issues are deeply personal. Issues with gender relations like dating and ah
marriage. And other issues have to do with you know certain Islamic law and how to reconcile
with some of those things.
These are all "sticky wickets" as we say. The fact that I've walked the walk helps a little bit
for me to dispense advice to these people.
Narrator: In Mecca, opposition to Muhammad was growing. His message of monotheism and his
campaign against idolatry threatened the lucrative trade that fueled the Meccan economy.
Hamza Yusuf: The business of Mecca is to draw pilgrims to Mecca. They want to make money. And
the way they draw pilgrims to Mecca is people come visit their gods. Well, here’s somebody
who is saying "These gods, they are not real. They're stones, they're rocks. You're wasting your
time."
Now, that message has economic implications to the Quraysh. They are worried. This man is
going to undermine our business.
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Narrator: In the tribal system, Muhammad was protected by his uncle Abu Talib. So the Meccans went
to Abu Talib and asked him to turn Muhammad over to them.
Karen Armstrong: Abu Talib was in a difficult position. He was not a Muslim. But it went against
the grain for him to simply hand over his beloved nephew to these people who would kill him
with impunity. So he took Muhammad to one side and said "Look! Don't do this. Don't do this.
Don't do this to us. Can't you just keep quiet?"
Hamza Yusuf: At that point, the Prophet says "If they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my
left hand, I will not stop preaching what I am preaching until this message is conveyed or I die
conveying it."
This is what he tells his uncle and at that point he begins to weep. And his Uncle looks at
him and realizes the depth of the conviction of this man and he says say "Whatever you want,
you have my protection."
Jameel Johnson: One of the things that the prophet Muhammad S.A.W. taught us was that it is our
duty to try to correct injustices in the World. If you see something wrong, change it with your
hands. If you're not able to, then speak out against it. If you're not able to do that, then feel bad
about it in your heart. But that is the weakest form of faith.
Wherever possible, the Muslim should try to take action. And not let an injustice go by
without calling it what it is and asking for change.
Narrator: Dealing with change is part of Jameel Johnson’s job. As Chief-of-Staff for Congressman
Gregory Meeks of New York, he manages the congressman’s schedule and briefs him on policy
issues.
Jameel Johnson: My goal is not necessarily to simply seek votes or campaign money or to be accepted
as a part of the game. As Muslims, we must seek justice. So what I try to do is educate. In
many cases, the best thing that you are able to do with that kind of education is decrease
prejudice and increase understanding.
If I practice my Islam on the job and do that without trying to interfere with anyone else's
practice whether they be religious or otherwise, then I make it easier for the next Muslim that
comes on board. Especially also if I do a good job because then some of the prejudice, some of
the misunderstanding goes away.
One of the most important things for a Muslim is remaining constantly in remembrance of
Allah. What we are commanded to do is that we make formal prayer 5 times-a-day. Because
when you live in a society that constantly gives you acceptance and praise because of material
things or achievement, we need that constant remembrance of Allah in order to bring us back to
the right path. As some say, keeping our eyes on the prize. And prayer is that remembrance.
Even though Islam isn’t the biggest faith in America, even though it sometimes is ridiculed,
the fact of the matter is that I can practice, I can make my 5 prayers-a-day. It was much harder
for the Messenger of Allah S.A.W and his companions to do this.
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Narrator: The first Muslims faced a torrent of ridicule and abuse when they practiced Islam in public.
Attacked by crowds throwing stones, they retreated to the surrounding mountains to pray in
secret. Many pagan families split apart when their children converted to Islam.
Finally, the leaders of Muhammad’s tribe -- the Quraysh -- decided that Harassment alone
would not be enough to stop him.
Hamza Yusuf: The Quraysh, they see it as our honor is being threatened, we need to deal with this.
This is the point where they begin to really increase their persecution. They start sanctions on
the house of Beni Hashim which is the sub-clan of the Prophet Muhammad. They begin to
prevent them from trading, from transacting.
Karen Armstrong: And that meant that basically they were being starved out. They couldn't buy food,
they couldn't do business. Abu Talib ah was ruined by this. The Hashim lived in one street and
Muhammad and Khadija and the children moved into this street. And this became a little
Muslim ghetto.
Yusuf: And this leads to real hardship. There's a period of time where according to the tradition they're
actually eating from the leaves of trees.
Narrator: Famine destroyed the fortunes of Muhammad’s protector, Abu Talib, and his follower Abu
Bakr. The survival of both the clan and Islam were in jeopardy. But for Muhammad, the
damage hit even closer to home.
Armstrong: Khadija, Muhammad's beloved wife, perhaps weakened by the privations, actually died.
And that was just a crippling blow for him. It left him feeling alone and vulnerable and weak.
He would miss her all his life, I think.
Then the catastrophe happened that Abu Talib died. Perhaps himself weakened by the
deprivation in food. Now without Abu Talib, Muhammad was fair game for assassination.
And there's a terrible moment where he utters this heart-breaking prayer, saying "oh my god,
I have no other protector but you, Allah!" And how was he going to move forward? He had
done what Allah had told him to do. He had proclaimed this message and all that he seemed to
have done was stir up hostility and hatred. And split his tribe down the middle. This wasn't
improving matters. He must have felt an almost, a sort of a dark night of the soul.
Yusuf: He is at the low point of his mission. He's been almost 13 years now in Mecca and the results
are not, they are not impressive. But at this point, at this low ebb, he is now being prepared for
the most extraordinary mystical experience of his prophetic life, and that is what is known as the
night ascension.
Armstrong: The story goes that one night he was sleeping near the Ka'aba. He was woken from sleep
by Gabriel who mounted him on a Buraq (a magical stead) and they flew from Mecca to
Jerusalem. And then he began an ascent. Up through the 7 heavens to the Divine throne, at
every stage of the heavens he meets various prophets of the past.
He meets Abraham, he meets Jesus, and John the Baptist. He meets Moses. Finally he
enters into the Divine presence and there the sources are silent because when you enter into the
presence of God, you have gone beyond words.
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Seyyed Hossein Nasr: And he receives from God the highest form of knowledge and truth and many
injunctions of the religion itself including the final form of the daily prayers. Now all of this
took place in a "time beyond Time". That's why some sources say that as the door was swinging
when he left, it was still swinging when he came back.
John Voll: For later Muslims, this also meant that the departure point -- that is Jerusalem, the Dome of
the Rock -- became also important. Many Muslims say that there are 3 holy cities in Islam:
Mecca; Medina, the City of the Prophet; and Jerusalem.
Hamza Yusuf: When he comes back, somebody asks him "What have you been doing?" He says "I
went to Jerusalem last night". And this man says "You went to Jerusalem last night? Are you
willing to say that publicly?" So they assemble this group and they tell him "Describe for us
Jerusalem" and he begins to describe it in very exact detail. And they're shocked. They don't
what to make of this now.
Narrator: The story of the Night Journey not only incited Muhammad's enemies. It caused doubt even
among some of his followers.
Yusuf: This is something that they hadn't really expected. A journey that takes them a month to be
made in an evening and to come back. What Abu Bakr says is "Listen! I believe that he's
getting messages from God." That is certainly more extraordinary than making a Night Journey
to Jerusalem.
Narrator: As Muhammad’s relationship with the Meccans continued to deteriorate, his enemies decided
that the time had come to eliminate him.
Yusuf: And they decide to get a youth from each clan. They all come together and they're going to
strike him with one blow together. So the blood is distributed amongst all the clans.
Narrator: Under cover of darkness, the assassins surrounded Muhammad’s home. Inside, a covered
figure lay asleep. As dawn broke, they prepared to strike.
But Muhammad had been forewarned of the plot. He asked his cousin Ali -- whom he knew
the Quraysh would not harm -- to take his place. By the time the assassins burst into his home,
Muhammad and his companion Abu Bakr had escaped into the desert.
With the Meccans in hot pursuit, Muhammad and Abu Bakr set out on a circuitous route to
the oasis settlement of Yathrib, 250 miles to the north. For several months, Muhammad had
been sending his followers there for refuge. Now he was about to join them.
Karen Armstrong: Yathrib was quite different from Mecca. It was an agricultural settlement. People
grew dates and they had farms and there were a number of clans and tribes living together in the
settlement.
The settlement was engulfed in tribal warfare of the worst kind. It was an example of where
the whole system in Arabia was beginning to break down. One killing led to another and nobody
could seem to find a solution.
Narrator: Nobody, that is, until the clans of Yathrib heard about the trustworthy Muhammad. Hoping
he could unify its warring factions which included 2 major pagan tribes and their Jewish allies, a
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delegation from Yathrib had taken the dramatic step of inviting Muhammad to move to their
settlement.
Reuven Firestone: The deal is that he will serve as their binding arbitrator. That is both sides to the
conflict have agreed already that they will accept the arbitration of Muhammad whatever it
would be.
Armstrong: The people of Yathrib vowed that they would take the Muslims on board as honorary
tribesmen, they would be their protectors. Anyone who hurt the Muslims, they would retaliate.
And the Muslims agreed to do the same.
This move from your tribe to join up with people who were of no kin to you at all was
absolutely unheard of! Muhammad was really going off into the wilderness here. He was
breaking every tie. Doing something utterly shocking and novel.
Imam Qazwini: When Prophet Muhammad was leaving, he stood up on a hill looking on Mecca.
Tears were coming down out of his eyes. And he talked to Mecca and he said "God knows that I
love you Mecca so much. But it is your people who are chasing me out."
Narrator: In Yathrib, Muhammad’s followers anxiously awaited the Prophet’s arrival. Had the man
they hoped would save them been able to save himself? Had the Meccans captured or even
killed him?
When Muhammad finally reached the outskirts of the city, his relieved followers rushed to
greet him with a song that Muslims around the World still sing 1,400 years later.
[New Horizon's schoolkids singing]: Oh the wise moon rose over us, from the valley of Wadan. And
we always do show gratefulness where the call is to Allah.
Narrator: Muhammad’s arrival marked the beginning of a dramatic new chapter in the history of Islam.
For the first time, he would be the leader of a sovereign community based on Islamic law.
Yathrib would henceforth become known as Medina.
M. Cherif Bassiouni: Muhammad arrives in Medina as somebody who was escaping danger. He's
been invited there. But he doesn't know what to expect. So at each stage of his life, there's a
new challenge and, obviously, new fears and new doubts.
And so, he started thinking in terms of policy. In terms of strategy. In terms of tactics. And
that's what ultimately made him into a statesman. Because that's what statesmen do.
Armstrong: Now unlike Jesus or the Buddha who seem to have been purely spiritual leaders with no
temporal responsibilities whatever, MUHAMMAD found himself now Head-of-State. Having
transferred the Muslim families from MECCA to Medina, he now had to make sure they could
survive there.
Narrator: The survival of the fledgling community depended on its ability to defend itself against
attacks from Mecca. To respond to this possibility, Muhammad developed a novel political
solution.
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Reuven Firestone: He essentially establishes a pact, an agreement. Sometimes it's called the
Constitution Of Medina. Whether you were a Pagan or a Muslim or a member of the Jewish
tribes or any other tribes in Medina, you had to sign on to this pact.
And the pact established that if there were ever an attack on Medina from the outside, all the
inhabitants of the town of would be responsible to defend the city. This way, Muhammad really
developed a revolutionary idea which was transcend your tribal responsibilities, your petty
particularism, and begin to think in larger terms as an entire community.
Armstrong: Now this was a very fearful terrifying time for Muslims but nevertheless it was seen as a
creative time when faith was at its strongest. It’s a creative act for Muslims to look back at the
Muslim community in Medina and try to apply the ideals to their own society so that they can
reproduce something of the Prophet’s original spirit.
Imam Qazwini: I came here to this country. And I came with a feeling that I left back in my original
country in Iraq many memories. Many painful memories. One of them was that my grandfather
as well as 13 members of all my family were persecuted and imprisoned by the dictator Saddam
Hussein. That reminds me of the agony and pain many early immigrants went through when
they came to Medina.
Narrator: Like many other Muslims who have fled persecution in their native countries, Imam Hassan
Qazwini was drawn to America by the promise of religious freedom and economic opportunity.
He emigrated to Dearborn, Michigan -- a community that boasts the highest per capita
concentration of Muslims in the United States where people are almost as likely to speak Arabic
as English.
Imam Qazwini: Hijra (migration) it has a shining aspect for me. As well as for the Prophet and his
companions who came with him from Mecca to Medina. And that shining aspect was the
freedom. Religious freedom that they faced in Medina. Muslims here in America, they feel they
are more free in practicing their religion than many other Muslim countries.
Najah Bazzy: In many ways, this whole immigration process from Mecca to Medina very much
parallels what's happened in my own city here in Dearborn, in our own backyard. And I see it
play out in the hospital where I work.
Narrator: Najah Bazzy is a nurse at Dearborn’s Oakwood Hospital. She conducts training sessions to
help bridge the gap of understanding between the hospital staff and their Muslim patients, many
of whom are immigrants.
[Najah Bazzy speaking to group]: I know you're all nurses. And I know that you're in this
profession just as I am. To serve, to do a good job. But it's real easy for us to get
caught up in our own baggage. We're all human and we all have a certain set of
preconceived notions just as you walk through the door and you saw me for the first
time.
Najah Bazzy: In the sensitivity training inevitably, they know very little about the faith of Islam. They
think that the faith of Islam is a very terroristic, militant, barbaric, spread-by-the sword faith.
And so when they have a Muslim up there talking about patient rights, dignity, issues around
health and illness, all of a sudden you see all of these stereotypes that people have as part of, you
know, the baggage as we grow up, just kind of fall.
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[Najah Bazzy speaking to group]: When you transcend culture, you arrive at a universal place
where our humanness is all the same. You grieve the same. We all cry when someone we
love dies. When we deliver, those of us who deliver, we all experience labor.
Najah Bazzy: Something happened in Dearborn that further established a need for this kind of work.
And that was a huge immigration process as a result of the Gulf War.
These are families immigrating from a way of life. And mostly because they have been torn
by war. And so they get here and the helpers are here. And it's quite obligatory to be that helper.
Narrator: When Muhammad arrived in Medina, he made it clear that helping immigrants would be one
of the cornerstones of the new Islamic society.
Hamza Yusuf: This is his message. Spread peace, feed people food, do some devotional practice, and
you will enter Paradise without any trouble. Two-thirds of that message is about other people.
The secret of Medina is it's a place where human beings are going to attempt to live up to the
ideal of the Islamic tradition.
John Voll: Part of the arrangement was that the people of Medina agreed that they would provide
housing and support for the immigrants as they came in. And very often they were even paired
so that certain people had direct responsibility for specific people from Mecca.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr: And that did not take place in 24 hours. It came step-by-step, step-by-step, and
within a few months you now had 2 groups: (i) the Helpers so-called (El Ansar, that is, those
Medinan Arabs who had become Muslims and (ii) and the Meccans who had become Muslims
before them.
And in this way, for the first time, he created the Islamic Ummah, that is, the Islamic people.
That bond which transcends all other bonds.
Najah Bazzy: He said to these people: "These are now your neighbors. These are your brothers and
sisters." He establishes that sense of humanity, that Ummah. We are all connected to one
another. We are all responsible for one another.
There's a mosque in the heart of Detroit and it's run by an Imam who started a soup kitchen.
I want the kids to be able to see that that's part of Muhammad's message.
Imam Abdullah el-Amin: The majority of the ones that come for the soup kitchen are non-Muslim.
It's only maybe 1-or-2 people that are Muslim that come for the soup kitchen. And we let them
know that it's a part of who we are as to why we're doing this. It's a part of what God has
commanded for the Muslims. For a human being to be charitable.
[Catholic Man]: I’m studying to be ordained as a Catholic Deacon. So I had run into Abdullah when
he made a presentation about Islam. I was really attracted to the works of this mosque. I was
never aware that there was an active part of Muslim faith life that really reached out to the poor.
I wasn’t even sure that it was part of your creed. Abdullah went through misunderstandings that
would commonly exist. He started with the term Black Muslim. What does that bring to mind?
And honestly, it brought to mind certain things that would make you fearful. Certain kinds
of maybe aggressive behavior, nationalistic kinds of thinking, you know, as if we are going carve
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ourselves off from the others and have no fellowship. He said if I tell you what the stereotypes
are that I have of Catholics, when you listen to them, you’ll say "Oh, those are extreme
examples. Those are not what we are about."
Imam Qazwini: Dearborn is the place where the early immigrants of Arab, Lebanese, and Middle
Eastern people came and settled down. This country embraced them and opened its door for
them. Yet they needed time to adjust and go through that difficulty they faced when they came
to this country. It's two different societies; two different cultures.
Narrator: Najah and Ali Bazzy are raising their family in the suburbs of Dearborn. Their children are
third-generation American Muslims.
Allie Bazzy: We're trying to combine the best of both worlds and giving our kids the family values that
our parents teach and realize that they live in, you know, a land in the United States which has
many opportunities for our kids to prosper in.
Narrator: Like many Dearborn families, the Bazzy’s struggle daily to balance the sometimes
conflicting demands of their faith and modern American society.
Their daughter Nadia, has decided to wear the hijab (or head covering) that was first worn by
Muhammad’s wives. Many Muslim women still wear the hijab as a sign of modesty and piety.
Najah Bazzy: Our daughter came to us and said "I made a decision." And she's 16 now. And she said
"I've decided that I want to wear hijab."
Allie Bazzy: I just thought maybe if you go through high school and then put it on after high school,
that then -- if then -- at least at that point in life you'll be able to see what you want to do in life
and that. Because you gotta understand something. You know, you never know where you're
gonna be and where you're gonna go in life.
I mean, sure, this hijab is accepted in our community here and, you know, you maybe do
well. And you end up being a doctor or a lawyer, whatever. You'll be doing very well for
yourself. But look what just happened to you when you went down to Tennessee. I mean, here
you have her driving a bus and the state police trooper wants to stop over. we've got a whole bus
full of people, because he sees hijabs.
Najah Bazzy: I think for my husband, he probably feels much like I feel. There is great reverence for
it. And then there's that "Oh my gosh! I want to protect my daughter from the World. I don't
want people to think she's a terrorist. I don't want people to think she's oppressed. I don't want
people to think I'm her father, I made her put that on her head." All of those kinds of things
come into play.
Allie Bazzy: Muhammad also tells you that, you know, you should always give what's best for your
daughter. And me as a father, I'm just trying to give my daughter the opportunity. To be able to
see life from a wider angle and a bigger perspective.
Najah Bazzy: People would immigrate into different parts of the country. But what was interesting is
that they would all manage to find their way into Dearborn. And a great many of them. And the
reason for that is because the mosques were in place.
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Narrator: Dearborn’s newest mosque will be the largest in North America. Like the first mosque in
Medina, it is being built with help from the entire community.
Najah Bazzy: There are great feelings of ownership to the mosque when the community builds it.
People are baking food. Every year, they contribute between $50,000 to $100,000 to the income
and the operating costs of our mosque.
So, we have the building of this mosque, kind of metaphorically, and the laying of the bricks
and this new foundation with all these new immigrants in Dearborn. And everybody brings their
contribution.
Imam Qazwini: Prophet Muhammad established the first center in Medina for Muslims and that was
his mosque. It was not only a place where Muslims go and do their prayer or offer their
supplication. It was the center for the entire community. It was the headquarters of the Prophet.
He would become a judge and solve problems among people inside the mosque. So he
receives delegations. He would declare war or peace. The mosque was serving multiple
purposes in the life of Prophet Muhammad.
Narrator: It was at the mosque that Muhammad discussed a sweeping change in strategy with his
followers. After years of exercising restraint in the face of persecution by the Meccans,
Muhammad received a clear new revelation that marked a dramatic departure from the past. It
gave the Muslims limited permission to take up arms in self-defense. The statesman was about
to become a general.
Hamza Yusuf: For 13 years, there's been no sanction to fight. Then a revelation comes that says those
who have been removed unjustly from their homes and have been fought because of their
religious beliefs are sanctioned to fight to defend themselves.
Karen Armstrong: Killing is always abhorrent. The Qur'an makes it very clear about that. And the
Qur'an says that it's always wrong to start a war, to be an aggressor.
But persecution is worse than killing. When people have been driven from their homes or
deprived of their basic human rights, when an evil ideology comes into the World, sometimes,
regrettably, it may be necessary to fight and sometimes lives will be lost.
Narrator: Muhammad’s first large military engagement occurred near the town of Badr when 313
Muslims set out to surprise a caravan from Muhammad’s own tribe, the Quraysh.
Armstrong: In a sense, the battle of Badr -- which became such a landmark in Muslim history -- was a
sort of mistake. The Muslims had planned a conventional raid. But the Meccans, when they
heard that this band of renegades was attacking their great caravan, were so enraged that they
sent out the whole army against them. And the Muslims were convinced that they were going to
die.
M. Cherif Bassiouni: He never wanted to fight the Meccans. I mean, the Meccans are his people. His,
his friends, his family. He wants to co-opt them. He wants to make them the key, if you will, to
the new Islamic Ummah that he's trying to form. So he doesn't want to go to war with them.
Narrator: As he prepared to lead the Muslims into battle, Muhammad took the unprecedented step of
establishing clear rules of engagement for his army.
34
M. Cherif Bassiouni: He makes it very clear to his soldiers that if they have the right to use force
against the Qurayshy, that does not mean that they will do the same thing that has been done in
pre-Islamic wars. In which women and children could be killed. In which no prisoners could be
taken, no quarter given. No, No. He said Islam is a religion of law.
Narrator: The Meccans had sent an army of about 1,000 men. As the army approached, Muhammad
prepared to make a stand near a well. One of his soldiers suddenly questioned his strategy. "Has
God revealed it to you?" he asked. "Or is it your own opinion?"
When Muhammad answered that he was speaking as a man and not as a prophet, the soldier
suggested that they stop at a larger well closer to the enemy so that they could deprive them of
water. Muhammad agreed at once. The change in strategy proved decisive and the Muslims
recorded a resounding triumph.
Karen Armstrong: It was a victory that stunned the Muslims. It seemed like a complete reversal, like
a miracle. Almost a sort of revelation of God in history. A Furqan, they called it. Something
that separated the just from the unjust.
Narrator: After the battle, Muhammad received a revelation claiming the victory for God. The
Muslims felt that angels had been fighting alongside them. The victory reaffirmed their belief
that God was on their side and raised Muhammad’s status higher still. But his followers also
knew that the Meccans would seek violent retribution.
A year later, an army of 3,000 Meccans returned to face 1,000 Muslims in the battle of Uhud.
The resulting rout left the future of Islam in mortal peril.
Armstrong: It was a horrible battle. The corpses of the Muslims were mutilated by the Meccans. And
the Meccan women -- as was their habit -- came out onto the battlefield and danced around the
corpses.
Narrator: 65 of Muhammad’s soldiers lost their lives in the battle including a Rabbi who had honored
the Medina Pact by fighting alongside Muhammad. The families of the fallen Muslims were
now without protectors. Then Muhammad received a new revelation allowing Muslim men to
safeguard these women and children by taking as many as 4 wives. But only if they could treat
them equally.
Armstrong: That in itself, in the context of Arabia, was a bit of a restriction because a man could have
unlimited number of wives. The context of the permission to polygamy is to say who is going to
look after these women.
It was an act of faith -- not an act of lust -- that inspired men to take more wives. So it would
be wrong to think of the Prophet as basking decadently in the garden of sensual delights with his
harem. His harem was very much a matter of state and sometimes his wives were rather a mixed
blessing.
Narrator: Although Muhammad was monogamous during Khadija’s life, after her death he eventually
married a number of women including one of the Uhud widows -- Umm Salama.
35
Daisy Kahn: The reason for his marriages were really political alliances. It was a tribal society and for
Muhammad to marry into another tribe and take a wife just meant that there was a bond being
created with this tribe.
Narrator: Among Muhammad’s wives were the daughters of his 2 closest allies, Abu Bakr and Umar.
Abu Bakr’s daughter Aisha would become one of the most influential women in his life.
Hamza Yusuf: Aisha was very lively. She was brilliant. She was somebody that questioned the
Prophet. She was not somebody in any way that took everything. She questioned him. She said
"What does that mean?" "Why did you do this?" "Why did you do that?" She was somebody
that really had an incredibly active mind.
She memorized vast amounts of prophetic traditions. And she's considered to be actually the
transmitter of a large number of traditions from the prophet Muhammad.
Narrator: In the year that followed the battle of Uhud, the Meccans girded themselves for a final
assault that they hoped would finish off the Muslims once and for all. They assembled one of
the largest armies ever seen in Arabia and marched on Medina. But Muhammad hit upon a
daring defense.
Karen Armstrong: Muhammad has dug a trench around the whole of the settlement. And you have an
almost comic scene with the Meccan cavalry galloping up to this trench and pulling back in
horror and saying "What is this?!" They've never seen anything so unsporting in their lives.
This is something that Arabs don't do. It sounds comical. But surrounded by the powerful
Meccan army, the Muslims were expecting all to be killed to a man to a woman.
Narrator: Stopped by the trench around Medina, the Meccans laid siege to the city and to the hundreds
of Muslim families trapped inside. According to the Muslim sources, in their determination to
defeat Muhammad, the Meccans had recruited as allies many Bedouin tribes as well as the
largest Jewish tribe within Medina, the Bani Qurayzah. For the Muslims, this defection was
the final blow in a relationship that had been strained from the beginning.
Reuven Firestone: When Muhammad came to town, the organized Jewish community did not accept
his Prophecy. There were, according to the Islamic sources, some individual Jews that did
accept him. But for the most part, the community as a whole did not. If the Jews would accept
his Prophethood, then he has tremendous and complete confirmation of his Prophethood.
But the Jews were so well respected that when they rejected his Prophethood -- and they did
it actively -- they became a very serious political threat to his very existence in Medina.
Narrator: Despite the aid of the Bani Qurayzah, the Meccan siege could not break through the Muslim
defenses. When the weather turned bad and as the Bedouin tribes began deserting the field of
battle, the Meccans themselves lost heart and departed, abandoning their Jewish allies to be tried
by the Muslims for the crime of treason.
Reuven Firestone: Islamic sources believe that the Jews did indeed aid the enemy in trying to defeat
Muhammad. This was absolutely against the terms of the Media agreement. The Jews and the
Muslims decided that they would choose an arbitrator to determine what would be the future of
the Jews. The person who was chosen was a man who was mortally wounded in the Battle of the
Trench. And so he determined that the women and children of the Bani Qurayzah would be
taken as slaves to the Muslims and the men would be killed.
36
Hamza Yusuf: The Prophet agreed with this judgment. When he judged, he said that "You have
judged according to God and his messenger." And then, approximately 700 men were killed.
They were executed. So this definitely occurred.
Armstrong: All that can be said is that this cannot be seen as anti-Semitism per se. Muhammad had
nothing against the Jewish people per se or the Jewish religion. The Qur'an continues to
tell Muslims to honor the People of the Book. And to honor their religion as authentic. And
the Jewish tribes who had not rebelled, who had not given help to the Meccans continued to live
in Medina completely unmolested. Muhammad was not trying to exterminate Jews. He was
trying to get rid of very dangerous internal enemies.
M. Cherif Bassiouni: It's unfortunate that many historians -- and particularly in contemporary times
both on the Jewish and on the Muslim side -- have transformed this. On the Jewish side, they
have used that as a way of saying "Well, you see! The Muslims hate the Jews and they kill
them." And and on the Muslim side, it says "Well, you see! The Jews are full of treachery and
can't be trusted.
Both are wrong.
Armstrong: When the other tribes of the peninsula saw the impotence of Mecca with all its power and
might against this little community, they began to switch allegiance and see that Muhammad was
the coming man. Now once that happened, once the tide had been turned, after the battle of the
trench and the Muslims were no longer subject to the fear of extermination, Muhammad stopped
the fighting.
Imam Qazwini: The Prophet Muhammad received a few people -- militants who just arrived from one
of the battles that they came back from -- and they felt so important that we finished this job
fighting with the enemies of Islam. And the Prophet smiled and he said "Let me tell you
something. You finished the minor Jihad and now you have the bigger Jihad ahead of you."
They were stunned. They thought that they just finished the biggest achievement in their life
by being willing to sacrifice their own life. But the Prophet explained that the biggest Jihad is
struggle against your own desires and limitations.
Armstrong: Jihad does not mean "holy war" primarily. The word means "effort, striving". And it's
always a hard struggle to put the word of God into practice. When the Qur'an talks about
struggling, they're not talking always about fighting a holy war. They're talking about this
immense struggle to implement a divine imperative in the flawed and tragic conditions of daily
life.
Fighting might sometimes have to be done as part of the Jihad. But it is by no means the
major imperative.
Imam Qazwini: I remember a quotation from Jesus: "Peace be upon him(PBUH) who says that the
first step in the reformation journey is to start with your own self. If you want to reform the
society, you have to reform yourself first." And that was basically the meaning of Jihad.
Kevin James: The Prophet put that emphasis on inner development. Jihad -- the constant struggle with
yourself to improve yourself and perfect your intent. That you do things only for the sake of
God. The most excellent Jihad, Holy struggle, is the struggle to control your ego, the self.
37
For a long time I was deathly afraid of speaking in public, of giving speeches. I saw that and
thought "Well, this my Jihad. I've gotta overcome this fear. If I'm gonna help people, it's gonna
be necessary for me to talk in public. To be able just to speak out."
And going back to 1987, I had become active as far as writing articles for papers to have firesafe cigarette legislation enacted. Cigarettes are the largest cause of fire fatalities in the Nation.
So I began writing and because of my position I could speak from the authority as a fire-fighter
an, and now a Supervising Fire Marshal.
Going back to if you save one life it's like you saved all humanity. Well, I feel I was part of
an effort to save thousands of lives each year because of this legislation that we passed in New
York State.
M. Cherif Bassiouni: Jihad is misused. There is absolutely nothing in Islam that justifies the claim of
Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, or other similar groups to kill innocent civilians. That is
unequivocally a crime under Islamic law. Acts of terror violence that have occurred in the
name of Islam are not only wrong but they are also are contrary to Islam.
Kevin James: September 11th, I hooked up with 2 other fire marshals. We found a place to park near
the bridge. It had about several inches of soot. If it had been white and colder out, you would
have sworn it was snow.
We came over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was just like something out of a movie. It was very
quiet. That muffled sound that you have during a blizzard, you know, where you can't hear your
feet hitting the ground. It's just very muffled, very quiet. So we put on our turn out gear and we
started heading over there. And it's just -- I think I could speak for all of -- we were just all in a
state of shock and disbelief.
I just felt in the back of my head "Please don't be Muslims doing this." And I just felt sick.
We could see this fragment of the World Trade Center sticking up almost like a lopsided
crown. Then we started walking down one way and we saw some fire-fighters dazed and shell
shocked, saying don't go down there, there's still more collapses happening. I mean, we were
dying to go out there and do something. And, you know, we're figuring that some of the brothers
or even anyone, you know, people could still be alive trapped under the rubble.
But it was frustrating. I mean, you have to understand that they don't want to lose more
people on top of the people who are lost already. This was just out-and-out madness what they
did. The Prophet himself in the course of the circumstances engaged in battle, in warfare. But
he had a certain code of conduct that he followed.
So, you have to separate fanaticism which every religion has from the reality and the
truth of that religion. These are fanatics who have lost sight of what the purpose of religion
is and they're acting on their own.
What hurt me probably most of all out of the World Trade Center attack was that here is a
religion that I entered because of the universality. And the tolerance that is throughout the book
and throughout the sayings of Prophet Muhammad. Yet, these people who did that and were
behind it and planned it were just so intolerant and so disregarding of their own tenets that they
could do something so horrific and kill people in such a horrible manner.
38
September 11th underscored the need to have dialogue with non-Muslims and other faiths.
To understand each other and to try to resolve these hot spots that fester and cause this type of
hatred.
Daisy Kahn: The death and destruction in New York City that was caused by this terrible, terrible act
in the name of Islam has propelled the Muslim community in New York to respond in many
different ways. And one of the ways that I want to respond is the way the Prophet would have
responded. To just talk about the humanity which we all belong to.
Since September 11, Muslims have gone to churches, to synagogues, to schools to explain
our faith. However, people still kept asking where are the Muslims and why aren't they doing
something about it? So I started thinking about this and I said "What is it that we are not doing
right?"
Maybe we need to respond in a more gentle way. So I looked around for the mildest people
in our community. The artists in our community. And the first person I called was Mohamed
Zakariya.
Mohamed Zakariya: Catastrophes have brought us here. But not all is lost. Through our art, we pick
up all these broken pieces and try to put them back together again and make something that's
gonna work.
Revenge, suicide bombing, things of that kind they have no place in Islam. They must never
have a place in Islam. Never. Never! Islam is really a soft thing; it's not a hard thing. And so
we have to approach it with softness and be soft to each other.
(in Arabic) The Prophet said: "Make it easy and not difficult. So we should put away all those
angry words, the harsh, the strident rhetoric that we have been dealing with for all these years
that we've suffered through this sweet religion with this beastly stuff. And come out into the light
and be bright."
Be bright in America. And look in the mirror. That's what we have to do.
This piece is the golden rule of Islam. It is the basis of the relations between people. It
means that there is no harming of other people in Islam and no returning or retaliating harm for
harm. And so that’s why I did it. To respond through the sayings of Muhammad the man.
Narrator: By the year 628, the battles that had occupied the Muslims for the preceding 4 years had
come to an end.
Karen Armstrong: Once the Muslims were no longer fearing the threat of total extermination,
Muhammad knew that the time for fighting had stopped. It was now time to make an
extraordinary initiative, a peaceful, nonviolent initiative. He astonished the whole Muslim
community and the whole community of Yathrib by announcing that he was going to go on the
Hajj pilgrimage. Dangerous as it was, an enormously risky as it was, about 1,000 Muslims
volunteered to go with Muhammad.
All the rites were fulfilled to the letter. The camels all decked in their special sacrificial
garments. The men all in their white garb.
39
Narrator: The Muslims set out on the perilous trip to Mecca, crossing the vast desert without any arms
to defend themselves. When they reached Hudaybiyah just outside the sacred area around
Mecca where violence was forbidden, Muhammad surprised his followers not to enter but to sit
and wait. He then sent an emissary to Mecca seeking permission to complete the pilgrimage.
Armstrong: Muhammad knew of course that he was putting the people of Mecca into a really
impossible position. Because if they forbade Arabs, to enter the city and perform the rights of
the Ka'aba, they would be abusing their position as guardians of the holy places. The Meccans
themselves did not know what to do.
Narrator: When the emissary did not return quickly, the Muslims feared the worst. But Muhammad’s
gambit paid off. The Meccans offered to negotiate a treaty. With tensions running high,
Muhammad began dictating its first line by stating his own name.
Armstrong: Ali was taking down the notes with the Meccan negotiator at his side. When Muhammad
began to saying the Prophet of God, the Meccan said "I don't believe you are the Prophet of God.
I can't sign to that."
Jameel Johnson: So he said fine, Muhammad, Son Of Abdullah. And many of the Muslims felt that
this was a major insult.
Armstrong: The Muslims sitting around Hudaybiyah watched this in utter dismay. There was almost a
mutiny. A thousand pilgrims stood, refusing to accept this. Muhammad went back into his tent
where he had his wife Umm Salama. H said to her "What shall I do?"
She gave him some excellent advice part of the ritual of the Hajj was that you sacrificed a
camel. He went out and he sacrificed one of the camels and somehow some kind of necessary
tension was released.
Narrator: The ritual sacrifice of an animal traditionally marked the end of the pilgrimage. Grudgingly,
the Muslims considered the pilgrimage complete and headed back to Medina. Muhammad had
compromised on every major point in the treaty.
But he had won the most significant concession. In return for postponing their entry into
Mecca for a year, the Muslims had secured 10 years of peace and official recognition as a
political entity. Muhammad had proved himself as capable a diplomat as he was a religious
leader.
Jameel Johnson: There was wisdom in the treaty because one of the things that was promised to the
Muslims was protection as they moved throughout Arabia. That they would not be harmed and
they could move freely. And what was gained most greatly from that was the dauwa (the
teaching of al-Islam).
Narrator: On the way back to Medina, Muhammad told a companion Umar: “I have received a
revelation which is dearer to me than anything else beneath the sun. ‘Surely,’ it said, ‘We have
given you a clear victory.’ "
Karen Armstrong: Then more and more and more people came to Islam. More and more people
turned to Muhammad. It sent out a huge signal of strength. Strength of purpose, utter courage,
utter panache, and utter wisdom that, of course, you could go on to fight. Of course he could
40
have gone on being the Prophet with the sword. But there are times when to make peace is more
daring, more creative, and more enduring.
Narrator: One year after signing the Hudaybiyah treaty, Muhammad led his followers on a new
pilgrimage to Mecca. After years of rejection, persecution, and humiliation, this was truly a
moment of triumph.
Armstrong: The first pilgrimage of the Muslims after Hudaybiyah must have been an extraordinary
event for everybody. Because the Meccans couldn't bear I t. They decamped and went and sat up
in the hills and mountains outside the city and watched this procession -- a HUGE procession of
Muslims, and some of their confederates -- coming on the Hajj and, as it were, taking possession
of the city, crying out the pilgrim cry "Here I am oh God! Here I come!" in a huge cry.
Narrator: Then came the moment Muhammad had waited 7 long years to achieve.
Michael Wolfe: Muhammad sends Bilal -- an African ex-slave, this lowest of the low in the eyes of the
Meccans -- up on to the sacred shrine of the Ka'aba (what the Meccans regard as their shrine) to
deliver the call to prayer. The hills around Mecca are granite. They're set up for a sonorous
voice. And the call to prayer resonates through the valley.
Narrator: Bilal was proclaiming for all to hear: "There is one God and Muhammad is his Prophet!"
Armstrong: It must have been an appalling moment for the MECCANS. But an extraordinary moment
of exhilaration for the Muslims. Performing all the rites punctiliously and then taking no
advantage of this, going back peacefully home.
Narrator: But the peace between the Muslims and the people of Mecca would not last. By the end of
the year, the Meccans had broken the Treaty of Hudaybiyah by attacking a clan allied with
Muhammad. In response, 10 days into the holy month of Ramadan, Muhammad and a Muslim
army of 10,000 men set out to take Mecca by force.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr: The Prophet felt he was strong enough to be able to conquer Mecca. But as the
army approached the city, more-and-more leaders of the Quraysh realized that they were not
going to win and so many decided to join Islam. The Prophet entered the city without resistance.
Hamza Yusuf: When he came into Mecca, he came in with his head bowed down. He did not come in
as an arrogant conquering warrior. He comes in humbled by a victory that he sees is from God.
Narrator: After circling the Ka'aba 7 times, Muhammad destroyed each of the 360 idols that
surrounded it. He then turned to the vanquished Meccans who had sought refuge inside the
shrine. His own brethren who had oppressed and attacked the Muslims for so many years.
Michael Wolfe: He says "If you were in my position right now, what do you think you would do?"
The Meccans are afraid they're about to die. And then he says "You are all pardoned." He
grants them all amnesty. And this was unheard of in this culture, unheard of in this society. And
very unexpected among the Meccans.
Narrator: The religion that had begun in ridicule and persecution was now thriving throughout the
Arabian peninsula. But shortly after returning to Medina, Muhammad received a premonition of
his death. He told his daughter Fatima that every year during Ramadan, the angel Gabriel recited
41
the Qur'an to him and asked him to repeat it. This year Gabriel had asked Muhammad to recite
the Qur'an twice. "I cannot but think," Muhammad said, "that my time has come."
In February 632, Muhammad made what would be his final pilgrimage to the city of his
birth. On his first pilgrimage, he had led a few hundred Muslims back to Mecca. This time,
tens-of-thousands of believers followed in his footsteps.
Michael Wolfe: He arrives in Mecca as the leader of the Muslim people now, not as the enemy of the
Meccans. And they begin to perform the rites of the pilgrimage. And during this period,
Muhammad defines the rites of pilgrimage as they are performed today.
Narrator: Michael Wolfe has written extensively about the Hajj -- the traditional pilgrimage which
every Muslim is expected to perform at least once. 2-to-3 million Muslims from around the
World travel to Mecca every year for this 5-day ritual which takes them in the footsteps of
Abraham, the ancient patriarch from whom Muslims, Jews, and Christians all trace their lineage.
In 1990, Michael Wolfe, a convert to Islam, took part in his first Hajj.
Michael Wolfe: The Hajj was one of the most attractive elements in Islam to me as a non-Muslim and
then as a Muslim. When I finally became a Muslim after 20-or-more years of thinking it over,
the first thing I wanted to do was make the Hajj.
When I circled the Ka'aba for the first time, I was in a state of wonder. You’re there with
tens-of-thousands of people all doing the same thing at once. You're literally putting God at the
center of your life. For that period of time.
Narrator: At the culmination of the Hajj on the Plain of Arafa, on a small hill called the Mount of
Mercy, Muhammad gave his final sermon.
Hamza Yusuf: Here is a man who began his mission as this individual in Mecca persecuted with
almost no followers. And his life is completed with a valley filled with tens-of-thousands of
people that have accepted his message. And there he is, preaching to them his final sermon.
And in it in a sense is a summation of this universal teaching.
Michael Wolfe: He tells them to be good to each other and not to violate each other's rights. For men
and women to treat each other humanely. For brothers and sisters to treat each other well. And
for Muslims to treat each other as brothers and sisters. And perhaps most importantly, he calls
an end to revenge, to blood killing, to the vendetta which has bled this culture terribly since he
was born.
At the end of Muhammad’s sermon, he does not list his achievements. This man has unified
people. He has taught them monotheism. He has brought them to peace. And yet he doesn’t
mark these as his accomplishments. Quite the opposite, he asks his community: “Have I fulfilled
my mission to my God and to you?”
You can hear in his words the desire for a completed mission. This is a man of faith who is
unsure of his affects. It’s a very human moment in which he needs to know and he asks. And
the people affirm that "Yes" -- 3 times they "Yay, yes, you have fulfilled your mission."
M. Cherif Bassiouni: This was not a leader who was looking for his legacy in time. It wasn't for any
purpose other than to make sure that when he was going to face his Maker, he was going to be
42
accountable. And he was. He would be in a position of saying "Allah, I did the best I could.
And I hope I was successful in doing it." And that's all what we can do as human beings.
Najah Bazzy: I think that if I were to say that I hope to exemplify any part of Prophet Muhammad's
life, it would be the issues around the dignity near the end of life.
Prophet Muhammad has taught us that near the time of death, the holy Qur'an to hear is
soothing, very soothing to the soul. And since it’s a part of our lives on a daily basis anyway, we
derive great comfort from the hearing of the Qur'an.
While I'm stroking a head or I'm speaking softly in the hospital, I say the things that I think
Muhammad would say. Prophet Muhammad has taught us that we don't even understand, we
could never comprehend the value of taking care of the ill or providing for the dying,
maintaining their dignity. And I believe that that's my mission. To be the helper, to be the
listener, to be a comforter in many ways.
The Prophet knew that death was coming, he had an indication that he would not be around
for much longer.
John Voll: Muhammad had been feeling ill. He'd had some fever. It was clear that he was in real
difficulty in terms of his health. And the household seemed to be convinced that Muhammad
was dying.
Najah Bazzy: And while he was on his deathbed and there were many who surrounded him -especially his close companions and his family -- he called for silence around him. He wanted it
to be a time of quiet and of peace and of calm.
Narrator: Embraced by the community he had founded in Medina and cared for by his wives and
companions, Muhammad died peacefully on June 8 in the year 632. The news of his death
shocked his followers -- especially Umar -- who believed Muhammad would outlive them all.
John Voll: People began to hear the Prophet is dead. Umar went to the center square and started to say
"There are hypocrites and liars who are saying that the Prophet is dead."
Narrator: In the midst of this chaos, Abu Bakr reminded the Muslims of a verse from the Qur'an that
had first been revealed after the battle of Uhud when they feared that Muhammad had been
killed.
Hamza Yusuf: Abu Bakr comes into this scene of pandemonium. And he immediately stands up and
says "Whoever worshipped Muhammad, then know that Muhammad is dead. But whoever
worshipped God, know that God lives on and never dies."
And so, suddenly these people are brought to their senses, that indeed that Muhammad is
man. And men are mortal. And this is his legacy. He did everything within his power to prevent
himself from being worshipped because he recognized that that was a danger inherent in
religious tradition. That the object of worship becomes the messenger and not the One sending
the message.
Kevin James: Prophet Muhammad was a man. He was flesh-and-blood who brought one of the most
eloquent revelations to mankind. He’s set an example to mankind through his behavior, through
his actions, a living example. This is a legacy that he has left for Muslims.
43
M. Cherif Bassiouni: Muhammad’s legacy is obviously the seed that he planted. It is his
righteousness, his honesty, his integrity, his model as uh as a political leader, his model as an
individual, a man who has uh made great accomplishments in his time and yet who didn’t let the
successes uh overpower him, didn’t let his ego get the best of him. He remains, I think, more
than anything else a great role model.
John Voll: Muhammad is the kind of person who combines political and military and social and
religious and intellectual dimensions of life in ways that are important for those of us in the 21st
Century who are struggling to put together complete lives ourselves.
Najah Bazzy: If I were to have met Prophet Muhammad on the street, I feel like I would know him.
And as though he would know all of us. The beauty of it is that we live our lives through his
examples. But he's not God. Our reverence is to God. And our reference is to him.
So how I walk and how I speak and how I carry myself and how I treat my husband and how
I treat my mother and my father and how I behave as a sister and a daughter and a nurse and a
friend and a neighbor -- that’s all Prophet Muhammad in action.
PBS Learning Tools
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/learningtools.shtml
Resources (http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/lt_resources.shtml)offers internet resource links to some
of the best sites providing information on Muhammad, Islam and Muslims today.
The Islam Project (http://www.theislamproject.org/) provides a variety of materials for use in
schools and community outreach activities.
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/lt_essays.shtml
"How a Muslim Sees Muhammad" by Michael Wolfe
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/essays/wolfe.html
Michael Wolfe, a poet and a co-producer of Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, is the author of 3
books about Islam: Taking Back Islam, Rodale Press, 2002; One Thousand Roads to
Mecca, Grove Press, 1997; and The Hadj, Grove Press, 1993.
"A Muslim Cleric on the American Frontier" by Imam Sayed Hassan Al Qazwini
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/essays/qazwini.html
Imam Sayed Hassan Al Qazwini was born in Karbala, Iraq in 1964. From a family of Muslims
clerics, he came to United States in 1992. Since 1997, he has served as the resident imam
at Dearborn Michigan's Islamic Center of America.
"Of Muslims and Muhammad" by Azizah Al-Hibri
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/essays/hibri.html
Dr. Azizah Al–Hibri teaches in the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond
and is currently a scholar in residence at the Library of Congress. She is the founder of
KARAMAH, an organization of Muslim women lawyers "dedicated to empowering
Muslim women within an Islamic framework."
"The Best Speech is the Speech of Allah And the Best Guidance is the Guidance of Muhammad"
44
by Jameel William Aalim-Johnson
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/essays/johnson.html
Jameel Aalim–Johnson is Chief-of-Staff for Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York. Raised
as a Christian, he converted to Islam in his early 20s. He now organizes the weekly
Muslim congregational Friday prayer on Capitol Hill.
"Finding the Prophet in his People" by Ingrid Mattson
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/essays/mattson.html
Dr. Ingrid Mattson is a professor of Islamic Studies at Hartford Seminary. In 1995, she was an
adviser to the Afghan delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of
Women. The vice-president of the Islamic Society of North America, Professor Mattson is
a contributor to The Muslim World Journal.
"A Daughter of Detroit" by Najah Bazzy
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/essays/bazzy.html
Najah Bazzy, a second generation American, is a critical care nurse in Dearborn, Michigan. She
also conducts workshops to help bridge the gap in understanding between hospital staff and
their Muslim patients, many of whom are immigrants.
"My Journey in Islam" by Kevin James, Supervising Fire Marshal, FDNY
http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/essays/james.html
Kevin James retired as a Supervising Fire Marshal from the FDNY in September 2002. He is
currently a Revson Fellow at Columbia University who does volunteer work with the NY
Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) and is seeking
admission into Law school.
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