The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1593 page)

ammad took the fight to his enemies, capturing Mecca in 630 and purifying it from idols. Meanwhile he had been organizing not only life in Madina, but also the relations of the new community with surrounding tribes: some of these endeavours are gathered together in the so-called Constitution of Mad
na, a kind of ‘anthology’ of early treaties with different surrounding tribes. When Mu
ammad died in 632, there was no obvious successor, and from this uncertainty the division of Islam between
Sunni
and
Sh
‘a
became an embittered fact within a generation of Mu
ammad's death.
As the Seal of the Prophets, Mu
ammad has brought the revelation of God which is the same as that mediated through previous prophets, but before Mu
ammad, all communities had corrupted revelation for their own purposes. After Mu
ammad, there can be no further prophet or revelation, because now the pure and uncorrupted revelation exists in the world. The first connected life of Mu
ammad is that of Ibn Ishaq, edited by Ibn Hisham.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

see
MUHAMMADANS
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search