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Prince Muhammad bin Fahad University
Arabic Language and Islamic Studies 1
ALIS1211 Self-Study
Reflection 2
K. Armstrong, Muhammad Prophet for Our Time, Chapter Two
Dr.Hala Gutta
Farah Alturki
201002577
After receiving his revelation, the Prophet had to deliver Allah’s message; for he
was his messenger. Delivering the message was not an easy task, the Prophet had to
struggle during it as well as Muslims; as ill be explained in this reflection essay of
chapter two, of the book “Muhammad Prophet for Our Time” by Karen Armstrong.
The Prophet started speaking about his revelation to his close friends and family
quietly, because he knew Quriash would not accept it; how would he justify being chosen
instead of a “well-born karim”. Despite the fact that those well-known karims were not
better than the Prophet, he was worried about their reaction to such revelation that has
violated their way of life.
When the Prophet started his revelation; his wife Khadija, his daughters, his
cousin Ali and slave Zeyad, as well as his friend Abu Baker were first to believe. The
new generation of his family members did as well such as, Jafar Ibn Abi Talib; however,
the older generation was not accepting such as his unlce, Abu Talbi, who still loved him.
Most of the Prophet’s followers were the poor, servants, freedmen, slaves, young men
and women.
The revelation was being spread around quietly; as Allah has ordered the Prophet
through the verses he sent through Gabriel, to ensure that the socity does not dived
against itself. The received verses by Gabriel were the words of Allah, the Prophet
merely repeated the received words. Receiving the verses was a difficult process; the
Prophet described it as having his sole “torn away”. The message he heard were
sometimes clear, where he can see and hear Gabriel, and sometimes not.
The Prophet was ordered by Allah not to interpret any verse “before its fall
significance had become entirely clear”, for Quran is sacred. Accordingly, the Prophet
would memorize it and learn by heart any verse after receiving it, then interpret it. The
verses would get written by literates, for the Prophet himself was not literal. Quran was
not set by Allah to be sequential, in order for the readers to understand its teachings and
learn the imbibe lesson in the text. Quran has a rich language, yet the followers were able
to interpret the meaning; for they were very fluent, thus to their love for poetry. The
richness of Quran helped the followers “slow down their mental processes and enter a
mode of consciousness”.
The author remarked on how Allah addressed the people in Quran; in order to
“achieve different level of awareness”, also mentioned that “the Christian notion of the
Last Judgment was central to the early message of the Quran”. Then talked about
judfement day, heaven, hell; and how they are mentioned in Quran. Furthermore,
Armstrong talked about how the Prophet tried to reform the society through Islam, and
how Quraish was socially irresponsible. The reformation process started through prayers,
which were daily reminders of the Islamic teachings. The Prophet kept his revolution a
secret for three years as Allah has ordered him; on the year 615 Allah has ordered the
Prophet to publicize the revolution to Qurish. Accordingly, the Prophet invited the tribe’s
elders twice; first time was interrupted by Abu-Lahab, second time, the tribe’s elder
thought what the Prophet had to say was nonsense and started laughing.
The Prophet started to spread his message more widely in Mecca, of course
Quriash could not criticize the social message the Prophet was trying to deliver; however,
they were skeptical about Judgment day. Despite that, Quriash wanted to leave the
Prophet alone, for they believed attacking him is going to be bad for their businesses;
considering it might lead to war. Even though, some of Quriash believed that the Prophet
was only doing so because he was seeking a public office; yet the Prophet was not
interested in politics and was ordered by Allah not to aspire public offices to assure his
critics.
In the year 616, the “Satanic verses “incident has occurred, where the Prophet has recited
verses that were put on his lips by Satan; and he thought it was Gabriel. That night
Gabriel came to the Prophet and notified him about him about the mistake he made, the
Prophet showed remorse and Allah consoled him with a new revelation; afterwards, the
Prophet chanted the new verses to Quraish.
Armstrong also talked about tawhid, which means unity; the principle of tawhid
simply requires Muslims to worship no God but Allah. The principle of tawhid was new
to Arabs back then Muslims and non-Muslims, and it was not similar to any other
religion. Accordingly four years later, the situation in Mecca got more complicated;
Quraish started to consider the Prophet a threat to their society and business. Thus
Quraish asked Abu Talib, the Prophet’s uncle to talked to him in order to reform. Abu
Talib talked to the Prophet and delivered his message, however the Prophet declined it
with full respect; and Abu Talib made it clear that he would still love him and he was still
family.
By time the Prophet realized that he was only attracting the poor, and that the rich
and powerful were not interested in his message. Thus, he had given up; and decided to
only concentrate on the poor; however, such strategy was not accepted by Allah, for the
Prophet was supposed to deliver his message equally to everyone. As mentioned in
Quran, where Allah emphasized on treating everybody equally, as he mentioned in Quran
when the Prophet brushed away a blind man. Allah also mentioned that disrespecting
people was the behavior of Kufar; which means unbelievers and Jahlya. Furthermore,
Allah also clarified that Muslims should behave in Hilm, which means patience and
respect, with other people; especially that Muslims were being mistreated and
disrespected by non-Muslims such as, Abu Lahab and Abu Jahal.
Abu Jahal used to mistreat the Prophet, disrespect and harass him; until one night the
Prophet’s uncle Hamza, have heard about it. Thus, he went to Abu Jahal and hit him to
protect his nephew. In order to ensure that the Prophet does not get into similar situations
again, Hamazh converted to Islam; in order to protect his nephew. At the end of year 616
Umar bin Al-Khatab, did not care about the Prophet’s uncle and decided to kill him; not
knowing his own sister and husband secretly converted to Islam. Some Muslims have
heard that he was going to kill the Prophet, in order to stop him; they told him about his
sister and brother in law. Umar, walked in to his sister’s house ragging and hit her; while
she was reciting Quran. Realizing what he did Umar picked her up and took the script
that was in her hands, he was fascinated by it; later on that night he went to the Prophet
and converted to Islam.
In conclusion, Muslims and the Prophet struggled during the early years of Islam;
matter of fact the year 619 Abu Jahal enforced a boycott on Muslims and the tribe of
Hashim. During the same year the Prophet’s wife Khadia died as well as his uncle Abu
Talib, that year is known as the “Year of Sadness”