Mohammed the High Jacker - Part IV Islam, Judaism, Christianity and Pagans

Let's recap what we've learned so far:

• Mohammed was born into a pagan society
• Mohammed's family were "guardians" of the Ka'bah or "house of worship" for a pagan cult
• The Ka'bah housed 360 different pagan idols
• At a later date, Mohammed returns to Mecca and the Ka'bah and destroys all idols but Allah, the great creator spirit.
• Mohammed's birth story is a conglomeration of his true birth story and that of Jesus and/or Moses
• Mohammed was an orphan that was alternately cared for by his grandfather and uncle who each, in their time, ran the Ka'bah
• Mohammed was approached by a Christian monk, Bahir, who allegedly knew him to be a prophet at the age of 12
• Bahir told Mohammed's uncle Talib to be wary of the Jews who would try to harm Mohammed if they knew he existed
• Three Jews or Christians, in similar fashion of the three wise men sent to search for Jesus, were sent to dispatch Mohammed and were convinced not to harm him by the Christian monk, Bahir. The only difference being that they did not later approach Mohammed with gifts fit for a king.
• Mohammed begins to travel with his uncle on caravans and meets all sorts of interesting people with interesting stories.
• Everyone tells these stories sitting around the camp fires at night and exposes Mohammed to other religions and cultures outside of his pagan-Arab society.
• Eventually, Mohammed is old enough to handle caravans by himself and continues to do so until about the age of 25

Now we come to the point where Mohammed marries his first wife and gets his first indoctrination into Judeo/Christian religion. Go to the inner sanctum to learn more.

Mohammed's First Marriage

According to the Sirat Rasoul Allah (Messenger of God) by Ibn Ishaq, Mohammed is brought to the attention of Kadijah and found that he was a good trader. He always insured that the caravan made it to it's destination and got the best prices. She hired Mohammed to take care of her goods and business. Kadijah was a widow and a merchant woman in her own right. Apparently, being able to handle your business affairs as a woman was something that was occurring before Islam came along. We'll address it later, but I would say, meeting a strong minded and intelligent woman was probably one of the reasons he later supports women to be educated and have their own property rights. Something else he incorporated into his religion.

On with the story. During this time in trading, the stories continue to support Mohammed's recognition as a forth coming prophet:

On his arrival in Syria the apostle of Allah alighted in the shade of a tree near the hermitage of a monk, who approached Maysara and asked, ‘Who is this man under the tree?’ Maysara replied, ‘This man is one of the Quraysh from the sacred city.’ And the monk said, ‘Under this tree no one ever alighted except a prophet.’

You may wonder why these stories written so much later have so many references to Christian's and Jews recognizing Mohammed as a representative of God or Allah. It's quite simple actually:

• To establish himself as a legitimate contender for the title of "prophet" of the monotheist God, Mohammed needed to link himself to the established monotheist religions
• When seeking converts to a religion, many religions take on the aspects of the potential converts existing religion or worship. In this case, continuing to claim to be recognized by Christian and Jewish religious icons as a "prophet" has to be a plus
• The wealthy land owners and merchants were largely Jewish and Christian. The nomadic pagan Arab tribes were not so wealthy. When trying to build a church or religion, who are you going to convert or get your donations from?

Here we have another moment of Mohammed recognized by the angels of God no less as important:

Maysara saw, at noon during this return journey when the heat was strong, two angels shading the apostle of Allah from the sun while he rode on his camel.

Did I mention that Maysara is Kadija's slave which she sent along with Mohammed on their first trip? When they return from this little trip, Maysara proceeds to tell Kadijah about this miraculous occurrence. Now, I don't know about you, but as a woman, I find this story a little suspicious. Sounds like Mohammed and Maysara were conspiring a little bit during the trip. Mohammed knew before he went on the trip that Kadijah was a widow and wealthy to boot. Mohammed, despite the commissions he might have held from the his caravan management, was in no way wealthy. Plus, Kadijah was a "noble woman" of the Quraysh tribe (origin of the word Qu'ran?). Sounds like a little collusion to me.

Something to note here, regardless of the story's claims to date, Mohammed is hardly a practitioner of monotheitic religion at this time. He does not see the light until sometime after marrying Kadijah. However, even the pagans believed in angels or spiritual entities that intervened in daily life. This story, written so long after the fact, was probably a cleaned up version of Maysara telling his mistress that Mohammed was blessed by the gods.

On top of that, Mohammed and Maysara arrive back having nearly doubled Kadijah's profits. Having been told of Mohammed's divine intervention by the angels, Kadijah offers herself as Mohammed's wife:

Khadija ‑ who was an intelligent, noble and good woman, predestined to great favour by Allah ‑ sent for the apostle of Allah and spoke the following words: 'O son of my uncle! I have taken a liking to you on account of our relation­ship, your respectability among the people, your honesty, charac­ter and veracity.' Then she offered herself to him for a wife.

"Son of my uncle"? This is either the pejorative "uncle" used by many Arabic cultures to describe an honored elder male, regardless of relations, or, this let's us know that Kadijah was a member of Mohammed's family, either through birth or marriage. She seems to confirm the latter by continuing with "on account of our relationship". This may mean "business" relationship, but I am thinking, in that day and age, it is likely a familial relationship.

According to the story, Mohammed goes and tells his uncle who then approaches Kadijah's father on his behalf. The story goes on to say that all was arranged (apparently with ease), Mohammed gives 20 camels as a dowry and he and Kadijah are married.

I was looking for the connection, but I saw a slightly different story that indicates that the bargaining process was not so smooth. Apparently, the father was not so enamored of Mohammed. Who could blame him? We are talking about a guy with no property, considered a poor relation by his own family, an orphan, with little money except what he obtained from managing caravans. He doesn't really have much to offer. And, I imagine that Kadijah's family probably profited nicely from her "holdings". Even if they were that progressive to allow a woman to be on her own, so to speak, it is highly unlikely that she lived outside of the family home or tribal affiliation after her husband died.

The story goes on to say that Kadijah was insistent that her father accept Mohammed. This is either an early story of star crossed lovers or, more likely, Kadijah thought this might be the only way that she could leave her family and take her wealth with her. At least it would only be one guy she was sharing it with and not the whole family. The alternate story includes Kadijah and Mohammed conspiring to get her father drunk and agreeing to said agreement. They were hastily married the same day before the guy could sober up. And, they made sure that there were witnesses to his agreement. Mohammed's uncle, Hamza, was one.

You can't really blame Hamza. He probably considered it a good idea considering that Kadijah's wealth would stay in the family, so to speak, if Mohammed and Kadijah were actually cousins. Remember, this is during tribal times and it was not (and is not) unusual for first cousins to marry.

Whichever story is correct, Kadijah and Mohammed were married. According to the story, while Kadijah was alive, Mohammed was a one woman man. Imagine that! There is probably a very simple reason for that. Kadijah had all the wealth. Even during those times, the woman was entitled to what she brought to the marriage if the marriage failed. In which case, it would be very smart of Mohammed not to try and introduce another woman into the situation. Kadijah would probably not feel very inclined to share, either her husband OR her wealth with another woman. It's not until she dies later that Mohammed takes more than one wife. We'll discuss the actual reasons for taking more than one wife a later as well.

This particular story does not give certain information, but it is purported that Kadijah may well be at least 15 years Mohammed's senior. If he is 25, that would make her about 40. Of course, we are talking in ancient calendars here that did not necessarily follow the Roman/Christian calendar of twelve months. This could make Mohammed anywhere from 19 to 30, depending on which calendar was used, and Kadijah could be between 34 and 45. What is known is that Kadijah gives Mohammed seven children before she passes. Considering menopause, I would say that Kadijah is either NOT 15 years his senior or the different calendar makes them younger than the story lets on.

Either way, this is later pointed to as an example or reason why Islam is more open than other religions to large age gaps in the marrying couples, regardless of gender.

At some point, Kadijah tells her cousin Waraq, who is a Christian, about Mohammed's miraculous encounter with the angels and Waraq confirms Mohammed's future as a prophet:

Khadija told her cousin, Waraq, who was a Christian well versed in sacred and profane literature, what Maysara had related of the conversation of the monk and what he had seen of the two angels shading the apostle of Allah, and Waraqa replied, 'If this be true, o Khadija, then Muhammad is the prophet of his people. I know that a prophet is expected at this time.'

Once again, Mohammed is confirmed as the next prophet by a Christian. As a person that studied Christianity, I find this extremely interesting considering Christ warned his followers that there would be others after him that would claim to be prophets and admonished his followers not to believe or follow them:

MAT 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

MAT 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

We will discuss Waraq and his effect on Mohammed in the next discussion. After reading the story concerning Mohammed and Waraq and then reading the actual statements in the New Testament regarding prophets, I find this interesting as well: These quotes don't actually tell us that there will be no prophets after Jesus. All of the quotes I was able to find simply identified Jesus as a prophet (and a son of God of course) and stated that people should be leary of false prophets that come later. Not that a prophet or more would not come after Jesus that were true, but there would be people who claim the title and show tricks in order to lead people away. The "no prophets after" interpretation might have been the church's or original translaters desire to insure that Christianity is THE religion of their group. Sort of a guard against too many off shoot religions.

Which leaves us with this simple question: Was Mohammed a true prophet after Jesus, or was he one of the false prophets we were warned about?

Resources:

Sirat Rasoul Allah: Chapter 2, Kadijah
Online Bible Quotes