A Man Named Muhammad

A Man Named Muhammad

He successfully invented a new religion.

MUHAMMAD, the founder of Islam, the world’s youngest major religion, was born in Mecca between 570 and 580. His father died before he was born and his mother when he was six. He was subsequently raised in relative poverty, first by his grandfather and then by an uncle.

At the age of twenty-five Muhammad entered the service of a wealthy widow, fifteen years his senior, named Khadija. His marriage to her shortly thereafter provided him with instant wealth. Her affluence provided him with the luxury to indulge in a life of religious contemplation.

When he was about forty, Muhammad claimed that he received a prophetic call from Allah through the angel Gabriel. He began preaching monotheism, a final judgment, alms, prayer, and surrender to the will of Allah. In the course of three years he attracted only twelve converts. Because he was persecuted in his hometown of Mecca, he fled to the city of Medina in 622. His flight to Medina is called the hegira and is traditionally dated to July 15, 622, which marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

During his time in Medina, Muhammad’s revelations became more legalistic and secular. Islam, as his new religion was called, became both a community and a state with Muhammad being both its ruler and lawgiver.

Once his power was centralized in Medina, Muhammad was able to return to Mecca and conquer it in 630. By the time he died on June 8, 632, almost all of Arabia had embraced Islam, and in the hundred years following his death, Islam spread like wildfire.

The successors of Muhammad encouraged jihad, or holy war, against non-Muslims and within a century built an empire stretching from northern Spain all the way across North Africa to India. Many of the areas conquered, such as Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and North Africa, were formerly Christian strongholds where believers faced the choice of converting to Islam or dying by the sword. Even western Europe was threatened by the advance of Islam until Charles Martel of France finally halted expansion when he defeated the Muslims at the battle of Tours, France, in 732, exactly one hundred years after the death of Muhammad.

Islam has continued to expand today so that more than one-fifth of the world’s population is Muslim. In 1900 only 12 percent of the world embraced Islam; by 2000 the percentage had grown to 21 percent. Today Islam is the fastest growing major religion, in part due to a higher birthrate, numbering 1.3 billion in the year 2000. Most live in a belt stretching from West Africa to Southeast Asia. Islam is the majority religion in forty-two countries and territories. Most of these countries prohibit Christian evangelism and exclude Christian missionaries.

In spite of the fact that the followers of Muhammad have greatly increased their numbers and their political power, it is encouraging that more Muslims came to Christ between 1980 and 2000 than in any earlier period of history.

Reflection

Do you know any Muslims? Today in America there are more Muslims than Episcopalians. Think of how you can prepare yourself to share the gospel with them. It is a great opportunity to live in a time when there is so much intermingling of nationalities around the world. Most of us need look no further than our own community to find people from another culture with whom we can share our lives and our faith. God is bringing the mission field to us.

With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: “There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.”

Luke 24:47