ISLAM FOR BEGINNERS BRS 107.pdf - CUEA

Muhammad claimed to have received his first revelation - a vision of the ArchangelGabriel, who told him that he was to be a prophet. Khadija confirmed Muhammad's beliefin his mission and declared herself to be his first disciple. There was a gap of 3 yearsbefore the next revelation. People who claimed that God had forsaken him mockedMuhammad at first, but the revelations resumed in 613 and over many years Muhammadreceived the text of the Qur’an in a series of revelations. Muhammad intensified his publicpreaching and won more converts. A long period of difficulty followed, but Muhammad andhis followers remained true to the faith and he continued to preach and convert. He and hisfollowers -younger members of less powerful clans, slaves, tribeless persons, Ali hisnephew, Abu-Bakr a wealthy merchant, and Uthman b. Affan who became a caliph- werepersecuted, and some of them went to Abyssinia to escape in 615. Arouses hostility andpersecutions from the Meccans, since he challenged their gods, loose morals, and socialinequalities, and condemned their pagan ancestors to hell. His condemnation of the Ka'bacult threatened the lucrative pilgrimage trade. There were some attempts to silence him bytheats, bribes and ostracism.Muhammad proclaimed that the Qur’an was the last Book of God, and that he himself wasthe last Prophet. Voices and visions eventually convince Muhammad to preach the theunity of God; the preaching makes the Qur'an. With small group of people who believedwhat he said, Muhammad began to spread the message. Muhammad publiclycondemned the existing idolatrous local beliefs, and religious customs; these did not makehim universally popular that he had strong and growing opposition and persecutions.Again, with the death Khadija and Abu-Talib, he lost the minimal support that he enjoyedfor a while. He had to migrate to Madina..Frederic N. Mvumbi,OP Page 20 of 85