Introduction
Muhammad is an Arab preacher of monotheism, the founder and central figure of the religion of Islam, and the Prophet of Muslims. According to the Islamic creed, Allah sent down to Muhammad the holy Scripture – the Qur’an. The biography of the leading Muslim Prophet says that Muhammad moved away from the world and vanity, plunging into contemplation and reflection. He liked to retire in deserted gorges. In 610, when Muhammad was staying in the cave of Mount Hira, the archangel Jibril appeared to him (Akhter & Rafiq, 2019). He called the young man the Messenger of Allah and ordered him to memorize the first revelations (verses of the Qur’an).
This spiritual experience was realized and interpreted by Muhammad as the beginning of the Divine revelation. At first, Muhammad did not know how to relate to what had happened. The Qur’an played a vital role in strengthening his awareness of himself as a prophet, the conductor of this revelation. The aristocrats of Mecca saw Muhammad’s sermons as a threat to power and conspired against him. The companions persuaded the Prophet to leave the dangerous region and move to Medina for a while, and so he did (Muhammad, 2019). Hundreds of companions followed the preacher to Medina (Yathrib) in 622, forming the first Muslim community.
In 630, the previously persecuted Prophet Muhammad returned to Mecca, solemnly entering the holy city eight years after exile. The Prophet Muhammad traveled around the Kaaba 7 times and touched the sacred Black Stone many times (Korvin, 2018). In the Kaaba, the preacher declared that “there is no God but Allah alone” and ordered the destruction of 360 idols standing in the temple (Korvin, 2018). The surrounding tribes did not immediately convert to Islam. After bloody wars and thousands of human victims, they recognized the Prophet Muhammad and accepted the Qur’an. Soon, Muhammad became the ruler of Arabia and created a powerful Arab state, which would have been impossible if he had not turned to the Qur’an in any of his endeavors.
Muhammad: The Spiritual Leader of Mecca
The Revelations in Mecca
When Muhammad was forty, the angel Jibril appeared to him; it happened in a cave near Mecca. Long before the revelation, Allah made Muhammad love solitude. He often went alone to the shelter of Hira, meditated for a long time, and worshipped Allah. It was there that Jibril appeared to him and told him about the great mission entrusted to him. The archangel also told him the first verses, which began with “Read!” (Toosi & Jamil, 2020). The Prophet could not read, and then Jibril squeezed him and repeated it twice again. Muhammad was afraid, and he ran home as fast as he could. His wife Khadija had to calm him down for a long time; she tried to support him and immediately believed that he was the Messenger of Allah.
At first, the Prophet avoided public sermons, preferring a personal conversation with interested people and with those who noticed extraordinary changes in him. A unique path of Muslim prayer was opened to Muhammad, and he immediately began daily pious exercises, which invariably caused a wave of complaints from those who saw him. Having received the highest order to start a public sermon, Muhammad was ridiculed and cursed by the people, who mocked his statements and actions. Meanwhile, many Quraish became seriously alarmed, realizing that Muhammad’s insistence on asserting faith in the one true God could not only undermine the prestige of polytheism (Ushama, 2019). It could have also led to the complete decline of idolatry if people suddenly began to convert to the Prophet’s faith. Some of Muhammad’s relatives turned into his primary opponents. Humiliating and ridiculing the Prophet himself, they also did evil things against the converts.
This way began the sending down of the Holy Qur’an, which lasted 23 years. Processing the sacred texts in his mind and skillfully combining them with the Arab national and cultural tradition, Muhammad built his first sermons on this basis, which, being then recorded by his scribes, formed the base of the Qur’an (Hendri, 2018). Muhammad’s nervous and excitable psyche contributed a lot to the fact that in the eyes of his followers, the Prophet looked like a kind of heavenly messenger, speaking on behalf of the supreme deity. His sayings, most often in the form of rhymed prose, were perceived as divine truth, and it was in this capacity that they were then included in the consolidated text of the Qur’an.
The Qur’an reassured Muhammad that he was a particular person and possessed five qualities (fats). First of all, in Arabic, this is truthfulness – “syd.” This fat means that no prophet has ever lied from birth to death – no matter what the concerns are. The second quality is reliability, or “amanat” in Arabic. The Qur’an reassured Muhammad that people could trust him with anything and not worry about their secrets being unsafe.
Another syfat is accuracy or “tabligh” in Arabic, which means a clear, timely transmission of all the commands that Muhammad receives from the Almighty (Munawan, 2018). This also includes the courage with which he did it. Insight and wisdom (“fatanat” in Arabic) employ the understanding of the essence of other people and frequent reflections. The fifth quality is sinlessness (“ismat” in Arabic), which means that all the prophets have never committed sinful acts. Thus, the Qur’an reassured Muhammad that he was the best of men and was chosen by the last messenger of Allah for his outstanding merits.
Sermons in Mecca
The basis and central theme of Muhammad’s first sermons was the idea of worshipping the one and only God. The Arabs, mainly the Meccans, were aware of a single supreme deity uniting all the sacredness. God was called by the Arabic word “Allah,” so they called him their only God (Kharlie, 2018). It is essential to understand that Muhammad believed that this is the same God who is the God of both Jews and Christians. The two main ideas of Muhammad’s early sermon, in which his Qur’an was reassured, are the idea of serving the one God and refusing to worship anyone other than him (primarily tribal deities) and the idea of posthumous judgment and retribution. To pass this trial before God, a person must live their life in a certain way. The Qur’an reassured Muhammad to live a life of righteousness, distancing himself from what Allah has forbidden and doing what Allah has prescribed him to do.
There was no developed system of rituals and prescriptions for everyday life at an early stage, but the general principles were already visible. The Qur’an reassured Muhammad that he must be fair and honest, not acquire wealth dishonestly, not cheat, not support injustice, not oppress the weak, and patronize orphans and the disadvantaged. Muhammad decried attachment to wealth and worldly goods, although he did not demand a complete rejection of material goods and complete austerity.
Reassured by the Qur’an, Muhammad denied a person’s attachment to material things and the desire to multiply wealth at any cost. In addition, in the early sermon of Muhammad, a vital motive was criticism of the powers that be. They are initially described in the Qur’an as carriers of injustice. The real emphasis should belong only to Allah (Bisri, 2019). Therefore, it is also a sin to submit to those unjust criminals who usurp this power from Allah and try to present it as their own. Becoming a preacher and a political leader, Muhammad continued to be a prophet, and revelations continued to come to him. The Meccan revelations have a sublime, ecstatic character in form and content. They are mainly reduced to several basic ideas — monotheism, the Day of Judgment, posthumous retribution — and basic moral principles — non-possessiveness, honesty, justice, and mercy.
Muhammad’s Religious Mission in Mecca
The central idea of Muhammad is the belief in life after death. The first stage of his ministry in Mecca began with a warning about the Day of Judgment and retribution. Muhammad proclaimed a new religion – Islam (which means submission to the will and institutions of the only God). The message itself is contained in the Qur’an, which sees a miracle of faith, to which Allah reassured Muhammad. In the middle of conflicts of numerous currents, sects, and heresies, throughout the social, cultural, and political transformations that have marked the history of Islam, the image of Muhammad remains a factor uniting Muslims (Yusuff et al., 2020). The cult of Muhammad arose in the popular religion. Still, strict orthodoxy regards him exclusively as a human being, although it recognizes as divine the plan to which Muhammad devoted his life.
The virtues of Islam include that both Moses and Christ are recognized as prophets, and Muhammad is considered the continuer and finisher of their works and revelations. This facilitated the conversion of Jews and Christians to Islam. The Qur’an does not call for violence but reassures Muhammad to teach intolerance toward enemies (The Holy Qur, 2021). Islam forbids usury but encourages trade. Wealth and poverty were considered natural and came from Allah, but the rich should be given alms, and it is not allowed to enslave debtors. Islam turned out to be a solid spiritual cement that brought together Arab tribes and different social strata.
The Call of The Prophet in The Qur’an
If drawing a parallel between the call of the Prophet and the call of the previous prophets, then the call of Muhammed, according to the Qur’an, is the improvement and finale of the prophetic mission. As for the belief, its foundations have not changed from the Prophet Adam’s message to the age of the Prophet. It is based on the belief in the One Allah that he is pure from qualities and epithets that do not befit him, and faith in the Day of Judgment, heaven, and hell (The 40 Hadith, 2017). Every Prophet was called to believe in these fundamentals, and the Qur’an reassured Muhammad that he should also adhere to them. The love between the Prophet Muhammad and Muslims was very great. He was loved, and they took an example from him. The Qur’an said that if he had been rude and hard-hearted, the parishioners would have left him. Therefore, reassured by the Qur’an, Muhammad was soft on the parishioners.
Pilgrimage to Mecca
Sometime after the exile, Muhammad decided that it was time for Muslims to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and the Kaaba. However, the residents of Mecca did not want to let them into their city, even though the Muslims were unarmed and in pilgrim clothes. Therefore, Mohammed signed a contract with them. On the way back to Medina, Mohammed added a surah called “Victory” to the Qur’an (Akhter & Rafiq, 2019). The surah was dedicated to the concluded agreement. The Qur’an reassured the Prophet that those who abstained from pilgrimages, such as desert Arabs and Bedouins, did not receive the spoils of war.
The Last Sermon in Mecca
The last sermon (in some sources, a farewell sermon) was pronounced and recorded by Muhammad before his death. It was devoted to the generalization of all the canons of Islam. This sermon, reassured by the Qur’an, drew a line under the 23 years of Muslim sermons of Muhammad (Muhammad, 2019). Wishing to fill society with virtue, the Prophet created a world where it is impossible to commit sins since Allah will know about them. He claimed that, according to the Qur’an, Allah would be able to punish anyone who is sinful and has not repented.
The Prophecies of Muhammad in Mecca
One of the most relevant prophecies of Muhammad, which the Qur’an reassured in Mecca, dwelled on ISIS, a terrorist organization that has nothing to do with Islam. In addition, the Prophet was comforted by the Qur’an about business: trade all over the world will gain the universal participation of both men and women (Korvin, 2018). Women began to sell on a par with men, which was unthinkable for the Prophet’s modernity. Family ties have become weaker with the advent of shelters for the elderly in modern society. The prophecies that were destined to come true are enough to listen to those in line for fulfillment.
Muhammad: The Political Leader of Mecca
The Battle for Allah at Badr
One Muslim was killed when thousands of arrows flew during the battle for Allah at Badr. However, Muhammad was reassured by the Qur’an and told his army: “According to Allah, everyone killed today in a bold and advancing battle without retreat will go to Paradise” (Toosi & Jamil, 2020). One of his men was eating dates and said: “Do you mean to say that to get to Paradise, you need to die in a battle with the Quraish?” (Toosi & Jamil, 2020). He threw away the dates, raised his sword, and rushed into battle. His wish was granted, and he was later killed. Muhammad, having received the revelation, was reassured by the Qur’an as to how the spoils of war should be divided. It was necessary to ensure that the mounted warrior received a triple share compared to the rest, and a fifth of the loot was allocated to the poor.
The Battle with The Sulain Tribe
In this battle, Muhammad embodied a political force that had never existed before in history. The combination of religion and politics with a universal character served as the basis for creating a permanent historical force. Muslims were convinced that peace would not come until all people accepted Islam (Ushama, 2019). The spoils of war will bring wealth to Islam: Muhammad’s awe lay in his fear of Allah. The Prophet said that he alone was granted by Allah five things that were not given to any other prophet before him.
In the battle with the Sulain tribe, he was reassured by the Qur’an, and it was this that allowed the Prophet to win. He claimed that Allah had made him a conqueror, filling enemies’ hearts with terror at a distance of one month’s ride. It was also said in the Qur’an that the whole earth was made for Muhammad and his followers as a place of worship and rituals. In this way, the Qur’an reassured the Prophet and his followers that they could pray whenever it was prayer time at any location (Hendri, 2018). In addition, the Quran reassured Muhammad to take war trophies: they were made halal for the Prophet; this was not granted to any of the prophets.
The Battle of Uhud
Although the Meccans lost the battle of Badr, they gathered an army again and attacked the Muslims, but this time in the city of Uhud, which was located near Medina. When the Muslims saw the Meccans, Muhammad ordered that the battle not begin until he gave his word. He put 50 riflemen to protect the rear and flank, which were not supposed to move, only to defend the territory (Munawan, 2018). However, the Muslims lost because Muhammad’s arrows did not hold their positions. Instead, they fled to the Meccans’ camp to rob them. The Muslims lost because they disobeyed the will of Allah. The Qur’an reassured Muhammad that Muslims should obey him in everything. They should not lose their courage if there were an opportunity to get considerable spoils of war in the future. However, the Qur’an reassured Muhammad that Allah would take all the Muslims killed to himself to heaven.
The Battle of The Moat
The Meccans came to Medina to fight against Islam. However, Mohammad had spies in Mecca, so he knew they were coming. After listening to a Muslim who was in Persia, the Muslims built a defensive moat. The appeal to the Qur’an helped Muhammad to successfully attack the last tribe of Jews in Medina (Kharlie, 2018). The Qur’an reassured him that Allah ordered the Prophet to go to the Jews and would send the archangel Jibril to shake their strength and defense.
The Battle of Hunein
When Mohammad captured Mecca, the Arab tribes surrounding it realized that if Mohammad had not met resistance, he would have become king of Arabia. The Arabs of the Hawazin tribe, led by Malik, decided to confront Mohammad. The army came out into a wide area, and they saw that the enemies were prepared — they were sitting in ambush and waiting for an attack. The Muslims turned around and fled; Mohammad stood on the step and followed him as the apostle of Allah. Most of them continued to retreat, except for his leading group, which gathered near him. A group of about 100 people made an effort to fight the battle (Bisri, 2019). Since the Qur’an reassured Muhammad that his followers would win even in an unequal fight, they were unwavering and genuinely triumphed.
The Qur’an in Muhammad’s Life
If Mohammad ordered a Muslim to do something, he first made sure that this task was not difficult and that person could do it. Despite this, many complained that they could not complete the assigned reading because they were not like the Prophet. Anger appeared on Muhammad’s face, and he said that no one fears Allah as much as he fears him (Yusuff et al., 2020). The Qur’an reassured the Prophet that he knows Allah better than any other person so he can determine what his warriors can do.
The Qur’an reassured Muhammad that he was the renewer of the primordial tradition of monotheism, preachers of which were all the previous prophets mentioned in the sacred books of Jews and Christians. However, it was distorted by their followers in the addition of known religions. The Qur’an says that Muhammad is the cleaner of the original divine revelation, the Prophet who restores the actual truth in its proper, original fullness (The Holy Qur’ An, 2021). That is, from the point of view of the Qur’an, he did not preach a new creed and did not create a religion. He acted as the last, final link between the Jewish prophets and Christian traditions, starting from Adam.
Conclusion
In nine years, Muhammad personally took part in 27 attacks. In addition, 37 other battles and campaigns were committed, which amounts to 65 armed events, not counting individual executions. On average, there was a one-armed event every six weeks. However, all of his victories would have been impossible without the reassurance of Allah presented in the Qur’an. Muhammad always said that even if he had a way to bring back all those who fell on the battlefield, he would still fight the same way. The Qur’an reassured the Prophet that dying in agony for the sake of Allah is the highest happiness. This dedication helped the Prophet become the best ruler of Mecca.
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