Page 27 - World Religions I - Islam

Study Section 4: Mohammad - continued

4.1 Connect

The terror attacks on September 11, 2001, were the deadliest attacks on United States soil since the
Pearl Harbor bombing that launched the US into World War II. The plane hijackings that struck the
World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field killed 2,977 people. Tens of thousands of
people who lived or worked in the neighborhood at the time found themselves breathing in air thick
with toxic fumes and particles from the pulverized, burning skyscrapers. Many have since become sick,
many have died, and new cases are still occurring all the time that are linked back to the poisons that were in the
air around the wreckage.

The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by
the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. The master mind of the attack was Osama bin Laden. He said in a video in
2001, “It has become clear that the West in general and America in particular have an unspeakable hatred for Islam.
... It is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to
injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, which kills our people. ... We say that the end of
the United States is imminent, whether Bin Laden or his followers are alive or dead, for the awakening of the
Muslim umma (nation) has occurred.”

The tactics have not changed over the 1400 years since Muhammad began spreading the Muslim faith throughout
the Arab countries near Saudi Arabia. Let’s look back and see how they are similar…

4.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to describe how Muhammad and his followers spread the doctrines of Islam
throughout their world.

2. The student should be able to describe how Muhammad died and was proclaimed a prophet of God after
his death.

3. The student should be able to ascertain how Muhammad’s character and life matched other prophets in the
Bible.
4.3 An Influential Leader

Muhammad was no longer a persecuted citizen of Mecca, but the leader of a religious community
acknowledged to possess divine authority.

• During Muhammad's time in Medina, the tone and character of Qur'anic revelations began to change.
o Revelations became long and pedestrian, and devoted to the social, political, and military details
associated with developing a growing community amidst hostile parties.
• For Muhammad's message to propagate and his influence to increase, opposition had to be eliminated.
o Muhammad sought to covert his home city of Mecca to Islam, and desired to see the Ka'aba purified and

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