CHAPTER 21
A SHORT LIFE SKETCH OF
MOHAMMED
Mohammed
was born in the year 570 A.D. His father had died a few months before his birth.
He lost his mother when he was about six years of age. Mohammed was brought up
by his uncle.
Financially Mohammed was
very poor. Some say that Mohammed was illiterate but opinions differ on this
Education or no education, Mohammed was very intelligent and wise. He was
thoughtful and meditative.
It is said that Mohammed
was of medium build and not too tall or short. Since no formal pictures of
Mohammed are available, one has to go by descriptions of Mohammed written by his
followers. Mohammed was handsome, had a large head with black thick hair, wide
forehead, heavy eyebrows and large black eyes with slight redness on the sides
and long eyelashes. He had a fine nose, well spaced teeth and a thick beard,
wide chest and shoulders, light colored skin and thick palms and feet.
Mohammed was married by
Khadija Bibi, his employer and 15 years his senior. At the time, Mohammed was
twentyfive years old. Mohammed was Khadija Bibi's third husband; the lady was a
widow when she married Mohammed.
Khadija Bibi was wealthy
and after marriage with her, Mohammed lived in comparative luxury, for the first
time in his life. They had several children, both boys and girls. The boys did
not live long and the girls were given away In marriage. They adopted a son
named Zayed after their sons died.
Khadija Bibi died when
Mohammed was about 49 years old. Between the ages of 49 and 63, after Khadija
died, the prophet married thirteen wives. The names of eleven ate given below.
At the age of 54 Mohammed married Ayesha, a girl of six (some say nine) years of
age. Ayesha was the daughter of Abu Bakr, a close disciple of Mohammed. Ayesha,
according to many was Mohammed's most favorite wife.
Mohammed's Wives:
1 Khadija Bibi
2 Sauda Bibi
3 Ayesha Bibi
4 Hafsa Bibi
5 Umme-Habiba Bibi
6 Umme-Salma Bibi
7 Safia Bibi
8 Moyomuna Bibi
9 Zainab bint Jahsh Bibi
10 Zainab bint Khuzaymah Bibi
11 Juwairya (Zudia) Bibi
Zainab, daughter of
Jahsh was initially married to his adopted son Zayed. Put one day the prophet
'beheld in a loose undress, the beauty of Zainab, and burst forth into an
ejaculation of devotion and desire. The servile, or grateful, freeman understood
the hint, and yielded without hesitation to the love of the benefactor'. Zayed
divorced Zainab so that Mohammed could marry her.
Among Mohammed's
concubines were Rehana and Mary (also known as Mariam). Mary was a Christian
slave girl presented to Mohammed whereas Juwairya and Rehana both were Jewish
girls captured in battles with the Jews. Juwairya eventually married the prophet
and gave up her Jewish faith. Rehana did not agree to give up her Jewish faith
and would rather live as a concubine against her own will, than marry the
prophet. both Juwairya and Rehana had lost their men folk in the battles with
the Moslem followers of Mohammed.
Among the many battles
that the prophet of Islam fought with his enemies, the kafirs, the more
well-known are the following:
Battle of Badr: the
Qurayza were defeated. (624 A.D.)
Battle of Uhud: the
Moslems were defeated. (625 A.D.)
War of the ditch: Meccans
attack the Moslems and the attackers are driven off. (627 A.D.)
Battle of Khaybar: the
Jews are defeated. (629 A.D.)
In the year 627 A.l). the
Jewish tribe of Qurayza was raided by Mohammed. Some 700 men were beheaded.
Edward Gibbon writes in his famous book, 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire': " ... seven hundred Jews ere dragged in chains to the market-place
of the city; they descended alive into the grave prepared for their execution
and burial; and the apostle beheld with an inflexible eye the slaughter of his
helpless enemies. Their sheep and camels were inherited by the Musulmans: three
hundred cuirasses, five hundred pikes, a thousand lances, composed the most
useful portion of the spoil."
All the Jews that survived
the battle of Khaybar were also put to the sword in 629 A.D.
It was in 630 A.D. that
Mecca was taken by Mohammed. The entire population was converted to Islam and
the Kaaba established as the religious center of Islam. All kafirs were
forbidden entry into Mecca.
The Moslem year starts
from 622 A.D. This is the year of HIJRA or flight of Mohammed and his followers
to Medina.
Mohammed believed that he
was poisoned by a Jewish woman as revenge after the battle of Khaybar. During
the last four years of his life, his health declined, epileptic fits became more
frequent, his other infirmities increased. He died in the year 632 A.D., June 8.
During the twenty-four
years of his marriage with Khadija Bibi, the youthful prophet abstained from the
right of polygamy and just before his impending death he liberated his slaves:
seventeen men and eleven women. Till the third day before his death he regularly
performed the function of public prayer. Gibbon says in his book: "In spite
of his polygamy Mohammed left no heir. In 655 or 656 A.D. his son in law, Ali,
became Commander of the Faithful, but his descendants did not retain
power".
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