islamic-jihad-legacy-of-forced-conversion-imperialism-slavery

Life of Prophet Muhammad and the Birth of Jihadthe publication of Muhammad’s images in a Danish paper. In Islam, the depiction of living beings,particularly of Prophet Muhammad, in images and pictures are banned.Influence of hermitic Christian monks: The ascetic Christian monks of the time also hadprofoundly influenced Muhammad’s theological ideas. According to both Islamic and Pagan chronicles,Christian monks had set up monastic communities along the roads of Egypt, Asia Minor (modern Turkey),Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Arabia. They dedicated themselves to good works, acts of charity, and carefor the poor, the sick and the orphaned—the abandoned girls in particular. At night, exhausted travelers andtrade-caravans used to break their journey at these monastic communities, where the hermits would offerthese wayfarers welcome, shelter and hospitality. Muhammad, having traveled extensively throughout theregion for business-trips, must have been very familiar with these monasteries; he had enjoyed theirhospitality himself. Monk Bahira treated him with a copious meal on his first business-trip to Syria. 103 Thesemonks had made a positive impression on Muhammad’s mind and he gave their lifestyle an honourablehomage in the Quran:1. ‘Spend your money for good: to help your parents, your family, orphans, wayfarers, and theneedy.’ [Quran 2:215]2. ‘Be kind to parents, relatives, orphans, the needy, neighbors, and travelers.’ [Quran 4:36]Another major feature of Islam, picked by Muhammad from Christian monks, is the prayer rituals. Themonks, dedicated to the practice complete chastity, had devoted themselves to prayers multiple times a day.Their prayer rituals comprised of reverential postures: standing with palms together, bowing down, kneeling,and sitting on the heels. Muhammad had undoubtedly copied this mode of prayer rituals into Islam.According to CJ Archer’s Mystic Elements in Muhammed (1924), the monks also used to engage in prayerrituals late into the night believing that ‘‘Prayer is better than sleep.’’ 104 The early-morning Muslim call toprayer (adhan) has incorporated this line. So impressed was Muhammad by some aspects of these monks’lifestyle, namely devotion to god, generosity and acts of charity, that he honorably referred to them in theQuran: ‘…of the followers of the Book (Christians), there is an upright party; they recite Allah’scommunications in the nighttimes and they adore (God)… they enjoin what is right and forbid the wrong andthey strive with one another in hastening to good deeds, and those are among the good’ [Quran 3:113–14].But already married and engaged in a material life long before starting his prophetic mission,Muhammad condemned monasticism, which, he claimed, was not ordained by God, but invented byChristians [Quran 57:27].Othman ibn Huwayrith’s effort to introduce Christianity in Mecca: Another person warrantsmention here is Othman ibn Huwayrith, who was an influential leader in Mecca and a cousin of Muhammad’sfirst wife, Khadijah. According to Ibn Ishaq, Othman had broken with Polytheism. Appalled by idolatry in theKa’ba, he ‘went to the Byzantine emperor and became a Christian. He was given high office there.’ 105 In 605,about five years before the start of Muhammad’s divine mission, Othman returned to Mecca. On the strengthof a Byzantine imperial grant, he laid claim on the Government of Mecca intending to reform existingPolytheism of the city. Opposed by the ruling Meccans, he fled to Syria where he was assassinated. 106The sermon of Qiss ibn Sayda in the Okaz fair: Muhammad is also known to have attendedsermons in the annual fair of Okaz near Mecca. His encounter with Qiss ibn Sayda (‘Qiss’ means ‘priest’) inthe Okaz fair needs a mention here. Islamic tradition relates that some time before Muhammad’s missioncommenced, Qiss ibn Sayda—the bishop of Najran, belonging to the Iyad tribe—preached in the fair. He103. Al-Tabari, Vol. VI, p. 44–45; Ibn Ishaq, p. 80104. Walker, p. 62105. Ibn Ishaq, p. 99106. Walker, p. 6640