Muhammad: Prophet and Reformer, Essay Example

According to Karen Armstrong, author of Muhammad: Prophet for Our Time, every major world religion (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) possesses “a figurehead, an individual who expresses the ideals of the faith in human form” (5). For Islam, this figurehead is Muhammad, born around 570 C.E., whose religious career “revealed the inscrutable God’s activity in the world, and illustrated the perfect surrender” (i.e., Islam which means “surrender”) “that every human being should make to the divine” (Armstrong 6), in this case, Allah, the Islamic equivalent of the Christian god or Jehovah. For today’s Muslims, Mohammad is not only a prophet but also the reformer of their faith, and for many Muslims, following the tenets of Muhammad as outlined in the Holy Quran are of prime importance and serve as the foundation for their daily lives. But historically in the West, Muhammad has been gravely misunderstood, especially related to the term “jihad” and his role as a religious leader and peacemaker.

Prior to the birth of Muhammad, life in the Arabian Peninsula or Arabia with the Byzantine Empire to the northwest, the Persian Empire to the northeast, and Egypt and Abyssinia in the west, was harsh and desolate, due to the fact that it lacked many of the natural resources required for a decent life in the wind-swept deserts where Arabic nomads roamed and often settled in small villages along the shores of the Red Sea.

As Armstrong describes it, the nomadic people of Arabia lived “a desperate, penurious life in the intractable deserts of northern Arabia, where geographically, the terrain “was so barren that people could only survive. . . by roaming ceaselessly from place to place in search of water and grazing land” for their sheep and goats. Most of these nomadic Arabs lived in tribal groups and lived in a “grim, relentless struggle” for resources. In addition, these nomads survived “perpetually on the brink of starvation” and fought amongst themselves in tribal wars and confrontations, mostly for water, pastureland, and grazing rights (11).

Thus, before the rise of Muhammad as a prophet, the people of Arabia were greatly divided and shared few religious principles, but after Muhammad became recognized for his position as a true prophet of Allah, the Arabic people slowly came together to share what would become one of the major world religions, namely, Islam which today is practiced by more than a billion people worldwide.

Like most religious leaders, both historically and today, Muhammad’s main goal was to bring his people together as a nation and as followers and believers in monotheism or the belief in one god, in this case, Allah. Although Muhammad is not credited with creating Islam, he nonetheless was its most fervent reformer which came about by acting also as a teacher.

His most important goal was to spread the messages that he allegedly received from Allah to all of his fellow Arabs in order to bring them back into the old was via the worship of one God, just as Abraham had done more than one thousand years before the birth of Muhammad. In addition, Muhammad greatly wanted his people to accept a new way of living via a life of sacrifice and self-fulfillment, rather than a life of self-indulgence and idolatry. Certainly, these and other goals of Muhammad succeeded brilliantly, for today, his message continues to reverberate around the world, bringing new followers to Islam on a daily basis in the form of converts.

Despite the fact that many Westerners, particularly Americans, consider Islam as a violent and extremist religious faith, it is in essence much like Christianity and Judaism in relation to preferring peace over war. Also, many Westerners believe that Muhammad was a warrior prophet who condoned mass murder and told his followers to put women and children to the sword if they refused to accept Islam as the one true religion and Allah as the one all-powerful God. Today, many Muslims believe that this was Muhammad’s true message which accounts for the problems in the world related to extremists and terrorism.

According to Armstrong, Western society which includes the United States and Europe, has a “long history of Islamophobia. . . that dates back to the time of the Crusades” during the 10th century C.E. when “Christian monks in Europe insisted that Islam was a violent religion of the sword, and that Muhammad was a charlatan who imposed his religion on a reluctant world by force of arms” (12). This view in fact is a distortion, for in many ways, Muhammad was like Abraham of the Old Testament and even Jesus who condemned violence and sought to bring peace to a region of the world steeped in war and oppression, mostly because of the presence and influence of the Roman Empire.

Armstrong adds that the life of Muhammad as a prophet, religious reformer, and teacher, was based on what is now referred to as “jihad” which literally means “struggle” instead of “holy war.” This struggle involved what Armstrong relates as a “tireless campaign against greed, injustice, and arrogance” and trying to convince his people that the “old way of thinking would no longer suffice” (12).

Therefore, when we closely examine the historical record and documents that are free of bigotry and falsehoods, it becomes clear that Muhammad was overall a man of peace as opposed to his oft-quoted title as a “warrior prophet.” Of course, those in today’s world who believe that “jihad” means “holy war” are greatly misguided, and if the truth were known to them, the world would be a much more peaceful place to live without the fear of being attacked for being an “infidel.”

Works Cited

Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: Prophet for Our Time. New York: HarperOne, 2007.