Muhammad was married to Khadija who was almost twice his age. While he was married, he would go to a cave called Hira, which was just outside Makkah, to reflect and to pray. Muhammad was shocked and struck by the inequalities and corruption of modern Makkan life and how much hypocrisy there was in Makkah, these were called the Period of Darkness or Jayiliyya where life was at its social and religious low point.
During the Night of Power Muhammad received his first revelation from God. After this, Muhammad begun to preach to the people of Makkah, at first they thought that Muhammad was agreeing with their views and beliefs about the Ka’bah but they soon realised that Muhammad was the main opposition of their gods. He was a very influential preacher who believed that all humans are equal in the eyes of God. Nevertheless, this message was extremely troubling to the chiefs, who felt their authority was being undermined, and they began to attack him and his followers. Pilgrims from Yathrib, a multi faith community in turmoil, had asked Muhammad to come to their town to settle disputes. They chose Muhammad because they were impressed with his wisdom and his moral teaching. When he first arrived at Yathrib, he renamed it Madinah or ‘The City of The Prophet’. This was a major step for Islam as we know it today as they were the first town to invite Muhammad in and then be successfully converted and so this was the start of how Islam became a prominent power in both its political and religious sense. He also set up the first constitution, which was to become the standards, which all Muslims follow today.
When Muhammad died at the age of 63 this sparked a debate that is still a problem today about how Islam was to be governed. As it was unclear whether he had left a special successor or if it would pass, like in normal eastern culture, to the eldest son. This seemingly unimportant question was important because many of the new Muslim states had made a coalition with Muhammad and not with Islam. The solution was that the Ulma decided that a caliph should be elected by the community to carry on the work of Muhammad. This is the basis of the Sunni branch of Islam. When Ali, Muhammad’s cousin, became caliph he was contested by Mu’awiya who refused to acknowledge Ali as caliph. When Ali tried to settle the argument by making him co-caliph, this was catastrophic as normal Muslims also split their view about who should be caliph and refused to accept both of them.
As we can the introduction of the caliphs helped to established Islam as a major political and religious force in the world today.
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