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INTRODUCTION
It is always extremely difficult to be objective about the life of the
founder of a great religion - his personality is inevitably blurred by
an aura of the miraculous. Early biographers are preoccupied, not with
historical fact, but with glorifying in every way the memory of one
they believe to have been a Messenger of God or even God Himself.
Consequently, there is a rich accretion of myth and miracle,
mysterious portents and heavenly signs, of residues from other
religious beliefs and traditions, the propaganda, in fact, of an
expanding faith. All these will be found in the biography of Muhammad
which follows. But behind the legendary Muhammad there lies one of the
great figures of history, and, although very little is known about his
early years - the first certain date being that of the migration from
Mecca to Medina, which took place in AD 622 - it is possible to build
up the events of his real, as distinct from his symbolic, life.
Muhammad was born at
Mecca
about AD 570 into a poor family of the Quraysh tribe. When he was
twenty-five years of age he was employed by Khadija, a wealthy widow,
to go with one of her trading caravans to
Syria
. On the successful completion of the journey, Muhammad married Khadij
a, who was some fifteen years older than he. Two sons and four
daughters were horn of this marriage. The two boys died in infancy,
but one of the daughters, Fatima, married Muhammad's cousin Ali, and
it is the descendants of Fatima and Ali who are said to be the true
heirs of the Prophet.
The community Muhammad
was born into was pagan, the gods often being represented by stones.
One of the most important places of pilgrimage was the sanctuary of
the Kaba, in which was a black stone, at
Mecca
. Scattered about Arabia at this time were communities of Jews and
Christians, whose belief in only one god was to influence Muhammad
when he came to state his own religious ideas. How he learned of these
beliefs during the fifteen years between the date of his marriage to
Khadija and the revelation of the first divine communication is not
known, but there were many Arab converts to Judaism and Christianity
and, as Muhammad grew more and more dissatisfied with the pagan gods,
it is obvious that he must have investigated the religions of those
who claimed to worship the one true god.
Muhammad was in the
habit of spending periods in meditation on
Mount
Hira
, near
Mecca
, and there in his fortieth year he is supposed to have received his
first revelation from God. The communication terrified him and he
spoke of it and of a number of others which followed only to Khadija
and a few close friends. But finally he received a command to proclaim
publicly what had been revealed to him. Most of his family had
scornfully rejected his teaching and his early converts were slaves
and people of the lower classes. His preaching soon drew not only
mockery but active opposition from the people of
Mecca
, who believed that his mission threatened their position as guardians
of the Kaba a position which brought them great wealth from the
pilgrim traffic. The Meccans tried to discredit him, charging him with
sorcery and with stealing his ideas from Jews and Christians. From
opposition to persecution was but a step. A hundred of his followers
emigrated to Abyssinia, and finally Muhammad himself decided to leave
Mecca
and went to
Medina
in AD 622. From this year the Muslim Era is dated.
From a persecuted
religious teacher in
Mecca
, Muhammad In Medina became the leader of a religious community and
was acknowledged to be the messenger of God. He still, however, had
doubters and enemies. The Jews, whom he had hoped would welcome him,
were among his bitterest opponents. His assumption of authority at
Medina
was also resented by some of that city's leading men. Nevertheless, by
careful diplomacy and firmness of purpose, he began to create a
brotherhood of the faith, transcending all other ties and
relationships, even those of father and son. This brotherhood united
all Muslims by giving them a common purpose - the defence of the faith
- and made God, and His prophet, the final source of law.
This achieved, Muhammad
began to look outward, not only because he wished to convert all Arabs
to his teaching, but also in an attempt to alleviate growing economic
distress in
Medina
. Muhammad's first step was to persuade the Medinans that they must
attack
Mecca
. This was, in fact, the first test of the new brotherhood, for many
of those in
Medina
had relatives in
Mecca
and to the Arabs the ties of blood were sacred. Muhammad, however,
insisted that war was a sacred duty, demanded by Allah, and he was
finally able to persuade his followers that this was so.
Muhammad first sent parties to attack the caravans of
Mecca
on their journeys to or from
Syria
. One attack was carried out during the sacred month of Rajab
(January 624), when war was banned throughout
Arabia
. In the Koran, Muhammad justified this break with tradition by
claiming that there could be no scruples in the fight to
overcome idolatry.
From this time onwards
events moved rapidly. Two months later a battle took place at
Badr between three hundred Muslims and nearly a thousand Meccans. The
former were triumphant, taking many prisoners. Soon after, Muhammad
began a series of campaigns to expel the Jews from around
Medina
. These campaigns were interrupted firstly by an attack by the Meccans,
in which the Muslims were defeated at Uhud, and then by an
unsuccessful Meccan attempt to besiege
Medina
. After the Meccans had retired, Muhammad dealt with the last Jewish
tribe near
Medina
which had supported the Meccans. The men were killed and the women and
children enslaved.
Muhammad now began to
subdue the tribes surrounding
Mecca
, and the result was a ten-year truce permitting the Muslims to return
to
Mecca
for the yearly pilgrimage to the Kaba. After this, adherents flowed in
and, though the prophet only lived four more years, in that time the
future of the countries of the
Near East
was to be determined for hundreds of years to come. The attacks on
Jewish tribes continued and much of the wealth of the country, which
had previously been monopolized by Jewish traders and landowners, was
seized by the Muslims. From a despised minority the followers of
Muhammad were now becoming the most powerful single force in
Arabia
.
The truce was broken by
the Meccans in AD 630, when the Quraysh attacked a tribe under Muslim
protection. Muhammad marched on
Mecca
and occupied the city with very little opposition. The prophet showed
great magnanimity in dealing with his opponents and only four people
were put to death after the capture of the city, though one was a
singing-girl who had composed satirical verses about Muhammad. He was
now accepted as the apostle of God. Soon his armies were moving out to
areas occupied by Christians, but an expedition against the Byzantines
was soundly defeated. Deputations, however, came to pay him homage and
there were so many that the year 9 of the hijra (AD 63 1) is known as
the Year of Deputations. But the prophet had not much longer to live.
He died at
Medina
on 8 June 632.
There is no doubt that
Muslims are right when they date the beginning of an era from the
prophet's migration to
Medina
in 622. In
Mecca
, Muhammad had been merely a preacher of unpopular doctrine. In
Medina
, however, he found a centre from which to propagate a new religion.
In organizing a community of believers, Muhammad gradually established
religious, social and political laws, and from them produced a
distinct religious system. The system was all-embracing, and from it
emerged something like a totalitarian state, with Allah as the
universal king and His prophet ruling in His name. Muhammad, though
preaching compassion and mercy, sometimes acted cruelly, but he
must be judged within the context of his times and none of his
contemporaries criticized his actions on moral grounds. He was a man
of extraordinary powers and he must have had great personal charm, for
he was able to attract and keep the devotion of men of widely
differing types. Within a century of his death the cry 'Allah is most
great!' was to be heard from
Spain
to
China
. Today, over two hundred million people in the Near East and
Africa, in South and South-east Asia, still listen to the same call to
prayer that was first heard in the remote Arabian desert thirteen
centuries ago.
The followers of Muhammad, like the followers of Christ, are 'People
of the Book'. The Bible of the Christians was once believed to be the
literal word of God. Today, modern research has made this difficult to
accept. To the Muslims, however, the doctrine of God's infallible word
is a fundamental article of faith and very few have ever
questioned it. The sacred book which contains the word of God
is called the Koran. The actual words were given to Muhammad by
an angel, Gabriel, over a period of some twenty years, firstly
in
Mecca
and then in
Medina
. Muhammad, who is said to have been unable to read and write,
repeated the angel's words from memory and they were either written
down or memorized by his followers. After the death of the prophet,
Abu Bakr, his successor as Caliph of Islam, commissioned the
prophet's secretary Zayd to make the first collection of the Koran.
The final form was reached under the third Caliph, Uthman.
The Koran is divided
into 114 chapters, called suras. They are not chronologically
arranged, and only occasionally is there a clue as to when the words
were spoken or upon what occasion. The arrangement is based upon
length, the longest suras first and the shortest, last. For many
hundreds of years scholars have been trying to relate individual suras
to particular periods of Muhammad's life, but until the same
scientific treatment that has been given to the Christian Bible is
given to the Koran no great progress can be expected.
The contents of the Koran can be divided under four main heads: (i)
Those passages concerning the worship of the one god, Allah, the
creator of all things, and from whom all that is good flows. (2)
Passages concerned with the doctrine of death, resurrection, judgement,
and the rewards of heaven and hell. The delights of paradise are very
considerable. There, beautiful girls and youths minister to the
pleasures of believers; but hell is black smoke and terrible heat. (3)
Stories of earlier messengers of God, most of them Jewish and derived
from the Old Testament. (4) Proclamations and regulations, mainly from
the Medina
period. The laws expounded show the influence of Judaism and
Christianity, but are in many cases adaptations of old Arab customs.
The chief religious
duties laid down by the Koran are prayer, alms-giving, fasting and
pilgrimage. Prayer is the 'key to paradise' and requires religious
purifications, bathing before prayer, and so on. 'The practice of
religion being founded on cleanliness', the ground upon which the
believer prays must also be clean and a special prayer-carpet is
suggested. There are five prayers every twenty-four hours, and the
face of the worshipper must be turned towards
Mecca
.
Alms were originally
collected by the ruler and were supposed to represent one-fortieth of
a man's income in money or kind. Today, however, it is left to the
conscience of the individual.
The third duty is fasting. This is based upon Christian and Jewish
practices and is specifically stated to be so in the Koran. The month
of Ramadan, which does not fall at the same season every year - since
the Muslim calendar is a lunar one - often occurs in the hottest time
of the year and, in consequence, imposes very considerable strains on
Muslims. During the fast, eating, drinking, smoking, smelling
perfumes, bathing, and all other worldly pleasures are forbidden
between sunrise and sunset. None except the sick, travellers, and
soldiers in time of war, are exempt, and they must fast an equal
number of days at some other time in recompense. Nurses and pregnant
women need not fast at all.
The last of the
principal - and binding - duties is that of a pilgrimage. Every
Muslim, unless prevented by sickness or poverty, is expected to make
the pilgrimage to
Mecca
once in his
ife
. There he must walk around the Kaba seven times, kiss the black stone
set in one of its walls, run between the two hills of Safa and Marwa
near by, travel to Arafat, a hill some twelve miles from Mecca, and on the way back sacrifice sheep and camels at Mina, where a
ceremonial stoning of devils takes place.
These four duties plus
the profession of faith in Allah and Muhammad, His prophet, are known
as the five 'Pillars of the Faith'.
Among the many other
ordinances contained in the Koran is a prohibition against alcohol, as
giving rise to 'more evil than good'. Pork is also forbidden, and
animals must be slaughtered according to fixed rules. Idolatry is an
unforgivable sin and the laws against the making of images and
pictures are particularly stringent. Anyone who makes an imitation of
any living thing will, on the day of judgement, undergo punishment in
hell for a certain period of time. Usury is prohibited and all forms
of gambling are condemned. Slavery is recognized, but slaves must be
kindly treated and even encouraged to purchase their liberty. Women
slaves may be taken as concubines.
The Koran has much to
say about the position of women. That position is implicitly defined
by the word for marriage, which is the same as that used for the
sexual act. A man may have four wives and any number of concubines,
but all his wives must be treated equally. A man may divorce his wife,
but a woman cannot divorce her husband. The Koran specifically
states that women are inferior to men.
An injunction to fight
the infidel guarantees to those who die in defence of Islam the reward
of martyrdom and entry into paradise. People of different faiths on
whom war is declared are first to be offered the choice: to
embrace Islam; to pay tribute, in which case they may continue to
practise their faith; or to settle the affair by the fortunes
of war, in which case captives are made slaves, the men usually being
slain unless they embrace Islam. One-fifth part of any spoil belongs
to the ruler.
ethical teaching of the
Koran is high and it may be said to represent a sort of mercantile
theology, emerging as it does from the commercial background of
Muhammad and the Arabs. It was the duty of an Arab in Muhammad's
time to support his tribe, to give food and shelter to the
traveller, and to protect those who claimed his protection.
Commerce was impossible without good faith and honest dealing. To
these precepts Muhammad gave a religious sanction and offered in
return rewards according to each man's deeds. But the appeal is
not only to self-interest. It is God who hates injustice and
oppression, and who is above all compassionate and merciful; man
has the responsibility and the power to be the same.
The present life of Muhammad is by the earliest biographer whose work
has survived. Ibn Ishaq was born in
Medina
about eighty-five years after the hijra (AH 85) and died in
Baghdad
in AH 151. No copy of Ibn Ishaq's biography in its original form is
now in existence, but it was extensively quarried by Ibn Hisharn (died
AH 213 or 218). Much of the material used was left in the original
words and in whole sections, so that Ibn Hisham's work can best be
described as an edited version of the original biography, with
interpolations by the editor.
Ishaq's work is not a
biography in the modern sense, but more a compilation of anecdotes and
traditions collected by him and arranged in chronological periods.
Collected within a century of the prophet's death, it bears the stamp
of authenticity, though again not in a modern sense. The miraculous is
always present and is given the same weight as mundane descriptions of
the prophet's actions. Because tales of miracles may be unacceptable
today, this does not mean that other parts of the biography are
untrustworthy. The facts are there, and the miraculous is that
essential embroidery of faith which the life of no religious leader -
from Christ to the Buddha - is without.
The translation which
follows is the first known English version of Ibn Ishaq's biography,
and is here published for the first time. The translator, Edward
Rehatsek, was born in
Hungary
in 1819 and died in
Bombay
in 1891. He arrived in India
in 1847 and spent a number of years in research upon oriental
subjects. He later became professor of mathematics and Latin at
Wilson
College, Bombay, from which position he retired in 1871. Rehatsek lived the life of a
recluse, working upon his translations from Arabic and many other
languages. After his death, his body was burned in the Hindu manner,
the first European, it is said, to be cremated in India. The manuscript of the translation was completed just before his
death and was presented to the Royal Asiatic Society,
London, by F. F. Arbuthnot, the Islamic scholar, in 1898. This edition is
published by courtesy of the Society.
The original work is
extremely long, over a thousand pages of the translator's small
yet clear handwriting. Rehatsek produced an almost literal translation
and it suffers somewhat from scholarly pedanticism. In preparing this
edition for publication, I have kept one main aim in view - to present
the earliest extant life of Muhammad in a form, and at a length,
acceptable to the general reader. To do this it has been necessary to
cut the text as well as to make some rearrangement in the interests of
orderly chronology. I have inserted linking passages, printed in
italic, where the text seems to require it. Generally speaking, those
parts which have been excised have been repetitions of events,
long lists of names, confusing accounts of minor battles, and a
large quantity of verse. Some errors have been corrected and
verbal infelicities removed. The transliteration of Arabic names is
always something of a problem in books intended for the reader who
has no knowledge of Eastern languages. In this instance I have omitted
all diacritical marks, believing it preferable for the reader
to mispronounce the words rather than be prevented from pronouncing
them at all by the intrusion of apostrophes and other symbols.
MICHAEL EDWARDES
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