How many years did the prophet Muhammad live? How did the religion of Islam appear? Brief biography of the Prophet Muhammad

For Muslims, the most significant religious figure is the Prophet Muhammad, thanks to whom the world saw and read the Koran. Many facts from his life are known, which gives a chance to understand his personality and significance in history. There is a prayer dedicated to him that can work miracles.

Who is Prophet Muhammad?

Preacher and prophet, messenger of Allah and founder of Islam - Muhammad. His name means "The Praised One." Through him, God transmitted the text of the holy book for Muslims - the Koran. Many are interested in what the Prophet Muhammad was like in appearance, so, according to the scriptures, he differed from other Arabs in his lighter skin color. He had a thick beard, broad shoulders and big eyes. Between the shoulder blades on the body there is a “seal of prophecy” in the shape of a relief triangle.

When was the prophet Muhammad born?

The birth of the future prophet occurred in 570. His family came from the Quraish tribe, who were the guardians of ancient religious relics. Another important point is where the Prophet Muhammad was born, so the event took place in the city of Mecca, where modern Saudi Arabia is located. I didn’t know Muhammad’s father at all, and his mother died when he was six years old. He was raised by his uncle and grandfather, who told his grandson about monotheism.

How did the prophet Muhammad get the prophecy?

Information about how the prophet received the revelations to write the Qur'an is minimal. Muhammad never spoke in detail or clearly on this topic.

1. It was established that Allah communicated with the prophet through an angel whom he calls Jibril.
2. Another interesting topic is how old Muhammad became a prophet, so according to legend, an angel appeared to him and said that Allah had chosen him as his messenger when he was 40 years old.
3. Communication with God took place through visions. Some researchers believe that the prophet fell into a trance, while there are scientists who are sure that the reason was the weakness of the body due to prolonged fasting and lack of sleep.
4. One of the proofs that the Prophet Muhammad wrote the Qur'an is believed to be the fragmentary nature of the book and this, according to historians, is due to the inspiration of the preacher.

Parents of the Prophet Muhammad

The mother of the founder of Islam was the beautiful Amina, who was born into a wealthy family, which gave her the chance to receive a good upbringing and education. She got married at the age of 15, and the marriage with the father of the Prophet Muhammad was happy and harmonious. During the birth, a white bird descended from the sky and touched Aminu with its wing, which freed her from her existing fears. There were angels around who took the child into the world. She died of illness when her son was five years old.

The father of the Prophet Muhammad, Abdullah, was very handsome. One day his father, that is, the grandfather of the future preacher, made a vow before the Lord that he would sacrifice one son if he had ten of them. When the time came to fulfill the promise and the lot fell on Abdullah, he exchanged it for 100 camels. Many ladies were in love with the young guy, and he married the most beautiful girl in the city. When she was two months pregnant, the father of the Prophet Muhammad died. At that time he was 25 years old.

Prophet Muhammad and his wives

There are different information regarding the number of wives, but official sources traditionally present 13 names.

1. The wives of the Prophet Muhammad could no longer marry after the death of their spouse.
2. They must hide their entire body under clothing, while other women can expose their face and hands.
3. It was possible to communicate with the wives of the prophet only through a curtain.
4. They received double reward for everything they did.

Prophet Muhammad married the following women:

1. Khadija. The first wife to convert to Islam. She bore the Messenger of Allah six children.
2. Sauda. The prophet married her a few years after the death of his first wife. She was devout and pious.
3. Aisha. She married Muhammad at age 15. The girl told people many of her famous husband’s sayings related to her personal life.
4. Umm Salamah. She married Muhammad after the death of her husband and lived longer than his other wives.
5. Maria. The Egyptian ruler gave the woman to the prophet, and she became a concubine. They legalized the relationship after the birth of their son.
6. Zainab. She was in the status of a wife for only three months, and then she died.
7. Hafsa. The young girl was distinguished from others by her explosive character, which often angered Muhammad.
8. Zainab. The girl was first the wife of the prophet's adopted son. The other wives did not like Zainab and tried to present her in a bad light.
9. Maimuna. She was the sister of the prophet's uncle's wife.
10. Juwayriyah. This is the daughter of the leader of a tribe that opposed the Muslims, but after marriage the conflict was resolved.
11. Safia. The girl was born into a family that was at enmity with Muhammad, and she was captured. Her future husband freed her.
12. Ramlya. This woman's first husband changed his faith from Islam to Christianity, and after his death she married a second time.
13. Raihana. At first the girl was a slave, and after accepting Islam, Muhammad took her as his wife.

Children of the Prophet Muhammad

Only two wives gave birth to the Messenger of Allah and, interestingly, all his descendants died at an early age. Many people are interested in how many children the Prophet Muhammad had, so there were seven of them.

1. Qasim - died at the age of 17 months.
2. Zainab was married to her father's cousin and gave birth to two children. She died young.
3. Rukia - was married off early and died young, without surviving the illness
4. Fatima - she was given in marriage to the prophet's cousin, and only she left the offspring of Muhammad. She died after the death of her father.
5. Ummu Kulthum - was born after the advent of Islam and died at a young age.
6. Abdullah - was born after the prophecy and died at an early age.
7. Ibrahim - after the birth of his son, the prophet made a sacrifice to Allah, shaved his hair and distributed donations. He died at the age of 18 months.

Prophecies of the Prophet Muhammad

There are about 160 confirmed prophecies that were fulfilled both during his life and after his death. Let's look at a few examples of what the prophet Muhammad said and what came true:

1. He predicted the conquest of Egypt, Persia and confrontation with the Turks.
2. He said that after his death Jerusalem would be conquered.
3. He argued that Allah will not give people a specific date, and they must understand that the Day of Judgment can come at any time.
4. He told his daughter Fatima that she was the only one who would survive him.

Prayer of the Prophet Muhammad

Muslims can turn to the founder of Islam using a special prayer - salavat. It is a manifestation of obedience to Allah. Regularly turning to Muhammad has its advantages:

1. Helps to cleanse yourself of hypocrisy and save yourself from the fire of Hell.
2. The Messenger Prophet Muhammad will intercede on the Day of Judgment for those who pray for him.
3. Prayer requests are a way of cleansing and atonement for sins.
4. Protects from the wrath of Allah and helps not to stumble.
5. You can ask for fulfillment through it.

When did the prophet Muhammad die?

There are a huge number of versions related to the death of the Messenger of Allah. Muslims know that he died in 633 AD. from a sudden illness. At the same time, no one knows what the Prophet Muhammad was sick with, which gives rise to many doubts. There are versions that he was actually killed with poison, and this was done by his wife Aisha. Disputes on this matter continue. The preacher's body was buried in his house, which was located near the Prophet's Mosque, and over time the room was expanded and became part of it.

Facts about the Prophet Muhammad

A huge amount of information is associated with this figure in Islam, while some facts are little known to many.

1. There is an assumption that the Messenger of Allah suffered from epilepsy. In ancient times he was thought to be possessed due to unusual seizures and clouding of consciousness, but these are common symptoms of the epileptic condition.
2. The morals of the Prophet Muhammad are considered an ideal, and every person should strive for them.
3. The first marriage was for great love and the couple lived in happiness for 24 years.
4. Many people are interested in what the prophet Muhammad was doing when he began to prophesy events. According to legend, the first feelings were doubt and despair.
5. He was a reformer because the revelations demanded social and economic justice, which the elite did not agree with.
6. The merits of the Prophet Muhammad are enormous; it is known that throughout his entire life he did not offend or defame anyone, while he avoided dishonest people and gossip.

, pronunciation(inf.), in Russian the transfer is also used Mohammed (Magomed)(Gallicism, common in Russian literature), Mohammed April 20 (22), 571 (according to some sources 570), 12th of the month Rabiul-Awwal, on Monday, shortly before sunrise, Mecca - June 8, Medina) - Arab preacher of monotheism and prophet of Islam, central (after the one God) figure of this religion; according to Islamic teachings, God sent down his holy scripture to Muhammad - the Koran. Muhammad was also a politician, founder and head of the Muslim community (ummah), which, during his direct rule, formed a strong and fairly large state on the Arabian Peninsula.

Name

The name of Muhammad in calligraphic and regular spellings

In Islam, the name is given great sacred significance. The name "Muhammad" means "Praised", "Worthy of Praise". In the Qur'an he is called by name only four times, but is also called a prophet (an-Nabi), a messenger (Rasul), a servant of God (Abd), a messenger (Bashir), a warner (Nadhir), a reminder (Mudhakkir), a witness (Shahid) who called upon God (Da'i), etc. According to Muslim tradition, after pronouncing or writing the name of the Prophet Muhammad, it is always said "Solla Allahu alayhi wa sallam"(Arab. صلى الله عليه وسلم ‎‎) - that is "Allah bless him and greet him".

Muhammad's full name includes the names of all his known ancestors in the direct male line starting from Adam, and also contains a kunya named after his son Qasim (this name means "Divider"; during Muhammad's lifetime no one could call his son Qasim, since this kunya was assigned to Muhammad). The full name of the Prophet Muhammad looks like this: Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Muttalib (Abd al-Muttalib's name is Shaiba) ibn Hashim (Hashima's name is Amr) ibn Abd Manaf (Abd Manafa's name is al-Mughira) ibn Qusayyah ibn Kilab ibn Murra ibn Kaab ibn Luayyah ibn Ghalib ibn Fihr ibn Malik ibn An-Nadr ibn Kinana ibn Khuzaima ibn Mudrik (Mudriki's name is Amir) ibn Ilyas ibn Mudar ibn Nizar ibn Madd ibn Adnan ibn Adad (also pronounced - Udad) ibn Mukawvim ibn Nahur ibn Tairakh ibn Yaarub ibn Yashjub Ibn Nabit ibn Ismail ibn Ibrahim (Khalil ar-Rahman) ibn Tarikh (this is Azhar) ibn Nahur ibn Sarug ibn Shalih ibn Irfhashad ibn Sam ibn Nuh ibn Lamk ibn Mattu Shalah ibn Akhnuh (this is said to be the prophet Idris) ibn Yard ibn Mahlil ibn Kaynan ibn Janish ibn Shit ibn Adam.

Appearance

The great Islamic historian and theologian Abu Jafar Muhammad al-Tabari in his book “General History” gave the following description of the prophet’s appearance.

“He was of average height: neither tall nor short. His face was pinkish-white, his eyes were dark, his hair was thick, shiny, very beautiful. His face was framed by a beard. Long hair fell over her shoulders. They were black in color... His gait was so lively that with every step he seemed to lift off the ground, and at the same time his movements were so light, as if he had not touched it. However, in his gait there was no pride inherent in the powerful of this world. There was so much kindness in his face that it was impossible to take your eyes off. It was enough for the hungry to look at him and they immediately forgot about food. The sufferers forgot about their troubles in his presence, enchanted by the softness of his features and his speech. Everyone who saw him was unanimous that they had never, either before or since, met a person with whom conversation would have been so pleasant. His nose was straight and his teeth were sparse. At times his hair flowed freely from his head, at other times he tied it in two or four buns. By the age of 62, he had virtually no gray hair..."

Fragment of a medieval Persian miniature depicting the Prophet Muhammad. author unknown

The Prophet Muhammad liked to wear white clothes, mainly long shirts (al-kamis) and striped Yemenite cloaks (al-khibara), as well as a turban and an izar, which he wrapped around his hips and reached mid-calf. On his hand was a silver ring with the inscription “Muhammad - Messenger of Allah.” He was clean, often applied incense to his body and brushed his teeth with miswak. The voice of the Prophet Muhammad was a little hoarse, he spoke eloquently, briefly and clearly, sometimes repeating a phrase three times so that people could accurately remember his words. He smiled often, and sometimes laughed so hard that his molars were visible.

Muhammad's place among the prophets of Islam

Seal of Prophecy

Muhammad belonged to the Quraish tribe. Oppressed by the pagan Meccans, in 622 he moved from Mecca to Yathrib, which after that became known as Medina (this date - the hijra (movement) - is the beginning of the Muslim calendar), and then, together with his followers, conquered Mecca. By the time of Muhammad’s death in 632, the entire Arabian Peninsula had already been converted to Islam, and soon after the death of the prophet, his successors (“viceroys”, caliphs) conquered vast territories of the Asian and African possessions of the Byzantine Empire, partly Europe, spreading Islam, Arabic culture and language , and subsequently also the scientific knowledge accumulated (including by ancient civilization), which had a direct impact on the development of science as a whole; This cultural, linguistic and religious space has been preserved, with the exception of Europe, to the present day. Muhammad is also called the Seal of the Prophets, the Lord of the Prophets and the Prophet of the Day of Judgment. The Muslim's iman includes the belief that Muhammad is the messenger of God along with other prophets (this is recorded in the Islamic creed - the Shahada) and is the last prophet.

Religious teaching

According to the teachings of Islam, Muhammad is the last prophet and messenger of Allah. Islam, that is, submission to the One God, was inherent in all the righteous, including those who followed the command of God, accepting the teachings of Isa, Musa and other famous biblical prophets. However, the teachings of Judaism and Christianity, according to Islam, were distorted by people, and then lost their relevance after the revelation of the Koran. At the same time, the distortion of the Scriptures was within the boundaries of the knowledge of Allah. The Quran is the word of Allah, the last Holy Scripture, a Scripture that will not be changed. Since, by the will of Allah, the Last Scripture contains Arabic speech, this language is special for Muslims. Only the Quran in Arabic is Scripture; a translation into any language of the world (it is often stated that this is a “translation of meanings”) is not. The Quran was revealed in parts. Based on the verses of the Qur'an (25:32, 17:106), this is due to the fact that Allah wanted to root faith in the heart of Muhammad, and also sent down revelations according to the events and questions of the inquirers, which made a greater impression than if they were sent down in their entirety. The revelation could calm Muhammad, instill in him peace and perseverance. Some revelations canceled previous ones. It is generally accepted that the revelations that came to Muhammad before the Muslims moved to Medina contain fewer legal provisions. The Koran often contains commands to Muhammad. The word "kul" (tell) appears 332 times

Prophecies about the coming of Muhammad in the Bible

Main article: Bible about Muhammad

The Islamic religion, recognizing the Bible as the Holy Scripture, often points out that the Bible also speaks of the Prophet Muhammad as God's Messenger. The Quran says this about it: “Those to whom We have given the Book know it as they know their sons. However, some of them deliberately hide the truth.” (2:146)

In addition, Muslims talk about the distortion of today's version of the Bible, which, according to some hadiths, also affected the part that talks about Muhammad. Even those Christians who agree that the Bible is distorted reject the Muslim position.

Muslims cite the following Bible verses as evidence:

I will raise up for them a Prophet from among their brothers, such as you [ these words are addressed to Moses] and I will put My words in His mouth, and He will speak to them everything that I command Him. And whoever does not listen to My words, which the Prophet will speak in My name, of him I will require it; But the prophet who dares to say in My name what I did not command him to say, and who speaks in the name of other gods, such a prophet must be put to death. And if you say in your heart: “How can we know a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, but the word does not come true and is not fulfilled, then it was not the Lord who spoke this word, but the prophet who spoke this out of his boldness, do not be afraid of him. (Bible. Deuteronomy ch. 18, v. 18-22)

Muslims point out that this could not be said about Isa (Jesus), due to the fact that he is not like Musa (Moses), whereas it is said “like you.” The famous Muslim preacher Ahmed Deedat pointed out the main differences between Isa (Jesus). This is a miraculous birth, recognized by Muslims, he did not marry and had no children, unlike Moses and Muhammad, he was not recognized by his people as a prophet, unlike Moses and Muhammad, he was not a king, that is, he was not that , who, roughly speaking, controls the lives of his people. Ahmed Deedat also points out that Isa (Jesus) did not come with some new law, but came only to fulfill the old law. Regarding the words “from their brothers,” Muslims recall the common origin of Arabs and Jews. Muslims point to other verses in the Bible

Arabia and Mecca before the start of Muhammad's preaching

The main religions in Arabia were paganism, Judaism and various heretical Christian beliefs. Local Arab tribes professed polytheism, which was based on the monotheistic religion of the prophet Ibrahim (Hanifism), from which they retained the ritual of Hajj and the tradition of venerating the Kaaba. Among the pre-Islamic Arabs, eloquence, hospitality, and loyalty to their treaty were widely revered. Among the primitive qualities of pre-Islamic society, the following can be highlighted: there was blood feud, there was a tradition of burying newborn girls alive, or burying newborn children if the Arabs were afraid not to feed them. Mecca, where Muhammad lived, was one of the trade and financial centers of Arabia. Mecca was located among barren rocks; agriculture was impossible in it. Agriculture was widespread only in oases, one of which was Yathrib (Medina). Mecca was the scene of constant struggle for power between Arab tribes. The Quraish tribe, from which the Prophet Muhammad came, played a special place in politics.

Family

Sauda bint Zama

Aisha bint Abu Bakr

Hafsa bint Umar

Zainab bint Humayza

Zainab bint Jahsh

Juwayriyah bint al-Harith

Ramla bint Abu Sufyan

Rayhana bint Zeid

Maimuna bint Haris

Maria al-Qibtiya

Main article: Genealogy of the Prophet Muhammad

Prophet Muhammad was from the Quraish tribe, which had a very high position in the Arab environment. He belonged to the Hashim clan (Hashemites). The clan received this name in honor of Muhammad's great-grandfather, Hashim. During his lifetime, Hashim had the right to gather livestock to feed pilgrims and the right to own the Zamzam spring. He was a rich man. He received his nickname “Hashim” (his name was Amr) due to the fact that he broke bread into pieces for pilgrims who came to the Hajj in Mecca (“hashima” - to break bread for the Turi). After his death, the right to feed and water the pilgrims passed to his brother, al-Muttalib, whom the Quraysh called al-Fayda - “generosity itself.” Hashim had a son, Abd al-Muttalib, who was named Shuaibah. He was very revered by his people.

Muhammad's father Abd Allah died shortly before his birth (two months) or a few months after the birth of Muhammad. Muhammad's mother's name is Amina bint Wahb ibn Abd Manaf ibn Zuhra ibn Kilab. Name Muhammad, meaning "The Praised One", was given to him by his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib.

The number of wives of the Prophet Muhammad varies among different historians. Masudi, in his book “Murujuz-zahab” notes that the Prophet Muhammad had 15 wives. Yaghoubi writes that the Prophet Muhammad had 21 or 23 wives, and entered into physical relations with only 13 wives. Qaradawi indicates only the number nine, but without Khadija, that is, ten; Watt Montgomery points out that many tribes claimed kinship with Muhammad, so the list of wives may be greatly exaggerated. He names only eleven wives (with Khadija), which is closer to traditional ideas (he also gives the names of two concubines). The Prophet Muhammad married everyone before the Koranic ban, where it was forbidden to have more than four wives. Below is a list of the 13 wives of the Prophet Muhammad:

1. Khadija bint Khuwaylid
2. Sauda bint Zama
3. Aisha bint Abu Bakr
4. Hafsa bint Umar
5. Zainab bint Humayza
6. Umm Salamah bint Abu Umaya
7. Zainab bint Jahsh
8. Juwayriyah bint al-Harith
9. Rayhana bint Zeid
10. Ramla bint Abu Sufyan
11. Maria al-Qibtiya
12. Maimunah bint al-Harith

Main article: Children of the Prophet Muhammad

All of Muhammad's children, except Ibrahim, were from Khadija. The first child from Khadija was al-Qasim, then at-Tahir, at-Tayyib, Zainab, Ruqaiya, Umm Kulthum, Fatima were born. The boys died in early childhood. The girls lived to see the beginning of the prophetic mission of Muhammad, all accepted Islam, and all moved from Mecca to Medina. All died before Muhammad's death, except Fatima. She died six months after his death.

Main article: Descendants of the Prophet Muhammad

The descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and grandson Hussein are called Seyids. The descendants of Hassan's grandson are sheriffs. The descendants of the Prophet Muhammad created the ruling dynasty in Morocco (the Saadites). King Abdullah II of Jordan of the Hashemite dynasty is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad in the 43rd generation.

Brief chronology

• - birth of Muhammad in Mecca. Even before Muhammad's birth, his father dies and Muhammad is given to his nurse, Halima bint Abu Zuaib. For 4 years, Muhammad lives with the nomadic Bedouin tribe Banu Sad.
• - the arrival of the nurse Halima to Mecca and the return of Muhammad to mother Amina.
• - travel to Syria with Abu Talib.
• - participation in the “Blasphemous War”, where the Prophet Muhammad “repelled arrows with a shield, protecting his uncles.”
• - the trip of the Prophet Muhammad with Khadija’s trade caravan to the city of Busra; marriage to Khadija.
• - participation in the “Union of the Noble”, the essence of which was to protect the defenseless and ensure the safety of strangers in Mecca.
• - sending down the first revelations; the beginning of the prophetic mission of Muhammad.
• - Beginning of Muhammad's public preaching
• - resettlement of some of Muhammad’s companions to Ethiopia from persecution (he himself remains under the protection of his uncle Abu Talib).
• - boycott of the Banu Hashim clan against Muhammad.
• - death of Khadija and Abu Talib; attempt to resettle in the city of At-Taif; ending the boycott of the Banu Hashim clan against Muhammad.
• - a secret agreement between Muhammad and a group of Medina residents on the special role of an arbitrator.
• - Isra and Miraj; first oath under Aqaba.
• - Hijra, migration to Medina.

Main article: Muhammad in Medina

Contemporaries

The first people to convert to Islam, after Khadija, were: Ali ibn Abu Talib, Zayd ibn Harith, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Uthman ibn Affan, Az-Zubayr ibn Al-Awwam, Abd ar-Rahman ibn Auf, Saad ibn Abu Waqqas, Talha ibn Ubaydullah and others.

Among those who hated the Prophet Muhammad were his uncle Abu Lahab and his wife, Abu Jahl, Uqba ibn Abu Muaytha and others. Some of those who were at enmity with the Prophet Muhammad subsequently converted to Islam, as did Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and others.

Role in history

The Prophet Muhammad is recognized by the American writer and scientist Michael Hart in the book “100 Great Men” as the most influential person in history.

Arab world after Muhammad

By the time of Muhammad's death in 632, the entire Arabian Peninsula had been converted to Islam, and soon after the death of the prophet, his successors (“deputies”, caliphs) conquered vast territories of the Asian and African possessions of the Byzantine Empire, spreading Islam, Arabic culture and language. The Abbasid Caliphate was the largest empire of its time, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to China.

Muhammad's last sermon

Some people [ Who?] call this sermon a manifesto of human rights in Islam.

The last sermon was delivered by Muhammad in the tenth year of the Hijri, when non-Muslims were prohibited from visiting the Holy Kaaba. Muhammad led 14 thousand Muslims from Medina on the Hajj to Mecca. On the 9th day of the month of Dhul-Hijjah, Muhammad invited all Muslims who had arrived in Mecca to perform the Hajj to Mount Jabal al-Rahman in Arafat and spoke with them. Some quotes from this sermon (translation by Prof. Ashik-Said Konurbaev):

Muhammad in the Koran

The name “Muhammad” is used in the Koran only five times (for comparison, Isa (Jesus) is mentioned 25 times, Adam is mentioned the same number, Musa (Moses) - 136 times, Ibrahim (Abraham) - 69, Nuh (Noah) - 43). It is mentioned in 3:144, 145, 33:40, 47:2, 48:29 as Muhammad and once in verse 61:6 as Ahmad. Also, the 47th sura of the Koran is called “Muhammad”.

Miracles of Muhammad

One day, while traveling, food ran out and the people fell into poverty. They went to the Messenger (may he rest in peace) and asked permission to slaughter their camels, and he agreed. Umar met them on the way and they told him about it and he said: “How are you going to survive after you slaughter the camels?” Then he went to the messenger and said: “O Messenger of Allah! How will they survive after they slaughter their camels?” The Messenger of Allah ordered Umar: “Call the people and let them bring all the food that is still left.” The skins were spread out, and all the camp food was piled on them. The Messenger of Allah stood up and asked Allah to bless her, then he sent people for the dishes, and they began to take from this pile until everyone had taken enough for themselves. Then the Messenger of Allah said: “I testify that no one has the right to be worshiped except Allah, and I am His Messenger.”

• Getting water from your fingers.

Anas bin Malik said: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (may he rest in peace) when the time for the Asr prayer approached, and people were looking for water to perform ablution, but could not find it. Later, water (a full pot) for ablution was brought to the Messenger of Allah. He placed his hands in the pot and told the people to perform ablution from it. I saw water pouring out from under his fingers until everyone had performed ablution (this was one of the miracles of the prophet).”

• Sighing palm trunk. While in Medina, Muhammad leaned on the trunk of a Hunnan palm tree during prayer. For convenience, the palm tree was cut down, and a pulpit, a mimbar, was built in this place. Left alone, the tree began to sigh, wanting the touch of the prophet’s hands. Upon learning of his grief, Muhammad ordered the trunk to be brought back.

In biographies and sets of hadiths, many miracles are described, for example, during the digging of a ditch around Medina, correct predictions (see, for example, the Day of Resurrection in Islam), miracles with various physical objects, etc. The conclusions of some researchers that Muhammad did not perform any miracles are considered groundless by Muslims because the existence of such Scripture as the Koran cannot be questioned.

Statements by famous people about the personality and activities of Muhammad

Positive

Negative

Medicine of the Prophet Muhammad

The Prophet Muhammad was not only a purely religious and political figure. Muhammad said that there is a cure for any disease. If it is accurately chosen, then the person will recover, according to the will of the Creator, and that Allah has sent down diseases and along with them remedies. Some people know about them, and some don't. Muhammad said that three (things) bring healing: a sip of honey, a leech cut (bloodletting) and cauterization, but he forbade cauterization. However, this prohibition, as Islamic scholars say, is not absolutely categorical and is permissible in cases of particularly extreme need. For stomach ailments, Muhammad recommended honey. Muhammad said that black cumin oil is a remedy for any disease, except death. Muhammad recommended using Indian incense, as it heals “from seven ailments,” and its smoking should also be inhaled by those who have a sore throat, and put in the mouth who suffers from pleurisy. He told people not to torment their children whose tonsils are inflamed by pressing on them, but to use incense. He told his followers that the best remedies for their treatment were bloodletting and sea incense (amber). Another saying: “If a fly falls into the drink of one of you, let him (first) immerse it (in this drink completely), and then pull it out (from there) for, verily, on one of its wings is illness, and on friend - healing" has a modern scientific basis. . Once, as a treatment, Muhammad ordered to drink the urine and milk of milking camels. The prominent Muslim scientist Abdul Majid al-Zindani, who says that he has found a cure for AIDS and that the Iman University, of which he is the rector, provides this medicine free of charge, says that thanks to his work as a pharmacist, he was able to correctly understand the hadiths of the prophet.

Some sayings

Quotes that received public outcry

Character

An attempt to show the character of Muhammad was made in the 30-episode feature film “The Moon of the Hashim Family,” filmed in 2008 with the cooperation of film studios from 4 Muslim states - Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Sudan.

Followers

From an Islamic point of view, there have always been Muslims (“Muslim” - submissive to God), starting with Adam and Chava (Eve). The number of Muslims around the world is currently estimated at approximately 1.1 to 1.2 billion people.

Criticism

Muhammad's first critics were his fellow tribesmen, the Quraish. This criticism was characterized by a general distrust and conservatism. This criticism can only be judged from the Koran and the biographies of Muhammad. There was criticism of Muhammad from Byzantine historians, but this criticism is characterized by a distortion of the appearance of Muhammad. French encyclopedists of the late 18th century write the following: “Muhammad is a famous deceiver, false prophet and false teacher, founder of heresy.” The subject of criticism is the personal life of Muhammad. According to some sources, the age of one of Muhammad's wives, Aisha, was 9 years old. This opinion is not denied by Muslims (although there are a number of alternative hadiths about Aisha’s age, which speak of the ages of 13, 17 and even 27 years), but in the Muslim world this information is given a different meaning, which is expressed in open defense expressed in various types of literature .

In art

• Film "Muhammad - Messenger of God"
• Cartoon "Muhammad: the last prophet"

see also

Notes

1. Tokarev A. (chief ed.), Myths of the peoples of the world. Encyclopedia in 2 volumes, volume 2. - M.: 1998
2. Ibn Hisham "Biography of the Prophet Muhammad", ed. rus. 2002, 2003
3. Al-Bukhari (No. 5908), Muslim (No. 2340)
4. About the virtues of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslim morality and righteous behavior. Muhammad ibn Jamil Zinu
5. Messenger of Allah. F. A. Asadullin, R. I. Sultanov and others.
6. Mukhtasar ash-shamail" (No. 97, 188)
7. Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 5, 266
8. Al-Buty R. Fiqh as-sira an-nabawiyya [Understanding the biography of the Prophet]. Cairo: al-Salam, 1999, p. 34.
9. http://www.umma.ru/namaz/prayer/purity/
10. "Who is the author of the Koran"
11. Bible Numbers 15:35
12. Bible about the Prophet
13. “Murujuz-zahab” vol. 2, pp. 282-283
14. M. Watt. Muhammad in Medina. With. 436
15. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, head of the International Ulema Association. From the book “Modern Fatwas”
16. Chronology of the era of the Prophet / website of the RDUM of the Penza region.
17. Chronology of the period of the Prophet Muhammad. / PosledniyProrok.Info
18. Farewell sermon of the Prophet Muhammad - Encyclopedia of the miracles of the Koran.
19. Islamic Spiritual - Educational Charitable Society
20. Post 2011 (Part 14. Laylatul-qadr)
21. Bernard G. Weiss “The spirit of Islamic law”, page 69
22. Bernard G. Weiss “The spirit of Islamic law” pp. 70-72
23. Koran, Surah Yunus (10), verse 38, translation by E. Kuliev
24. Bernard G. Weiss “The spirit of Islamic law”, page 70
25. F. F. Arbuthnot, The Construction of the Bible and the Koran (London: 1985), 5
26. As-Sahih al-Bukhari, volume 3, p. 401

Muhammad ibn Abd Allah, a Quraysh from the Hashim clan, was born in the Arabian city of Mecca around 570 AD. He was orphaned early, tended sheep, accompanied caravans, and took part in inter-tribal battles. At the age of 25, Muhammad went to work for his distant relative, the wealthy widow Khadija, whom he later married. After marriage, he took up the leather trade, but was not very successful at it. In marriage he gave birth to four daughters; his sons died in infancy.

Until the age of forty, he led the life of an ordinary Meccan merchant, until in 610 he had his first experience of encountering the spiritual world. One night, which he spent in a cave on Mount Hira, a ghost appeared to him and forced Muhammad to read the verses that became the first lines of the “revelation” (Koran 96 1-15). This is how this event is described in the biography of the founder of Islam, Ibn Hisham:

“When this month came... the Messenger of Allah went to Mount Hira... When night fell... Jibril brought him the command of Allah. The Messenger of Allah said: “Jibril appeared to me while I was sleeping, with a brocade blanket in which some kind of book was wrapped and said: “Read!” I replied, “I can’t read.” Then he began to choke me with this blanket, so that I thought that death had come. Then he let me go and said: “Read!” I replied, “I can’t read.” He started choking me with it again, and I thought I was dying. Then he let me go and said: “Read!” I answered: “What should I read?”, wanting only to get rid of him so that he would not again do to me the same thing as before. Then he said: “Read! In the name of your Lord, who created man from a clot. Read! Indeed, your Lord is the most generous, who taught a man with a writing reed what he did not know (Quran 96.1-5)".

After this, the strangler disappeared, and Muhammad was overcome with such despair that he decided to commit suicide. But when he was about to jump off the mountain, he saw the same spirit again, got scared and ran home in fear, where he told his wife Khadija about the vision, saying:

“O Khadija! In the name of Allah, I have never hated anything so much as idols and soothsayers, and I am afraid that I myself must become a soothsayer... O Khadija! I heard a sound and saw a light and I'm afraid I've gone crazy."(Ibn Saad, Tabaqat, vol. 1, p. 225).

She went to her Christian cousin Waraqa, and he interpreted the vision to mean that it was the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel, who supposedly appeared to all the prophets, and that Muhammad was also, therefore, a prophet of the one God. Khadija tried to convince the frightened Muhammad of this, to whom the same spiritual being continued to appear at night. For quite a long time he was suspicious that it was the devil, but later Khadija managed to convince her husband that it was an angel who appeared to him.

Having accepted the mission imposed on him, Muhammad began to receive new revelations, but for another three whole years he told about them only to his family and close friends. The first few followers appeared - Muslims (“submissive”). The very name of the religion “Islam” is translated by Muslims as “submission”, in the sense of submission to Allah.

Muhammad continued to receive what he called “revelations from Allah.” Visions like the original were very rare. Revelations mostly came in a different form. Hadiths describe it this way:

“Verily, al-Harith ibn Hisham said:

“O Messenger of Allah! How do revelations come to you?” The Messenger of Allah told him: “Sometimes they come to me in the form of a ringing bell, and it is very difficult for me; (eventually) it stops ringing and I remember everything I was told. Sometimes an angel appears in front of me and speaks, and I remember everything he said.” Aisha said: “I witnessed when the revelation came to him on a very cold day; when it stopped, his entire forehead was covered in sweat" (Ibn Saad, Tabaqat, vol. 1, p. 228).

“Ubayd b. Samit says that when the revelation came to the Messenger of Allah, he felt heaviness, and his complexion underwent a change.”(Muslim, 17.4192).

Another hadith talks about the following signs: “ The messenger's face was red and he was breathing heavily for a while, and then he freed himself from it” (Bukhari, 6.61.508). And other legends report that when Muhammad received “revelations,” he fell into painful states: he thrashed around convulsively, felt a blow that shook his entire being, it seemed as if his soul was leaving his body, foam came out of his mouth, his face turned pale or purple, he even sweated on a cold day.

Over the course of several years, Muhammad converted just over two dozen people to his faith. Three years after the first revelation, he begins public preaching at the bazaar. Already known to the Arabs, the god Allah, who was part of the pre-Islamic pagan pantheon, Muhammad declared the only one, and himself a prophet, proclaimed the resurrection, the Last Judgment and retribution. The sermon was generally met with indifference and was not widely successful.

This was explained by the fact that Muhammad was not original in his ideas - at the same time in Arabia there were people who taught that God is one and proclaimed themselves his prophets. An early predecessor and competitor of Muhammad was the “prophet” Maslama from the city of Yemama. It is known that the Meccans reproached their “prophet” for simply copying the “man from Yemama,” i.e. Maslamu. Early sources indicate that Muhammad studied with a certain Nestorian monk...

Over time, when attacks against the goddesses revered by the Meccans began to appear in his sermons, and clashes began between Muslims and pagans, this led to a strong deterioration in relations towards Muhammad on the part of most of the townspeople. His Hashim clan was boycotted by other clans.

As relations grew tense, Muhammad decided to send those Muslims who caused the most irritation to Christian Abyssinia. This first hijra (migration) took place in 615. At the same time, some of the companions of Muhammad who moved to Abyssinia, having learned Christianity, were baptized (for example, UbaydAllah ibn Jahiz). Later, one of Muhammad’s scribes also converted to Orthodoxy.

The position of the “prophet” worsened in 620, when Abu Talib and Khadija died. Desperate to convert the Meccans, Muhammad tries to preach outside of Mecca - in the neighboring city of Taif, but this attempt was unsuccessful, and the herald of the new religion was stoned and expelled in disgrace. The next month, Muhammad began to preach among pilgrims from other tribes who came to worship the gods of the Kaaba, but again failed.

But a year later he was finally lucky - his speeches attracted the attention of pilgrims from Yathrib (which was also called Medina), where Muhammad’s maternal relatives lived. He sent his supporter Musaba there, who managed to convert many Yathribs to Islam.

Having learned about this, Muhammad decides to move the community to Medina. In the summer of 622, the second, or great Hijra, took place - about 70 Muslims rushed to Yathrib. The first mosque was built here.

Most of the settlers' property remained in Mecca. The Muslims of Yathrib helped them, but they themselves were not rich. The community found itself in miserable conditions. Then Muhammad, not seeing a way to feed the community with honest labor, decides to engage in robbery.

He tried to rob the caravans, but the first six attempts were unsuccessful, since in normal months the caravans were well guarded. Then Muhammad decided to make a treacherous raid. The Arabs revered four sacred months of the year, during which it was forbidden to carry out any military actions. In one of these months, the month of Rajab, at the beginning of 624, Muhammad ordered a small detachment of Muslims to attack a caravan carrying a load of raisins from Taif to Mecca.

The caravan was practically unguarded, and the attack was crowned with success: the sent detachment of Muslims returned with booty, one of the drivers was killed, the other managed to escape, two more were captured, one of whom was later sold.

The first successful raid brought the first loot. A few months later, the “Battle of Badr” took place:

“The Prophet heard that Abu Sufyan ibn Harb was returning from Syria with a large caravan of Quraysh, carrying money and goods... Hearing about this... The Prophet called on the Muslims to attack them, saying: “Here is the caravan of Quraysh. It contains their wealth. Attack them, and maybe with the help of Allah you will get them!”(Ibn Hisham. Biography... pp. 278–279).

So, intending to capture a rich Meccan caravan returning from Palestine under the supervision of his uncle Abu Sufian, Muhammad encountered superior forces of pagans who were rushing to help the caravan's escorts. But the Muslims managed to win. This had a significant strengthening of Muhammad's position in Medina; many pagans began to actively accept Islam. Muslims were convinced that the victory was a confirmation of the truth of Islam.

If previously the “prophet” was content with a share of one fifteenth of the loot, then during the division of trophies after Badr, Muhammad received a revelation that he now needed to separate a fifth of all the booty (Koran 8:41).

Captured Meccans formed the most important part of the booty. The ransom for the captive was the price of several camels, and representatives of all the rich families of Mecca were captured here. And Muhammad raised the price of their ransom, and ordered the death of some prisoners of war, namely an-Nadr ibn al-Harith and Uqba ibn Abu Muayt. The fault of the first was that he considered his poems to be of better quality than the Quranic revelations of Muhammad, and the second composed mocking poems about the “prophet”.

All of Muhammad's sermons, which later became the Koran, were in poetic form, and although Muhammad himself claimed that no one would ever be able to write such wonderful poetry, nevertheless, Arab poets were skeptical about his poetry and the level of his poetry. And he could not tolerate this.

After Badr, Muhammad began to crack down on the Medina poets. One of the first to die was Ka'b ibn Ashraf, who annoyed Muhammad by writing satirical poems about him. Here's how Muslim sources describe it:

“The Messenger of Allah said: “Who is ready to kill Ka’b ibn Ashraf?” Muhammad ibn Maslama replied: “Do you want me to kill him?” The Messenger replied in the affirmative.”(Bukhari, 4037).

The Messenger said: “Whatever is entrusted to you, you must do.” He asked: “O Messenger of Allah, we will have to lie.” He replied: “Say whatever you want, since you are free in your business” (Ibn Ishaq, Sirat rasul Allah, p. 367).

Muhammad ibn Maslama came to Ka'b and spoke to him, recalling the old friendship between them, and persuaded Ka'b to leave the house, convincing him that a group of Muslims had become disillusioned with the “prophet.” Kaab believed him, especially since Kaab’s foster brother, Abu Naila, was with him, who said: “I am Abu Naila, and I came to tell you that the coming of this man (“messenger”) is a great misfortune for us. We want to get away from him” (Ibn Saad, Tabaqat, vol. 2, p. 36).

When Ka'b was drawn into conversation and began to talk to them freely and was "pleased with them and became close to them" (ibid., p. 37), they moved closer to him under the pretext of examining the aroma of his perfume. They then drew their swords and stabbed him to death. Having killed the Kaaba, they immediately returned to Muhammad, saying takbir (Allahu akbar - “Allah is great”). And when they approached the Messenger of Allah, he said: “ (Your) faces are happy.” They said: “Yours too, O Messenger of Allah!” They bowed their heads before him. The Messenger thanked Allah that the Ka'b was dead."(Ibn Saad, Tabaqat, vol. 2, p. 37).

In the same way, through assassins sent, the poetess Asma bint Marwan was killed in her home, and a little later, the poet Abu Afak, one of the elders of the Amr b. Auf, then it was the turn of Al-Harith ibn Suwayd. On another occasion, Muhammad personally ordered his adopted son Zeid to kill the poetess Umm Qirfa, who ridiculed the “prophet,” and Zeid killed her by tying a rope to her legs, at the other end tied to two camels, and leading them in opposite directions until the woman was not torn into two halves (Al 'saba – Ibn Hagar – vol. 4, page 231).

The repressions also took on a group character - at least fifty families of pagans from the Aus tribe who did not convert to Islam had to move to Mecca. Thus Muhammad strengthened his position inside Medina. Most of the pagans became Muslims. The other opposition in the city was the Jewish tribes, of which there were three. Some of the Jews also converted to Islam, but their number was insignificant. Most Jews ridiculed his prophetic claims. And Muhammad began a systematic war against the Jewish tribes. First, he initiated hostility with the Jewish tribe Banu Qaynuqa, forcing them to move out of the city to the oasis of Khaybar.

It is worth noting that in Medina, Muhammad's family increased significantly. After the death of Khadija, he married Sauda in Mecca, and in Medina acquired a harem: he married Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr, Hafsa, the daughter of Omar, Zainab bint Khuzaim, Umm Habibu, the daughter of Abu Sufian, Hind Umm Salama, Zainab bint Jahsh, Safiya and Maimun. For Muslims, Muhammad set a restriction not to take more than four wives at a time (Koran 4.3), but when he himself exhausted this “quota,” the “prophet” immediately received a “revelation” that he himself, as an exception, could take an unlimited number of wives. In addition to his wives, he had a number of concubines.

A year after Badr, the next battle between the Muslims and the Quraish took place, called the “Battle of Uhud.” This time the Muslims suffered a significant defeat, although Muhammad had predicted victory the day before; nevertheless, his camel was killed under him, and two of his teeth were knocked out. It was not the best of times for the Muslim community, but it did not collapse. A “revelation” came down to Muhammad, explaining that the Muslims themselves were to blame for everything, but not the “prophet.” If, they say, they had obeyed him, they would have won (Koran 3.152). In addition, he constantly tried to strengthen his supporters by intensifying the image of the enemy who surrounded them everywhere. Muhammad continued the systematic extermination of non-Muslims in Medina and expanded beyond its borders, attacking the surrounding, weaker tribes.

The Bani Mustaliq tribe was attacked, and then Muhammad began a siege of the second Jewish tribe of Medina, the Bani Nadir. As a result, the Jews were forced to leave their homes and lands and also move to Khaybar.
After the expulsion of the Banu Nadir, the Muslims for the first time got rich, well-irrigated lands with palm groves as booty. They hoped to divide them according to the accepted rules, but then Muhammad received a revelation, which explained that since this booty was not obtained in battle, but by agreement, it should all go to the complete disposal of the “messenger of Allah” and be distributed at his discretion (Koran 59.7 ).

Now Muhammad began to send his killers even beyond Medina. For example, he “ordered” the murder of one of the leaders of the Banu Nadir, Abu Rafi, who, after being expelled from Medina, went north to Khaybar. On the way, Muslims killed him (Bukhari, 4039).

After this, Muhammad turned his arms against the last Jewish tribe in Medina, the Bani Qurayza, who remained neutral during the siege. In Muslim traditions this is presented as a consequence of a divine command:

“At noon Jibril appeared to the Prophet... [and said]: “Almighty and all-glorious Allah orders you, O Muhammad, to go to Bani Qurayza. I will go to them and shake them.” The Messenger of Allah besieged them for twenty-five days until the siege became unbearable for them... Then they surrendered, and the Prophet locked them in Medina in the house of Bint al-Harith, a woman from the Banu al-Najjar. Then the Prophet went to the market of Medina and dug several ditches there. Then he ordered them to be brought, and cut off their heads in these ditches. They say there were between eight and nine hundred of them.” (Ibn Hisham. Biography... p. 400).

As a result of such activities, Muhammad had an entire city at his disposal with a strong and obedient community. The confiscation of the property of the expelled and exterminated Jewish tribes, as well as predatory raids on surrounding tribes and caravans brought rich booty to the Muslims. The Meccans once again tried to attack the Muslims, but they surrounded the city with a siege ditch, which the pagans did not dare to storm and the battle never took place.

Muhammad then organized an attack on the Jewish fortress of Khaybar.

The superior Muslim forces managed to capture it. After the victory, the “prophet” not only sold and killed prisoners, as before, but also tortured some. One of the local leaders named Kinana did not have as much money as Muhammad expected to see. He ordered al-Zubair to torture Kinana in order to find out where the rest was hidden. The torture with two hot charred pieces of wood pressed to Kinana's chest was so severe that he lost consciousness. However, the torture did not produce results, and the location of the money was still unknown. Then the “prophet” handed Kinana over to his supporters for execution, and took his wife into his harem.

In 629, Muhammad gathered and sent against the Ghassanid Arabs, who were in the service of the Byzantine emperor, a large army of three thousand people. Here the Muslims first encountered Byzantine forces and were defeated, three of the four military leaders died in the battle, including their adopted one Muhammad's son Zeid.

The following year, Muhammad marched against Mecca with an army of thousands. The Quraysh did not dare to resist; the vast majority of them sat in their houses. The city capitulated. Muhammad defiantly forgave the Quraish - with the exception of some sworn enemies, some of whom the Muslims managed to capture and execute. However, he did not forgive for nothing - but on the condition that the Quraish convert to Islam. Which they hastened to do.

Approaching the Kaaba (pagan sanctuary), Muhammad ordered to remove all the idols from it, except for the black stone, and also ordered to erase all the paintings, except for the iconographic image of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus (Azraki, p. 111).

After the Hajj in Mecca, Muhammad, through Ali, as usual, citing revelation (Koran 9.5), declared war on paganism after the end of the holy months. Until now, he considered Islam a matter of conscience for everyone, he persuaded people to accept Islam, bribed them, but did not force them. Now Muhammad felt able to force him to accept Islam under threat of death. In 630, campaigns continued against the surrounding tribes in order to force them to convert to Islam. Often weak tribes submitted to these demands, but not always.

In the year of his death, Muhammad performed the ritual of hajj to the Kaaba and performed the ritual of worship of the black stone. Everything that the “prophet” did during his hajj became the basis of rituals observed to this day by Muslim pilgrims.

Representatives of Arab tribes flocked to Mecca from all sides, hurrying to enter into an alliance with a formidable force. However, not everything was smooth sailing. A number of regions of Arabia (East and South) drove out his emissaries in disgrace, rallying around their own prophets - Aswad and Maslama.

A serious illness found Muhammad preparing a great campaign against Byzantium. Death prevented the plan from being realized. Before his death, he was seriously ill, the ghosts of the dead bothered him. He died in Medina in 632. According to legend, Muhammad’s last words were: “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians who turned the graves of their prophets into places for prayer!” (Bukhari, 436) .

During his life he made nineteen military campaigns. He left nine widows and three daughters, he had eight swords, four spears, four chain mail, four bows, a shield and a fringed banner.

With the death of Muhammad, the political system he created was shaken everywhere. Many of the most important tribes considered themselves free from treaty obligations, expelled the tax collectors and returned to their former lives. There was a riddah - a mass apostasy from Islam. It was Abu Bakr, his successor, the first caliph, who had to make enormous efforts to save Islam from defeat and schism. As before, the main means to achieve this was seen as continuous Muslim expansion. Having dealt with their opponents on the Arabian Peninsula, they poured further into the territories of Persia and Byzantium, devastated and weakened by twenty-five years of war, plague and internal turmoil.

from the book of priest Georgy Maximov “Orthodoxy and Islam”

He was born half orphan, for his father Abdullah died when his mother was two months pregnant.

When he was six years old, his mother, Amina bint Wahab, also died, leaving Muhammad an orphan. His guardian was Abdul-Muttalib, his paternal grandfather, who had a special position and influence in Mecca. Members of his Quraysh tribe treated him as a respectable sheikh. And in those days, the Quraish tribe occupied a dominant position among all other Arab tribes.

The Prophet Muhammad became the object of his grandfather's care, love and affection, but all this did not last long, for his grandfather passed away when Muhammad was only eight years old. After the death of his grandfather, his uncle Abu Talib became the boy's guardian.
When Muhammad was twelve years old, he and his uncle Abu Talib went on a trading journey to Bilad al-Sham (Syria). This is how Muhammad left his native place for the first time. When he was twenty-five years old, he again went to Bilad al-Sham, this time on the business of Lady Khadija bint Huaylid, a rich and noble woman. Having heard that he was a reliable and honest man, Khadija entrusted him with her money. Upon Muhammad's return from Bilad al-Sham, she invited him to marry her. At that time he was twenty-five years old and she was forty.
Even before Muhammad became a prophet at the age of forty, he was nicknamed “worthy of trust,” for he was the most highly moral and most worthy person in his midst. He was famous for such character traits as tolerance, modesty, justice, patience, chastity, generosity and courage.
Muhammad was known for his hatred of pagan idols even before he began his prophetic mission. This hatred was so great that Muhammad never attended any of the pagan rituals. In addition, the Prophet Muhammad never drank intoxicating drinks in his life.
These character traits are common to all prophets. God endows His prophets with such qualities in preparation for receiving His Revelation. For prophets must always be infallible. This means that they do not commit sins either before entering the path of prophecy or after that.
The Jews and Christians who lived at that time on the Arabian Peninsula and in neighboring lands expected the appearance of the Last of the prophets in this world, as their Holy Books - the Torah and the Gospel - spoke about this.

The religion preached by the Prophet Muhammad profoundly changed moral principles among the Arabs, for it called for the worship of the only God, Allah, and also instilled in people the concept of life after death. This new religion preached the equality of all people, chastity, respectable family relations, respect for the rights of a neighbor, charity, and also defended the rights of women to inherit and own property.
Most of the pagans of Mecca were dissatisfied with the new way of social life, which was preached by the Prophet Muhammad, and began to fight against it. They subjected him to all kinds of persecution, causing him deep physical and mental wounds. They began calling him a “liar”, “madman”, “sorcerer” and “poet”. The nickname “poetmaker” was intended to humiliate him. Thus, the pagans sought to show that they do not recognize the Koran as a Revelation sent down to Muhammad from above. And if before the prophecy of Muhammad people called him “worthy of trust,” then later they awarded him with many bad and offensive nicknames.

Prophet Muhammad concluded a peace treaty with the people of Mecca for a period of ten years. But the Meccans violated this treaty and united with the Bakr tribe, which killed many members of the Khuzaa tribe (this tribe entered into an alliance with the Prophet Muhammad). At the head of an army of ten thousand, the Prophet set out on a campaign to conquer Mecca. The Meccans realized the futility of resisting the forces of the Prophet and surrendered without a fight.
The conquest of Mecca is considered the greatest triumph among Muslims, since it has the status of a holy city where people make an annual pilgrimage. Mecca is the area where the Kaaba, the Forbidden House of Allah, built by the prophets Abraham and Ismail (peace be upon them) is located. This city was also of great political and commercial importance for all Arab tribes. The Prophet Muhammad himself was a native of Mecca, as were many of his companions. And it was here that all the tribes took up arms against Muhammad. Thus Mecca became a strategic center of resistance to Islam. That is why her conquest was so important. The Prophet was well aware that the capture of Mecca was the best way to spread Islam among the Arabs.

Muhammad ibn Abdallah, a Quraysh from the Hashim clan, was born into one of the noble Meccan families. The traditional year of birth attributed to Muhammad, 570, cannot be confirmed. Of course, the exact month and date of this event are not known.

Muhammad's father, Abdallah, died before his son was born. Thus, the widow Amina and her newborn found themselves in the care of the family.

The baby was named Kotan at birth. However, after thanking the gods of the Kaaba for their blessing, the head of the family, Hashim Abd al-Mutallib, named his grandson Muhammad, which means: “The Praised One.” The guests were surprised by this name, which was quite rare, but well known among the Arabs. To the question of one of the guests as to why the tradition of using the family name is not preserved, Abd al-Mutallib replied: “May the Almighty praise in heaven the one He created on earth.”

Little can be said definitely about the period of his adolescence and youth, except that he was orphaned early: at the age of two he lost his mother, until he was eight years old he remained in the care of his grandfather, Abd al-Mutallib, and then his uncle, Abu Talib. The subsequent Muslim tradition gave rise to many mythical tales about the childhood of the “prophet” and embellished them with a wide variety of details. It is known, however, that Muhammad was a shepherd in his youth and also went with caravans; once he visited Syria, where, according to legend, a Christian hermit recognized him as a future prophet.

At the age of 25, Muhammad went to work for his distant relative, the widow of a wealthy merchant Khadija, whom he married a little later, despite the fact that she was 15 years older than Muhammad. The marriage, which took place on the initiative of Khadija, gave Muhammad freedom of action and provided him with the leisure necessary for mental development. Every year he spent some time alone on Mount Hira, near Mecca (this was a common form of asceticism in pre-Islamic Arabia).

During one of these retreats in 610, when he was about forty years old, Muhammad, according to tradition, heard a call addressed to him. A certain nameless ghost appeared to him, who later began to be considered the Archangel Gabriel. He forced Muhammad to recite poetry. These verses became the first lines of the “revelation.” This is how this key event is described in the biography of the founder of Islam, Ibn Hisham:

“When this month came... the Messenger of Allah went to Mount Hira... When night fell... Jibril brought him the command of Allah. The Messenger of Allah said: “Jibril appeared to me while I was sleeping, with a brocade blanket in which some kind of book was wrapped and said: “Read!” I answered: “I don’t know how to read.” Then he began to strangle me with this blanket, so that I thought that death had come. Then he let me go and said: “Read!” I answered: “I don’t know how to read.” He started choking me with it again, and I thought I was dying. Then he let me go and said: “Read!” I answered: “I don’t know how to read.” He began to choke me again, so I decided that the end had come, then he let me go and said: “Read!” I answered: “What to read?”, wanting only to get rid of him, so that he would not again do the same thing to me as before. Then he said: -Read! In the name of your lord, who created...” (Quran 96, 1-5)."

The calling of Muhammad, as described in Muslim sources, is very similar to the way the shaman is called by spirits. It is known that no one becomes a shaman of their own free will, and no one strives to become one. Shamans themselves are chosen by otherworldly forces to serve them, after which the spirits force, including through torture (the so-called “shamanic disease”), the candidate for shaman to accept the mission determined by him. The main parallel is visible both in the calling of Muhammad and in the calling of shamans - this is violence against the individual, the desire to force a person to accept his will by force and torture. This parallel was also noted by secular researchers, for example, M. Eliade, who also drew parallels between the miraculous ascension of Muhammad to heaven - the “miraj” and visions of shamanic trance.

In fear, Muhammad runs home and tells his wife Khadija about the vision. She goes to her Christian cousin Waraqa, and it is in a conversation with him that the concept of Islam appears - Waraqa interprets the vision in the sense that it was the appearance of the Archangel Gabriel, who appeared to all the prophets, and that Muhammad is also, therefore, a prophet of the one God . Khadija believed in this and tried to convince the frightened Muhammad himself, to whom the same spiritual being continued to appear at night. For quite a long time he remained in suspicion that this was the devil.

However, in a rather original way, Khadija managed to convince him that it was an angel, and not a shaitan, who appeared to him. When Muhammad once again saw a spirit appearing to him in the form of a man, he told Khadija about this. It was night. She asked, “Can you see him now?” He said, "Yes." After that, she opened up and asked: “Can you see him now?” He replied: “No, he disappeared.” She said: “Be strong and rejoice, because now we know for sure that this is an angel, not a devil.” According to her, if he were a shaitan, he would have stayed to look at the naked woman, and the angel, with appropriate modesty, would definitely have left (see. Ibn Hisham. Biography of the Prophet Muhammad. M., 2003. - P. 94).

It is noteworthy that during this formation of the initial concept of Islam, the role of Muhammad himself was passive. Having accepted the mission assigned to him, Muhammad began to receive new revelations, but for another three whole years he talked about what was revealed to him only in an intimate circle. The first few followers appeared - Muslims (“submissive”). The very name of the religion “Islam” is translated by Muslims as “submission”, in the sense of submission to Allah. The first Muslims were, first of all, relatives (wife Khadija, nephew Ali, etc.) and close acquaintances.

The first Muslim was Khadija, the second was his nephew Ali, who was then 12 years old and whom Muhammad took in to raise him. The next Muslim was Muhammad's slave, Zeid. Then others appeared, but, with the exception of Abu Bakr, as a rule, unnoble people who did not play any role in the political life of Mecca, who, nevertheless, believed that Muhammad was the prophet of a single god, whom he preached under the name of Allah. They gathered together, prayed, Muhammad retold them his revelations, taught them to believe in one God and himself as a prophet.

Several hadiths should be quoted that describe how revelations came to Muhammad. Visions like the original were very rare. Revelations mostly came in a different form.

Ibn Saad reports the following hadith:

“Al-Xapuc ibn Hisham said: “O Messenger of Allah! How do revelations come to you? The Messenger of Allah answered him: “Sometimes they come to me in the form of a ringing bell, and it’s very difficult for me; (eventually) it stops ringing and I remember everything I was told. Sometimes an angel appears in front of me and speaks, and I remember everything he said.” Aisha said: “I witnessed when the revelation came to him on a very cold day, when it stopped, his whole forehead was covered in perspiration.”

"Ubayd b. Samit says that when the revelation came to the Messenger of Allah, he felt heaviness, and his complexion underwent a change” (Hadith from the collection of Muslim).

“The prophet’s face was red, and he was breathing heavily for a while, and then he got rid of it” (Hadith from the collection of al-Bukhari).

A few words must be said about the versions that existed in the Christian world and about the understanding of these revelations. There are three main ones.

First version: Muhammad imitated it and fooled his followers. He specifically took advantage of this to make a greater impression around his teaching. This version was developed, in particular, by Theodore Abu Kurra.

Another: Muhammad suffered from epilepsy, and these conditions were epileptic seizures. The first to express this idea was St. Theophanes the Confessor. It enjoys attention in the scientific world to this day. The fact is that in the biography of Muhammad, written by ibn Hisham, there are moments from which we can conclude that Muhammad had similar seizures in childhood. A case is described when Muhammad, still in infancy, while in the family of the nurse Halima, fainted. Then Halima and her husband were very scared for him, and, as Halima herself says: “The father told me: I’m afraid that this child has had a stroke, so give him to his family before the result affects.” So we took the child and took him to his mother.”

Another version is that Muhammad actually saw all these visions that were generated by negative spiritual forces, that is, during these states he was under the influence of demons, and this non-communication explains his condition. This was expressed by George Amartol, a Christian historian of the 9th century. His chronography was translated into Slavic and Georgian languages ​​and had a tremendous influence on Russian historical science.

Each of these interpretations has its supporters in our time, including among researchers. It is characteristic that each has a strong argument in its favor and each finds foundations in the Muslim historical tradition. It is possible that in reality all these factors were combined and intertwined.

Public preaching

Three years after the first revelation, Muhammad is instructed to begin public preaching, which he does. The core of the first sermon was the proclamation of monotheism, the call to abandon the worship of false gods and the affirmation of the inevitability of the Last Judgment.

The main meaning of his sermon was the proclamation of monotheism, that there is only one god - Allah. According to this, there are attacks on the pagan religion of the Arabs, on their revered gods and goddesses, on their shrines. He claimed to be a prophet of Allah, sent for the Arabs, in order to lead them away from false worship, as well as to proclaim the Last Judgment, the Resurrection, the reward for the faithful and the torment of those who did not believe. These were the main themes of Muhammad's early preaching. Although a few more converts appeared, the sermon was generally received with indifference. Significant people were offended by his attacks on their cult.

Among other things, this was explained by the fact that Muhammad was not original against the backdrop of a pagan environment. At the same time as Muhammad, and earlier, the Arabs had similar prophets. They taught that God is one, about His mercy, and proclaimed themselves prophets. They had similar trance experiences to Muhammad. His early predecessor and rival was the "prophet" Maslama from the city of Yemama in eastern Arabia. So Muhammad's failure as a preacher is also explained by the fact that he was unoriginal. It is known that the pagans reproached him that he was simply retelling the man from Yemama, who said the same thing, and even behaved the same. In addition, there were other prophets: Aswad, Talha and many others who said that they were prophets of one God.

The conflict between the small followers of Muhammad and the pagans escalated when the “prophet” opposed the revered Meccan deities. Over time, the conflict began to result in fights and persecution.
There is a known episode when, during a debate on religious topics between one of the followers of Muhammad and a pagan, a Muslim, having no arguments, grabbed a camel bone lying nearby and hit his opponent with its sharp end, seriously injuring him. This trick and much more forced the elite of Mecca to decide to destroy Muhammad, as well as his supporters. Some Muslims who were enslaved by pagans were killed or tortured, but Muhammad himself was not in danger, since he was under the protection of his family. The heads of other clans repeatedly came to the head of the clan Abu Talib and asked him to remove the protection of the clan from Muhammad, they offered him different options, however, he did not agree. Then the Meccans declared a boycott of the Hashim family, but Abu Talib remained adamant.

As relations worsened during two years of open preaching, Muhammad found it necessary to send those believers who caused the most irritation to Christian Abyssinia. This first Hijra took place in 615. At the same time, some of Muhammad’s companions who moved to Abyssinia, having learned Christianity, were baptized (for example, Ubaidallah ibn Jahiz).
Muhammad himself was still not in danger of persecution. When the rest of the Quraish declared a boycott of the Hashim clan, this did not force Abu Talib to change his position. During this time, Khadija died. The situation worsened in 619, when Abu Talib, despite the entreaties of his nephew, who remained a pagan, and the head of the Khadija clan died. Abu Talib's successor is another uncle of Muhammad, Abu-Sufian, who later became his most sworn enemy; he removes the patronage of the clan from Muhammad. This was partly because Muhammad said that because his uncle Abu Talib had not converted to Islam, he would go to hell when he died.

Muhammad tries to preach outside of Mecca - in the neighboring city of Taif, but the first attempt was unsuccessful, and the herald of the new religion was stoned.

In general, in general, we can admit that Muhammad as a preacher was completely untenable. In addition to the defeat in Taif, in Mecca itself for ten years he was unable to acquire a sufficiently noticeable number of supporters, and of the handful of converts, many were converted not by him, but by his supporter, the respected merchant Abu Bakr in Mecca. By comparison, Muhammad's elder contemporary and rival prophet Maslama was able to easily convert all the inhabitants of his hometown of Yemama. Then Muhammad decides to move to the city of Yathrib or Medina, as an arbitrator, where he was invited by representatives of the tribes inhabiting the city. Yathrib was mired in internecine wars and strife between the clans of the Banu Qayla tribe, as well as three Jewish tribes. Their representatives invited Muhammad and his community to settle in Medina in the hope that the Muslim presence would have a stabilizing effect. This was probably due to the fact that Muhammad's mother, Amina, came from Yathrib. After two years of negotiations with the people of Medina, some of whom also converted to Islam, Muhammad decided to make the second Hijra. In the summer of 622, about 70 members of his community flocked to Yathrib. So, when Muhammad, along with his friend Abu Bakr, also arrived in Yathrib on September 4, he found there a personal guard of muhajirs (migrants). The Medina Muslims were called Ansars (helpers). Upon the arrival of Muhammad, the first mosque was built.

The inhabitants of Medina heeded the requests of Muhammad and accepted Muslims from Mecca as their dependents. However, this could not continue for long, the Ansars themselves were not rich, and the community could not exist in miserable conditions. The need was to quickly ensure the economic independence of immigrants who had lost all their property.

Then Muhammad makes a decision that can be considered a turning point in Muslim history. Seeing that it is impossible to feed the community with honest labor, he decides to engage in robbery and makes his first treacherous raid. The Arabs revered four sacred months of the year, during which it was forbidden to carry out any military actions. During these months, Muhammad, who was well aware of the movements of the caravans, having been a participant in them in the past, ordered a small detachment of his followers to attack the caravan, knowing that it would be unprotected.

It is from this point that the history of the successes of Islam begins, built not on preaching, the results of which were insignificant, but on robberies, murders and military clashes.

The first such raid was carried out on his orders during the sacred truce.

“The Prophet heard that Abu Sufyan ibn Harb was returning from Syria with a large caravan of Quraysh, carrying money and goods... Hearing about this... The Prophet called on the Muslims to attack them, saying: - Here is the caravan of Quraysh. It contains their wealth. Attack them, and maybe with the help of Allah you will get them! ”(Ibn Hisham. Biography... pp. 278-279).

It is definitely said that Muhammad himself was the initiator of the seizure of the caravan with money and goods. Muhammad understood that the property in the caravan did not belong to him, not to Muslims, but to other people. However, he calls on Muslims to seize these values, and this is the only motive given by the biographer.

The caravan was practically unguarded, and the treacherous attack was crowned with success: the sent detachment of Muslims returned with booty. However, many of Muhammad's followers were embarrassed by the violation of the holy months of truce, which prohibited military action. Their perplexity was answered by revelation: “They ask you [whether it is permissible] to fight [with the Meccan polytheists] in the forbidden month. Answer: -Fighting in the forbidden month is a great sin. However, to turn away from the path of Allah, not to allow one into the Forbidden Mosque, disbelief in Him and expulsion of those praying from it is an even greater sin before Allah, for polytheism is a greater sin than murder” (Quran 2.217).

A year later, the Meccans sent a detachment to Yathrib to punish Muhammad for robbery. Around March 15, 624, they attacked the Muslims. About six hundred people took part in the battle on the pagan side, and a little more than three hundred on the Muslim side. Thanks to the discipline and zeal of the Muslims, victory was on their side. This had a significant strengthening of Muhammad's position in Medina; many pagans began to actively accept Islam. The Muslims were convinced that this victory was confirmation that they were right. “You did not kill them, but Allah killed them” (Koran 8.17), the revelation said about this.

At the Battle of Badr, many pagans were captured. The “prophet” ordered some of them to be sold to relatives for a ransom, those who were beggars were released under an oath that they would never resist him, and some he ordered to be killed:

“The Prophet moved on, returning to Medina. Along with him were captive pagans, and among them were Uqba ibn Abu Muayt, an-Nadr ibn al-Harith... When the Prophet was in al-Safra, an-Nadr ibn al-Harith was killed. Then he moved on, and... Uqba ibn Abu Muayt was killed. When the Prophet ordered the death of Uqba, Uqba asked: “What will happen to the boys, O Muhammad?” The Prophet replied: “Fire.” He was killed by Asim ibn Sabit al-Ansari..." (Ibn Hisham. Biography... p. 300).

These people are especially noted because they at one time annoyed Muhammad with ridicule of him and his poems. Muhammad did not forgive such things and organized show executions. And the boys that the poet Ukba asks Muhammad about are his, Ukba’s, children...

In the next battle that happened a year later - at Uhud, the Muslims suffered a significant defeat, although Muhammad had predicted victory the day before; nevertheless, his camel was killed under him, and two of his teeth were knocked out.

These were not the best times for the Muslim community, although it did not collapse despite the defeat. A revelation came down to Muhammad, explaining that the Muslims themselves were to blame for everything, but not the “prophet.” If, they say, they had listened to him, they would have won. At the same time, Muhammad strengthened his position inside Medina. Repression begins against those who opposed Muhammad. All of Muhammad's sermons, which later became the Koran, were in poetic form, and although Muhammad himself claimed that no one would ever be able to write such wonderful poetry, nevertheless, Arab poets were skeptical about his poetry and the level of his poetry. They made fun of them in their poems, and he could not tolerate this. By order of Muhammad, in addition to the captured Meccan poets, two poets living in Medina were killed. Moreover, to kill the old poet, who was very careful, Muhammad allowed the killers to resort to lies. They told the poet that they were not Muslims and, having gained his trust, killed the old man and brought his heart to Muhammad. Women were also subjected to these repressions. Muhammad personally ordered his freedman and adopted son Zeid to kill the poetess Umm Qirfa, who ridiculed the “prophet” in her poems. Zayd killed her by tying a rope to her legs, at the other end tied to two camels, leading the camels in opposite directions until the woman was torn in two (Al "saba - Ibn Hagar - vol. 4, page 231)

Most of the pagans of Medina became Muslims, while a minority were forced to move out. The other opposition in the city was the Jewish tribes, of which there were four. Some of the Jews also converted to Islam, but their number was insignificant. Most Jews ridiculed Muhammad's prophetic claims and efforts to retell biblical stories. This irritated him, and he began a systematic war against the Jewish tribes. At the same time, he acted like a cunning politician, took advantage of quarrels between tribes and sought to destroy each tribe separately, while being at peace with everyone else. He destroyed three tribes completely. This is the first example of genocide under Islam. He forced one tribe to move out.

“At noon, Gabriel appeared to the Prophet... [and said]: “Almighty and all-glorious Allah orders you, O Muhammad, to go to Banu Quraiza. I will go to them and shake them.” The Messenger of Allah besieged them for twenty-five days until the siege became unbearable for them... “Then they surrendered, and the Prophet locked them in Medina in the house of Bint al-Harith, a woman from Banu an-Najjar. Then the Prophet went to the market of Medina and dug several ditches there. Then he ordered them to be brought, and cut off their heads in these ditches. They say there were between eight and nine hundred of them." (Ibn Hisham. Biography... p. 400).

Some of the influential pagans - the Medinians, for example, Khalid ibn Sufyan and Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf, were killed by Muhammad through sent assassins, and others were forced to move out. Thus, Muhammad had at his disposal an entire city with a strong and trained community, completely obedient to him. Therefore, when the Meccans undertook their next campaign, the situation was different.

The Meccans gathered a large force and moved against Medina with the intention of destroying Islam. However, Muhammad, who understood that his strength was still not enough, resorted to the advice of a Persian specialist who was in the community and suggested an innovation with which the Arabs were unfamiliar. Salman the Persian advised to dig a ditch around Medina. When the Meccans came to this ditch, they did not dare to overcome it and retreated, content with destroying the date palms that grew around. Most of the subsequent battles were won by the Muslims, despite the fact that some tribes united against them, as the opponents made mistakes and were not united. Due to this, Islam grew stronger.

As he grew in power, Muhammad imposed his religion on the surrounding small tribes. The Bedouins accepted this passively in most cases; a few horsemen were enough to destroy the tribal idols; this met practically no resistance.

In 630, Muhammad, at the head of an army of thousands, marched on Mecca. The city capitulated. Muhammad defiantly forgave his most bitter enemies. Those, just as demonstratively, were among the first to rush to convert to Islam. In the year of his death (632), Muhammad performed the ritual of hajj to the Kaaba, cleansed of idols, and performed the ritual of worship of the black stone. Representatives of Arab tribes flocked to Mecca from all sides, hastening to enter into an alliance with a formidable force. In the year of Muhammad's death, there were approximately 100,000 adherents of Islam. However, not everything was smooth sailing. A number of regions of Arabia (East and South) drove out his emissaries in disgrace, rallying around their own prophets - Aswad and Musailima. It was these alternative prophets, together with their followers, who became the most solid obstacles to the path of Islam in Arabia.

A serious illness found Muhammad preparing a great campaign against Byzantium. Death prevented the plan from being realized. Before his death, he was seriously ill, the ghosts of the dead bothered him. He died in Medina in 632.

Personal life

According to Islamic teaching: “The Messenger of Allah is an exemplary example for you, for those who place their hope in Allah” (Quran 33.21). Therefore, the actions and moral character of Muhammad are of great importance to every Muslim.

In Medina, Muhammad acquired a harem; he had up to nine wives at a time, and in total he had 13 wives throughout his life. For Muslims, Muhammad set a restriction not to take more than four wives, but then received a “revelation” that he himself, as an exception, could take an unlimited number of wives. There were some interesting examples among these wives. For example, Aisha bint Abu Bakr, whom Muhammad married when she was nine years old. Since Muhammad is a model for a Muslim, this is a legal precedent in Islamic law. In Iran and Morocco, to this day girls can be married off at age nine. Another of his wives was the wife of his adopted son Zeid, Muhammad liked her very much, and he forced his son to divorce her and took her as his wife. When some of the Muslims dared to be indignant at this, since, according to the Arabs, such a marriage was incest, Muhammad immediately received a “revelation” allowing him to marry the wives of his adopted sons.
There was also a Jewish woman captured by the "prophet" on the battlefield, who refused the "honor" of being the "prophet's wife", and, moreover, tried to poison Muhammad.

The justification and calls for military aggression against non-Muslims played a major role. The Prophet said: “I am ordered to fight the people until they testify that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger, they will not turn in the direction of our qibla (direction for prayer), they will not eat what we kill, and they will not pray like us. When they do this, we will not have the right to take away their lives and property, except what is due from them" (Abu Dawud, 2635 - here and further in the footnotes the name of the author of the collection of hadiths that make up the Sunnah appears first, and the second is the number hadith in the collection).

“Let those who buy the hereafter at the cost of life in this world fight in the name of Allah. Whoever fights in the name of Allah and is killed or wins, We will give a great reward" (Quran 4, 74), whoever dies in jihad "will be exalted for his deeds until the Day of Resurrection, and will be free from the afterlife Judgment" (Muslim, 2494 ).

Muhammad himself was ordered: “O Prophet! Encourage the believers to fight the infidels!” (Quran 8, 65). And he was encouraging. “The Messenger of Allah encouraged people to jihad and told them about the Gardens of Eden. One of the Ansars was eating dates that he was holding in his hands and said: “I so want to get into this world, should I sit until I finish eating?” He threw away what he had in his hands and took his sword and fought until he was cut down.” (Malik, 21,18,42).

At the same time, participation in jihad is a Muslim duty, not dependent on the desire to fulfill it: “You are ordered to fight the enemies of Islam, and this is hateful to you. But it is also possible that you hate what is good for you; what you desire is what is evil for you. Allah knows about it, but you do not know” (Quran 2.216).

Muhammad's relationship with Christians

Representatives of Christian Arab tribes regularly met with Muhammad, and he enjoyed talking with them about faith. Throughout his life, the founder of Islam had to fight with four Jewish tribes - Kanuk, Nadir, Quraiz and Khaybar, and he directed one campaign against the Orthodox Byzantines.

The Christians of Najran entered into an agreement with Muhammad. They also had religious disputes that ended unsuccessfully for the false prophet. Apparently, these failures contributed to the fact that in the last years of his life he experienced an ever-increasing hostility towards Christians and Christianity. In the Koran you can find both verses praising Christians and direct curses. He bequeathed the expulsion of all Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and died while preparing a large campaign against the Orthodox Byzantines.