Muhammad and the Ummah

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Muhammad and the Ummah
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Muhammad

• Born Mecca, ca. 570 CE, into Quraysh
• Orphaned at six, raised by an uncle
• Married at 25 to Khadiyah
• A good reputation in business

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The Revelation

• 610, voice of Angel Gabriel commanding, Recite!
• Collectively called the Quran or Koran, the
  recitation
• chapters or surahs from longest to shortest

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Beliefs about the Quran

• Muhammad is NOT the author God (or Allah) is
• It is eternal existed along with God from
  beginning of time
• Is the same revelation given to the Jews and
  Christians, but their revelations became
  corrupted over time

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Muhammads Trip to Heaven
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The Fallout

• Quraysh interpreted Muhammad as an ambitious
  troublemaker
• Forced to flee in 622 to Medina, the hijra,
  beginning Muslim calendar
• Referred to his followers as the Ummah, or
  Community

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Dilemmas

• Is Islam for everybody or just Bedouin Arabs?
• What is Islams relationship to Christianity and
  Judaism?
• What if people wont convert? Is it OK to fight
  for your religion?

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Muhammad in Medina

• As Muhammads followers became more numerous, he
  was confronted with difficult decisions
• Jews of Medina refuse to convert
• Separation from Judaism
• pray towards Mecca, not Jerusalem
• Kabah identified with Abraham
• Ramadan, the truce month, made fasting month

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Compromises

• Ummah begins to look like a government and not a
  Bedouin clan
• stops expelling Jews, enters into agreements with
  Jewish tribes
• Sends out officials to hear disputes, teach the
  Quran and collect tithes

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Muhammad and the Bedouin

• Re-writing traditional values
• loyal to God, not tribe (kufr v. islam)
• humility before God, instead of pride in riches
  (iman v. jahiliyyah)
• family rights prohibition of female infanticide,
  limit to four wives, etc.
• In 630 Muhammad returned to Mecca, conquered it
  and cleansed the Kabah

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The Ummah Triumphs

• Back in Mecca, Muhammad becomes center of a
  thriving religious community and government
• Most tribes convert those who do not enter into
  treaties with Ummah
• 632, Muhammad falls ill and dies, having
  designated no successor

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Now what?

• Were treaties with Muhammad still in force?
• Would there be other Prophets?
• Who would run the Ummah?
• Was Islam supposed to be universal?