Page 12 - World Religions I - Islam

Study Section 2: Muhammad: The Prophet of Islam

2.1 Connect

The Bible says that many will come and declare themselves as “Christs” or religious leaders. In
610 AD, Muhammad supposedly began to have visions from God. These visions were of angels,
specifically the angel Gabriel, giving him new revelations from God. He began to transmit his
revelations orally to those around him and some believed, but many did not. The angel told him
that he was a prophet of God.

The Bible is the revelation of God. It was concluded with John’s writing of the book of Revelation. In chapter 22,
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verses 18-19 John warns his readers that “If any man shall add unto them, God shall add unto him the plagues
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which are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God
shall take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.” When the
Word of God was completed, new revelation ceased. God’s revelation was COMPLETE. Why would God, 500 plus
years later contradict these words and begin given the world NEW revelation. Let’s look into the life of the great
prophet of Islam, Muhammad, to see how valid his revelations were and are….

2.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to historically describe the life of Muhammad, the most important
prophet of Islam.

2. The student should be able to, in the process of understanding the revelations that Muhammad
claimed to have received from God, determine whether these revelations may have come from other
sources.

2.3 Muhammad: The Prophet of Islam

Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, was a religious, political, and social reformer who gave rise to the
second largest religion in the world: Islam. From a modern, historical perspective, Muhammad was
the founder of Islam. From the perspective of the Islamic faith, he was God's Messenger (Rasul Allah),
called to be a "warner," first to the Arabs and then to all humankind.1 He is considered the greatest
human being who has ever existed.
Early Life

• Muhammad was born, according to tradition, in, or around, AD 570 in Mecca (located in modern day Saudi Arabia).
Tradition cites Muhammad claiming he was born on a Monday.106 107 Many early Muslim scholars put his birthday
on Monday, 12th Rabi al-Awwal in the Year of the Elephant, perhaps to coincide with his death date on the same day
62 years later.108
o He was born into the Quraish tribe, an influential tribe in Mecca who were custodians of a religious shrine
known as the Ka'aba. Quraish is also sometimes anglicized as Quraysh.
 Muhammad belonged to the Hashemite clan of the Quraish. Muslim historians have attempted to
Many of the suggested genealogies do not agree with each other, and secular scholars have dismissed them
as Islamic constructions.116

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