The creator of the youngest of the world religions of Islam was Muhammad. Unlike Buddha and Christ, his biography is generally known. It is stated in the Qur'an and hadith, although their historical reliability is sometimes questionable. Of course, the Prophet has a secret biography, but we are talking about the earthly life of the founders, which left its stamp on their teachings.
Muhammad is the same full-fledged founder of religion, like Buddha and Jesus Christ. This unites all three. And now the main difference between Muhammad, who in the old days we have, imitating French, was called Mohammed. Now it is customary to write in modern Russian literary language: Muhammad or Mohammed.
For devout Muslims, Muhammad acts as a "seal of prophets" - the greatest and completing the line of prophets, which include Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and Isa ben Maryam (Jesus, son of Mary), but he in no way can be God … Otherwise, it is regarded in Islam as the most terrible sin - shirk. Giving companions to Allah is an unforgivable sin in this very monotheistic religion of the world. The last prophet Allah (in Arabic God) sent to restore the original revelation and establish the true religion. Muhammad proclaims himself a "messenger" (rasul) of Allah in order to convey to people the Quran - a divine revelation.
Arab historians believe that the future prophet was born on August 29, 570 in his mother's house, located on the outskirts of Mecca, 400 meters from the Kaaba temple. The American romantic writer Washington Irving in his biography of Mohammed indicates April 569, and the outstanding historian of religions Mircea Eliade presumably a whole period between 567 and 572. Dates also differ in numerous encyclopedias, both domestic and foreign.
His father Abdallah died before the birth of his son, and according to the Arab tradition, his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib became his mentor. All of them came from the warlike and powerful Hashim clan of the Qureish tribe, "the most famous family among the Arabs, the family of the rulers of Mecca and the hereditary guardians of the Kaaba," as the famous historian Edward Gibbon noted.
Muhammad's mother, young Amina, also belonged to the same tribe, who gave her six-month-old son to be raised by a woman from the nomadic tribe Banu Saad. Twice a year - in spring and autumn - the middle-income Meccans gave their children to be raised by the women of the neighboring nomadic tribes. In a suffocating and filthy Mecca, children could easily die. Halima became Muhammad's nurse.
The legends tell almost nothing about the life of the Prophet in his family. Except for one incident, painted with amazing poetic details, which occurred about the fourth year of the boy's stay with the nomads. At noon, in bright sunlight, when the nurse and her husband were in the tent, and Muhammad, together with his foster brother, were playing nearby and looking after the lambs, two strangers in white robes approached the boys. They were angels, but the children did not know about it. One of the pilgrims was holding in his hands a golden basin filled with dazzling white snow. They laid Muhammad on his back and, opening his chest, took out his heart. From the heart they took a drop of black color and threw it away; then they cleaned the child's heart and entrails with snow and, putting the heart in place, withdrew.
At about 25, Muhammad married a wealthy widow, Khadija, who was 40 years old. A venerable and respected woman in the city, who survived two husbands, traded with the help of her hired clerks, who received not a fixed fee, but a certain share of the profit. Khadija invited Muhammad to take her goods for sale to Syria, and there to buy Greek and Persian products. The widow paid the young man generously, because her profit was much higher than usual, and Muhammad made an indelible impression on her with his article, intelligence, character and impeccable honesty.
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Khadija was the daughter of Huwaylid, a direct descendant of the famous Quraish in the ninth generation. In a word, she was of the noblest Arab blood, and she inherited considerable wealth from her second late husband. The young people got married in Khadija's wealthy house. Instead of the expected wealth, Muhammad found true love. After the death of Khadija, Muhammad had nine more wives, but during her lifetime the prophet did not have another wife. They had seven children: three sons who died in infancy and four daughters. In addition to a happy family life, great love and a home full of children - the joys of a private person, his wife gave Muhammad confidence in his high destiny. Khadija supported her husband's religious vocation.
After his marriage to Muhammad, something strange happened, outwardly resembling seizures. For no apparent reason, his body began to tremble, as with a chill, his face turned pale and covered with large drops of sweat, sometimes there were convulsions. He did not lose consciousness, but he often experienced unbearable melancholy.
For the first three years, Muhammad communicated the content of divine messages to only a few close people: except for Khadija, Ali's cousin, Zaid's adopted son, and two future caliphs, Osman and Abu Bakr. Many years later, the Qur'an will say that the creature that appeared before Muhammad to convey messages from Allah was Jibril, the angel Gabriel. He ordered Muhammad to preach faith in one God, the Most Merciful and the Most Merciful.
Modern science proceeds from the thesis that Muhammad really had an ecstatic transpersonal experience, he had visions and revelations, which he perceived as evidence of his direct communication with God. At the same time, the prophet remained a realistic politician, religious and state leader (after the Hijra and resettlement to Mecca - 622) and a military strategist.
This ability of Muhammad to think exclusively in terms of the earthly world was reflected in his attitude to the divine sonship of Christ. It was incomprehensible to the Prophet that this image is a window into the otherworldly, transcendental. “It seemed to him [Muhammad],” says the pastor of the Community of Christians, Rudolf Freeling, “that the use of the word 'Son' in relation to Jesus implies the presence of a woman who gave birth to a child to God, as it usually happens with people. But the corresponding New Testament sayings can be understood in a completely different way, if we proceed from the fact that man himself, being the likeness of God, is a "theomorphic" being.
For this reason, there are no rigid doctrinal schemes about God in the Qur'an. The holy book of Muslims is highly suspicious of any theological speculation and rejects them as zanna (literally "guess" in Arabic) - irresponsible and unsubstantiated considerations about those things that no one can know anything about. In Islam, as in Judaism, God was perceived primarily as a moral imperative.
Muhammad's night journey, when he saddled the winged mare al-Burak, visited earthly Jerusalem, and then ascended to heaven, is not worth mentioning in a real biography. If only for the reason that this fabulous adventure lasted a moment. The jar, overturned by Muhammad when he set out, did not have time to drain the contents, as he returned. Brevity has not prevented the creation of numerous travelogues in the Islamic tradition.
"Mohammed supported by his own example the ban on the use of wine, satisfied his hunger with a little barley bread, loved the taste of milk and honey, but his usual food was dates and water," Edward Gibbon describes the Prophet's private life and habits. - Incense and women were the only sensual pleasures that his nature demanded and did not forbid his religion, and Mahomet assured that these innocent joys strengthen his religious fervor. The hot climate hot the blood of the Arabs, and ancient authors noted their penchant for voluptuousness. In private life, Muhammad gave vent to his masculine lust and abused his right to be a prophet. All women were given over to the service of his desires without restriction. If we remember the 700 wives and 300 concubines of King Solomon, then we must praise the moderation of the Arab, who had no more than 17 or even 15 wives. Of these, historians list 11 by name, which each had its own house in Medina. Oddly enough, they were all widows, with the exception of one, Aisha, the daughter of Abu Bakr. She was undoubtedly a virgin, since Mohammed spent her first wedding night with her, when she was only nine years old (girls ripen so early for love in this climate)."
The same British historian cites the Latin testimony of St. Peter Paschazius that Muhammad "boasted that he had the fertile power of 30 men, and, as the Arab books report, could satisfy 11 women in one hour."
Despite polygamy, Muhammad did not have male heirs and in 655 or 656 his son-in-law Ali became the commander of the faithful.
All sources write - the Prophet Muhammad died on June 8, 632 in Medina.
IGOR BOKKER