Zainab Abed
Muhammed – GCSE Essay
2.
a) Give an account of how Muhammed (pbuh) was called to be the prophet of Islam. (8 marks)
Muhammed was the final prophet of Islam and was the messenger of Allah. Muhammed’s early life was very hard, he was born in the year 570 CE and parents died when he was young. He was well known in Mecca as Al-Amin which means trustworthy.
When Muhammed was 40 years of age he had a very strange religious experience whilst he was meditating on Mount Hira during the month of Ramadhan. Muhammed was meditating in the mountains because he knew that their was more to life than worshipping stone idols. Muhammed saw a vision of the Angel Jibreal. The angel held out a piece of silk cloth with words written on it in Arabic. The angel passed on Allah’s first command to Muhammed which was to ‘read’, but Muhammed could not read because he was illiterate and had not learned to read or write when he was young. Angel Jibreal repeated the command three times and Muhammed repeated the passage on the silk after the angel. The angel then said to Muhammed, ‘Muhammed you are the messenger of Allah and I am Jibreal’. The Angel Jibreal then left Muhammed. After the angel had left, Muhammed was scared and left the mountains to tell his wife, Khadijah, about the incredible miracle that had just happened, she then went to see her Christian cousin, Waraqa, who confirmed that Muhammed really was the messenger of Allah and the prophet to the Arabs. This occasion is known as Laylat ul Qadr, and in English, the night of power.
