Review of previous articles:
With regard to the Middle East as a region, previous articles focused on the Fertile Crescent. This article reviews the history of the Jewish Hebrew Bible and the characteristics of Judaism, traces the influence of Sumerian mythology on Old Testament stories, and explores how the Jews changed from the worship of gods to monotheistic beliefs.
In the first century C.E., the tribe of Nazareth emerged within Judaism, and under Paul's impetus the birth of universal Christianity. In this regard, previous articles have also analyzed.
Today, you should set your sights on the Arabian Peninsula and learn about the stories that happened in this land. In this land, Islam, one of the three major religions in the world today, was born.
This article will provide a brief overview of Muhammad's life and the process by which he founded Islam. In the future, the three homologous religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam will be compared for reference.
1. The age of barbarism in Arabia
Before the dawn of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula was a polytheistic place. The Arabs called this period the Zahiriyah era, which also means the age of barbarism.
1. Bedouins and Cypriot whites
The Arabian Peninsula is located between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The northern and central parts of the peninsula are plateaus, and most of the area is desert and grassland, and the climate is arid and difficult to cultivate.
In the western and southern parts of the peninsula, there are seaside plains and mountains, with abundant rainfall and fertile land.
Due to the different geographical environment, the Semitic people who lived here for generations gradually divided into two major branches: the Bedouins in the north and the Sebs in the south.
The Bedouins in the north live a nomadic life of water and grass, often fighting tribal wars for water and pasture, and the whole society is in turmoil. The southern Seucians began to develop agriculture in the centuries BC and established the Seucab state.
2. Arab Trade Route "Hijaz"
The southern Serbian and Belarusian countries are not only suitable for agriculture, but also for trade.
The Tao of Commerce is known as "hijaz" in Arabic. The original meaning of the word was "to separate" because this trade route separated the desert strip in the east and the coastal strip in the west.
The official Chinese translation of "hijaz" is the Hejaz, which represents a geographical area. It stretches from Jordan in the north to Yemen in the south, including three provinces in Saudi Arabia.
The Hejaz region of the Arabian Peninsula
"Hijaz" has been a trade route since ancient times. To avoid war between the Byzantines and Persians, precious goods such as gems, spices, and silk from India and China were often transported to Yemen via the Arabian Sea, and then to Syria and Egypt via the "hijaz".
The area is not only rich in "hijaz", but also rich in frankincense and myrrh. These two olive plants can be processed into spices and ointments. The Hebrews used it to worship the gods and heal the sick, the Romans used it to cover up the stench of cremation, and the Egyptians used it to make and preserve mummies.
3. Mecca, a commercial city of gods and goddesses
The development of commerce and trade in the southern part of the peninsula also attracted the Bedouins of the north. Most of them became merchants or provided guides and bodyguards for caravans.
As the size of the caravan grew, caravanserais came into being to provide supplies and trade. Later, these caravanserai developed into cities with inns, shops, workshops, and farmers' markets. This is how Mecca evolved into a commercial city.
Before the dawn of Islam, Mecca had been the religious center of the Arabs. There are Kierbai rooms and seepage springs.
The Kerr Room is a cube-shaped building with a black meteorite inlaid in the southeast corner. Legend has it that it was built by Adam (Adam), the first human being, and was destroyed by the Great Flood and rebuilt by Noah (Noah). It was rebuilt many years later by the father and son Ibrahim (Abraham) and Ismaili (Ishmael).
Kerr Day Room
The seepage spring next to the Kaaba is an oasis spring. Legend has it that this is the spring that the Arabian patriarch Ismael (Ishmael) and his mother Hagar discovered in the wilderness.
Among the northern Bedouins who migrated south, there was a Qurai people. They were the strong men of the Bedouin tribes, joined the trade routes after they flourished, became rich by renting camels and escorting caravans, and finally settled in Mecca, where they specialized in commerce.
Gradually, the Qurayites became the rulers of Mecca, and they made a pact with the tribes to prohibit fighting in Mecca. As a result, Mecca has become a well-known and safe trading marketplace, attracting a steady stream of people and business opportunities.
Like all commercial centers, Mecca became a materialistic, noisy and depraved place. In the Kaaba Temple, there are as many as 360 idols. People can worship one idol every day.
4. Foreign invasions compete for trade routes
The trade route's location as a transportation hub and the demand for spices and medicinal herbs in the surrounding area brought wealth and prosperity to the Hejaz and Yemeni regions in the southwest of the peninsula, as well as foreign invasions.
Since its establishment, the Serbian state has been subject to raids by northern Bedouins and other foreign invasions. Around the second century B.C., a group of Semitic Hemeans, who had long since moved out of the peninsula, returned to the peninsula and successfully conquered the Sepbais, establishing the Hemean Kingdom on the basis of the Sebelian state. For a long time, the Kingdom of Hemia had a monopoly on commercial trade in the Red Sea.
In the 4th and 6th centuries AD, the Byzantine Empire in the north, the Sassanid Persian Empire, and the Ethiopian Kingdom of Asum in East Africa fought a protracted war for hegemony over Yemen's international trade routes. This century-long war for hegemony brought severe trauma to the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, and the once prosperous early civilization of South Arabia was completely destroyed.
It was not until 575 AD that the Persians defeated other powers and became the de facto rulers of Yemen. After that, the Persians moved their trade routes to the Persian Gulf closer to the mainland, causing the Arab commercial cities of Mecca, Sana'a, and Yathrib to gradually decline.
5. The principle of blood revenge
In order to regain the dominance of trade, the merchant aristocracy in the city actively expanded its military equipment and increased the exploitation of the common people, and the usury interest rate was as high as 100%, and many poor people became debt slaves.
As a result, a large number of people from the south migrated north and became nomadic peoples. The migration of people to the north of the peninsula has severely squeezed the living space of the Bedouins, who are already full of internal contradictions, resulting in more frequent wars and more impoverished life in the north.
The barren and limited land could not support the new population, so vendettas between tribes became a cruel means of regulating the population. In search of protection, the Arabian Peninsula applied the principle of "blood revenge".
At that time, the social structure of the Arabian Peninsula was a pyramidal structure of "family-clan-tribe", a tent was a family, and families related by blood formed clans, and clans with common ancestors formed tribes. The individual is subordinate to the family, the family is subordinate to the clan, and the clan is subordinate to the tribe.
The clan cannot be separated from the tribe for protection, the family cannot be separated from the clan for protection, and the individual cannot be separated from the family for protection. If an individual is killed for a vendetta, the blood relatives are obligated to avenge you. If the family is killed for a vendetta, relatives of the same clan need to help you get revenge. If the clan is killed for vendetta, the tribe will take revenge.
6. Summary
In the barbarian era, before the birth of Islam, the difference in geographical location of the Arabian Peninsula formed a north-south branch: the Bedouins in the north and the Cypriots in the south.
The geography of the south brought about the development of agriculture, the development of trade routes, the birth of commercial cities, and foreign invasions. Under the pressure of the surrounding Byzantine and Persian Sassanid dynasties, the Arabian Peninsula was full of internal contradictions. The barrenness of resources and endless vendettas have formed a pyramid social structure of "family-clan-tribe" closely linked by blood ties. People achieve personal protection through the principle of blood revenge.
2. The life of Muhammad
1. The life of Muhammad
Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. into a merchant noble family of the Hashemite clan of the Quraysh tribe. His grandfather's name was Abdul Muttalib, and he was the leader of the Seek's Springs, and he was a prominent and wealthy man. Muhammad's father was the 10th son of his grandfather, who was to be sent to the Ka'ba for sacrifice. At the persuasion of relatives, he gave up and replaced it with 100 camels.
2. Teenage years
Before Muhammad was born, his family was already in the middle of the road. His father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was 6 years old. Muhammad was raised by his uncle, Abu Talib.
When his relatives died one after another, Muhammad, a lonely young man, could only work hard. When he was 12 years old, he followed his uncles to Damascus and other places to do business, and gained a lot of knowledge. (Islam is heavily influenced by Judaism and Christianity, and also because Muhammad was exposed to a lot of religious knowledge during his business experience) During this period, he also participated in some tribal wars and accumulated a wealth of military experience.
3. Married at the age of 25 and married a rich widow
As an adult, Muhammad had become a well-informed and handsome man.
At the age of 25, Muhammad was employed by a large trading firm in Mecca. The proprietress of the comptoir was named Herticher and was the widow of a wealthy merchant. She inherited a large fortune from her husband and used the estate to run a trading house independently. Many powerful people have proposed to her, but they have all been sternly refused.
During his time in the merchant house, Muhammad's talents and virtues attracted Heticher. In 595 A.D., the two were married. They later had four daughters and two sons. The sons died, but the daughters survived.
The marriage to the wealthy widow Herticher also became an important turning point in Muhammad's life. He achieved financial freedom and had more time to think about religious and social issues.
4. Geddell Night
Muhammad often used his time after marriage to think about religion. He often went to the cave of Hira in the north of Mecca to meditate. Each training session lasts for 10 days and half a month.
Gradually, Muhammad began to secretly spread a new religion. His wife Hetiche, his cousin Ali, his son Zaid, Abu Bakr (the first caliph), 'Ubaid of the Banu Taim, Abirahaman of the Banu Zuhra and a few others converted to the religion.
Finally, one day in 610 C.E., while he was meditating, someone suddenly grabbed him from behind, making him almost breathless. An unfamiliar voice shouted three times in succession: Recitation. So he couldn't read and write, and he couldn't help but recite this text. This is the first revelation from Allah, and that voice comes from the angel Gabriel. Over the next 20 years, he received more than 100 revelations.
From then on, Muhammad began to openly propagate the new religion, saying that he was the last messenger of Allah on earth and the sealed prophet. He called on people to abandon the polytheistic beliefs and idolatry that have been respected for generations and to honor the one and only Allah. Muhammad opposed blood revenge and infant abandonment, forbade usury and gambling, and advocated almsgiving to the poor, leniency and the freeing of slaves.
The revelation that took place in 610 A.D. is also known as the "night of Gedr", which means predetermined and noble night.
5. Threatened in Mecca
Muhammad's public promotion of Islam, which exalted Allah, was in serious conflict with the polytheistic Meccan aristocracy.
The most powerful nobles in Mecca at that time were the Umayyad and Umayyyad. Together with the Hashem, they are three of the twelve tribes of the Quray. Because of the long-term business competition, the three families are already fiercely contradictory. Now Muhammad of the Banu Hasim preached a monotheistic religion and was considered by the other two families to be a serious threat to their position in Mecca. Therefore, they began to actively oppose Muhammad's mission.
Muhammad was able to temporarily evacuate some of his followers from Mecca, but he chose to remain and preach in secret. After all, the influence of Uncle Muhammad and the connections of his wife, Hetiche, also provide some protection.
It was not until 619 A.D., when his uncle and wife died, that the new leader of the Hashemite clan, Abrahab, became hostile to Islam and declared that he would no longer protect Muhammad's personal life.
According to the Arab principle of blood revenge, it meant that Muhammad personally lost the protection of his clan and his life was in extreme danger. The Umayyad and Umayyad families intensified their persecution of Muslims and prepared to kill Muhammad.
6. Night Climbing
At the height of his precariousness, Muhammad underwent a miracle known as the "Night Walk".
One night, he rode a flying horse to the Far Mosque in Jerusalem. He was then taken to the seven heavens by the angel Gabriel, where he saw Adam, Abraham, Moses, and other prophets, and saw all kinds of wrongdoers being punished.
He then returned to the earth and rode back to Mecca on a Pegasus. Legend has it that the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem was the place where Muhammad walked through the sky. Jerusalem also became a holy place for Muslims. After that, the Muslims prayed five times a day in the direction of Jerusalem, until later they changed to the direction of Mecca.
夜行登霄
7. Migration
400 km from Mecca there is an oasis city called Yathrib. In the first century AD, Jews established settlements here. Later, the two Arab tribes joined forces to defeat the Jews and seize control of the oasis. The vendetta and war between them lasted 50 years. In order to end the war, they needed the mediation of an authority figure.
Seventy-five Muslims who had converted to Islam came to Mecca to meet Muhammad and sign the Aqaba Oath with him. They invited Muhammad to Yathrib to mediate tribal conflicts, stop further vendettas, and swear to defend his safety.
From July 622 onwards, Muhammad and the Muslims migrated to Yathrib in groups. This migration is also called "Migration Chronicles". Because of the importance of migration to Islam and the Arab nation. In 639 A.D., the second caliph 'Umar declared 622 A.D. the first year of Islam. Yathrib was also renamed "Medina", which means "City of the Prophets".
8. Uma Commune
In Medina, Muhammad was no longer a man to be despised and persecuted. His arrival was warmly welcomed by the local people.
With his supreme authority, Muhammad successfully mediated an inter-tribal vendetta. In Medina, those who migrated from Mecca were called Emigrants, and those who converted to Islam were called Helpers.
After the vendetta was stopped, the Mishi and the Helpers signed the Medina Charter, which stipulated that all Muslims should be brothers, that the members of the commune should help each other, that vendetta killings should be forbidden, that all Muslims who had been victims of Allah must take revenge for it, and so on.
They forged an alliance based on a common faith and a rare break in blood ties in the Arab world, the Ummah commune. In the Ummah commune, the Helpers provided the land and tools for labor, and the Emigrants provided the labor.
In previous Arab societies, each member was in a "family-clan-tribe" social structure, and blood ties became bonds with each other. But in Ummah commune, religion becomes the bond that binds them together. All polytheists became the common enemy of the Ummah commune.
At this time, Muhammad was not only a religious leader, but also the head of government and military commander of the entire region. The Ummah Commune also became the prototype of a theocratic Arab state.
9. Battle of Badr
At the beginning of 624 AD, the Ummah commune began an armed confrontation. They attacked a small caravan from Mecca. The attack, which took place during the Forbidden Month, broke the rules of convention and was strongly condemned by the noble tribes of Mecca.
Muhammad believed that although it was a fault to ban the moon and use force, it was a greater sin to disobey Allah. This view also gave the "jihad" color to the later battles.
A few months later, Muhammad personally led a battle. At that time, the Muslims of Medina were preparing to attack a large caravan in Mecca. The caravan had received information in advance and had withdrawn back to Mecca. Muhammad fought in Badr with the Meccan army that had come to support him. In the end, Muhammad won more with less.
The Battle of Badr is considered a decisive victory in Islamic history, a miraculous manifestation or a manifestation of Muhammad's tactical genius, and one of the few wars specifically mentioned in the Qur'an. When Egypt raided Israel in 1973, they dubbed it Operation Badr.
10. Expulsion of Jews
When he first moved to Medina, Muhammad offered to make overtures to the Jews in the hope that they would recognize his prophetic status.
Jews are stubborn. Just as they refused to recognize Jesus as the Messiah that the Jews were waiting for, they also refused to recognize Muhammad as a prophet in the same line as Abraham and Moses.
For this reason, Muhammad broke with them and re-established Ramadan by changing the direction of Muslim worship from Jerusalem to the Ka'ba house in Mecca.
In addition, he expelled two rebellious Jewish tribes and divided their land among other Muslims. After the Battle of the Trenches, he led his army to exterminate a Jewish tribe that was secretly assisting Mecca. Of these, 600 men were executed, and women and children were enslaved.
In 628, he conquered another Jewish tribe, allowing them to stay where they were, but they had to pay half of their income as a tax each year. The Arab policy of imposing a human tax on infidels was thus initiated.
After that, all the people of Medina converted to Islam. The Ummah commune also became a purely Muslim community.
11. Battle of the trenches
In 627 A.D., the Meccan nobles united with 11 Bedouin tribes to form an army of 10,000 men to attack Medina.
Muhammad took advantage of the danger of Medina, which was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and dug a trench in the north of the city, which lasted for a month. Eventually, the Mecca army was forced to withdraw due to supply difficulties, but Muhammad took advantage of the situation and won a complete victory, which is known as the "Battle of the Trenches".
Victory in the Battle of the Trench is believed to have been the result of divine help. Muhammad's prestige also increased, and the Bedouins around him came to convert to Islam. Muhammad's military prowess also impressed some of the Meccan nobles, and some of them came to believe that Muhammad was Allah's messenger.
12. The Peace of Hudaybia
The year after the Battle of the Trenches, the nobles of Mecca and Muhammad signed an armistice at Hudaybia, known as the Peace of Hudaybia.
The Meccan aristocracy legalized Islam and allowed Muhammad and Muslims to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca for three days a year. Soon after the treaty was signed, Muhammad sent emissaries to the surrounding regions to subjugate the Quartet through various diplomatic means. Since then, Muhammad has made friendly representations with Byzantium, Persia and other neighboring powers.
13. Submission to Mecca
After the external environment was stabilized, Muhammad was ready to submit Mecca. In January 630, Muhammad entered Mecca with tens of thousands of Muslim troops under the pretext of Hajj. The Meccan aristocracy was forced by the situation to announce their conversion to Islam. After Muhammad was proclaimed, he renamed the Kaaba Mosque and removed all the tribal idols, leaving only the black stone as a sacred object for Muslims to perform Hajj and worship.
14. Year of the Delegation
The year after the surrender of Mecca, in 631 C.E. Delegations were sent from all over the Arabian Peninsula to express their willingness to accept Muhammad's leadership and convert to Islam. This year is also known as the "Year of the Delegation".
At this time, except for the Persian Gulf, Muhammad basically completed the unification of the Arabian Peninsula, ending the long-term division of the Arabs between the north and the south, and forming a unified society with Islam as the link.
15. Resignation speech
In 632 A.D., Muhammad made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, which was the last Hajj he made during his lifetime, and it is also known as the "Pilgrimage". On March 8 of the same year, he delivered his final speech on Mount Arafat to the more than 124,000 disciples present and to Muslims all over the world.
16. Yashin
Muhammad was converted to Medina on June 8, 632 A.D., and was buried in the Prophet's Mosque in Medina at the age of 62.
This is a brief description of Muhammad's life and the process by which he founded Islam. For the history of the Arab Empire after Muhammad's conversion, see The Brief History of the Arab Empire.