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Mehemet
(gcide) | Mohammed \Mohammed\ (m[=o]*h[a^]m"m[e^]d) n. ['The praised
one'.] [Also spelled Mahomed, Mahomet, Muhammad (the
Arabic form), Mahmoud, Mehemet, etc.]
The prophet who founded Islam (570-632).
Syn: Muhammad, Mahomet, Mahmoud.
[WordNet 1.5] Mohammed (or Mahomet (ma*hom"et)) was born
at Mecca, Arabia, about 570: died at Medina, Arabia,
June 8, 632. He was the founder of Mohammedanism, or
Islam ('surrender,' namely, to God). He was the
posthumous son of Abdallah by his wife Amina, of the
family of Hashim, the noblest among the Koreish, and was
brought up in the desert among the Banu Saad by a
Bedouin woman named Halima. At the age of six he lost
his mother, and at eight his grandfather, when he was
cared for by his uncle Abu-Talib. When about twelve
years old (582) he accompanied a caravan to Syria, and
may on this occasion have come for the first time in
contact with Jews and Christians. A few years later he
took part in the "sacrilegious war" (so called because
carried on during the sacred months, when fighting was
forbidden) which raged between the Koreish and the Banu
Hawazin 580-590. He attended sundry preachings and
recitations at Okatz, which may have awakened his
poetical and rhetorical powers and his religious
feelings; and for some time was occupied as a shepherd,
to which he later refers as being in accordance with his
career as a prophet, even as it was with that of Moses
and David. When twenty-five years old he entered the
service of the widow Khadijah, and made a second journey
to Syria, on which he again had an opportunity to come
in frequent contact with Jews and Christians, and to
acquire some knowledge of their religious teachings. He
soon married Khadijah, who was fifteen years his senior.
Of the six children which she bore him, Fatima became
the most famous. In 605 he attained some influence in
Mecca by settling a dispute about the rebuilding of the
Kaaba. The impressions which he had gathered from his
contact with Judaism and Christianity, and from Arabic
lore, began now strongly to engage his mind. He
frequently retired to solitary places, especially to the
cave of Mount Hira, north of Mecca. He passed at that
time (he was then about forty years old) through great
mental struggles, and repeatedly meditated suicide. It
must have been during these lonely contemplations that
the yearnings for a messenger from God for his people,
and the thought that he himself might be destined for
this mission, were born in his ardent mind. During one
of his reveries, in the month of Ramadan, 610, he beheld
in sleep the angel Gabriel, who ordered him to read from
a scroll which he held before him the words which begin
the 96th sura (chapter) of the Koran. After the lapse of
some time, a second vision came, and then the
revelations began to follow one another frequently. His
own belief in his mission as apostle and prophet of God
was now firmly established. The first convert was his
wife Khadijah, then followed his cousin and adopted son
Ali, his other adopted son Zeid, and Abu-Bekr, afterward
his father-in-law and first successor (calif). Gradually
about 60 adherents rallied about him. But after three
years' preaching the mass of the Meccans rose against
him, so that part of his followers had to resort to
Abyssinia for safety in 614. This is termed the first
hejira. Mohammed in the meanwhile continued his meetings
in the house of one of his disciples, Arqaan, in front
of the Kaaba, which later became known as the "House of
Islam." At one time he offered the Koreish a compromise,
admitting their gods into his system as intercessors
with the Supreme Being, but, becoming
conscience-stricken, took back his words. The conversion
of Hamza and Omar and 39 others in 615-616 strengthened
his cause. The Koreish excommunicated Mohammed and his
followers, who were forced to live in retirement. In
620, at the pilgrimage, he won over to his teachings a
small party from Medina. In Medina, whither a teacher
was deputed, the new religion spread rapidly. To this
period belongs the vision or dream of the miraculous
ride, on the winged horse Borak, to Jerusalem, where he
was received by the prophets, and thence ascended to
heaven. In 622 more than 70 persons from Medina bound
themselves to stand by Mohammed. The Meccans proposed to
kill him, and he fled on the 20th of June, 622, to
Medina. This is known as the hejira ('the flight'), and
marks the beginning of the Mohammedan era. This event
formed a turning-point in the activity of Mohammed. He
was thus far a religious preacher and persuader; he
became in his Medinian period a legislator and warrior.
He built there in 623 the first mosque, and married
Ayesha. In 624 the first battle for the faith took place
between Mohammed and the Meccans in the plain of Bedr,
in which the latter were defeated. At this time, also,
Mohammed began bitterly to inveigh against the Jews, who
did not recognize his claims to be the "greater prophet"
promised by Moses. He changed the attitude of prayer
(kibla) from the direction of Jerusalem to that of the
Kaaba in Mecca, appointed Friday as the day for public
worship, and instituted the fast of Ramadan and the
tithe or poor-rate. The Jewish tribe of the Banu
Kainuka, settled at Medina, was driven out; while of
another Jewish tribe, the Banu Kuraiza, all the men, 700
in number, were massacred. In 625 Mohammed and his
followers were defeated by the Meccans in the battle of
Ohud. The following years were filled out with
expeditions. One tribe after another submitted to
Mohammed, until in 631 something like a definite
Mohammedan empire was established. In 632 the prophet
made his last pilgrimage to Mecca, known as the
"farewell pilgrimage," or the pilgrimage of the
"announcement" or of "Islam." In the same year he died
while planning an expedition against the frontier of the
Byzantine empire. Mohammed was a little above the middle
height, of a commanding figure, and is described as
being of a modest, tender, and generous disposition. His
manner of life was very simple and frugal. He mended his
own clothes, and his common diet was barley-bread and
water. But he enjoyed perfumes and the charms of women.
His character appears composed of the strongest
inconsistencies. He could be tender, kind, and liberal,
but on occasions indulged in cruel and perfidious
assassinations. With regard to his prophetic claims, it
is as difficult to assume that he was sincere
throughout, or self-deceived, as that he was throughout
an impostor. In his doctrines there is practically
nothing original. The legends of the Koran are chiefly
drawn from the Old Testament and the rabbinical
literature, which Mohammed must have learned from a Jew
near Mecca, though he presents them as original
revelations by the angel Gabriel, See Koran.
[Century Dict. 1906] |
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