Chapter 1 MUHAMMAD IN MECCA His father, Abdallah, died three months It is alleged in popular stories (and only God before he was born, and his mother, Amina, knows the truth) that Amina, the daughter of died when he was only six. After his mother Wahb, the mother of God’s apostle, used to died, Muhammad was adopted by Abu Talib, say when she was pregnant with God’s apostle his paternal uncle. Abu Talib was an impor- that a voice said to her, “You are pregnant with tant merchant in Mecca, a city of merchants, the lord of this people and when he is born say, and when Muhammad was twelve, Abu Talib ‘I put him in the care of the One from the evil agreed to take him on a trading journey north of every envier,’ then call him Muhammad.” to Syria. It was to be a fateful journey. As she was pregnant with him she saw a light come forth from her by which she could see the castles of Busra in Syria. (Ibn Ishaq, 69) Muhammad and the Monk Their route took them near the city of Bostra, Monotheism and Paganism by the cave of a Christian hermit named in Muhammad’s Arabia Bahira. Now Bahira had never taken notice of the Meccan caravan before, but on this occa- The Prophet Muhammad, according to the sion he noticed a cloud that hovered over traditional Islamic sources, was an orphan. the head of the boy Muhammad even as the 11 12 v THE EMERGENCE OF ISLAM caravan drove forward. Thus Bahira came of Jesus (which, perhaps, he preserved secretly down from his cave, stopped the Meccans, in his secluded cave). Thus Bahira appears to and insisted they come eat with him. When be a bridge between Jesus and Muhammad. He the Meccans went up to Bahira’s cave, they left preserves the Scriptures of the first prophet, the young Muhammad behind with the bag- Jesus, and he recognizes the appearance of the gage. Bahira, however, noticed Muhammad’s new prophet, Muhammad. absence and insisted that he be summoned. Second, this account also makes When Muhammad finally arrived, Bahira Muhammad the fulfillment, or the consum- examined him closely and found a mark on mation, of biblical prophets. It is reminiscent his back, between his shoulder blades, “the of Samuel’s anointing of David as king of very place described in his book.” This, Bahira Israel (1 Sam. 16). When Samuel examines explained, was the “seal of prophethood.” It the elder sons of Jesse to find the one whom confirmed to Bahira that the boy was the one God has chosen to be king, none pass the predicted by Christ. Before seeing his guests test. “Are these all the sons you have?” he asks off, Bahira announced to Abu Talib (after Jesse. At this Jesse finally brings his youngest warning him that the Jews would plot against son, David (who had been watching not bag- Muhammad): “A great future lies before this gage but sheep), and God tells Samuel that nephew of yours, so take him home quickly.” David is the chosen one. So too, this account The account of Muhammad’s meeting with is reminiscent of Moses’ leading the Israelites the mysterious monk Bahira illustrates three out of Egypt. Yahweh precedes the Israelites themes in the traditional narrative of Islam’s in a cloud in Exodus 13, while a cloud hovers emergence. First, it presents Islam as a reli- over the head of Muhammad in the Bahira gion that completes and corrects Christianity. story. The figure of the monk is meant to show that The Bahira story is also reminiscent of Jesus’ a true Christian recognizes Muhammad as a travel as a boy of twelve to Jerusalem with his prophet. The Quraan itself describes the reac- parents (Luke 2). Jesus’ parents find him in the tion of Christians who hear Muhammad pro- temple asking questions of the teachers and claim his revelations: “When they hear what amazing them with his intelligence. Similarly, has been sent down to the Messenger, thou Muhammad proves himself unusually wise seest their eyes overflow with tears because of on religious matters during his meeting with the truth they recognize. They say, ‘Our Lord, Bahira. When Bahira swears by the pagan we believe; so do Thou write us down among goddesses of Mecca—al-Lat and al-Uzza— the witnesses’ ” (Q 5:83). The reference to a Muhammad rebukes him, saying: “By God book in Bahira’s possession that contained a nothing is more hateful to me than these two.” description of the new prophet (including his Third, this account evokes the struggle birthmark) suggests that Bahira was not read- between monotheism and paganism. The ing the Christian Bible but the “true” scriptures Islamic sources make it clear that Bahira Chapter 1: Muhammad in Mecca v 13 himself did not believe in the gods of Mecca; the water of Zamzam by digging at this spot he only swore by them “because he had heard with his wing). When Muhammad was born, [Muhammad’s] people swearing by these one tradition reports, uAbd al-Muttalib imme- gods.” Mecca, according to the traditional diately took the child to the Kauba to give narrative, was a city awash in idols, a city thanks to God. possessed by the abomination of paganism. This connection with the Kauba is also a Accordingly, the Islamic sources refer to Arab connection with Abraham himself, who is society before the arrival of Islam as the jahili- said to have built the Kauba as a shrine for yya: “the realm of ignorance.” Muhammad, the worship of God (although some tradi- they relate, was born to be a bearer of light in tions insist the Kauba was first built byA dam a city of darkness. and only restored by Abraham). Evidently, the Islamic tradition on Abraham and Mecca The Pagan City of Mecca and the War of departs from the biblical story of Abraham, the Elephant which never has him travel anywhere near Western scholars generally date the birth of Mecca (a city hundreds of miles south of the Muhammad to 570 CE (although this date biblical land of Canaan). is quite uncertain; it is based only on the Most Islamic traditions explain that at a assumption that Muhammad was sixty-two at certain point Abraham asked his second wife, his death, in 632). According to Islamic tradi- Hagar, and their son, Ishmael (but not Sarah tion, the leading figure in Mecca at the time or Isaac), to join him on a journey into the of Muhammad’s birth was his paternal grand- desert, a journey that led them to a deserted father, uAbd al-Muttalib, who was known as valley where Abraham built the Kauba. Other “ ‘the lord’ of the Quraysh” (the principal tribe traditions explain that the Kauba was built as of Mecca, to which Muhammad belonged). a precise replica of a shrine in heaven, around A descendent of Abraham (through which angels process in prayer. However, in Ishmael), uAbd al-Muttalib was a holy man in the days of uAbd al-Muttalib, the Kauba had a city of unholiness. He is closely connected in become a pagan shrine, housing the idols of Islamic traditions with the Kauba, the square various Arab tribes (360 idols, according to stone shrine in Mecca around which Muslims one count). circle during their pilgrimage. By describing the Kauba in this way, the It was uAbd al-Muttalib who, guided by a Islamic sources suggest that Muhammad did dream, found the spring next to the Kauba not teach a new religion in Mecca. Instead, known as Zamzam, originally discovered by he taught people to worship one God, as Abraham’s young son Ishmael when, suffering Abraham had done. In other words, Islam from thirst in the heat of Arabia, he scratched existed in Mecca before the city declined into at the ground with his feet (according to the darkness of paganism. This idea seems to another tradition, the angel Gabriel released emerge from a passage in the Quraan. 14 v THE EMERGENCE OF ISLAM FIGURE 1.1. Muslim pilgrims around the Kauba, Mecca 2007 And when Abraham, and Ishmael with him, Muslims (the ending -in makes the word raised up the foundations of the House: plural in Arabic). Moreover, they would “Our Lord, receive this from us; Thou art insist that Abraham and Ishmael were not the All-hearing, the All-knowing; *and, our only “submissive” (or muslims with a low- Lord, make us submissive [muslimin] to ercase m) but also that they were Muslims Thee, and of our seed a nation submissive to (with a capital M). Islam, in other words, did Thee; and show us our holy rites, and turn not begin with Muhammad. It began long towards us; surely Thou turnest, and art All- before. compassionate. (Q 2:127-28) In the quraanic passage above, Abraham and Ishmael also pray that God will raise up Here Abraham and Ishmael ask God to make a nation among their descendants, a nation them “submissive”—in Arabic muslimin—to that will likewise be “submissive” (or muslim). God. The followers of Muhammad’s reli- In the subsequent verse, the Quraan has them gion would later call themselves by this term: pray for the appearance of a prophet among Chapter 1: Muhammad in Mecca v 15 them, “Our Lord, do Thou send among them To Muslims, Muhammad is this messenger, a Messenger, one of them, who shall recite this new Abraham. The connection between to them Thy signs, and teach them the Book Abraham and Muhammad is seen again in and the Wisdom, and purify them; Thou a tradition that Muhammad, after he met art the All-mighty, the All-wise” (Q 2:129).