Faith and Fury by Ilene Cooper

Author:Ilene Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

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THE NOBLE SANCTUARY

In a rocky cave, eight hundred miles or so from Jerusalem, a man named Muhammad meditated.

Muhammad was known as one of the most upright and honest men in the prosperous Arabian city of Mecca. A merchant by trade, he would regularly travel several miles from the city to a cave at Mount Hira to be with his thoughts, to fast, and to contemplate. The Arab population of Mecca and the surrounding areas believed in a range of gods. But Muhammad, very much like Abraham, was convinced that there was only one God, Allah, the Arabic name for the supreme God. And Muhammad believed Allah was the same true God worshipped by the Jews and Christians he had met during his many years in commerce.

In the year 610, during Ramadan, the ninth month in the Arabic calendar, forty-year-old Muhammad was meditating when he had a terrifying experience. As a writer today describes it, “An invisible presence crushed him in its embrace … He was overwhelmed by darkness.” He heard a voice command him, “Recite!” But he did not know what to say. The presence tightened its grip. Only when he thought he could stand no more did he receive direction from the presence, who, according to Islamic tradition, was the angel Gabriel: “Recite in the name of your Lord who created, / Created humanity from a clot of blood.” God, Gabriel continued, was going to reveal to Muhammad lessons He wanted people to learn.

So begins the religion of Islam, a word that means “submission.” It asks people to surrender to the will of Allah. At first, a shaken Muhammad did not discuss this overwhelming event and later ones like it except with his wife and closest friends. But Muhammad did recite the verses that came to him, which he understood to be the words of God. They told how men and women should live in harmony, take care of the poor, and turn away from idols and only worship Allah.

By 613, Muhammad began to share these insights with others. He wanted people to know that there was one God, Allah, and that Allah’s concern was that there be an equal society. But this news had no appeal for most of the citizens of Mecca, loyal only to their own tribes and their pantheon of gods, and determined to keep their wealth. Muhammad was ridiculed and even threatened, especially by the Quraysh, Mecca’s most powerful tribe. After years of teaching, he had only a small group of followers, a number of them on the margins of society, including women and the poor.

However, there were people interested in Muhammad’s message. Representatives from the city of Yathrib (now called Medina), about 250 miles away, had heard that Muhammad was a wise and upright man. Their city was in turmoil, with tribes fighting one another, so they invited him to come with his followers and settle their disputes. Muhammad arrived in Medina around 622, and he quickly gained stature among its citizens.

Some of the Arab population of Medina followed the Jewish religion.

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