Fundamental Islamic theology can be surmised in five essential points; 1) Allah is the one and only true God. Muhammad for a long time had issues with the polytheistic and idolatrise religious culture that was present at the time and thus professes the appropriateness of his candidacy.
2) All of God’s messengers must be heard and adhered to.
3) It is stressed that even the Torah and the Gospel (not Bible) be understood as revelation of God’s will.
4) Belief in Angels: This is essential as it is the angel Gabriel who plays an integral part in the beginning of the revelations.
5) Lastly, belief in the final day of Judgement, Life and Death, Heaven and Hell.
Muhammad is instructed to call this heavily law based religion Islam as it translates as submission to Allah.
Muhammad must come with the Qur'an as an interpreter and example for the lay person; he was initially unable to read, unsurprisingly in such times, before Gabriel gave him this essential ability when they first meet and Gabriel say to Muhammad: ‘Iqraa’ (read).
His timing was essential as, due to the nature of Allah’s method of teaching with Prophets spread over time, the message was sometime distorted or even lost. Ka’bah, the Holy sanctuary of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), lost sight as it was filling with idols (360 Idols) some of pagan and superstitious nature. This is a direct violation of the concept of making no idols. Most Arabians were idolatrise and their belief in the One God tainted, by the presence of pagan idols. In a time of socio-political unrest and chaos only Central Arabia was untouched by the demoralising reign of foreign occupation. Born a descendant of the Babylonian Abraham, Muhammad was brought up in his birthplace in Central Arabia, in the town of Mecca. As with most religious messengers Muhammad was persecuted to the extent of a total ban against him seeing his family for 3 years. The ban was only lifted after Muhammad told the Quraish people to observe their secret document of the conditions of the ban which was held in Ka’bah; on viewing the document they were stunned to see that ants had eaten the most part of the document leaving only the opening words “In your name, Allah.”
However, this and the effects of the death of his beloved wife Khadijah (ra) and his uncle Abu Talib left the Prophet sad with deep personal sorrow. Already we start to see what a strong man Muhammad was and why people of his own time even before he turned forty and started his revelation were so impressed by him and especially his involvement and devotion to the Order of Chivalry. It is essential to Islam that Muhammad must have Isma (protection from error) and his ability to cope with crisis and massive opposition from large empires and armies without crumbling is testament to a great man alone.
Muhammad’s presence in Islamic thought was prophesied by Jesus and in case of doubt there is other evidence such as the disappearance of the majority of the document detailing his ban from his family. Moreover, the story of the walls of Ka’bah validates God chose of Muhammad; the story says that when the walls fell and the task of moving the Black Stone needed allocating there was disagreement as it had been there since the time of Abraham. It was decided that providence would chose to save from blood shed. Who so ever arrives first shall have the privilege…it was Muhammad who arrived to work as usual. The people were happy that al-Amin (The honest one) be given the privilege. To really understand the role of Muhammad in Islamic thought one must not only look at his life as a model citizen before his revelation, but look at the way he handled the last and most important religious responsibility delivering Allah’s will.
Lamartine was to provide his opinion of Muhammad which few people could argue with, Muslim or not;
“Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images; the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?”
Muhammad’s purpose was to preach and he only really understood this when his revelations subsided over a period of three years. Then God resumed and clearly assigned Muhammad’s role to preach. Muhammad momentarily assumes God has forsaken him, when it is said in the Qur’an that ‘On the contrary it was He Who had guided him to the right path: therefore he should take of the orphans and the destitute, and proclaim the bounty of God on him.’
Within one year (630CE) most, if not, all of Arabia had been united by Islam; Arabia which was usually so conflicted. Even a Christian Bishop and many Jews were converted. However, this denunciation of paganism frightened the two great empires, Byzantines and the Persians. Mecca was under threat of attack yet no one would give Muhammad up and the Muslims united in Jihad (Holy War). To give up Muhammad would be to defy God and give up Islam.
A number of battles in sued between the Muslims and the distressed Meccans. By eventually beating the Meccans more converted as his victory was against the odds because of the relatively small size army he had at the time. A peace treaty was signed though more opposition soon came from the Quraish but to no avail. The Muslims regain control which is again seen as a miracle though there was much talk of Muhammad’s warrior like prowess.
This story is contained in a number of different sources but the earliest source is the Sira (Genre of biography) by Ibn Ishaq a hundred years after Muhammad’s death and obviously not eye witness. Another Sira was also written by Ibn Hisham in 834CE.
Another known source is from a genre known as Qisasalianbiya. These are stories of Prophets right the way from Adam to Muhammad.
Muhammad the politician most skilfully won the public when he defeated the Meccans and appealed to all those who had done; “religious persecution, unjust confiscation of the evacuee property, ceaseless invasions and senseless hostilities for twenty years continuously.” Muhammad actually then asks the shamed crowd; “Now what do you expect of me?” To which he answer himself saying “May God pardon you; go in peace; there shall be no responsibility on you today; you are free!” Within a matter of hours Muhammad conquered Mecca by putting a Muslim Meccan chief in charge. By the time Muhammad left for Madinah the city was emptied of soldiers and battle which must have helped Islam’s name.
“He bequeathed to posterity, a religion of pure monotheism; he created a well-disciplined State out of the existent chaos and gave peace in place of the war of everybody against everybody else; he established a harmonious equilibrium between the spiritual and the temporal, between the mosque and the citadel; he left a new system of law, which dispensed impartial justice, in which even the head of the State was as much a subject to it as any commoner, and in which religious tolerance was so great that non-Muslim inhabitants of Muslim countries equally enjoyed complete juridical, judicial and cultural autonomy.”
Between these acts and his insurance that revenues would be used to help the poor more than any state today might be able to achieve in comparison m really did set the bar for politicians as well as being the Prophet of God.
Above all this, even as head of a state he lived the life of an ascetic with his only processions being mats, blankets, jugs and all the other most primitive and necessary items only!
Bibliography;
http://users.serols.com/zenithco/muhhamad.html
A.Rippin Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (London: Routledge, 1990)
Lamartine, HISTOIRE DE LA TURQUIE, Paris, 1854, Vol. II, pp. 276-277
The Reconciliation. Paragraph 3
The Reconciliation Paragraph 8