Lecture 6 - Muhammad, Prophet of MeccaIntroduction:
We look at the sources for the life and work of Muhammad, the Prophet (not
the founder!) of Islam, and the beginning of his mission in his native Mecca.A. What Do We Have on Muhammad?- The Quran as Revelation and History
a. The Quran is a collection in 114 Sûras or chapters of the revelations
given to Muhammad between 610 CE and his death in 632 CE.
b. The revelations were given orally and came through the medium of the
angel Gabriel. They were repeated by Muhammad verbatim: the Quran
is literally the Words of God, not a document.
c. The Sûras are arranged in order of descending length rather than
chronologically. However, our study will discuss them in the order they
were believed to be written.
d. In the first books written at Mecca, Muhammad was chiefly engaged in
converting pagans, persuading their “submission” to the One True
God. At that early stage, “submission” meant primarily daily prayer,
alms giving, and a daily commitment to worship only Allah, not the
other gods recognized by the Meccan Arabs.
e. The Medina sûras show him addressing a Muslim rather than pagan
audience. The background of his revelations and what is implied by
“submission” are given in greater detail.
f. According to the Quran, Muhammad is one of three prophets who
were entrusted with a public revelation in the form of Sacred Book —
Moses the Tawrât, Jesus the Injîl and himself, the Quran.
g. By this last revelation, the “religion of Abraham” is revived at Mecca.
That is why Islam will still venerate the Ka’ba built by Abraham and
Ishmael—and toward which Muslims will now pray—and must continue to
practice the ritual of the hajj (pilgrimage) begun in Abraham’s day.
Before beginning this lecture you may want to...
Read Michael Sells’ Approaching the Quran: The Early Revelation.Consider this...- Do Christians recognize Muhammad as a prophet?
- How do Jews view Muhammad in 632 CE? And now?
- Why Medina? Why Mecca?