Radi (Radical): Marhaban, as-salaamu ‘alaykum (Hello, peace be upon you)
Modi (Moderate): Wa ‘alaykum as-salaam (And upon you, peace).
Mani (Mainstream): Sabaah al-khayr, Radi. (Good morning.)
Radi: Modi, some people tell me you know something about our history. I have heard that since our Most Beloved was orphaned at a young age he was given to a Bedouin clan. That does not sound right to me.
Modi: It is partly true, Radi. His father, Abdullah, died while out of town on business well before he was born. His mother, Amina, was a young bride and missed her new husband terribly. After her baby was born, April 20, 570, the child was given to a Bedouin family to be raised in the desert.
Mani: Good grief, Modi. Why did his mother do that?
Modi: It was not just her, Mani. His grandfather, Abd al[1] Mutalib, had been looking after Amina and now was looking after both mother and son. It was the custom of Arab nobility to send their babies out to be raised by Bedouin families because the city atmosphere was not good for them. They expected the babies to be strong and healthy when they returned 5 to 10 years later. This became a cottage industry among the Bedouins.
Radi: Amina was away from her son that long?
Modi: Yes and no. When he was two years old, Halimah (the Bedouin) brought him back according to the contract; however, there was a growing epidemic in the city, and Amina asked her to take him back to the Banu Sa' d for another few years. Halimah finally returned him to his mother when he was five. Amina died a year later.
Mani: Is that when he was orphaned, with no mother or father?
Modi: No, he was never orphaned. When the grandfather, Abd al Mutalib was pushing seventy-nine, he secured a promise from his son, Abu Talib, to take care of his nephew after the old man passed on. The uncle tried to live up to his promise, but he was the poorest of the old man’s sons and had a hard time making ends meet.
Radi: Why did Abd al Mutalib give the young Muhammad (pbuh) to the poorest of his sons and not one of the richer ones?
Modi: Actually, none of his sons was rich. The clan had a reversal of fortune after the old man died and eventually lost their leadership position in Mecca. To answer your main question, though, Abu Talib was the kindest—the only son who volunteered to look after their nephew.
Mani: How bad was that?
Modi: Their subclan, the Banu Hashim, lost almost everything, and even their children had to work to support the clan. The Banu Ummayah gained the leadership; it was a much larger clan.
Radi: Did Muhammad do something to take revenge?
Modi: No, Radi. One subtribe did not attack the other, though there was much of that going on at that time with major clans. To be sure, between the two Quraish subclans, it was an economic disaster for one and an economic coup for the other. The tribe did not go out of existence; everyone just had to work harder.
Mani: What happened then?
Modi: You know the rest of the story. Muhammad (pbuh) even went on caravans with his uncle and sometimes led the caravans. He was eventually hired by the rich widow Kadijah to lead her trade caravans. He added to her fortunes, and they married. He never took a second wife while Khadijah was alive. That was unusual for a rich Arab merchant who could have as many wives as he wanted.
Mani: Do you know anything about the Kaabah’s history?
Modi: You probably know most of its history from the imams, but the Kaabah predates our religion considerably. Remember, Mecca became an international crossroads as well as the “Mecca” of idolatry before it was named. The Kaabah was a source of income from pilgrims traveling from all over. In fact, it was such a lucrative income that a Kaabah without the icons or statues is still a source of income. Of course, all Muslims are obliged to make the pilgrimage if they can afford it and are in good health. Although there are no idols to venerate when things are good or to kick when things are bad, nevertheless, the pilgrims are involved with the same traditional activities and observances as those pilgrims who visited the Kaabah before the capture of Mecca.
Radi: What about the attack on the Kaabah by a foreign army, when God himself struck the foreign army?
Modi: Radi, King Dhu Nuwas from Yemen was bored with the little icons and statues, so he converted to Judaism in the sixth century. At about the same time, a fervent Christian named Qaymiyun, converted the Arabs of Najran to Christianity. The Yemen king was furious about the expanding Christianity; he assembled an army and executed everyone who would not convert to Judaism.
Radi: Hey, I like his style but not his religion.
Modi: The survivors appealed to Emperor Justinian, who suggested that his Abyssinian allies (Christians) take care of the problem.
Mani: But the Abyssinians were friends of the Muslims.
Modi: That came later. Meanwhile, the Abyssinian general, Abrahah, conquered Yemen, and afterwards, Christianity spread again. While he was cleaning up Yemen, he heard about the Kaabah and decided while he was in the neighborhood that he should destroy the pagan temple.
Radi: Did he have a large army? The Kaabah was never destroyed that way.
Modi: His army was so large that after Abrahah let the Meccans know he was only after the Kaabah, not the people, the Quraish leader of Mecca, one Abd al Mutalib, our Most Beloved’s grandfather, decided to leave the city. But his daughter-in-law, pregnant with Muhammad (pbuh), decided to stay in the city. Traveling was too dangerous for her, and Abrahah said he would not harm the people.
Mani: What happened? Did Abrahah attack?
Modi: He wanted to attack; however, he called it off. Although legend has it that God defeated Abrahah’s army, the more plausible opinion is that his army was living off the land and the cities and was visited with viruses that defied the medicines of the day. Even Abrahah himself succumbed.
Radi: I prefer to think it was Allah and his angels.
Modi: Well, at least it was not screaming barbarians, swinging swords and cutting off people’s heads.
Radi: You are blaspheming again.
Modi: Radi, you were such a joy, listening to the story for all this time without going nuts and bringing up blasphemy or apostasy. It was a pleasure to answer the questions and tell the story.
Radi: You were the one who mentioned sword-swinging barbarians.
Modi: Oh, was that your mating call?
Radi: I am going to remove your head.
Mani: Radi, shsh! Do you hear that?
Radi: What?
Mani: Someone’s cutting into a loaf of bread.
Radi: Sniffs the air. Where?
Modi: Radi, you are a nut! Look, Afternoon Prayer is not until 2:49 today, so we have time to eat before ablutions. I am buying.
Radi: Last one to the restaurant is a polytheist.
Mani: You dork!
HJS
Adapted from the book Muhammad by Yahiya Emerick, Chapters 1, 2; Alpha Books, Critical Lives Series (Penguin Group), Indianapolis, Indiana, 2002.
[1] His correct name was Shaybah, the nephew of al-Mutalib; people mistook him for a slave, hence the name Abd al (Usually spelled as Abdel or Abdul). Even when people learned who he was, the name stuck.
Modi (Moderate): Wa ‘alaykum as-salaam (And upon you, peace).
Mani (Mainstream): Sabaah al-khayr, Radi. (Good morning.)
Radi: Modi, some people tell me you know something about our history. I have heard that since our Most Beloved was orphaned at a young age he was given to a Bedouin clan. That does not sound right to me.
Modi: It is partly true, Radi. His father, Abdullah, died while out of town on business well before he was born. His mother, Amina, was a young bride and missed her new husband terribly. After her baby was born, April 20, 570, the child was given to a Bedouin family to be raised in the desert.
Mani: Good grief, Modi. Why did his mother do that?
Modi: It was not just her, Mani. His grandfather, Abd al[1] Mutalib, had been looking after Amina and now was looking after both mother and son. It was the custom of Arab nobility to send their babies out to be raised by Bedouin families because the city atmosphere was not good for them. They expected the babies to be strong and healthy when they returned 5 to 10 years later. This became a cottage industry among the Bedouins.
Radi: Amina was away from her son that long?
Modi: Yes and no. When he was two years old, Halimah (the Bedouin) brought him back according to the contract; however, there was a growing epidemic in the city, and Amina asked her to take him back to the Banu Sa' d for another few years. Halimah finally returned him to his mother when he was five. Amina died a year later.
Mani: Is that when he was orphaned, with no mother or father?
Modi: No, he was never orphaned. When the grandfather, Abd al Mutalib was pushing seventy-nine, he secured a promise from his son, Abu Talib, to take care of his nephew after the old man passed on. The uncle tried to live up to his promise, but he was the poorest of the old man’s sons and had a hard time making ends meet.
Radi: Why did Abd al Mutalib give the young Muhammad (pbuh) to the poorest of his sons and not one of the richer ones?
Modi: Actually, none of his sons was rich. The clan had a reversal of fortune after the old man died and eventually lost their leadership position in Mecca. To answer your main question, though, Abu Talib was the kindest—the only son who volunteered to look after their nephew.
Mani: How bad was that?
Modi: Their subclan, the Banu Hashim, lost almost everything, and even their children had to work to support the clan. The Banu Ummayah gained the leadership; it was a much larger clan.
Radi: Did Muhammad do something to take revenge?
Modi: No, Radi. One subtribe did not attack the other, though there was much of that going on at that time with major clans. To be sure, between the two Quraish subclans, it was an economic disaster for one and an economic coup for the other. The tribe did not go out of existence; everyone just had to work harder.
Mani: What happened then?
Modi: You know the rest of the story. Muhammad (pbuh) even went on caravans with his uncle and sometimes led the caravans. He was eventually hired by the rich widow Kadijah to lead her trade caravans. He added to her fortunes, and they married. He never took a second wife while Khadijah was alive. That was unusual for a rich Arab merchant who could have as many wives as he wanted.
Mani: Do you know anything about the Kaabah’s history?
Modi: You probably know most of its history from the imams, but the Kaabah predates our religion considerably. Remember, Mecca became an international crossroads as well as the “Mecca” of idolatry before it was named. The Kaabah was a source of income from pilgrims traveling from all over. In fact, it was such a lucrative income that a Kaabah without the icons or statues is still a source of income. Of course, all Muslims are obliged to make the pilgrimage if they can afford it and are in good health. Although there are no idols to venerate when things are good or to kick when things are bad, nevertheless, the pilgrims are involved with the same traditional activities and observances as those pilgrims who visited the Kaabah before the capture of Mecca.
Radi: What about the attack on the Kaabah by a foreign army, when God himself struck the foreign army?
Modi: Radi, King Dhu Nuwas from Yemen was bored with the little icons and statues, so he converted to Judaism in the sixth century. At about the same time, a fervent Christian named Qaymiyun, converted the Arabs of Najran to Christianity. The Yemen king was furious about the expanding Christianity; he assembled an army and executed everyone who would not convert to Judaism.
Radi: Hey, I like his style but not his religion.
Modi: The survivors appealed to Emperor Justinian, who suggested that his Abyssinian allies (Christians) take care of the problem.
Mani: But the Abyssinians were friends of the Muslims.
Modi: That came later. Meanwhile, the Abyssinian general, Abrahah, conquered Yemen, and afterwards, Christianity spread again. While he was cleaning up Yemen, he heard about the Kaabah and decided while he was in the neighborhood that he should destroy the pagan temple.
Radi: Did he have a large army? The Kaabah was never destroyed that way.
Modi: His army was so large that after Abrahah let the Meccans know he was only after the Kaabah, not the people, the Quraish leader of Mecca, one Abd al Mutalib, our Most Beloved’s grandfather, decided to leave the city. But his daughter-in-law, pregnant with Muhammad (pbuh), decided to stay in the city. Traveling was too dangerous for her, and Abrahah said he would not harm the people.
Mani: What happened? Did Abrahah attack?
Modi: He wanted to attack; however, he called it off. Although legend has it that God defeated Abrahah’s army, the more plausible opinion is that his army was living off the land and the cities and was visited with viruses that defied the medicines of the day. Even Abrahah himself succumbed.
Radi: I prefer to think it was Allah and his angels.
Modi: Well, at least it was not screaming barbarians, swinging swords and cutting off people’s heads.
Radi: You are blaspheming again.
Modi: Radi, you were such a joy, listening to the story for all this time without going nuts and bringing up blasphemy or apostasy. It was a pleasure to answer the questions and tell the story.
Radi: You were the one who mentioned sword-swinging barbarians.
Modi: Oh, was that your mating call?
Radi: I am going to remove your head.
Mani: Radi, shsh! Do you hear that?
Radi: What?
Mani: Someone’s cutting into a loaf of bread.
Radi: Sniffs the air. Where?
Modi: Radi, you are a nut! Look, Afternoon Prayer is not until 2:49 today, so we have time to eat before ablutions. I am buying.
Radi: Last one to the restaurant is a polytheist.
Mani: You dork!
HJS
Adapted from the book Muhammad by Yahiya Emerick, Chapters 1, 2; Alpha Books, Critical Lives Series (Penguin Group), Indianapolis, Indiana, 2002.
[1] His correct name was Shaybah, the nephew of al-Mutalib; people mistook him for a slave, hence the name Abd al (Usually spelled as Abdel or Abdul). Even when people learned who he was, the name stuck.
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