“Islam in Christ’s Eyes” A study on the origins of Islam and the Christian response by Wissam Youssif Lesson Five- “Muhammad’s Rise to Power- part two” Spring Quarter - 2018
I. Introduction
A. Last week, we began learning some of the secret that gave rise to
Islam as a world wide religion.
B. One of the principles that I discovered was that Islam was the
perfect unifying force for a disunified people at the perfect
moment in history.
C. Do you remember what had been the greatest barrier to Arabic
unity before the emergence of Muhammad and Islam? Tribalism
C.1. Previously, each tribe had it’s own god and it’s own
governance.
C.2. Tribes were always at war with other neighboring tribes.
D. Whether by accident or by direct action, Islam gave the Arabs a
reason to become more loyal to their religion than to their
individual tribe. D.1. When Islam began winning military victories and shared
the war booty among themselves, it became much more
attractive to new member of the religion.
D.2. It was Muhammad’s success as a military leader that drew
men to his beliefs more than his beliefs drew men to
Muhammad.
E. Was Islam an immediate success? No.
E.1. After 13 years of preaching, Muhammad had only 150
followers.
E.2. What action caused this movement to begin to grow?
E.3. When Muhammad ordered his men to begin raiding the
Meccan caravans, he discovered a real funding mechanism
for his movement.
F. Suddenly, Islam changed from just being a religion that was
different because it worshiped only one God to being a political
system with a war policy called “jihad.”
F.1. When the Arabs discovered there was a real possibility to
get rich by joining Islam, more and more people were draw
to it. F.2. Once Muhammad stopped his men from attacking other
Arabs, which ethnic group was his next target for theft and
murder? The Jewish population of Medina
F.3. First, he expelled the smallest Jewish tribe and divided up
all their possessions among his followers.
F.4. Later, he expelled the other two tribes and did the same.
F.5. In fact, the largest tribe had 600 of their men arrested and
forced to dig a trench which was used as a mass grave after
Muhammad ordered all of them to be beheaded and buried.
G. In his early days, Muhammad saw himself as the last of the great
Jewish prophets.
G.1. He quoted from the Bible and used it to support the Quran.
G.2. He saw Jews and Christians as his brothers and sisters in
the same faith tree.
G.3. What caused Muhammad to change his mind about the
Jews?
G.4. It as the criticism from the Jews of Medina. G.5. They were very Biblically literate and could easily point
out Muhammad’s errors where he had changed the clear
teachings of the Bible.
H. What happens when you get criticized by someone? Your whole
attitude towards them changes.
H.1. No where is the more clearly illustrated than when
Muhammad broke ties with the Jews and then began to
bury them.
I. All these actions helped to give rise to the “umma.”
I.1. What was and still is the “umma”? It is the brotherhood of
Islam.
I.2. It was the unification of all Islamic Arabs and non-Arabs
who believed the Muhammad was God’s greatest prophet.
J. Today, we are going to see what cemented the “umma” and
Muhammad as being “God’s Greatest Prophet” among the
Muslims.
K. Questions or comments?
L. Today, let’s examine . . .
II. Muhammad’s Military Success A. During those eight years he lived in Medina, Muhammad began
an impressive list of military victories.
B. In 623 A.D., after the completion of his new home in Medina,
Muhammad sent for the remaining members of his family who
were still living in Mecca.
C. After the death of his first wife, Khadija, Muhammad took a new
wife who was living in Mecca until the new house was ready in
Medina.
C.1. Her name was “Aisha” and she was his favorite.
C.2. Later he added many others as well for a total of 13 wives.
D. Beginning in 624 A.D., Muhammad experienced a series of
battles that would firmly establish him as the ruler of this new
movement called “Islam.”
E. His primary enemy was his old hometown of Mecca and the
caravans that supplied it.
E.1. First, there was “the Battle of Badr” that was described last
week when Muhammad first started his raiding of the
caravans. E.2. How did Muhammad know about trading caravans? He
was raised by his uncle who was an expert trader and
taught Muhammad the tricks of the trade.
F. The Muslims of Medina sent raiding parties against Meccan
trading caravans and were disguised as pilgrims as they
approached.
F.1. The Muslims were able to kill one of the merchants and
captured two others.
F.2. This was actually a scandal in Medina because it occurred
during the month that bloodshed was prohibited among the
Arab tribes.
F.3. The local population was indignant toward Muhammad and
the Muslims for violating the custom.
F.4. At this point, the local population of Medina was not
blindly following Muhammad.
G. How can you justify breaking the rules of society?
G.1. Give them a new rule!
G.2. To ease the tension, eventually a new revelation came from
God to Muhammad that appeared to justify the raid. G.3. It was authorized in Sura 2.217 and stated the Muslims
could engage in these raids during the sacred month of
Rajab when Arabs had customarily been prohibited from
fighting.
G.4. This was another occasion where the Quran was used to
change cultural norms to justify violent Islamic actions.
H. The local outrage was finally forgotten after a number of minor
raids were successful when Muhammad led a force of over 300
men against a Quraysh caravan returning from Syria.
H.1. By the way, the word “Quraysh”, that is the name of one of
the tribes from Mecca.
H.2. Do you know who the most famous member was from that
tribe? Muhammad himself. This was his family he was
fighting.
H.3. Outnumbered three to one, the Muslims won a surprising
victory.
H.4. Tradition says that the angel Gabriel himself led the angels
in combat alongside the forces of Muhammad. H.5. 70 Meccans were killed and this demonstrated to the
Muslims that God was on their side.
I. In 625 A.D., there was the Battle of Uhud and Muhammad
actually suffered a major defeat.
I.1. At this point, Mecca was still determined to put an end to
Muhammad.
I.2. Near Medina, 3000 Meccan infantry and cavalry took on
the forces of Muhammad numbering about 1000.
I.3. 70 Muslims were killed in the battle but the forces of
Mecca failed to follow up on their victory and did not put
an end to Muhammad or his Muslim army.
J. In 627, the Battle of the Ditch occurred in Medina.
J.1. This time, the Quraysh clan from Mecca mustered an army
of 10,000 which was an impressive number for that time.
J.2. A Persian convert named Salman al-Farisi advised
Muhammad to dig a ditch around the three exposed sides of
the city as a defense against the charge of the Meccan
calvary.
J.3. Trench warfare was big during WWI. J.3.a) What’s the purpose of a trench?
J.3.b) It impedes your enemies advance and it gives you a
safe defensive place.
J.3.c) This was the purpose of Muhammad’s ditch as well.
J.4. The Meccans had never seen this type of defensive scheme
and were at a loss to know how to attack it.
J.5. Many of the Meccans were on horseback.
J.6. Horses and ditches are like oil and water in battle.
J.7. Neither Muslims nor the Meccans were accustomed to long
sieges and eventually the Meccan forces withdrew after a
couple of weeks because they couldn’t deal with the ditch.
J.8. This marked the final large scale attempt of the Meccan
forces to subdue Muhammad.
K. In 628, Muhammad led 1,600 men from Medina on an attempted
pilgrimage to the Ka’ba in Mecca.
K.1. If you were a citizen of Mecca at this point and you see
Muhammad arrived with 1600 of his men, what would you
assume? It’s war time . . .again. K.2. However, the prophet claimed that he and his men had
come on a peaceful hajj, a pilgrimage to worship at the
Ka’ba.
K.3. Therefore, the Treaty of Hudaybiyya was signed that
prevented bloodshed.
K.4. However, there was a problem.
K.5. Even though the Ka’ba had been established by God and
worship there was first performed by Abraham and his son
Ishmael, Muslims wished to purify the shrine from its later
pagan elements related to idol worship.
K.6. At that point, it still contained 360 idols.
K.7. While the Muslims weren’t allowed to enter the city at this
time, Mecca and Muhammad signed the treaty according to
Sura 48.27 in the Quran.
K.8. It established a ten year truce and said that next year the
Quraysh tribe would temporarily leave the city of Mecca
and allow Muhammad and the Muslim pilgrims to enter to
keep the peace. K.9. The next year in 629 A.D., Muhammad and his followers
finally entered his old home town with minimal fighting.
K.10. Muhammad brought 10,000 men and took control of the
city of Mecca.
L. Ten years after he was exiled from the city, Muhammad finally
returned to Mecca as its conqueror.
L.1. This was the jewel in his military crown and he won it
without a drop of blood being spilled.
L.2. Less than a decade after his humiliating departure as a
ridiculed and despised preacher, he returned to the city as
its undisputed master and Arabia’s most powerful leader.
M. His first order of business was to pray at the Ka’ba.
N. What would you guess was his second order of business?
N.1. After the prayer, came the punishment.
N.2. Even though he was able to enter the city without
bloodshed, once inside, he spilled a lot it.
O. Muhammad issued death warrants for every person who opposed
him in Mecca before his exile including two dancing girls who
had mockingly sung a song satirizing him. O.1. If you ever wonder why Muslims are so offended by
anyone who mocks Muhammad today, it all has it’s origin
in it’s original prophet.
O.2. Muhammad would not tolerate mocking.
P. Do you remember the name “Salman Rushdie”?
P.1. He is a native of India who was born into the Islamic faith.
P.2. Rushdie wrote a book called “The Satanic Verses” which
described some verses that Muhammad had intended to
have put into the Quran.
P.3. These verses described three goddesses from Mecca that
were worshiped as divine beings and Muhammad was
tempted to include them to placate the Meccans.
P.4. Supposedly, Satan told Muhammad to put them in but the
angel Gabriel told him to keep them out.
P.5. Rushdie said that it was actually Gabriel who told
Muhammad to include them.
P.6. When the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran heard it, he put out a
“fatwa” calling for the execution of Salman Rushdie because Khomeini said that Rushdie’s book blasphemed the
Quran.
P.7. The fatwa was issued on Valentine’s Day in 1989.
P.8. The book sparked violence around the world and
bookstores were firebombed if they carried it.
P.9. Riots ensued where many people were injured and some
were killed.
P.10. To this day, Iran sends Rushdie a Valentine’s Day card
letting him know the fatwa calling for his execution still
stands.
P.11. Muslims have a long memory when you mock Muhammad.
Q. Do you remember the terrorist attack in France several years ago
against the French magazine “Charlie Hebdo?”
Q.1. That magazine makes fun of all kinds of political leaders
and they choose Muhammad to be the butt their jokes in
one issue.
Q.2. Do you remember what happened as a result?
Q.3. Twelve employees at the offices of the magazine were
murdered by Muslim terrorists for mocking the prophet. R. Let’s go back to Mecca where Muhammad had entered the city
under a peace treaty but didn’t keep the peace for long.
S. Muhammad also had one of his previous secretaries executed.
S.1. Why? While living in Medina, Muhammad’s secretary had
begun to suspect that he was just making up the Quran
revelations rather than hearing the voice of the angel
Gabriel.
S.2. Therefore, she left Islam and fled to Mecca fearing for her
life.
S.3. Once she was found in Mecca by the Muslims, Muhammad
ordered her execution as well.
S.4. The conquering prophet killed anyone who spoke against
him or the religion of peace.
T. After Muhammad established control over Mecca, he returned to
Medina.
U. It was during this time that there was a steady stream of tribal
leaders who came to Muhammad to profess subservience.
U.1. Why do you think these tribal leaders voluntarily began
coming to Muhammad? U.2. Many of them were not true converts to Islam but rather
took the way of least resistence.
U.3. Better to bow the head than to have the neck beheaded.
V. In his last major military campaign, Muhammad attacked a
confederation of Arabic tribes that were doubled the size of the
Islamic army.
V.1. This was called the “Battle of Hunayn.”
V.2. And once Muhammad was victorious.
W. One by one, the tribes of Arabia began surrendering to
Muhammad and they accepted Islam as their new religion.
X. Therefore, Arabia became uniformly Islamic and Muhammad
became the first ruler of all of the Arabian Peninsula and
established the “umma” or the brotherhood of Islam.
Y. Questions or comments about Muhammad and his military
victories?
Z. Now, let’s examine the final years and . . .
III. The Death of Muhammad
A. In 632, history records the farewell pilgrimage to Mecca and the
death of Muhammad. A.1. He led followers in Medina on a “hajj” pilgrimage to
Mecca because it was the holy place where the Ka’ba
housed the Black Stone.
A.2. To this day, it is the center of the Islamic faith.
A.3. All Muslims bow and pray towards the Ka’ba which is
inside the Great Mosque inside the city of Mecca.
B. At this time, Muhammad received Sura 5.4-5, the final portion of
the Quran to be revealed.
C. In his farewell sermon, Muhammad advised his followers not to
follow certain pre-Islamic customs.
C.1. He said a white man has no superiority over a black man or
vice versa.
C.2. He abolished old blood feuds and disputes based on the
former tribal system.
D. A few months after his return from Mecca to Medina,
Muhammad fell ill.
D.1. He developed a high fever and excruciating headaches.
D.2. On June 8, 632, he died in the arms of Aisha, his favorite
wife at the age of 62. E. He was buried in Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (the Mosque of the
Prophet) back in Medina-which is the first mosque built in Islam.
F. From all that, the seeds were planted that would one day become
a religion of one and half billion followers on planet earth.
G. Questions or comments about the death of Muhammad.
IV. A Summary of Muhammad’s Rise to Power
A. How did happen? How did Muhammad go from meager caravan
trader to the leader of the religion of Islam?
B. What were some of the keys to his success?
C. Muhammad proved to be a successful politician and military
leader.
C.1. One of his most significant accomplishments was the
building of the Islamic army.
C.2. He was able to unify the tribes of Arabia for the first time
and they became a significant fighting force.
C.3. Arabs were united into one nation for the first time and
established the “umma” the brotherhood of Islam that
would eventually unite Arabs and non-Arabs as well.
D. However, what was the cost? D.1. Muhammad was involved with an event of violence on the
average of every six weeks for nine years and that does not
include assassinations of political enemies, Muslims
forcing themselves on women and executions of prisoners.
D.2. Without violence, murder and theft as a funding
mechanism, it does not appear that Islam would have ever
become a worldwide religion.
E. On the positive side, Muhammad established a new order for
society through the Constitution of Medina that gave the people
the rule of law and was carried into new Islamic areas in the
future.
F. What is syncretism?
F.1. Syncretism is the combination of different forms of belief
or practice.
F.2. Sometimes when missionaries established new
congregations in new countries, the natives will mix their
new religion of Christianity with some of their old ancestral
religion.
F.3. This is syncretism. G. Is the religion of Islam an original belief system or it a religion of
syncretism?
G.1. Islam is a classic example of syncretism. Why?
G.2. Everything about Islam, except jihad, came from Judaism,
Christianity and the tribal religions of Arabia.
G.3. However, the ideas were not just borrowed, but changed to
show that Muhammad was the greatest prophet of God.
G.4. The Hadith, the collection of stories and teachings about
Muhammad’s life are designed to support this notion as
well.
V. Conclusion
A. Muhammad initially devised the concept of jihad to be the means
to entice his local followers to raid Meccan caravans,
instantaneously transforming a common tribal practice of raiding
into a supreme religious duty and the primary vehicle for the
spread of Islam throughout the ages.
A.1. Muhammad would have never made it without mayhem.
A.2. His theocracy was funded by thievery. B. As Muhammad established this community of believers in all the
territories it conquered, this belief system became a weapon for
expansion even after his death.
C. Success tends to give military leaders a messiah complex and
Muhammad believed he was God’s greatest deliverer and the
successor to Moses from Deuteronomy 18:15 as told to him by
Waraqua Bin Nawfal, an Arabic Christian who was truly
misguided.
D. Muhammad derived his authority directly from Allah and acted at
one and the same time as head of the state and head of the church
giving him ultimate power over all aspects of Islam.
E. The prophet’s thin veneer of a religious aura was the perfect
cover for Islam’s aggressive expansion through murder and theft
and there was no other leader within the movement to keep
Muhammad in check.
F. There was no one to question his methods or motives.
G. However, America is based on the three branches of government:
the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
G.1. What is that system called? G.2. This is the system called “checks and balances.”
G.3. In Islam, there were no checks and there was no balance.
G.4. Muhammad was judge, jury and executioner.
G.5. His word was absolute and unchallenged but if you did,
you died.
H. He spent the last ten years of his life fighting to unify Arabia
under his reign.
I. Had it not been for his death on June 8, 632, he would have most
probably expanded his rule well beyond the Arabian Peninsula.
J. Even so, within a decade of Muhammad’s death a vast empire,
stretching from Iran to Egypt and from Yemen to northern Syria,
had come into being under the banner of Islam in one of the most
remarkable examples of empire building in world history.
K. In my estimation, the key that unlocked Islam from being simply
an Arabic belief system to being a world wide religion is related
to the “umma.”
K.1. What created the “umma”?
K.2. Muhammad preached the equality of all believers in the
religion of Islam. K.3. His message broke down the previous barriers of tribes and
tongues.
K.4. The “umma”, the brotherhood of Islam, was now a divinely
ordained order that bound together something far stronger
than family blood and far wider than the Arabian Peninsula:
it was the great equalizer and the great unifier between
Arabs and non-Arabs, free men and freed men.
K.5. Without the “umma” Islam would never spread beyond the
region of Arabia.
L. Did you know that only 20% of Islam today is comprised of
Arabs? Wikipedia
L.1. 62% of the Islamic population is found in Asia.
L.2. Indonesia has the largest Islamic population in the world
with 203, 000,000 Muslims followed by Pakistan which has
174,000,000.
L.3. Did you know this?
M. How did an Arabic religion become a worldwide religion with so
many different ethic groups? M.1. None of that would have been possible without the
“umma.”
M.2. The brotherhood of Islam is what turned it into a world
wide religion.
N. Muhammad summarized it in his farewell address, “O people,
your Lord is one and your ancestor is also one. You are all
descended from Adam and Adam was born of the earth. The
noblest of you all in the sight of Allah is the most devout. Allah is
knowing and all wise.”
N.1. In Islam, paganism and idolatry were virtually destroyed in
Arabia.
N.2. In Islam, Allah is one and His Messenger is one and the
two are fundamentally indivisible and therefore all
humanity should believe in the one and only true religion to
be organized in one universal community living by its laws.
N.3. This is the “umma” of Islam.
N.4. Those who accepted it, were enriched by it.
N.5. No wonder Muhammad’s final words were “. . .fight all
men until they say ‘There is no God but Allah.” O. Those who rejected these primary belief of Islam were destroyed
and this “Great Commission” of Muhammad continues to this
day.
VI. Next week we will examine “The Five Pillars of Islam” and “The
Six Pillars of Faith.”
VII. Questions or comments?