Koran Curious - A Guide for Infidels and Believers (5 page)

Courageously, however, Muhammad was pragmatic about his love loss, and he understood the math. If he wanted an attractive bride, he would have to acquire a substantial camel herd, so he devoted the proceeding years to building his reputation in that field.

In the year AD 595, which was two years after his first romantic heartbreak, Cupid’s arrow would find him again. A wealthy widow by the name of Khadijah, who was fifteen years Muhammad’s senior, had learned of his reputation for trustworthiness and for delivering merchandise on time. Khadijah asked Muhammad if he would be interested in transporting and selling some goods for her in Syria. Muhammad said he would, and a fee for his service was negotiated. On the day before he was to lead the caravan with her goods on the long road to Syria, Khadijah brought to him her manservant, Maysara, offering him as an assistant for the journey and transaction.

Unbeknownst to Muhammad, however, Khadijah had ulterior motives for sending one of her slaves. She was sending him to detail every thing Muhammad said or did on the journey to and fro Syria, for the single purpose she was sweet on the handsome twenty-five year old camel herder.

So who was Khadijah? Well, she was the daughter of Khuwaylid ibn Asad, a successful businessman whose significant wealth was inherited by her, and she successfully continued and preserved the family’s fortune. The people of Mecca regarded her and her family as people of impeccable character, and she was well known for her treatment of the poor. As you can imagine, she was well sought out by would-be suitors, but like Muhammad, she had been unlucky in love, as both her former marriages had ended in the death of her respective husbands.

When Muhammad returned to Mecca from Syria on behalf of Khadijah, he delivered to her a full account of all monies received for her goods, which happened to be double what she expected. She was delighted. Of greater interest to her, however, was the report her slave would submit, which ultimately offered an extremely positive account of Muhammad’s honesty and smarts. In fact, Maysara had even included in his report that Muhammad even seemed somewhat god like, and that a holy men had recognized him as some kind of prophet.

Khadijah had made her mind, she wanted to seek Muhammad’s hand in marriage but she couldn’t make the approach herself as this was not only uncustomary, but a face-to-face refusal would’ve caused both her and he as loss of public face. Instead, Khadijah would engage the services of an intermediary. The opening moments of the meeting between Muhammad and Khadijah’s matchmaker didn’t go so smooth, however, as Muhammad expressed that while he was interested, he didn’t have the financial means to pay for a dowry. The intermediary told him he wouldn’t need to worry himself with such concerns, as Khalidjah was already independently wealthy.

Shortly after, Muhammad and Khalidjah met for dinner at her house. There she explained to him, “I love you for many reasons: you are well centered, not being a partisan among the people for this or that; you are trustworthy and have a beauty of character and I love the truth of your speech.”

Despite what seemed like a conveniently orchestrated marriage for Muhammad, he fell madly and deeply in love with his wife, and despite the wealth she brought to the union, he continued to live the simple life he had been accustomed to as a merchant. On the day of their marriage it was his uncle Abu Talib who delivered the sermon:

“All praise is due to Allah, who has made us the progeny of Ibrahim and who made us the custodians of His House and the servants of its sacred precincts, making for us a House sought for pilgrimage and a shrine of security, and He also gave us authority over the people. This nephew of mine Muhammad cannot be compared with any other man: if you compare his wealth with that of others, you will not find him a man of wealth, for wealth is a vanishing shadow and a fickle thing. Muhammad is a man whose lineage you all know, and he has sought Khadijah bint Khuwaylid for marriage, offering her such-and-such of the dower of my own wealth.”

What often comes a surprise to non-Muslims is the fact that Muhammad’s marriage to Khadijah remained wholly and solely monogamous, and he never took another wife while she was alive. Moreover, he sired a total of six children with her, two boys who died as infants, and then four girls – Zaynab, Ruqayyah, Umm Kulthum and Fatimah. It is also said that couple treated their slave children as though they were their own. In fact, one slave boy, Zayd, even refused the offer of freedom because he wished to remain living in their household.

In the years that followed, life developed into something of a comfortable routine, he would attend to business and she to her work and care for the poor. Now that Muhammad was modestly wealthy via his marriage to Khadijah, he began to spend much of his days, when not attending to his children, in contemplation of religion, morality, and philosophy. He spent much time with the elders of Mecca, as his standing in the community was well respected. His profile shot to further prominence during one particular philosophical conflict whereby the Quraysh had agreed to rebuild the Kaaba shrine. The sticking point, however, was determining which tribe or clan should have the high honor of replacing the sacred god stone, the pinnacle of the shrine. Muhammad stepped forth and suggested the god stone be hoisted on a blanket, with each of the tribes and clans nominating a leader to hold the blanket. Muhammad’s recommendation was accepted and he was lauded for his insightfulness and wisdom.

This event resulted in Muhammad being invited to join a select group of religious thinkers in the city, known as the
hanif,
which translated, means the ‘seekers’. Significantly, the hanif had rejected polytheism, which was firmly the religion du jour at that time. Their main point of interest was the all powerful god stone Allah, and they were keen to encompass the Jewish and Christian God of Abraham with the most powerful god of polytheism. Conversely, what troubled them the most about polytheism was the never-ending blood sacrifices in honor of the pagan gods at the shrine and the female infanticide, as girl babies were routinely sacrificed.

Western scholars of Islam remain somewhat skeptical that Muhammad was in fact a member of the hanif, as it seems far too convenient for the overall biography of the prophet, but I don’t believe it has too much bearing on the narrative anyway, as the key point to understanding the religious landscape of this period is to know that there was indeed a great spiritual restlessness in Mecca and throughout Arabia. It didn’t help matters that whenever traveling Arabs met with Jewish and Christian counterparts from the Persian and Byzantine empires, they were taunted for being left out of God’s divine plan. Specifically, the Jews and Christians had their own holy books, which provided a path to one great god, but the Arabs didn’t. Not only were they without a unifying religion or religious text, they were still worshipping rocks, and the Jews and Christians never stopped reminding them of this. For many Arabs, it felt as if they were a lost race, forever exiled from the faster paced civilizations of the north.

What is further interesting is that Muhammad, at least initially, did not harbor similar feelings of antagonism towards Judaism and Christianity. In fact, he speaks with great affection for the Virgin Mary and Jesus throughout the Koran, although a few specific events, which we will cover later, made him somewhat, at least momentarily, hostile towards a certain few Christians and Jews in particular. This is not to suggest that Muhammad admired everything about the twin pair of monotheistic beliefs, as he was troubled by King David’s behavior as recorded in the Old Testament, and the deep divisions and schisms within Christian denominations troubled him greatly. Later he would refer to Jews and Christian as “peoples of the book”, but he firmly believed they had strayed from the guidance of the prophets and, therefore, from God.

At this point Muhammad was now aged forty years of age and Arabia was about to be introduced to a new religion, Islam.

Now begins the second half of his life, the half that would irreversibly change Arabia and the rest of the world in ways he’d have never imagined in his wildest fantasies. If you close your eyes and picture Muhammad imagining the year AD 2001, given it was then AD 610 in Mecca, you can see how unforeseen to him the idea 19 hijackers, mostly Saudi, would take his words to justify using planes as missiles for the death and destruction of innocent civilians in a land far away and in a country he had never heard of. Having now read so much of Muhammad, that thought is breathtakingly remarkable and helps reminds us that despite religions humble beginnings, it has now moved beyond its expiry date. But that’s a whole other can of whoop ass.

As we had covered in the previous chapter, Muhammad had now begun his journey down the spiritual highway, as evident with his claimed involvement with the hanif, and his contribution in settling a highly contentious religious dispute concerning the Kaaba. Moreover, Muhammad had become a deeply contemplative character and would spend a significant part of each day in meditation and prayer.

During the pagan holy month of Ramadan, Muhammad would take his family to spend time in the hills and caves on the outskirts of the city. In normal times, these locations would be off limits due to fear of attack from bandits and warring rival clans, but because it was Ramadan, all blood feuds were suspended for the entire month.

The family would pitch their campsite deep in the hills, which offered respite from the heat and sun, and each afternoon Muhammad would wander off to spend some quiet time alone in a nearby cave. The previous twelve months had been a particular restless period for Muhammad as he had become concerned with the societal ills of Mecca. He saw corruption, inter-religious jealousies, and a class system that ensured the poor stayed poor, and that the disadvantaged would remain exploited by the more powerful Quraysh. He had much to mull over this particular holy month and on the seventeenth night of Ramadan in AD 610, an alleged event that would shake the world took place in a dark and dusty cave on the outskirts of Mecca.

So there he is mulling over the things that concerned him, and in deep meditation he loses track of time. The sun has set and he knew his wife and children would be worried. Propping himself to stand, a sudden massive burst of light stuns his eyes. He is knocked to the ground and covers his face, believing he is witnessing some kind of strange solar eclipse. Muhammad is now short of breath, and terrified. Is this the end of the world, he wonders? Thoughts of his beloved family flashed before his eyes, but his terror is suddenly interrupted by a towering voice. The deep arresting voice commanded him, “RECITE”. But Muhammad could not comprehend what was happening; let alone what he was being asked. The source of the voice moved closer as if putting his entire body in some kind of invisible vice like grip. At that moment a piece of silk with words on it was thrust upon his chest. “RECITE”, said the voice again. Muhammad looked at the silk and then cried, “But I cannot read. I am illiterate.” In fact, Muhammad couldn’t read a single word, so whenever he’d execute contracts, for example, he’d have others read to him what was written. The voice, growing impatient, yelled, “RECITE”, once more. Muhammad looked at the silk and the following words flowed from his lips:

“
Recite in the name of your Lord who created,

Created man from blood coagulated!

Recite for your Lord is Most Generous,

Who taught by the pen,

Taught what they did not know unto men.” (Koran 96:1-5)

Instantaneously, these words became a part of him. He could recite them without reading them. Later these words would become the first recitation of the Koran. But this didn’t make Muhammad any less confused. He had so many questions, questions that would not be answered by the voice, such as who is his Lord? Had he become demonically possessed? And due to the rhyming nature of the poem, had he suddenly become a poet?

Still trembling, the voice spoke again. But this time it addressed him by name: “O Muhammad! O Muhammad, you cannot protect yourself from the Evil One. Only the One who hears all and knows all can protect you. Invoke God but before you mention God by his loftiest name, say, “I seek refuge from Satan, the Accursed, in the name of the One who hears all and knows all.” Before you repeat the words I have given you from the Lord, say: “In the name of God, Full of Compassion, Ever Compassionate!” Then silence. The voice departed.

What the hell was he supposed to do now, he thought? Who should he speak to? He called out to the voice, but nothing was there. Panicked, he bolted from the cave and ran screaming down the mountain. Halfway down, however, a booming voice that filled the valley spoke out to him again, but this time the voice had a face, a man’s face. Muhammad froze where he stood. It was angel and it said, “O Muhammad, you are the apostle of God, and I am Gabriel.” Muhammad tried to look away but the face still appeared before him. He would then cover his face, but the angels’ face would still appear before him. While this was taking place, Muhammad’s wife, Khadijah, had sent scouts out to look for him. Finding him alone and visibly terrified, they took him back the camp. Once there, Muhammad fell into his wife’s lap, crying and curled in the fetal position.

In many respects this story mirrors that of the story of the prophet Jonah in the Old Testament, whereby Jonah resists the initial call to service by fleeing to the coastline to escape by boat. A second encounter, however, convinces him to take the call of celestial duty. Whether this coincidence is a matter of convenience is for you to determine. I’m not saying anything.

Once he taken hold of himself, however, he retold to Khadijah what had taken place that afternoon. She looked into his eyes and proclaimed, “In the name of the One who enfolds the soul of Khadijah, I can dare hope that you have chosen to be the prophet for this people.” Thus making her the first Muslim. The second convert would be her well-respected cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal. Still unbeknownst to the three at this stage, however, Islam had now begun, but not before a long period of silence ensued. In fact, after this blinding revelation of AD 610, a period of two years total divine silence followed. He was left with only the haunting experience and that initial poem he had recited to fill his spiritual thoughts. For two years he had no idea of his purpose or what it was he was to do next. For now the Muslims numbered Muhammad and his immediate family, and that was it. But then, suddenly, the voice returned like an old friend from out of nowhere. It told Muhammad to recite the following verse: