i have read a lot n researched a lot abt Islam but one thing is going on my mind (which i havent read in any book) n i cant find the answer
Islam started with the muslim Prophet Mohamed, but when he was born n young there wasnt any islam… so which religion does he had when he was born n secondly when he married the first time, he was (not sure) 25 n at this time islam was not found / it doesnt existed then…so which religion did he n other ppl follow at that time n at time of his marriage… accordin to which religion he married?
what do muslims say abt this?
i hope u understand wat i m trying to ask ( coz of poor english skills)
He followed Monotheism (the religion of Isa (a.s.), Musa (a.s.), Ibrahim (a.s.), Nuh (a.s.) and countless other prophets that came before since the time of Adam (a.s.) )
In his seerat, and if you have researched, you would have found that he never prostrated before any idols. His paternal uncle, who later became his "legal guardian" knew of the noblility of the child. Thus his (s.a.w.)'s uncle became a shield for him in the tribal setting of the time until he passed away.
Isn't it then entirely possible that a simple marriage ceremony was commenced, and idol offerings were not a mainstay of the event?
Allah knows best.
The handful of people of Quraish (Meccan) who hated idol worshiping and adhered to Monotheism before the Prophet SAW received first revelation, were called Hanifein as they were on Deen-e-Hanif (Deen-e-Ibrahim) this was not an organized religion, just bunch of like minded people shared their views and encouraged each other to abstain from Kufr and Shirk and living pious lives. They did not know how to worship God, so they used to pray in private asking for guidance from God. This is the same prayers that Prophet SAW used to do in the cave just outside the city of Mecca.
A detailed book, Seerat-un-Nabi SAW by Shibli Naumani and Suleman Nadvi has the whole history of pre-Islamic Arabia with authentic narrations. The Arabs had remarkable memory and they remembered and repeated events even happened centuries ago in their region or tribe. The learning traditions and memorization capablity was helpful in keeping Quran intact as the companions heard recitation from Prophet SAW.
It is worth pointing out that from a historical perspective, monotheistic beliefs had a strong history of being practiced in Western Arabia where the Prophet (pbuh) grew up. You had not only the Jewish beliefs, but also Ebionite Christians who rejected the trinity and believed in a single undivided God who sent Jesus/Isa (pbuh) as a prophet. It would be natural and easy for Arabs who rejected polytheism and idol worshipping to instead learn and maintain knowledge about the One True God (Allah) and the prophets that he had sent beforehand, and the moral way in which he wanted people to live through the messages his prophets broughts.
Maddy, I wanna know about Ebionite Christians as I am reading Zealot by Reza Aslan these days regarding historical Jesus vs the one portrayed by Catholics and Evangelicals as Christ who died for their sins.
Maddy, I wanna know about Ebionite Christians as I am reading Zealot by Reza Aslan these days regarding historical Jesus vs the one portrayed by Catholics and Evangelicals as Christ who died for their sins.
Ebionites are sometimes referred to as "Jewish Christians" - they consisted of those Jews who accepted Isa (pbuh) as a prophet. They were scattered by the Romans along with Jews, and one community settled in north-west Arabia. The cousin of Khadija (ra) who advised the Prophet (pbuh) when he was distressed after his first revelations was one of these Ebionites.
Eventually their community disappeared between 1000AD and 1200AD, most likely assimilated into Islam within the Muslim world and into other Christian churches elsewhere.
Ebionites are only one of a few groups. There are reports that when Saul (Paul) took over the actual inheritors of Jesus (AS), The Cephus (Saint Simon Peter) and Saint Barnabas had some following. The People of the Ditch are believed by our scholars to be an early monotheistic Christian community that had been killed in the ditch fire.
Thanks. So Waraka ibn Nawfal was one of Ebionites in Arab (or if there was a name for those Christians as such). I beleived he probably was influenced by the early form of Greek Orthodox, as they were also very close to Islamic ideas of monotheism. Later, different theological crossroads led them to a different path.
As Prophet Muhammad (saw) was a Prophet-in-making, he was under the protection care of Allah Almighty.
Allah Almighty kept him protected from any outer influences – whether Christian or Jewish – and kept his mind and heart pure in Tauheed (Oneness of the Creator) till prophet hood was bestowed upon him.
Prophet Muhammad (saw) did not interact in any way with the Christian or Jewish monotheistic sects. So he was not influenced by any of them.
On spiritual side Prophet Muhammad used to spend a lot time in isolation in Cave of Hira on Jabal-al-noor (Mountain of Light) to worship his Creator and in contemplation and reflection. In this way Allah Almighty was preparing and strengthening him spiritually to bear the burden and responsibility of Prophet Hood.
^ What bro Ibn Sadique said is very important ... If you read the accounts of when RasoolAllah (SAW) was recognised ... He would often be left out to tend for the animals while the caravan elders would interact with the outsiders.
His life was a miracle ... That to be in such exclusion and furthered by the cave meditations that he (SAW) poured forth so much utterly pure Knowledge ...
The Hanif of Arabia were following the Abrahamic tradition for many centuries ... They had no access to Christian or Jewish traditions ... That came much later and were very much more developed. Essentially they all brought the same core message ... Dutifulness to God and dutifulness to one another. They already had the name "Allah" that is hard coded in to the Arabic language ... It is not a borrowed name ... Like Ibrahim and Ismail are borrowed (these are imported names in to the Arabic) ...
Thanks. So Waraka ibn Nawfal was one of Ebionites in Arab (or if there was a name for those Christians as such). I beleived he probably was influenced by the early form of Greek Orthodox, as they were also very close to Islamic ideas of monotheism. Later, different theological crossroads led them to a different path.
Good info came at a good time
Ebionites have been called Nazarenes, (Nasara in Qur'an), or Essenes, all of these could be synonymous or could be three separate groups ... No one really knows ...
Waraka ibn Nawfal was Christian ... Greek Orthodox are not older than the Ebionites ... Ebionites are the legacy of Saint James ... One of the inheritors of Jesus (AS) ... There have a lineage that goes unbroken to Jesus (AS) ... Whereas Trinitarian Christians all go back to Saul ... who never even met Jesus (AS) ...
Nonetheless they followed Christian/Jewish practice and they differed from the Hanif who didn't have any coded practices ... But a belief in Allah.
Ibne-e-Sadique. I 100% agreed and the historical facts point to the same, that Prophet SAW was not influenced by anyone. But he was in touch with Waraka and few handful of other monotheist of Makkah.
I was talking about Waraka being influenced by ahle-kitaab, since he was not himself belonged to Jewish or Christian tribes, but a pure Arab one, so I made that comment regarding him.
It is worth pointing out that from a historical perspective, monotheistic beliefs had a strong history of being practiced in Western Arabia where the Prophet (pbuh) grew up. You had not only the Jewish beliefs, but also Ebionite Christians who rejected the trinity and believed in a single undivided God who sent Jesus/Isa (pbuh) as a prophet. It would be natural and easy for Arabs who rejected polytheism and idol worshipping to instead learn and maintain knowledge about the One True God (Allah) and the prophets that he had sent beforehand, and the moral way in which he wanted people to live through the messages his prophets broughts.
The main theme of Sura Aale Imran is to negate the believes of Isa and Uzair being son of God. Christians and Jews who believed in that were the targeted audience of that Surat. If monotheism was so strong in Arab, then whom the Quran is talking to? And lets not forget those 360 Idols sitting inside the Kaba during the days of Prophet.
Assaalama alaykum brother *smooth_guy *– It was not correcting you rather wanted to make an important point that the Blessed Prophet (saw) did not interact with anyone regarding what he believed in.
Pseudo-intellectuals and Orientalists tend to portray the idea that the Blessed Prophet (saw) was influenced by Jewish and Christian monotheists and ‘borrowed’ ideas from them.
We should not be scared of these ideas. First of all in Quran Surah AlNahl, Allah clearly states that they think you heard these things from someone, they are wrong and it goes on and on, takes the argument, described it and addressed it so there is no doubt remains.
Secondly, we as Muslims need to be educated to take these kinds of things and think about it. If a person heard some stories, he can tell them to one type of people who don't know them and even then, will do mistakes and contradictions after some time. But Prophet SAW not only lived in Makkah for 13 years, but went all out with open challenge to the Jews of Madinah. Surah after Surah, story after story, challenges after challenges are full of proves how Allah provided knowledge to Prophet SAW that he or Arabs never new. In case of Surah Kahf and some other close Surah, Allah disclosed some knowledge that even Jews of Medinah didn't know completely.
If there was anything made up, the Jews would have done what they are best known for. They didn't spare true Prophets, let alone a person who claims to be a Prophet till end of days and is telling history of the world and their own Prophets in great details.
For me, it increased my Imaan, more and more Quran and Seerah I read. The wisdom in Quran cannot be told, arranged and protected by any human. Its a living Miracle of Muhammad SAW, something no other man ever had. The words of God that came out of his blessed mouth are preserved till end of day. No man could prophecise about his own legacy like he did.
The main theme of Sura Aale Imran is to negate the believes of Isa and Uzair being son of God. Christians and Jews who believed in that were the targeted audience of that Surat. If monotheism was so strong in Arab, then whom the Quran is talking to? And lets not forget those 360 Idols sitting inside the Kaba during the days of Prophet.
I didn't say that it was strong in Arabs. I said that the concept was historically there there and always alive. It's like Islam in Poland. It's followed by less than 0.1% of the population, but has a history of being practiced there going back 7 centuries. If a Polish person decided to learn about Islam it would not be as surprising as, say, if a North Korean did, given that a North Korean would have no Muslims around to talk to at all.
Monotheism amongst Mecca'a arabs would be the same way. A tiny fraction kept it alive, going back to through what their fathers heard about what their fathers heard all the way back to Ismail (pbuh). They were not the only monotheists in Mecca, through, others followed deviated forms of monotheism (Christians and Jews).
Ebionite Christians, the sect to which Waraka ibn Nawfal belonged, already rejected the idea of Hazrat Isa (pbuh) being the son of God, they viewed him as just a prophet (hence they lived in Arab lands, they were persecuted by other Christians). They therefore could not have been the targetted audience of that Surah, which instead was condemning the beliefs of the 99.9% of the broader Christian community that followed the Nicene creed that did assign a son to God.
I dont agree with the school of thought which believes that the.holy prophet sal Allaho aleh wasalam followed deen e eesa as. From my general knowledge of islam, the little that i know , i believe hazrat Mohhamed sal Allah o aleh wasalam approved of deen e ibrqhimi and acknowledged hazrat ibrahim.as as his fore father