The Traditional Narrative of Muhammad the Prophet 571CE 632CE Al Muqaddimah

Hi, welcome to Al Muqaddimah, my name is Siavish. In a previous video on this channel, I discussed whether or not we have historical evidence for the existence of Prophet Muhammad, the central figure of the religion of Islam. Turns out, we do have evidence for him. Now, in this series of videos, I want to discuss what we know about the historical Muhammad. However, before we do it, we have to discuss what the traditional narrative tells us about the life of the Prophet of Islam. This narrative comes from the Seerah and the Hadith which were compiled in the 8th century, some 100-200 years after the death of the Prophet. So, let's get started. This video is sponsored by Magellan TV. Magellan TV is a streaming service that hosts over 3,000 documentaries and shows in various genres from history to science as well as travel and art. They're adding new shows all the time which you can enjoy on all sorts of devices. 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It would also help support the channel. Back to the video. Muhammad ibn Abdullah was born around 571 CE in Mecca in what is today Saudi Arabia. He was born in the Banu Hashim clan, named after his great-grandfather of the Quraysh tribe. Quraysh were a local power and ran every aspect of Mecca's administration. Both the Quraysh and the Banu Hashim were mostly merchants owing to, as tradition tells us, the importance of Mecca in the trans-Arabian trade. All of Arabia came to Mecca for an annual pilgrimage and brought goods to sell which the Meccans then took up to the Levant and sold. Mecca's importance, we're told, came from its status as a haram. A haram is a place where, due to religious reasons, you couldn't shed blood unless you wanted the wrath of the gods. At the time of Muhammad, there were various harams in Arabia associated with various deities. Mecca was associated with Hubal, the god of, among other things, rain and war. Over time, Arabian tribes had brought idols of their deities to Mecca and stored them in a shrine called the Kaaba in order to turn it into sort of a universal haram which was watched over by all gods, including The God with a capital G whom the Arabs called Allah. The term Allah is a deformed version of the word Alillah meaning The God. This made it a perfect place to trade in a society where people had short tempers and long swords. Along with taking part in it, the Meccans taxed this trade. Muhammad's father had passed away a short while before he was born and his mother passed away when he was very young. He was taken in by his grandfather who also passed away shortly after. So, Muhammad grew up in the care of his uncle and the chief of the Banu Hashim, Abu Talib. Now, there are many stories regarding his childhood and youth before becoming prophet but only two are important to our story so I'll be skipping the rest. As a young boy, Muhammad went on a trading mission with his uncle to Damascus. On the journey, at a place in Syria, Muhammad was seen by a Christian monk named Bahira by the Islamic tradition, though Christian sources give us a different name. This monk recognised Muhammad as having the qualities of a prophet described in Christian scripture and so warned his uncle that the boy was in danger of someone recognising him. His uncle abandoned the trading mission and returned to Mecca. I'll discuss the historiosity of this story in another video. For now, let's go to the second story. This story also involves a trading mission. This one, Muhammad undertook as a young man, roughly 25 years of age. A rich widow named Khadija hired Muhammad to take goods to the Levant and sell them. Muhammad did this and Khadija was so impressed by him that she sent him a marriage proposal. She became his first and, for as long as she lived, his only wife and a source of support when he started his life as God's prophet. Around the age of 40, in the year 610 or so, Muhammad was meditating in a cave outside Mecca, something he did often by this time, when he was visited by the angel Jibra'il or Gabriel. Jibra'il told him to read to which he replied, I cannot read. Jibra'il said it again and Muhammad gave the same reply. The third time, Jibra'il said the following. Taught man what he did not know. These words, according to tradition, became the first revelation of the Qur'an and turned Muhammad of Arabia, an orphan, into Muhammad, the prophet of Allah. Though, this transition wasn't immediate. He was scared and his wife Khadija took him to a cousin of hers who was well-versed in the knowledge of the Torah and the Bible. This cousin told Muhammad that he was indeed an Abrahamic prophet, in the same tradition as Moses and Jesus. The next revelation came three years after the first and jump-started Muhammad's mission of preaching monotheism to the Meccans who were primarily polytheists. Though, the concept of monotheism wasn't an alien one to this society. Arabia was full of pockets of Christian and Jewish societies. In fact, Yemen had even had a Christian kingdom for a while. Also, Meccans went up to the Christian Levant all the time. Some of them even owned land there. At this point, the revelations of the Qur'an and Muhammad's teachings focused on abstract ideas such as monotheism, the end of days, heaven and hell, etc. Not much would have distinguished Muhammad's teachings from that of Jesus or any other Abrahamic prophet. Though, the idea of monotheism went against the entire economic model of Meccan society. If they were to accept Muhammad's God, THE God, they'd have to throw away the idols of all other Arabian gods which were housed inside the Kaaba and hence, they would diminish or even destroy its importance. So, as you'd expect, they wanted to stop Muhammad who was preaching his message to anyone who would listen. In the tribal societies of Arabia, you were only as strong as your clan. You would stick with them and they would provide protection. If you were attacked by someone, it would be an offence to your clan and so, a war could start between the two clans. Those bloody conflicts could go on for generations. Since Muhammad came from a fairly influential clan, he couldn't be hurt as that would mean an offence against his clan. The chief of the Banu Hashim, Abu Talib, had raised Muhammad and loved him very much. So, he protected Muhammad. However, his early followers were mostly the weak and the helpless people of Mecca who didn't have anyone to protect them. The Meccans cracked down on them and made their lives miserable, from financial boycotts to outright torture. Muhammad started looking for a place where they could settle down or at least get temporary refuge. Somehow, he heard that the king of Ethiopia was a kind man and sent an emissary to him. He agreed to give refuge to Muhammad's followers. So, many of them who could afford it emigrated to Ethiopia around 615. Back in Mecca, Muhammad continued his mission. He was able to get a few influential followers as well. Among these were names that later became very prominent in Muhammad's community such as Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, Abd al-Rahman ibn Auf and Zubayr ibn al-Azzam. However, in 619, Muhammad's world was turned upside down when two of the most important people in his life passed away. First, Khadija, his beloved wife and source of emotional support. Second, Abu Talib, his uncle, guardian and protector. After Abu Talib, another uncle called Abu Lahab became chief of the Banu Hashim. He did not feel the same way about his nephew as Abu Talib had. He withdrew his protection. Muhammad was now fair game to anyone who wanted to harm him. Muhammad began looking for a new home for himself and his community. Luckily, in 620, during the annual pilgrimage season, Muhammad met some people from a nearby oasis town called Yathrib. They liked Muhammad's message and promised to come back next year with more of their countrymen which they did. Their delegation offered Muhammad and his followers safe refuge if he came to their city as an arbitrator. Yathrib was located around 350 kilometers north of Mecca and was home to various polytheist tribes as well as a significant population of Jews. They had been fighting each other for generations and were looking for an impartial arbitrator who could resolve disputes before swords were drawn. They saw Muhammad as that man because he was charismatic and was well aware of both monotheistic and Jewish traditions. On the other side, we're told that the Meccans began an assassination plot. An interesting thing about that plot is that every single clan in Mecca contributed a man to the group of assassins. That way, everyone would be involved in the assassination. That, mixed with Abu Lahab's lack of support for Muhammad, would ensure that the Banu Hashim wouldn't go to war with every single clan in Mecca and would hence accept monetary compensation. Though according to tradition, God made Muhammad aware of this and he left that very night to go to Yathrib. Most of his followers had already left. He, along with his dear friend Abu Bakr, were among the last to make this journey. In the year 622, Prophet Muhammad arrived in Yathrib with Abu Bakr. This year is hence year one on the Islamic Hijrah calendar and was used by later Muslims to keep track of time. Yathrib was a very different place in comparison to Mecca. Where Mecca was surrounded by rocky mountains, Yathrib was an oasis surrounded by agricultural fields and gardens. Where Mecca was dominated by a single tribe, Yathrib was divided between various smaller tribes as well as two big ones, the Aus and the Khazraj. Finally, where Mecca was hostile to Muhammad's message, Yathrib was welcoming. From this point, traditionally, Yathrib is known as Medinatu Rasulullah, meaning the City of the Messenger of God, shortened to Medina. Muhammad's migration to Medina marks a watershed, not just in the history of Islam but, in my opinion, also in the history of religions themselves. Muhammad wasn't just a preacher now, like Jesus or Buddha or Guru Nanak. He was now also a political and military leader. The next eleven years, the time Muhammad spent in Medina guided and, in fact, continued to guide his followers in almost every matter, on an individual level and on the state level. Before this, the Qur'an was focused on abstract concepts such as God's Oneness, Heaven, Hell, the Day of Judgment, etc. Now, the Qur'an would shift to talk about more practical and worldly things. Muhammad's first step in Medina was to settle his countrymen along with the natives. Muhammad's followers from Mecca came to be known as the Muhajirun, the immigrants. Muhammad's followers from Medina who helped the Muhajirun came to be known as the Ansar, the helpers. Here, we get the earliest piece of actual historical document from Muhammad's life, aside from the Qur'an, of course. Perhaps within the first year of Muhammad's arrival in Yathrib, he created a document that is commonly known by Muslims as the Charter or Constitution of Medina. It wasn't a constitution in the modern sense of the word, of course. It was more of a treaty between the various tribes of Yathrib, including the Jewish ones and the newly arrived followers of Muhammad. Even the most skeptical of scholars today agree that the document is largely authentic. It may have been edited later on and might even have been multiple documents in the beginning but it is largely authentic. In its 60 or so clauses, Muhammad lays out the relationship that was to exist between almost everyone who lived in Medina. One of the themes that appear in the document is that of unity between Muhammad's followers and everyone else. The parties to the agreement must recognize themselves as a unit, with Muhammad at its head. Of course, the definition of the head changed from people to people. Where to his followers, Muhammad was the instrument of God's will, to the Jews, he was merely an arbitrator. These parties must help each other and bring their disputes to Muhammad. They were not allowed to help outsiders against each other. This included the Meccans. This social unit is called an ummah in the document. Interestingly, today, the term only applies to Muslims but evidently, back then, it applied to Muhammad's followers who believed in him being God's prophet as well as his allies who didn't, including the Jews of Medina. To some scholars, this indicates that Muhammad didn't see himself and his followers as being distinct or at least distinct enough from other Abrahamic religions such as Judaism. In fact, at this point, Muhammad and his followers did face Jerusalem to pray. However, slowly, the line between the Jews and Muhammad's followers would begin to be defined. You might have noticed that, to this point, I have not referred to Muhammad's followers as Muslims. Rather, I've called them believers or Muhammad's followers. That's because the term Muslim wasn't used at the time. It is mentioned in the Qur'an but it is in the last decades of the 7th century that we first see it being applied to this group of people. Interestingly enough, it appears in the constitution of Medina which indicates that it was probably an addition made in the later centuries. I will continue referring to them as believers as the Qur'an calls them for the remainder of the video. On the other side, we're told that the Meccans seized the properties of the Muhajirun. This gave Muhammad justification for raiding Meccan caravans since Medina was close to the trade route that went between Mecca and greater Syria. As Muhammad raided the Meccans, it brought him and the Meccans to the brink of war. The first battle came in 624 at the location of Badr. According to tradition, the Meccans were thrice as many as the believers but still, due to Muhammad's strategic brilliance, he won the day. This assured for his followers that God was indeed on their side. Shortly after this battle, Muhammad expelled the Jewish tribe of Banu Qaynuqa. According to tradition, the Banu Qaynuqa had harassed a believer woman in a market which had led to bloodshed between the two groups. Muhammad besieged them and after they surrendered, he expelled them. The next year, in 625, the Meccans came back with an army to exact revenge for Badr. This time, again, we're told that they were thrice as many as the believers. However, due to miscommunication among Muhammad's men, the Meccans were able to attack from the rear and rout Muhammad's army. Even Muhammad himself was injured. This battle was a significant defeat for the believers but the Meccans themselves broke before they could do any significant damage to Medina. So, the believers lived to fight another day. A prominent figure on the Meccan side was Khalid ibn al-Walid who had a big hand in defeating the believers. He became the sharpest dagger in Muhammad's arsenal a few years later. This time too, as with the aftermath of Badr, Muhammad expelled a Jewish tribe. There are many reasons mentioned for why Muhammad did it. Some sources say that the Banu Nadir, sensing weakness in Muhammad's position, challenged him for power. Others say that the Banu Nadir were planning to assassinate Muhammad. Whatever the case, they would be sieged and expelled. Around the end of 626, Muhammad came to hear of a confederation formed between the expelled Jewish tribes and the Meccans. A huge army of 10,000 was coming to end Muhammad's community at Medina. With the suggestion of Salman the Persian, we're told, Muhammad decided to defend himself by building a trench around Medina's north side which was the only direction that Medina could be attacked from since it had mountains and gardens on the other three sides. The confederation besieged Medina but couldn't get over the trench. After a siege of a month, the confederation broke and the army went home. After this came one of the most controversial events from Muhammad's life, the massacre of the Banu Qurayza. The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe that also lived in Medina. They had been signatory to the constitution but during the battle of the confederation, they had promised to help the confederation. They would have attacked from inside Medina to weaken Muhammad's position. This was, of course, a serious offence. Muhammad laid siege to them and when they surrendered, he delivered judgement. All men would be killed. All women and children will be enslaved. This resulted in the execution of some 700 men. Now, before I get angry comments, Muhammad didn't deliver this judgement on his own. He had appointed Sa'd ibn Mu'adh for this job. Sa'd, we're told, was an expert on Jewish scripture and came from the Aus tribe which was an ally of the Banu Qurayza, though he was a believer. He had looked at Jewish scripture to decide Banu Qurayza's fate from there. Around the turn of the year 628-629, Muhammad and some 1400 of his companions went to Mecca as pilgrims. Meccans thought this was an invading army and quickly reacted. Muhammad stopped at the point of Wadhabia to send an envoy to Mecca to ensure them of his peaceful intentions. The Meccans held the man Muhammad had sent, which led to Muhammad thinking that the Meccans had killed his messenger. Right there, Muhammad took an oath from his companions to avenge their fallen brother or die trying. Meanwhile, the Meccans approached Muhammad to ensure him that his envoy was safe and that they wanted peace but they would not let him perform the pilgrimage this year. This resulted in the Treaty of Wadhabia. The treaty had various points but a few that are relevant to us are the following. First, Muhammad and his followers would have to leave this year and return the next to observe the pilgrimage at which point the Meccans will retreat to the mountains. Second, there will be a truce of 10 years between the Meccans and Muhammad. Finally, whichever tribes want to join Muhammad or the Meccans can do so but they would also be bound by this treaty. Ergo, they'd have to respect the truce as well. Many of Muhammad's followers were opposed to the treaty but it was signed and the Qur'an called it a manifest victory. Within a year of the treaty, victory would indeed come. Shortly after returning from Mecca, Muhammad attacked the Jewish stronghold at Khaybar. This was a major economic centre for the Jewish community of Arabia. Not only was it agriculturally prosperous, it was also home to some of the Jewish tribes that Muhammad had expelled. According to Islamic sources, they were allying themselves with other tribes to attack Medina. Though, in reality, it's possible Muhammad just wanted his rear secured. After a siege and an assault, Khaybar surrendered. Muhammad allowed them to return to their lives except they now had to pay half their produce to Medina. By taking this, Muhammad had firmly secured himself in Medina. It was a considerable boost to his reputation as a commander in the eyes of the Meccans. Muhammad was now very confident and at the peak of his power. His luck also seems to have turned. Many prominent Meccans abandoned Mecca and joined him, including the aforementioned Khalid ibn al-Walid. Also, Muhammad's followers from Ethiopia returned to join him in Medina. Many new tribes allied with him. He even sent an army into Byzantine territory which was pushed back but without a lot of damage. Though, there was personal trauma for Muhammad who lost a cousin and an adopted son in the battle. By the end of 629, Muhammad was powerful and had an army of around 10,000 people. While the Treaty of Hudaybiyah was supposed to be valid for 10 years, circumstances changed and it expired only over a year later. One of the tribes that allied with Mecca attacked a tribe allied with Muhammad. This was a violation of the treaty. Abu Sufyan, the leader of the Meccans, approached Muhammad and asked him to keep the treaty intact. However, for Muhammad, that wasn't an option. He couldn't hope to win more allies if he couldn't even protect his existing ones. So, for Muhammad, there was no option but war. Muhammad marched his army towards Mecca. Many of the allies of Mecca abandoned them to join him. The Quraysh knew that it was over and so, Mecca capitulated without a fight. Only a dozen or so of Muhammad's worst enemies were executed. Muhammad then rode to the Kaaba and destroyed all the idols stored in there. According to his teachings, the Kaaba was originally built by Abraham and had been corrupted by polytheists of Arabia. So, he was returning it to its original purpose. The same was true for the pilgrimage which was heavily pre-Islamic but Islamic tradition adopted it claiming that it was started by Abraham. Muhammad had struggled over his enemies and God's message now reigned supreme. Muhammad then conquered tribes around Mecca and attacked the city of Taif. After taking it, Muhammad was, without a doubt, the most powerful figure in Western Arabia. He then sent delegations all over Arabia inviting them to join him. Many did and Muhammad now had allies all over Arabia. He once again attacked the Byzantines by marching to the city of Tabuk. However, the purpose of this campaign isn't fully clear though some parts of the Islamic tradition say that Muhammad had heard of impending attack by the Byzantines on Medina. So, he marched there to meet them though even according to Islamic sources, nothing was achieved. In 632, Muhammad performed the Hajj or major pilgrimage and gave what is now called the Farewell Sermon in which he laid down the final principles his community was to follow. He fell ill shortly after returning to Medina and passed away some months later in the year 632 at the age of 63. He was buried in the house of his wife Aisha where he had died. This is the biography of the Prophet as written by compilers at least 100 years after Muhammad's death. Some of it is very plausible if not accurate. Though, in the next video, we'll take a look at the sources where those later compilers got the facts of Muhammad's life. So, if you're not already, subscribe. See you in the next one. Don't forget to subscribe and press the bell icon. On the screen right now, you can see the names and tiers of the patrons. You can join them by pledging a dollar or more to support the channel. Thank you for watching.