Seerah Muhammad: The Number Game

Muhammad the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, performed his work as a prophet for 23 years.  Measured by the number of his followers, his achievement may be divided into three stages.

For the first ten years, he got only chicken feed.  His total followers numbered only about 100 people, including children who were born into the family already converted. 

About half of this (or around 50 or so) was converted in the first year of his prophetic mission.  About two third of the other half (or around 35 or so) was converted in the next two years.  Afterward it trickled down only to a handful.  In the last three years of this phase, from the year eight to the year ten, there was hardly any conversion.

For the next ten years, however, he got substantial number of followers.  By the end of the second stage, he managed to bring an army of 10,000 strong to conquer his hometown Makkah.  The total number of his followers by then must have been double or triple the number of that army.  Or at least 200 times more than the first stage.

While the number of his followers increased substantially in the second ten year period, at least half of these conversions took place in the last two years of this period.  More precisely, after the Hudaibiyah Treaty, which took place in 6 AH. 

As for third stage, i.e., the last three years of his Prophethood, the number of his followers was impressive.  In the farewell pilgrimage alone, it was said that about 100,000 people attended.  Before he died, he managed to raise an army of 30,000 strong without much difficulty. 

By the time he died, practically the whole Arabian Peninsula was converted.  We might place the number of his followers by the time he died in the region of half a million, or perhaps more.

Another interesting phenomenon may also be observed.

In the first stage, he personally worked hard to gain conversion.  In the second stage, it was his followers who secured most of the conversions.  In the last stage, it was the people who came to him asking to enter into the fold of Islam.  In other word, when he exerted the maximum effort, he got the least; but when he practically did nothing as far as his personal effort for conversion is concerned, he got the most.

If we ponder about this pattern, it seems to fit with our employment career, or the business endeavor.  A senior colleague of mine once observes that when we start working, we are paid less than the hours we put to our work.  After many years of working, we are paid with handsome salary by fooling around in the meeting room.

Likewise, when we start our business, we put extraordinary hours but the revenue generated rarely exceeds the money spent.  After many years of working, the money keeps coming while we stroll along leisurely at the golf course.

There is one last observation to be made. 

As soon as the Prophet died, more than half of the Arabia revolted against the fledgling Islamic State headed by his successor, Abu Bakar.  Only three regions were free from rebellion: Madinah, Makkah and Taif. 

If number is the criterion for success, then the fledgling Islamic State would have vanished from the face of the earth.  But with the help of the leading companions, the Islamic State grew stronger than ever before, as soon as after Abu Bakar routed the rebellion for good a year and a half later.

Three distinctive groups made up the core of Abu Bakar’s forces against the rebellion. 

The first were the core companions who suffered numerous persecutions.  They were those who became Muslims in the first stage. 

The second were the Helpers, the people of Madinah, who helped transformed the fate of Muhammad’s mission.  If hitherto the Muslims were the weakest group, with the Helpers, they became the equal to their enemies.  Most of them became Muslims in the early part of the second stage.

The third were the persecutors turned ardent Muslims. They were the Quraysh who, in the first stage of the Prophetic mission, were the enemies of Islam.  Most of them became Muslims in the later part of the second stage, especially after the conquest of Makkah. 

Many heart wrenching stories are narrated about the fate of the early Muslims, especially those who became Muslims in the first stage.  With the benefit of hindsight, these persecutions are nothing but the process of making them men of steel.  If they had any other interest than the pleasure of Allah, they would not have been able to go through all those physical, emotional, social and economic tortures.  After going through all those extreme difficulties, they were ready to conquer the world.

And conquer the world they did, not long after their leader died. 

Thus, in terms of number, the Prophet may have gained “chicken feed” in the first stage of his Prophetic mission, but these were men and women of steel.  Not just any steel, but the steel that does not melt at any temperature.  In the third stage of his Prophetic mission, however, he got mostly “chickens,” though the number is surely impressive.

Seerah Muhammad: Overview On The Grand Scheme

Prophet Muhammad's achievement, as can be seen from my earlier posting, Overview On Supremacy, is nothing less than spectacular.

His achievement is impressive but not spectacular, however, if measured by the area of lands conquered.  Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great achieved more.  These two figures are land conquerors and empire builders, of which Muhammad is not.

Muhammad, upon him be peace, is a prophet.  The measure of his greatness, therefore, has to be viewed from prophetic achievement, namely, the speed of the spread and the enduring influence of the message he brought, both in ideological (or theological) as well as practical lives.  Measured from this angle, his achievement was unsurpassed by any other prophets.  Even if we include the philosophers into this measure, none surpassed him.

But to compare the performance of one prophet to another is preposterous.  In fact, it is forbidden in Islam.  The Quran never belittles one prophet or elevates the other.  The Prophet Muhammad himself considers all prophets to be his equal, except that he is their leader.

It is unIslamic, therefore, to denigrate the Prophet Noah (Nabi Nuh), saying that he is not very effective in doing his job, for in spite of spending hundreds of years, he managed only to convert a handful.  His greatness lies in his perseverance, for in spite of his people refusing to listen to him, he persevered with them for hundreds of years.  Any other man would have given up long ago.

Neither can we say that the Prophet Jonah (Nabi Yunus) was no good, on account that he ran away from his duty, after his people were heedless to his call.  He was sent for different purpose, namely that one should not give up Allah's mercy.  Those who repent will always have a second chance, as the story of the Prophet Jonah illustrates.  After he repented and was delivered from the belly of the fish, he went back preaching and met with success.

Likewise with any other prophet.  All of them were sent for specific time to specific people for specific reason.

Similarly, we also cannot elevate the status of the Prophet Jesus on account that he commands the largest adherents.  True, the Christians are ranked as number one and made up slightly less than one third of the world population.  Bigger than the Muslims who are about one quarter, or the Jews, the oldest of the Abrahamic faith, who make up less than one percent (about 0.19% according to some estimate).   From Islamic perspective, the Christians are not the true followers of Jesus Christ.  His true followers are Muslims.  Neither are the Jews the true followers of Moses.  Again his true followers are Muslims.  It is a historical fact that the faith brought by Jesus had been hijacked and modified, first by St. Paul, and later by many others known as the Church Fathers.

The fact of the matter is that the achievement of the Prophet Muhammad has been decreed by Allah.  In His Grand Scheme of things, all prophets combined are like a building, each filling a structure making up that building.  Muhammad was the last structure that completes that building.  As he puts it in his own word:

"My similitude in comparison with the other prophets before me, is that of a man who has built a house nicely and beautifully, except for a place of one brick in a corner. The people go about it and wonder at its beauty, but say: 'Would that this brick be put in its place!' So I am that brick, and I am the last of the Apostles." -Sahih Bukhari 4:735

In Allah's Grand Design, the Prophet Muhammad is the last piece that is still missing.  With his coming, he seals and completes that Grand Design.  It is for that reason that he is called the Seal of the Prophets.

That, however, does not reduce even an iota of Muhammad greatness.  It is fair to say that while he is only one last piece, for all intents and purposes, and by any measure, it is the most important piece.  For in his life, teachings and accomplishment are combined all facets of other prophets' lives, teachings and accomplishments. 

For that reason, even if only his life we know, and only his teachings as per Quran and sunnah we know, whereby our knowledge on all other prophets and their teachings are oblivious to us, that would be sufficient already for us to lead our lives as Muslims.  That in itself is already a proof for his merit to be the Seal of the Prophets.

  

Seerah Muhammad: Overview On Supremacy

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, lived for about 63 years.  Two third of it was as ordinary man, the other one third as a prophet. 

He lived as a prophet for 23 years.  The first 13 years were spent in Makkah as the leader of the persecuted group, while the last 10 years were spent in Madinah as the leader of a sovereign ummah. 

In the 10 years of his Madinah period, the first half was defensive, while the other half was offensive. 

In the first half, he was engaged in three major wars with his archenemies, the polytheist Quraysh.  He won the first, the Battle of Badar.  He lost the second, the Battle of Uhud.  In the third battle, the Battle of Ahzab, there was no real war.  Only little skirmishes here and there.  The Quraysh left the battlefield, having failed to attack and destroy Madinah as planned.  As the Qurasyh and their allies left the battlefield, Prophet Muhammad said to his companions: "From now on, they don't come to us.  We go to them."  Thus, the mode switched, from defensive to attacking.

True enough, in the second half, there was no more attempt by the Qurasyh to attack Madinah.  It was now the Muslims' turn to go to Makkah.  The first expedition took place one year after Ahzab, in 6 AH (After Hijrah).  The expedition was to perform umrah (lesser pilgrimage), not to engage in a war.  But the Prophet and his companions were denied entry into Makkah, and the expedition ended in a peace treaty. 

The peace treaty itself at one look appeared one sided, which caused the Prophet companions to complain, but when one of the Quraysh allies violated the terms of the treaty, Abu Sufyan came to Madinah begging the Prophet for understanding and resettlement.   According to the treaty, if the Muslims or their allies violated the terms, the treaty would be automatically dissolved.  Likewise with the Qurasyh. 

Thus, when one of the Qurasyh allies violated it, the peace treaty automatically dissolved.  Abu Sufyan came begging for a settlement and an extension of the treaty, pleading ignorance about what his allies did, and confessed himself being innocence of the matter.  Hitherto it was the Muslims who always begged for leniency, understanding or clemency.   By then the matter had turned 180 degree, for the one who begs is always in an inferior position than the one being begged. 

Seeing that this 10-year treaty, known as the Treaty of Hudaybiyah, no longer served its purpose, the Prophet did not bother even to listen to Abu Sufyan, the head of the Makkans.  Two years after the Hudaybiyah treaty, he conquerred Makkah without shedding much blood.  The Makkans offered hardly any resistance but requested for clemency, which was granted.  The Makkan allies, however, fought against the Muslims and they were summarily defeated. 

For the remaining two years of his life, one delegation after another came to Madinah to pledge loyalty and to accept Islam.  Before the Prophet finally died in 632 AD (10 AH), the whole of Arabian Peninsular was subdued under his power. 

As soon as he died, however, major revolts immediately rose all over Arabia.  The only places immune to the revolt were Madinah, Makkah and Taif.  The situation was precarious.  His companions, however, were ready to face the challenge.  His successor, Abu Bakar, undertook the challenge to quench the revolt and reestablish the Muslims supremacy.  This time more firmly and more absolutely. 

In the midst of quenching this rebellion, the Persian and the Roman empires, the two superpowers at that time, took advantage by stirring troubles at the borders.  Even in his short reign, Abu Bakar managed to resolve this problem as well.  When he died some months later, having ruled for about two and a half year only, the Muslims were already inflicting major blows to the Persian and the Roman empires.

In less than five years after the death of the Prophet, under the leadership of his second successor, Umar, the Persian empire was practically no more and the Roman Empire had been dealt a definitive blow.

After the Battle of Qadisiyyah which took place in 636 AD, the Persian Empire lost its supremacy in the Western Persia, although it continued to exist until 644 AD, when it finally came to a permanent end.  Also during Umar's time, more than two third of the Roman Empire, better known as the Byzantine Empire, fell to the hand of Muslims.  The Romans' control of the Middle East and North Africa, having dominated these regions for about seven centuries, thus came to a permanent end.

By the time Umar died in 644 AD, the Islamic Caliphate became the superpower, the largest single empire at that time.  It continued to dominate the world for about six centuries, with its capital first in Madinah, then in Damascus, and later in Baghdad, until the Mongols invasion in the thirteen century.  From the ashes of Baghdad, rose many dynasties to champion the cause of Islam, the most dominant being the Ottoman dynasty. 

With the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1917 AD, Muslims supremacy was no more.  But from a humble begining, Islam and the Muslims ruled supreme for the first six centuries, and continued to be the power to be reckoned with for another six centuries, until its power was vanguished with the fall of its last bastion in the WWI.

It has been a century that the Muslims have completely lost their supremacy, but it does not mean that it will be like that forever.

All In The Family

The first and second successors to the Prophet Muhammad were his father in laws, while the third and fourth were his son in laws. 

The first successor, Abu Bakar Abi Quhafah, was not only the Prophet bosom friend, but also his father in law, because Abu Bakar was the father of Aisyah.  The second successor, Umar al Khattab, was the father of Hafsah, another wife of the Prophet.   Hence, Umar too was the Prophet's father in law. 

The third successor, Uthman Affan, became the Prophet's son in law because Uthman married two of the Prophet's daughters, Ruqayyah and Umm Kulthoom.  He married Ruqayyah first, and then Umm Kulthoom after Ruqayyah died.  The fourth successor, Ali Abu Talib, was not only the Prophet's son in law, but also a cousin to the Prophet.  He even grew up in the Prophet's household, as the Prophet grew up in the household of Abu Talib, the Prophet's uncle who happened to be Ali's father.

These four successors were known in the annal of Islamic history as the rightly guided caliphs.

After that the caliphate turned into dynasties, beginning with the Umayyid dynasty and followed by the Abbasid dynasty.  Still, the founders of these dynasties are those closely related to the Prophet. 

As for the first, it was founded by Muawiyah bin Abu Sufyan.  Muawiyah was the brother of Umm Habibah, one of the Prophet's wives, who was the daughter of Abu Sufyan.  He was therefore the Prophet's brother in law. 

The second dynasty was founded by Abu Abbas as Saffah and his older brother Abu Ja'far al Mansur, the descendants of Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib.  Abbas was none other than the Prophet's uncle.

This group of people who are closely linked with the Prophet had led the Islamic world with an almost absolute control for more that three hundreds years: about 30 years during the rightly guided caliph, about 90 years of the Ummayid dynasty and the first 200 years of the Abbasid caliphate. 

The Abbasid dynasty did not end until 1517, when the caliphate was transferred to the Ottoman family, but after the first 200 years, the family's control on the empire was very much weakened.  After the Mongols razed Baghdad to the ground in 1258, the Abbasid dynasty moved to Cairo, Egypt.  By then, their control was merely symbolic, since the family did not hold any political power at all. 

After the Abbasid dynasty, the caliphate moved to the Ottoman or Uthmaniyyah dynasty, which dominated the Islamic World until WWI in 1917.  Some sources said that the dynasty, which is not of Arab stock, but Turkic, derived its name from Uthman, the third caliph.  It is alleged that one of the descendants of Uthman Affan married a woman of Turkish origin, and from this family rose the Ottoman dynasty.  If the claim is true, it would appear that the long history of Islam is dominated by a few closely knit family, all related to the Prophet.

Sounds very much like the story of cronyism, nepotism and favoritism, is it not?  Well, such is almost always a case in every great endeavor.  The terms used of course are differents: companions, friends, associates, family members.  But they are essentially means the same thing.  After all, to whom would you rely, except those who you know very well and trust fully.