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Western Religions: Islam |
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(570 - 632)
As with every founder of a religion, the life and personality of Mohammed, the founder of Islam, have been transformed by legends which picture him as the only perfect man, the greatest of all saints, the only one worthy of becoming the instrument of divine revelation. Mohammed himself, however, thought otherwise. He said that he was sent by God as a "witness, as a hopeful and warning messenger, as a torch," but he refused to be regarded as an example of virtue. He did not feel that he was a saint, and consciously refrained from performing miracles. He certainly was a fanatic but occasionally he showed a sense of humor, and several of his jokes have been transmitted posterity. The original name of Mohammed ("The Praised One") was Ubu'l Kassim. He was a merchant in Mecca where plutocracy offended his social feelings, as the idolatry of the whole population offended his reason and piety. Broodings, dreams and visions led him to the belief that he was chosen by God to save the Arabian people from spiritual and moral corruption by announcing the coming judgment of humanity and teaching faith in Allah, the one and omnipotent God. At the age of 40, Mohammed began his religious mission. The citizens of Mecca sneered at him and forced him to flee. In 622, he came to the city of Jathrib where he was well received and actively supported. Jathrib, therefore, was subsequently renamed Medina (City of the Prophet), and became the base of his power and his religious and military expeditions. The flight of 622 (Hejira) became an event of greatest importance to the history of the world. In Medina, Mohammed, once a lonesome missionary, became a spiritual and military ruler and conqueror, and his religious doctrine was shaped to the religion of Islam, an institution, and, at the same time, a warlike organization. Mohammed subdued Mecca, his native town that had expelled him. But when he died he could not foresee the future expansion of Islam. The basis of Islamic religion is the Koran (Recitations), written by Mohammed who claimed to be inspired by Gabriel, the archangel. It consists of 114 sections (Suras), the first third of which was conceived in Mecca and deals with the creation and future fate of the world, the proofs of the omnipotence of Allah and the teachings of a moral conduct of life as a preparation for standing the test on the Day of Judgment. The remainder of the Koran, accomplished in Medina, contains polemics against other religious and civil legislation. Mohammed claimed that he restored the religion of Abraham which, according to him, had been distorted by Judaism and Christianity. Mohammed adopted many of the Judaic and Christian, gnostic, and Babylonian traditions but, the older he grew, the more he stressed the importance of the sword as a means of propagating the right faith. Without Mohammed's Koran, the world religion of Islam cannot be understood. However, Islam cannot be understood only the study of the Koran. The moral and dogmatic evolution of Islam did not stop by any means after Mohammed's death.
If you came here from the Islamic Philosophy section of Adventures in Philosophy, you can return to that Index by clicking HERE. |
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