historical facts about muhammed

When one goes and looks for historical facts about Muhammed, one is shocked at how LITTLE there actually is. Most of the information comes from the Quran and the Hadiths (for me, that is like taking nursery rhymes as fact). I am going to list the HISTORICAL info we know and stay away from the religious aspects.

 

Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh was born in either 570 or 571 AD in Mecca. His father died shortly before his birth, depending on which Hadith you believe, his father died either a few months before his birth or FOUR YEARS before. His father's name was Abd Allah and his mother's name was Aminah bint Wahb. His mother died when he was 6 years old and he was raised by his uncle, who employed him as a shepard. When Muhammed was 25 years old, he was employed by Khadija, a wealthy widow who was 15 years older than him. She was his only wife for 24 years, until she died. When Muhammed was his in 30s, he took to going into caves in the Hira region. During one of these "Trips" he claims to have seen an angel. Muhammed was convinced he was demon possessed...Khadija, who was NOT there during this, told him he was a prophet of God and it was an angel (Muhammed never said it was an ANGEL).(I wont go through all of this b/c it is religious and I AM NOT Muslim and dont buy his whole spiel anyway). Khadija died, and Muhammed took a total of 12 wives, one being the controversial Aisha. Aisha was SIX when she married Muhammed (Her OWN WORDS) and NINE when the marriage was consummated (again..HER WORDS).

 

After his "call" to prophethood, Muhammed moved to Medina. At Medina, he built his theocratic state. Muhammed had issues with the Jews and Christians of the Arabian Penisiula. He had MANY battles in his

attempts at conversion. There are many, many article written on the battles. I wont go into all of them BUT I want to say that, to me, this was the "convert or lose your head" method of conversion. Muhammed died in 632 AD.

 

Historically THIS IS ALL WE KNOW. The rest are LEGENDS, and HIS words and the words of peopel who lived LONG AFTER him. Looking a this info...Not a lot is historically verifiable. There are NO NON ISLAMIC sources of Muhammed written during his life. NONE...NOT A ONE that mention him. To me, this is interesting. In Muhammed's time, people were better at journaling and keeping up with information about people...Muhammed, if he was what Muslims claim, should have had BOOKS written, but alas, he does not. The lack of information, tells me that he was 1. not what people claim OR 2. did not exist. You make the call..

               

By Dallas Girl  (dalgal33)