Muhammad Ibn Abd al- Wahhab(MIAW) was an 18th century Islamic reformer, scholar, jurist and writer. He is considered the first modern Islamic fundamentalist and extremist. He believed in order for Muslims to be “true Muslims” they must adhere, “solely and strictly to the original beliefs set forth by Muhammad.” (ask.com) This idea of his formed what many know today as the controversial Wahhabi movement.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al- Wahhab was born into a society dominated by polytheist beliefs. From a young age he rejected these religious values. He looked towards the teachings of the Prophet for guidance. As one reviews his life and compare it to the life of Muhammad the Prophet, one may notice similar life experiences. As Natana J. Delong- Bas points out in Muhammad Ibn Abd Al- Wahhab: An Intellectual Biography, as there appears to be parallels between the two individual’s lives, we must remember that some of al- Wahhab actions, “reflects a self-conscious effort on the part of MIAW himself to engage in such personal crafting.” (cite) Al- Wahhab placed a heavy importance on studying and following the examples of Muhammad. Due to this heavy importance he placed on Muhammad, it is only fair to speculate the some of his works and doings that are similar to the Prophet’s were consciously planned. There are some experiences however that are clear to be out of al- Wahhab’s control but yet happen to be similar experiences that the Prophet faced.
Muhammad Ibn Abd al- Wahhab was born in 1702 in al-Uyaynah, the province of Najd in Arabia. He grew up in Najd at a time where polytheism had spread widely. (webpage) The people of Najd believed in supernatural powers of trees, rocks, tombs, and shrines. They would seek blessings and benefit...
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...al- Wahhab traveled to Dareyya, where he made an agreement with the ruler Muhammad bin Saud to help the emergence of the first Saudi state, which was based of al- Wahhab’s religious ideas. In 1773 MIAW withdrew from his political life and devoted himself to “learning, teaching and worship until his death in 1791.” (cite)
When comparing the life of Muhammad Ibn Abd al- Wahhab and the Prophet, there are many differences and similarities to point out. Within Al- Wahhab was born into an environment very similar to the Prophet’s. Both lived in a corrupted state of polytheism. The Prophet however, as an orphan did not have the parent support that al- Wahhab received. Al- Wahhab’s teen years contrasted with the Prophet’s. When al- Wahhab was a teen he was busy studying and participating in debates while the Prophet was shepherd work to try to help pay his keep. CITE
Born in Georgia, the leader of the Nation of Islam was a man named Elijah Muhammad. He has often been portrayed as a saint by his peers, but during World War II, Elijah Muhammad expressed support for Japan, on the basis of its being a nonwhite country, and was jailed for sedition. On August 24, 1946 Muhammad was released from prison in Milan, Michigan. According to the journal named The Black Scholar by Claude Clegg, Muhammad’s time at Milan had done more for him than ever before and after his release, Muhammad had unquestionably become “the premier martyr of the Muslims” (Clegg 49). From his speeches on the radio and in newspapers, Muhammad was also thought of by many people as a fierce man, one of thes...
After the fall of the Roman Empire, no one imagined that the next great world power would emerge from Saudi Arabia. Especially, because ancient empires thought that the land was worthless, but they didn’t know that it had great trade routes. Trade brought them in connection with other civilizations and that’s how the city of Mecca, located in Saudi Arabia, became known. The city of Mecca was a mix of religious beliefs, they used to worship many gods and had their own rituals. The world of Islam took place in Mecca, where Muhammad was born in 570 CE.
In the late 1980’s Muhammad changed his life around. He and his wife had separated, he converted to Islam, and he joined the U.S. Army (Biography, par 4). He later changed his name to Muhammad (Death, par 2). He was stationed in Washington State. There he married Mildred Green. They ended up having three children. Being in the army was good for Muhammad. He served in Germany and the Middle East and was skilled in marksman (Biography, par 4, 5).
Secondly, Muhammad is a person who received the Koran’s revelations and founded Islam as a prophet. Muhammad was born in Mecca, and when he became 12, he followed his uncle, and served as a caravan trader. While
Muhammad was born in AD 570 in the town of Mecca – a mountain town in the high desert plateau of western Arabia. His name comes from the Arabic verb hamada, meaning "to praise, to glorify." Muhammad's father died before he was born, and Muhammad was the only child born to his mother, Amenah.
Throughout his life, the Prophet Muhammad proved to be exceptionally adept at uniting diverse groups, negotiating a series of alliances and loyalty arrangements that spanned religious, tribal, ethnic, and familial lines (Berggren 2009). Among other things, this ability enabled Muhammad to forge a shared identity and found a nascent Islamic state from a diverse and even heterogeneous community (Rahman 1982; Ernst 2003, pp. 87-93). This diversity proved to be both a source of strength and conflict for Islam, and following the death of Muhammad early Islamic communities engaged in extensive debates not only about the nature of his teachings or how to carry his legacy forward, but also about the terms that should be used to define his authority. Although this debate produced a colorful array of movements within the tapestry of early Islamic civilization, this essay offers a critical examination of two particularly distinct perspectives on the nature of prophetic authority: namely, those articulated
Mohammed’s life, ministry and death started when the Prophet of Islam was born in the year 570 B.C. Born into an affluent family he would lose both of his parents by the age of six. Mohammed became a camel driver traveling between Syria and Arabia, later he would become a caravan manager for wealthy merchants, which lead him to meet his wife Khadija, 15 years his senior, and she was his only wife until her death 24 years later.
Elijah Muhammad, son of a sharecropper, was born into poverty in Sandersville, Georgia, on October 7, 1897 (biography.com). After moving to Detroit in 1923, he met W. D. Fard, founder of the black separatist movement Nation of Islam (biography.com). Muhammad became Fard’s successor from 1934-75 and was known for his controversial preaching (biography.com). Muhammad faced many challenges during his life span. He declared that Fard had been an incarnation of Allah and that he himself was now Allah’s messenger (biography.com). For forty-one year’s Muhammad spread the word of the Nation of Islam, slowly but steadily attracting new members (biography.com). Muhammad built the religion from a small fringe group into a large and complex organization that attracted controversy along with its new prominence (biography.com).
His life and actions were very important to the creation of the religion. I would say that his policies changed quite a bit under different situations of his career as a prophet. At the begging he had a small following that consisted of mostly of middle class that was upset with the injustices in society. They were expelled from Mecca and begin raiding caravans under the pretense that they had been robed of their belongings when they were expelled from Mecca. Mohammad tell them that their battle is holy and dieing doing the will of Allah is respectable and will be rewarded in the after life. After the battle of Badr in 624 c.e. the muslims having smaller forces but knowing that god is on their side attack a larger group of meccanMuslim warriors become highly feared and began winning battles even if out numbered. Qur’an (4:74) “Let those who fight in the path of God who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoever fight in the path of God, whether he be slain or victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward” This attracts more support for Mohammad’s movement not only from idealist who would fight under the protection of god and the benefits of this in the afterlife but also from people that wanted to reap the benefits of the pillaging that was going on gaining numbers in his movement.
He was born in the town of Mecca, which at the time, followed mostly a polytheistic religion (Haleem x). At the young age of six years old Muhammad’s mom passed. Orphaned at this age and his grandfather took care of him till he died as well, two years later. Finally, at the age of eight years old, his uncle took guardianship of Muhammad. Muhammad, being orphaned, had no one to educate him, so he lived an illiterate but very knowledgeable lifestyle (Gabriel 55). Muhammad was employed as a trader by a wealthy and well-respected widow named Khadija. He married Khadija and did not remarry until after her death (Haleem x). Muhammad died at the age of sixty-two in 632ce (Haleem xiii). He was buried where he died (Gabriel
Islam the complete ‘surrender to Allah’ is a living religious tradition with the principal belief in one God – Allah. Islam has remained the same in its principle beliefs of Allah, His Angels, His Prophets, His Books, The Last Day and his complete authority over destiny and has also changed over time to ensure that Islam remains a living religious tradition. Over its history Islam has had many significant people including Al Ghazali and Aisha Bint Abu Bakr who have ensured that Islam remains living in the hearts and minds of its adherents. In addition to significant individuals participation in the Five Pillars e.g. the Hajj ensure that Islam will continue to be the living religious tradition that it is.
In the seventh century, a new faith arose in the Middle East known as the Islamic religion. Just like Christianity and Judaism, the Islamic religion believed in one God known as Allah. The founder of Islam was a very unique individual known as Mohammad. Mohammad had an amazing spiritual experience that transformed his life and made a great impact in history. He experienced visions and revelations from Allah which he accepted as messages. Mohammed
...made him highly recognized among all the Islamic philosophers. He is, indeed, regarded as the most important Islamic philosopher.
...s I believe that without his role as a statesman, a religious leader, a Warner and a warrior He would not have been recognised as the man or the prophet that He was. “He was a prodigy of extraordinary merits, a paragon of virtue and goodness, a symbol of truth” who shon in all areas of his life and duties. I conclude that Muhammad had many roles in his life and that his role of a Prophet which is what many believe He was sent from God to be was possibly his most influential role as the changes He has made have affected individuals and groups world wide. But we have to remember that God is all knowing and therefore knew that Muhammad would also be a “shrewd military strategist” etc proving that God chose him for more reasons than to merely be a Prophet. In conclusion I believe that Muhammad was more that just a Prophet, He was “an ideal religopolitical leader”.
Hazrat Abu Bakr occupies a unique and significant role in the history of Islam. He was the first adult male to accept Islam, and when he first accepted the new faith, he accepted it right away. The Prophet (S) said, “Whenever I offered Islam to any person, he showed some hesitation when embracing it. But Abu Bakr is an exception. He was the prophet’s closest companion. It was Abu Bakr, who traveled with the Prophet (S) to Madinah for the Hijra.