Mohammed

Mohammed, or Mahomet (Arab. Muhammad, "the praised one"), the founder of Islam, was born at Mecca about 570 A.D. Both his parents belonged to the Koreish, a tribe which claimed direct descent from Ishmael, and bad charge of the Kaaba (q.v.) and other sacred spots. After the death of his father (which perhaps preceded his birth), his mother, and his grandfather, he passed in his ninth year under the tutelage of his uncle, Abu Talib. At the age of twenty-four he left Abu Talib's house to enter the service of the wealthy widow Khadija. He was sent in charge of her goods on a mercantile journey to Syria, where he renewed his acquaintance with the Jewish and Christian religions, of which he had already gained some knowledge during a similar expedition with his uncle thirteen years before. Soon after his return he became the husband of Khadija, who was now about forty years of age, and with her he lived a happy domestic life during the next fifteen years. As he was meditating one day in a cavern on Mount Hira, an angel appeared to him in a vision, and spake mysterious words concerning the Beneficent Lord who had created man. After a while the angel visited him again, bidding him "arise and preach," and from this time he felt assured of his divine mission. The faithful Khadija was the first to believe in him; his next converts were his adopted children Ali and Zaid, and his friend Abu Bekr; others speedily followed, and soon he had gathered round him a band of fifty disciples, composed of his kinsmen and his closest friends.

Most of the Koreish, indeed, viewed his proceedings with scorn; but it was not till the fourth year of his mission, marked by the opening of a sort of school opposite the Kaaba and' a great increase in the number of his followers, that the people of Mecca became seriously alarmed. In the sixth year of his mission the accession of the fierce Omar greatly strengthened his cause, and the increasing boldness of himself and his followers led to the formation of a confederacy among the Koreish, by which he and his family were for a time placed under a ban. Four years later Khadija and Abu Talib died, and Mohammed, convinced that the cause would never prosper at Mecca, determined to seek a home for the true believers elsewhere. The rapid conversion of a number of pilgrims from Medina pointed to that city as the fitting spot, and thither the Moslems gradually removed in small bands, followed at last, by Mohammed himself, probably on April 19, 022. [Hegira.] The emigration led to a great change "in the character both of Mohammed himself and the religion which he taught. Hitherto known only as the leader of a despised sect, he suddenly became ruler over a city and two powerful tribes. As a result of this access of worldly power the functions of the prophet were now, to some extent, merged in those of the warrior, legislator, and judge. The inspired utterances in which he declared the will of God [Koran] became less imaginative and emotional, but gained in precision and practical force. He had begun to regard his mission in a new light; he was to be not merely a moral reformer, but the founder of a new religion and polity, yvhich should be spread by fire and sword throughout the world. For several years his arms were directed only against the Meccans and the Jews who abounded at Medina and in various districts of Arabia. A great victory over the Koreish was gained at Badr in 2 AH., and, although he was defeated a year later, his expeditions against the Jews were so successful that in 7 A.H. the Meccans thought it prudent to conclude a truce with him for ten years. In consequence of this arrangement he was able to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca in 8 A.H. Shortly afterwards a violation of the terms of the truce gave him a pretext for attacking the town. Its surrender (630 A.D.) was followed by the gradual submission of the Arabs in every part of the peninsula, who acknowledged both his spiritual and temporal authority. He died whilst he was making preparations for an attack on the Syrian possessions of the Byzantine Empire, and was succeeded by Abu Bekr, his first convert outside his own family. The notion that Mohammed was a vulgar impostor has long since given way to more rational views, and it is now generally conceded that, making allowance for the circumstances of his country and age, he must be regarded as one of the most earnest reformers and civilizing teachers who have appeared among mankind.