2016 WAEC Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK) Theory Write on Muhammad (S.A W) from birth to prophethood (610 CE)

Explanation

Muhammad is born as a member of the tribe of  and the clan of Hāshim. His hometown of  houses an ancient and famous pilgrimage sanctuary, the . Although founded by , worship there has over time become dominated by  and . Muhammad’s  is preceded by a dramatic crisis: his grandfather ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib narrowly fails to  a vow to sacrifice his favourite son and Muhammad’s future father, ʿAbd Allāh, an obvious  of the biblical story of the binding of  ( 22). Muhammad himself is born in 570, the same year in which the South Arabian king  attempts to conquer Mecca and is thwarted by a divine intervention later  to in sūrah 105 of the . Muhammad’s father passes away before his birth, leaving him in the care of his paternal grandfather, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib. At the age of six Muhammad also loses his mother Āminah, and at eight he loses his grandfather. Thereupon responsibility for Muhammad is assumed by the new head of the clan of , his uncle Abū Ṭālib. While accompanying his uncle on a trading journey to , Muhammad is recognized as a future prophet by a  .

At the age of 25, Muhammad is employed by a rich woman, , to oversee the transportation of her merchandise to Syria. He so impresses her that she offers marriage. Khadījah is said to have been about 40, but she bears Muhammad at least two sons, who die young, and four daughters. The best known of the latter is , the future wife of Muhammad’s cousin , whom  Muslims regard as Muhammad’s divinely ordained successor. Until Khadījah’s death some three years before Muhammad’s emigration (hijrah) to Medina in 622, Muhammad takes no other wife, even though  is common.

Muhammad’s prophetic initiation occurs at the age of 40. During a period of devotional withdrawal atop one of the mountains in the vicinity of Mecca, the angel  appears to him in an awe-inspiring encounter and teaches him the opening verses of  96 of the Qurʾān: “Recite in the name of your Lord who creates, / creates man from a clot! / Recite for your lord is most generous….” Muhammad is greatly perturbed after this first revelation but is reassured by Khadījah and her cousin, , a learned Christian who confirms Muhammad’s prophetic status. Muhammad continues to receive revelations but for three years limits himself to speaking about them in private. When God finally commands him to take up public preaching, he initially encounters no opposition. However, after the Qurʾānic proclamations begin to deny the existence of gods other than  and thereby to attack the religious beliefs and practices of the  tribe, tensions arise between Muhammad and his small circle of adherents, on the one hand, and the remaining inhabitants of Mecca, on the other. As a result, some of Muhammad’s followers are forced to seek temporary refuge with the Christian ruler of . For some years, the other chief clans of Mecca even refuse to trade and intermarry with Muhammad’s clan, since the latter continues to offer him protection. Sometime after the end of this , one of the most famous events in the Prophet’s ministry takes place: his so-called , during which he is miraculously transported to  to pray with Abraham, , , and other prophets. From there Muhammad continues to ascend to , where God imposes on him the  of .

About 619, both Khadījah and Muhammad’s uncle Abū Ṭālib die, and another uncle, Abū Lahab, succeeds to the leadership of the clan of Hāshim. Abū Lahab withdraws the clan’s protection from Muhammad, meaning that the latter can now be attacked without fear of  and is therefore no longer safe at Mecca. After failing to win protection in the nearby town of Al-Ṭāʾif, Muhammad secures a pledge of protection from a representative number of the inhabitants of the  town of Yathrib, also known as  (from its Qurʾānic appellation al-madīnah, “the town”). This promise enables Muhammad and his followers to leave Mecca for Medina, which, unlike Mecca, is partly inhabited by Jewish tribes. Together with , the future first , Muhammad is the last to depart. It is only because he is warned by Gabriel that he narrowly escapes an assassination plot by the Quraysh.

At Medina, Muhammad has a house built that simultaneously serves as a prayer  for his followers. He also drafts a  that joins together “the Believers and Submitters [or Muslims] of Quraysh and of Yathrib” as well as some of Medina’s Jewish tribes into a  () recognizing Muhammad as the “Messenger of God.” However, relations with the Jews of Medina steadily worsen. Eighteen months after the emigration, a revelation bids the Muslims to pray in the direction of the Meccan Kaʿbah, rather than to continue facing toward Jerusalem as is Jewish practice. At about the same time, the Medinan Muslims begin raiding Meccan caravans. When, during one of these raids, they are surprised by a Meccan relief force at Badr in 624, the Muslims, aided by angels, score a surprising victory. In response, the Meccans try to capture Medina, once in 625 in the Battle of Uḥud and again in 627 in the so-called ; both attempts to dislodge Muhammad are ultimately unsuccessful. After each of the three major military encounters with the Meccans, Muhammad and his followers manage to oust another of the three main Jewish tribes of Medina. In the case of the last Jewish tribe to be displaced, the , all adult males are executed, and the women and children are enslaved.