Muhammad: Man and Prophet

Adil Salahi

• Publisher: The Islamic Foundation
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9780860374299
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

The Prophet Muhammad initiated one of the most significant religious and cultural developments in human history, bringing the religion of Islam to the world. Adil Salahi's compelling biography traces the life of the Prophet Muhammad from his birth and childhood to the triumph of Islam and its hold on Arabia. The author sets this against a fascinating historical backdrop. His careful analysis of the Prophet's life is written with today's Muslim and non-Muslim readers in mind: Muslims will further their comprehension of their faith, and non-Muslims will come to understand the love Muslims have for their Prophet.

1

A Glance Back in History

WHEN EARLY PROPHETS are mentioned, one often thinks of Abraham – not because he was the first Prophet, for according to Islamic tradition he was not, but because God honoured him by placing prophethood in his seed. Yet when Abraham was advanced in years he was still childless and his wife Sarah, whom he loved and cherished, was beyond the age of childbearing. With unshakeable faith that God was always able to do what He willed, Abraham still hoped that one day he would have a child who would give him pleasure and happiness in his old age.

Sarah had a maid called Hagar whom she had brought from Egypt. She gave that bondswoman to Abraham and said: “I am now an old woman, well beyond the age of childbearing. I am giving you my bondswoman, Hagar, and hope that God may give you a child through her.” Before long Hagar was pregnant. She gave birth to a son, who was named Ishmael.

Abraham’s joy was great, and so was Hagar’s. She felt now that her position in the house was no longer that of a bondswoman. She was the mother of the only child of the family. As Sarah watched Hagar looking after her newborn son, her feeling of jealousy grew stronger every day, especially when she noticed that Abraham was now looking after Hagar and Ishmael, showing them great love and tenderness.

Yet Abraham was very eager to keep Sarah happy. After all, she was his wife with whom he had shared his life for many years. He felt that the only way to keep both women happy was to separate them. While pondering how to do that, he received Divine orders which settled matters for him. A perfect model of a believer who was always ready to carry out God’s orders, Abraham travelled with Hagar and Ishmael, along unfamiliar routes and deep inside the Arabian peninsula, until he arrived in the area where Makkah now stands. At that time the place was barren, with no vegetation or water. Nobody lived there. But Abraham was commanded by God to leave his son Ishmael with Hagar in that place. Since Abraham never disobeyed a command from God, he left his son there with his mother, giving them a sack of dates and whatever little water he had with him. He started on his way back to Palestine where he had left Sarah.

Hagar asked him how he could leave them in that barren valley. Abraham did not answer. He could not even look back, for he was so sorry to leave them there. It is easy to imagine that his eyes were full of tears as he moved away and left them alone. Desperate to be reassured, Hagar shouted to him: was he abandoning them there on God’s orders? When he answered in the affirmative, she said: “He who has ordered you to do that will not abandon us.”

Travelling back on his long, lonely journey, Abraham must have experienced all the feelings of an old father abandoning his only child, very young, alone with his young mother in the desert. As a firm believer in God’s wisdom, however, he felt that he could nevertheless entrust them to the care of God. He raised his hands and repeated this heartfelt prayer: “Our Lord, I have settled some of my offspring in a valley where there is no vegetation, close to Your sanctified House, so that, Our Lord, they might devote themselves to prayer. Cause You, therefore, people’s hearts to incline towards them and provide them with all sorts of fruit, so that they may have cause to be grateful.” (14: 37) With the feeling that God would not abandon those two helpless souls who were so dear to Him, Abraham continued his journey with a new sense of relief.

A Lonely Mother with Her Child

Back in the barren valley, Hagar devoted herself to her young child, reassured that God must have a purpose for their arrival in that lifeless desert. She felt no need to despair. For a few days she and her son survived on the dates and water Abraham had left. She praised God for His bounty and prayed Him to be merciful to her and to her son. Soon, however, her supply of dates and water was exhausted. She had nothing to feed herself or her young boy. The two were soon very hungry and thirsty. With the cries of the little boy sharp in her ears, Hagar felt desperate, helpless. She was running here and there, hoping that she would find something to quieten Ishmael. She climbed the nearest hill to try to observe the area around her. That hill was al-Ṣafā. But she could see no one. She came down and climbed the next hill, al-Marwah. Again, there was no sign of life around. She went back to the first hill and kept going to and fro between the two hills. Each time she thought she heard voices from the other direction. When she had run between the two hills seven times, and was on the top of al-Marwah, she heard a voice very close to her, but she could not see anyone. She said: “Whoever you are, help us if you can.” Turning towards her child in the bottom of the valley, she saw him rubbing the earth with his leg. She then heard the angel asking her who she was. She answered: “I am Hagar, the mother of Abraham’s son.” He asked her: “To whom has he entrusted you in this barren place?” She replied: “He entrusted us to the care of God.” The angel rejoined: “He has then trusted you to the All-Merciful, the Compassionate.”

At this point, while the boy was still rubbing his leg against the earth, water gushed forth between his feet. Hagar shouted: “God is Supreme.” She rushed back to her son and began to form a barrier around the new-found spring so that the water would not run into the valley. She filled her water container and the water continued to gush forth. After giving her child enough to drink, she drank herself and prostrated herself in a gesture of thankfulness to God for His grace. She felt that she had been brought into that area in order that a definite purpose of God be accomplished.

The water continued to gush forth and attracted birds. It so happened that an Arabian tribe called the Jurhum was travelling north across the desert when they saw a bird flying nearby. They realized that there must be a spring in the area for birds would only fly across an area where they saw water. Keen to replenish their stock of water, they tried to determine the exact position of the spring. Their emissaries soon came back with the happy news and they moved over to wash and drink. When they saw Hagar, they realized that the spring was hers. She, however, was more than pleased to see them and said that they were welcome to encamp.

The Jurhum liked the place, and Hagar was very happy to have them. They felt that they could settle there without the need to travel any further north. This was the beginning of settled life in the valley of Makkah. Ishmael grew up among the Jurhum tribe, learning their language, Arabic, and mixing with their children. When he was a young man, he married a Jurhum girl who gave him a number of sons and daughters. Ishmael was in effect one of the Jurhum. He and his children lived in that valley, and many generations later Muhammad, God’s Messenger and a direct descendant of Ishmael, was born in that very place.

Abraham did not just abandon his young child with his lonely mother and forget about them. Prophets do not abandon their families in that manner. Despite the long distance between Palestine and the place where Ishmael had been left, Abraham visited Hagar and Ishmael every now and then. He recognized God’s grace, which was manifest in the fact that the Jurhum came to settle in that valley, so that Ishmael could grow up among them.

The Great Sacrifice

On one of his visits, Abraham saw in a dream that he was commanded to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, for God’s sake. At that time Ishmael was in his teens, able to understand the fact that Prophets like his father did not see any ‘false’ dreams. It is the first mark of prophethood that the dreams a Prophet sees are as true as anything he sees in real life. The dream was repeated on three consecutive nights and Abraham realized that he had no choice but to carry out the Divine order. He put the matter as gently as he could to his son, who was still in the prime of youth, and asked him: “What do you say, son?”

Since Ishmael was brought up by a mother whose firm belief in God did not forsake her even at the moment when she was abandoned alone with her young boy in the middle of the desert, and by a father who was a Prophet, faith had been instilled in him ever since he was very young. He therefore faced the problem squarely and announced his readiness to submit himself to God’s will: “Father, do as you are bid. You will find me, God willing, patient and able to face death with fortitude.” (37: 102)

Both father and son went some distance out of the city, to the place known today as Minā, where they prepared to obey God’s command. Satan tried to dissuade Abraham from sacrificing his son. He tried to arouse fatherly love in him. Abraham’s submission to God’s will, however, showed no sign of weakness whatsoever. He stoned Satan in three different spots. His action is commemorated by pilgrims when they stone the Jamrahs as one of the duties of their pilgrimage. At the point when Abraham was about to cut his son’s throat in complete submission to the Divine will, an angel came to him and bade him stop. He was told that God had accepted his offering and was pleased with his obedience. He had spared Ishmael for the sake of his elderly father. The angel gave Abraham a fully grown sheep to sacrifice instead.

Building the Kaʿbah

On another visit, perhaps when Ishmael was already married and had some children, Abraham told him that God had ordered him to erect a House in that place, to serve as a consecrated temple. Ishmael expressed his readiness to help his father build the desired structure. Both father and son worked hard to lay the foundations and erect the building. Ishmael carried the stones and put each one in its place while Abraham made sure that the building was firm and well established. When the building was higher than...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Preface to the Present Edition
• Transliteration Table
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction to the First Edition
• 1. A Glance Back in History
• 2. The Early Years
• 3. From Youth to Maturity
• 4. The Makkan Scene at the Start of Prophethood
• 5. Up There in the Mountain
• 6. A Community in the Making
• 7. The Call to Islam Goes Public
• 8. Objective Containment
• 9. Misrepresentation
• 10. Moving Out
• 11. Hope and Despair
• 12. Difficulties in Abundance
• 13. A Major Breakthrough
• 14. The Journey to Madinah
• 15. Madinah
• 16. Peace and Confrontation
• 17. Badr: The First Major Battle
• 18. In Madinah After Badr
• 19. New Trends of Hostility
• 20. A Bitter Defeat
• 21. The Lessons of Uḥud
• 22. Vulnerability and Treachery
• 23. Consolidation
• 24. How to Mar a Splendid Victory
• 25. A Fresh Storm Gathers
• 26. An Account to Settle
• 27. Family Matters
• 28. Peace in the Making
• 29. Back on the Move
• 30. Peace in the Desert
• 31. Opening Up International Horizons
• 32. A Second Trip to Makkah
• 33. A Foretaste of Fighting the Byzantines
• 34. A Long Conflict Draws to a Close
• 35. A Conquest of Hearts
• 36. Grouping for a Final Assault
• 37. Generous Gifts to Old Foes
• 38. Men of Distinction
• 39. Trouble Looming at International Borders
• 40. Failure by True Believers
• 41. A Reluctant Change of Heart
• 42. Arabian Relations Set on a New Basis
• 43. Islam Makes its Mark on Arabia
• 44. The Peaceful World of Muslim Arabia
• 45. Mission Completed
• 46. The Curtain Falls
• Appendix
• Bibliography
• Index