Muhammad And The Beginnings Of Islam

Muhammad And The Beginnings Of Islam

Muhammad, whose full name was Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn

'Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim, was born in Mecca around 570 AD after the

death of his father, 'Abd Allah. Muhammad was at first under the care

of his paternal grandfather, 'Abd al-Muttalib. Because the climate of

Mecca was considered to be unhealthful, he was given as an infant to a

wet nurse from a nomadic tribe and spent some time in the desert. At

six, he lost his mother, Aminah of the clan of Zuhra, and at eight his

grandfather. Though his grandfather had been head of the prestigious

Hashem clan and was prominent in Mecca politics, he was probably not the

leading man in Mecca as some sources suggest. Muhammad came under the

care of the new head of the clan, his uncle Abu Talib, and is reputed to

have accompanied him on trading journeys to Syria. About 595, on such a

journey, he was in charge of the merchandise of a rich woman, Khadijah

of the clan of Asad, and so impressed her that she offered marriage.

She is said to have been about 40, but she bore Muhammad at least two

sons, who died young, and four daughters. The best known daughter was

Fatimah, the wife of Muhammad's cousin 'Ali who is regarded as

Muhammad's divinely ordained successor by the Shi'ah branch of Islam.

Until Khadijah's death in 619, Muhammad took no other wife. The

marriage was a turning point in Muhammad's life. By Arab custom, minors

did not inherit, and therefore Muhammad had no share in the property of

his father or grandfather. However, by his marriage he obtained

sufficient capital to engage in mercantile activity on a scale

commensurate with his abilities.

Muhammad appears to have been of a reflective turn of mind and is said

to have adopted the habit of occasionally spending nights in a hill cave

near Mecca. The poverty and misfortunes of his early life doubtless

made him aware of tensions in Meccan society. Mecca, inhabited by the

tribe of Quraysh to which the Hashim clan belonged, was a mercantile

center formed around a sanctuary, the Ka’bah, which assured the safety

of those who came to trade at the fairs. In the later 6th century there

was extensive trade by camel caravan between the Yemen and the

Mediterranean region (Gaza and Damascus), bringing goods from India and

Ethiopia to the Mediterranean. The great merchants of Mecca had

obtained monopoly control of this trade. Mecca was thus prosperous, but

most of the wealth was in a few hands.