612 CE / Worship One God. 3rd Year of Prophethood
EVENTS
Important events and incidences that took place
The Prophet used to meet and teach the new converts in privacy because the call to Islam was still based upon concealment. He would tell his followers not to divulge his secret without permission. Now the revelation began to increase in speed and continued to come down to the Prophet sometimes like the reverberations of a bell, which was the hardest on him. Other times Gabriel would come to him in the form of a man and speak to him.
The impulse which had prompted him to cry out “cover me, cover me” still came to him at times. The constant revealing of verses enabled the Prophet and his Companions to memorise and act out the message in ease. The verses revolved around subservience to God, the life of the Hereafter and Prophethood. The effect of this was that the early converts would have constant revelation concerning their predicament, a phenomenon that established for them that God was truly with them, close, and ever aware of what was happening. They were taught to greet one another with the words given to the Prophet by Gabriel as the greeting of the people of paradise, “Peace be on you!”, to which one would answer “And on you be peace”.
This year was a year of cultivation in that God was preparing the Prophet and his followers for what they would face once the call would be made openly. It was this cultivation that made the converts sincere, ever ready to face trials and willing to accept death rather than turn to polytheism. Indeed, this cultivation stood many a trial and many early converts were killed due to their unshakable stance and resolute faith.
LESSONS & WISDOMS
612 CE / Worship One God
A closer look at the events; in search of deeper meanings and drawing lessons
Attempts made at persuading the Prophet to abandon his call were futile. The Qurayh at times would even resort to bribery and the like. But the Prophet’s resolve to accomplish his mission did not once waver. Historically this demonstrates that he had no worldly gain or goal in mind. He was not seeking a position of authority nor wealth, but rather to accomplish a God given mission to establish Islam.
Gabriel would regularly visit the Prophet to teach him matters of the religion. Once he came down and struck with his heel the turf of the hillside, whereupon a spring gushed forth from it. Then he performed the ritual ablution to show the Prophet how to purify himself for worship, and the Prophet followed his example. Then he showed him the movements and postures of prayer and again the Prophet followed his example. Then the angel left him, and the Prophet returned home and taught his wife, Khadijah all that he had learnt. Such a well established chain of narration through which the religion reached the rest of mankind should give great confidence to it’s followers. The religion came through God’s greatest archangel down to His most beloved creation and then disseminated by the noblest of all communities – the Companions of the Prophet.
Little is known about these early days of Muhammad’s life as a Prophet but a great deal can be gleaned from the Quranic revelations that he received in this period of his life. The Quran was revealed piecemeal, line by line, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Sometimes the revelation dealt with a particular situation in Makkah answering Muhammad’s critics and reviewing the validity of their arguments. From these discourses in the Qur’an we learn of the great ideological attack that was waged upon the Muslim community but more so the Quranic approach in refuting it and redefining the line between Godliness and evil. [see Edicts & Rulings]
EDICTS & RULINGS
612 CE / Worship One God
Revelation and rulings particular to this year
In the early days of Islam the Companions of the Prophet were encouraged by God to refrain from violence in the face of abuse, for revelation continually enjoined perseverance upon the Prophet and therefore upon them. This message is found in the Quranic chapter al-Muzzamil, revealed in this period:
Be steadfast in the face of what they say and cut yourself off from them – but courteously.
In the Quranic chapter at-Tariq,
So bear with the disbelivers – bear with them for a while.
And in the Quranic chapter at-Kahf,
Restrain yourself patiently with those who call on their Lord morning and evening, desiring His face.
***
In these early days of Islam the Quranic chapter al-Ma’un was revealed and through it God exposed the ruling elite in Makkah by eloquently pointing out their oppressive conduct with the society’s most vulnerable and the social injustice they were creating in the community.
Have you seen him who denies the resurrection?
He is the one who harshly rebuffs the orphan
and does not urge the feeding of the poor.
CONTENTIOUS NARRATIVES
612 CE / Worship One God
The Most Thoroughly Documented Person in History
The prophet Muhammad is the most well documented person in history. Almost everything one can possibly imagine about the Prophet was noted and related on by his disciples and family. One of them was a man who was known as Salman the Persian who embraced Islam after a Christian priest directed him to go to Medina to meet the awaited prophet. Salman used to say, “There is not a bird in the sky except that Muhammad told us about it!”
As the final messenger from God to all of mankind, one would expect that he would come with a comprehensive way of life with some considerable detail whether it pertained to worships, beliefs, society or politics.
However, the method of preservation of the teachings of the Prophet is something to be marvelled at. This is collectively known as the Sunnah, which linguistically means way or path. This is another form of revelation alongside the Quran which is the literal speech of God. The sayings of the Prophet, hadeeths, are composed of two parts: the text (matn) and the chain of narration (sanad or isnad). The chain of narration is composed of a number of narrators going all the way back to the Prophet himself. For a chain of narration to be considered authentic it must made up of trustworthy narrators narrating from trustworthy narrators, and must be free from any irregularities or defects. Volumes of books have been written which document the lives and characters of each narrator of the hadeeth for the scholars to ascertain if a statement attributed to the Prophet is authentic or not. Narrators are examined for their truthfulness, piety, memory and whether they met the person they claimed to narrate from.
Hadeeths are therefore the most accurate form of historical account today; if one rejects these then they would have to reject any historical account of anything ever recorded.