The Life of Muhammad

by M. Husayn Haykal

  Makkah’s Place in Arabia

  Despite the fact that Yaman was the most advanced province in the Arabian Peninsula and the most civilized on account of its fertility and the sound administration of its water resources, its religious practices never commanded the respect of the inhabitants of the desert. Its temples never constituted a single center of pilgrimage. Makkah, on the other hand, and its Ka’bah, the house of Isma’il, was the object of pilgrimage ever since Arab history began. Every Arab sought to travel to it. In it the holy months were observed with far more ado than anywhere else. For this reason, as well as for its distinguished position in the trade of the Peninsula as a whole, it was regarded as the capital. Further, it was to be the birthplace of Muhammad, the Arab Prophet, and became the object of the yearning of the world throughout the centuries. Its ancient house was to remain holy forever. The tribe of Quraysh was to continue to enjoy a distinguished and sovereign position. All this was to remain so forever despite the fact that the Makkans and their city continued to lead a life closer to the hardness of bedouin existence which had been their custom for many tens of centuries.

  Chapter 2

  Makkah, the Ka’bah, and the Quraysh

  Geographic Position of Makkah

  About eighty kilometers east of the shore of the Red Sea a number of mountain chains run from north to south paralleling the shore line and dovetailing with the caravan route between Yaman and Palestine. These chains would completely enclose a small plain, were it not for three main outlets connecting it with the road to Yaman, the road to the Red Sea close to the port town of Juddah and the road leading to Palestine. In this plain surrounded by mountains on all sides stands Makkah. It is difficult to trace its origins. In all likelihood these origins lie thousands of years in the past. It is certain that even before Makkah was built the valley on which it stands must have been used as a resting point for the caravan routes. Its number of water springs made it a natural stopping point for the caravans going south to Yaman as well as for those going north to Palestine. Isma’il, son of Ibrahim, was probably the first one to dwell there permanently and establish it as a permanent settlement after it had long been a resting station for transient caravans and a market place in which the northbound and southbound travelers exchanged their goods.

  Ibrahim-May God’s Peace be upon Him

  Granted that Isma’il was the first to make of Makkah a permanent habitat, the history of the city before Isma’il is rather obscure. Perhaps it can be said that Makkah was used as a place of worship even before Isma’il had migrated there. The story of the latter’s migration to Makkah demands that we summarize the story of his father, Ibrahim-may God’s peace be upon him. Ibrahim was born in ‘Iraq to a father whose occupation was carpentry and the making and selling of statues for worship. As Ibrahim grew up and observed his father making these statues out of pieces of wood, he was struck by his people’s worship and consecration of them. He doubted these deities and was troubled by his doubt. One day he asked his father to explain how he could worship that which his hand had wrought. Unsatisfied by his father’s answer, Ibrahim talked about his doubts to his friends, and soon the father began to fear the consequences for the security of his son as well as for his own trade. Ibrahim, however, respected his own reason too much to silence its voice. Accordingly, he sought to convince his people of the futility of idol worship with argument and proof. Once he seized the opportunity of the absence of worshipers from the temple and destroyed all the statues of the gods but that of the principal deity. When he was accused in public of this crime he was asked: “Was it you Ibrahim, who destroyed our gods?” He answered: “No, rather, it was the principal god who destroyed the other gods. Ask them, for they would speak, wouldn’t they?”[Qur’an, 21:62-63]. Ibrahim’s destruction of the idols came after he had long pondered the error of idol worship and searched earnestly for a worthier object of devotion.

  “When the night came, and Ibrahim saw the star rise, he took it to be the true God. Soon, however, the star set and Ibrahim was disappointed. ‘How could a veritable God set and disappear?’ he asked himself. He then observed the moon shining brilliantly and thought: ‘That is my Lord.’ But when it too set, he was all the more disappointed and thought: ‘Unless God guides me truly, I shall certainly go astray.’ Later on Ibrahim observed the sun in its brilliant and dazzling glory and he thought: ‘This finally must be my Lord, for it is the greatest of all.’ But then it too set and disappeared. Ibrahim was thus cured of the star worship common among his people. ‘I shall devote myself,’ he therefore resolved, ‘to Him Who has created the heavens and the earth, I shall dedicate myself as a hanif and not be an idol worshiper.’ [Qur’an, 6:76-79]

  Ibrahim and Sarah in Egypt

  Ibrahim did not succeed in liberating his people from paganism. On the contrary, they punished him by throwing him into the fire. God rescued him by allowing him to run away to Palestine together with his wife, Sarah. From Palestine he moved on to Egypt, which was then ruled by the Hyksos or Amalekite kings. Sarah was a beautiful lady, and as the Hyksos kings were in the habit of taking into their households any beautiful married women they met, Ibrahim therefore pretended that Sarah was his sister and hence unmarried so that the king might not take her away and kill him in the process. The king, however, did take her and later realized that she was married. He returned her to Ibrahim, blamed him for his lie, and gave him a number of gifts, one of which was a slave girl by the name of Hagar. [Haykal here reports a typical case of Israelitism in the Muslim tradition. With little variation the story of Genesis had passed into Muslim legends through Jewish converts to Islam. -Tr.] As Sarah remained barren after many years of married life, she urged her husband to go into Hagar. After Ibrahim did so, Hagar soon bore him his son Isma’il. Later on, after Isma’il became a youth, Sarah bore a son who was called Ishaq.

  Who Was the Sacrificial Son?

  Historians of this period disagree on the matter of Ibrahim’s sacrifice of Isma’il. Did the event take place before the birth of Ishaq or thereafter? Did it take place in Palestine or in the Hijaz? Jewish historians insist that the sacrificial son was Ishaq, not Isma’il. This is not the place to analyze this issue. In his book Qisas al Anbiyd’, Shaykh ‘Abd al Wahhab al Najjar concluded that the sacrificial son was Isma’il. His evidence was drawn from the Qur’an itself where the sacrificial son is described as being Ibrahim’s unique son, which could only be Isma’il, and only as long as Ishaq was not yet born [Genesis 22:2 also calls Isaac Abraham’s “only son,” thus corroborating the claim and making the Bible’s declaration of Isaac as the sacrificial son a very likely emendation of the Biblical text. -Tr.]. For with the birth of Ishaq, Ibrahim would have no “unique” son but two, Isma’il and Ishaq. But to accede to this evidence implies that the sacrifice should have taken place in Palestine [Unfortunately, Haykal has not shown how this implication follows from the claim in favor of Isma’il. -Tr.]. This would equally be true in case the sacrificial son was Ishaq, for the latter remained with his mother Sarah in Palestine and never left for the Hijaz. On the other hand, the report which makes the sacrifice take place on the mountain of Mina near Makkah identifies the sacrificial son as Isma’il. The Qur’an did not mention the name of the sacrificial son, and hence Muslim historians disagree in this regard.

  The Qur’anic Version of the Sacrifice

  The story of the sacrifice is that Ibrahim saw in a dream God commanding him to sacrifice his son to Him. In the morning he took his son and went out to fulfill the command. “When they reached the destination Ibrahim said to his son: ‘My son, I saw in a dream God commanding me to sacrifice you. What will you say?’ His son answered: ‘Fulfill whatever you have been commanded; by God’s will you will find me patient.’ When Ibrahim threw his son on the ground for the sacrifice and both had acquiesced to the commandment, God called out to him: ‘O Ibrahim, you have fulfilled the commandment. We shall reward you as We reward the virtuous. You have manifestly succeeded in your travail.’
We ransomed him with a worthy animal to sacrifice.”[Qur’an, 37:102-107]

  The Historians’ Version

  Some historians tell this story in more dramatic way. The beauty of some versions justifies a brief pause despite the fact that the story itself does not belong in this apercu of Makkan history. It is told, for instance, that when Ibrahim saw in his dream that he should sacrifice his son and ascertained that that was God’s commandment, he asked his son to take a rope and a knife and to go ahead of him to a nearby hill in order to collect some wood for fuel. The boy complied with his father’s request. Satan took the guise of a man, came to Isma’il’s mother and said:”Do you know where Ibrahim is taking your son?” She answered: “Yes, they both went to collect some wood.” Satan said:”By God, he did not take him except to sacrifice him.” The mother answered, “Not at all! His father is even more loving and gentler to him than me.” Satan said: “But he claims that God has commanded him to do so.” The mother answered: “If God has thus commanded him then so let it be.” Thus Satan lost the first round. He ran to the son as he was following his father and repeated to him the same temptations he offered to his mother. But the son answered in exactly the same way as his mother did. Satan then approached Ibrahim and told him that what he saw in his dream was only a Satanic illusion that he may kill his son and grieve there at the rest of his days. Ibrahim dismissed him and cursed him. Iblis (Satan) returned maddened and frustrated at his failure to dissuade Ibrahim, his wife, and his son from fulfillment of God’s command. The same storytellers also report that Ibrahim divulged his dream to his son and asked for his opinion. They report the son as answering: “O father, do what you are commanded to do.” A still more fanciful version of the story reports the son as saying: “O father, if you want to kill me, then bind me tight that I may not move and splatter you with my blood and thus reduce my own reward for the fulfillment of God’s command. I know that death is hard, and I am not certain I will stay still when it comes. Therefore sharpen your blade that you may finish me quickly. Lay me face down rather than on my side, for I fear that if you were to witness my face as you cut my throat you would be moved by compassion for me and fail to complete that which God had asked you to do. And if you see fit to return my shirt to my mother that she may remember me therewith and, perhaps, find some consolation, please do so.’ Ibrahim answered: ‘My son, you are the best help in the fulfillment of God’s command.’ As he prepared for the sacrifice, bound the child, and laid him down, Ibrahim was called to stop. For he had given evidence of his obedience to God’s command, and the son was ransomed with a sheep which Ibrahim found close by and which he killed and burnt.”

  That is the story of the sacrifice. It is the story of submission to God and His decree as well as of the fulfillment of His commandment.

  Ibrahim, Isma’il, and Hagar’s Trip to the Valley of Makkah

  Ishaq grew up in the company of his brother Isma’il. The father loved both equally, but Sarah was not pleased with this equation of her son with the son of the slave girl Hagar. Once, upon seeing Isma’il chastising his younger brother, she swore that she would not live with Hagar nor her son. Ibrahim realized that happiness was not possible as long as the two women lived in the same household; hence, he took Hagar and her son and traveled south until they arrived to the valley of Makkah. As we said earlier, the valley was a midway place of rest for caravans on the road between Yaman and al Sham. The caravans came in season, and the place was empty at all or most other times. Ibrahim deposited Isma’il and his mother there and left them some sustenance. Hagar built a little hut in which she settled with her son and whereto Ibrahim returned when he came. When water and provisions were exhausted, Hagar set out to look for food, but she could not find any. As the storytellers put it, she ran towards the valley seeking water and, not finding any, would run in another direction. After running to and fro seven times between Safa and Marwah, she returned in despair to her son. But what surprise when she found him! Having scratched the surface of the earth with his foot, he uncovered a water fountain which sprung under his feet. Hagar drank and gave Isma’il to drink until they were both satisfied. She then closed in the spring that its water might not be lost in the sand. Thereafter the child and his mother lived in Makkah. Arab travelers continued to use the place as a rest stop, and in exchange for services they rendered to the travelers who came with one caravan after another, Hagar and Isma’il were sufficiently provided for.

  Subsequently a number of tribes liked the fountain water of Zamzam sufficiently to settle nearby. Jurhum was the first such tribe to settle in Makkah. Some versions assert that Jurhum was already settled in Makkah even before Hagar and her son arrived there. According to other reports, no tribes settled in Makkah until Zamzam had sprung forth and made life possible in this otherwise barren valley and hence, after Isma’il’s advent. Isma’il grew up, married a girl from the tribe of Jurhum and lived with this tribe in the same area where he built the holy temple. Thereafter, the city of Makkah arose around the temple. It is also told that Ibrahim once took leave of Sarah to visit Isma’il and his mother. When he inquired about the house of Isma’il and found it, he asked Isma’il’s wife, “Where is your husband?” She answered, “He went out to hunt.” He then asked her whether she had any food or drink to give him. She answered in the negative. Before he turned back, Ibrahim asked her to convey to her husband a message. “Give him my greetings,” he said, “and tell him that he should change the threshold of his house.” When Isma’il’s wife related to her husband his father’s message, he divorced her and married a girl from the Jurhum tribe, the daughter of Mudad ibn ‘Amr. This second wife knew well how to entertain Ibrahim when he came to visit his son a second time later. At the end of his second visit, Ibrahim asked Isma’il’s wife to greet her husband for him and to tell him, “Now the threshold of your house is straight.” Twelve sons were born to Isma’il from this marriage with the Jurhum girl. These were the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Arabized or Northern Arabs. On their mother’s side these were related through Jurhum to the Arabizing Arabs, the sons of Ya’rub ibn Qahtan. They were also related to Egypt through their grandmother on their father’s side, Hagar, which was a close relation indeed. Through their grandfather Ibrahim, they were related to ‘Iraq and to Palestine, his old and new abodes.

  Discussion of the Story

  Despite disagreement on details, the main theme of this story which history had brought down to us, namely the emigration of Ibrahim and Isma’il to Makkah, is backed by an almost complete consensus on the part of the historians. The differences center on whether, when Hagar arrived with Isma’il in the valley of Makkah, the springs were already there and whether the tribe of Jurhum had already occupied the place and had welcomed Hagar when Ibrahim brought her and her son to live in their midst. When Isma’il grew up, he married a Jurhum girl and had several sons from her. It was this mixture of Hebrew, Egyptian and Arab blood that gave to Isma’il’s descendants resoluteness, courage, and all the virtues of the native Arabs, the Hebrews, and the Egyptians combined. As for the detail regarding Hagar’s difficulty when she ran out of water and of her running to and fro between Safa and Marwah and the way, in which Zamzam sprang forth, all these are subject to debate.

  Sir William Muir, for instance, doubts the whole story of Ibrahim and Isma’il’s trip to Hijaz and denies it altogether. He claims that it is one of the Israelitisms which the Jews had invented long before Islam in order to strike a link with the Arabs by making them descendents of Ibrahim, now father of all. Since the Jews regarded themselves as descendants of Ishaq, they would become the cousins of the Arabs and therefore entitled to Arab hospitality if the Arabs were declared the sons of Ishaq’s brother, namely Isma’il. Such a theme, if properly advocated, was probably thought to help establish Jewish trade in the Peninsula. In making this claim, Muir assumed that the religious situation in Arabia was far removed from the religion of Abraham. The former was pagan whereas Ibrahim was a Hanif and a Muslim.
For our part, we do not think that this is sufficient reason to deny a historical truth. Our evidence for the paganism of the Arabs is centuries later than the arrival of Ibrahim and Isma’il to the scene. It cannot therefore constitute any proof that at the time of Ibrahim’s arrival to Hijaz and his building of the Ka’bah with his son Isma’il that the Arabs were pagan. Neither would Sir William’s claims be corroborated had the religion of the Arabs been pagan at the time. Ibrahim’s own people, whom he tried to bring forth to monotheism without success, were also idol worshipers. Had Ibrahim called the Arabs to monotheism, as he did his own people earlier, and not succeeded, and the Arabs remained idol worshipers, they would not have acquiesced to Ibrahim’s coming to Makkah nor in his son’s settlement there. Rather, logic would here corroborate the report of history. Ibrahim, the man who left ‘Iraq to escape from his people and traveled to Palestine and to Egypt, was a man who knew how to travel and was familiar with desert crossing. The road between Palestine and Makkah was one trodden by the caravans for ages. There is, therefore, no reason to doubt a historical event which consensus has confirmed, at least in its general themes.