robert spencer-did muhammad exist__ an inquiry into islams obscure origins-intercollegiate studies institute (2012) (1)
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Central to Islam, therefore, is the traditional account of how Muhammad, <strong>an</strong> Arabi<strong>an</strong> merch<strong>an</strong>t,<br />
received the Qur'<strong>an</strong> through the <strong>an</strong>gel Gabriel from Allah, first in Mecca <strong>an</strong>d then in Medina. According<br />
to the c<strong>an</strong>onical Islamic account, armed with its message, Muhammad had united the entire Arabi<strong>an</strong><br />
Peninsula under the b<strong>an</strong>ner of Islam by the time of his death in 632.<br />
It was not <strong>an</strong> easy task, according to the st<strong>an</strong>dard Islamic sources. The prophet <strong>an</strong>d his new religion<br />
faced stiff resist<strong>an</strong>ce from his own tribe, the Quraysh, who were pag<strong>an</strong>s <strong>an</strong>d polytheists. The Quraysh,<br />
according to the Islamic story of the religion's <strong>origins</strong>, lived in Mecca, which was a center for both trade<br />
<strong>an</strong>d pilgrimage, such that people went there from all over Arabia <strong>an</strong>d from outside Arabia as well. The<br />
Quraysh, say the Muslim sources, profited from those who made pilgrimages to the Ka‘ba (the cubeshaped<br />
shrine in Mecca) to worship its m<strong>an</strong>y idols. Mecca, according to Islamic tradition, was central to<br />
both the religion <strong>an</strong>d the commerce of the area.<br />
The c<strong>an</strong>onical account of the <strong>origins</strong> of Islam holds that the Quraysh initially rejected Muhammad's<br />
prophetic claim for reasons that were economic more th<strong>an</strong> spiritual. Watt notes that “by the end of the<br />
sixth century A.D.,” the Quraysh “had gained control of most of the trade from the Yemen to Syria—<strong>an</strong><br />
import<strong>an</strong>t route by which the West got Indi<strong>an</strong> luxury goods as well as South Arabi<strong>an</strong> fr<strong>an</strong>kincense.” 28<br />
Much of this trade depended on the Arabs who came to Mecca as pilgrims. With pag<strong>an</strong> Arabs traveling<br />
from all over the Arabi<strong>an</strong> Peninsula to worship their gods at the Ka‘ba, a proclamation that all these gods<br />
<strong>did</strong> not <strong>exist</strong> or were demons—exactly what Muhammad preached with his uncompromising monotheism<br />
—would not only cost the Quraysh their pilgrimage business but also cut <strong>into</strong> their trade interests.<br />
And so for the twelve years he remained in Mecca, Muhammad attracted few followers but aroused the<br />
<strong>an</strong>tagonism of the Quraysh. That <strong>an</strong>tagonism flared up regarding both the idols in the Ka‘ba <strong>an</strong>d the<br />
Quraysh trading carav<strong>an</strong>s. Ibn Ishaq tells us that when Muhammad migrated to Medina twelve years <strong>into</strong><br />
his prophetic career, he ordered the Muslims to raid the Quraysh carav<strong>an</strong>s that were returning from Syria<br />
laden with goods. The prophet himself led m<strong>an</strong>y of these raids, which kept the Muslim movement solvent.<br />
Though driven by economic need, the raids became the occasion for certain elements of Islamic theology<br />
to take hold, according to Islamic tradition. In one notorious incident, a b<strong>an</strong>d of Muslims raided a Quraysh<br />
carav<strong>an</strong> during one of the four sacred months of the pre-Islamic Arabic calendar. These were the months<br />
during which fighting was forbidden, me<strong>an</strong>ing that the Muslim raiders had violated a sacred principle. But<br />
the Qur'<strong>an</strong> says that Allah permitted the Muslims to violate the sacred month if they were persecuted—in<br />
other words, to set aside the moral principle for the good of Islam: “They will question thee concerning<br />
the holy month, <strong>an</strong>d fighting in it. Say: ‘Fighting in it is a heinous thing, but to bar from God's way, <strong>an</strong>d<br />
disbelief in Him, <strong>an</strong>d the Holy Mosque, <strong>an</strong>d to expel its people from it—that is more heinous in God's<br />
sight; <strong>an</strong>d persecution is more heinous th<strong>an</strong> slaying’” (2:217). The “Holy Mosque” is, according to<br />
Islamic tradition, a reference to the Ka‘ba.<br />
This was a key incident for the development of Islamic ethics, establishing that good was what<br />
benefited Islam, <strong>an</strong>d evil <strong>an</strong>ything that harmed it. It also set the relations between the Muslims <strong>an</strong>d the<br />
Quraysh on war mode. Their battles, according to the st<strong>an</strong>dard Islamic account of the <strong>origins</strong> of Islam,<br />
became the occasion for Allah to reveal to Muhammad m<strong>an</strong>y of the Qur'<strong>an</strong>'s key passages regarding<br />
warfare against unbelievers.<br />
Therefore, the Arabi<strong>an</strong> setting of the Qur'<strong>an</strong> <strong>an</strong>d the <strong>an</strong>tagonism of the Quraysh to Muhammad's message