A SMALL STORY OF ISLAM AND THE PROPHET
Islam is the belief in one supreme Allah and no images, gender or any discriminating factor we use for humans can be associated with Him (which is why I am against this use of 'miyan' with Allah.)
Basically, the Holy Prophet (SAW) was an orphan and his mother died when he was six. He lived with his uncle and learnt trade from him. His honesty gained him the titles of Al-Sadiq (truthful) and Al-Amin (faithful). His first wife, Hazrat Khadija came to know him through his fame as an honest person and she hired him as a trader (she was a businesswoman). After some time, she was impressed by his honesty and character and sent a proposal to his uncle. At the time, he was 25 while Khadija was a 40 yr old widow.
Later in life, he used to go to a cave in a mountain called 'Hira' and used to ponder over things around him. Mecca (the city he lived in) was a corrupt and dishonest and an extremely cruel society (to the weak esp.) and was run by a few corrupt leaders. There he received his first revelation. In easy words, it told Muhammad That 'Read in Allah's name (who is Lord and Cherisher) and who created man and who has taught you (man) what you did not know."
Muhammad was shaken up after this and was very scared. He went home to Khadija and told her the account. She promised full support and some people say that after Muhammad, she was the first one to accept Islam. In Prophet's small circle, Islam grew and his close friends accepted the religion. Prophet went public with his declaration soon after but was met with hatred and disbelief, esp by the leaders (even though people KNEW him for his honesty.). They said that they could believe that an army waited to attack them on the other side of the mountain they stood on but refused to accept his ideas of Allah.Soon, it became a threat to the corrupt leaders of Mecca and they started persecuting Muslims violently, even killing some people.
They boycotted the Prophet's tribe, killed and physically tortured their muslim slaves who had zero rights at the time and were extremely poor and weak, they refused to sell any food or water and other necessities to the Prophet and his companions. The hatred of the rest of Quraysh for the followers of the Prophet (pbuh) grew so great that when his companions tried to buy supplies from a caravan passing near to Mecca, Abu Lahab, one of the Muslims' worst enemies, offered ten times the price of the goods to the merchant (the ban was later lifted due to external pressure). One such example is Hazrat Bilal (the first man to offer azaan on top of the Kabah). His master would take him out into the desert, tie him up, and leave him in the sun with a large stone on his chest. Fortunately Abu Bakr was passing by one day and saw Umayyah torturing Bilal, so he bought him from his master for a large sum of money and then set him free.
They even tried to offer him 'greater goods' if he gave up preaching. He replied:
"...by Allah, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left in return for my giving up this cause, I would not give it up until Allah makes Truth victorious, or I die in His service."
Unable to stop this, Muhammed migrated to the city of Madina with his companions after he recieved information that there were plans by the Quraish to kill him.Here, Islam was already accepted. He was welcomed whole-heartedly and with open arms. His arrival was celebration for the city. The time spent in Madina was when Islam developed and the details of the religion were revealed to Prophet by Allah.
However, the Meccans did not give up their fight against Islam and they continued to battle them. There were three major battles in the time between migration to Madina and conquest of Mecca. Battle of Badr, Uhud and Trench. Muslims won the first and last.
Muhammad dreamt that he entered Makkah and did tawaf (walk around) around the Kabah (the Quraish kept their idols there, at the time, it is now the center of Muslim worship). His Companions in Madinah were delighted when he told them about it. They all revered Makkah and the Ka'bah and they yearned to do tawaf there. In 628, Muhammad and a group of 1,400 Muslims marched peacefully towards Mecca, in an attempt to perform the Umrah (pilgrimage). They were dressed as pilgrims, and brought sacrificial animals, hoping that the Quraish would honor the Arabian custom of allowing converts to enter the city. The Muslims had left Medina in a state of ihram, a premeditated spiritual and physical state which restricted their freedom of action and prohibited fighting. This, along with the paucity of arms carried, indicated that the pilgrimage was always intended to be peaceful.
Muhammad's people camped outside of Mecca, and Muhammad met with a Meccan emissary. And made his peaceful intentions known.The two parties decided to resolve the matter through diplomacy rather than warfare, and a treaty was drawn up:
1. Muslims would return to Medina that year;
2. They would be permitted to enter Mecca for Pilgrimage next year but they would stay only for 3 days in Mecca.
3. If a Quraish from Mecca joins the Muslims without permission of his guardians, he or she would be sent back to Mecca. But if a Muslim from Medina went to Mecca he or she will not be sent back.
4. There would be no fighting for at least 10 years.
Finally, when the treaty of Hudaibya (between Meccan and Muslim tribes to avoid violence) was broken by a Quriash ally tribe Banu-Bakr (after two years), Prophet gave the Quraish three options 1) Blood money for the men the tribe, Banu Bakr had killed men from. 2) Quriah withdrew alliance with banu bakr. 3) Treaty of Hudaibya was abrogated. The Quraish chose the third option.
This lead to the conquest of Mecca. Prophet moved with an army of 10000 men. The move of the army started from Medina on 10th Ramdan, 8/January 1, 630. Having no courage to resist, the Meccans laid down their arms. Muhammad triumphantly entered Mecca at the head of a formidable force after a banishment lasting for years, on 20th Ramdan, 8/January 11, 630. Many Muslims had lost their nearest and dearest at the hands of the people now completely at their mercy. All of them carried in their hearts bitter memories of cruelty, persecution and pain inflicted by their now humble enemies. Yet none thought of vengeance or retribution, and none raised his arm against a defenceless foe.
Thus, Mecca was captured and Two months after performing the Hajj (his 'farewell pilgrimage), Prophet Muhammad fell ill. He continued to lead the congregation prayers. After one of these prayers he invoked special blessings on the martyrs of Uhud, and then addressed the Muslims: (slave is Prophet s.a.w)
""There is a slave among the slaves of Allah (The One God) to whom God has offered the choice between this world and that which is with Him, and the slave has chosen that which is with God."
He meant that his time in the Earthly world was now over and soon after he feel even more ill and on his birthday, twelfth of Rabi-ul-awal, he died at his wife's home. Many say that he died in his wife's lap. :,)
PS. This is an EXTREMELY brief history and excludes many smaller details.
PPS If you find any errors let me know and I'll correct it. Plus, do ask if you have any questions!
Edited by Risha.J - 12 November 2012 at 10:31am
abd_20
