Muhammad

Mohammed speaking to his followers.

Mohammed (A.D. 570-632) or Muhammad was the founder of Islam. He began life as a wealthy tradesmen, one of the elite of his city of Mecca. He claimed to be privy to certain revelations in middle age, speaking of a need to abandon worship of the many gods who dominated Mecca's religion at the time, and worship the one God, Allah.

These early revelations spoke of a need to return to the monotheism of Abraham; in this way, at an early age, Mohammed saw himself as reviving an ancient faith, a perceived correction to Christianity and Judaism, and restoring his people to what he saw as their rightful position as the true founders and heirs of monotheism. In these revelations, submission to the will of God - Allah - was critical. Mohammed's fledgling religion continued to develop throughout his life, through periodic revelations often relating directly to events currently facing his new faith.

The faith caught on slowly, winning only a few converts in Mecca (the first being his wife). Under increased pressure and ostracism from elders in Mecca, Mohammed began the hijra, an organized exodus of his followers from Mecca to the city of Medina. Muslims date the formation of their religion to the hijra itself, even beginning their dating system at this point.

At Medina, the new Muslims immediately adopted an aggressive stance, seeking to coexist with the Jews living in Medina on his terms. The encounter ended badly, though, with Mohammed dividing and conquering the Jewish groups in Medina, ordering the massacre of the Qurayza Jewish tribe, as they refused changing their religion to his submission, after (possibly) fabricating a cause to break what is called by modern historians the Compact of Medina.

After Mohammed's Death

Mohammed's death at an early age caused the splintering of his religion into new sects, over the question of succession. The groups called themselves the Sunnis and the Shi'as. Many attribute this split to the high degree to which authority was centered in the powerful character of Mohammed himself: without his powerful personality, the movement could not survive intact.

The failure or splintering of movements built around a charismatic leader is a recurring sociological problem, often studied by psychologists, and referred to as the problem of the routinization of charisma. Christianity faced the same problem, and many attribute the conquest of this problem to the leadership of the apostle Paul..

Images of Muhammad

In September 2005 a Danish newspaper published twelve cartoons of Muhammad, creating a flashpoint between the freedom of the press and Muslims angered by the publication of images of the prophet. Within six months, 139 people died and 823 people were injured by violence attributed to the controversy. Because of the twelve cartoons Danish, Austrian, and Norwegian embassies were burned in Syria and Iran. Islamic leaders called for a boycott of Danish goods, and the cartoonists themselves were forced to go into hiding due to death threats made by muslims. The images appeared on the blogs and in smaller independent newspapers, but most of the U.S. mainstream media refused to publish the images even as they covered the issue extensively.

On April 12th, 2006, The television show South Park aired the episode "Cartoon Wars Part I", which challenged the Comedy Central network to let an image of Muhammad air uncensored in the next episode, "Cartoon Wars Part II". Comedy Central did, however, censor the image of Muhammad. It should be noted that Muhammad had been shown on South Park several times before, when there was no pre-existing controversy. This is hypocritical, because South Park has aired graphic depictions of Jesus's death, mocked Christianity, and shown images of the American flag being defecated upon.

Notes

HIR | Muhammad's massacre of the Jewish tribe Banu Qurayzah [1]