The Man Mohammed

Sometimes we forget that Mohammed was a real person who lived in the Early Middle Ages in Saudi Arabia. He worked, married, had children and grandchildren and died of natural causes. Muslims revere him as the last and greatest prophet but do not consider him divine nor do they worship him. He is considered the “ideal man”, a model for how all Muslims should conduct themselves. If we would understand the Muslims living among us, it’s worthwhile to understand something about this man.

Mohammed was born in 570 AD in the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. During his early life, Mohammed would have been exposed to many people who were at least nominal Christians as well as to many Jewish tribes living in that region. Christianity had been well established in Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor and the Holy Land by the Fourth century, but the fall of Rome and the invasions of barbarians into these lands brought pressure on the churches established there. Pagan idol worship abounded in Saudi Arabia during Mohammed’s early life but Muslim tradition says that even as a child Mohammed detested idol worship and lived a morally pure life.

At the age of 25, Mohammed was hired by a distant cousin, a wealthy widow named Khadijah, to travel with her vast trade caravans. Despite having no experience with this type of work, Mohammed earned more profits than Khadijah expected. She was suitably impressed and initiated a marriage proposal. They married when she was 40 and he was 25. Together they had a daughter, Fatima. During the 24 years that they were married, Mohammed took no other wives. Around the world literally millions of Muslim girls are named Khadijah after this wife, who had the reputation of being kind and generous.

When Mohammed was 40, he began to receive revelations that he believed were from the archangel Gabriel. These "revelations" form the basis of the Qur’an. Mohammed proclaimed that his revelations were the final and supreme message from the One Supreme God. But privately this was a troubling time for him and he had many doubts that he was a prophet. Khadijah played an important role in convincing him that he was becoming a prophet and used her considerable wealth to help promote Islam. As Mohammed grew in influence he was able to ban the worship of idols. Islam took over as the dominant religion in the Middle East within Mohammed’s lifetime

When Mohammed was 49, Khadijah died. He subsequently took other wives. He was betrothed to his last wife, Aisha, when she was only 6. The marriage was consummated when she was 9 and Mohammed was 52. Muslims consider her to be Mohammed’s favorite wife and hold her in high esteem. Mohammed died at the age of 62 in the company of the 18 year old Aisha. She remained childless and unmarried for the rest of her life. She is the source of many sacred traditions about Mohammed. After Mohammed’s death there was civil war among the Muslims over his successor, resulting in the various factions in Islam that we know today, such as the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam.