Muhammad and the Believers’ Movement taught me a lot about the life of Muhammad and how he came to preach God’s word. According to the text, Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullah was born in west Arabi in a town called Mecca around 570AD. Around 610AD, he received revelations from God by the archangel Gabriel. These visions were so intense that they often left Muhammad shaking on the ground, almost in a paralyzed state. The memories were allegedly instantly burned into his mind, so there was no need for him to rehearse and practice his learnings, as God wanted him to start delivering his word as soon as possible. Muhammad traveled often, preaching God’s word, but with little success at gaining followers. In the city of Medina, Muhammad and his followers gathered at a place for a collective prayer. They would come back to the same place to worship God, and this became the first mosque. At first, they faced Jerusalem to pray as the Jewish people did. However, they soon turned to face Mecca, where the religion of Islam originated.
My main takeaway from the Ibn Ishaq excerpt was that the Quran is based off a collection of Muhammad’s spoken words. However, these stories and teachings are really recollections that were recorded decades after Muhammad’s death. This almost makes me question how valid all of the teachings actually are. To Muslims, the Quran is the word of God spoken through the apostle Muhammad. Some followers find the Quran unsatisfying because it is written in poetry. Therefore, the words and verses could have multiple meanings and could be translated differently from one follower to the next. This made me think of the Daodejing and made me wonder if Daoists feel the same way about their holy text. I found it difficult to follow at times, and some of the poems I translated differently than what my classmates did, so it is easy to understand why followers would find it unsatisfying. It is interesting to me that even in the same religion, some followers in Daoism and Islam may have different beliefs or values based on the way they understand and interpret the Daodejing or the Quran.