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00:05Having lost his wife and uncle, Muhammad's exposure to Quresh's harassment and assaults
00:11grew greater. In old Arabia, the governing law was that everyone is protected by belonging to
00:17a clan. The stronger the clan, the better the protection. For Muhammad, his father died before
00:25he was born, and his mother died when he was six years old. His guardianship moved to his grandfather
00:32at first. Then when his grandfather died, it moved on to his uncle Abu Talib. Now that he lost his
00:39uncle and wife, he lost most of the protection of his clan. Being tired of Quresh's assaults and
00:46rejection, Muhammad started looking for another chance for his cause outside of Mecca. The prophet
00:53made a decision to go to Al-Taif, 150 kilometers south of Mecca, in the hope of finding a stronger
01:00collaboration from its people. It must have been horribly painful for Muhammad to have made such a
01:07decision. He knew that if he left the city, his life would be endangered by the lawless Arabia,
01:13and that if he had to return to Mecca, he would have to find a new clan to protect him,
01:18which might not be possible. In Al-Taif, the prophet was utterly turned down by the city's three leaders.
01:26One leader said to him, If God sent you, I will tear down the hangings of the Kaaba.
01:32The second leader told him, Couldn't God find anyone else other than you to send?
01:38The third leader refused to meet with the prophet, but sent his servant with this message,
01:43I do not need to speak to you. For if you are a messenger from God as you claim,
01:49then you are too great of a person for me to address. And if you are a liar, it is
01:55not befitting
01:55for me to speak to you. Knowing the consequences if he returned to Mecca, Muhammad appealed to them
02:02to conceal the news of rejection from Quresh, or to allow him to stay among them. His plea was also
02:09rejected. Instead of the expected kindness, they turned loose their children to follow him,
02:15threw stones at him until his head was severely cut. He bled until the blood came out of his shoes.
02:23Just outside of town in a vineyard, the prophet and his servant rested and prayed these words,
02:28O my God, unto you I complain of my weakness, of my helplessness, and of my lowliness before men.
02:38O most merciful of the merciful, you are Lord of the weak, and you are my Lord. Into whose hands
02:45will
02:46you entrust Me? Unto some far-off stranger who will ill-treat Me? Or unto a foe whom you have
02:53empowered
02:53against Me? I care not if your wrath is not on Me. Upon this supplication, the angel of mountains came
03:01to the service of Prophet Muhammad, asking his permission to close the mountains on the people
03:07of Taif. But despite his deepest wounds of rejection, Muhammad replied, No, God may bring from their offspring
03:16people who may testify to the oneness of God and worship Him. The prophet was magnanimous. His zeal for
03:24peace and forgiveness indeed overpowered his personal anger and self-wounds. Testifying to this fact, God
03:32revealed, And indeed you are of a great moral character. Quran 68.4. The Quran also said, And we have
03:41not
03:41sent you, O Muhammad, but as a mercy to the worlds. Quran 21107. Now, Muhammad had no other choice but
03:52bear
03:52the pain of rejection and humiliation and return to Mecca. The next task for him was to find protection
03:59in Mecca. He sent his servant Zayd with the names of several tribal leaders in the hope that one of
04:06them
04:06would accept the request. Only one, Al-Muti ibn Adi, who was an idolater, accepted the protection of the
04:14prophet. For the next three years, Muhammad was under the protection of a disbeliever.
04:21As expected from the prophet, who was sent to teach wisdom and rationality,
04:26he had to deal with the new circumstance differently. Now, he would no longer speak low of their idols,
04:33nor would he introduce himself to Koresh in the way and frequency he used to. Instead,
04:38he channeled his efforts to the people who visit Mecca, especially during the pilgrimage season.
04:44And this flexibility and approach seemed to be fruitful. For example, he met with some people from
04:52the city of Yathrib, who were favorable to his call and accepted Islam. The few converted Yathrib Muslims
04:59went back to their people and made more converts. In the next pilgrimage season, 12 of them met
05:06secretly with a prophet and made a covenant with him to act and live up to the highest of standards.
05:12He asked his companion, Musab ibn Umar, to go with them and be his ambassador in Yathrib.
05:21In Yathrib, the prophet's ambassador and the 12 Yathrib Muslims were successful in introducing Islam in the city.
05:29In the next year's pilgrimage to Mecca, 70 Yathrib Muslims met again, secretly with the prophet,
05:36and made a pact with him to live righteously and give him protection.
05:41The prophet had them select 12 representatives from amongst themselves, possibly reflecting their
05:47corresponding tribes, to report to Musab. Under this leadership, the Yathrib Muslim community
05:54soon became a significant power. Now, the scale of the relative power between the Quresh tribe and
06:00the Muslims had begun to shift in favor of the Muslims.
06:0611 years after the first revelation, the miraculous journey of the prophet to Jerusalem and his
06:13ascension to the seven heavens took place. In this remarkable journey, Muhammad met with his brother
06:20prophets, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all other prophets sent by God, and he led them in a prayer in Jerusalem.
06:29From Jerusalem, he ascended to the seven heavens, again meeting with the prophets.
06:36It was here he received the Muslim duties of the five daily prayers. Muhammad's meetings with all the
06:43prophets demonstrates the close ties and common grounds between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism,
06:50as well as other revealed religions. Since the conditions for the Muslims in Yathrib was far
06:57better than that of Mecca, most Meccan Muslims migrated to Yathrib to escape rejection and execution.
07:04They left behind their loved ones and belongings. Late in the 12th year, from the first revelation,
07:11the prophet himself received inspiration to migrate to Yathrib. He instructed his close friend,
07:18Abu Bakr, to prepare two camels, food and supplies, and set them on standby for the journey.
07:25The prophet also hired a travel guide for his convoy. Observing the Muslims' migration and success in
07:32Yathrib, Quresh leaders were getting nervous and furious. Out of other options, they resorted to use more
07:39violence and plotted to kill Muhammad without the fear of reprisal from his clan, the Banu Hashem.
07:46The plot to kill Muhammad was to be carried out by a representative from each of Quresh's clans,
07:52with each plunging his sword into him. In this way, the prophet's clan would not be able to fight all
07:59of
07:59the clans of the Quresh combined. The prophet was informed by Allah of Quresh's plan and gave Muhammad
08:06the permission to migrate to Yathrib. The prophet told his close friend, Abu Bakr, who was all too happy to
08:13accompany the prophet in his journey. On the night of the journey, the prophet instructed Asma, Abu Bakr's
08:20daughter, along with her brother Abdullah, to deliver food and the news of Quresh's plan to his
08:26hideout at Cave Thaur. He also instructed Abu Bakr's servant to graze a herd of sheep where the prophet's
08:35convoy and messenger's walk to destroy their footprints. This helped prevent Quresh's assassins
08:41from tracing their footprints to their hideout. On the night the murderers surrounded the prophet's
08:47house, Ali ibn Abi Talib, the prophet's cousin, offered to wrap himself in the prophet's cloak and
08:54lay in his bed, knowing that Quresh will not harm him. The prophet made his escape from Mecca, along with
09:01Abu Bakr. To mislead the Meccans, who believed he would head north to join the rest of the Muslims
09:07in Yathrib, Muhammad and Abu Bakr headed south instead, to their hideout, the Cave Thaur. When the
09:14murderers entered Muhammad's house to kill him, they were disappointed to find out that it was
09:19Muhammad's cousin who was in the bed. The leaders of Mecca called for a wide search for Muhammad and
09:26offered 100 camels as a reward to the one who apprehended him. This lucrative reward attracted
09:32many people to search for Muhammad. Because of his well-devised plan, no one was able to find him.
09:40The prophet and his friend stayed in the cave for three days. During the nights, they were kept
09:46informed of all news and developments of what was occurring in Mecca. After three days, the prophet,
09:54Abu Bakr and their guide took the Red Sea route to Yathrib to ensure their escape. After 10 days journey,
10:02Muhammad arrived safely in Yathrib. That day in mid-June, 622 AD, marked the beginning of the Islamic
10:10calendar and the founding of the Muslim nation. Muhammad was well received in Yathrib and the people named
10:19their city Madunatu An-Nabi, the city of the prophet, or Medina for short. Not long after his arrival,
10:28the prophet built the first mosque from which he began delivering his messages. Along with his spiritual
10:35development, the prophet made other social and political developments in the city. These developments
10:41served to establish peace and strengthen the bonds amongst the people in the city. He established a
10:48peace between two major tribes in the city. He also established a transitional league of brotherhood
10:54between the Meccan emigrants and the Medinan Muslims. With the 13 Jewish tribes living in Medina,
11:01he forged a treaty called the Constitution of Medina, which ensured everyone's freedom and safety.
11:08People's political rights, freedom of belief, freedom of enterprise, and trade were protected.
11:15Also, this constitutional document spelled out individual citizen obligations,
11:20sanctity of life, prevention of crime, laws of municipalities, and the dignity and equality
11:27of people governed under the law.
11:30Prophet Muhammad established a charter or a constitution which clearly established the rights
11:37and the duties of non-Muslims, and in particular of Jews and Christians within the community,
11:42and there was an alliance. There were alliances between Muslims and Christians and alliances between
11:51Muslims and Jews. Therefore, the idea that we are all descended from the same Abrahamic religion holds true.
11:59The Constitution of Medina really demonstrated the extent to which
12:05Medina was not simply a Muslim city or a Muslim community. In fact, Medina was to be a community
12:13that incorporated people of other faiths.
12:17Here in Medina, the Prophet was reaching out to the Jews. He was teaching the Muslims and Jews who
12:23attended his sermons what was revealed to him from the stories of Moses, Jesus, and other Israelite
12:30Prophets. Also, the Muslims were told to face Jerusalem in their prayers, like the Jews and Christians did.
12:38As we also know, early on, the Prophet expected that Jews would, in time, accept the message of Islam,
12:45and indeed the early Muslims faced Jerusalem initially. However, when it became clear that that acceptance
12:51wasn't going to come, the Quran revealed to Muhammad that the direction of prayer be changed to Mecca.
12:56Regarding Muhammad's grand work in Medina in establishing law and order, Karen Armstrong,
13:03in her book, Muhammad, A Biography of the Prophet, stated,
13:07Unlike Christianity, which came to birth under the Roman Empire, where the social and political
13:12orders were already established, and Jesus and St. Paul had to mainly worry about the spiritual order,
13:19Arabia had no political or social order.
13:22Under this constitution, Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived in peace and harmony.
13:29It also gave protection to the Jews and Christians, who were minorities in the Muslim lands.
13:36The Golden Age, particularly in Spain in the medieval period,
13:40is a flourishing time, particularly of Jewish and Muslim collaboration.
13:58As the new immigrants arrived into Medina, many of them fell ill, having no immunity against the
14:05kind of diseases existing there. The Prophet formed a task force and asked them to remove the city's
14:11waste from its streets to a trash dump area called Al-Jufa. He made this prayer,
14:18O Allah, purify Medina, and help us move its disposable to Al-Jufa, and cure our sick, and make us
14:26love it in the same way
14:27you made us love Mecca. As a result of this work, a healthier environment for all the citizens was achieved.
14:36Another urban task Muslims conducted was improving the water and irrigation systems in Medina.
14:43The Prophet, along with the city's water drilling experts, drew up plans for drilling 54 water wells
14:50in and around the city. Upon its completion, water for the city and for irrigation was plentiful.
14:56The Prophet issued land deeds for improvements to dead land. He said,
15:02Any who improves a dead land, he will have the right to own it. As a result of this work,
15:08the agriculture of the city grew and prospered. The third task the Prophet undertook was to light
15:14the city streets. Tamim ben al-Azad-Dari had set lamps in the mosque of the Prophet to illuminate it.
15:21When the Prophet entered the mosque, he was pleased with what he saw. He asked Tamim to provide lamps for
15:28all the city streets in Medina. Upon the completion of this job, the Prophet said,
15:33May Allah enlighten the heart of Tamim ad-Dari, for if I had a daughter, I would have asked her
15:39to marry him.
15:41From that point on, the city's name took an adjective to become Al-Medina al-Munawara, or the Enlightened City.
15:48The spiritual, political, civic, and social developments of this city should help in
15:54understanding why Muslims do not separate religion and state. The question of separation between
16:00religion and state relevant to Islam is addressed by Karen Armstrong in her book, Muhammad, a Biography
16:08of the Prophet. She states, In Europe, we have gradually evolved an ideal which separates church
16:14and state, and we usually blame Islam for confusing two areas that are essentially distinct. But the
16:22Christian experience should not prejudice us against other cultural and religious traditions,
16:27which have developed under different conditions. Muslims escaped Mecca before facing extinction,
16:34but they would continue to be in mortal danger for the next five years in Medina.
16:38The Meccans were, in fact, persecuting the Muslims, not only when the Muslims were living in Mecca,
16:44but then they still were trying, at the end of the day, to enjoy their pride of place and to,
16:51in many ways, marginalize the Medina community. Islam is a religion of peace. And Muhammad, the Prophet,
16:57the Prophet, he tolerated a lot of persecution, abuse, and suffering, suffered a lot at the hands of his
17:07enemies and did not want to shed blood or go to war. And God had to tell him to fight
17:16those who persecute you.
17:17The Prophet had to migrate, leave Mecca and come to Medina. They did not leave him alone there.
17:23They kept coming and attacking the city of Medina, one after another.
17:27In Muhammad, a biography of the Prophet, Karen Armstrong states,
17:33It was essential that Muslims display an image of strength and decisiveness,
17:38if they were to survive the lawless state of Arabia 7th century. In Medina, whenever the Prophet
17:44heard that one tribe, urged by Mecca propaganda, was preparing to invade Medinan territory,
17:51he would march aggressively to forestall the attack, and the opposition tended to melt away
17:56as soon as the Muslims arrived. And so we see a series of battles. In the Battle of Badr,
18:03against overwhelming odds, the Muslims win. In the Battle of Uhud, the situation's reversed,
18:09and indeed the Prophet is injured. The story of the Battle of the Pact began with the Meccan
18:15Quresh leaders summoning all its Confederates, 10,000 people, and marched towards Medina with
18:21the intention of finishing off the Muslims. This was a year after the Battle of Uhud. The battle
18:28ended peacefully without an actual fight because the Muslims dug a deep ditch between the flatland
18:34of Medina and the mountains outside the city. They strategically placed their soldiers on the
18:40mountainous side and along this ditch. The Meccans were taken by surprise when they were faced by the
18:47ditch and were unable to cross it or penetrate the Muslim defensive lines. After 40 days of siege and
18:55attempts to engage the Muslims in a battle, Quresh soldiers gave up and returned home.
19:01Muslims believe their struggle or jihad paid off in preventing another bloodbath and a major loss of
19:08life. War has to be avoided as much as possible. For this reason, Islam says that you should be strong.
19:16If you are strong, your enemies will not attack you. There will be no war. Muhammad sent several
19:23expeditions to the rest of the tribal communities of Arabia, announcing their strong presence and making
19:29alliances with them before Quresh did. Although these early battles made a significant psychological
19:37outcome, the resulting casualties were quite small. With all three battles combined, casualties from both
19:44sides were less than 200 people. While Islam's beginnings were full of troubling times, battles and
19:53hardship. At no time did Muhammad seek to compel followers to the new religion. To Muslims, there is no
20:00compulsion in matters of faith. Islam absolutely forbids compelling people, coercing people to accept Islam.
20:09La ikra hafid din. Very categorical statement. There is no compulsion allowed in matters of religion.
20:15In many other places, the Quran says you cannot compel people to accept the faith. So only convey.
20:22In the countries where Islam is spread, you still have Christian groups, Jewish groups,
20:28Zoroastrian groups, people of many other faiths. Between the battles for self-preservation against
20:34the Quresh tribes, the way Islam spread throughout history, or some of the more recent events in the world,
20:40the Quran is one of the most misinterpreted books of any religion. To interpret the Quran,
20:47you need a number of things. First of all, you need a very thorough command of the Arabic language,
20:51that for Muslims, the Quran is revealed in Arabic. And so, just linguistically, understanding the
20:57language becomes so important. Then understanding the context. How did this verse, or how did that verse,
21:04come to be revealed? What was the context in which these verses were revealed? How did these fit into
21:10Islamic history and interpretation? It's not that you can interpret the verses totally different
21:15from how other people have done that. You're free to interpret the verses, but you're bound by the
21:21fact that these really are God's words for all people in all times. Because Quran is a universal document,
21:28it is for all time, for all places, for all people, but it certainly came at a particular time,
21:34to a particular person, in a particular language, in particular circumstances.
21:41Dr. Peter Robinson, Jr.: Each text that talks about fighting and violence has to be seen in terms of
21:45when was that reason it appeared. And therefore, for example, one may see a passage like slay the
21:53unbelievers wherever you find them. But often, number one, that passage is quoted out of context,
21:59and often only the first part of the passage is quoted. In most of these passages, the verse then
22:04goes on to say, but should they stop fighting? When they stop fighting, then remember that God is
22:09compassionate. One has to stop fighting. And so many of these passages are dealing with instances in
22:14which the community is under siege, and the community is being told to fight and to fight back,
22:20and that the community has the right and duty to do that. But the other thing that's interesting is that
22:24at times when it says, slay the unbelievers wherever you find them, the unbelievers being referred to
22:28are the Meccans. The word jihad denotes physical, moral, spiritual, and intellectual efforts exerted
22:37for a particular goal. Dr. Peter Robinson, Jr.: The very term jihad in Arabic means to strive,
22:42to struggle, to exert oneself in the path of God. Jihad fi sibil Allah, struggling in the path of God.
22:49Its primary meaning in the Quran means the struggle to realize God's will. A Muslim is
22:54one who submits, one who follows God's will. And so, in many ways, it indicates what every believer
23:00has to do. Every believer, whether Muslim, Jew, Christian, etc., struggles in this world to be
23:06good, to be moral, to live up to one's faith. And that's the primary meaning of jihad.
23:12The Quran teaches that war and bloodshed is always abominable. Diplomacy and reconciliation
23:19are divine mechanisms to restoring peace, security, and hope.
23:24Dr. Peter Robinson, Jr.: Violence is to be avoided as much as possible. It is something which is evil,
23:30which is bad. When the Muslim state was strong enough to defend themselves and were no longer
23:37afraid for their lives, they pursued reconciliation with the Meccans. For example, during the sixth year
23:44from his migration to Medina, the Prophet, with 1,400 people, peacefully moved toward Mecca to conduct
23:51the ritual of the lesser pilgrimage. The Quresh leaders, however, sent 50 horsemen to block the
23:58main route of the pilgrims and to attack the Muslims as they approached. Even though the Muslims were many
24:04folds greater in number and could have attained an easy victory, the Prophet took a different route through
24:10the narrow and rocky canyons that were extremely difficult to cross in order to reach Mecca.
24:16When the Muslims realized they would not be allowed to perform their ritual,
24:20they negotiated with Quresh a resolution for peace known as the Treaty of Hudaybiyah.
24:26The treaty, among other things, called for no war for the next ten years,
24:31and that the Meccans are to allow the Muslims to perform the lesser pilgrimage in the following season.
24:38Many of Muhammad's companions were dissatisfied and angry and felt it was humiliating to sign such
24:45a treaty. Karen Armstrong, in her book, A Biography of the Prophet, stated,
24:51Muhammad was a peacemaker who risked his life and nearly lost the loyalty of his closer companions
24:58because he was so determined to reconcile with Mecca. Instead of fighting an intransient war to the death,
25:05Muhammad was prepared to negotiate and to compromise. And this apparent humiliation proved in the words
25:12of the Koran to be a great victory. The Prophet was in an area of Arabia in which you had
25:19tribal warfare.
25:20And Arabia was located between two massive empires, the Sassanid and the Eastern Byzantine Empire,
25:25who were themselves warring among themselves. The Prophet brought peace to Arabia. He brought Islam,
25:32and Islam, submission to the will of God, the religion of Islam, was to transcend all tribal and ethnic affiliations.
25:42And so he brought peace to Arabia. Islam absolutely forbids attacking people who are innocent.
25:48Islam says you should not initiate violence. The Koran says do not aggress against those who do not aggress against
25:55you.
25:56So even in the difficulties and problems, try to see that. The Koran says that when people do wrong to
26:02you,
26:03you should do good to them, so that this is the way you can bring friendship and good relations.
26:09The Prophet's wisdom in making peace and uniting his people did not stop at only political treaties,
26:15but he used the social customs of Arabia to overcome factions and animosity in the land.
26:22Who he married is an example of this. The Prophet married Ummu Hubeba, the daughter of the Quresh leader,
26:30Abu Sufyan. Later he married a Jewish lady, Sufya, the daughter of the chief of the Nuder tribe.
26:38The Prophet also married a Christian lady, Maria. Even though both these ladies accepted Islam,
26:46these marriages are symbols showing that Islam transcends barriers. It also shows that Islam
26:52seeks to build bridges and relationships with other communities and other religions.
26:58The Prophet in his own personal life often sought to bring about that peace through diplomacy
27:04and indeed through a number of his marriages. So when we look at the marriages of the Prophet,
27:09they occur for a number of reasons. He married widows, but the Prophet also
27:16was involved in marriages, much as later on we see, you know, rulers involved in marriages
27:23that cement relationships with other tribes. A chronological timeline of the marriages of the
27:30Prophet reveals the role of these marriages to bring about peace. The Prophet married his first wife,
27:36Khadijah, at age 25. She was a widow of age 40. They stayed married until she died. He was then
27:4550 years
27:46old. He stayed single for the next three years until the age of 53, when in Medina the Prophet married
27:53his
27:53second wife, Aisha. In the next several years, during the reconciliation with Koresh and the tribes
28:01surrounding Medina, he made the rest of his other marriages. These marriages were instrumental in
28:07ending the violence and securing lasting peace. The Prophet used other social customs to create peace and
28:15friendship. When the Prophet was in Medina, he noticed the Jews fasting on a particular day and he
28:20asked them, you know, why do you fast on this day? And they explained to him that this was the
28:24day in
28:25which God had saved Moses. And so for the Prophet Muhammad, the idea was that this was just as
28:30important a day for Muslims as it was for Jews. And so the Prophet Muhammad fasted on that day too.
28:36In the
28:36Islamic calendar, it's the 10th day of the month of Muharram, the day of Ashura. And so Muslims still fast
28:43on
28:43that day, similar to the Jewish understanding of fasting.
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