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            Biography of  Mohammed                                 

Many of the verses in the Qur'an make little sense outside of their historical context, proving that the Sira (biography of Mohammed) is necessary for interpreting the Qur�an.

570     Birth of Mohammed  (his father died a few months earlier)  He belonged to the clan of Hashim, a poor branch of the prestigious and influential tribe of Quraysh. His father died before he was born

576    Death of his mother Aminah  -  After his mother�s death when he was six, so he was an orphan. He was brought up by his uncle Abu Talib.  Think about the rejection he must be felt by losing both his parents!   So then he lived with an uncle and he was also passed from relative to relative. He was not wealthy.  Instead his family were polytheistic, worshipping several gods and mostly the moon god.   He received so much rejection and never knew the love of God.  

 595     Marriage to Khadijah  - Khadijah's father died early in life and so she inherited the wealthy family business. Mohammed traded for Khadijah as her agent making commissions on the goods that he sold for her and made her huge profits for her.  He made several journeys to Syria, where he most likely met and conversed with Christians. Khadijah was twice a widow.  So she felt sad, rejected and lonely.  She did not want to marry again, but after a while she became impressed by Mohammed's honesty and business ability and she fell in love with him and sought him to marry him as her third husband.  It was arranged and Mohammed loved her too because she believed in him when no one else would and she was very wealthy. She did not believe in polytheistic idol worship or multiple gods.  She and Mohammed had a child together, a daughter named Fatima.

Read about  Mohammed's 22 Women

610     Beginning of call  - He began to meditate in caves.  His mother used to have apparitions and visions.  An apparition appeared before Muhammad.  At first, he thought,  he was scared to death.  I believe a demon appeared to Mohammed and told him to write. It wasn't uncommon..  He thought he was possessed at first, then he thought that he was the one chosen to deliver the people of Arabia back to the "true faith."  Notice he thought he was possessed at first.  So then he went home to Khadijah.  He just knew there was one God and in deciding what to call the one God, he decided on "Allah", the moon god, which is the god his family mostly worshipped, to keep peace with  his family.

615    Flight of His followers to Ethiopia  - Muhammad's  family and others were upset at his new revelations, so Muhammed and his followers fled to Ethiopia. 

619     Death of Khadijah.  After her death, they drove him out.  In Medina, he was a prophet in exile, a prophet of Abraham.  The elders of the Jewish community sat down with him and realized he has not read the Torah. and he was an "unlettered prophet" and only knew of things that were "passed down."  That is why there are things missing in the Koran.  Muhammad thought that he would be accepted by the Jews, but he was rejected.  He did not know the scriptures.  This made him hate the Jews. 

620     Mohammed's reputed 'Night Journey' from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to the seventh Heaven  where he received "revelations" supposedly from God, but I know they were not.  Unhealed pain from rejection breeds unforgiveness and  bitterness, which is sin and opens the door to demons.  Some believe that  the Night Journey and the Ascension were physical occurrences where the Prophet was borne bodily to Jerusalem and then to heaven,  where he receive the five daily Islamic prayers.  Others are convinced that the experience was purely spiritual.  Ayesha, the Prophet's widow and most intimate companion of his later years, who declared emphatically that "he was transported only in his spirit (bi-ruhihi), while his body did not leave its place."   So it was probably astral projection by demons.  When Mohammed got these "revelations",  his hometown rejected him.     

622    The Hijra (Flight of Migration) of Mohammed and his followers to Medina, and the beginning of the Muslim era.  Hijra means breaking off relations, abandoning one's tribe, or migrating refers to the departure of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca in AD 622. His criticism of the polytheism of the Meccan religion had angered the merchants of Mecca, who were reaping large profits from pilgrims. Forced into exile, Muhammad went to Medina and became its ruler.  

624    Battle of Badr:  the Quraysh defeated by the Muslims    - Mohammed was so angry on the inside that his family and hometown rejected him, and he and his followers were starving, so he thought that he would rob a caravan.  He was not a good thief.  He got there too late.  The Jews lined the streets and mocked him and so Mohammed hated the Jews.  So when the Quraysh caravan came, he finally robbed them and then he killed his own family and stole all their goods and valuables.       When his followers questioned Mohammed saying, "You're a prophet of God, but you killed your family members and robbed them?....So then Muhammad got a "revelation" and said:  "It's OK to kill them because they are infidels."   

625    Battle of Uhud:  the Muslims were defeated   Muhammad's men were coming on the offensive against the Meccans and seemed to be winning. But when 40 of the archers stationed on a hill left their positions to secure their part of the loot, the Meccans were then able to launch a counter-attack.   The 10 archers who had remained in their positions were not able to hold them back. This caused the disintegration of the Muslim troops, and in the disturbance, Muhammad was wounded and fell unconscious to the ground. The Meccans then chose to withdraw, believing that Muhammad was dead. Later the same day, they learned that he most certainly hadn't died, but by then Muhammad had been returned to safety.

626    The Jewish tribe of al-Nadir crushed and expelled   The main underlying reason for the expulsion of the clan of al-Nadir was because their Jewish criticisms endangered the ordinary Muslim's belief in Muhammad's prophethood and in the Qur'an as "revelation from God." Mohammed, who lived over 600 years after Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection denies His work of redeeming mankind from their sins through shedding his sinless holy blood on the cross.  In other words, the Jews were telling everyone that central parts of the claims Muhammad made in and about his 'book' were false, and they even had the scripture to prove it.  Instead of believing the truth the Jews were telling him that Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah and the Savior of the world, Mohammed substitutes his message of salvation through submission to Islam, which supposes man may merit Paradise by his works and that God forgives without satisfying the justice or without satisfying the punishment that is really due us for our sins.  God sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world who was miraculously born and lived and did many miracles and finally died on the cross and shed His precious holy blood to pay the penalty for our sins to satisfy the wrath of God.  The Jews who knew these truths were such a threat to Mohammed's new religion.  No wonder they had to be removed.

Why Muslim Women Wear Veils

Khadija's death in 619, when he was 50, he eventually married nine women, including Aisha, the daughter of his kinsman and early follower Abu Bakr, who was to become the first caliph, or successor to Mohammed.  He also took a Christian Coptic slave as a concubine. Mohammed�s sons all died in infancy.  One wonders, why did God allow that to happen?   The only daughter to survive him was Fatima, who married Ali, the fourth caliph.

627    "The War of the Ditch" - the Meccans' expedition against the Muslims in Medina.  Attackers driven off.   

628     The Treaty of Hudaybiyya; truce with the Quraysh, who recognize Mohammed's right to proselytize without hindrance       The war caused the Quraysh to suffer great losses so Mohammed made a truce with them - for them to refrain from interfering between me and the people who will have the option to embrace Islam as the other people do, if they wish.He granted Jews and Christians religious autonomy as �peoples of the Book,� whose revelations, Mohammed claims, anticipated his own.

629    The Jews of Khaybar who criticized Mohammed and tried to tell Mohammed the truth about Jesus were put to the sword.  Mohammed send letters and messengers to the Kings of Persia, Yemen, and Ethiopia and the Emperor Heraclius, inviting them to accept Islam

630    Truce broken by the Quraysh.  Mecca taken by Mohammed, the entire population converted, and the Ka'bah established as the religious center of Islam.

631    The Year of Embassies' - Islam accepted by the Arabian tribes

632    Mohammed's Farewell Pilgrimage to Mecca

632    June 8th  - Death of Mohammed, three months after his return to Medina

See:  www.thereligionofpeace.com

     After Mohammed's untimely death there was a huge controversy as to who would succeed him.  Abu Bakr was one of the early followers of Mohamed who was by his side as a close friend and supporter.  Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed, wanted her husband Ali to be the successor.  There was a usurping, she believes when their wishes were forcefully overruled and Abu Bakr was put in place as the caliph or leader after Mohmmed's untimley death..  So there was a division.  The ones that supported Mohammed's son-in-law, Ali are called Shitte Muslims and the ones who supported Abu Bakr are called Sunni Muslims. Eventually, Ali did become leader of the Muslims as the 4th caliph. Abu Bakr died in 634, 

Mohammed belonged to the clan of Hashim, a poor but respected branch of the prestigious and influential tribe of Quraysh. His father died before he was born, and after his mother�s death when he was six, he was brought up by his uncle Abu Talib (c. 540�619). Pensive and withdrawn in temperament, he displayed an acute moral sensitivity at an early age, and he was known as al-Amin (�the trusted one�). Like his fellow tribesmen, he became a trader and made several journeys to Syria, where he may have met and conversed with Christians. He then began to manage the business of a rich widow, Khadija (c. 555�619); she was greatly impressed by both his honesty and ability, and she shortly offered him marriage, which he accepted at the age of 25.

Insisting on the necessity of social reform, Mohammed advocated improving the lot of slaves, orphans, women, and the poor and replacing tribal loyalties with the fellowship of Islamic faith. This egalitarian and reformist tendency quickly aroused the enmity of the rich merchants who dominated Mecca. They persecuted some of Mohammed�s weaker followers, and in 615 he ordered 83 families to take refuge in Ethiopia. When both his beloved wife Khadija and his uncle and protector Abu Talib died in 619, he despaired of his position in Mecca. After an unsuccessful effort to convert the nearby town of Taif, he was approached by a delegation from Yathrib (later Medina), a city about 300 km (about 186 mi) to the north that was divided by tribal feuds. They asked him to arbitrate the feuds, offering him considerable authority. After careful negotiations, Mohammed accepted and asked his followers to emigrate from Mecca to Medina.

The Hegira.

Mohammed escaped Mecca just as his enemies were preparing to murder him, and he arrived in Medina eight days later. His flight became known as the higira (q.v.; Arab. hijra, �emigration�) and marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.

Mohammed was soon given supreme authority in Medina, and he began to establish the ritual practices of Islam and to carry out social reforms. He promulgated a charter that specified the rights and relationships of the Muslims, Jews, and other groups of the city. The Meccans, meanwhile, persisted in their hostility, demanding the extradition of Muhammad and his Meccan followers. They were supported in Medina by a group, referred to in the Koran as the Hypocrites, who had submitted to Islam but were secretly working against it. This group in turn was aided by the three Jewish tribes that were residing in Medina.

War with Mecca.

Mohammed�s strategy in the developing conflict with Mecca was to attack Meccan trade caravans returning from Syria and thus economically weaken the city. In 624, the first major battle occurred, in which the Muslims, despite their inferiority in numbers and weapons, soundly defeated the Meccans. In the next major battle, the following year, the Meccans had the advantage but were unable to achieve a decisive victory. A Meccan army of 10,000 besieged Medina in 627 but failed to take the city. Mohammed meanwhile eliminated his enemies within Medina. After each of the first two battles he expelled a Jewish tribe, and after the third major battle he had the males of the remaining tribe massacred for collaborating with his opponents.

Victory.

In 630, the Meccans, unable to conquer Medina and crippled by the severing of their trade routes, finally submitted peacefully to Muhammad, who treated the city generously, declaring a general amnesty. Tribal delegations arrived from throughout Arabia, and their tribes were soon converted to Islam. Mohammed, now the most powerful leader in Arabia, enforced the principles of Islam and established the foundation of the Islamic empire. He ordered the destruction of the idols in the kaa'ba (q.v.), the traditional place of pilgrimage in Mecca, which then became the holiest shrine of Islam. He granted Jews and Christians religious autonomy as �peoples of the Book,� whose revelations anticipated his own. On his last visit to Mecca, at the time of the annual pilgrimage, he gave a sermon in which he summarized his reforms, declared the brotherhood of Muslims, and repudiated all distinctions of class, color, and race. He died suddenly and unexpectedly in Medina about a year later, on June 8, 632.

Read about  Mohammed's 22 Women

Completely unlike Jesus Christ who never had sex with a woman, Mohammed was sexually involved with at least 22 women. Although in the Qur'an he would limit his followers to having four wives, he himself took more than four wives and many concubines. The question of the number of women with whom Muhammad was sexually involved either as wives, concubines or devotees was made a point of contention by the Jews in Muhammad's day. Ali Dashti comments:

Now polygamy was practiced in the Old Testament by Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Solomon. In fact when David committed adultery with Bathsheeba, God said, "Did I not give you your many wives, why have you done this thing with Bathsheeba", (2 Samuel 12:7-9 paraphrased). But the Koran claims to be a new revelation from God to man and specifically limited the number of wives to four. In Sura 4:3. This means that Mohammed sinned against the very Koran he claimed to reveal.

Although Arabs gave us Algebra, modern Muslims are quite illogical regarding most aspect of their religion. If history contradicts the Koran, history is wrong! In order to keep Mohammed sinless, Muslims will actually deny the fact that Mohammed had more than four wives. Their circular reasoning is well documented by James A. Beverly, in his book "Understanding Islam". A typical private conversation with a Muslim regarding Mohammed�s many wives will go as follows:

1. The Qur'an condemns more than 4 wives in Q4:3.
2. Mohammed was sinless.
3. Therefore Mohammed did not have more than four wives, (because Mohammed was sinless.)                LOL!